Archive of Our Own

For one day, Jinx made history. She wasn’t the type to rest on her laurels, but it was…really nice. She had been working ridiculously hard for essentially her whole life, and finally it was rewarded. She was named the youngest manager in baseball history (or at least, in the majors). It wasn’t her dream job—not yet. Even though it was home, it was a small market, meaning less money, worse players, and more stress. She was just a manager too; no formal control of which players were on the roster, of trades and signings. Still, every day for one hundred and sixty two glorious days, Jinx would step into the dugout and have complete control of her baseball team, at the highest level.

Even if it wasn’t everything she wanted, the career path was clear. Prove she could make something great out of a team without much talent. Catch the eye of a bigger club. Work there for a few years, gain the trust of fans and management, slowly integrate herself into decisions about who was on the team, eventually be formally hired to be in charge of that too.

After years of what often felt like impossible toiling, her efforts were finally recognized. There were articles calling her a prodigy. There was an outpouring of support from Zaunite fans thrilled to have someone from Zaun at the helm. The national news picked up segments on her story; she somehow talked both her high school and her (admittedly tiny) college into letting her manage while being enrolled. She dominated at both. She got a role as an assistant in the minor leagues, but everyone could see her brain was on another level. She bounced around the minor leagues, logging winning season after winning season.

Eventually, someone must have looked at her record over her whole life and gone holy shit who is this kid. Zaun’s manager called her up and offered her as a position as an assistant (technically a third base coach). Evidently he talked her up to the right people, because when he announced his retirement a year later she was named his replacement.

Her fame lasted a little longer than fifteen minutes. Twenty-four hours and forty-three minutes, to be exact.

Then, the shiny, rich, illustrious Demacia Gold made an announcement. Luxanna Crownguard would be the new youngest manager in history. By a month, but no one said that. But not just a manager. She was also named the “President of Baseball Operations.” A fancy ass title (Jinx shortened it to POBO to make it moderately less pretentious) that essentially meant she was in charge of all of it. Who was on the team? Up to Luxanna. How their system of minor league teams worked? Up to Luxanna. All day-to-day decisions? Up to Luxanna.

It wasn’t technically in her job title, but if Luxanna wanted to raise the cost of hot dogs by five cents she probably could unilaterally.

It was an immense amount of trust to put in someone with such little experience. But it made sense, everyone called her a prodigy. Even moreso than Jinx, who had started from literally nothing and proven time and time again she could out maneuver anyone on the planet.

So what were Lux’s qualifications to be labeled a prodigy? Well, her grandpa was one of the best baseball players ever. Her older brother had a legendary career, cut short by injuries. Both of their jerseys were retired in Demacia—forever enshrined in the stadium walls as two of the best players in team history. Oh, and her dad was the former POBO and manager. His last action before retiring was nominating his “prodigy” daughter as his successor. Her only experience was acting as his assistant.

Fucking nepo baby.

But it was fine. Just another name to add to the list of people who pissed Jinx off. Just another person for Jinx to outwork and humiliate.

Besides, it was good for Jinx to lose the national spotlight. She needed to remember who she was. She ate, slept, and bled baseball. She slept in the ballpark most nights. Her idea of relaxing was having a drink or seven during her nightly solo strategy sessions. Her idea of winning was everything.

That was why she was more competent than anyone else. She was smart, yes, much smarter than most. She thought out of the box too, and instilled the same mentality in her players. But, the fact of the matter was, it would be physically impossible for anyone to outwork her.

There were only so many hours in a day, and she had already claimed them all.

The preseason process went…surprisingly well. Even though she technically had no control over who was on the team, her boss was really understanding; they talked about the types of players she valued, gave some specific examples, and were able to work together quite efficiently. He seemed to get just how smart she was, and value that, but also was able to offer her some perspective of someone with more experience and connections. She paid close attention to everything he said. He also said that he was “worried about her” and she needs to “think less about work.” She didn’t pay close attention to that part.

Overall though, Silco was great, and they were able to put together a spring training roster that she was genuinely excited about. Young, chippy, and above all else versatile. They didn’t have one set archetype of player they chased, they wanted diversity, and commitment. They weren’t a team based on speed, or strength, or fast pitches, or pitches with a lot of movement. They were a team built on the idea that when they needed those things, they would have individuals who could do it. People would be asked only to play their very specific role, and play it well.

It was a bit non-traditional, and could get frustrating for players, so they also sought out people who would buy in. Those who were passionate about winning, and those who were already kind of oddballs.

Spring training was really hard on her. It wasn’t like anything she had ever dealt with. She wasn’t there to win games, she was there to get everyone prepared for the season, and to evaluate talent.

They had sixty players. Forty of those could be on the forty-man roster, meaning they would be allowed to come up to her official roster when needed. For some of the twenty that didn’t make it, their contracts allowed them to just spend another year or two in the minor leagues, but stay under team control. Some of that twenty would be out of a job.

Of those sixty, twenty-six could be on her opening day roster. That’s what everyone really wanted. It was the closest thing to a sense of security someone could get in the brutal business. At the very least, going into the season, it meant that your team wanted you playing.

Jinx was used to an us versus them mentality. She insisted that all of her players be on the same page, be solely dedicated to winning, be good teammates to each other. If you had a bad day personally but the team won, you had to be happy. Even she couldn’t really expect that in spring training. Everyone was playing for their livelihood, they were competing against the people right beside them.

But this was also the first time these players met with Jinx. The first time they met Jinx. She wanted a relaxed, fun culture where they supported each other. Kind of hard when everyone was stressing about whether they had a job, and actively competing with each other for it. She didn’t want to show preference either, so just getting close with the players virtually guaranteed a roster spot wasn’t an option.

The hardest part though was knowing that she would have to make the hard decisions. Well, actually Silco, but she would be in the room. For the most part, she did genuinely like her players as people. Knowing that she’d have to screw some of them over was incredibly difficult for her. It didn’t help that she was younger than some of them.

Silco was the one to tell the twenty who didn’t make it. She just couldn’t handle the looks on their faces. He warned her she would have to learn how to do this eventually. He was right, but he also got how hard it was.

The press was also a whole new thing to deal with. She was answering questions daily after games, and had to adjust to everything she said being quoted time and time again. Especially during spring training, she had to learn how to speak the language of half-truths and no commitments. It was her least favorite thing on the planet. At least soon she wouldn’t be getting daily questions about who would even be on the team. She could answer questions about games that already happened honestly, but no one cared about those during spring training.

Finally though, she was at the part of the season she was excited about. The part of the season she had been craving since she was a little kid.

All in all, the team came out of spring training about as happy and united as they could. Hopefully they would build on that over the course of a season.

Jinx wasn’t the type for a big dramatic speech. That kind of thing almost always came from other players, the type of people who naturally became seen as leaders. The best way for her to lead was by example—show people she cared about them, show people how desperately she wanted to win, and let them follow.

Before the season started, she had an individual meeting with everyone on her roster. God, it was nice to call it her roster. All of them knew what was expected of them, what they could focus on improving, and that Jinx’s door was always open.

Two nights before opening day, she took them all to mini golf. They all had a couple of drinks before, and had a pretty good time. When she saw them in the locker room the next day, they were smiling and making fun of each other for particularly bad shots. Good way to start.

Jinx was, above all else, a creature of routine.

That’s part of why she loved baseball so much. For one hundred and sixty two days a year, she could do the exact same thing.

She woke up at six. She had fallen asleep in her office, a common common occurrence for her during the season. She ran down to the clubhouse to shower, grabbed a breakfast she had prepared, and began to work as she ate.

Their first series would be three games in three days, at home, against Demacia. Saying that Demacia and Zaun had a rivalry would be an overstatement.

A rivalry implied mutual hatred. Zaun fans certainly hated the Gold—they’d been in the same division for over a hundred years and got their asses beaten for most of those. Demacia fans didn’t hate Zaun’s team, if anything they felt pity.

Surprising no one, that pity just pissed Zaunites off more.

The point was, for this team, for these fans, this was one of the biggest series of the year. For Demacia, this was just an average start.

Jinx was determined to flip the script. By the time she was done as Zaun’s manager she would be sure that Demacia hated her, and hated her team. Every fan, every player, and perhaps most importantly, Luxanna. Jinx could hold a bit of a grudge.

The good news was that Jinx was great at pissing people off. Just ask her family, or friends, or exes. The bad news was that Demacia’s team was really fucking good.

Unlike the other major sports, baseball didn’t have a salary cap. That meant that teams could pay players however much they wanted, with no hard limit. Jinx was pro labor—she knew that a salary cap would be objectively bad for players salaries, so she was against it.

The annoying thing was that some teams had more money than others. So a team with rich owners, or in a big market (say, Demacia) could spend a lot of money getting new, great players. A team without that money (say, Zaun), could only get the rich teams leftovers, or develop their own young players.

That’s why Jinx’s team was built around diversity of skills. Luxanna could afford to go out and sign players who were genuinely great at everything. Jinx’s would get people who were really good at one thing, and put them in situations where they only really had to do that one thing.

Jinx pulled up her laptop. Silco had all but forced her to get a new one, claiming the same one she’d been using since high school “didn’t actually work.” Her life had gotten so much better since she had replaced it, but she’d never tell him that.

The first priority was to read up on the opposing team’s starting pitcher. They would be the one throwing for most of the game, and would dictate how everything went.

There were some benefits to being an objectively much worse team. Every team traditionally had five starting pitchers; Jinx had five that were relatively unknown. No one knew which order she would deploy them in, because no one knew how good Jinx thought they were. That meant Luxanna had no idea who Jinx would start today.

On the other hand, Luxanna had just given one of the biggest pitcher contracts in history to someone in the attempt to elevate her rotation of pitchers from good to great. Pretty fucking clear who was going to start first.

He was a ground ball pitcher. Essentially, rather than having batters hit the ball hard in the air, he tended to make guys hit the ball softer, on the ground. Balls hard in the air could be caught, but could also turn into multiple bases. Ground balls might allow a single base now and again, but tended to limit high scoring individual swings.

Jinx had a couple of choices; try to put in a bunch of guys specifically good at hitting the ball hard (power hitters) in to attempt to overcome his tendencies, or put in “contact hitters,” guys who would hit the ball softly, but towards gaps in the defense.

Jinx was going with the latter. The fact of the matter was he was one of the best pitchers on the planet; much better hitters had tried to change his tendencies and failed. That was why the team was built like it was; she could tailor it to particular needs.

She couldn’t quite make her lineup whatever she wanted. She had thirteen hitters for nine spots, so there had to be some overlap day-to-day. Today her strategy was to hide the couple of power hitters with fast guys right before them. He wouldn’t want to throw pitches right down the middle, or particularly fast at the guys who would hit the ball hardest. Balls thrown further from the center made it a lot easier to steal bases, which hopefully her fastest players could exploit.

She went against traditional wisdom, putting her three best contact hitters right at the start of her lineup. The goal was for them to make him uncomfortable right from the jump.

After her lineup was set, taking into account skills, handedness, and general strategy, she moved onto watching film.

When she watched film, she tried to put herself in the opposing pitchers head. What types of pitches would she throw to get her guys out? Then, she made specific notes for her players. One of her guys had with the ball down and in? Watch out for his changeup. One guy particularly comfortable with balls on the outside of the plate and up? Probably won’t see as much of the cutter.

After that process, she went through the same for the opposing teams bullpen. These were the pitchers that would come in after the starter, each pitching an inning or two instead of five or more like a starter. There were more of them, so the process was longer, but it was good to do—they could come in at any point in the next three games, so it didn’t hurt to prepare now.

Next came her own pitching and defense. Defense was relatively easy; she’d already chosen the nine players she wanted to be hitting, it just came down to where they were most comfortable playing in the field. Pitching was a little more tricky.

She was pretty sure she had found a diamond in the rough. Someone from one of their minor league teams she thought could be genuinely great, that wasn’t being reported on enough. The problem was that she pitched left handed. Right handed batters hit better against left handed pitchers, and the Gold had maybe the best right handed batter ever. That, and a couple more righties that would almost certainly be at the very beginning of their lineup.

Throwing her rookie leftie out against that would be a recipe for destroyed self confidence early in the season. Something Jinx would really rather prefer. So, she went with something a little wacky. She would bring in a pitcher for the first few batters (an opener), then let her real starter pick up from there, hopefully gaining some confidence against worse hitters. It wasn’t an unheard of strategy, but it was weird for opening day.

Opening day had all sorts of fanfare, and the opening day starter was the center of it all. The one in control of the game, essentially the emcee of the evening. There was a long tradition, and not having your “starter” not actually start went against it all.

Good thing Jinx didn’t care about tradition.

Her starting lineup was set; common etiquette would be to release it now. Let the press report on it, let your opponents strategize a little, don’t be a dick. But letting her opponents strategize made it harder to win.

She would release her lineup when she had to, exactly five minutes before the first pitch.

Next came watching the opponents batters, making notes for her pitchers. Then, she wrote up a very specific game guide. If X happens do Y, for every conceivable situation. It made Jinx’s life easier in the heat of the moment, but more importantly meant her assistants knew what to do if she got kicked out of a game for arguing too much or being hostile. She got kicked out of a lot of games.

After that was a quick meeting with Silco and the other coaches, just getting everyone in the loop. As players began to trickle in, she pulled some of them for individual meetings. She pulled her rookie pitcher and told her about the weird strategy for the day. She pulled her catcher and advised him to keep the rookie calm. Pulled a few veterans and asked them to make sure the team was chill when needed, and fired up when needed. Got her assistants to pull individual hitters to talk about individual aspects of their approach.

Most of all though, she made sure to just be…around. Joking with people, offering encouragement, asking them how their family was. Trying to create trust, create a fun environment.

About six hours before the game, they began to stretch players out. Jinx had a quick media appearance. This one was a lot less stressful, just talking about the game ahead. Basic platitudes, acting excited, revealing absolutely nothing. Then, batting practice, informed by the specific pitcher they were facing. Then, back to the clubhouse, letting everyone mingle and try and relax. Jinx met individually with the other coaches, checked her game plan with the stats and scouting departments, and hung out with players.

Jinx’s nerves were on fire the whole time, but she managed to act calm. That’s what was needed—if she acted like this wasn’t a big deal, everyone else would act like it was just another day. Sneaking a couple shots from her flask when she got a moment to herself helped with that.

Finally, around thirty minutes before the game, her team took the field and began to warm up. She didn’t really have anything to do during this period, so she mostly stood around watching.

Well, it wasn’t fully true that she had nothing to do. It was just, standing around and looking available was what she was planning to do.

Luxanna was a brand new manager, in a position she had worked her whole life for, trying to manage a thousand different factors and hold it together enough to not cry on camera. It was incredibly stressful, and a lot of emotions. Jinx would know, she was feeling the exact same thing.

But Jinx was much better than most at keeping her emotions under control, holding it together until the game was over.

The point was, for the next three days (and, as division rivals, pretty damn frequently over the next year), any mistake, any hesitation, any emotional overreaction that Luxanna made would directly benefit Jinx’s chances of winning. It would be hard for the other girl not to be flustered, but adding in more emotions would make it even more likely. Anything to make her slip up, even for just a moment.

So Jinx decided to do some research. Any little nugget or tidbit she could throw at her opponent to knock her slightly off of her game.

She didn’t find anything interesting. But eventually, she noticed what she wasn’t finding. Any sort of post or indication of any relationship ever.

Jinx had put on her detective hat (her sister-in-law still didn’t know it was Jinx who stole it). Now, an objectively gorgeous, rich, and by all accounts quite kind young woman seemed to have no record of her relationship history online. Maybe, despite all the factors making her a catch, she had none. Or maybe she was hiding something.

Now, it would be fair enough to just be uncomfortable posting that kind of thing. But Luxanna posted everything. Friends, parties, family vacations.

So maybe there was another reason she wasn’t public about relationships. Baseball had improved in a lot of ways, but it was still distinctly not great for queer people. Jinx didn’t hide herself, but certainly knew better than to advertise anything. It would make a lot of sense that someone penciled in to run a team since age ten would be a tad…neurotic, about hiding her sexuality.

Maybe Luxanna was just a shy straight girl, in which case she’d be confused by Jinx flirting with her. Maybe she was gay, and would be panicked about how Jinx found out. And, if Jinx was flattering herself, maybe she would be gay and be flustered by a pretty girl flirting with her.

The point was, no matter what, it would add one more emotion, and make it all the more likely she got overwhelmed and messed something up. Was it strictly ethical? Definitely not. But did it potentially help Jinx win? Like probably.

The point was, it was odds she was willing to take.

So, she stood around, looking bored and available, waiting for Luxanna to practice common etiquette; introduce herself and wish Jinx a good game. Then, she’d pounce.

She was watching her players do throwing drills in the outfield when she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.

She turned around with a smile, greeted by a blonde who was a solid half foot shorter than her. “Hi there! I’m Lux.” Her hand was extended, waiting for a handshake.

Jinx took it, slowly, gently. “Hi there Luxie, I’m Jinx.”

“Good luck today!” Lux dropped her hand, and began to turn to leave. Her nerves were clear.

“Wait!” Lux looked back at Jinx. “Do you, uh, have a minute?”

The blonde glanced to her dugout, then back to Jinx. “Sure, what’s up?”

“Just…we’re the only two people in the world right now who get how this feels. Are you scared?”

Lux sighed, stepping up besides Jinx to look at the outfield. “Of course I am, I’ve worked my whole life for this.”

Jinx wanted to say that most of that “work” was being born into the right family, but decided that wouldn’t be helpful. Better to seem approachable. “Me too. Scared shitless. But I’m a little sad too.”

Lux responded quickly, clearly genuinely curious. “Why are you sad?”

Jinx turned to her with a cocky smirk. “Well, I just met the prettiest girl, but I can’t ask her out…it would be a bad look if they caught us kissing after I beat you.”

Lux’s breathing hitched, she tried to answer and stuttered, and she looked more than a little freaked out. Got her ass.

This time, Jinx turned to leave. “Good luck out there Blondie…maybe I’ll see ya after the game.”

Soon enough, the actual good part started. For the most part, things went according to plan. Her opener performed admirably—efficiently working through the opponents top three hitters before sitting down for the night. A series of singles, walks, and stolen bases allowed Zaun to scratch out two runs in the first inning. Despite seemingly manage to get herself under control, Lux went bright red when Jinx managed a wink her way right before the first pitch.

Jinx herself managed to feel settled in by the second inning. It was just any other game. Her rookie went out there and dominated. Three strikeouts in his first three batters got her a standing ovation from a Zaun crowd that smelled blood in the water and was hungry. Hungry for a team that was finally didn’t just roll over and die against richer, better teams.

They were rewarded in the second inning when Jinx’s ninth hitter (the very last one on the lineup) capitalized on a rare mistake, hitting a three run home run far into the right deck. Five nothing Zaun.

From there, the game calmed down. She got one inning from her opener, and five of the nine she needed from her starter. Jinx could have left her in longer, but didn’t want to push it this early in the season. Lux’s starter got comfortable, pitching four straight scoreless innings after his rough first two.

Things started to crumble in the seventh. Jinx brought in a reliever who gave up two runs—now it was just a three run game, against one of the best offenses in the leagues. Zaun’s offense looked…rough. Lux had left her starter in for the seventh, and he promptly struck out two of Jinx’s best hitters without much effort. Jinx was beginning to feel the game slip out of her hands.

People could argue that baseball was a game about athleticism, or statistics, or heart, but Jinx knew the truth. It was a game about psychology. Each at bat was a tactical duel. But it wasn’t strategic—it was all about guessing what the other person would do. Like very complicated rock paper scissors. Hitters went on hot streaks when they were feeling good, and cold streaks when they were feeling too good. Careers were made around having the right mentality. Promising players careers ended because one day their brain just…snapped, and they couldn’t do it anymore.

Jinx could wax poetic about baseball all day, but the point was, her biggest job was to manage the thoughts and feelings of her team, to keep everyone at their most productive.

Today, they were playing a team expected to beat them on one of the most important days of the season. They had started out hot, settled into a rhythm and controlled the game. But it was clear it wasn’t lasting. It meant half of her team was far too relaxed, and half was far too tense.

The solution was Jinx’s favorite weapon in her arsenal; getting kicked out of the game.

She’d already firmly established her strategy, she didn’t actually need to be there physically. Getting thrown out of the game would immediately make her team pissed off, giving them something to rally around and avenge. She also had a…flair for the dramatic, and a particularly entertaining tantrum would get her players a little looser.

It just came down to finding the right time, the right opportunity. It couldn’t seem too staged.

Lucky for her, she got her chance on the very next pitch. Hitting a batter with a pitch was the main weapon of pettiness in baseball; it would often be used to send a message. It also just happened accidentally sometimes. When her next batter got hit, she was pretty sure it was an accident, but she didn’t give a shit. Time to put on a show.

Jinx stormed out of her dugout, headed straight for the head umpire. Luckily, Lux immediately came out of her dugout as well. That made it so much easier.

Instead of turning to the umpire, Jinx stared Lux straight in the eye. She was approaching with genuinely apologetic features; if Jinx was a good person it would make her feel bad.

“What the fuck nepo baby? He almost took my guys head clean off!”

A bit of an exaggeration, but it was for dramatic effect. For her part, Lux just stood there looking confused. The flirting probably hadn’t helped that.

“I know daddy isn’t here to hold your hand anymore, but normal people apologize, or at least like, say something back. I didn’t realize you were this incompetent.”

Having properly gotten Lux riled up, it was time to get herself thrown out. She turned to the umpire.

“And why the fuck haven’t you thrown him out yet Blue? Do you not have eyes?”

He just glared back at her. “I’m giving you one warning Jinx.”

“Are you gonna give her a warning? I don’t know if you’re a total fucking moron, but she’s the one who told her guy to throw at my players!”

As the umpire signaled to eject her, Lux just stammered, eventually speaking quietly. “I-I wouldn’t do that.”

“Sure you wouldn’t Blondie. You can act as innocent as you want, don’t pretend you’re anything but an entitled little bitch.” With that, Jinx threw her hat right in Lux’s face, pivoted away and walked off while the crowd went wild.

A pretty good performance, all things considered. She could already see the couple of players that were nearby cracking up about how shocked Lux looked.

When Jinx navigated the bowels in the stadium and ended up in Silco’s office, he greeted her with a beer and good news. Immediately after her ejection the team had gone off for three more runs. After a couple more uneventful innings, he congratulated her on her first major league victory.

From there it was a whirlwind; talk to the team, talk to her assistants, talk to the media. Try to not make it seem too important, just one game of many.

By the time she was by herself, she was absolutely exhausted. But she couldn’t afford to be too worn out—she had work to do. She had another shot, grabbed a beer, and went out into the stands to work. Being able to see the field always helped her focus.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed. She was fully in her rhythm, taking notes, planning, and not paying attention to the outside world.

That was, until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She whirled around, pulling her headphones off, slamming her laptop shut, suddenly snapping back hard to reality. “What the fuck are you doing here Lux.”

“I…was just going for a walk.” She was quiet and shy, but Jinx could see in real time as her expression hardened. “Are you not going to apologize to me?”

“For what?”

Lux looked deeply baffled. “I thought we had, like…a moment before the game. And then you come out screaming at me and being so mad for no reason.”

Jinx just waved her hand dismissively. “I didn’t mean any of that obviously, why are so mad?”

“Why am I so-you were screaming at me Jinx. And now you’re saying you just didn’t mean it? What the fuck?”

Jinx was tired, and a little drunk, and now there was some chick yelling at her. She was so not wanting this.

“Ugh, please be quieter. I just wanted to get my guys fired up, so I made something up to be mad about. It was just for show, now can you please get out of my face.”

Lux went quiet. She didn’t seem exactly thrilled, but at least she wasn’t screaming anymore.

If Jinx wasn’t directly in front of the person she was trying to strategize against, she would have just turned around and gone right back to work. Instead she sipped her drink and waited awkwardly for Lux to leave.

Instead, she spoke again, almost sounding scared this time.

“How’d you know?”

“What?”

“I just-I can’t have you deciding to be mean randomly one day and outing me, so how’d you know? And will you please keep it quiet?”

Jinx was an obnoxious asshole, but not that much of an obnoxious asshole. “I won’t tell anyone; even I’m not that much of a dick. And…I didn’t really know. Lucky guess I guess. I just saw you had never posted about a relationship and went from there. I figured it would throw you off of your game regardless of if I was right.”

“Wait, are you saying you did that just to fuck with me?”

God was she dumb. “Yeah, why else would I?”

“I…I thought I got outed! I was fucking panicking! Not to mention the fact you shouldn’t play with people’s emotions like that! What the fuck is wrong with you, you psycho bitch!”

Jinx just rolled her eyes. “Look at the scoreboard Blondie, then tell me I’m wrong.”

“Take your fucking hat you weirdo!”

Before Jinx knew what was happening she felt the solid brim of the ball cap she’d thrown at Lux hit her right in the forehead.

God, that girl really overreacted.

Jinx was able to ride the high of her first major league win all the way until game time the next day.

After that, things immediately went to shit.

It wasn’t just that they got demolished; Jinx had lost games badly before. It wasn’t just that some of Jinx’s choices went poorly; Jinx knew sometimes you got unlucky. It was that Jinx was actively outmanaged.

She could try and lie to herself, but she knew the truth. Lux had a better game plan than her, and it was better executed. Jinx had never experienced someone actually outthinking her. But every move she made, Lux already had a natural countermove prepared. It wasn’t just that; Lux’s pitchers had evidently adjusted based on what she had seen of Jinx’s batters, and Lux had completely redone her batting order to minimize Jinx’s abilities to exploit matchups.

She was just…better than Jinx. At least, for the day.

For her part, Jinx was simultaneously trying to review and eliminate every mistake she had made, and drinking to ignore the doubt and defeat she was feeling.

This time, she saw Lux coming. She knew Lux was still pissed at her, but she frankly couldn’t care. She didn’t even look up at her, just kept on staring at her laptop in disbelief.

Lux sat down next to her. Jinx just wanted her to go away.

“I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I’m still very angry at you, but screaming at you was…probably a bit much.”

So prim and proper and for what? Jinx just lazily waved her hand. “Whatever Blondie, you hate me, I hate me, I hate you, we’re all happy. Just move on, don’t rub it in my face.”

“Are you…drunk?”

“Did we lose today?”

“…do you get drunk every time you lose?”

Jinx just nodded.

“Surely that can’t be healthy.”

“Duh.”

“But if you know it’s bad, why?”

“Some of us didn’t exactly grow up in an environment conducive to healthy coping mechanisms.”

“But…it’s one game. There’s so many, it’s ok to lose sometimes.”

Jinx finally looked away from her computer, spinning around in her chair to look at Lux. If she wanted to be stupid, she would get Jinx’s full attention about it.

“Look Blondie, I know you’ve had the keys to the kingdom promised to you since you were a kid, so you don’t get it, but I’ve had to work really fucking hard to get here. My family is complicated, my childhood was rough, there was a long time where this dream was all I had. So every setback felt like it was a blow to any hope I had. And now that I have this job, now that I have what I want, I’m so fucking terrified of losing it. So yes, I treat every loss like the end of the world, because it might be. I can’t just get daddy to bail me out.”

Honestly, she was trying to piss Lux off. She just wanted to not have to talk to her, not have to think about her, not have to deal with her. She really didn’t expect Lux to just…go with it.

“Jinx…that sounds so hard. I’m really sorry you had to go through that. Still are going through that, I guess. I had no idea.”

“It is what it is, you don’t have to act all depressed.”

“It’s really not fair. You know you’re a better manager than I am.”

“You don’t have to lie Lux. I was there today.”

“I’m not lying. I…can’t really talk to people well. It’s just not something I’m good at. But your players–even I can see they’d run through a wall for you, and it’s just the start of the year.”

Jinx was not really good at receiving compliments, so she just didn’t respond. She wasn’t doing it to piss off Lux anymore, she just didn’t know what to say.

“Look, what I’m saying is that no matter how scary it is, you aren’t losing this chance. No matter what happens, it’s clear to me how talented you are, and I’m sure it will be clear to everyone else soon. Hell, if they fire you here, I’d be the first in line to hire you.”

“Even though I’m a dick?”

Jinx was beginning to feel a little bad about how she treated Lux. She loved baseball, and loved winning, but making someone worry about being outed to win was…probably a bit of a dick move.

“Especially because you’re a dick. It makes sense now, why you do so much to win. Even if it’s still pretty shitty.”

“I’m sorry about that Lux. I guess it was easy when I wasn’t thinking of you as a real person.”

“But now that I’m offering you a job you feel bad?”

“...well that did help win me over.”

Lux laughed, and it was really nice to not be stressed, to not be on, to just relax with someone. She wanted to hear Lux laugh again. It made everything seem less serious, like it really would all be ok.

Lux scooted her chair closer, grabbed Jinx’s beer and chugged.

“Look at you, little miss perfect.”

“Shut up…it’s better I do it than you drink any more.”

“Do you want to join me? I was watching you beat my ass and being sad about it.”

“As lovely as that sounds, I don’t think you should be dwelling. Let’s just talk.”

Jinx was really tempted to just go back to work, ignore Lux, just move on. But…talking sounded nice. She shut her laptop, and turned to Lux.

“Fine, talking. What about?”

“You said you got thrown out on purpose. How often do you do that?”

“...a lot. Y’know, before I got hired for this job my claim to fame was a twenty minute youtube compilation of me getting tossed from games. Yesterday was far from my most creative.”

“You did really seem like a pro.”

For a while, they just chatted. It was really strange; just speaking with someone, relaxed and honest, with no ulterior motive, was not something Jinx really did much. They talked a lot about baseball–it was clear that Lux loved it just as much as Jinx did. It wasn’t just that though; Jinx learned all about Lux’s family, about the pranks she used to play on her brother, about how weird of a little kid she was. Jinx opened up too, just a little. She couldn’t handle explaining it all, but she told a couple of stories about Vander and Vi from when she was younger.

Eventually, they just settled into a comfortable silence. Lux was clearly getting a bit sleepy, and Jinx was about to suggest she go to bed, when Lux spoke up again.

“Did you mean it?”

For the life of her, Jinx had no idea what she was talking about. “Mean what?”

“When you said I was pretty.”

“Oh.” She objectively was. She was also nice, and funny, and scary smart, and loved the same thing that Jinx did. She was honestly a bit intimidating. “Yeah, I did, but y’know, it doesn’t have to mean anything and-”

“I think you’re really pretty too.”

“Oh.”

They both just looked at each other, cheeks a little red. Jinx broke the silence.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“I really do…but you’re drunk. We shouldn’t.”

Jinx was pretty disappointed. “Right, we shouldn’t.”

Lux grabbed Jinx’s notebook, scribbling something in the margins.

“This is my number. We should both go to bed, but…call me tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I will.”

In the morning, Jinx had a choice.

Lux was extremely nice to her, and Jinx did genuinely like her.

Lux was also the manager of a division rival that Jinx really wanted to beat.

It was clear to everyone that Jinx was choosing between two pitchers to start today. One of them was a lefty, one of them was a righty. Lux’s lineup construction today would essentially come down to guessing who Jinx would pick.

Jinx could call Lux, and just…let it “slip” which one it would be. Then choose the opposite and really fuck her over. Objectively, it would be using Lux’s feelings to hurt her, and was a shitty thing to do.

But Jinx really wanted to win this game.

Lux would get it. Hopefully.

She picked up her phone, and dialed the number Lux had written last night.

After one ring, she heard a voice on the other end.

“Hello?”

“Lux?”

“Oh, hi Jinx. How are you?”

“I’m doing alright, a little nervous, you?”

“I’m a little hungover; I don’t really drink. But otherwise I’m fine. What’re you nervous about?”

“A lot. I’m seeing my sister next week, and I don’t know how today’s game is going to go; I’m not sure Keith is up for it,” she continued, like she hadn’t just dropped who her starter was, “and…I wanted to ask you out. Or, I know we can’t really be in public, so over to my place for dinner tonight. After the game. But if that’s weird or anything we can-”

“Jinx. I’d love to. Just text me the address, I’ll see you then ok? Good luck.”

“Good luck.”

After Lux hung up, Jinx immediately slammed her phone down and groaned. God, she was such an asshole. Hopefully she’d win though.

Jinx had gotten through the day with a near constant worry of how Lux was going to relax. It was new; normally Jinx felt no hesitation when being an asshole to other people.

Five minutes before gametime, when they finally got to see each other’s rosters, Jinx was watching Lux intently from across the diamond. How mad would she be? Would she storm over to Jinx? Would she cancel their date?

Instead, when Lux got the card from the umpire, she just smiled, and pulled out her phone.

Jinx looked down at the card that she just got, expecting to see a lineup full of lefties; she’d told Lux she was starting a righty. Instead, it was the exact opposite.

Just then, her phone buzzed. She opened it, and saw a text from Lux.

“You didn’t really think I was that stupid, did you?

I’ll see you for dinner tonight.

Good luck.”