Chapter Text
January 26, 2018
6:46 A.M.
Bow: Asjhdskw too early
7:15 A.M.
Bow: u awake?
7:55 A.M.
Bow: Adora where are u
Bow: Adora???
There’s a SOLD sticker on the Real Estate sign outside the crumbling yellow house on Aviary street. It’s an ironic name for the street, which is as dry in summer as a desert, the concrete cracked and sticky in some places. Adora’s never seen more than a few sparrows there, perched high above on the wires with the faded sneakers.
She stops, curious. The clouds open up a little as she stands and stares, letting sunlight flow down onto her neck and shoulders. A few cars drive past on their way to work.
The house has been on sale for a year now, but Adora knows it’s been abandoned for longer. She walks past it every day on the way to school and usually it doesn’t earn more than a second glance, but now there’s a SOLD sticker covering up the FOR SALE and its bright red and large and she finds herself staring at it and wondering who could possibly move in. In her neighbourhood, abandoned houses stay abandoned.
It’s then that her phone goes off deep within her pocket. Startled, she pulls it out and looks down at the screen. It’s Bow.
“Hello?”
“Adora! Where the heck are you?!”
Adora flinches and pulls the phone away from her ear slightly. “I’m on my way, dude. Give me, like, ten minutes.”
Bow makes a noise on the other end that sounds like a balloon losing air. “Babe,” he squeaks. “Do you have any idea what time it is? Coach is gonna kill you if you’re not here in three.”
Adora’s heart leaps into her throat. She brings the phone down from her ear and checks the time. Shit.
“Shit!”
Bow starts to speak again, but Adora’s already hanging up, sprinting down Aviary street with her sports bag banging painfully against the back of her thighs. The yellow house with the sold sign is forgotten. For now, at least.
Soccer trials start a week before the school year. One day of gruelling fitness tests, one day of playing, a day of rest when the team is announced, and then training begins. Thanks to the sold house, Adora’s nearly late to day one. She’d already slept in so time wasn’t exactly in her favour.
She arrives at the field out of breath and sweating and earns a disgruntled look and snappy comment from Coach Hunter. Awkwardly, she hovers for a moment in case there’s more reprimanding to come, but it seems that for once she’s in the clear.
Bow comes up behind her and loops his arm through hers, muttering “I can’t believe you,” under his breath.
Adora twists to grin at him. “Oh ye of little faith. I’m on time, aren’t I?”
“Barely!” School hasn’t even started and yet Bow looks like he’s making a solid attempt at getting premature stress lines before twenty. “It’s the first day of trials and you’re up for captaincy! Why are you like this? Do you want Coach to come for you in your sleep?”
Adora brushes him off, laughing. They relax into easy stretches, pairing up as they usually do. Nearby, Coach begins to yell at Mira who's just arrived, still dressed in casual clothes. No matter how late Adora is she can always count on Mira to be later.
Coach starts them off with laps of the field, and Adora and Bow take the lead with ease. For a while they jog in companionable silence, the only sound their laboured breathing and the distant hum of traffic.
When they’re a safe distance from the rest of the team, Bow asks, “Have you heard?”
“Way to be vague, Bow.”
“The Horde?” Bow prompts.
The Horde is their rival team from the neighbouring school. By rival team, Adora really means sworn enemies. Possibly arch-nemeses if you want to be dramatic (which she is).
Whatever it is Bow knows about the Horde, she has not heard.
Bow says, “Rumour is they have a new captain from out of town.”
“You’re kidding! A new captain?” This is bad news. This is very bad news. Without realising, she runs faster, legs pumping furiously to keep up with her racing mind. “We haven’t even finished trials! And it’s a new kid?”
Adora is too breathless to continue her freak-out, but Bow seems to get the sentiment.
In a town where not much happens, the decades-old battle between the two football teams has grown intense enough split the whole town in half. Princess and Horde alumni get into fights in the local bars, their kids only go to the school their parents went to. Most of the town shows up to their football games to scream support and trash-talk the other team. It’s not often they get newcomers, but when they do they’re quick to pick a side. If the Horde has a new captain from out of town, they have an advantage over the Princesses, and Adora (a Princess through and through) cannot allow such a thing to happen.
They hit the next lap and Adora ups their pace even more, much to the annoyance of the other runners. Rivalry is a strong incentive, she supposes. By the time coach calls them back in they’re all panting heavily. There’s a sharp burn building in Adora’s thighs thanks to a long break over the summer.
Coach gets them doing ab workouts. The only upside of this apart from the mad gains is that it allows for more talking, and Bow is quick to pass the rumour onto the other seniors. One by one, the other students start to work faster and harder. For once, Coach looks a little impressed. Adora breaks the current team record for the plank hold and earns a clap on the back. Mira actually tries during press ups. Sean Hawkins quits showing off and focuses for once in his life.
Trials finish with everyone exhausted, but pleased. Coach has a glint in her eye as she surveys the breathless and sweaty teenagers collapsed before her.
“I must admit, that was better than I expected. You’ve all got a good chance of making the team this year. I want everyone back here tomorrow at eight, and not a second later.” She meets Adora’s eyes, then Mira’s, her face hardened in stern warning. “No exceptions.”
School hasn’t started so the changing rooms are locked. Everyone packs up their things and heads out, stinking to high heavens and drenched in sweat. The seniors gravitate towards each other to walk in a pack and Adora and Bow finally have a chance to greet everyone after a summer apart. The reunion is brief and all too quickly turns back to football, as it usually does with them.
“So what’s this about a new captain?” Natasha asks. She’s arm in arm with Ella, her long term girlfriend of three years. Adora can’t seem to look away from their casual touches, the place where their arms are linked.
“Erica told me,” Bow explained. “Apparently she’s super good. Starting striker for her last school.”
“You still talk to Erica?”
“Yeah? Erica’s cool.”
“I’m still angry she joined the Horde.”
Bow shrugs. Erica is the one exception to his unwavering loyalty to the Princesses. Apparently they did an engineering elective together once when she was still in their school and they’ve been tight ever since.
Puawai, bless her, quickly steers the conversation back on course. “Do we actually know who the new captain is?”
“Absolutely no idea.”
“She can’t be any better than Adora.” Sean Hawkins, their resident idiot, throws an arm around Adora’s shoulders which she gently removes. “We can crush her and the Horde easy.”
“Just because Adora’s amazing doesn’t mean other people can’t be, like, better than her,” Mira points out. Hawkins instantly throws his other arm around her shoulders instead and she shoves him away.
Around her, the team starts to bicker good naturedly. Adora looks down at her feet. Her chest feels tight. She doesn’t like the unknown, and she’s not used to people being better than her.
She knows that Mira’s right, that there’s a small chance of the new captain being on a whole new level of football to her. Maybe even a big chance. The thought is terrifying.
“Guys, it doesn’t matter how good their captain is,” Bow says. He nudges Adora in the back of the thighs with his bag, inadvertently almost knocking her over in his subtle show of solidarity. “Football is a team sport. If we work hard, they can’t even hope to beat us, no matter who leads them.”
There’s a reason why Bow is Adora’s best friend. The rest of the seniors are nodding along, looking a little more confident. She really hopes Bow makes captain, even though that means giving up the position herself. Bow always knows what to say.
They reach the turnoff to her street and she stops gratefully.
“Well, this is me. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning."
She waves as she breaks away from the group and jogs down the road. She doesn’t wish her friends good luck for the last day of trials. They’re all going to get in, one way or another. Adora smiles as she walks home, ready for what the new year will bring.
____________________
January 28, 2018
11:27 P.M.
Bow has added Adora and 13 others to the group chat
Bow has changed the group chat name to Princess Alliance 2k18
Bow: Huge congrats to everyone that made it onto the princesses this year!!! And extra big congrats to our new captain adora!!!
Bow: As per tradition we will be holding the team party at the captains house tmo. Further details to come
Francesca: Don’t we have morning training the day after?
Bow: Haha cute
Sean: ah to be young and responsible
Sean: @Francesca isnt it past your bedtime
Francesca: I’m 15 fuck you
Bow: Asdfghkl who taught you that word?!?!??!
Sean: Thats a fat dollar in the swear jar
Mira: Are we really keeping the swear jar going this year
Bow: Clearly we have to
Francesca: @Adora how do I quit the team
Francesca: @Adora please I’ve made a mistake
Adora: hawkins stop harassing my team
Sean: uh bow is literally doing the same thing
Sean: this is favoritism
Adora: my rules now
Puawai: Hi everyone! What are the plans for the party??
Adora: BYO at mine 8pm (ill send my location to the gc)
Adora: YEAR 11S NO DRINKING
Adora: y12s u can but ur on thin freakin ice
Puawai: <33333
Ella: Well done on your captaincy Adora! And you too Bow for vice captain! Nat and I were rooting for you <3
Natasha: do yall know what this means
Natasha changed Adora’s nickname to Captain She-ra
Natasha changed Bow’s nickname to Vice Mom
Natasha changed her own nickname to guardian of the net
Natasha changed Puawai’s nickname to bad vegan
Natasha changed Ella’s nickname to Lightofmylifeandonlyvalidmemberoftheteam
guardian of the net: Princess Rebellion AGM/Wii Sports Championships gc may be dead but its members live on
guardian of the net: oh and welcome to the new players i guess
Vice Mom: rip Princess Rebellion AGM/Wii Sports Championships gc
Francesca: She-ra?
Captain She-ra: its an inside joke
Sean: what about my nickname :(((((((
Natasha changed Sean’s nickname to seagull
Sean changed his own nickname to seaHAWK
Mira changed Sean’s nickname to seagull
seagull: :’(
Mira changed her own nickname to seamonster
Vice Mom: Awwwww matching nicknames
seamonster: Die.
seamonster: I just wanted a better nickname that made hawkins feel bad
Vice Mom: I mean I guess
bad vegan: Guys can we please let the vegan thing go :(
guardian of the net: not until uve redeemed urself bad vegan
bad vegan: Please I had no idea marshmallows weren’t vegan
guardian of the net: that sounds like a u problem
Lightofmylifeandonlyvalidmemberoftheteam: @guardian of the net Babe this nickname is embarrassing!
guardian of the net: whats wrong with it
guardian of the net: im just stating the facts
seamonster: Thats a dollar for the PDA jar
guardian of the net: what PDA jar???
seamonster: The one I just made @guardian of the net you owe me a dollar
Ella changed her own nickname to Ella <3
guardian of the net: this is bullying im being bullied
Ella <3: Sorry babe :(
Francesca: Is this chat really for football or is this some kind of messed up punishment
Francesca: I’m sorry for whatever I did can I leave the chat now
seagull: ur on the team now theres no leaving the chat
Francesca has left the group chat
seagull: shit
Vice Mom: Thats a fat dollar in the swear jar
seagull: heck
Adora has added Francesa to the group chat
Captain She-ra: sorry @Francesca but the group chat is where u get important team updates
Vice Mom: Its also a great way to get to know your teammates!
Captain She-ra: teamwork makes the dream work
Francesca: How dare you say something like that unironically
Captain She-ra: who said it was unironic
Francesca: Ew that's worse you can't quote memes you're old
Captain She-ra: im 17?????
Captain She-ra: im 2 years older than u???
Francesca: I'm so sorry does it hurt?
Francesca: How are you not dead?
Captain She-ra: the audacity!!!
Vice Mom: I think shes still upset about being treated like a child
Captain She-ra: that was u and hawkins! Why am i the one getting mocked??
Francesca: You're the Captain you represent the interests of the team
Francesca: and I'm interested in ribbing your team
Captain She-ra: how do i resign
_____________________
Bow comes over to Adora’s house mid afternoon the day of the post-trials party. When the door opens he literally throws himself into Adora’s unsuspecting arms with a delighted whoop and both of them go toppling over.
“You did it!” he yells, still crushing Adora with his whole body which now has her pinned to the ground. “You’re Captain!”
“I know!” Adora gasps. She tries to roll out from underneath him but he pulls her back into a spine-breaking hug.
“I’m so freaking proud of you, babe.”
“Bow, I can’t breathe.”
“Oh, right.”
Bow helps pull her back up to her feet, still grinning like a maniac. Adora hasn’t seen him this happy since Carly Rae released her single Cut To the Feeling the year before. It’s a little embarrassing, but also she can’t help but feel pleased as well. She worked hard for this.
“Hey, let’s not forget who got vice as well!” she reminds him.
“Aaaah! I’m so freaking excited!”
Bow picks her up and spins them both around, as if to prove just how excited he is. Adora is torn between screaming and laughing. From her mouth erupts something that’s a little bit of both.
Instead of putting her down, Bow carries her all the way through to the kitchen yelling, “We’re going to crush the Horde this year!”
By the time he deposits her on the counter they’re both giggling, riding happiness like a drug. Bow clears a space and hops up beside her so that they’re both perched on the edge of the bench, surrounded by clutter and fruit.
“So, how are you feeling?”
“Great!” The response is automatic. Adora does not feel great. Instantly she feels guilty for lying, despite all her instincts telling her to put on a brave face. Bow is her best friend, he deserves her honesty. She settles for a half truth. “I’m a little nervous. This is a lot of responsibility. If we lose to the Horde half the town is gonna hate my guts.”
“Aw, babe, you'll be fine.” Bow knocks their shoulders together gently. “Remember I'm here to support you- as your vice and your friend. Have you told Glimmer yet?”
“Yeah! She said she was proud of both of us and was really sad she couldn’t be here for the party.”
“I’m sad she can’t be here too.”
Glimmer is their best friend, the third crucial member of what Bow has dubbed the Best Friend Squad (yeah, he’s bad at naming- everyone has their faults.) She’s still away on holiday and won’t be returning until the start of the school year, much to Adora and Bow’s dismay.
"Speaking of the party, I figured you’d need some help setting up.”
“Yes, oh god, yes.” Has she mentioned Bow is a literal saint? “Bow, no kidding, I actually love you.”
Bow laughs, elbowing her ribs teasingly.
“I love you, too- no hetero. Now let’s get to work.”
There’s only a few hours before the team’s coming round and Adora’s house, as usual, is a tip. Her mother’s away visiting her brother down south and had left her a long list of chores Adora had stuck on the fridge and never looked at again. There’s a week’s worth of dishes piled up in the sink and sports gear hurled over random furniture pieces. The usual clutter of her house is somehow much, much worse.
Bow looks over the mess with an appraising eye, then nods as if coming to a conclusion.
“We’re going to need some 80s smash hits for this. Adora, get me the vacuum cleaner while I set us up.”
Bow puts on Hungry Heart and they get to work. It’s a hot day so Adora throws open all the doors and windows and they both strip down until they’re only in boxer shorts, Adora in her sports bra, and Bow not much more covered in a crop top.
Valuables are stashed in her mum’s room, sports gear put back in its place in Adora’s room. Skeletor, her ancient and fat cat, is scooped up from inside the laundry basket and deposited into his own bed, yowling. Adora finally washes the dishes while Bow dances past her with the vacuum cleaner. Adora flicks suds at him and dips his finger into the bubbles and boops her nose.
They’re both still underage so Bow calls his older sister and she shows up half an hour later with vodka and delivers a strict and lengthy lecture on alcohol consumption that Adora and Bow have both heard before but listen to anyway, even though Adora has no intention of drinking.
“Wait, really?” Bow asks, shocked.
“I mean, yeah. I’m captain this year, so I have to set a good example for the juniors. Also, I need to look after everyone else’s drunk asses.”
Next up they hit the local dairy to grab snacks and mixers. Bow gets stuck in conversation with the cashier who he knows by name, as well as the names of all his children and grandchildren, who he asks about one by one. Eventually Adora just leaves. She’s halfway down the street when Bow realises she’s gone and chases after her.
Eight o’clock arrives with the first five members of the team. Bow has switched out his 80s playlist in favour of last year’s top hits and has elected himself into the position of bartender. Adora opens the door a little apprehensively. This is the first party she’s hosted and her first act as team captain. All apprehensiveness is crushed out of her when Sean Hawkins bounds through the open door and grips her in a bone breaking hug.
“Congratulations on your captaincy!”
“Nice,” Mira intones behind them.
“I brought cider!”
A bottle is pressed into her hand and then the team pushes past her, slapping her back as they go by. From the kitchen she can hear Bow enthusiastically greeting everyone. She looks down at the bottle in her hand. A sketch of a sheep looks back up at her from the label. Huh.
“Adora, get in here!”
She obeys. Something upbeat with a poppy drum line is now playing at full volume from the lounge. Bow drags her into the circle her friends have made and leaves her there to fend for her own.
“Bow says you’re not drinking, Adora!”
“Oh, yeah,” Adora puts her bottle down with the rest of the drinks and shrugs. “I figured since I’m captain I probably shouldn’t this year.”
“Wow, boring.”
“Don’t pressure her, Mira. Adora can do what she wants.”
“Thanks, Puawai. But trust me, the last thing I want to be doing is looking after your drunk butts later.”
Puawai sticks her tongue out at her, takes a swig of her drink, and pulls the finger.
“Does that count as a dollar in the swear jar?” Hawkins asks, idly batting Puawai's hand down as a few scared juniors come in.
“We should charge her anyway.”
“Noooo!”
Adora leaves them to discuss and sets to welcoming the younger students, pouring them Coke and warning them not to drink or she and Bow will kick their collective asses.
More team members come over the next hour until finally the whole team is crammed in Adora’s living room, playing beer pong and shouting over each other. Adora hovers anxiously nearby with paper towels, regretting her vow of sobriety. Yet another drink is spilled, this time by Hawkins who’d been trying to do a trick shot between his legs.
Steadily, the team gets drunker. Bow challenges Hawkins to a slut drop battle (Hawkins loses). Some of the first years start doing karaoke. Ella and Nat haven’t been seen for a while now and Adora’s too wise to go looking for them.
In tears, Hawkins latches himself onto Adora’s arm. He’s sobbing something about slut drops and how much he loves Adora, but the words blur together and don’t make a lot of sense. Wordlessly, Adora hands him a bottle of water. She’s pretty sure that Hawkins isn’t even that drunk, he just has the stable mentality of a see-saw.
“Hey, Adora!”
Adora spins around and Hawkins is sent stumbling away. Francesca is looking up at her, arms folded.
“Your team is very drunk.”
“Our team,” Adora reminds her.
“Yeah, whatever. You have energy drinks here or something, right? They’re going to need them tomorrow.”
“Energy drinks aren’t a cure for hangovers.”
“Adora. It is midnight. The only person asleep is Ella. Everyone else will be up for at least four more hours because they’re too drunk and stupid to remember training starts at eight. Everyone is gonna want some energy drinks.”
“Oh.”
Francesca has made some very valid points. She seems to be aware of that too because she’s smirking up at Adora with the kind of superior attitude year 11s universally all have. Adora is only a little bit intimidated.
“I’ll make a supermarket run. Can you look after everyone while I’m gone?”
“For a price.”
Great. Adora can just tell it’s going to be a real joy captaining this kid. She folds her own arms in an attempt to look slightly more in charge but just feels kind of self conscious doing it. She sighs.
“What do you want?”
“Gummy Snakes.”
“Oh, that’s it?”
“What were you expecting?”
Adora, not wanting to give Francesca any ideas, shrugs. “I’ll get you some Gummy Snakes. Just make sure no one dies or throws up on the carpet.”
“No problem, captain.”
Francesca vanishes back into the mess of drunk footballers and Adora heads to her room to grab her wallet. As she’s leaving someone yanks her sleeve and once again she spins around.
“You okay, Pua?”
Puawai looks down at her, a red flush high on her cheeks and a telling empty bottle clutched loosely in her other hand. She nods and Adora relaxes slightly.
“M’fine. I wanted to ask you a thing.”
“A thing?”
“Yeah.” A vacant expression passes over her face. She looks down at the bottle in her hand then back up at Adora. “Y’know, it’s weird. I’ve drunk like, so much, but I feel toootally fine. So sober.”
“What was the thing you wanted to ask me?” Adora prompts.
“Oh yeah.” She pauses to stifle a burp. “Do you actually, really, think we can win this year?”
“Sure we can!” Oh god, don’t those words spark anxiety in her stomach. She sounds so fake it's painful. She forces a smile but it feels more like a grimace. “It's like Bow said. If we work hard there's nothing that can stop us.”
“But what if the Horde is really good this year? What if you’re not the best player anymore?”
Wow, drunk Puawai is really tapping into Adora’s anxieties here. Can she stop voicing the thoughts that have been plaguing her since her captaincy was announced? Maybe?
“Adora,” Puawai whispers loudly. She leans down unsteadily so that her mouth is somewhere near the vicinity of Adora’s left ear. “What if we can’t do it?”
She starts tipping over and Adora grabs her arm, helping her down to the floor where she can sit with the support of the wall. Puawai still looks like she’s waiting for the answer Adora’s unable to give. She tugs on her shoes to buy time.
“We’ll just have to see what the new captain’s like, won’t we?”
____________________
The first time she sees her is in the supermarket, an entirely unremarkable setting for a totally remarkable event- at least in Adora's mind. The girl is really… really hot. She's in the produce aisle reaching for the top shelf. It’s 1am.
Adora stops dead in her tracks at the end of the aisle and her trolley half threatens to escape her. The twenty or so Red Bulls she's neatly stacked up for her team rattle dangerously. The girl doesn't notice her staring. She's inspecting an avocado, face scrunched in distaste. Adora thinks she has a nice face, though she can only see it in profile. She looks enticing.
At this time, the supermarket is empty except for them. Adora wheels her trolley away, then sharply spins it around and heads back the way she came, purposely slowing down as she reaches the avocado girl's aisle. She doesn't appear to notice. There's an orange in her hand now, being given the same rigorous inspection as the previous fruit.
Adora huffs and repeats the action a few times, eventually growing tired enough to kick hard at the ground and trolley ride past the aisle. Maybe its because it's 1am, maybe because the girl is insanely hot, but Adora is determined not to leave the building without being noticed.
It looks like it's time to take things to the next level. Adora squares her shoulders and directs her trolley into the produce aisle, trying to rattle her trolley as much as possible as she draws nearer. She's now close enough to see the dyed streaks in her hair, the chipped black polish on her nails, the piercings lining her ears. Dear god, she's a goth. Adora is going to die. This isn't fair.
Suddenly Adora's feet have carried her all the way over to her. Goth avocado girl doesn't look up. And then she's moving past. She's moving past hot goth avocado girl towards the vegetables and her mind is screaming at her in incredibly colourful language. She forces her feet to stop and dares to cast a quick glance over her shoulder to where hot goth avocado girl is filling her trolley with stone fruit. Adora watches in horror as she picks up a peach and squeezes lightly. Damn, damn, fuck, damn.
Adora grabs wildly at the vegetables and throws a singular eggplant into her trolley with the Red Bulls. With the grace of a sixteen year old trying to parallel park she maneuvers her trolley around and heads back towards hot goth avocado girl in one last desperate attempt to catch her eye.
It doesn't work. She draws near, then level, and then once again she's passing her by without even a glance. Adora hangs her head, finally conceding defeat. She should probably make her way to checkout and return to the team party before they wonder why she's taking so long.
“Are you lost?”
Adora freezes. The voice is sarcastic and sultry, husky with a honeyed timbre but brightened by its teasing tone. Its sends shivers racing down Adora's spine.
“Uh… um…” Adora stammers. She needs to turn around. She really needs to turn around but Jesus, that voice is doing things to her and she can't think beyond the panicked voice in her head which keeps saying this isn't fair!
With superhuman effort, she un-clenches her hands from the trolley and turns to face the voice. Seeing the girl up close and personal is enough to send Adora spiralling into lesbian hell. The first thing Adora notices is the heterochromia, which quite frankly, shouldn't be allowed.
Common sense out the window, her last two functioning brain cells somehow find some of the confidence she had before, and before she can stop herself her mouth is opening and saying “Only lost in your eyes.”
Hot goth avocado girl raises one perfect eyebrow (the one belonging to the blue eye) and smirks. Adora can feeling the heat rising fast up her neck and blossoming in her cheeks.
“I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that.”
“Don't worry,” the girl says, and flashes Adora a quick smile. “It was kinda cute. Weird… but cute.”
“I'm Adora,” Adora manages. She doesn't know how else to respond to a hot girl calling her cute. Her voice has gone slightly squeaky.
“Catra.”
Suddenly Catra's tossing her something and Adora reaches out to catch it automatically, hands fumbling because she can't seem to take her eyes off Catra's face.
“Well, I better go pay for all this before sunrise. I'm sure I'll see you around, Adora.”
“Oh, right! Yeah. Bye!”
Suddenly Catra's gone, disappearing from the aisle like a dream. Adora waits for a few seconds, stunned. She's not entirely sure what just happened. It occurs to her to look down at her hands, which are still holding the thing Catra had tossed her.
It's a peach.
This isn’t fair.
_____________________
Sean Hawkins has a terrible, unfortunate habit of making stupidly dangerous decisions while drunk. Usually it’s to impress someone, in this case Mira. It often is Mira these days, though Hawkins is too drunk to really read into that. She’s attractive. He’s attractive. Every single time Hawkins does a fancy play in soccer, she's the only one who ignores him.
He doesn’t really remember finding Adora’s hairspray. It’s there in his hand, innocent as anything, like he’s had it all night. He hasn’t- he thinks it arrived somewhere between when he rage quit mario kart and stormed out of the room and when he sheepishly returned, disappointed that no one had followed him. He’s not quite sure what he was doing between those times, though. Surely he didn’t go into the captain’s room…
His thoughts are interrupted by screaming as Mira takes the lead at the last second and finishes first, sending Puawai off a cliff. She’s so good at everything without even trying. It’s unfair. Hawkins will never be good enough for someone like her, never be enough for her. She won’t even look at him most days. And the worst part is she’s right not to do so. He’s useless apart from a few flashy soccer tricks and his singing voice, and even that she won’t listen to.
He looks down at the hairspray and an idea occurs to him. One of his terrible, dangerous ideas he only gets while drunk. He smiles.
“I have a trick,” he announces to the room. Most of them look up, warily. Mira’s eyes don’t stray from the TV. “I’m going to do it now. Mira, watch my trick it’s fucking great.”
He fumbles for the lighter in his pocket. By the time anyone realises what he’s about to do, it’s too late. A flame flickers into life, and then explodes as the hairspray is finally put to good use. The room erupts into screams.
At long last, Mira looks at him.
“Hawkins, what the fuck.”
________________________
“You are the most useless lesbian I have ever met.”
Adora groans and throws herself across the kitchen counter dramatically, face buried in her arms. Through the wall they can hear muffled screaming as the team fights over possession of the Xbox controller.
“She was so hot, Bow. You don't understand! I could've died in there.”
Bow reaches over to pat her head pityingly.
“I don't think that's right, but okay.”
“Please tell me there's more vodka,” Adora begs. “I need to forget how embarrassing I was.”
“You told me you weren't drinking tonight,” Bow says disapprovingly. He's right. Training starts tomorrow and while coach is fully aware of the tradition of the new team partying the night before, it only makes her work them harder. Coach has a reputation for her sick sense of humour. “You're the new captain, you can't just show up to the first practice hungover.”
“I hate you.”
Bow laughs. “Love you too, babe.”
The screaming from the next room suddenly escalates and then Sean Hawkins, this year's right wing, is skidding into the room looking panicked.
“Everything's fine!” he announces, in a voice that clearly suggests everything is not, in fact, fine.
Mira appears in the doorway behind him, looking unimpressed. “The couch is on fire.”
“Hawkins,” Adora growls. She can feel a headache starting to pound in her temples. “What. Did. You. Do.”
“I’m insulted that you think I did anything, Captain,” Hawkins pouts. “Where can I find a bucket of water?”
Bow, the real MVP of Adora's disastrous soccer team, leaps up to find a bucket. Adora leaps up to find the vodka while everyone's distracted. As captain, she knows all too well that she’s supposed to be setting a good example for the team. However after the night (technically morning) she’s had, there's no way on earth she can deal with a drunk Hawkins without being drunk on some level herself. Some people get affectionate or sad when drunk. Hawkins sets fire to things.
“Anyway,” Mira says, drawing out the word as Bow and Hawkins run past her armed with water jugs. “I’m going home. My mum won’t let me stay the night because of the boys. Good luck with… that.”
“Yeah,” Adora moans. The vodka bottle has been put on top of the fridge, just out of her reach. She tries to not stare too obviously as Mira checks her purse for her keys, but the alcohol is calling to her like a siren.“Thanks for coming. I’ll see you in a few hours if Hawkins doesn’t blow up my house.”
“I won’t keep my hopes up.”
Adora sighs and goes to find a chair. It’s going to be a long morning.