"All kinds of affection tucked underneath the talking of shit. Jalen Rose used to study his opponents, do real-time research on motherfuckers—in the no-internet early 1990s, no less. Just so he would have some shit to say to make sure a nigga was shook. And listen, ain’t that a kind of love? To say You are worthy of the time it takes to dismantle you. Yes, do not waste language on our enemies, but an enemy, to me, implies a permanence. A thorn that cannot be removed. An opponent is different than an enemy, even if you see that opponent twice a year. If you know you’re good, an opponent is a temporary roadblock, something to be taken apart and moved out of your way."
Hanif Abdurraqib, There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension
I was reading and then re-reading your cheesby fic, 'unless you wanna come along,' and can I just say HELLO?! The spanking?! Absolutely unhinged and perfect. The thing I love about their dynamic, moreso than even G's chirping and getting under Sid's skin, is how he is able to open up Sid's world. Make him do crazy things. Discover himself. You know that scene in The Notebook, when Noah convinces Allie to lay down in the middle of the street, only for a truck to come honking through the intersection, and she runs screaming and laughing? Like, that's cheesby to me. Absolute adrenaline. 😂🤩
oh wow thank you! i love comments on that one because i pretty regularly forget it exists - i anon'd it when i was much shyer about writing smut.
but YES i completely agree. to me, a huge part of cheesby's appeal is that claude is one of the few people out there to have never given a toss about the sidney crosby mythos. he doesn't look at sid and see the golden boy, the hockey legend, the bedrock of canadian national identity. he doesn't care about any of that! he's immune! to claude, sid is first and foremost a whiny, vicious, hyper-competitive bastard - and claude delights in making that side of sid come out. there's got to be something so exhilarating and freeing about that for sid; he gets to be a very different version of himself. and not relevant for that particular fic, but all this even more so as they both age and sid's myth grows stronger and more pervasive in the league.
hey I watched the s*ns game tonight and then I wrote this very messy dialogue only cheesby thing where claude calls sid after the game, before I remembered that the p*ns actually play tonight and not tomorrow, but it's too late to change it now and I like the premise anyway sooooo ✌️ maybe I'll just do a new version once I know the score ✌️✌️ (also on ao3)
"Hello? ... Hello?"
"Sid? Oh hey Sid, is that you?"
"Yeah?"
"Oh hey, that's weird, I was just thinking about you."
"Claude, you called me."
"Did I? Oh fuck. I did. Fuck. Well you're laughing, so you can't be mad at me. I've been drinking - "
"No shit?"
"Ha ha. I've been drinking, but you don't mind, I can tell, you don't mind that I called you at all."
"I mind a little."
"Ha! You do not. I was just thinking - hey I'm on the phone! Fuck you, that's who. Yeah you too. Fuck off. Listen I was just thinking and - "
"Are you in a bar?"
"... No."
"Are you calling me from a bar full of your fucking teammates?"
"No, I'm not fucking stupid. I'm outside the bar."
"On your own?"
"You know what, I am inside the bar, I am standing on my chair, you are on speaker, now tell everyone about that night in the old house when I got you off four times and you couldn't even speak by the time I was - "
"Claude."
"Can I come over?"
"Claude, you're in Ottawa, I'm in Philly and it's two in the fucking morning."
"You're in Philly? Wait, shit, don't you play tomorrow?"
"I'm hanging up."
"Are not."
" ... "
"Do you remember that night I - "
"Yes."
"Do you remember after, in the morning, do you remember what you - "
"Yes."
"You remember it all, eh."
"Claude, I can't do this right now."
"I'm not trying to do anything, Jesus, why do you always have to make it sound like I - Shit. Fuck. I definitely didn't want to do that."
"This is a stupid question, I know, but are you okay?"
"Fuck no."
"Yeah. I guess not."
"I just wanted to - I don't know. I'm fucked up and I was thinking about you. You like me best like this anyway."
"That's not fair."
"Probably not."
" ... "
"Sid. ... Sid, I - "
"I know."
"You know, eh?"
"I know. Listen, I'll see you - I'll see you, okay? When I - We'll work something out."
"Okay."
"We should - "
"I'm sorry."
" ... "
"Sid?"
"What for?"
"I. I fucked it all up. You know. With you. It's been so long. I thought. I didn't think you'd even pick up, not really."
"Yeah. Well. We both kinda fucked it up."
"I guess."
"So just. Just cut that shit out. You don't have to. You know."
"Okay. Sorry. Or not sorry. Whatever you want."
"God, Claude, what I really want right now is to go back to sleep."
"Are you in bed?"
"Of course I am."
"Are you wearing - "
"Don't start. I really have to go."
"Ah, c'mon, give me a little something."
"You're in the middle of the fucking street, keep it in your pants."
"Fuck off, I'll save it for later. Come on, just tell me what you - "
"Fuck off."
"Fine. I've got plenty in the bank anyway. You can't stop me."
"Great. Good. Enjoy. Goodnight."
"I will, you know? I'm gonna go home and think about you. I do all the time."
Anyone remember a Sid/Claude fic that’s a soulmate AU where you’ve got your soulmate’s name and your greatest enemy’s name tattooed on your wrists, and Sid and Claude have each other’s name in both spots?
