i’m just human (don’t judge me)

@ladyinredfics: Ginny trying to handle it when she and Mike are together but not public and women hit on him while they’re out with the team.

read it on ao3

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“You know, it doesn’t matter how long you stare, they’re not gonna burst into flames.”

Ginny nearly jumped, and Blip did his best to rein in his smile. Guilt and annoyance at his intervention flickered across her face before she managed to effect a smooth mask of indifference.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she sniffed, taking a dainty sip from her drink. And going straight back to glaring at the blonde leaning into Mike’s side.

(Completely ignoring the way Mike kept edging away from her.)

Blip eyed her critically, before dropping his gaze to her glass. A tequila sunrise. That was Ginny’s drink-to-forget cocktail of choice. Before this season, he rarely saw her order them. On team outings, she’d limit herself to two beers and call it a night. 

Recently, though, it was all tequila sunrises all the time. And a lot of them.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Especially when so much of Ginny’s attention lately seemed to be eaten up by the groupies constantly hanging off Mike Lawson. 

Like they sensed a going out of business sale, the groupies had really doubled down on Lawson this year. On the one hand, it gave the team something to rag him about that didn’t involve trades, Chicago, or his imminent retirement. On the other, it had turned Ginny into a seething ball of suppressed jealousy. 

Yeah, Blip knew all about Ginny’s feelings for their captain. They were pretty hard to miss. Though Lawson’s feelings were even more obvious. 

Not that either of them really noticed. Just stewed ineffectually whenever the other showed even the slightest interest in someone else. 

It wasn’t pretty and Blip was going to need it to stop before it spilled onto the field. 

“Ginny,” he said, gentle, thinking that an emotionally stunted adult was not what he’d had in mind when he told Evelyn he wanted a third kid. “You know he’s not interested in them, right?”

That seemed to jolt her. She whipped around to look at him, eyes wide. 

“What?” she stammered, knuckles going pale as she gripped her nearly empty glass. 

Blip rolled his eyes. “C’mon. It’s not like either of you are all that subtle.”

Ginny’s gaze darted back to Mike before shaking herself and focusing on Blip. After a long, hard look at him, she sighed and slumped a little. “How long have you known?”

“Since last season.”

Ginny’s brow furrowed. “Last season? But that was before we even—” Her mouth snapped shut and her eyes went wide again. 

Blip leaned both his forearms against the bar, leaning in to try and make eye contact with his friend, though she seemed pretty dead set against that. “Before you even what?” 

“Nothing,” she answered, way too fast. She groped for her straw, slurping up the dregs of her drink and waving the bartender over. Completely ignoring the incredulous look on Blip’s face.  

“Ginny. Before you even what?”

Fresh tequila sunrise in hand, Ginny sucked it down in three quick gulps. Blip would be impressed if she weren’t doing it just to avoid answering. He stared her down. He knew Ginny was aware of what he was doing because there was a flush riding high on her cheeks. 

“So, something happened. You wouldn’t be this weird if it was really nothing.” Ginny kept staring down at her empty glass, so Blip kept going. “I’m thinking that the two of you lost sight of who you are—teammates—in favor of what you’d like to be. And maybe it was just once, but I don’t think you’re the type to get so jealous over a one time thing.”

Ginny’s chin ducked and Blip’s zeroed in on it. 

“No, you’re definitely not. Especially not if you know nothing could come of it. But if something has come of it…”

Ginny stared steadfastly at the racks of liquor behind the bar, but the tendon jumping in her jaw told Blip how close he was coming to the mark. He closed his eyes, hoping that he was wrong.

“Ginny, tell me you didn’t.”

She sighed in defeat and finally met his gaze. “I can’t.”

Blip slumped against the back of his barstool, head tilting up to the ceiling. “Are you serious? You know that there’s no good way for this to end. A fling with your outgoing captain? The press is gonna crucify you!”

“It’s not a fling,” she protested, rocking back from him in offense.

“Sure it’s not,” Blip snorted, taking a long drag from his neglected beer. 

“It’s not.” 

He wasn’t sure what it was that made him reassess. Maybe it was the quiet certainty in Ginny’s voice. The way she didn’t try to justify herself because she realized it didn’t matter what anyone else thought. Maybe it was the fact that Mike chose that moment to look over at them, every one of his feelings for Ginny evident on his face. Ginny wasn’t even looking back, but like she could feel his attention, she smiled, soft and gentle. 

Maybe they were for real.

Blip certainly hoped so, and not just because the team’s dynamic was on the line. 

So, when he felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see a message from Mike—“come distract this chick so i can get outta here”—Blip just tilted the screen toward Ginny and watched the smile spread across her face. 

After that, he stopped watching because he really didn’t need to witness two of his closest friends flirting with each other. And then probably leaving with each other. 

He really didn’t need to know anything about that. 

But if playing wingman meant that Ginny wouldn’t be glowering at everything that moved tomorrow, he would take one for the team.