No Nap For Cap - Snippet

No nap for Cap - snippet

Based on the line “He’s also really bad at taking his pre-game nap.” from @lumosinlove team rosters. Rating: General audience, reference to Coops.

Setting: Long road trip – first game at the Climate Pledge arena in Seattle. A list of Sirius’s excuses to get out of the mandatory team nap on a rainy Seattle afternoon, and Coach Weasley’s responses. Thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @hazelnoot-analyst for the archiving :)

-I slept on the bus here from Vancouver. -Sirius, the bus left at 6 am. It doesn’t count. Plus, you slept for less than half an hour. You talked with Pots the rest of the time.

-I took a micro-nap on the Space Needle elevator. -No, you closed your eyes because you are afraid of heights.”

-Is my first visit to Seattle, and we didn’t get to go to the lower levels of Pike’s Public Market.. -We’re staying here tomorrow, you can go then. Besides, it closes at 4, you’d only get half an hour, tops.”

-Have to go set up a surprise meeting with Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe for Loops and Leo. Need to go finalise details. Bye Coach. -They are joining the team workout tomorrow morning, Sirius. Surprise. So, naptime.

-I have class at the German Language School. -What? -Need some good chirps for Grubauer. -No Sirius.

-But Remus snores, I won’t be able to sleep, so why bother? -That bodes poorly for the rest of your life. Take a nap, Cap.

-But it’s a rainy day, and in the rain, the pavement shines like silver. -If you sing me the whole musical one more time, Cap, I swear I’ll stick you on babysitting duty for the rest of your time with the Lions. Take your nap.

-I am meeting up with Brady, he is going to give me a locals tour. -Brady knows our travel routine, he wouldn’t dare. (Headcanon: Brady Smith was the team member sent to the Seattle Kraken as part of the expansion.)

-There is a troll, I can’t sleep near trolls. Need Olli or Henrik to exorcise it first. -Really, Sirius? What did the poor troll do to you? No, don't tell me. Go nap.

-I have an appointment to see tattoo artist. He has a year-long waitlist. -One, Sirius, you know you would save that for the off-season. Two, Cap, you don’t have your special squeezee with you that you need to get any shot. Try again.

-I ran out of honey for my sandwich, I need to go find a grocery store. -Moody packs extra, you know this. Sleep, Cap.

-My room is on the wrong side, the sun will be in my eyes. -Then close the curtains, Cap, you know this. -But I will still know the sun is there. Better I use the pool, will just float, promise. -No Cap.

-I drank too much coffee, if I nap, j’aurai toujours les jitters for the match. -Nice try, Cap. Take a nap.”

-Je n’en ai pas envie. I am not tired. -Tampis. To bed, Cap.

-I won’t nap, I will just keep Remus from napping. Best I leave him alone. -You want me to assign you to different rooms for this season’s roadies? - Non, non Coach. J’y vais.

How to win at extracurriculars - Snippet

General rating: General audiences, reference of mild pining but no boats afloat.

Cast: Olli Halli, Cole Reyes

Description: Headcanon and set-up at end, because it makes more sense there to me(?), but essentially, the new rookie gets assigned to a veteran lineman for the Lions' annual fall team-building and community engagement activity... which happens to get Percy extra credit for math class.

Big thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @hazelnoot-analyst for organised archiving :) -- "Bear right over crest. Bear right over crest? Where? Where is the bear? How do they know it will be standing right there when we all drive through this section of the stage?”

“No, Cole, there is no bear. That is a driving instruction.”

“It would be a lot more fun if there were a real bear.”

“Somehow, I think arranging for that surpasses even the Lions’ budget for team-building and community events.” “How do they figure this as a team-building and community engagement anyway, it’s just two or three of us alone in our cars? Plus, I guess some Lions’ staff manning checkpoints.”

“I guess one of Coach’s kids, maybe Charlie?, did something like this a few years ago for a math class, and offered to keep doing it for extra credit and getting his drivers’ license faster. Then Percy picked it up and built it into a fundraiser, and combined it with driving lessons so that he could get a learner’s permit at fourteen, or something like that? I dunno. All I know is, somehow, we end up doing this each year the weekend before the season opener. Coming up to an intersection, need the next instruction rookie.”

“Stop, T, right.”

“You sure? The sign says dead end.”

“Hold on. No. Stop, T, left. Sorry Olli.”

“Geez, they sent us a D-man who doesn’t know his right and left? Caray.”

“Geez?”

“You’ll pick it up. Loopsisms are contagious.” -- In which the Gryffindor Lions organisation sponsors a small car rally through the fall foliage each year. Rookies get assigned to co-drive for veteran linemen, ostensibly as team building. Community members can participate, students from local high schools get extra credit in their math classes for participating, juniors can get some extra supervised hours towards their driving license, and a good time is had by all. Loops and Moody used to get really into it and go all out with silly competitions like frisbee tosses or apple bobbing at their checkpoint. Nat and Lily would drive around delivering coffee to checkpoint teams, while Sirius would pretend to get lost so he could keep returning to the PT checkpoint multiple times throughout the afternoon. Winning community team gets to join a team dinner at Sid’s.

Leo snippet

Just a little snippet with Leo and Pascal in the gym.

Rating: General audience, no ship even if squinting. Reference to an F-bomb.

General description: Leo looks up how to walk on slippery pavement. Pascal takes pity on a rookie.

Cast: Leo Knut, Pascal Dumais Thanks to @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @lumosinlove for sharing their sandbox.

-- “Grip with your toes, grip with your toes, yeah, yeah…”, Leo grumbled, hunched over his cellphone in the team gym. The tips of his ears were still burning red from the ribbing he’d received earlier from Cap when Finn and Remus (the traitors) showed him the video of his first attempt at walking on the frosty path out of their building. Cap had had the same response as Remus and Finn, complete with silly little dance.

On the one hand, Leo was embarrassed that the video existed, and that it would definitely be shared around the locker room not just today but for as long as he was on the Lions. On the other hand, it was fairly mild in terms of rookie initiation, and it was definitely warmed his heart that the teasing was so good-natured. He really felt welcomed by the team, and was relieved that Cap was much more approachable in person than his media persona indicated. Leo had heard a couple of whispers about Sirius having been a Capsicle during his first couple of seasons, and so was really pleased that he himself wasn’t being frozen out until he had proven his worth. The locker room generally exuded an air of friendliness and Leo gave thanks once again that he’d been drafted by the Lions instead of say, the Snakes, whose locker room morale was rumoured to be among the worst in professional sports.

“How to walk on frosty pavements”, he googled, opening up the WikiHow article. He scanned quickly through the article. “Candle wax? Seriously?”

A nearby snort had him raising his head from the screen. He had missed his teammates starting to filter in.

Pascal moved in beside him, throwing his arms over his shoulders. “Ah Nutty, no. Don’t bother with that, Kunzy can tell you that it will just F- up your trainers. Come to my place tonight, we will have a team movie night, you will learn to grip with your toes.”

Pots picks up the call, bellowing out to the now full gym, “Movie night at the Dumais house. Rookies bring popcorn!”

Pumpkin Spice - drabble

Rating: General Audience - there are ships, and they have sailed. General description: Zoo trip with a toddler. Bonus material: Toddler is better at art than the author is. Thanks to @lumosinlove, @noots-fic-fests, and @hazelnoot-analyst

Cap and Loops join James and Lily on an excursion, taking not-quite-3-year-old Harry for his first visit to the zoo. At the zoo shop afterwards, Harry doesn’t want a little lion toy, but instead hones in immediately on a giant stuffed red panda. “Sweetie, it is bigger than you, you won’t be able to carry him home.”

"‘Sa colour ‘a punkin spice. ‘Sa best spice. Like Momma's hair. Gonna call her Pie." Sirius and Remus sneak the purchase through while James and Lily are preoccupied with getting Harry to use the bathroom before they head back to the car.

"Tanks Unca Pafoo’! Tanks Unca ‘Oops!" ---

Unca Pafoo! Unca Pafoo! Pie painted you a picture! For your fridge! 'Sa burnt pumpkin pie!

[Picture description: 44 inch stuffed red panda sitting on a wooden table with its paws folded as if silently asking you to admire its artwork. The artwork is in front of the stuffed red panda, a crinkly A4 sheet painted with abstract swirls of olive green and orange paint.] *This was a "get well" picture made for me by my friend's three year old. It really is titled burnt pumpkin pie. Pie is actually called Panda Roux, and you can find their cousins in zoo shops around the world or online. They provide excellent lumbar support. **Most of my submissions from here on out are likely to be short, or silly and very low effort, and there is only one that might maybe be in French...

Sorry.

Sugar Rush - snippet

Rating: General audience. No ships. Juvenile diabetes, bullying, racism, and sexism. Incorrect medical advice. Excessive use of commas and run-on sentences.

General description: Remus helps one of his summer Cubs navigate how to continue in sports after a diagnosis of Type 1A diabetes. Thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for the prompts and cards, and @hazelnoot-analyst for their archive work :)

Remus sifted through his inbox, which was usually pretty quiet during the summer months before training camp kicked off. There would, however, sometimes be the odd e-mail from a parent related to the Cubs teams he coached, so he continued to check his Lions' e-mail everyday. Sure enough, today, he had two e-mails, one from the ice manager about when the Cubs were expected to arrive for their special arena tour the coming week. One from - hmmm - one from the administration forwarding an e-mail from Mr. Sanchez, father to one of the more gifted Cubs Remus has coached in the past three seasons. Lucía had joined their program as a seven year old, and now, at nine, was one of the best skaters and players on the ice. She had worked hard to catch up to the kids who had grown up on the ice, learning to skate as soon as they could walk, and she showed an instinctive grasp of hockey tactics and reading plays on the fly. She had missed last week, and he hoped this wasn't bad news. Remus clicked open the e-mail, scanned it quickly, then let out a breath. It wasn't good news, but it certainly wasn't as bad as he feared. Lucía had just been diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, and was afraid that she couldn't play hockey anymore. Remus fired out a response, inviting Lucía and her father to a meeting before the next practice. Then, he hit the books. Well, he hit the internet, collecting resources from reliable sites he already knew of and sniffing out some sites with information that might be more accessible to an 8-year old, and some resources in Spanish, just in case. Then he called his buddy Jake, a former NFL tight end Remus had met during his courses at Madison. Jake, a Type 1A diabetic, did a couple of sessions at the university each year for aspiring trainers on how to assist athletes with diabetes, and Remus had stayed in touch. He also fired off an e-mail to Luke Kunin, who had started working with the Madison sports trainers in high school while Remus was finishing up his program, even though Kunin's freshman year was after Remus' graduation. The following Tuesday, Remus felt ready to go. He met Lucía and Mr. Sanchez in the lobby, and ushered them through to his office so they could be assured of privacy. It broke his heart a little to hear Lucía look so defeated when she declared that she couldn't play anymore. Diabetic Mexican girls have no place on the ice, her doctor said. At that, Remus shot a look to Mr. Sanchez, whose jaw had clenched so tight, Remus was afraid he might crack a tooth. "But, you are from Honduras. Lucía, don't believe anything someone says if they can't even get that right once you've told them. Your doctor is very, very, very wrong." "The school says it too, and other players. Only some girls can play hockey, and not brown girls, and not sick brown girls. They say I will get a sugar rush and fall down whenever I skate fast. And they say I will get too fat to skate, only fat Mexicans get diabetes." "I am sorry you had to listen to that. None of what they say is true. I will keep a stronger ear out for that kind of bullying and ask the other coaches to do better too. That kind of attitude does not belong on the ice, in the locker room, or anywhere."

Then, point by point, Remus demolished the false statements, explaining that diabetes is different from a sugar rush, and that with careful management, Lucía can not only play any sport she wants, but excel at it. He shared the tips from Jake and Luke about how to wrap Lucía's new continuous glucose monitor and pump so that they were protected without impeding movement or insulin flow. He talked about nutrition and managing diet in the sense of being aware of how your body was feeling, and learning when and what to eat ahead of expected activities, and how to recognise a low. He shared his stories of working with Kunin, and how the whole World Junior team kept jelly beans in their pockets and on the bench, just in case Kunin needed to quickly raise his blood sugar. He talked about how the discipline and awareness of how her body is feeling that Lucía will develop while managing her diabetes might help her with the work needed to become a professional athlete, if that is a goal she decides to pursue (although nothing can guarantee anyone will make it to a professional, - and doesn't Remus know all about that, he thinks silently to himself - but diabetes certainly shouldn't stop her).

An alarm started to ring from the desk, and noting that it was almost practice time, he gave Lucía a handful of the temporary tattoos Jake had courriered over to him, some a simple blue circle, others the circle with the words Insulin Dependent written underneath. Then he sent Lucía off to change into her gear, but asked Mr. Sanchez to stay behind for a second.

"What your doctor said to Lucía was incredibly inappropriate, damaging, and incorrect. Is there any chance you can switch doctors?"

"I have already started the process to transfer Lucía to a pediatrician who specialises in juvenile diabetes." "Good. If that doesn't work out, please reach out to us here, and we will try to share more resources and make some connections with organisations the Lions work with regularly. Also, if I may be so bold, please report that doctor to the state board and the US Department of Health and Human Services. I have to head to the ice, but, please, don't hesitate to reach out to me if you have any other questions or concerns about Lucía playing hockey. I can set up another meeting like this anytime this summer. Lucía is a gifted player and a great leader on the ice, hockey would be worse off without her playing."

Spellbound - snippet

Rating: General Audience Ship: Coops

General description: Remus feels all the feels, very quickly. Or - what Remus is feeling as he is just over there grinning to himself in Chapter 4: September, of Vaincre by @lumosinlove Thanks to @lumosinlove for the characters, @noots-fic-fests for organising, and @hazelnoot-analyst for archiving :)

He sat there spellbound, mesmerised.

It wasn’t the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. It didn’t reach out, grab his attention, and never let it go. Nonetheless, he had never felt such a visceral, immediate, connection to an article of clothing before. True, it represented the culmination of all of his hard work, starting way back as a mini mite, up through college, and then all of the rehabilitation and slow, painstaking, mostly lonely, years rebuilding after his injury. However, he had known this moment was coming for months now. He had even seen and approved some of the fan gear being licensed in his name – knowing the back-end of the organisation did have its perks.

He thought he had done a good job preparing himself for this moment, resurrecting all of the rituals that steadied him before a game, his stretches and warm-ups, his cool-downs. He had been fine, a bit keyed-up maybe, each time he had a new first; but he thought he had been handling it well. Yes, he had saved this for last, but he hadn’t really taken his time as he dressed, hadn’t deviated much from the very carefully-timed routine ahead of heading to the ice.

Now, however, his mind was racing, rushing, spinning off in a million different directions before coalescing back into one single, sharp as an ice shard, scintillating thought: Mine. He was in euphoria. Everything felt right, in a way it hadn’t in years, maybe hadn’t ever. He reveled in the rightness of the feeling, of the weight on his shoulders. Of his NHL jersey. OF HIS NHL JERSEY! OF HIS VERY OWN NHL JERSEY!!!

Oh no. He was thinking in bold. He was thinking in caps. There was more than one exclamation mark. He needed to pull himself together. He needed to… think of a quip to put the attention back on Cap.