why I'm updating this after 2 years: I love Roxie and so does the rest of the SigSquare XD oh also, vague sports AU
The process of writing this was something like: me still riding endorphins from Nearly Winning a Thing (it was pinball. it's usually pinball.) - wanting to write Sigcorp OT4 for like 5 days - decision paralysis and floaty tired brain - thinking up this zero-context drabble.
(info that only my fandom BFF will care about so y'all get subjected to it... Rosawinters are together, Linwatts have a frenemies with benefits thing, Rosawatts are "everyone sees it but them" while literally smooching, and Linwin and Rosalin are in situationships [omg that word is actually useful?!])
It happens quickly and slowly at the same time. Roxie's heart is a rabbit in the underbrush, legs carrying her fast enough to fly; she's in the perfect position when her teammate passes her the ball, if not the perfect distance—barely past midfield on the opponent's side.
So is the goalie, but Roxie knows her weaknesses.
Her foot connects to the ball in slow motion. Her breath is magnified in her head. Slow as molasses the ball lifts up, up, up into a curving glide. The goalie will have to jump, diagonally and with enough height.
It's forever, watching the goalie prepare her save. Her fingers barely brush the ball's underside.
The back right corner of the goal billows out with the force of a sonic boom, and time returns to normal.
Extra time, 1-1. Now 2-1.
Roxie can only feel her yell, drowned out as it is by the roar of the crowd and her teammates (where is Eva?) converging with their own screams around her. They carry her, or she wills them to, to the edge of the pitch. She can see Rob and Neil, bedecked in university colors, running toward her when Eva barrels into her, broken free from the rest of the team.
She's right here. You did it, she's mouthing, probably saying aloud if only Roxie could hear her.
"I did it! We did it!" she screams, and then Eva's kissing her. She kisses back, in front of everyone, because what the hell else will she do? Spontaneously combust from love?
Her team has settled slightly, still cheering and high but somehow distant. Or maybe that's Roxie's brain, narrowed down to her three favorite people celebrating her accomplishment. She turns in Eva's arms to cling briefly to Rob's bear hug, and then Neil inadvertently separates them by knocking into her with as much force as Eva did.
"Roxanne Luna Winters," he hollers, "striker extraordinaire!"
"Hey," she retorts, flicking him on the forehead, "that's Roxie 'badass motherfucker' Winters to you!"
He's grinning so widely, dimples on full display. Neil only cares about soccer because of Roxie and Eva's team, but he does care. And here he is overjoyed like the rest of them, smiling hard enough she can picture his eyes behind his glasses—
And it's that thought that has her kissing him before she can even think about it. Her heart starts racing again but she can't stop, and he doesn't stop her.
When she does stop, she starts laughing. She can see Neil's now-uncertain smile as she tries to contain her hysterics, but she really does think she'll go up in flames if—
Neil catches her chin with one hand and her shoulder with the other, and kisses her again.
The flames cool because she pours them into him, senses Eva close behind her and Rob, always beside her, further containing the blaze.
When they pull away this time, Neil doesn't let her go, forehead to hers. "Did I just make you the gossip lightning rod?" He actually sounds a smidgen regretful.
"Let them talk. I don't care," Roxie says, Rob's hand at her other shoulder bolstering her determination. "And if I start caring I bet I can kick all their asses anyway."
"Heh. I don't doubt that."
"Well, it's about time."
Roxie flushes at Eva's voice, so close to her. She turns to look and sees a smile so soft she can't keep looking. "Yeah." She smiles, shyly, feeling small in the best way. "Yeah, I guess it was."
Things I decided with M in the 3 hours(!?) it took to finish this:
-Roxie's middle name
-Neil has dimples
