#talex

Everyone on the team knew about Preath, there was no way to escape it. They all got hounded with questions about it or tagged in posts on Instagram, so it was nothing new.

Today alone, because there was an open practice, a lot of the fans got pictures and videos of Christen interacting with Tobin, posting them online and tagging both women. That was why she was scrolling through Instagram, looking at the different posts and comments.

“Where’s this coming from?”

Christen never asked you if you were bothered about all the Preath stuff, even though she did sometimes wonder if it did, because she never heard you complain about it. You laughed along with some of the jokes your teammates made about all of the theories and you would even show her some of the Preath videos and pictures you found. You even showed her different DMs you got asking you to tell Christen and Tobin that they should come out or that they made a cute couple.

So, she didn’t think to ask you if it bothered you, but today when she was practicing with Alex and Tobin, the other forwards asked her if you ever complained to her about all the Preath stuff, because they’d had a small fight about it again.

Tobin found it weird that she was being romantically paired off with her best friend when they were both in happy relationships with other people, and she wanted to finally tell people about her relationship with Alex, but the blue-eyed forward was still skeptical about coming out, very much like Christen.

“Tobin and Alex asked me if the Preath stuff bothered you, or if you complained about it, and after looking through Instagram today, I could see why it would bother you. If people made these comments about you and Kelley, I think I would be pretty upset.” Christen says, her lips turned down in a frown when she even thinks about people thinking you and your best friend were in a romantic relationship.

You take a second to think about Christen’s question, knowing that this isn’t the time for making any jokes, especially when you see how serious and perplexed Christen looks.

“It used to bother me when we first started dating, and there were a few times when I wanted to bring it up, or even just end it between us because it got to be a bit much for me. Constantly seeing your girlfriend being ‘shipped’ with someone else can make you believe that they deserve to be with that person. I used to go through some of the Preath posts and I honestly believed that you two deserved each other. If I didn’t know you personally, I would’ve thought you were dating Tobin from all the stuff I saw.”

“Baby, you should’ve told me.” Christen whispers, shocked that you even thought of breaking up with her because you believed the Preath shippers. You never mentioned any of this to her, and it made her worry about what else you still had to say.

“I wanted to, but then I sat, and I thought about it. What was I going to say? Please stop interacting with your best friend because the fans think you’re dating, even though I know you’re not. It sounded so selfish and I didn’t want to put you in a position where you had to choose between Tobin and I, especially over something that we can’t control.”

You hold your hand up when you see Christen about to say something. You want her to hear everything you have to say before she butts in with something and doesn't understand what you're getting to. You want her to understand all your feelings and your thought process about this whole thing.

When you see Christen close her mouth and you feel her relax a little bit, ready to let you continue without any interruptions, you continue.

“I also realised that I couldn’t really blame the fans either because they don’t know we’re together and when you see things from their perspective, what they’re seeing between you and Tobin makes sense. I wasn’t, and I’m still not going to force you to come out just so people will maybe stop shipping the two of you. I want us to tell people when you’re ready to do it. So, yeah back then it bothered me, but right now, it doesn’t get to me. I understand it and with that understanding I was able to stop letting it bother me.”

Christen waits a few seconds to make sure you’re done talking before she opens her mouth to reply.

“How are you so calm about this? Why aren’t you upset, or fighting with me or the fans?” Christen asks, marvelling at how calm you sounded when you made your feelings known to her, but also a little worried that maybe you were downplaying your emotions so you wouldn’t make her upset.

“You love me, right?” you ask, looking straight into Christen’s gorgeous green eyes.

“You know I do. With all my heart.” Christen answers, a little unsure of where you were going with this.

“You’re not dating Tobin, right? Unless there’s something you need to tell me?” you ask, making sure your tone is a little lighter than your previous question.

It pays off when you hear Christen giggle as she rolls her eyes at your question.

“God no. I’m not dating Tobin, trust me.”

“So then if you love me and you’re not dating Tobin, I can’t let all the Preath stuff bother me. I trust you with my whole heart, and I trust Tobin. There’s so much other shit in the world to bother me, fans finding joy, and some even finding acceptance and the courage to accept who they are through assuming that you and Tobin are together, that shit doesn’t bother me. What we have is real, and I’m not gonna mess it up by believing something that isn’t.”

You want Christen to hear and understand everything you’re saying. You also want her to know that the Preath shipping really doesn’t bother you anymore, but you also can’t help but wonder that maybe she brought it up because it was bothering her.

“Does it bother you?” you ask carefully, watching Christen’s eyes go wide for just a second before she takes a few seconds to think about her answer.

“A little bit.”

“Why?”

Christen doesn’t answer immediately, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth as she thinks of what to say. Her fingertips mindlessly move to trace lightly over the tattoo just below the nape of your neck, more at the top of your shoulders. It was a piercing tattoo of her eyes that you had gotten done after your two-year anniversary.

You told Christen you got it because it represented the fact that she always had your back and that she was always watching out for you. You also told her it was because she couldn’t keep her eyes off of you, which you found hilarious, especially when she would get distracted at practice, so you literally got them tattooed onto you. She didn’t like that reason as much as she liked the previous ones.

She also didn’t like how many of the fans were convinced the eyes belonged to Alex or one of your exes. She thought they looked pretty distinct, the whole team was able to tell that it was her eyes, but the fans were adamant that it wasn’t.

All the speculation and linking to your exes made Christen hate the tattoo a first, but after some time – and persuasion – it became one of her favourite tattoos on you. She loved tracing it when the two of you were cuddled up together, or whenever she could get her hands to it.

You hum softly as Christen’s fingers trace your tattoo, before you duck you head to press a soft kiss to the underside of Christen’s jaw, trying to reassure her and let her know that she can take all the time she needs before answering your question.

Instead of leaning up on your elbows again, so you can look at Christen, you drop your arms and nestle your head between her neck, peppering it with featherlight kisses while you wait for her to answer your question.

“I know it’s stupid, but I kind of hate that they see a relationship between me and Tobin, but not between me and you. I know I’m the one that wanted us to keep things a secret, but I’m more affectionate with you and I don’t understand how people aren’t figuring us out the way they figured out Krashlyn.” Christen says quietly and you can’t help but chuckle into her neck.

“Shut up, I know it’s stupid.” Christen says, rolling her eyes and slapping your back to get you to stop laughing.

When you finally get your chuckle under control, you lift yourself back up so you can look at Christen.

“It’s not stupid. It’s a bit weird, especially since you wanted to keep our relationship from the fans, but now you kinda want them to figure it out without telling them. But I get it. I’m just glad it’s this that’s bothering you and not something more serious. You had me worried for a few seconds when you were so quiet.”

“I didn’t know how to say how I was feeling, so I had to get all my feelings together, and I knew you were going to laugh at me.” Christen says quietly, her bottom lip jutted out.

“I can’t believe you’re jealous of Krashlyn being caught out by the fans. We could literally just tell the fans we’re together, then they'll know.” you suggest before dipping down and kissing the pout off Christen’s lips.

“Is it weird that I don’t want to tell them, just have them figure it out?” Christen asks.

She liked the idea of the fans figuring it out on their own without her having to outright say anything. It was cute and fun to see all the videos, pictures and theories about her and Tobin, she wanted the same thing for you and her.

“It’s a little weird, but a little evil too. These poor fans, nothing ever gets confirmed for them.” you joke, nudging Christen’s nose with your own.

“I’m not saying we won’t confirm it, I just wanna see all the cute theories and stuff about us.” Christen mumbles.

“Ok, ok. How about you post something like an easter egg and see if they can figure it out. They’ll probably think it’s about Tobin, but it can’t hurt to try.”

“You think that would work? An easter egg?”

“Yeah, Taylor Swift does it all the time in her music, and Marvel does it in their movies. Then you get to see the fans go at it and try to figure out what the fuck is going on in that pretty little head of yours. Much like I do most days.” you say.

“Just make it a little obvious that you’re alluding to me, or you’ll be stuck with more Preath shipping and from what I can tell, you don’t really want that, and neither do Talex.”

“Ok, but what do we do?” Christen asks.

“I don’t know and I’m kinda tired right now, so how about we take a nap and figure this all out after?” you mumble, making yourself comfortable on Christen, returning your head to the crook of her neck.

“But…”

“Shhhhhh, sleepy time.” you mumble, blindly bringing your finger to Christen’s lips, effectively silencing the forward.

Christen rolls her eyes playfully at your antics, but eventually concedes.

“Fine, sleepy time.” she says softly, pressing a kiss to your finger, which you move when you know that you’ll get some sleep.

˳˳˳˳

“I thought you said easter egg?” you ask Christen, looking down at what Christen posted using your Instagram account.

“It is an easter egg.” Christen says, pouting.

All she did was post a picture of her fingers playing with the hairs on the back of your neck, your tattoo of her eyes clearly shown just under her fingers, with the caption, ‘The eyes, chico. They never lie.’

“It’s neither confirming or denying anything and I made it obvious that it’s you and me. I’m wearing your ring, the one I always wear, your tattoo is there, and I tagged myself.”

You’re unable to help the smile that breaks out on your face at how adorable Christen looks defending her idea of an easter egg.

“Ok, fine. It’s an easter egg. Although, judging from some of these comments, people are figuring it out. These poor fans, it's all hints and no confirmation, although, I think your tag might just be enough confirmation.” you say teasingly.

“If I didn’t tag myself then they would think it’s someone else and I am not going to read comments linking you to one of your exes again.”

˳˳˳˳

“How long are you guys gonna keep doing this? It’s been a month now.” Tobin asks, showing you Christen’s latest Instagram post.

It was a black and white picture of her laying on your couch in sweats and a pair of white re-inc socks. It was clear she was in your apartment because if you looked closely you could see the signed and framed Mia Hamm jersey Christen bought you, a jersey that everyone knew hung in your apartment because of the embarrassing number of times you showed it in Instagram posts or livestreams.

“I have no idea. All I know is that Christen is having fun and I am going to let her have as much fun as she wants.”

“At this point you should just confirm the relationship. I’m sure everyone knows.” Tobin says.

“I say the same thing, but apparently not everyone is convinced we’re together and Christen has a few more ideas. So I’m letting her be.”

Christen kinda went insane with the whole easter egg thing, so far she made four posts on Instagram, two from her account and two from yours. She also managed to rope her sister into sharing a video of the three of you drinking wine and enjoying a sunset. She was having a blast, almost controlling the narrative, or whatever, and she just looks so adorable when she thinks up ideas that you don’t have the heart to tell her to stop.

“Alex wants to do the same thing. Apparently, she likes the way Christen is doing it and thinks it could be fun.” Tobin says, chuckling when she remembers the chat she had with her fiancé about coming out using easter eggs, like Taylor Swift. She really couldn’t find it in her to argue with the blue-eyed forward, she was just happy that Alex found the courage to want to finally tell people about them.

“I’m not complaining though. I’m just glad she’s ready to tell people, even if it’s through hidden messages and stuff.”