Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Flashing lights dominated Pomni’s vision as she stepped out of her “changing room”. She was used to them, barely by this point.

She still groaned. “These stupid photographers.”

She shielded her face as she walked to the ring.

She knew she was fighting Ragatha today. Which was great she loved Ragatha. But she was aggravated today, so she just wished inside that she could have beat up Jax.

She hopped over the bungee cord and pulled her gloved up on her hands. She put in her mouth guard as she saw Ragatha hopping into the ring. She waved with a smile, and Ragatha waved back.

The two talked to their coaches, Kinger giving some great advice.

The two women met in the middle of the ring and tapped gloves. “You ready for me Rags?” Pomni yelled over the crowd.

“Ready as I’ll ever be!” She called back.

The bell rang as the two rushed towards each other. Pomni’s fist hit Ragatha as Ragatha’s foot hit Pomni, knocking her off balance.

Pomni stumbled before catching herself in a cartwheel, her feet sliding down when she touched down to avoid a punch to the face.

She hopped up from her splits with a right hook, hitting Ragatha in the chest, knocking her onto the floor.

She never hit Ragatha in the face, because she was too scared to hurt her best friend.

Ragatha tried to hop up, but couldn’t. Pomni put out her hand to pull her up, but Ragatha waited until the 10 second bell rung before she took it.

The crowd cheered as Pomni’s hand was taken and her win declared.

“You always do that!” Pomni whispered to the other girl

“You always deserve to win!” Ragatha shrugged.

Pomni shoved the other girl softly and they laughed as they walked away from the stage.

Pomni bumped into someone from the crowd. “Oops sor-“

A flash of purple hit her eyes before the audience member turned and walked away, the crowd enveloped the figure.

“Ja-“ the crowd enveloped her voice as the cameras started to flash again.

The girls snuck behind a curtain to get out of the ring.

She would think about that later. For now she would hang out with her friend after the fight. Ragatha met up with her and they headed out to dinner together.

Chapter Text

Pomni walked with Ragatha through the backstage. “Ugh I hate him.” She groaned as she slid sweatpants over her boxing uniform, which in all practicality was simply a glorified bodysuit. The sweatpants were loose as if they were gonna fall off, a slight bit of skin peeking from above the waistband, and she just knew that she would get recognized, but she didn’t care.

“I get it.” Ragatha was unwrapping her fists. “I don’t like him either.” She rolled her eyes at just the thought of him.

“You obviously don’t carry the same rage I do.” Pomni teased as she bumped her sitting friend with her hip.

“I just don’t feel the need to hit him.”

“He was sneaking looks at our match! It’s legal sure, but why was he watching us fight??” Pomni looked at her hands, sore and bruised.

“He knows you’re too good and he doesn’t wanna get knocked off his pedestal?” Ragatha asked, eyes pointedly looking at Pomni.

Pomni laughed. “No way!” She looked at the gloves she had haphazardly thrown to the side. “I would have to fight for your honor or something if I ended up fighting that…” she sighed. “He doesn’t even deserve our time.” Pomni leaned on the wall as Ragatha tossed an outfit on over her uniform.

“I know that…” Ragatha trailed off.

“Do the constant fights ever bother you?” Pomni asked, her feet slipping into shoes at the same time as Ragatha’s.

“Hmm. Nah. Everyone’s too scared to punch out the lovable one.” She flicked her eyelashes at Pomni and the two girls laughed.

“I’d do it.” She pantomimed punching Ragatha as the girl grabbed her heart in mock sadness. Pomni snickered.

“I can’t believe this-“ Ragatha stood up normally again.

“You’re silly.” Pomni laughed the words out.

“I’m well aware.” Ragatha put a hand to her heart. “It’s all I’m known for.” She sighed sadly, but the girls knew it was just a joke.

“You’re known for how hard it is to fight you with your face.” Pomni pinched Ragatha’s cheek and Ragatha laughed.

“My lovable face!” She smiled as she joke pushed Pomni’s hand away from her cheek.

Pomni rolled her eyes as she saw that they had wandered into a shopping center while joking.

“What are you up for today?” Pomni gestured to all the food places.

“Wanna make something at my place?” Ragatha asked.

“Mm. Sounds fun. I’ll stuff ramen with chili peppers to kill you so I don’t gotta keep punching out your sweet little face.” She glared jokingly at Ragatha as she laughed.

The two girls laughed as they entered a tiny grocery store.

“I can’t believe you’d try to poison me!” Ragatha joked.

“I’d never. Jax maybe.”

“Jax definitely.”

They heard a soft crash from behind them that sounded like someone slamming something in their basket.

They ignored it and kept moving through the shelves.

“The more I look at the options the more I lose ambition.” Ragatha grabbed a pickle jar and cringed at the price. “Inflations crazy, even digitally.”

“For real?” Pomni looked at the jar and cringed. “This poor fake economy.”

The two made eye contact and burst out laughing.

“I must be going bonkers!” Pomni said. “It’s not this funny?” She sighed.

“It’s me, sorry. I’m always hilarious.” Ragatha waggled her eyebrows at Pomni as Pomni burst out laughing again.

Pomni staggered backwards in laughter. She bumped into someone behind her. “Oh sor-“ she caught purple fur hiding underneath a ‘medical’ mask, obviously just hiding his face. Purple fur and pierced purple ears flicked out from underneath a hoodie, meant to hide them.

“Jax?”

Jax dropped his carrier of groceries and sprinted off.

Ragatha and Pomni looked at each other suspiciously.

Then burst out laughing.

Chapter Text

Jax was mortified. First he had gotten caught at Pomni’s match as he analyzed her moves and now this? His breath was heavy as he hid behind a shelf so the girls couldn’t see him anymore, but he could hear their laughter.

He could very distinctly tell which was Pomni and which Ragatha. Ragatha’s laugh was hiccups and snorts, while Pomni’s was breathy and wheezing.

He smiled then slapped himself. He was disgusted at himself. He needed to get into fighting headspace. He knew she was coming up to fight him later that week.

Pomni of course didn’t need to know that he looked forward to their sparring more than almost any other opponent. He slapped himself again, as he heard their laughter slowly moving away from him.

He sighed, and went back into the aisle he had been in to grab his basket again. It didn’t seem tampered with, but with how the girls said they would have poisoned him, he couldn’t be too sure.

As he inspected the jars an NPC came up to him. “Are… are you Jax?” The young looking mannequin asked him.

He only spared it a glance. “Yeah? What about it?” He looked at the price and winced the same as the girls had did before putting it back on the shelf.

“Could I get your autograph? My mom loves you..” the shy kid held out a piece of paper and marker.

Jax sighed and took the marker, scribbling down a messy signature onto the mannequin’s head. The mannequin didn’t look phased? In fact he looked quite excited. And Jax sighed.

“Have a great rest of your day Mr. Jax sir!!” The mannequin sounded like it was smiling as it ran off out of the store.

Jax sighed. He knew that that interaction wasn’t real. But he liked pretending it was.

He saw the kid trip and eat sidewalk and he burst out laughing. He could enjoy it if it was an NPC without being a [boink]hole, right? The kid hopped up, unfazed, and Jax laughed harder. Yeah he definitely could laugh.

~~~~

Pomni heard a laugh that sounded almost like a stuttering car engine down the shelves but she ignored it and went back to talking to Ragatha about her upcoming match with Jax.

~~~~

Jax slouched out of the store, ignoring the crowd that greeted him with flashing lights. He guessed that kid had told his mom.

Jax held his hoodie down in front of his face as he meandered through the crowd, just barely hiding his identity from most of them. He snickered at the NPC’s naïveté.

He stuck earbuds in his ears as he navigated through the reporters clambering to the store for the sights of the fighter. He only smirked as one of them saw him, their eyes filling with recognition before he winked at them, their NPC fainting and he started to jog away.

~~~~~

“JAX! JUST A QUICK INTERVIEW!!”

The girls heard the sound of the mannequins outside fighting each other.

She shrugged as she realized he probably left and blew their cover.

“Guess we’re gonna have to deal with that, huh?” Pomni asked as Ragatha sighed as she looked at the glass doors.

“I bet we could sneak out an employee exit.” Ragatha joked.

Pomni turned to her. “You serious?”

“No.”

“I bet we could though.”

Ragatha turned to Pomni. “Like actually?”

Pomni nodded. “We already paid for our groceries.”

The mannequins turned and say Ragatha and Pomni and started running towards them “RAGATHA! HOW DID THE LOSS FEEL? POMNI WHAT ABOUT YOUR WIN??”

“GUESS WE’RE DOING THIS!!” Ragatha grabbed Pomni’s arm and pulled her towards the employee exit.

Pomni gripped their groceries in discomfort but ran anyway.

Chapter Text

Ragatha and Pomni burst out the employee only door into the back of the parking lot. Their feet hit the floor as they hear “POMNI! RAGATHA!” 

“RUUUUN!” Ragatha was screaming as the two sprinted away from the crowd. 

“YOU THINK I’M NOT?” Pomni yelled back, both of them ducking into an alleyway, not stopping their running. 

They kept running, a dog barking at them in the dark alley.

Both jumped and then caught their breath for a moment, before they heard the thumping of feet behind them.

Pomni grabbed Ragatha’s hand and pulled her around a corner. The two girls stopped as they hit a dead end, a chain link metal fence blocking their path to their freedom. 

Ragatha looked at Pomni. “Go over!” Ragatha put her hands together to give a stepstool to Pomni, who stepped on her hand and jumped above the two and landed at the top of the fence, her boots standing on the metal pole wrapped with the wires. 

“Rags!” She held her hand out as Ragatha climbed up and grabbed Pomni’s hand. Pomni lugged her with all her weight and tossed her down, the two girls falling in a tumble, the mannequins yelling, the crowd just reaching the chain link fence. 

They saw a purple rabbit behind the group. “WOW! Such a crowd for me??” He yelled, drawing the attention of the reporters who were starting to climb the fence. 

“JAX!” And suddenly the crowd was around him, pictures and autographs asked. He waved them away, and the two girls took the moment that he gave them to sprint away. 

As the two girls huffed as they screeched to a halt, looking both ways for reporters. The two took a few dozen deep breaths before looking at the stairs up to Ragatha’s apartment, then their eyes glancing to the elevator. The two girls looked at each other. 

“Elevator.” They both echoed at the same moment.