The Crain Kids + Smiles

It's very late, I'm a tiny bit tipsy but I definitely won't have time tomorrow, and if my inbox is anything to go by, y'all really want your pazzi crumbs so here y'all go (I might do a proper recap about the game later but we'll see)

Also I know I said I lowkey wanted Paige to leave but you guys seeing the way gampel loves her (like IT WAS LOUD and lowkey didn't even hear her say the "I'm coming back" part because everyone was screaming already) and seeing the way she loves them back, ugh I'm just so happy she gets that again for one more year and I just hope it's everything she wants.

Anyways onto what you're here for:

The scream I screamed when Azzi came out in the #5 jersey like I think I scared some people (read: the girl next to me even though she should be used to my bullshit by now). But when I tell y'all it was a MOMENT, for me and for Paige. I'm sure she knew it was happening but I have no idea if she'd seen Azzi in that jersey before the moment. But girlie's eyes were glued for a good minute. Like they were doing their warmups and stuff they do, and Azzi was walking around the court saying hi to people and Paige was distracted as hell. Then Azzi finally got to her and bruh the smirk on this bitch's face like WE GET IT. That's your girl, in your jersey. She definitely made some smartass comment cause Azzi rolled her eyes. Like you guys I wish I had videoed this interaction, even if it would have come out blurry as fuck, because I swear it's better than anything I can ever write, literally straight out of a fic vibes.

KK also definitely made some smartass comment cause Azzi full just shoved her at some point. Princess was getting teased by everyone today I think because she was blushing and rolling her eyes a lot and whoever was around her was laughing with teasing eyes.

They gravitate to each other so much, like so much it's kinda insane. Especially before the game, like as soon as Azzi was out of the tunnel (injured players come out a couple of minutes after the other players), even when they're not really even interacting each other, they're in each other's orbiit. Y'all like it's kinda ridiculous. And I was at the Texas game last year (was not as invested back then so maybe that's why) but I swear they weren't this attached yet.

Also seeing Azzi so happy and carefree pregame, I already knew Paige was definitely staying.

Small moment during the foul with Amari that was being reviewed, the non-injured players were huddled and the injured players were still on the bench. And Paige just kept looking back at Azzi and at some point Aaliyah like elbowed her and gave her a knowing look before also turning back and looking at Azzi.

Also I swear when they're slapping hands, both of them tend to linger just a second longer than they do with other people.

Speaking of people teasing Azzi, Paige's mom gave her the biggest smirk when she saw her after the game. Like she looked at the jersey and then like titled her head a little bit and then they hugged and it was so sweet. Before that she was messing around with all of Paige's siblings. You can just tell the comfort level is different because at this point, everyone's close to everyone's families to an extent, but it's just different with Azzi and Paige's family.

Back to gravitating, as soon as Paige was done with the SNY interview and interacting with fans, she was back in Azzi's orbit. Like they don't really touch and stuff because they're clearly aware there's so many people, but you can see they kinda want to? But they were just talking after. They're so tethered, like I know and y'all know, but when you see it in person it's kinda insane to observe.

Alright that's all I can remember right now but I'll see if I can remember more. But man it was just such an emotional night and ugh I love this senior class so much and seeing them get the love they deserve made me so happy. They deserve everything.

"You're already six feet deep, stop digging and leave me here to die" vs "Don't you dare say you love me right now because I won't believe you mean it like I want you to"

It's everybody's fault and nobody's fault. If we want to look at this tournament from a objective and rational point of view, we probably should say that this team arrived unprepared, those players didn't just forget how to be the fucking best in the world in 2 years, they just hadn't been prepared to face the development many teams actually had. They knew USWNT, USWNT didn't know them. Many players surely underperformed, in particular in my opinion Megan Rapinoe, Abby Dahlkemper, Sam Mewis and today Rose Lavelle too, while others I think didn't even have the chance to find a continuity. Tobin Heath never played winger or any kind of attacking role, she wasn't perfect but she was everywhere trying to cover all the holes on the field. And you can't sacrifice Tobin Heath as a damned martyr like this after an injury. Christen Press should have been THE leader of the offense line and she almost never played 90 minutes, and never with the same people. Alex Morgan paradoxically almost played better for Orlando Pride, with more runs and more movement, she just waited there. But just like Press she didn't even have consistency. Carli Lloyd was just at the finish line.

I don't understand the tactics. I tried to. I tried to imagine some greater plan, I thought they could find themselves again soon enough to turn this tournament around but they couldn't. And they couldn't also because sadly Vlatko didn't know how to manage this group. The way he changed every single line-up (I know turn-over is vital when you play every 2/3 days but you also need stability), they way he handled substitutions, changing all together the forwards and never giving a chance to create something stable with Tobin & Christen on the wings and Carli/Alex in the middle was absolutely absurd to me. He brought Macario, he could have used her as a wild card, she could have helped the midfield having more depth and freeing Tobin but he never considered the option. It was too wrong.

And beyond everything, it's absolutely not a ONE player's fault. Not Tierna's, certainly not AD's, not Rapinoe's and not Tobin's (definitely not Tobin's), they won together, they lost together.

But after all of this, the thing I can't get over is that THIS TEAM deserved better and despite everything, I'm still damn proud of them. The USWNT taught me a LOT, they showed me another way to love and live football, they showed me how football could actually be a mean and not only an end, they forged women's football more and better than anyone else and I can't stand seeing how all the world was just waiting for them to fall.

Many times I don't agree with Carli Lloyd, I don't share her opinions and I don't like her thoughts. But seeing her today sprinting by herself after the game and sobbing after the end was just heartbreaking because it was like seeing a pillar falling down. Seeing Rapinoe crying and maybe realizing that her and Carli's time is over was unbearable. Seeing Lindsey seeking comfort in Tobin and Christen's arms was just terrible.

USWNT has a new era in front of them, an era that needs to begin with new forces and still some veterans, but an era of change inevitably. But I want this team to be remembered just like the 99ers because what they did for women's football is just as much remarkable and groundbreaking.

Personally I have to admit that I just hope Tobin Heath will play at least for another World Cup, I believe she has it in her but I don't know if she wants to. She isn't scared of retirement but I am. She meant too much.

And in the end, I'm not even American but this team is one of the things I feel most close to me in my life. So today we face the loss, tomorrow we go after the bronze medal and the day after that we start again and we work to show the world who the fucking champions are.

🚨 SUPERCORP ENDGAME ALERT 🚨

Their hugs then:

one arm over the other's shoulder, other arm over the ribs/waist

upper body a bit angled and shifted to the side, therefore the hug a little unbalanced and not so tight

best fiends' hug

Their hugs now:

Kara's arms around Lena's neck, Lena's arms around Kara's chest

bodies in perfect symmetry, naturally snuggle into each other tightly

girlfriends' hug

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk! 😊

my dad likes to call the stretches of time where you’re not creating “dreaming periods” and says that they’re meant to allow you to absorb all of the beauty, life, and inspiration from the things around you so that when you’re able to create again, you will have fanned your spark back into a flame. sometimes its hard to see those moments as anything but stagnation, but he always says that they’re natural and healthy and needed—things that should be embraced rather than feared.

I can understand people perceiving the hug to just be a hug between besties and that’s totally valid but just like anything to do with pazzi, it’s never really what they do but it’s what the rest of the team does that always gives them away or makes everything 🤨🤨 like with that hug, from the front angle you saw KK legit have the biggest surprised smile on her face when they hugged and the other angle, you can clearly see her put her hands over her mouth and was completely cheesing plus you can see ice looking over at kk? and giving a knowing smile. Then you obvs had azzi giving kk a light shove at the end to get her to stop. Bonus: aubrey’s smile as p goes in for the hug and the way q looks at them in the photo that was posted.

It’s the same with that clip. Like yes, the way they were holding each other in that seemed intimate but you could also chalk it up to them being drunk or something, but it was ice and carol’s reaction afterwards that let you know something’s going on.

So many other examples tbh haha but y’all already know 😜. Like 97% of their interactions in public can definitely be explained as just very close besties behavior, but their teammates’ reactions always say otherwise. But ofc each to their own and like i said, i can definitely understand ppl that totally just see them as besties (and maybe they really are just that or maybe not, i guess we’ll never know until they want us to know!)

yes yes yes i so agree

bc don’t get me wrong like i’ve been getting the “undercutting tension” vibe in everything they do for a while now but that could very much be me going insane, bc most of what they’ve done i would do/have done w my bsf bc we’re like soul tied. but also i feel like it did have different energy like watching them i wasn’t like oh yeah that’s us fr ykwim?

vibes/energy whatever is sm harder to read tho which is why i base so much of it off of their teammates, as you said. when paige and nika hug, no one bats an eye. when paige and azzi hug, everyone (discreetly) throws a party lmao

bc of everything that’s happened, i think the other girlies get just as excited as we do when pazzi does interact in public 😭 we really don’t get to see it a lot anymore it’s like a lil treat

but yeah the way all their teammates tiptoe around talking abt it and hide it on lives and always react like that speaks volumes and i don’t think they’d be able to keep up this bit (if it was) for this long

also food for thought, they could always say sum to shut it down and they never do 🤷‍♀️ like kate was chill w going on live and being like “i’m NOT dating jada” bc you know, she isn’t 😭😭

like the fact that they’re not even willing to lie abt it tells you how in deep they are

You're right I have read coffeshib work BUT I hadn't in a while and that deliciously soft 50k one shot did the trick. I've also seen one rec in the notes I haven't read yet so that one is next! Thank you so much for answering this ask.

alright so, i actually managed to think about some more soft stuff ive read so here have a follow up fic rec i guess???

Please Clarify by @gveret-fic

it's easy (when i'm with you) by falsealarm

Something Borrowed by janewithawhy

how do crows know when an earthquake is about to happen? by @c--and--b

Point of Maximal Impulse by @zofiecfield

and a lot of @spaceman-earthgirl

Florence Pugh asYelena Belovain Black Widow (2021)  Director Cate Shortland

“I’m home.”