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likeadeuce · 4 months

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WIP Wednesday: Tashi Duncan Does Not Believe in Participation Trophies

Art was not the first or the last man to tell Tashi he was in love with her and then try to make it her problem.

She never really knew what they meant; she wasn’t fluent in that language. To Art, maybe, it meant something he wanted and would never be able to have. And that, Tashi understood.

People talked about sex ruining friendships, but she hadn’t ever seen that in the wild. The other way though. . . maybe the way to solve the Art thing would be to pull the block out, crash off her pedestal, and see what they could make of the pieces. The night she'd met the boys, (Art and the other one, the one whose name they said a dozen times and then pretended not to think about) it seemed fun to hold herself out as a prize. But Art wasn't a boy anymore, and Tashi was human, scarred, frequently impatient, often ungenerous.

Let him find out. Let them have messy, awkward, thoroughly ordinary sex, and soon he'd remember he was handsome and blonde and American, a rising star with groupies lining up to blow him. He and Tashi would still be friends who knew each other to the core, and she'd be the person who could make him a champion.

Meanwhile, tonight, they could have some fun. It was the best solution she could come up with.

She wasn’t oblivious. She understood: this was not what Art thought was happening.

They kissed in the parking lot, and then, when even the guy who took out the trash was going home, they got into Art’s Jeep. He put the key in the ignition; from the passenger seat, she placed a hand on his thigh.

Art drew in a sharp breath. “Could you. . .?” He laced his fingers through hers and lifted her hand up to kiss the back of her wrist . “Not now, please. Not yet?”

“I understand.” She understood Art was young and thought he was in love with her and he didn’t want them to start things with a messy handjob in the parking lot of the Cincinnati Applebee’s. They were the same age, almost to the day, but Art was still half a boy in a way that Tashi had never had the chance to be a girl, and he was trying to keep it together.

Art started the engine. It might be better to call the whole thing off. Tashi was never going to be what he wanted. That was the point. Maybe that being the point wasn’t fair to either of them. The stupid thing was that she wanted to go back with him. It would be so wonderful, she sometimes thought, if Art was right about the two of them.

On the ride back to the hotel, Tashi leaned against the head rest and kept her eyes closed. The Tennis Channel played on satellite radio -- Were the Spaniards beatable going into the Open? Which Williams sister would win head to head right now? -- people too old or too hurt to play anymore talking bullshit about people who could.

#challengers #fanfic #challengers fanfic #wipwednesday #tashi/art #tashi POV #aro spectrum Tashi maybe?

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chuwenjie · 4 months

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