(Rival team captains who know nothing about personal space and constantly get into fights where they end up face-to-face every single game until one day one of the coaches yells at them to either kiss or get back to the game au) except, they're on the same team and driving everyone crazy.
It's been like this for as long as Piper can remember.
This tension with Alex Vause.
Piper Chapman had always been raised to be the best at everything she encountered; High Honor Roll, Student Council, first chair, club president, team captain. Her parents accepted nothing less than perfection. And so that's what she gave them. Until she joined the school soccer team; until she met Alex Vause.
Up until Alex Vause Piper had never had much of a problem with exceeding expectations. Up until Alex Vause no one had ever challenged Piper's need for perfection. Up until Alex Vause Piper's life had been fine. And then Alex Vause had blown in like some sort of storm and shook up everything.
They're freshmen when they officially meet for the first time. Standing on the field with a handful of other girls as the coach and older players look over the fresh meat. Alex Vause was no stranger to Piper Chapman, though she was somewhat taken aback at her presence in this particular gathering. She'd had the girl pegged as more of a tennis or track star and was surprised to find soccer as the sport Litchfield's star pupil would be playing for.
She didn't initially have a problem with the girl, wasn't overly fond of some of the people she kept company with, but for the most part Alex's interest in Piper Chapman was largely unpresent. That was until they actually started playing.
Piper Chapman was, for all intents and purposes, a good girl. Which is probably why Alex found it so easy to get under the girl's skin. She picked up quickly on the fact that Piper Chapman expected to be the best. And she expected to be met with little resistance in her quest to be so. She threw herself into the sport with a fervor the other girls couldn't quite muster. And Alex suddenly found herself wanting to challenge the eager blonde.
She'd always been somewhat gifted at the sport. Enough so that her mother finally managed to convince her to set aside her personal convictions about high school functions and go out for the school team. She knows part of it is in thanks to her naturally competitive spirit. Which also happens to be the reason she suddenly finds herself clashing so brilliantly with Piper Chapman.
They're drawn to each other like moths to a flame and the rest of the team falls into the background in the midst of their budding fixation. Slamming into one another on the field like magnets, yanked together by some sort of pull they cannot fight, as they scramble for purchase over the ball. It's a power struggle, a palpable and crackling electricity, and it quickly catches the attention of everyone around them.
It doesn't take long for either of them to break out as who to watch among the new players.
Their new coach, Mendoza, in particular, takes a quiet interest in their behavior, pairing them up and playing them against one another for awhile before figuring out how best to work with the overwhelming drive that they instill in each other. She makes them forwards; a reliant partnership on the field and an at odds competition during practice, and eventually cracks open the key to their potential. She notices early that they're not challenged by the rest of their teammates or opposing players; at their best when they're playing against each other. Which, if handled incorrectly, could seriously harm the team as a whole. But Piper Chapman and Alex Vause have a resounding sense of the overall important and she quickly discovers that placing them in cooperative positions allows them to drive one another without sacrificing the good of the team.
So their quiet war wages on, Mendoza stroking the flames and bringing the fire to it's fullest potential. And when a senior player injures herself during the final half of an important match, Alex Vause is the first freshman player to take the field during a Varsity game. And Piper Chapman seethes quietly from the end of the bench.
Thus sparking the ignition of their burning rivalry.
.
So it goes, on throughout the years, in a similar manner.
They make it to the state finals freshman year, and it sets the pace for the next several years to come.
It's a weekend long excursion spent within the vicinity of a rather prestigious college on the other side of the state and Mendoza announced the rooming setups before they had even boarded the bus to begin their journey. Two girls to a room, one bed between them, a great bonding experience.
"Chapman and Vause."
They had been surprised the first year, and predictably annoyed.
"I don't even wanna hear it," Mendoza begins, hand raised in dismissal before either of them can utter a word, "the rooming arrangements are based on positions within the team. You're my Freshman forwards; you're sharin' a room. Try not to kill each other."
They merely roll their eyes the second year.
They'd stubbornly avoided each other to their fullest extent the first year. Sleeping on the furthest edges of their shared mattress, making sure they were never in the room at the same time except for the eight or so hours they spent unconscious. It doesn't change a lot Sophomore year, but they're a little more used to one another's presence, having two years of cooperative teamwork behind them at that point. They still sleep on opposite ends of the bed, but their positions are a little less stiff. And when Piper enters the room from her pre-dinner run, Alex doesn't immediately make herself scarce.
Sophomore year Piper Chapman breaks the state record for goals scored in their division.
They rarely see each other outside the field. Save for silent passes in the hallways or fleeting glances in the cafeteria. Piper still keeps company with just about every single person in the school that Alex hates. But she thinks it might be hard not to when she begins to realize Piper Chapman keeps company with just about every goddamn person in school period. She also begins to notice that Piper Chapman knows everyone but no one seems to really know Piper Chapman.
She doesn't really dwell too long on that thought.
It happens one afternoon after Jessica Wedge calls Alex a particularly nasty name at lunch when she appears in the doorway and pauses to roll her eyes and scoff at the mockery from the table full of her least favorite people. And of course Piper Chapman is among them.
"Shut up, Jessica." Piper mutters, standing to collect her tray.
"Oh, what?" Jessica laughs, "just because you have some weird crush on her now, we all suddenly have to lay off Alex Vause?"
"Trust me. No one hates Alex Vause more than I do. I just prefer not to be tacky about it."
Alex doesn't hear whatever Jessica says in response, her eyes are locked with Piper's as she tosses out the remains of her lunch and pauses, shoulder to shoulder, in the cafeteria doorway. No words are exchanged outright, but something passes between them before Piper dips her chin slightly and continues through the doors.
Alex doesn't have much of a problem with Jessica Wedge after that.
And something about no one knowing the real Piper Chapman, and the idea of being a part of something bigger, a shift in dynamic, and a hazy echoing of the word team begins to swim idly at the back of Alex's mind.
Junior year Alex Vause wins MVP within the state championships and gets the coveted #10 jersey.
(By Junior year the gap in the center of the bed isn't quite so large.)
Senior year Piper Chapman becomes Captain.
Alex is announced as Vice Captain and is predictably livid when their coach turns to leave. Storming after Mendoza as she heads towards the gym and her office, demanding to know why exactly Piper Chapman had been made Captain when they all knew Alex was the best player on the team.
"It's nothing personal, Vause. True, you're an edge over her when it comes to skills on the field, but Chapman's the more logical choice when it comes to leading this team."
"Why!?" Alex roars, earning a glare from the older woman over her shoulder as she moves into her office, preparing to leave for the night.
"Because you gotta ask me questions like that," she simply says.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex asks, voice lowered, a forced sense of calm at the woman's previous glare.
"It means if you can't see why I made Chapman Captain, Vause, then I've made the right decision."
She climbs into her truck that evening with a extra aggressive slam of the door, before emptying her lungs of a loud scream, fingers curling tightly into the material of the steering wheel, "FUCK." She growls, running a hand through her hair and collecting herself once more, "fuck."
.
If playing with Piper Chapman was bad, playing under her was a whole new level of hell.
Alex holds onto her temper for as long as she can, but it all boils forward after just one week and a very hot day.
Piper's been riding her all practice (and Alex has been doing increasingly little to heed her commands), when finally something snaps and the scrimmage game grinds to a halting standstill. It's something they haven't done since they were kids, but it happens abruptly, exploding violently like a pent up eruption, and suddenly they're in the middle of the field screaming at each other in front of the entire team.
"Hey, HEY! Alright, break it up, BREAK IT UP!" Mendoza yells, stalking into the field, "Oh, nuh uh, we are so far past this behavior, both of you, take a run. You know the drill."
Scowling at each other and the familiar punishment they lower their heads and take off down the field.
They spend the rest of practice circling the field, the freshmen players watching their sweat-soaked forms reverently from the corner of their eyes. It's not the first time they'd seen their Captains go at it, but it's certainly the most explosive, and they make their mental notes not to piss either of them off.
Mendoza calls them off finally as the rest of the team collects their water bottles and begins heading towards the locker rooms.
"Chapman," the older woman calls out, and Piper lowers her water bottle and straightens her spine, heading across the field to where her coach stands.
Alex's eyes trails over them for a moment as she finishes gathering her things and catching her breath, and snippets of their muted conversation drift across the field on the heels of the light breeze. "I'm sorry" and "I understand" and "It won't happen again, ma'am" and when she passes Piper Chapman on her way out of the locker room later, Alex tries to ignore the ring of red around the girl's eyes as she knocks her fist moodily against the lockers.
.
They manage to keep it together for the most part after that.
Piper avoids confrontation by avoiding Alex altogether as much as she can, and Alex does her best to ignore the subtle change.
It's a shift she hasn't seen for some time. The kind that usually comes with the more important matches, when Piper's parents make an appearance to watch quietly from the stands. Alex never thought much of it, this shift in Piper's demeanor, only vaguely noticing the way the younger girl's focus would sharpen after those matches as she met her parents across the field and exchanged muted conversations before watching them depart, alone, from the parking lot. But it wasn't the sharpened sort of focus that Alex typically enjoyed playing off of. It was an introspective sort of focus that'd leave the blonde quiet and withdrawn for days on end before gradually relaxing back into her usual stuck up self. And it used to leave Alex wondering what sort of muffled words were being exchanged as Piper Chapman stood rigid and small under her parent's weighted gaze.
They're a month into the season when she gets her answer.
It's a long weekend. Some bullshit holiday no one really celebrates but society still dictates there must be a day off of school and work for the observation of.
She hadn't seen much of Piper Chapman in the last few days. Outside of practice, that is. She usually can't go more than a few periods before passing the girl in the hall or running into her at lunch. But whatever Piper's been occupying her time with lately has kept her scarce. And that nagging voice in the back of Alex's mind can't stop going over that quiet shift.
She's pretty sure that's how she ends up at the party.
It's been a long few weeks, between falling back into a new soccer season and a new school year, and her mind's incessant need to fixate on the idea of Piper Chapman at the most ridiculous times. It hadn't taken much for her friends to coax her into coming out for the night.
Truthfully though, Alex doesn't really know why she's here. Parties seem to have lost their appeal since she joined the soccer team. Maybe it's the sudden realization that she can make something out of this, and she doesn't exactly want to throw it all away for a night of drunken debauchery. Or maybe it's just that she's getting older and the thrill of rebellion doesn't hold the same appeal it once did when she was young. Either way, she's somehow coerced into attending this particular get together, and she decides she might as well make the most of it. She keeps her head about her though, opting to forgo the unnecessary hassle of a hangover (and still listening to the quiet reminder at the back of her mind about scholarships and records and staying out of trouble), and stays leveled at a consistent buzz.
Piper Chapman doesn't typically attend parties.
Not that she has anything against them. She just rarely finds the time between the overabundant amount of extracurricular activities and life experience her parents demand of her. In all actuality Piper Chapman loves parties. They're one of the few places she can drop the Little Miss Perfect act and just lose herself. It just happens that the parties she attends are so few and far between. But it's been a rough month (Senior year comes with the added weight of an actual future and the expectations of her parents have nearly tripled with the new year). So she lets Polly drag her out tonight with the intention to forget just about everything about this shitty month. And it doesn't take her long to get good and plastered.
She's swaying to the music, lost in a haze of alcohol and the pleasant sensation of a body behind her, when she suddenly decides she needs another drink. Stumbling from the room, she mumbles a slurred apology as she weaves haphazardly through the mass of sweaty, grinding bodies. She makes it as far as the doorway before forgetting where she was going, her gaze sweeping the rooms around her as she ambles aimlessly through the house, before landing upon a familiar body.
Alex Vause.
She's got her hands under one of the cheerleader's shirts (she can't remember her name Becky? Bailey? Brittany?) and her tongue in her mouth, and they're grinding against one another like a couple of cats in heat. If the alcohol hadn't already done so, Piper's sure the sight would have flared her cheeks bright red. She pauses momentarily, somewhat taken aback at this new image of Alex, and her drunken mind scrambles to make sense of the barrage of thoughts suddenly pouring through it.
She doesn't know how long she stands there watching them for (probably too long, time always tends to blur the more Piper drinks), but she's suddenly hit hard with the memory of her original task when she shakes herself free. The kitchen is crowded when she enters, but she has an easy enough time finding herself several more drinks, and she's reached the next stage of fucked up by the time she finally stumbles back out.
She doesn't know where Polly's gone, hasn't seen her for hours (at least she thinks it's hours, it might have been minutes, it might have been years). Something inside of her is burning hard, has been since she caught sight of Alex Vause. She thinks it might be hatred, familiar, but it's tinged with something else, and it doesn't take her long to find another willing body to grind upon, losing herself once again in the music. This one follows her when she makes to pull away though, trailing closely after her as she stumbles through the house, feeding her drink after drink.
There's a hand at her arm, and it's pulling. Pulling her in a direction she doesn't want to go, but she doesn't really know how to fight it so she settles for quiet unhappy groans as her feet stumble haltingly along obediently. He's trying to take her upstairs, hot breath against her ear whispering words she can't quite make out but they're soft and gentle. Coaxing. She tries to pull away again, grumbling a little louder but the hand on her arm tightens and it hurts and she whimpers softly in hazy pain.
"No." Is all she can manage to mumble out, petulantly, her feet finally catching up with the rest of her body and digging into the carpet.
"C'mon, babe, we're just gonna go upstairs and rest for a little."
"Mm-mm."
The hand squeezes again and she's vaguely aware of the fact that she's about to be dragged up the stairs whether her feet continue to cooperate or not when a familiar voice breaks through the loud buzz of the party.
"Hey!"
The insistent hand falters slightly, it's grip loosening before re-tightening, words are being exchanged, Piper can't quite make them out because somewhere within the last forty seconds the room started spinning and her arm hurts so goddamn much and suddenly the hand is gone. A new pair of hands are grabbing her; gentle and soft, and Piper falls into them with abandon, sighing in relief.
"Back the fuck off, now!" The voice growls, and Piper presses herself into a warm neck. The voice is angry, but it doesn't frighten her, a weird sense of calm washes over her as she inhales a vaguely familiar scent. Almost as if she's smelt it before but not quite so intensely. There's a familiar underlying muskiness to it that Piper can detect through the lightest sheen of sweat marking the tops of the voice's collarbones. But it's mingled with something soft, a gentler scent, one that's been applied unnaturally; a hint of perfume... or cologne... the faintest whiff of cigarette smoke... leather... they swirl with the voice's natural scent and Piper finds herself sinking deeper into the warm embrace as she inhales as much of it as she can.
The voice eventually succeeds in chasing away the hand and suddenly the idea of resting is the most appealing thing in the world. The severity of Piper's headache begins to weigh in heavily, and she becomes acutely aware of just how tired she is.
"Hey... kid, hey." The voice coaxes, attempting to pry her away from the warm neck, and Piper protests feebly, "Chapman."
It's in the vocalization of her last name that Piper finally places the voice and the scent. Alex.
"Alee... ex?" She slurs quietly, pulling her head away to peer blearily into the familiar set of eyes.
"Hey..." Alex murmurs, brows furrowing as she studies Piper's blown gaze, "Jesus, Chapman, how much have you had to drink?" Piper offers a garbled, unintelligible response. "I think it's time to get you home." Normally Piper would protest, hating to leave a party when she's still semi-aware, but something about the concern swimming in Alex's gaze captures her attention and she nods mutely. "Who'd you come with?" Alex asks gently.
"Polly."
"And where is she?"
"I dunno." Piper slurs.
Alex sighs, gazing around the party before seeming to make a decision. "Alright, kid, c'mere," she eases Piper to her side, arm sliding around her unsteady shoulders for support and begins to maneuver them towards the kitchen. Her bottom plunks heavily into a chair as Alex busies herself with rifling through the cabinets in search of a glass, which she eventually finds and fills with cold water.
"Here."
Piper accepts it silently, drinking it down in huge gulps. When she's finished, she slides it gently across the table, her eyes trailing it's movement as her head begins to sink lower and lower. It's almost as if she can no longer support her own weight and the soft haziness returns as she sinks bonelessly in on herself, forehead dropping with a quiet thunk to the table.
And then Alex's hands are grabbing her waist.
"What're you doing?" She sputters, jumping slightly from the chair, earning a alarmingly confused look from the brunette.
"I'm looking for your phone. Because you're obviously too far gone to be of any help." Piper eyes her quietly, slowly piecing together the new string of information in her mind, "I just asked you like six questions and the only response I got was you passing out on the table." Her fingers close around the phone as she finishes her sentence and she withdraws it with a triumphant sigh of relief.
Piper eases her head back into her arms, now folded atop the table, and watches Alex tiredly from the corner of her slowly closing eye. She only catches snippets of the conversation as she begins to fade in and out of consciousness. ("Yeah, that Alex.") ("What do you mean you left!?") ("I have no fucking idea where she lives!") ("She's not exactly in a position to tell me right now.") ("We'll be there in fifteen.")
"Alright, Chapman, up n' at 'em." Alex murmurs, sliding the phone back into Piper's pocket before slipping her hands under her arms. She eases her to her feet, scrambling for a better grip when Piper sways dangerously, threatening to fall face first into the kitchen floor.
"Where'we going?" Piper mumbles, eyes fighting to stay open as Alex moves them steadily through the house.
"I'm taking you to Polly's."
She allows the darkness at the edges of her gaze to slip a little farther.
She's reawakened by a slamming door, forehead crinkling at the sound, and she blinks blearily in it's general direction. She's in a truck, Alex Vause beside her, mumbling soft curses as she turns a key and the engine revs to life. Piper watches her through half-lidded eyes, slipping in and out of consciousness. Shadows dance over the older girl's face in irregular patterns from the various streetlights and buildings they pass, accentuating her sharp features. And Piper's noticed them before, but there's something different about seeing them in the cover of darkness, illuminated in intervals under the passing lights.
"Alex..." she murmurs, voice barely a scratchy whisper, and she waits for Alex's gaze to slide from the road to her own, "thank you."
Piper's all but unconscious when they finally arrive at Polly's, and Alex shifts the truck into park with a sigh.
Her gaze sweeps over the still form of Piper Chapman, and she lingers in the moment for awhile. She's not used to seeing the blonde so peaceful (and that insistent little voice sparks up once more). An innocence marks her features that Alex has never witnessed before - her brows usually pulling with determination, her mouth tight with a restrained control, her eyes hard with steely focus - but under the soft glow of the streetlights and the quiet grip of sleep Piper Chapman looks almost angelic. It's a side Alex wouldn't mind seeing more of. But she squashes the idea down as soon as it arises, pushing herself from the truck, striding around the help the groggy blonde from it's warmth.
She doesn't see Piper again for another couple of days.
School starts back up and once more, and Piper Chapman is still missing from her usual paths among the halls. Alex isn't even entirely sure if the girl has survived that night, if she's being honest (though she's sure if Piper Chapman had died someone would be talking about it). They had't had a practice since last week and the last time she'd seen the blonde she'd been hanging limply from Polly's doorstep as the smaller girl dragged her into the house. Alex doesn't dwell on the thought.
But that insistent voice in the back of her mind reminds her every so often, regardless.
And tonight it's not alone. Her thoughts are raging loudly.
It's late. A rare night when her mother's home and sleeping, and Alex's restlessness forces her from the small apartment and into the streets.
She walks aimlessly on nights like these. The simple thoughtless motions keeping her limbs occupied and her mind distracted.
She never tells anyone about her midnight walks (though she suspects her mother knows), about the nights her anxieties weigh too heavy and the buzzing in her head grows too loud. The roaring storms in her mind gradually calm as her feet carry her through the town, and the still darkness of the night slowly wipes away her restlessness. She treads familiar paths, cutting towards places she's always felt the most herself.
This is where she finds Piper Chapman.
Her feet have carried her to the school tonight, unconsciously leading her towards the fences and fields she feels most at home on. But tonight she's not alone, and she pauses for a moment, eyeing the unusual scene before her. Someone else is already here, running long, steady laps around the empty track. Casting her eyes around briefly, Alex tentatively makes her way closer, eyes trained on the bobbing white t-shirt and familiar shock of blonde hair.
Piper Chapman.
Alex's feet carry her slowly to the fence lining the track as if drawn by some sort of silent call, where she comes to a quiet stop, somewhat startled at the younger girl's presence. She's intrigued at the sight of Piper Chapman, sweating and fixated, as she pushes herself down the long stretch of rubber, and she can't help but follow her every move as she approaches the length of fence Alex is currently leaning against.
Her mouth is open, just slightly, as she sucks in lung-fulls of air. Sweat trails down her neck and over her collarbones in small rivulets, and sticks the few wayward strands of hair that have managed to escape from her loose ponytail against her forehead and cheeks. Alex's eyes linger at the patch of sweat slowly dampening the area against Piper's chest (imagines there's a matching pattern growing against the space between her shoulder blades). And, almost as if she can sense it, Piper's blue eyes snap to Alex's as they finally rise to meet her own.
A gentle sort of confusion crosses her face and she looks as if she's contemplating whether to stop or continue on as she grows closer to Alex's position.
Apparently making a decision, her pace slows to a trot, before coming to a stop altogether just on the other side of the fence, and they study each other in quiet contemplation for a moment.
"Alex." She murmurs by way of greeting.
"Piper." Alex returns. "What're you doing here?" She asks, leaning against the fence.
"Running."
"Yeah," Alex scoffs, "I can see that. I mean why."
"Needed to clear my head," Piper murmurs.
"Yeah..." the brunette nods quietly, gazing around the empty track, "any luck?"
"No." A defeated sort of chuckle breaks through the blonde's lips as she moves to lean against the opposite side of the fence that stretches between them, before regarding Alex with a thoughtful look, "what're you doing here?"
"Needed to clear my head," Alex admits softly, "went for a walk... noticed someone on the field."
"Any luck?" Piper whispers, and Alex's gaze drops to the ground between them before rising to lock with Piper's through the fence.
"Wanna spar?"
The rest of the conversation passes between them silently, as Piper's head tilts, holding Alex's gaze in the still quiet of the night. She nods slowly, surely, and steps away from the fence, waiting for Alex to join her.
They lose track of how long they play for, lost in their silent tallies of increasing one-ups until the sky begins to melt from a thick black to a muted gray.
"Shit," Alex eventually sighs, eyeing her watch as they catch their breath in the aftermath of her last goal (the silent score now even), "school starts in three hours."
Piper grunts from down the field.
"Uuuugh." Alex grunts, dropping tiredly to the ground. She doesn't notice Piper approaching until she's settling down beside her, water bottle held out in silent offering. "Thanks," Alex murmurs softly, their fingers brushing gently.
Piper simply nods.
They're quiet for a moment, taking small pulls from the water bottle and staring out at the field before them.
"Do you do this a lot?" Alex murmurs after awhile, "come here and just... run?"
Piper's silent for a long moment and Alex begins to think she's not going to get an answer (doesn't quite blame her for it), before her gaze drops to her hands and she mutters, "often enough. Just whenever... whenever the weight becomes a little too much."
And Alex finds herself thinking back to Piper's fists knocking steadily against those lockers, and to Piper's spine tensing under Mendoza's quiet scolding, to Piper's wildly detached persona as she knocked back drink after drink at that party, and to Piper's eyes going cold and losing that driving spark after every quiet conversation with her parents after every less than perfect game.
And Alex's mind drifts to her own weights; her mother's multiple jobs, and the vastness of her frighteningly bleak future, and the pressure to change as much of it as she can, to earn whatever she can from the few talents she's been given.
"Yeah." She murmurs softly.
They don't say anything when they pass each other in the hallway four hours later.
But Piper's eyes aren't quite so hard (shining with a familiar spark) and the weight of her sullen, withdrawn heaviness begins to recede as they take the field later that afternoon for practice. And when her body collides with Alex's and they fight for purchase over the ball between them, Alex catches sight of that driven focus she's grown begrudgingly fond of, and can't quite tamp down her own determined eagerness as they pick up where they left off eleven hours ago.
And just like that Piper Chapman shifts back into place.
.
The rest of the month goes out smoothly.
They head into their first few real matches with a casual sort of easiness.
But it's a laxness that can't last.
It's an exceptionally hot day for mid-autumn, two months into the season, and everyone's more irritable than usual. Especially their Captain and Vice Captain.
They'd nearly lost their last match, only managed to pull out a win in the last few minutes by a stroke of luck when the strongest member of the opposite team injured herself and couldn't finish out the game. Their leaders were predictably unimpressed and after Mendoza ran them through their standard routines for the day, Piper stepped up to initiate extended practice. She kept them on the field for another hour.
They'd been running suicide drills for the last fifteen minutes when she called for everyone to take a cool down lap around the field before bringing it in for more shots on goal.
"Seriously!?" One of the freshman players shouts, and the rest of the team falls silent.
"Yeah," Piper says softly, "seriously. Do you have a problem with that?"
"Yeah!" The girl growls, "this is ridiculous, practice ended like an hour ago! We won the stupid game on Friday why are we out here killing ourselves for it!?"
"We did win, yes." Piper says, approaching the younger girl, "but that doesn't mean we deserved to. This team has been the best in the state for five years running and I don't intended to lose that title now. Which is exactly what's going to happen if we continue to play the way we did last week. If you don't think you can handle it, by all means, walk away. I don't have time for weak links."
She comes to rest before the girl, eyebrows raised, awaiting her decision.
"Tch." The girl scoffs, turning her face away, and Piper nods.
"Good." She continues past the younger girl, preparing to lead the team through their cool down lap.
"Bitch." The girl grumbles under her breath once Piper's passed.
"Hey." Alex barks suddenly and the team pauses once more, "do you wanna spend the rest of your high school career riding the fucking bench?"
"No." The girl says petulantly.
"Well that's what's gonna fucking happen if you don't knock it off with the childish attitude right the fuck now. You're fifteen fucking years old. Fucking act like it! Apologize to your Captain and your teammates, and if I ever hear you call another member of this team anything like that again you will be riding the bench for the rest of the fucking season." She's in the girl's face by the time she finishes and the girl visibly pales under her gaze, "understand?"
"Yes." She whispers somewhat fearfully.
"Good. Go run your fucking laps. Make it two. You could use the extra workout."
Nodding again the girl lowers her head, passing Piper with a mumbled "sorry", and takes off down the field, properly cowed.
The rest of the team lingers, eyes flicking between their Captains. Alex's hands move to rest on her hips as she recollects herself, jerking her head to toss a stray strand of hair away from her face. Her eyes lock with Piper's and a silent conversation seems to pass between them as the team awaits their final orders.
"One more lap. Another round of shots on goal. We pack it in." Piper finally murmurs, gaze still locked with the brunette's.
A groan or two ripples through the team (freshmen who are still learning the limits of Piper Chapman and Alex Vause's anger, quickly hushed by the senior players), as they head off one by one to start their cool down lap. Alex's eyes drop from Piper's as the girls begin to make their way around the field, nodding slowly. They set off silently after their team, keeping a natural sort of pace side by side.
They pause briefly at the collection of water bottles upon completion of their lap, gulping down mouthfuls of cool water before heading across the field towards the goal for their final task. Alex and Piper linger, quietly making sure there are no more complaints as the girls prepare to finish up for the night.
Pulling the bottle from her lips, Alex throws her head back, dumping what's left of the cool water over her head. Small rivers of water split into various little trails down her skin and Piper's eyes trace each and every one of them as she gulps down mouthful after mouthful of her own water. Her gaze lingers briefly at Alex's defined stomach muscles as they twitch slightly in fatigue, before sliding back up her body. She's in nothing but a sports bra and shorts and Piper finds herself quietly envious of the girl's easy beauty. Because Alex Vause is beautiful. She ends her study of Alex Vause as she notices her team growing antsy by the goal, tossing aside her water bottle and jogging over to initiate the final round of practice.
Alex's eyes follow her across the field as she finishes tying her hair back up, gaze trailing slowly over the long firm muscle of Piper's legs, showcased somewhat brilliantly in her rather short shorts. She might hate a lot of things about Piper Chapman but the girl's certainly got one of the fittest bodies Alex has ever seen.
.
But things pick up again.
And they regain their stride as best team in the league, hitting a string of wins that leaves the whole team flying high and eager. Mendoza routinely reminds them of scouting agents and scholarships and making sure they're always at the top of their game, and they lock into a collectively driven focus that leaves them almost unstoppable.
They're nearly halfway through the season when everything shatters.
It's an important match, the first of several against their rivals, the prep school from the next county over, and they're giving Litchfield a run for their money.
Both sides have yet to score and the stagnant weight of the pointlessly tied game leaves tensions running high. Frustrations boil over from both sides, and Piper's having just enough trouble keeping her own temper in check as she attempts to keep her team together under a growing string of bad calls. Alex, in particular. The center midfielder is an aggressive player who's clashed with Piper and Alex's short tempers since the lot of them were Freshmen. Today is no different, and after a particularly harsh collision that nearly sent her to her ass mid-field, Alex is out for blood.
As the whistle blows signaling halftime they drag themselves from the field in tired angry frustration.
"This is bullshit!" Janae Watson growls, "these refs aren't calling anything!"
"Oh no," Alex quips, dosing herself with a squirt of her water bottle, "they're calling. It's just all on us."
"We can't let it get to us." Piper murmurs from the edge of the group, where she stands stretching her calves, "we're better than them. We've beaten them multiple times over. Today is no different. Bullshit biased refs or no."
Janae scoffs.
Alex sighs.
The team regroups.
They're several minutes into the new half when it happens.
Piper's gotten ahold of the ball, is making her way up the field, ready to pull Litchfield ahead when the opposing center midfielder hits her out of nowhere. It's a dirty move, a blatant slide tackle that connects with Piper's ankle with a sickening snap, causing Piper to let out a loud yelp as she slams to her back against the ground.
"Hey!" Alex yells, cutting quickly across the field towards her fallen teammate as the whistle blows and the medical aids jog out onto the field. She's in the aggressor's face before the girl can grasp what's happening, shoving her back and snarling a low string of threatening curses as the refs attempt to pry the two apart. Teammates finally catching up to the argument, they're gradually led to their respective ends of the field by firm hands and low murmuring voices.
Piper's still on her back in the center of the field and Alex pulls away from her concerned teammates to jog towards the fallen blonde.
"How bad is it?" She asks gruffly, as the aids run their hands over Piper's leg, asking her soft questions about where it hurts and how much. The blonde's eyes are screwed shut, her teeth clenched as she sucks short heaving breaths between their gaps.
"It's not looking good," Fischer murmurs softly. Then to Piper, "can you stand?"
The blonde begins to shake her head for half a second before snapping her eyes open, sapphire gaze locking on Alex's emerald over Fischer's shoulder. "Yeah," she grinds out, gritting her teeth and nodding once, firmly. Slinging an arm around both Fischer and Bennett's shoulders respectively, she slowly hoists herself to her feet, breath catching as she moves to put slight pressure on her injured ankle. Her gaze doesn't waver from Alex's.
"We're gonna take you to the hospital, just to be safe." Fischer murmurs, but Piper shakes her head firmly.
"No. There's thirteen minutes left. I'm staying. We can go when the match is finished."
"Chapman-" Bennett starts, but Piper cuts him short, eyes still locked on Alex's, "I'm the captain of this team and I won't leave them until the match is finished."
Alex holds her gaze evenly as the blonde nods for them to take her to the bench.
She can tell the younger girl is in a lot of pain. More-so than she's letting on. But she knows, had their positions been reversed, she'd have made the same choice. She nods once, just so, Piper responding with a subtle nod of her own, before breaking eye contact. A soft applause whispers through the crowd as Piper's led limping from the field and Alex drops her gaze to her cleats as she collects a steadying breath.
She moves to take her position once more.
She lasts an impressive three minutes before the smug taunting of the girl who'd injured Piper gets the best of her. Seeing her opening as the girl breaks away with the ball, Alex shoots after her, eager for a chance to return the favor. Her shoulder connects harshly with the other girl's ribs and she goes barreling into the grass as Alex takes control of the ball. She's taken all of three steps when the whistle sounds, halting her in her tracks as she whirls towards the advancing ref.
"Foul!"
"Are you fucking kidding me!?" She demands.
"Hey! Watch your language, #10!" The ref growls.
"You haven't called anything on them for the last seventy minutes and now you're gonna call that! This is horseshit!"
"I advise you to shut your mouth #10, final warning!" The pudgy man barks, reaching for his pocket.
"Yeah well I advise you do your fucking job," Alex snarls, and the whistle blows again as he raises his fist toward the sky, bright yellow card flashing against the sun.
Alex's mouth falls open in livid disbelief, but before she can utter another word the sharp voice of her coach rings out across the field, "VAUSE!"
Whirling towards the older woman, the fight abruptly leaves her as Alex eyes the replacement lined up patiently at the side of the field.
"Fuck." She mutters, turning to trot towards the waiting girl, hands slapping lightly as they take one another's place.
"Park it." Mendoza barks, her gaze not leaving the field as Alex scowls and throws herself onto the cool bench.
"What the fuck was that!?" Piper hisses angrily and Alex turns to her in disbelief.
"Are you fucking kidding me!? What the fuck was that!? That fucking asshole let them get away with snapping your ankle but everyone's got a problem with this!?"
"That is not the kind of shit we need right now, Alex!" Piper growls, "Especially when we're playing with an unfair ref!"
"Oh well excuse the fuck outta me for feeling a little fucking cheated about it all!" Alex snarls back.
"Alex you and I are the best goddamn players on this team and it'll do no one any good if we're both benched for the next however many games. I know you're angry, I'm fucking angry too, and that ref is definitely calling unfairly but we cannot afford to lose our shit over this! You need to pack it in, man the fuck up, and go out there and do what you do best; kick their fucking metaphorical asses by beating them so severely they leave this field in tears!"
They hold one another's gazes challengingly, Piper's chest heaving as she finishes her hushed tirade. Her pupils have dilated slightly and Alex can't quite tell if it's from the pain of her ankle or something else entirely, but something inside her clicks under Piper's heated gaze and she's suddenly acutely aware of why Mendoza had made the blonde the team captain instead of herself. Piper's temper had always been worse than Alex's but her drive had always been about the big picture.
She lowers her head, recollects herself, and waits silently for Mendoza to put her back in.
She's scored three goals by the time the final whistle blows.
She catches Piper's eye from the center of the field, her team pulsing around her with whooping shouts and pounding arms. Sapphire eyes lock with hers immediately and Piper's chin tilts in an approving nod, slow contented smile breaking out across her face. And Alex nods back, as teammates thump her on the back shouting their congratulations, oblivious to their Vice Captain's distraction. They hold one another's gaze for a moment before Piper finally allows Fischer and Bennett to lead her towards the team van.
.
Alex later learns Piper's injury had been much worse than the blonde let on.
A complex fracture that leaves her unable to finish out the season.
When she hears that particular bit of news Alex's world tilts. The team has been visiting in small waves, this much Alex knows from the murmurs she picks up on the pitch. A card and small "get well" care package have been making the rounds, which Alex eventually takes upon herself to deliver. The team wisely says nothing.
She's never been to Piper Chapman's house before. Though she's not really surprised when she pulls up to something that's roughly four times the size of her and her mother's small home. An older woman answers the door when Alex knocks, and tells her Piper's resting in her room and that she can see herself up before disappearing back down the hallway.
Her eyes trail over the collection of pictures lining the wall, various staged portraits of rather miserable looking children. She pauses briefly beside a particularly miserable looking one of a young Piper. She can't be more than ten or eleven, but the emptiness in her eyes strikes something within Alex. Her eyebrows furrow slightly before she shakes her head, making her way up the rest of the stairs.
Piper's door is slightly ajar when she reaches it and she knocks gently making sure she's alerted the blonde to her presence before pushing it open the rest of the way. Her attention having been on her laptop before the interruption, Piper's eyes widen slightly before relaxing at the sight of the brunette. "Alex," she murmurs, somewhat surprised.
"Hey kid, how ya doin'?"
"Alright." Piper murmurs, "better."
And Alex nods.
And they pretend they believe it for a moment. Pretend they haven't always been able to see past the bullshit that everyone else gets so tangled in. Then Piper sighs, shakes her head. And Alex is sighing in return as she sets the card and small gift basket atop Piper's bed and slides into the chair that's been pulled up to it's side.
"It's bad," Piper whispers, studying the small offering, a tightness seeping into her voice, "really bad. I mean... the girls pretty much know I'm out for the rest of the season, but they don't... they don't know how bad. I don't really... know how to tell people. ... what to tell people..." she draws a shaky breath and finally meets Alex's gaze, "they said I might never play again."
It's nothing Alex hadn't been expecting but she feels as if the wind's been knocked out of her anyway.
"Pipes..." she murmurs.
"Don't." Piper cuts her off sharply. "Don't, Alex. I've been dealing with nothing but pity since it happened. I'm sick of it. Don't you dare. You're the first person I've told. Aloud. By choice. I need you to not make a thing out of it. I need you to be normal. Please."
Tears swim around the corners of her sapphire gaze and Alex sucks in a quiet breath before nodding softly, dropping her own gaze to her hands to collect herself, to be the person Piper needs her to be, before dragging her gaze back to the blonde's. "Okay," she murmurs. "Okay."
Piper's gaze burns fiercely, desperately, and Alex finally succeeds in steeling herself, "what did they say the chances were exactly?"
.
Janae Watson replaces Piper as second forward.
She moves well with Alex, carrying the team onward in the wake of the loss of their Captain. But she's no Piper.
Piper never misses a game though, and attends every practice, watching diligently from Mendoza's side as Alex leads the team through her old routines.
It takes nearly two months for the cast to come off and for Piper's doctor to okay her for tentative activity once more.
She watches practice from the sidelines with a sharp glint in her eye the day she's cleared, catching Alex's gaze as the older girl takes the field. Her eyes track down Piper's body, noting the lack of crutches and examining her castless ankle before jumping back up to Piper's own. She nods once, almost imperceptibly, and Piper knows tonight's the night they've been waiting for.
The girls flock around her when they finish, chattering softly before heading off towards the showers. And Piper and Alex wait until the last of them have disappeared from sight before making their way back onto the pitch. They start slow, gentle warm ups well within Piper's limits before moving onto slightly more challenging tasks. Alex never pushes Piper past what she knows the blonde to be capable of and Piper often grows overly frustrated with her own shortcomings until Alex barks harshly at her self-loathing, telling her to cut it out. Talking her sternly down from that place of darkness.
They've been at it for just under a month when something finally snaps.
It's a bad night, Piper pushing herself harder than ever, and she nearly re-breaks her ankle before Alex yanks her off the field. Piper's livid. Understandably. And she snarls a collection of particularly nasty comments at the older girl as she yanks open the door to the locker rooms and practically throws the snarling blonde through.
"You need to calm the fuck down," Alex growls pushing the girl towards the showers.
"Fuck you, Alex! You don't get to tell me when I'm done! I can do it! I can fucking do it if you'd just fucking give me half a chance!"
"Piper you've been going over the same routine for the last hour, all you're gonna succeed in doing is fucking up your ankle even further! I agreed to do this with you under the condition that you pack it in when I tell you it's time to pack it in!"
"Well you don't get to make that call, Alex! I could fucking get it if you'd just let me-" she moves to brush back past the brunette, but Alex catches her by the arm once again, hauling her back towards the direction of the showers.
"No." She levels softly. Deadly. And Piper's eyebrows furrow for a moment before a disbelieving laugh coughs out from between her lips.
"You don't want me to get better, do you? Why would you? You've finally got everything you wanted. You're team captain, I'm out of your way. God, what is there to lose? I'm so stupid, aren't I? I should have figured this out weeks ago!"
"What?" Alex's eyebrows furrow as she desperately tries to catch up with the blonde's maddeningly spinning thoughts.
"You're only 'helping' me so you can keep me from getting better because you know if I go back out there I'm going to fucking get it, and then your little reign as number one will be over!"
"Are you fucking serious!?" Alex exclaims, grip tightening around Piper's bicep as she stares at her like she can't quite believe what she's hearing.
"Admit it Alex. Admit it! God, I'm so stupid. I fucking thought I could trust you! But, fuck-"
Whatever else Piper had been about to say dies in her throat.
Her back connects roughly with the wall behind her and Alex's lips are upon her own and her entire brain abruptly shuts down, as if somehow attempting to reboot itself.
It's a fairly quick kiss, Alex's lips pressing into her own just long enough for her to grow still, before retreating once more.
"Alex... what..." she murmurs, desperately attempting to sort through the million and one thoughts currently racing through her mind.
"Yeah." Alex growls.
They hold one another's gaze for a long heated moment, Piper acutely aware of every inch of Alex's body that's pressed against the length of her own.
"I..." Piper begins again, but falters, hands falling limp under Alex's grip. Alex's forehead lands gently against her own as they continue to study one another silently, their lips growing a little bit closer with every movement, every breath.
"Don't tell me I'm doing this because I don't fucking care," The brunette growls and Piper's eyes fall closed as the last bit of distance between them disappears, their lips meeting softly once again.
"Okay," Piper whispers finally before they give fully into silent communication.
Alex's hand drifts from Piper's wrist to slide across her cheek, pulling her her closer as they deepen the kiss. Piper's freed hand glides up Alex's arm, over her shoulders, and into her hair as her fingers tangle within the soft strands. A moan passes from Piper's lips to Alex's as they bury themselves deeper and deeper within the sensation of one another.
They lose track of just how long they spend standing in the locker rooms, leaning into one another, exploring new territory that still somehow feels familiar and right.
They don't exactly know what it is that shifts between them, but they manage to hold onto it as their fingers tangle gently over the center console of Alex's truck, reaffirming it's sureness as they lean their foreheads together in Piper's dark driveway; a silent and promising goodbye.
Something between them shifts, but's it not quite a change, not really.
It's more like disconnected pieces finally shifting into place.
.
The pace of their routine begins to wane after that, as their collective focus slowly begins to shift.
It's a subtle change Alex only barely notices until it comes crashing over her all at once.
Piper still shows up for every practice (sticking around quietly until the field has emptied, leaving her alone with her co-captain to begin their ritual; now slightly altered to include extended sessions spent exploring one another's mouths and exposed, sweating skin), still shows up to every game (yelling anxiously from the bench anytime Alex Vause isn't there to do so for her). Things continue on as normal as the end of the season approaches and the real matches begin. The matches that count. The matches that mean something.
She's been distracted lately, Alex. Caught up in the circling thoughts (circling like vultures) of a playoff season without Piper by her side. Their sessions have become less intense, less of a barrage of self-loathing and mad drive as the cold weighted truth of the situation begins to slowly seep with a heavy darkness into their minds.
Things aren't going to get better.
And Piper's never going to play again.
They ignore it to the best of their ability. Though Piper seems to be having an easier time of it than Alex. Which should maybe strike her as strange but Alex is so goddamned distracted lately, between the impending prospect of scouters and scholarships and the thought of somehow making it through the playoff season without Piper.
She's lying awake in bed one night, restless but unable to move and the thought suddenly hits her, barreling into her with such force that her entire world is practically knocked askew in it's wake; there's never been a moment in all her years of serious playing in which the blonde hasn't been by her side.
It's a thought that leaves her terrified and aching.
Piper brings it up three days later.
They're finishing practice for the night, waiting as the team clears the field before beginning their own rituals when Alex notices Piper watching her. Her brows furrow, a silent question and Piper steps closer, intimately closer, and in a tender way. A way they'd yet to allow themselves with so many witnesses still so near.
Silent conversations pass between them before Piper finally murmurs, "are you okay?"
"Yeah," Alex returns with muted confusion after a moment.
And Piper simply nods.
They spend more time focusing on Alex that night, Piper holding back and driving Alex forward through softly barked words. A role reversal of sorts that Alex is too distracted to think much of until Piper confronts it directly in the locker room an hour later.
"You're worried about the playoffs." She says softly as Alex is tugging her damp t-shirt over her head.
And Alex hesitates for an uncharacteristically drawn out moment, "of course I am. I worry about them every year. It's natural. Pre-show jitters."
"No it's not." Piper insists gently, "not like this. This is different."
Alex considers her words for a moment. Considers the truth in them. Considers lying.
Piper's hands slide over her shoulders in her silence and she draws a heavy breath, leaning into the warm body pressing in behind her. "You're more than capable of this, Alex. This is everything you've been building towards. This is your year." Her whispered words beat gently against Alex's ear and she suppresses a shudder, turning to face the blonde.
"No." Her voice soft, as if speaking any louder will invite the demons she's so desperately been fighting, "this was supposed to be our year."
"Alex..." Piper murmurs, eyes shining with an overwhelming sort of emotion neither of them can bring themselves to place just yet. The softest breathless laugh slips from her lips and she slides a hand across Alex's hot cheek, tilting their foreheads together, "it is our year. But my place isn't on the field anymore."
"It's not fair," she whispers tiredly, "you were supposed to be there with me."
"Shh," Piper hushes, cupping Alex's face and connecting their lips gently. They hold the embrace for a long moment, allowing it to anchor themselves (to one another, to the world), "I still will be, Al." She says as they pull away. "I will be right there with you every step of the way. But you can do this regardless. I know you can. You're the best damn player I've ever seen. And it has nothing to do with my presence or lack-there-of. You've always had that talent," a soft breathless laugh, "you're amazing. You've always been amazing."
A lung-full of air she didn't know she'd been holding releases from inside Alex's chest as Piper leans forward, lips pressing just under her collarbone (just above her heart) in a soft lingering kiss.
They share a shower stall that night, wrapped protectively in one another's arms as Piper's fingers thread gentle trails through Alex's hair. Drying one another in silence, and leaving their hair damp and tumbling down their backs in wet tangles, they exit the locker room arm in arm. Their fingers weave wordlessly together over the center console as they climb into Alex's truck, and Alex runs a gentle thumb over Piper's knuckles. A million screaming thoughts are racing through her head but the moment she meets Piper's blue gaze they all fall silent. Save for one.
It gives her pause. But only for a moment.
Leaning in, she cups Piper's cheek with her free hand, drawing their mouths together for a long and probing kiss.
She'll leave it go unsaid for another night, Piper's beaming smile and gentle eyes soothing her raging storms as they pull away from the school and into the night.
.
It's a natural shift after that.
Piper's no longer quite so concerned with pushing herself past her limits.
Their attention slides to Alex and the team and Piper's surprised how easy it is; letting go.
She's still got Alex Vause and that rolling storm of weighted anxieties always quiets under her touch, and maybe soccer's never what Piper Chapman really cared about at all in the end.
.
Piper's mother never asks when they both troop through the doors on late nights after practice.
Her dad asks if they had a good practice, barely glancing up from the newspaper and nothing more is said as they climb the stairs to Piper's room.
Most often they shower quickly within the locker rooms at the school, standing side by side and sneaking appreciative glances like giddy children (or standing chest to chest, chest to back, and running their fingers and mouths over places they shouldn't be exploring so freely while still within the properties of their school). But sometimes they opt to skip the locker room and head straight for Piper's house. Alex showers first, passing Piper in the doorway as they linger for a moment, smiling softly, before slipping back into her room and the bathroom respectively.
She's mostly dressed when Piper slips back into the room, towel wrapped loosely around her still-damp body. And Alex reclines quietly on the bed to watch her dress, smiling lazily as Piper finishes and crawls up the mattress to settle tiredly beside her.
It's almost weird at first, lying next to one another so gently. But it feels resoundingly right. As if this natural next step is just something that's always been missing from their relationship.
Piper tucks her head under Alex's chin, letting out a soft sigh as their legs entangle gently at the end of the bed, and Alex runs a tender hand through her blonde hair.
"As weird as it sounds," Piper murmurs softly into the column of Alex's throat, the barest vibrations of her voice tickling the older girl's skin lightly, "I think you've always sort of been my best friend."
Alex doesn't answer immediately, drawing a breath and pausing her hand for a moment as she turns the blonde's words over in her head. She knows what Piper means. They've both had their friends, the people they go out with, the people they unwind with, but never has anyone else managed to understand her like Piper Chapman understood her. No one has ever driven Alex to be her best like Piper Chapman has driven her to be her best. And in those dark moments, on those cold nights, when she'd meet Piper Chapman on the empty field under the glare of the moon there was no one else in the world she'd wanted to see more. They'd always brought out the best in one another, always understood the struggles of one another in a way no one else ever truly seemed to. It started as something competitive and furious but somewhere along the way they'd fallen in a sort of love with one another.
"I think you've always sort of been my best friend too." Alex murmurs, dropping her lips to Piper's forehead and tugging the blonde against her a little tighter.
A breathy laugh escapes Piper's lungs as she nuzzles deeper into Alex's chest, "we're totally fucked up, aren't we?"
Alex can't quite stop her own soft chuckle as it spills from her lips in the quiet of the bedroom, "probably, kid. But I wouldn't have it any other way."
.
They make it to the championships with a hard-fought determination.
And when Mendoza calls out the rooming arrangements as they wait to board the bus she pauses for a moment before announcing, "Vause and Chapman."
They share a quiet smile.
Piper dozes for most of trip, her head lodged tiredly against Alex's shoulder as they share a pair of earbuds connected through her ipod. Alex's thumb spins through the music aimlessly, keeping the music light and soft so as not to disturb the blonde. She watches the world pass on around them for awhile, thoughts wandering quietly, before eventually conceding to sleep, her head nestled gently atop Piper's.
It's late when they arrive, and everyone opts for heading immediately to their beds. Tiredly murmuring about all the places to explore the next day.
Piper leans heavily against Alex's back, arms around her waist, as she fumbles unsuccessfully with the keycard for a few moments before finally getting a green light and allowing them into the room. Tossing her bag by the foot of the bed, Piper drops face first into the plush blankets with a contented sigh. She watches Alex amble around for awhile from the small sliver of vision she has, drifting in and out of sleep.
Piper moans softly when Alex whispers in her ear to get changed for bed, and again when she begins to drop soft, fluttering kisses against what she can see of her face. She sighs gently as Alex moves to pull her shoes and socks from her feet, and eventually Alex coaxes her into lifting her hips and pulling down her jeans. Deciding that's as good as the blonde's going to get, Alex shuts off the lights and moves around to her end of the bed.
Piper burrows into her embrace almost immediately as she slides under the covers, and her fingers thread through blonde hair tenderly before she drops a lingering kiss against the girl's forehead.
"Goodnight, Pipes." She murmurs.
Piper hums tiredly. And they fall asleep tangled and comfortable in the center of the bed.
.
It's no cake walk.
Not that any of them every expected it would be.
But after meeting the team that'd destroyed Piper's chances of competing on the field once again, and coming out of it with a barely obtained 1-0 lead in their first match of the bracket, Alex's lowered spirits sink a little lower.
She's silent through dinner, hardly touching her food or speaking (and only to Piper the few times she does). The rest of the girls murmur excitedly about their traditional yearly sneak out. A night on the town in celebration of their hard earned victory, made deliciously more enticing by the college-town atmosphere and brief taste of the fleeting independent lifestyle it promises.
They depart to their rooms in groups, eagerly chattering about what the night might hold when Piper gathers her tray and stands, nudging Alex's foot with her own, "c'mon."
For a brief moment Alex thinks she's going to have to tell Piper that she doesn't exactly feel like the most cheerful company tonight, but as her gaze rises to lock with Piper's own she realizes she doesn't have to. She follows her without a word.
They end up on the pitch, dark and empty and unfamiliar in place of the memories of their own field in their own town but it doesn't take them long to fall into familiar step. They lose track of how long they play for, eventually conceding to their exhaustion as they meet each other silently at the sidelines. And it's something Alex needed - she knows, as she locks eyes with Piper, wraps a hand around her neck, fingers tangling within her hair, and pulls her lips upon her own. Piper's smiling into the kiss and Alex can't stop her own grin from breaking out at the feeling.
Their foreheads rest gently against each other as Alex finally concedes to what Piper's been showing her.
It's hard. Playing without the blonde at her side. But every time Alex's gaze falls upon the bench she's met with Piper's own, and every time she misses a shot or fucks something up or begins to growl angrily Piper's voice echoes across the field and anchors her back into focus. And every time they win a match Piper's lips paint a multitude of praise over every inch of her skin as they writhe secretly and silently under the cover of darkness and the confines of their bedrooms.
Alex knows Piper's interests never truly lied within the sport. She knows Piper excels in every other aspect of her life so thoroughly that the loss of participation in organized sports hardly throws a wrench into her plans for college or the future (they've already begun looking into which of their top choices were the closest to each other). She knows that in the end all Piper wanted was to be with her. And when she took that fateful step in the locker room, pressing her lips to Piper's and showing her just how much her presence beside her mattered, any of Piper's remaining interest in the sport shifted to her.
Piper's still beside her.
And Alex has always enjoyed their private matches over the real games anyway.
.
This is how their teammates find them, giddy and giggling as they attempt to sneak back into their rooms without anyone noticing their rebellion.
A handful of the younger players are the first to stumble upon the sight, as their older teammates amble on lazily behind them.
"Hey, look!" One of them whispers, nudging at her friend rather forcefully and pointing in the direction of the field.
"Oh my god!" Another sequels, and a chorus of shushes rip through the small group.
They duck for cover, giddily observing their Captains as they stand quietly in one another's arms off the center of the field, foreheads pressed together, murmuring quietly.
"What're y'all lookin' at?" A senior player asks before abruptly being met with a barrage of shushes.
Their gazes turn towards the field and a whole new round of quiet laughter and giddy murmuring rolls through the small group ("I fuckin' knew it!", "Oh YES! Pay UP, bitch!", "Hahaaa fuckin' FINALLY!", "About damn time."), dying down again when Watson half-heartedly begins shooing everyone along ("Alright, c'mon, let 'em have their moment.") as the connection between their Captain's foreheads pull apart, in order to be replaced with their lips.
It's safe to say no one is surprised when two days later they win the championship on the heels of a last-second goal from Alex Vause - who's momentarily blind to the cheers of her team and gathering of impressed scouters as she collides with Piper Chapman, dragging her lips to her own in a wild desperate happiness.
"I love you." She murmurs as she pulls back, her forehead resting against Piper's, gazes locking.
A breathless laugh escapes the blonde's lips as she tucks a wayward strand of hair behind Alex's ear, "I love you too."
And their teammates cheer for a whole new reason as their lips collide once more an the world momentarily falls away around them.
yeah so New Romantics isn't over. I'm in a much better post-season three place. the initial anger and hurt has worn off and I'm ready to throw myself back into these characters at least, if not the show itself as a whole. a sequel or two to previous chapters are in the works (one hopefully somewhat forthcoming). I'm just being very very lazy about writing, so please bear with me. hopefully this offering makes up for the state I left the story in with my last departure (orange dandelion has pointed out numerous times how "THIS IS THE END" it sounded, and personally I didn't think it was that bad, but if it came off that way to you I hope this chapter was an acceptable apology). It's not my favorite chapter, I know it's not my best and that my last couple chapters haven't been too strong, but there are a handful of aspects I like about it (and really I just wanted to start getting something out again) so, once again, I hope it was at least a decent offering.