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"Nothing to do post Iron Marble, I assume?"
A certain Turtle Sliders member looked upwards, meeting the green eyes of a mildly intrigued Jungle Jumper.
"If you mean staring at my phone for 5 minutes isn't a post-Iron Marble thing to do, then no." Crush said, his tone carrying a tinge of sarcasm. "I do not."
"Oh, come on Crush. It wasn't so bad after all." Jump pat his shoulder before sitting down next to the Slider, portraying an amused smile throughout. "Besides, you Turtles should be fine. You have those shells that protect you and all that. You could've been Bingo and got the "shoot to the stars" treatment."
"I'm sure you would've jumped with excitement if that would've happened."
Jump acted mildly offended, with Crush noticing how the Jungle Jumper athlete tried to overdramatize everything. It would've worked if he wasn't that bad of an actor.
"Oh, you think so low of me." Jump spoke with a higher pitched voice, sliding dramatically across Crush's arm. "I wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone say a pun so bad it makes me take you less seriously…"
"It wasn't even a pun, it was just…" Crush shook his head and kept his left arm uptight just so Jump wouldn't collapse face flat onto the ground. "Anyway, what do you want?"
"I just wanted to hang out with someone." Jump admitted, sitting straight. "I'm bored, my team left without me and you're the only one I know of that I could stay close to."
The blunt honesty coming from Jump out of all people threw Crush out for a small moment. While the Turtle Sliders weren't particularly close to the Jungle Jumpers in any main competitions, he'd learnt about their character from afar — including their not-so-secret drinking habit that was worldwide news during the one time they've missed to show up in one event. They were heavily dedicated to their cause, as environmental issues and bringing awareness to campaigns revolving protection and conservation of wildlife brought them here in the first place, but Crush wouldn't have noticed that first hand.
"And you want to get bored together?"
"I thought we could play a fun little game." Jump smiled, turning his phone on and buttoning something online. That grabbed Crush's attention a little, as Jump looked in between links and pages just to find out with an excited "found it!" that it was a spinning wheel with everyone's names on it.
"How about… we play a round of matchmaker?" Jump suggested, showing the wheel to the Turtle Sliders member. "This was created by someone online, Bounce linked it to me mostly because he thought that was extremely hilarious. It has all of us in here."
"Pass." Crush said bluntly.
"Oh, come on." Jump nudged a little, his head sitting on Crush's shoulder like a parrot sitting guard on a pirate's hat. "You're afraid I'll pair you with someone you don't like?"
"I don't see the point."
"You don't have to see the point, you just give an impression on who matches the one the wheel selects the best. You know the marble athletes as much as I do. It's just to pass the time until someone comes and announces the next round of Iron Marble and whatever."
"I'm really bad at this." Crush still tried to get out of this, but Jump kept insisting.
"Man, you're getting tense for no reason and for what." Jump laughed, pinching Crush's cheek endearingly. "Loosen up a little. You're not hooking them up directly. You're just saying your opinion on who you think could make a cute couple. That's all."
"Is this your idea after we got stuck on the course?"
"Just a coincidence. Now, are you up to play or not?"
Crush felt exasperated by each minute since Jump was a little too bold for his own liking, but it felt rude to leave and let him stranded on a course that was full of rusty nails, metal spread all over and how only marble gods know how Bingo didn't die on the track. He shivered remembering just how bad he'd gotten hit left and right in that shuttle.
And truth be told, he had nothing to fill this empty space while awaiting the next race to show up. Going through his phone could only help for a short amount of time, but for the rest… not so much. Besides, after the whole Iron Marble thing, he needed something to focus on, and a change of perspectives didn't hurt anyone, especially as no one got affected.
"Fine." Crush sighed, as Jump pulled him into a semi-awkward side hug.
"Knew you were the best." Jump smiled wide, now facing Crush face front, the phone in between them. "Want to make the honors and spin the wheel for me?"
"You'd allow me to break the ice?"
"Why, of course!" Jump got the phone even closer to Crush, adjusting the light just enough for the writing to be seen. "After all, you accepted the challenge. Why should I take the first one?"
With a slight chuckle that went unnoticed by the Jungle Jumpers athlete, his finger pressed the middle of the wheel, as the whole thing started to spin accordingly.
"You know," Jump replied, as the wheel kept spinning, "this would've worked so much better with a few shots in hand."
"You only think about drinks."
"I do not!"
"You do, Jump. You do."
A small scoff left the Jungle Jumpers captain before the sound of a trumpet resounded in place of the ticking sound that signaled the spinning motion.
"Ghosto? Who the fuck is that one?" Jump asked, looking confused at Crush.
"Team Plasma." He replied, "Their reserve, I think. I don't think they like anyone, I'm surprised they're even in a team to begin with.
"The one that looks disgusted at everyone that even passes by?"
"That one."
"Well, that's a tough one…" Jump debated, as Crush knew the answer.
"I don't think anyone pairs well with them, really." Crush replied, as a small flicker crossed through Jump's green eyes.
"Gogo!"
"…Did you hear about what I just said about Ghosto or?"
"No, no, I heard you perfectly clear." Jump's hands stopped in place, as his posture was indirectly saying "hear me out" without vocalizing it. "Gogo isn't very particularly vocal herself, especially since she feels anxious about pulling the wrong move. The Indigo Stars are all nice to get along with, and I think she'd be matching Ghosto pretty well. They both like snacks, that's one trait they have in common?"
"So does like… three quarters of us."
"Yeah, but most of them are the kind that lose their patience, you know?"
Crush couldn't really argue with that in particular, he knew it's true.
"Alright, your turn."
Jump pressed onto the wheel, only to land on someone that he couldn't help but laugh at it. Crush looked closer, as a certain name popped up and he knew what was going on.
"Red Eye?"
"Man, this guy can't get a break, main character in Marbula One, main character in this wheel as well." Jump wiped off a tear from his right eye, as he looked intently at the Turtle Sliders captain, "What's your verdict here? Should be obvious by the looks of it."
"Uh…" Crush was thinking, really thinking about this one — by technicality he knew what Jump meant and given his rivalry throughout the years, Speedy should've been an easy shoe in. It wouldn't have been the first or the last time the Savage Speeders captain would've talked on how to overcome the menace on the Marbula One field, and he wasn't even remotely subtle about it. There were rumours about them having a fling prior to Red Eye's Marbula One debut and that ending with Speedy's ego destroying it, whereas Red Eye began to ascend as the marble to beat.
However, he found himself surprised that he had more than one option in mind for Red Eye, none of which were Speedy in particular.
"I see your little gears rolling in your head, my little turtle." Jump's remark broke off Crush's inside thoughts, as the new nickname was unexpected to hear even from Jump himself. "Tell to the audience."
"Don't call me that again." Crush tried hard to avoid Jump's insistent glance, but he kept forgetting just how close they were. He hopes the heat in the moment was nothing but the sudden raise in temperature, nowhere near him blushing or turning red at Jump's flirtatious nature.
"Aw, I just think it's cute." Jump replied innocently, moving in a way that he could see Crush's side better. "But do tell, you made me curious."
"You'll say Speedy anyway, I'm pretty sure."
"Right on your money already!" He giggled, hand latching onto Crush's, "You know I love an enemies to lovers trope, and Speedy just cannot get him out of his mind even for 5 minutes. Even his own brother kept complaining about that! Can't you believe it? Rapidly, out of all people, telling his little brother to stop talking about Red Eye every so often?"
"I was thinking of someone else, actually. Two even, since I knew you'd say Speedy."
"And you don't wanna share?"
Crush's blue eyes made contact and that was enough to keep the Jungle Jumpers athlete quiet, yet very intrigued.
"Speedy is his biggest rival, but I think Red Eye just moved on and got tired of his antics." He explained, leaving his colleague with an eyebrow raised, "He needs someone that he can challenge. Someone that keeps him on his tippy toes at all times, engaged, maybe someone he can protect in a sense."
"Interesting. And who you'd see here?"
"Snowy, for one. She's determined to get high scores, high ranks, and she wouldn't take no for an answer. She's a strong opponent, has challenged Red Eye multiple times in a row and even Red Eye himself admitted to the media that if there's one he'd go one on one with in Marbula One, he'd like it to be her. I know she wouldn't let go, and I think that could be a mutual spark."
"You're generous with Snowy here, given her reputation and all that."
"But you said you like a good enemies to lovers trope. This is also a good example."
"Well yeah, true, but also…" Jump paused, before recovering shortly, "…this girl's kinda too stuck up for Red Eye to work. At least with Speedy, for better or for worse, they have some kind of lore together, y'know? What's your second one?"
Crush checked his phone for a notification that popped up, before turning back to Jump.
"Sorry about that." Crush apologized briefly, "Yellow Eye would be my second."
"Oh, Yellow Eye? I could see it."
"She's like Snowy but much closer and they have backstory together. I'd say they could make a good pair, he's overprotective of her and she's too proud to admit she needs that protection. And we know the cats decently well, Shelly is dating Blue Eye, we've been there and we saw their dynamic. Frank even said that these two bicker like a married couple at times."
"Yeah, that checks out, alright." Jump laughed, before giving Crush his cellphone to press on the wheel again. With a short swipe, the wheel started to spin, landing on another name.
That's how they spent the rest of the time, debating, countering each other's matchmaking visions and sometimes event agreeing upon some pairs that felt a bit unfair to split. Crush felt like time passed a lot easier now that he had his mind occupied with something, and Jump was eager to press on his buttons by each counter motion.
The wheel was bringing the most random combinations neither of them could've seen, and their justifications were pulling through stretches — Jump was suggesting at one point Iceberg and Snowstorm mostly because of them being winter themed. Crush was debating on whether Yellup matched either Fenrir or Swax. At one point Jump even paired Tumult and Prim due to his particular enjoyment of the enemies to lovers trope. Crush was convinced that if they were on the same perimeter, at least one of them would end up at the hospital with a broken jaw and a hurt ego.
And it kept rolling — Goose and Pinky Toe because Jump thought it'd be a funny combination. Choc and Minty Fresh because who wouldn't like chocolate mint cookies? Thunder and Cloudy because Crush just couldn't let go of his "thunder and lightning" analogy. Cloudy's been fast as a lightning on Marbula One. It made sense for him. Or how Flare and Saucer would probably make their ship name sound like "Hot Sauce".
"Man, how the fuck do you see Skip and Dwarf together?" Crush loudly asked, as Jump only shrugged further. "They never even interacted!"
"As if we ever did until Iron Marble decided that "hey, let's pair these two marbles together, we think that will be fun!", and it's not like they don't have anything in common!" Jump exclaimed equally as loud, making Crush wonder what the hell he considered as "good matches (romantically)".
Truth be told, Crush didn't knew who to pair with Skip, nor with Dwarf. He usually picked either one of their teammates or just someone very similar to them, unless it was proven otherwise.
There were a few instances where they happened to be in the same wavelength, much to each other's surprise.
"Rezzy?"
"I think he'd kill us both if we paired him with a Limer." Jump spoke in a lower tone, just so the Raspberry Racers member wouldn't hear them whispering.
"You think?"
"Okay, yeah, pretty sure he would. But who would be a good pair with hi-"
Before Jump would finish his sentence, he'd noticed Rezzy staring in their direction, oddly calm and smiling. Crush and Jump looked at one another silently, in a stare that felt like screaming "we're so fucked" without actually screaming it, before someone ran next to them in his direction. The only thing identifiable was a flicker of indigo, as the short ponytail didn't hint to whom was running straight into Rezzy's arms so eagerly.
"What took you so long?" Rezzy asked, planting a kiss on the other athlete's forehead.
"Ah, Rezzy…" Diego smiled through it, clinging to Rezzy's arm, "Sorry, got stuck in an interview. You didn't wait too long, did you?"
"Not at all. Let's go."
"Alright!" The Indigo Stars member faced towards Jump and Crush, waving in their direction. The two only waved back to Diego, as the pair moved fast in the other direction.
"Best friends, huh?" Jump chuckled slightly, noticing Rezzy's arm wrapped around Diego's waist without a care in the world. "I've seen actual couples that looked less likely to be together than these two."
"Would Rezzy actually be mad if we pair him with Diego?" Crush asked, noticing the sight himself. "Sure they ain't together?"
"Pretty sure they aren't, we would've had the Limers railed up if so. But that's definitely closer than just friends, I'll tell you this much. Would give them like 3 months tops until they make it official."
"Just 3 months?" Jump chuckled, "I'll give them at most 2 weeks. Neither of them look like the kind of people that can keep a secret for too long."
"And how do you know that?"
"Oh, I know just enough, Crush. Once you know a person's typology, you notice easily just how predictable they can be."
Crush's eyebrows rose, looking slightly impressed. He'd have assumed that Jump's ability to read people well was influenced by his time under the limelight trying to protect the jungle the Jumpers called home.
But then he remembered the fact that the Jungle Jumpers are the wildest party people there is. Of course the clubs and parties would make them notice people's traits both drunk and sober.
"I see you thinking of something." Jump broke the silence, as Crush was staring at the floor. "I assume you didn't expect me to know so much?"
"As if." Crush's hand moved across his forehead and over his hair, mostly tired. "I do go out and all, but I'm not like Dash. I have my limits."
"Boooooring." Jump propped himself over Crush's left shoulder, his voice a mixture between amusement and sarcasm. "I can tell Dash is quite the ladies man. The one that attracts everybody."
"The only thing he is attracted to is probably a full sized mirror just so he can flex for 2 hours straight." Crush stated bluntly, which caused Jump to cackle. "I think others have higher chances to do so. Shelly already did it. Frank is a little nerdy but he's nice to have around. Squirt, while he's my little brother and all, has a questionable sense of humor, but he can find an audience, probably. I guess."
"And you?"
"What about me?"
"You don't see yourself with someone one day?"
Crush didn't even consider a relationship in his future plans. All he had in mind was training, eating, trying not to slam Dash into the nearest window, making sure his little brother Squirt wouldn't embarass himself for the third time in 5 minutes, probably helping his teammates with various errands… but not many plans he'd made just for himself. He was mostly roaming around the Turtle Sliders like a ghost rather than someone to impose their presence quite like Dash or Shelly.
"I mean, I'm certain I can find someone faster than Dash?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure you're crushin' it on that part." Jump added with a smug smile. "After all, fate already gave you a route. You either take it or leave it."
Crush looked even more confused than before. "What route?"
"Me, you dummy." Jump's right hand went straight to Crush's face, causing the two to look eye to eye. "Now you don't wanna break the tradition, do you? That would cause uproar among the fans. And besides,"
Jump moved closer, so close that Crush could've sworn he'd smell the cologne that lingered over his green uniform. It smelled like freshly cut grass with a tint of rain and dust.
"…you wouldn't make a bad boyfriend after all."
"Is that so?" Crush asked, listening to the newly given information with enough interest. "Jumping straight to conclusions already?"
"I'm just saying." Jump smiled, as those green eyes looked brighter under the newly found ray of lights that started engulfing the arena. "It started with Bumble and Clutter, then it was Tarocco and Radiance, and now it's us two. And you know how the two pairs ended up. By this point the fate just calls it. Who am I to tell otherwise?"
"What a lucky man I am, then." Crush answered with a sarcastic tone in his voice, which delighted Jump even more.
"Oh, I love when you match my sarcasm. Keeps me entertained."
"Then I think we can match for a drink or two." Crush suggested, surprising the Jungle Jumper athlete for a brief moment. "That's if you're up for it."
"Deal." Jump said, wrapping his jarms around Crush's shoulders. "Hope your tolerance to alcohol is better than your teammate, because I won't hold back."
"Dash won't sip two glasses of vodka without collapsing. I think I'll be fine."
Jump and Crush stood up, Jump still holding onto Crush's shoulders as a leverage. It wasn't that he couldn't stand up, but the position he'd been sitting onto made his legs a little numb from the pressure. Crush used his left arm as a hook just for Jump to sit upright until the sensation fades away.
"You good?"
"Yeah, yeah, it happens all the time, I get distracted and next thing I know it feels like my leg or my arm don't cooperate. Don't worry, I'll be fine in 5 minutes."
Crush didn't look too convinced by that statement, but he'd figured that Jump liked the adrenaline rush just enough to keep him afloat.
So he used his free arm to crouch near the level of Jump's knees and swiftly took the Jumper in his arms in an awkward looking, bridal style pick up, as he sprinted away with Jump in his arms.
A loud, surprised laughter was heard throughout the arena, followed by a thump that could've easily been just a playful jab at the Turtle Sliders athlete, before continuing their matchmaking game at the nearest pub.