#school has been steamrolling my ass for the last two weeks

[weskie]

finally had time to chisel away at a request before falling asleep mid paragraph 😅😅 got it about a quarter of the way done.

[sailormurkury]

History3: MODC review I guess?

Word Count: around 2,080

Warning: Potential Spoiler for POSE Season 2. I’m not sure if it’s been streaming globally yet, but I mention the death of a character.

I fell in love with the BL drama HIStory this past August. It was after coming across a video on twitter of two men embracing, kissing and both breaking down in tears on the floor of a lavish, minimalistic, bedroom. After a bit of digging in the replies, I learned the name of the show, History3: Trapped. One google later, I’m on VIKI and I find the entire first half-season which had just wrapped up two months prior. The rest of that month was spent binging it and the first 2 seasons (and The Untamed). This week the second half of the beloved drama’s third season which has been hailed the best BL drama of 2019, possibly all-time, ended with a thud on the 18th. Prior to this week it had a solid score of 9.5 on MyDramaLive where it now sits at 8.5. (Rating seems to be falling slightly every 2-3 days, now sits at 8.4.) This season’s love story focused on the story between Yu Xi Gu, an orphan, loner, and presumptive valedictorian of Zenren High and Xiang Hao Ting, the carefree Mr. popular of the school. The show also follows a side couple, HaoTing’s best friend Sun Bo Xiang and Xi Gu’s boss, Lu Zhi Gang. This season focused on the blossoming of these two couples’ relationships in such a way that most of us thought “Oh wow they’re going for full on happy go lucky in love” and while they met challenges like HaoTing’s homophobic parents and entrance exams they managed to fight for each other with their relationship getting stronger every time. That was until this week’s finale when we were served with a plate of Deadly Distant Finale with a side of Bury Your Gays and a glass Gay for You.

I initially thought that I was okay with the finale in a similar way to how I was with the finale of HIStory3: Trapped. That was bittersweet yet common sense. Shao Fei was a cop, Tang Yi a mob boss who shot an officer, he “had” to go to jail. Yet the more I thought about it I felt grieved, insulted rather by MODCs finale. So, like everyone else is doing on social media, I’m going to nitpick the hell out of it as part of my “healing process.” Also, while all of us are upset, unfortunately as in the summer, some fans are attacking the cast and crew. In the words of the master heart crusher, Shonda Rhimes, “Don’t tweet them your crazy,” or...whatever the weibo equivalent is. So, before the nitpicking, a caveat. My beef is with the lazy writing of episode 10, this entire cast was outstanding from Wayne and ChuanChih to the ZENREN homies to The Xiang Family just outstanding. Possibly the best History ensemble since H2:Crossing The Line. Thankfully, this season was not written the same writer of H3: Trapped that would have been way too much for me. (Although, word in the fandom is that MODCs screenwriter wasn’t fond of Trapped’s screenwriter, or rather her treatment for the finale? Alexa, Play Ironic by Alanis Morrisette.) Also in this review, I’m going to be using the VIKI episode count when referring to episodes so just 1-9. *wink*

 On to the picking apart, if you watched all of episode 9 last week, you probably had the same horrified realization as I that our first intimate moment in episode 2 where HT saves XG from getting run over by a moped was foreshadowing for the finale. I don’t want to dissuade anyone from watching the series again, I will, but with the ending we got? It’s going to be difficult to revisit that scene again without resentment. It’s bad enough that XiGu, the main character up to this point, dies off screen in a way that nearly renders him worthless. Especially in the way that this story said “meet this soft, pitiful, malnourished and overworked boy; fall in love with him as he allows himself to fall in love and watch as that love makes him bloom.” I haven’t been this upset over a needless character death since, well, I can’t even say that I have made peace with Candy’s death in season 2 of POSE and that was 5 months ago.

 I don’t know why the writer chose this ending that says “fighting tooth and nail for love is meaningless, yet the memories make it worthwhile?” I’m being petty, we know for HaoTing this love was not meaningless, XiGu’s death is not meaningless. If XiGu’s death was meaningless he wouldn’t have thrown himself into his undergrad studies and gotten into Stanford grad to continue XiGu’s dre…hold the hell on. Wait a damn minute, isn’t that…the dead love interest trope? So, in the POV of this finale, XiGu’s existence was to get HaoTing to mature and become a physicist? Remember, high school HaoTing didn’t really have a dream outside of being with XG 24/7. He became a better student and chose to become a Physics major solely to be with XG. During the show, this particular plot point had some fans noting, while sweet in theory, pinning your hopes and dreams on teenage love can be costly in real life.  

  Six years on, it seems the only people that have been affected by XiGu’s death are HaoTing and Lin Cai Chu, his ex-girlfriend?  I understand in real life we tend to be moved on after this much time. Yet, there was no mention of Xi Gu from the crew or the family, even when he was visibly upset around them. You could count Mrs. Xiang when she spoke to Hao Ting while he was packing, but she never names him, only implies, and,  I feel we had to dive for that meaning. Also, there was no significant interaction from Sun Bo or his sister Yong Ching, who were the closest with HT during this whole relationship. Yong Ching listens to her brother cry after their father tears XiGu and HaoTing apart and she plays messenger between them during their parting. However, in episode 10 she’s enamored with Phoebe’s style? Sun Bo is HaoTing’s brother in the battle for love they share everything about how their hearts feel about their guys. But when HT drunkenly pours out his grief after six years, and he kinda gives a “damn bro, that sucks” vibe for a good part of the talk? (Sidenote: Wayne acted his whole ass off in this episode, do you hear me?) In Trapped, ShaoFei knew everything about TangYi. When Chen Wen Hao and Sister Lizhen were revealed as TangYi’s parents he grieves with and comforts him back at home. (Bonus: if you watch that scene again you can see Jake break down with Chris when they pull apart.)  

  I’m not touching that damn doppleganger moment, why even do it? These decisions have been made, yet the way both XiGu’s death and HaoTing’s potential girlfriend Phoebe are hinted and implied at, yet never really engaged with or seen. Which, to me, signals fear on part of the writer. These are the decisions you felt comfortable making so why not go ahead and give it to us full out. Show us XiGu dying in HaoTing’s arms, HaoTing visiting his grave a la Trapped episode 10, or show us the moment when Phoebe meets the family. We could have gotten more thought or effort put into these plot twists on the part of the writer. We see the way HaoTing weeps over XiGu and how he just shrugs off the mention of Phoebe from his family. XiGu and HaoTing lined and called each other daily, Phoebe can’t even email to let him know where she is? Worse yet, HaoTing does not even attempt checking up on her? Is on a 13-hour flight or about to get on one? Don’t really know, damn sure don’t care.

 I “got” that he doesn’t think the love of his life can ever be replaced, but we also know through his actions that he doesn’t love her either. Even though he’s introducing her to his family, I ask, does he even like her? Where’d they meet? How old is she? Why bring her up if you aren’t going to flesh the concept of Phoebe out? If you really wanted to give a love story closure “well” you should have done all of this several episodes ago by breaking them up or even condensing the love story and killing XG earlier on rather than handing us this death/new gf cocktail in ONE EPISODE. So many HIStorians thought that the boys would split because of HaoTing lying about the rent, and this makes perfect sense as it’s a clear violation of XiGu’s desire to be as self-reliant as possible, even in a relationship. That could have given rise to the first big argument and potential breakup.

 At first, I thought that the most insulting thing about this finale was that we didn’t get a happy ever after, or at least a happy for now like Trapped. Happy endings are an unofficial mission statement of the series. However, the most insulting thing about this finale, for me, was that death became final. Three years in a series, where death has NEVER been final, or even an option for its leads at least since season 1. (Which HIStorians like, but don’t really talk about for good reason.) Now, you could argue about Trapped because Shao Fei does get shot twice and if any storyline was primed for death it was theirs. However, even with the action element, the Brooklyn Nine-Nine type comedy never gave it the gravity that MODC unknowingly had. We were presented the stakes, the murders of Old Tang/LiZhen, and knew the threat, Chen WenHao. In MODC, there was a quiet unease I had for most of my watch along the lines of, “this is perfect. I love it, but it’s too perfect.” The “challenges” XG/HT faced they pretty much steamrolled every time so I assumed they were in the clear until the last 5 minutes of episode 9.

 H1: My Hero and H1: Obsessed both had plots that dealt with the boundary of death, making it impermanent “because love.”  While we’re at it, let’s talk about Obsessed shall we. Even abusive ass, stalker ass Jiang Jing Teng, a man who by logic and common sense shouldn’t have, got a chance to love again. He got to say goodbye to, spread the ashes of, and reunite with Shao Yi Chen. After his beard, who it just so happened was also a witch/sorceress, brought back SYC from the dead, not once BUT TWICE?!? (First, from rebirth. Second, it was all a dream.) Yet YXG/SHT, the most loved couple since CTL, can’t get a similar twist of fate? Make it make sense, especially given that this is likely the final season for HIStory.

 That hurt to type, but, it looks like History3 is going to be the final season for the series. Since we haven’t had any official announcement from CHOCO. And with 2 major backlashes, the first based on misunderstanding with Trapped and the second due to MODC lazy finale, it’s looking like a done deal until the CTL movie comes out at the end of 2020. In which case, everyone involved is going to have to be on their very best behavior from now on. In the hearts of some HIStorians, this finale has done irreparable damage to MODC itself and the HIStory franchise. Which is sad, considering that up to this point HIStory was getting better and better with each season only to decimate that growth in one episode.

  *cue Mariah* I still believe that MODC is the best BL drama of 2019. It’s the best to come out of Taiwan since CTL. Most of that is due to the phenomenal work of the cast, and… yes, the initial episodes written by our screenwriter. Even with my frustrations with the finale, I was conflicted as I said on Wednesday night. I was very disappointed, but the performances I did get, specifically from Wayne, kept me engaged to the point that I still enjoyed it. Does it make up for the cruelty to Yu Xi Gu not at all, but the previous 9 episodes pretty much put it in my top 5 all-time early on. What now? I’m waiting for the dvd drop next year and reliving every blissful moment. Oh, and I’m rewatching episodes 5/6 for Christmas. 

If you made it this far, thank you HIStorians, you all have made this surprise journey most certainly worth it.  

Merry Christmas and Best Wishes to all of you in 2020,

 Jo

 PS: word from Mandarin speaking fans is that the novelization of this series has 2 endings. One happy and the one we saw on Wednesday which…*sigh* at least there’s a universe where the boys are happy. I also have some notes on issues I had with HaoTing’s family in episode 10 that I’ll likely touch on after Christmas.

PPS: I can’t believe we got blessed with multiple Duke Wu appearances!!!

[andavs]

Miss Congeniality is on tv and im thinking is there a sterek au out there?? Stiles, the new FBI agent, who does things instinctively and is quirky and weird vs no-nonsense Derek the FBI agent who believes in procedure and protocols. Stiles has to go undercover at a pageant/some sort of competition with Derek as his handler. Reveals how good and competent he is at saving the real winner Scott ala Cheryl/Rhode Island. And Stiles singing to Derek "you think I'm gorgeous...you want to kiiiiiss meee.

Real talk, I’m kind of tipsy so this might be a little disjointed, but ooh, I really love the idea of like, basement dweller analyst Stiles, who is objectively a complete fucking wreck. He’s not creepy and he knows how to function as a human being, but he just gets so wrapped up in his work that he maybe forgets to do laundry for two months, and he eats like a broke college student, and maybe steamrolls over a lot of social cues because he has vital information that people need to know right now.

I don’t even know what competition it would be in this AU. My instinct is to say like, America’s Next Top Male Model, but obviously Derek would be the top pick for that. Unless they tried to get Derek into this competition, but he was so awkward and uncomfortable in that situation that his face just shut down and all of the judges scooted back a bit while he glared at them in dead silence.

Sooooo, plan B. Which fails, because Agent Lahey is attractive but he doesn’t photograph well. He kills it on the runway though and somehow came out with five modeling agencies trying to lure him into a contract.

Plan C: Agent Boyd, who straight up refused to get involved, because he works organized crime and are you seriously bothering him with this shit? Get out.

Plans D - L also all fail for a variety of reasons, and at this point they’ve got Agents Argent and Yukimura scouring the building, ducking into every office and taking pictures of very confused office workers who generally don’t see daylight during office hours. They’re desperate, okay? Both male and female competitions across the country have been targeted, all with the same MO, and they have evidence suggesting this ANTMM is next. Four people have died already, they need to catch this guy.

Which is how they end up in the windowless basement of analysts in their cubicles, and after striking out with all of them, about to head back upstairs in defeat, they run into Stiles. 

He’s just leaving the dinky kitchen, eating microwave instant ramen with two pens for chopsticks, he has a yellow stain on his wrinkled button up from the broth, and his hair is a greasy mess because he’s been at the office for the last 36 hours trying to finish his last assignment. He’s not technically supposed to spend that much time there, but if he hides in a specific corner of the supply closet, the custodians and security guards don’t see him and he can sneak back to his desk by 1am.

He’s a mess, his eyes are bloodshot, and he has the darkest circles under his eyes, but he’s got nice cheekbones and pretty eyes (aside from the red), so they grab him by the collar and drag him back upstairs.

Derek is less than impressed, refuses initially, but Allison swears she knows someone who can whip Stilinski into shape in record time. Allison doesn’t make empty promises.

Stiles slurps his ramen. The stain on his shirt has grown from being yanked around the office.

*

Lydia does whip him into shape, ruthlessly, and Stiles doesn’t even deny crying about it because she completely killed the rugged stubble he was coaxing to fruition on his jaw. They forced eye drops into his eye balls, which he never wants to feel ever again, and gave him a facial that left his entire face and neck bright pink (”It’s supposed to do that, it’s exfoliation, your skin is a tragedy,” Lydia said with disdain), and he’s pretty sure that this would be considered assault under any other circumstance.

He’s on a strict juice cleanse, they plucked his eyebrows, and the things they did to his junk for “the swimsuit portion” is definitely assault, which he will be reporting to the higher ups the next time he can get to a phone.

“You need to stop staring at screens,” Lydia orders him, swiping every phone and computer away the second he gets his hands on them. “You’re getting premature neck wrinkles and you squint too much.”

Stiles wants to cry.

Derek wants to die the first time he sees their creepy gremlin analyst in a fitted suit with his hair done correctly and his face properly moisturized. Cue the shit, he’s hot montage of slow motion walking across the tarmac, until Stiles trips on some cables that have already been taped down.

“We’re lucky he plays baseball occasionally,” Lydia says once they’re on the plane to the competition. “Not even I can give him muscle definition that fast, but we can work some magic with a spray tan.”

Derek silently thinks it would be a crime to spray tan Stiles and looks out the window at the cities passing by below.

“I just want some fries,” Stiles sobs, sprawled across three seats like he’s about to feint from starvation. Lydia hands him a green smoothie and he glares.

*

I love the idea of Scott being Cheryl. Super nice and welcoming, doesn’t raise eyebrows at Stiles’…less than attractive habits, even helps cover for them, and they quickly become friends. Derek isn’t jealous. At all.

Scott’s finished his undergrad, he’s been working to save money, and he’s trying to figure out how to pay for the vet program he got into–preferably taking out minimal loans. And this competition just so happens to have a pretty massive cash payout at the end. Three hours after meeting, Stiles has silently sworn to do everything in his power to make sure Scott leaves with that money.

Scott has silently sworn to do everything in his power to make sure Stiles doesn’t make a total ass out of himself on national television. He’s…kind of succeeding. He had a moment of self-doubt when he asked what Stiles’ talent portion would be and got a blank stare in return.

Then we get lots of sneaking around! Stiles all over the place, lowkey thinking and acting like he’s James Bond, whispering stupid things into his earpiece like the fox has entered the henhouse, while Derek rolls his eyes back in their base of operations. And look, he’s ridiculous, but he also analyzes shit for a living, and combined with what he’s learned from his dad, he nails it.

I don’t know where the “you want to kiiiiss me” scene would go, but Derek leaning in like he’s going to kiss Stiles and then deadpan snarky eating a candy bar that Stiles is strictly forbidden from eating? That is perfect on literally every level and totally something he would do. He’s such a little shit and kind of emotionally stunted; he would flirt like a kindergartner who doesn’t understand how to express his feelings. And also Stiles is a pain in the fucking ass and deserves it for the way he…molests the straws in his stupid green smoothies every day. It’s sexual and wrong, and Derek can’t be blamed for needing to leave the room.

And look, we’ve gotta bring Scott in on the secret like halfway through. Stiles is a mess on every level, he doesn’t know the most basic things about the competition…it’s not convincing. Scott had to physically stop him from putting way too much gel in his hair–like, way too much. If it weren’t for Scott and Lydia teaming up, Stiles would’ve been disqualified immediately for trying to pair that jacket and those socks.

Whatever the threat is, obviously they stop it and catch the guy, probably the twins or Deucalion or something–the usual suspects. There’s life-threatening stunts and bomb defusing, and Stiles and Derek are taking out one twin backstage while Scott punches the other on national TV and wrestles the remote detonator away from him. At first everyone’s all, “Scott McCall has snapped! He’ll kill for the win!” but then Deucalion or whoever sets off the second bomb, and Scott’s right in the crowd getting people to safety!

And whatever the original verdict from the judges, they change their mind, because for all that every contestant talked about world peace and doing everything they could to help others, Scott was the only one who did that. It’s an easy win, really, and he gets more than enough for veterinary school, and he fucking rocks at it.

Backstage, Derek and Stiles take down their bad guys like the perfect team they are, and then probably do that stupid action movie thing where they take the time to kiss while a building is on fire around them? Just a real quick one, and then they resume again outside at a safe distance from the building. And then they both cash in their sick days (because they’re both workaholics who haven’t taken one in like five years) and spend a week together eating junk and ignoring their phones and having a grand ole time. In bed.

[asahiwasabi]

third gym part three and rudyako part one

The week had gone by way too fast.

Over the course of the part four days, Rudy, Ren, and Akane had abducted adopted around nine more people into the third gym, including but not limited to: a serial prankster, the tiniest player Rudy had ever seen, his teammate that was nearly as tall as Ren, their quietly sarcastic manager, and a set of twins that were a whirlwind of character tropes. Despite how wild they were and how crazy they made the third gym, they had become like family to Rudy.

All except one of them.

His name was Skunk.

No one knew how he had known to find them last year (Ren claims that Skunk and Cory used to be friends when they were younger) but he showed up on the last day, all skeezy and flirty and, for some reason, just rubbing Rudy the wrong way. Normally not a very mean person, Rudy, for the first time in their life, felt like telling him that he couldn’t play with them. Thankfully, training camp week ended before Rudy could say something actually mean, and they put it out of their mind as they went through the next school year.

And then the summer of their third year rolled around, the usual crowd gathered in third gym, and Skunk was there.

And he was dating Sayako.

“I don’t know, we just kind of got to talking around the end of the school year,” Sayako explained shyly, blushing as usual. Rudy watched her carefully. If anything, Sayako seemed less than happy about the relationship. “We’ve only been dating for a couple months, don’t worry.”

But Rudy did worry. Skunk flirted with everyone, he was rude, he tracked mud everywhere, he stole food off of everyone else’s plates (only Akane was allowed to do that), and worst of all, he did it in front of Sayako. Sayako, who was the sweetest tiniest cutest human being that Rudy had ever encountered, was dating their literal worst enemy. 

Well, not worst enemy. Rudy wasn’t that dramatic. They did hate him, though.

And THEN, Skunk broke up with Sayako at the end of night two. Or at least, that’s all Rudy heard as Sayako cried in the equipment room. She was in there with Tadami, and Rudy had only found them because they were looking for an extra net to try and trap Skunk in with Minako. As soon as Rudy saw Sayako’s teary face and heard her say, “We broke up,” the blood began pounding in Rudy’s ears. How on earth could that scumbag do that to her?

“Rudy, no, wait--”

Rudy went storming across the gym, grabbed Skunk by the back of the shirt, and dragged him outside. He struggled, but thanks to the rage and Rudy’s weird strength, he couldn’t do anything as they threw him up against a wall. “What the hell--” he squawked, but Rudy shoved him back again, keeping a hand fisted in his shirt.

“What the hell did you do to Sayako?” They growled, making him blink before his face slid into a defensive grimace.

“The hell are you talking about? She broke up with me!”

Rudy paused. That...was not what they expected to hear. But still, it was bound to happen anyways with the way Skunk had been acting around her. It was totally justified!

“Still,” Rudy frowned again. They were a good few inches shorter than him, but that didn’t stop them as they told him, “You were terrible to her, it’s no wonder she did. I honestly hope you take this as a lesson, because otherwise, you’re going to end up alone and miserable forever.”

Skunk only glared down at them before finally shoving them away. “Fuck off, Rudy.” He shoved his hands in his pockets, the practice shirt shifting as he shrugged guiltily. “Just worry about your own business with Sayako.”

“What?” Rudy furrowed their brows. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Skunk leveled them with a bored glare. “Are you serious? Jesus, you really are as dumb as you look.” He sighed heavily and shook his head. “Just...do better than I did, alright? She deserves it.”

Rudy blinked at him, and he just shook his head again. “Look, I’ll tell everyone you roughed me up real good so that you can keep your tough older sister persona going--”

“Sibling,” Rudy corrected automatically, still confused, and Skunk waved a hand.

“Right, sibling, my bad. This doesn’t mean we’re cool though, aight?” He glared at them one more time, then sniffed. “So oblivious. Holy shit, she wasn’t kidding.” With that, he turned and walked back into the gym, head lowered. Rudy remained outside for another minute, still trying to figure out what Skunk meant. Do better? At what, playing against her? The Raccoons did lose to the Otters pretty regularly now when Sayako was back row. She’d become an incredible libero. Her form was immaculate.

Rudy shook their head, finally moving to walk back inside. Skunk was off to the side, complaining loudly about something to Cory and Ethan, who both were barely listening. On the other side of the net, Akane was waving Rudy over, shouting something about needing a bad blocker, and right next to her was Sayako. She had a soft smile on her face, almost thankful, and her eyes were still shining a bit from her previous tears. Her cheeks were pink, making her look like a disney princess come to life. Except cuter. Way cuter.

Rudy tripped in the middle of the court as their heart thudded painfully in their chest. They barely heard Ren sigh, “Look, you broke them.” Rudy righted themself, tossing back their bangs with a forced grin.

Suddenly, they felt like they knew what Skunk had meant.

The week had gone by way too fast. Somehow, the Bears were regularly beating everyone now, including the Robins. Ruth and Ethan didn’t let up on their trash talk, but they were more serious during the games than they usually were. Daiki was beaming every time he completed a set now, and their monster of a middle hitter had only been successfully blocked about once a game. Throughout the week, Rudy continued to find new people to bring to the gym, continued to try and prank Skunk with Minako’s help, and kicked ass in their games.

They wished they knew what was going on. Something in their team had clicked yesterday, and since then, the flow was so good even the Otters’ trainer had compliments for them. The Robins’ trainer told Rudy once that “they had decent footwork back row” and Rudy couldn’t stop their hands from shaking the rest of the day, and not just because they were terrified of her. Their team was winning game after game, and in the third gym, everything was back to normal.

Except for when Sayako smiled at Rudy and Rudy felt like gravity had lifted. If they wanted, they could probably jump over the entire building. Maybe even the moon. It was like every time she smiled, the whole world made a little bit more sense. Actually, everything made a little bit more sense. That weird twisty feeling when Sayako was laughing with someone else? That was jealousy. The weird floaty throat lump when Rudy was watching Sayako play? That was pride. The reason Rudy was always trying to carry Sayako? Probably just because Rudy was trying to show off or something. And the whole gravity thing?

It was because Rudy liked Sayako. Like, like liked her. How it had taken her so long to see that was a mystery, but apparently Ren had known the entire time. And Akane. And apparently, most of third gym.

“Are you seriously telling me you’re just now realizing it?” Akane asked, exasperated. Ren was smirking behind her, both of them leaning on the same pillar. Their late night meetups after third gym closed were regular now, even after Ren and Akane had gotten together. (Which was terrible, because they used to smirk a lot before, and now it was ten times worse.)

Rudy groaned and threw their head back, accidentally hitting it against the cement wall with a loud thump. Ren winced, but Rudy steamrolled on, “I didn’t know! I just thought we were like, really close friends or something! I didn’t know it was, like, a serious thing!”

“Rudy, you’ve liked her literally since you met her,” Ren told them patiently, and Akane followed up with, “You seriously didn’t know you liked her? Even when you physically lifted her up and claimed that she was a damsel in distress and you were her knight in spandex armor?”

Rudy slammed a hand on their face. “It was a joke, oh my god, I was so obvious--”

“To everyone except yourself,” Ren huffed, making Akane laugh. Rudy groaned dramatically again, and Akane finally shifted forward, looking more serious.

“Look, you’ve got two days left of training camp. Why not just tell her?”

Rudy looked up at Akane, eyes wide. “Uh, yeah, and have her tell me, sorry, I only date assholes who like to pour milk in other people’s shoes?”

Ren winced, and Akane rolled her eyes. “Pretty sure she only dated him because she felt obligated to. Also because she was figuring some things out.” Ren immediately stiffened, and Akane patted his knee before he could say anything, “No, I’m not dating you because I’m obligated to. I actually like you, you dork.” Ren relaxed, and she continued looking at Rudy. “Rudes, I promise. It’ll be fine. Just tell her.”

Rudy looked away, out over the grassy courtyard to where they had first met Sayako. As if it was that easy.

The week had gone by way too fast.

The second to last night, Rudy once more gathered all of their third gym children friends into a circle so that they could hand out cards again. All the cards were personalized and made at 3 in the morning last night with Ana’s help (because she was the only one awake) and also handed out cookies. Skunk got a wad of toilet paper and a chocolate bar that was kind of melted. Sayako got four cookies. Rudy accidentally smashed her card.

“This week has been the best yet,” Rudy announced after handing everything out, and pulled Minako and Ren into awkward side hugs. “I’m so so sad that this is my last year, but I really hope you guys keep this going. It’s a great chance to expand your play styles and try out different strategies, and you guys have improved so much.”

“Hurry it up, coach,” Cam shouted from behind Atsushi, and everyone laughed.

“I’m just....really proud. And happy. And so grateful that I met all of you.” Rudy looked at everyone, smiling softly. “You can definitely expect to see me at the Fall tournaments and every game of yours that I can make it to, and I’ll kick your butt if we play against you.”

“You wish!” Ruth shouted, and Dahlia echoed the cheer. 

Rudy smiled at Sayako and quickly looked away.

The last night was a whirlwind of team gatherings. As the new captain this year, Rudy was running around trying to keep their first years from doing anything to the Raccoons (they did not want a repeat of the water fountain incident) and making plans with the other captains for games throughout the season. Before they knew it, it was two in the morning, and everyone was asleep.

The week had gone by too fast, and Rudy was left, awake and alone and staring out the bus window on the way back to their school, wondering if they’d missed their chance.