CHAPTER TEN
disclaimer! it is 2am,
heavily unedited, hopefully
it makes sense 🙂‍↕️

June 2022

Valentine's first post of Robby was when they went on their first date— The Black Phone just came out days before and Valentine's only purpose to see it was because Ethan Hawke was in the movie. As the biggest Dead Poets Society fan in existence, she needed to see Todd Anderson... even if he was playing the villain.

The two weren't dating just yet, Robby would ask her out a few days later. But it was a small little opportunity for the two to get to know each other outside of their mutual friendship with Sam. And even though the thought of diving into another relationship after her last one felt daunting, she couldn't ignore how Robby made her laugh, how natural the conversation felt. Who knows, Robby was just really friendly.

As they stood in line for popcorn, Robby looked over at her and raised an eyebrow, a playful smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "I didn't know you were into horror movies."

"I'm into every kind of movie, you name one and I've probably seen it."

That started a back and forth between the pair. Robby naming whatever came to mind, Valentine replying with a simple yes or no. "I find it hard to believe you actually watched those movies thoroughly," Robby commented as they sat on their seats. "You couldn't possibly enjoy that many films."

"You'd be surprised," the girl smiled, handing their shared bucket of popcorn to him. "Cheesy rom coms, gritty dramas, I've seen everything and anything."

Robby chuckled, rolling his eyes playfully. "As if you gave Sharknado or Velocipastor the same level of attention."

"Hey, those are cinematic masterpieces," she said, her tone serious but with the faintest hint of sarcasm. "You have to appreciate the art behind everything, Robby."

He rolled his eyes again with a grin. "I'll take your word for it."

As the movie began, they fell into a comfortable silence– which is crazy. The only other person she hasn't felt the need to be someone else for was Axel, and now Robby took that spot. But Valentine wasn't running laps around her room when his name popped up on her phone or overthinking every sign. Instead, she just felt... normal.

And that felt nice.

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Sekai Taikai, 2024

Axel found himself running into Francis after the eliminations– his former go-to man whenever either of them needed help with their girlfriends. Arguments, gifts, surprise visits, you name it. Of course that friendship died over the course of two years, but it was awfully amazing to see an old face that didn't seem to hate... his face.

"Axel– oh this is literally crazy," Francis greeted, a bottle of water in his hands with the rim stained with lipstick– presumably Sierra's bottle judging by the dark red. "So crazy, how are you? Great work with the whole round by the way, that was..."

"Crazy?"

"Yeah– yeah that's the word," Francis then laughed. "How've you been? You look cool–"

"I've been trying to call you... Axel," Sierra interrupted, her smile slowly fading into some contorted look which the fighter couldn't read. "Hey... you..."

Axel could only give a pursed lip smile and nodded towards the girl. He often forgot that Francis was not only his friend, but was dating his ex's best friend. It was a bit of a rocky situation. "Hello, Sierra– how are you–"

"Listen here, Kovacevic," she interrupted once more, taking her bottle of water from Francis and pointing it at Axel. "I have poured my blood, sweat, and tears to make sure Val's doing alright. So help me, God, if you try to ruin that I will... I will... I don't know what I'll do but I will do something that will keep you up at night. You moved on, so she moved on–"

"Look, all I want to know is if she's with Miyagi- Do's captain. That's all I need."

"Captain... Keene? Robby Keene? Is she with Robby Keene?" Axel slowly nodded at Sierra's words, confused at the change of attitude. He watched as she tapped the bottle on her chin, then nodded as well.  "Yeah... Yeah she's with him... They're– hm, you can say they've been on and off since summer of twenty two."

"Oh."

Her eyes narrowed. "No yeah, yeah, and– just curious, how does that make you feel?"

Axel walked away from the conversation, not wanting to answer the girl's question and yet his mind buzzed with more of his own. He had been so certain that he understood where he stood with Valentine– that she was still the girl in his past. But it was way more evident now that she's apparently with someone else.

The boy he saw from her posts years ago, the one he saw not even a few weeks after their breakup. Robby Keene. It didn't sit right with him.

The boy's fists clenched at his sides as he walked down the dimly lit hall, the sound of his footsteps echoing through the empty space. He wanted to leave it alone– forget about everything, focus on winning the tournament. But he couldn't, not when his mind was racing with a million questions. On and off since the summer of '22. That's what Sierra had said. He couldn't wrap his head around it, when did Robby worm his way back into her life?

The image of Robby's smile, the way he always seemed so casual, so effortless with how he interacted with her, it all gnawed at Axel. Had Robby been with anyone else, Axel wouldn't give him a second thought. But it was different.

Robby had something Axel no longer had: her trust.

And that thought twisted something deep in his gut. Axel stopped at the door of the gym, his hand gripping the handle. He didn't want to feel this way. He knew he messed up, but damn it this wasn't how it was supposed to go.

He took a deep breath and shoved the door open, his eyes scanning the empty space. He had been trying to focus on training, on the fight ahead. Because if he wasn't going to win then who knows what Sensei Wolf would do. But Valentine had now occupied the forefront of his mind, and so was Robby. According to the girl's best friend, they were something.

Axel began to pace back and forth, his thoughts spinning in circles. If he was too late to fix anything, or if he coincidentally made his way back into her life at just the right time. "Shit," he mumbled under his breath– a sigh escaping his lips as he hid his face in his hands.

No, no yeah Axel definitely knew how to fix this. And he'll fix it as soon as the evening comes.

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"Sierra, lying isn't nice," Francis told her, the two walking side by side. "Especially about that shit, you know Robby's in a relationship—"

"No, he and Tory broke up."

"A pause doesn't mean break up– and mind you, he and Val haven't dated since the summer before junior year. You do realize this could potentially hurt a friendship."

"A pause is like, leading up to a break up so it might as well be," Sierra said, earning a glare from her boyfriend. "What? If you said let's take a pause I'd think you're just finding excuses to break up with me. 'We'll come back when it's time!' or 'I think we need to explore options before I realize that you're the only one I want' is basically saying 'this isn't working out, I just need to make sure it really isn't working out.' Do you get me?"

Francis sighed at her logic. "We still shouldn't be meddling with whatever is going on with anyone. Do you realize what's going to happen? Axel's like... Chris Evans as Captain America. I don't think we want to piss him off any time soon just to play petty."

"Hey, me and Val's plan of Operation Kovacebitch wouldn't work out unless we found someone to get the man jealous— I don't know, jealousy is a really big drive whenever it comes to getting someone mad."

He raised his eyebrow. "Are you... what are you two trying to do?"

"You do not want to know, snookums."

"All I'm gonna say is that I'm washing my hands on this matter."

"You and your bystander apathy whatchamacallit."