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the first time gabby williams sees marine johannès on a highlight reel, she’s in awe. there’s no other way to describe it. every cell in her body zeros in on the basketball player in front her, mesmerized by the way marine would weave across the floor like the game had been stitched into her bones, making insane dimes and hitting threes off one leg like it was second nature. it was beautiful.
damn, she thinks. there’s no one else like her.
months go by, and the memory of marine becomes an afterthought until she’s in tokyo for the olympics, strolling into the locker room for practice. she’d spent the whole morning pacing around her room, alternating between packing her bag and fidgeting with her hands. her muscles were the kind of sore that comes in anticipation, ready to hit the floor hard and the ball even harder. everything was in her was reeling, firing on a thousand cylinders.
and then marine walks in.
the first time she sees marine, in person this time, she’s in awe again. her heart picks up and all of that energy that was supposed to fuel her dissipates into a flustered nervousness that crawls up her neck, into her cheeks. she’s so beautiful, painted with the type of loveliness that would’ve gotten her a statue in the ancient times, and gabby can’t breathe.
marine looks over at her and gives her a soft, lopsided smile. it’s the most endearing thing that gabby’s ever seen. her heart stops and starts up again for the fifth time in the last three seconds.
great. this is where i die, she thinks. well. it’s been a good run.
half of her wants to burrow straight into the ground and keep going until she pops out on the other side and the other half needs to be friends with marine. this seems like one of those moments where the right choice could change her whole life, hopefully for the better. so the awkward side of her was just gonna have to shut up. she’s going to be brave. and not socially inept.
she walks up to marine’s locker, stopping in front of the bench and rocking slightly on her feet. marine looks up at her, her eyes a stark shade of blue that makes gabby’s brain short circuit.
say something, gabby.
“hi.”
really? that’s what you come up with?
marine smiles and it’s brighter than the moon. “hello.”
“you’re marine, right? marine johannès?”
marine blinks, caught off guard. “yes?”
“i’ve seen your highlight reels,” gabby says, the words tumbling out against her will. “you’re incredible.”
“thank you. a high compliment coming from gabby williams.”
now it’s gabby’s turn to look shocked. “you know who i am?”
marine shrugs casually, and the motion somehow sets off even more butterflies in gabby’s stomach. “everyone does. you’re hard to miss.”
“oh. cool.”
smooth, gabby.
marine closes her locker and turns back towards her, that same soft smile still on her face and gabby is about 20 seconds from becoming a puddle in the floor. “do you speak french?” marine asks, in the aforementioned language.
“yes. right. i forgot about that.”
“you forgot you were on the french national team?”
gabby rubs the back of her neck sheepishly. “…yeah.”
“it’s okay,” marine says, walking towards the gym. “you’re still cute.”
gabby blushes at that and nearly trips over her shoelaces as she follows her out the door.
later that night, when she calls up her favorite sister (at least according to jada, she is) and can't stop herself from going on and on about the blonde girl with the pretty eyes that had the most insane shot she's ever seen, she knows, that she's deeper in than she ever thought she could be. and she doesn't quite mind it.
-- --- -----
"you have a lot of tattoos."
gabby looks up from her phone and towards the other girl, who had stopped in the middle of her cleaning session to observe gabby, it seems. she smiles. "what an astute observation, mar."
"no, i—" marine starts, walking over and sitting on the edge of the bed, close enough that gabby's legs could feel the warmth of her skin.
it amazed gabby, how easily they had become like this, like they had been orbiting each other for years, not weeks. it was so easy to slot into marine's life, as if the space had already been carved out for her. they went to every practice together and stayed glued at the hip after. sometimes, marine would come over, or gabby would seek her out, just to make the strange city feel a little more familiar. they said they would just stay in each other's space until they got sick of it, but they never seemed to.
marine crosses her arms, her face serious except for her lips, which were quirked up in a way that suggested she had something that up her sleeve. gabby set her phone down. she had a feeling that this might need all her attention.
"i have a proposition."
gabby narrows her eyes. "o-kay. that sounds serious."
marine shrugs. "not serious. more of a…bet."
"interesting. what did you have in mind?"
"you brought your tattoo gun, right?" marine asks, even though she knows gabby does. "if we win a medal, i get to tattoo you."
gabby laughs."what?"
"can i tattoo you? if we win the medal?"
gabby just stares at her. marine doesn't flinch, her body relaxed like it always is. "you can tattoo me right now, if you want."
"no, i want to mark the occasion. i want us to earn it."
her heart softens, and she's sure her face looks pathetically lovesick right now. "okay. if we win the medal, you can tattoo whatever you want on me."
marine looks like she's won something and gabby wished she knew that gabby would give her anything, everything, if she only asked. there was nothing to win. it was already hers. but that's an insane thing to think about someone you met a couple weeks ago, so she keeps her mouth shut.
she doesn't say anything, just sets her hand on gabby's shin like it was a response. and if that simple touch set gabby's skin on fire, no one needed to know.
the mattress shifts when marine gets up to finish her cleaning. gabby misses her already.
"i have to think of a good tattoo idea," marine says in between spritzes of cleaner. "the french flag would be too boring."
gabby bites her bottom lip nervously, smiling to hide it. "are you that sure we'll get a medal?"
"yes," marine says, like it's a fact not an opinion, as true as gravity. "you and me. this team. i believe we can do it."
-- --- -----
when they beat serbia, and it sinks in that they are olympic medalists, the first thing gabby looks for is marine. and when she finally finds her, marine is already looking at her, tears in her opal eyes.
"we did it. we actually did it." gabby whispers into marine's skin that was damp with sweat and victory.
marine laughs, joy spilling out of her. "i told you. i told you we would."
gabby pulls back, a glimmer in her eye. "and now you owe me a tattoo."
-- --- -----
"this was literally your idea, mar."
marine inhales, fingers placed precariously on gabby's thigh. she doesn't lift her eyes from the blank patch of skin she's staring at. "i know. i just need a second."
"it's been thirty minutes," gabby deadpans. at this rate, she could go out, pick up dinner, and marine still won't be ready to do the tattoo that was, once again, her idea.
marine finally looks up from where she is kneeling, her eyes flitting around nervously. gabby softens immediately, bending over so their faces were closer. she places her hand over marine's and watches her steel herself, breathing in deeply.
"i just…i don't want to mess it up. it's your body," she looks down again, tracing the space with her fingers. goosebumps break out all across gabby's skin and she inhales shakily . "i want it to be perfect."
gabby smiles softly. "it won't be. that's the beautiful thing about tattoos. the imperfections."
"you asked me for this. and i said yes," gabby continues, pausing. she wants marine to hear the sincerity in her voice. "i want you to do it. you can't mess this up."
marine scoffs. "you seem very confident."
"that's because i am," gabby says, with no room for doubt. "besides, it's you. this is probably the closest i'll get to perfection."
"charmer," marine mumbles.
gabby smirks. "no. just honest."
"okay," marine says, rolling her shoulders. "i'm doing it."
"are you sure? cause i can come back tomorrow."
marine glares at her and gabby presses her lips together to muffle her laugh. "shut up."
when the needle pricks her skin, gabby has to remind herself to breathe, not because of the pain, but because of the entirely distracting feeling of marine's hands on her. the whole process passes in a blur of marine's razor sharp focus and gabby's gay panicking heart.
marine wipes gabby's thigh with an antiseptic wipe. "there, done."
gabby looks down and sees the little pacman eating the blue, white, and red dots. "it's so…cute," she whispers, strangely delighted by it. "thank you, marine."
marine stands, wiping her hands on her hips and shrugging in that nonchalant way she always did. "it was nothing."
gabby grabs her arm and pulls her into a hug. "it's perfect," she whispers, just loud enough for marine to hear.
-- --- -----
couple years and confessions later, gabby and marine were laying in bed, lounging around after an especially tiring practice. marine was lying in between gabby's thighs as her hands idly traced gabby's tattoos. it was one of her favorite things to do when it was just them, in the same space, breathing the same air and living in each other's skin.
"your pacman tattoo…" marine starts," it's fading."
"yeah, the tattoo gun i bought off amazon wasn't known for longevity."
marine twists so that she can look up at her. "you should let me retouch it."
"sure. that's a good idea," gabby says while brushing the blonde hair out of marine's face.
marine hums and goes back to her ministrations.
"gabby?"
"hmm?" gabby says, attention split between marine and the current manga she was reading.
"i want to make another bet."
gabby smiles, intrigued. she puts the book down. "oh really? what do you got?"
"when we get married, you let me tattoo you again."
gabby didn't expect that, the way her mouth hangs open a clear indication of that. "when? not if?"
"yes," marine says, as solid and confident as she had been when she made the first bet.
gabby's smile was so wide, you could've hidden a star in it. "deal."