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Balancing is up next. Of course it is—balancing is a must have in any official sporting event at this point, as it showcases a perfect balance (ha) between skill and teamwork.
Yellow Eye wishes that it would have shown up later in the competition though.
CCE mostly has the skill for balancing. Ups and downs, as per usual. Sometimes they get the podium, and sometimes they don't. Yellow Eye fondly remembers the brief minutes when they were the record holder in balancing, before that got broken, and then broken again. 2019 was a good time, despite what the scoring on the papers had to say.
Simpler time, Yellow Eye sighs.
The teamwork… Well, that leaves a lot to be desired. They do have to admit that it has been getting better though. Whatever magic that Green Eye has done to Red Eye individually, and to CCE as a whole is paying off. No longer does Red Eye glower at them when they're in the general vicinity; these past few days have seen Red Eye surprisingly docile. If anything, it's almost disconcerting trying to match up the usual image of their passionate, a little hot-headed, and very competitive captain to this more subdued version of himself. It's worrying, if they are being honest.
But it's not really their place to interfere. Not anymore. Before all of this—the Incident, as they have heard Green Eye sarcastically called it—Yellow Eye is pretty sure they are the closest to Red Eye in the team. All of them are good friends, of course, but doing Marbula One for the first time with Red Eye has brought the two of them closer than ever. But now, Yellow Eye wouldn't be surprised if they are at the bottom of Red Eye's list.
Ouch, that.
Still, it's fine. They can be an adult and let it go. No problem.
…
Except, it is a problem. Or, it is a problem if they don't keep themself in check.
It's a good thing that Yellow Eye has an excellent grip on their emotions then. They don't feel horrible at all when Red Eye gravitates toward Green Eye, sitting down next to him instead of taking his usual spot to the left of Yellow Eye. No, all they let themself feel is happiness: after all, when was the last time that the entire team was together again? Two months felt like a lifetime ago.
For tonight, the five of them have found themselves sitting in a restaurant nearby to their hotel, wanting to try out the cuisine that Draklin has to offer. A few drinks in have got even Cyan Eye to calm down, the reserve laughing loudly at Green Eye's joke. Yellow Eye wasn't really listening (it was something that had 'Quack!' as a punchline, so how good can it really be?), too focused on the sight of Red Eye chuckling indulgently.
"Hello Yello~?"
Blue Eye's call knocks them out of their daze. Yellow Eye turns over with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Pass me the sauce?"
"Oh. Yeah, sure." Their hand moves on autopilot, going through the motion. They have been like that more often than not these days, only doing what is expected of them when they're called upon.
It's too tiring to do anything else.
Blue Eye's attention leaves them once they got what they asked for. Yellow Eye watches as they turn back to join the conversation, starting what looks to be a silly argument with Green Eye over the most inconsequential of things. Soon the whole table gets involved, Cyan Eye loudly defending Blue Eye's point whilst Red Eye contents himself with nodding whenever Green Eye asks him a question. And just like that, four pairs of eyes are now scrutinising Yellow Eye, all waiting for the tie breaker.
They sigh. "Caramel is the best ice-cream flavour, end of story."
A new, friendly fight breaks out. As expected.
Qualifying, then doing well in E1, then the dinner afterward has been a good enough icebreaker. When Yellow Eye shows up for training the next morning, they are pleasantly surprised to find Blue Eye and Red Eye actually talking to each other in a relaxed manner, especially when Green Eye is not present to play referee.
For a moment, it's like none of this has happened. The Incident rendered nonexistent.
For a moment, Yellow Eye lets themself pretend so. They jog to Red Eye's side, bumping shoulders in a friendly greeting. "Morning," they say, and they're proud that their voice doesn't waver.
"Hey-o," Blue Eye replies. "You good?"
"Hmm?"
"You drank quite a lot yesterday, you know?"
Did they? Yellow Eye supposed they did wake up today with a headache, but it's nothing too bothersome. "I'm fine," they say, then louder, with more energy: "Ready to go!"
"That's the spirit," says Red Eye, not looking at them. In fact, the captain is focusing on his phone. "Green says for us to go ahead without him. He has a meeting with the coach, apparently."
Blue Eye skips over, trying to sneak a look at the phone as well and getting pushed away by Red Eye. "What about?" they ask, pouting.
"He didn't say."
"Huh. Well, we should get going then. No time to waste, right?"
Red Eye nods. On his cue, the three of them get started on some warm up, before moving to the balancing platform. They stumble around for a while, never quite reaching the final end point, but getting closer every try.
Oh well, Yellow Eye is getting closer every try.
At the back, Red Eye and Blue Eye always trip each other up. An unfortunate bump here, an ill-timed stumble there have the two ended up on the soft ground, grumbling. At least it opens up the path for Yellow Eye to finish the course, but getting one finisher whilst the rest of them fall off won't do. They think back on the Pinkie's result during the qualifier. It really, really won't do. And they are running on borrowed time.
"Damn it!" Blue Eye curses, standing up and sweeping dust off of their outfit. "Stop swerving right, Red."
"Stop being there when I go right then," is the reply from Red Eye, gritted through clenched teeth. Yellow Eye finds themself taking a step away, then wondering when has that become an instinctual reaction.
"Well listen here—"
A fight. It's foolish of them, Yellow Eye thinks, to expect anything else. To pretend.
Taking a leaf from Green Eye's book, they don't interfere.
Green Eye, however, does rush in at the end, just before the argument escalates even more. He’s out of breath, Yellow Eye notes. He must have rushed here immediately the moment coach White dismissed him.
"Hey, hey," Green Eye calls, coming to a stop in the middle of Red Eye and Blue Eye. "What's going on here?"
Yellow Eye watches as, somehow, both Red Eye and Blue Eye fall quiet. If Yellow Eye were to step in, it would have become an even bigger yelling match…
In a matter of minutes, Green Eye has, somehow, resolved the damn problem that wasn't even a problem in the first place. And Yellow Eye feels horrible about it. They should have been the one to do it.
Stop. They shouldn't feel like that. They are glad that the problem is resolved with minimum damage.
Yellow Eye takes a breath, and will themself to ignore it all.
The entire team starts practising again. It isn't without any more hiccups on the road, but Green Eye is there at the end of the day. So, yeah.
Yeah.
It's game day.
Yellow Eye has mixed opinions about their placement. Going almost last has its perks: having a tangible score to beat, getting to watch how the other teams do and learn from their success or mistakes, the like. But the biggest downside is the longer they wait, the more nervous and jittery they feel. And that is the two things they don't want to feel on a balancing event especially.
At least the other teams didn't seem to be having a good time either.
Some minutes before it's CCE's time to go, they got called to the platform. Coach White gives them an encouraging smile on the way, wishing them all good luck. They briefly wonder what coach White discussed with Green Eye yesterday, then putting a stop to that train of thought as quickly as possible.
They're here to compete now. Their fans are expecting good things from the CCE, and Yellow Eye will do what they need to do.
Their team got announced. The people cheer.
Yellow Eye focuses on the end of the track. They don't remember actually moving, weaving and adjusting their weight on the fly. They must have done all of that though, because when they come to, it's to the cheering of the stadium. They've reached the end, netting the maximum amount of points.
It's good. Green Eye hugs them for their performance, Blue Eye offers them a fistbump. Cyan Eye is more than happy for his success, and coach White congratulates them on a job well done.
Red Eye smiles at them. It's a small thing, the corner of his lips tilting up just a touch. It's more than enough.
CCE gets third place. Podium finish on E2.
Yellow Eye feels content, for the first time in a long time. They don't let themself feel anything else.