Chapter Text
she had no idea how long she had been laying in bed, days?, weeks? Months?, she couldn’t tell you but it’s not like it mattered, after what happened she was sure she was never gonna let herself see the sun ever again, not even to check the mail which was probably piled up with all sorts of letters. She thought she was being so careful, she spent her whole life being careful but apparently it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t supposed to be known, nobody was supposed to know about anything, it was just harmless fun. She just wanted to feel pretty and wear cute clothes without the cruel judgement of others.
Abel scheduled jax to fight against the “iron punch”, (real name reno) he was a racoon character; used to be a typical joe in the office at a 9-5 desk job until he ditched his mundane lifestyle to be a part of the chaotic underground fight club, rumours had it that he got fired for smart-mouthing his boss too much and having a "poor work ethic”. jax didn't know how true the rumours were but considering his god-awful personality, it wouldn’t surprise him.
now jax was no saint, he was literally known to be an obnoxious asshat that nobody liked but there was a huge difference between them, jax never went too far with his antics, would he throw a centipede at ragatha during a match?, absolutely!, but purposefully cause his opponents physical harm?, never!, that was a line he never crossed, but reno didn’t care, he went below the belt when it came to cheating. but jax wasn’t worried, he was the jackrabbit!, the undefeated grand champion of the underground and this wasn’t his first rodeo with reno, They've been in matches before and jaxpummelled his ass and he loved rubbing it in reno’s face whenever he saw him outside of the ring; rage-bating was the best part of the gig here. Aside from getting to punch people with zero consequences.
“So who are you up against”
He groaned, shutting his locker closed when he finally found the gauze tape to wrap up his arms.
“Iron punch…”
The look in pomni’s eyes said it all, like he said nobody liked reno, not even caine or bubble could stand him (and you had to do A LOT to make bubble not like you).
“Oh that asshole...”
he remembered seeing reno’s first encounter with pomni, she was still new to the underground and getting used to everything, ragatha took her under her wing and while training together, reno interrupted their session and introduced himself to pomni with really bad flirting, he even made some explicit sexual comments about her body, it was very creepy and gross.
But his tactics didn’t go far though, he only got a few words in before pomni had enough and pulled the strongest uppercut she could manage, knocking reno straight off his feet and sent him flying to the mats with a huge bruise that lasted for weeks. Jax laughed so hard he was pretty sure he shedded a tear and you best believe he never let him forget that ass-kicking either.
“I’m not worried, I already beat him more times than I can count!”
That was an exaggeration, they’ve only ever been in two matches but two was more than one, so it counted as plenty in his head.
"he's known to go low though, i even heard he’s done some serious sabotage, like illegal stuff”
"Guess i’ll have to get lower to, maybe down to your height"
she rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“your ridiculous"
“So i've heard”
“Jax!”
His grin faltered when her tone got more serious
“...just be careful, alright?, ..i don’t know why but i just have this really weird feeling in me and i know how reno play’s, i just don’t want anything bad happening to you”
it was wired having someone care about him, when pomni first arrived here, jax didn't really care about her at all, at most he was interested to see what the newbie was capable of, for being so small and tiny, he thought she wouldn’t last for a week but she proved him and everyone who doubted her wrong and in just a few months she had now reached to the higher ranks and was slowly making her way to the top ten on the leaderboard.
jax will be the first to admit he was impressed, she had the skills, the attitude and the unwillingness to back down, but good lord did this girl have a temper on her!, that was actually how their friendship started out, he would annoy her constantly, taunt her during practice, press every button he could imaginable until she finally snap back with either words or fist's, either one was a win for him.
as you could imagine, they didn’t get along, until that one night where everything changed between them, their friendship was a slow-burn progression but now jax could say confidently that pomni was his best friend. She was the first person he invited over to his apartment, the person he trusted the most and the first person he came out to in years.
“Relax short-stack, i’m the jackrabbit!, the undefeated champion of the underground!, i'm the pinnacle of masculinity!”
she snorted at their little inside joke.
“You're way too cocky, you know that?”
“It’s rightfully earned”
That was bullshit and they both knew it, like he said, jax wasn’t a saint, he cheated and played dirty, just not in the same way reno did.
"Remind me why I'm friends with you again?
"you knew what you were getting yourself into pompom, that's all on you and you can’t take it back, that would make you transphobic”
She smiled and rolled her eyes again
“Whatever idiot”
"jax!"
Able motioned for him to come and get ready for the match, he nodded back, and put the gauze tap back into his locker. Now fully ready to compete. Able nodded back at him and walked back to the arena, leaving the two alone.
“well that's my que, see ya later tiny”
She huffed but smirked
“Good luck jazzy girl~"
she stopped mid-step and felt a blush creep up to her face, she turned around and glared at her, pomni just smirked and waved a little hand before turning on her heel to sit at the stadium; that little shit!.
"WELCOME ALL! TO THE AMAZING UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB!!!"
cheers and roars coursed all over the underground stadium,If there was one thing caine knew how to do, it was to bring out the life in the crowd,
apparently caine had always dreamed of owning a circus and being a ringmaster but making it big in the entertainment industry was tough and everywhere he went it seemed like a dead-end, until he met kinger and queenie and was given a job here in the underground after a few interviews, sure working in an illegal underground boxing arena as a manager and host wasn't exactly a typical entertainment gig but it was a nice job, he made money and he sure as hell wasn't complaining about the fans he gained from it!!
the arena was packed tonight!, just like how it was every night!thousands of people all sitting in their seats, all ready to cheer on for their favorite boxers while booing at their competitors, when you stepped into the ring, you weren't person anymore, you were a boxer, a character that is meant to be shit-on or praised depending on where you fell in the fanbase.
if you were like gangle or ragatha, then you were liked for your charms and personality, if you were like zooble, you were admired for your cool looks and intense strength, if you were like pomni, you were given support as the "underdog" and if you were like jax, you either loved him or hate him. That's how it was in the underground fight club, as much as it was about boxing, it wasn’t, you had to make a brand for yourself, hence the stage names and all the advertisements and sponsor deals, though jax never agreed to do any of that and just kept to boxing.
"FOR TONIGHT'S MATCH! WE BROUGHT TWO FELLOW COMPETITOR'S THAT HAVE GONE TOE-TO-TOE BEFORE AND ARE NOW READY TO FACE OFF AGAIN!!"
he motioned to the right corner of the ring, it was completely black to the audience, the only source of light was currently on caine with a few flashing lights in the stadium, it helped add a dramatic effect to play up the illusion.
"OUR FIRST COMPETITOR IS A VERY FAMILIAR FACE TO THE RING!!, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, GIVE A HUGE WELCOME TO THE UNDEFEATED CHAMPION OF THE UNDERGROUND!!!, THE JACKRABBIT!!"
right on queue, the stage lights landed on him, the fans cheered at his grand appearance, the haters booed, he played up his part, waving at his fans and winking playfully at the hater's, pretending to fawn over the attention, from the middle top section in the stadium he could see pomni, ragtha, zooble and gangle all sitting their watching his match, he winked at pomni, she smiled back and got annoyed seeing the knowing “looks” ragatha and gangle were exchanging to each other.
there was a lot of speculation of whether or not she and jax were secretly dating, it all started when pomni accidentally let it slip that she stayed the night over at jax’s apartment and that lead to a lot of rumours and speculations going around, despite them both repeatedly stating they were not a couple and were just good friends, it annoyed pomni a lot but in a way she didn’t mind the rumours too much, they kept jax safe from being outed out of the closet.
"AND OUR SECOND COMPETITOR IS ANOTHER FAMILIAR FACE!!!, KNOWN FOR HIS FLASHING WHITE PEARLS AND HIS SIGNATURE LEFT-HOOK SWING KNOCKOUT PUNCH!!, I WANT YOU TO GIVE IT UP FOR THE IRON PUNCH!!!"
n que the stage lights flashed now shined upon reno; decked out in a black tank-top and black cargo shorts with a black eye-mask and cape, which was removed by his manager and tossed out into the crowd for some die-heart fan to catch and hold dearly to heart. He held up a fist into the air, sparking up more cheers and boo's in the crowd.
"AND NOW WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY!! LET'S BEGIN THE FIGHT!!"
the crowd was going crazy, each section of the stadium was rooting for their favourite boxer to pummel the other to the ground, but before cain could even officially start the match, reno held up a hand to stop him
"Actually caine!, if i may!, i have something i want to share with the audience tonight"
Cheers and chants were now confused murmur's, people were looking at each other, asking if they knew what was going on, This was odd, reno was known for stalling a bit when it came to his matches but he never outwardly stopped caine from starting a match.
"Aww, is the little raccoon scared of getting his ass kicked again?!”
The crowd ate it up, the audience “oohed” and was calling for iron punch to do something about jack’s disrespect and it usually worked!, reno would get all pissy and start cussing at jax to shutup, lose his temper and become uncoordinated and messy which jax would use to his advantage to win the fight,
But reno didn’t argue back or even acknowledge his taunting, he just kept smirking at him like a creepy weirdo
"You getting cold feet iron punch?!, maybe you should go home to your old boss and beg for your job back!! I dont’ think you’re meant for the boxing scene!"
Reno tilted his head at him, his smirk was starting to unsettle him
“Oh I don’t think it’s gonna be me who’s gonna beg for their old job back after this match jack!”
jax was confused but didn't let his grin fall, this was getting really weird, from the sidelines, able was looking frustrated by reno’s stalling, reno’s manager looked just as confused and exasperated (not even his own manager liked him). the audience just kept glancing around and murmuring, they were all confused and just wanted to watch a fight already. Gangle tilted her head to the side, trying to piece together in her head what was going on.
“What is he doing?! Is he trying to stall and waste time so he doesn’t have to fight jax?”
Zooble shrugged
“Who know’s, reno does weird shit all the time”
“Yeah but this feel’s really off”
Caine cleared his throat and leaned over to reno
"uh iron punch, we're on a bit of a tight schedule and need to get this fight started!"
caine kept his voice low so as to not ruin the illusion. Able was poking at his wrist-watch very aggressively to caine; silently telling him to get this shit over with so they could hurry up and start the match already!, he was not a man that liked having his time wasted.
“Oh i know caine, but i think our audience would love to hear about this, isn’t that right jax”
Caine looked at him with a raised brow, he just shrugged back and shook his head to say “i don’t know man, i’m just as lost as you in this”, he didn't know why but a small part of him was starting to become a little worried,
he knew reno played dirty but he always caught onto his tricks and turned it around on him, but for some reason this felt different, something was wrong. Very wrong. He could feel it in his chest and he needed to put a stop to it!
"Well, what I think the audience wants to see me pummel your ass to the ground!! C’mon iron! Why don’t we just skip over this bullshit and get to the part were i win and beat you!!”
a few cheers coursed out, one man shouted in the back "YEAH SHUTUP AND FIGHT ALREADY!! I WANT MY MONEY'S WORTH!!!", but reno didn't care, he was being particularly stubborn about this
“Y’know something jack, you always go around boosting yourself up, presenting yourself as this strong masculine guy, you’re even considered to be the pinnacle of masculinity”
It wasn’t as funny coming out of reno’s mouth.
“Aww, is the little raccoon upset because he knows he can’t handle all of this?!, y’know this is getting kinda embarrassing for you!, why not just admit defeat at this point and maybe save the dignity huh?”
“Oh I don't know about that, after all, I don't think you’d have the guts to show your face here ever again after this match”
That dreadful feeling he had inside was starting to get bigger, what did he mean by that?, and what did all of his other weird comments mean?!
In the stadium, pomni was starting to become anxious too, she already had a bad feeling about today’s match and this weird stunt reno was pulling was just confirming it. She had no idea what reno was up to but it didn’t sound good, something was happening and she had this awful feeling it was gonna come at jax’s expense.
"uhh...I think those steroids have been getting into your head iron, now let’s get to the match already, I wanna punch in that pretty little raccoon face and smear it all over the mats!!”
He didn't want to entertain this weird segment anymore, something was telling him to get reno to stop and just start the fight, but he just wasn’t budging!, no matter what he said he just wouldn’t give this up!.
“Why are you so eager to get out of this conversation jack?, is it because you can only handle being so vulnerable with one person?”
“What are you going on about?!”
At this point jax was just getting frustrated!, like dude, conversation?!, we’re in the middle of a fucking match!, this wasn’t the time to play theater!.
“Y’know their rumours about you and “the fighter” being a secret item”
He knew that!, they both knew that!, for months people in the underground had been making bets if they were a couple or in some sort of weird situationship, because apparently people just can’t be friends anymore!.
“Yeah and?, we're just friends idiot!”
“Oh wow! Getting so defensive already?!”
The crowd turned from annoyed to intrigued; people were suckers for a forbidden love story; two fighters destined to go up against each other one day in the ring,
It made him roll his eyes but then saw pomni squirming in her seat and crossing her arms against her body, she looked really uncomfortable with everyone looking over at her, it made him feel bad, he never meant to put her in this position.
“Y’know it’s funny because a good friend of mine was running errands in the same area were you two were hanging out, apparently he saw you two at some cute dress shop, said it was called “Twirl & Thread” or something gay and prissy like that”
The blood in his veins ran cold.
“what…”
he risked a glance at pomni, he could see the panic in her face, he knew pomni, he knew she would never betray him, she promised to keep it a secret, which only meant one thing, reno wasn’t lying about his “good” friend catching them out together in public, and he just hoped he didn’t see too much.
“I didn’t think much of it, until he told me what he saw, and it was quiet scandalous”
He could feel anxiety creeping up his spine and spreading all over his body. no!, no!! this couldn’t be happening to him!! This wasn’t happening to him right now!!”
The cowed now started to “oooh”, gasping at the possibly of their made-up love story possibly being true, caine was starting to look very uncomfortable with all of this, able was practically foaming at the mouth and reno’s manager was seething, silently motioning for reno to cut it out already; that this wasn’t appointed talk and he needed to do his job as a boxer!
To the audience, jax and pomni slowly freaking out was basically confirming the dating rumors but the actual truth couldn’t be farther from that.
“Woha you looked nervous jack, afraid of everyone knowing”
“I-I don’t know what you're talking about!”
He cursed at his wavering voice, but in his defense you wouldn’t exactly be so calm if you were at risk of having your deepest secret aired out in a public stadium that was full of thousands of people.
“You gonna play it like that huh?, well it doesn’t matter, because he happened to snag some very interesting photos of you two that day!!”
“Oh god no!! NO!!”
at that point jax couldn’t keep up the mask anymore, the grin was gone, the smug pompous attitude was gone, the entire persona of jackrabbit was gone and thrown out the window because this wasn’t about a boxing match anymore.
"look i don't know what you have on me but please, please don’t do this!”
he felt so pathetic stooping this low; literally begging his enemy to not publicly expose him like this in the middle of a boxing match with thousands of eyes on them.
“Aww what’s the matter jack?, you scared”
this was not happening!, this was not fucking happening right now!, he was not about to be outed in a public stadium in front of thousands of people! All watching his every move, anticipating the worst
“Reno please i-i don’t want anyone else to know!”
“If you didn’t want anyone else to know, then maybe you’ve been smarter about this”
Pomni was now freaking out on his behalf, this was bad!!, very bad!!, how did he ever get photo’s!, nobody was in the dress-store except for them!It was completely empty!
gangle was looking quite excited, she was the most insistent on the dating rumours and was a sucker for a good love scandal, especially when it had spicy topics, ragatha looked conflicted, looking between her and jax, they both couldn’t be more wrong in their assumptions about all this.
“Look please i’ll do anything okay!, i’ll fucking do anything just please don’t do this!!”
“What is this?!, is the all mighty and powerful jackrabbit begging me to stop?”
Yes he was and he hated every second of it, but it was better then the alternative.
“you went out in public to do this, so in a way, is this really my fault?”
His hands started shaking but Reno just grinned and shrugged his shoulders as if to say “oh well”, like he couldn’t just stop all this right now and spare jax from the oncoming humiliation this would cause.
That’s when jax realized the horrifying reality, no mater how much he begged and pleaded it didn’t matter because reno wasn’t gonna stop, he was gonna expose him and show whatever photograph he had of them from that dress store and tear him apart bit by bit with no mercy or heart.
He felt tears come in his eyes, he didn't want to cry, he really didn’t, but he couldn’t help it. His own body was betraying him now too.
“Please…please just stop!”
“And why should I stop? You're always boasting about how you're the number one man in this ring!!—”
“Reno please—!”
“but tell me, what kind of man frills around in skirts and pretends to be a girl?!"
the chores of shocked gasps ranged from stadium to stadium, his entire body went cold and limp, he had spent his whole life keeping this one thing to himself, and in just one second, everything he worked so hard to keep secret was now out for everyone to judge and see.
the giggling and excitement melted right off gangle’s face, now replaced with just pure shock, next to her was zooble, who almost fell out of their seat in shock, ragatha had a hand over her mouth and pomni looked devastated on his behalf.
If jax wasn’t so caught off guard he would’ve tried to play dumb and deny that that it was fake and reno was just lying, but before he could even pull himself tougher, reno dug the photograph out of his pocket and held it up for everyone to see and they did, everyone saw it, it was a photograph of jax trying on a skirt with pomni beside him, both standing next to the mirror near the changing rooms, the photograph was taken from outside the boutique, that was why they never caught him.
“Still call yourself a man?”
He couldn’t meet his eyes and just looked down, hugging himself tightly.
‘Ashamed?, you outta be, i would be too if i were you”
Caine interjected, clearing his throat
“Uh–o-okay folks! i-i don't really know what’s happening! This isn’t something that usually happens here but uh…”
caine was desperately trying to do damage control but he had no idea how to even begin salvaging this, everyone was now so caught up by what was revealed that didn’t seem interested in the fight anymore.
pomni could only sit there and stare helplessly at Jax, he looked so small, standing in his corner, hugging himself and shaking like a leaf as the tears trailed down his cheeks with a hand covering his mouth. She wanted to run down there and hug him. She looked to her left, they were all wearing similar reactions to her, all in shock and helpless to do anything in the situation to make it better
And as if things couldn't get any worse, some drunk asshole just had to make the situation worse.
"Wait your saying that the jackrabbit is a fucking tranny?!"
That caused a mixture of reactions, some people laughed and joined in on the dunking while others got upset and yelled back at those who did.
“H-HEY NOW!! WE DO NOT TOLERATE SUCH PROFANITY HERE!!”
It didn’t matter what Caine had to said anymore, nobody was listening to him, the comments at jax got more intense and horrifying, calling him a “little bitch” mocking him for “crying like a little girl", they called him slurs, derogatory names, and even made disgusting jokes at his expense.
Each comment, laugh and insult that was directed at him made him curl up and cry even more, it was like knives being stabbed into his heart; it reminded him of back then. When he came out the first time to the wrong person and paid the price for it.
jax was pretty much checked out of reality at this point, all he could do was just stand there in his corner, hugging himself and staring down at his feet and cry. He only snapped out of his dissociating state when he felt a hand gently touch his arm, he flinched back so hard he nearly fell on his side, until he realized it was just caine.
“A-are you okay?”
He looked so worried for him and behind him was reno, standing their with his arms crossed looking like he had just won the lottery ticket and that’s when he just lost it.
“Jax..?”
With a choked sob he shook his head and quickly climbed down the stage, able tried to stop him but he pushed him away, ,a few of the other boxers tried to stop him and ask if he was okay but he shoved passed all of them, he didn’t want to be seen like this.
she didn't know how long she had been running for or even where she ended up in, her only goal was to get away from the arena as fast as possible. Eventually her eyes fell on some random door with no windows labeled "supply closet" she rushed inside and collapsed to the ground, doubling over the wooden ground and cried into the floor,.
her whole body was shaking and her heart was pounding out of her chest, she didn't know how long she was in their for but it must've been a long time, her throat felt dry and her eyes hurt from crying so much, she only stopped crying when she heard a knock at the door. Terrified on who it could be on the other side.
“Jaz?”
She relaxed a bit; it was just pomni.
"Jaz, please i know you're in there, let me in…"
Part of her wanted to tell her to go away, she didn’t want to be seen like this but the other part of her didn’t want to be alone and desperately wanted pomni by her side, with a shaking hand, she reached for the doorknob and unlocked the door to let pomni inside, she stepped in, closed the door and and crouched in front of her.
“Hey…”
She brought her knees to her chest, resting her chin on top of her knees as her arms wrapped around her legs.
“I know this is a stupid question but are you okay?”
Tears perked up again in her eyes as she shook her head no, then started to quietly sob into her knees, pomni reached to pat her head but she flinched away from her touch.
“Jaz?”
“...i wanna go home”
Her voice was weak with sobs and it broke pomni’s heart, she’s never seen her so broken and defeated. She was gonna kill reno for this
"...alright, let’s get you home”
Pomni went to open the door, after making sure nobody else was in the hallway, she took jaz’s hand and guided them to the other less popular exit where nobody would see them leaving.
They said nothing, jaz pulled the hoodie of her jacket over her head and tightly clutched her jacket close to her body as a way to cover herself, they waited for the bus in silence, still holding hands and continued to hold hands in the bus.
Inside the bus, jaz started to feel the tears and quiet sobs come up again, pomni squeezed her hand and leaned her body against hers, she sniffled and kept her crying as quiet as possible as to not disturb anyone else, they got a few stares and curious glances but for the most part, nobody disturbed them and minded their business.
They got off at jaz’s stop, it was a 10 minute walk back to jaz’s apartment complex, they walked hand-in-hand the entire journey to the apartment building and took the elevator all the way up to the 5th floor where she resigned, it was only when they reached her door that they finally let go.
"Do you want me to stay over tonight?”
she shook her head, admittedly pomni didn’t want to leave jasmine alone like this but she didn’t want to push her boundaries either,.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded and pomni didn’t argue, she wanted to but she didn’t.
"Okay…, please call me if you need anything, even just to talk, …i love you"
she nodded again, a silent “i love you back” pomni walked out, looked at her one last time before closing her door. Her heart felt heavy the whole walk back to her apartment.
the first thing jaz did was take a long hot shower, mostly just standing their hanging her head low for almost 40 minutes before forcing herself out, then changed into a oversized hoodie and sweatpants and flopping herself on the bed, burying herself in the huge white bedsheets,
The silence allowed her mind to wander, it travelled back to reno outing her in the arena, the photograph being displayed in the air for everyone in the stadium to see the proof. It was a beautiful and special memory for jasmine, at the dress store, she had found this really cute long pink denim skirt on display and wanted to try it on but was too scared to even bring herself to ask the store lady for it, so pomni did it for her and practically dragged her out of the changing room so she could see herself in the reflection of one of the big mirror’s, she remembered how right it felt to be in those clothes, how she cried when she saw herself in the reflection, how she freaked out while pomni and the store lady worked together to calm her down and then finally did a little twirl after pomni basically begged her too and how freeing it felt to be in clothing that actually felt right and not something forced on her body. For the first time in her life, she felt happy and comfortable.
but now that happy moment was tainted from this, because now it had been used to humiliate and degrade her, making jasmine a walking laughing-stock for the world to gaze upon.
she didn't sleep that night, the tears in her eyes wouldn't allow her too.