━ JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN HANDLE YOURSELF DOESN'T MEAN I WANT TO SEE YOU HURT ━

dedicated to the lonely sad girls who hide from the world because sometimes it's easier. for the girls who want to be the romantic interests. for the sports girls who were always made fun of for being masculine. for the Midnights girls. for the dreamers.

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SYNOPSIS.

Eddie Yamaguchi has never been the champ. In life, in her sport, even in the family. And some days? It's too much.

When she was a child, Eddie dreamt so often a thousand lifetimes wouldn't be enough to experience everything she thought up for herself. Nobody had higher expectations of a life well-lived than she did, and nothing could stop her from that uphill battle to whatever the top looked like.

It was a perk of being an athlete that photographers caught her at her worst. The bruises, the cuts, the black eyes. No angle was her angle when she was facedown in the ring.

After an editorial is posted regarding her chance at the middleweight title, Eddie makes it one of her many dreams to meet the man who took the photo. Because nobody had ever caught her at her best like Axel Canterbury.

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CAST.

karen fukuhara | eddie yamaguchi

shioli kutsuna | indy yamaguchi

kimiko glenn | august yamaguchi

joe keery | axel canterbury

beulah koale | rush tua

temura morrison | coach tenadii

mason gooding | bodhi "bo" hayes

may calamawy | thema sameh

alaqua cox | wren swiftwater

taiana tully | kai alika

arisce wanzer | parker ross

laith ashley de la cruz | lockwood reyes

emma d'arcy | chess chastity

GUEST STARS

from the MCU (smidorii universe)

sophie thatcher | moxie king

alex fitzalan | mick king

dove cameron | cruella queen

others

dacre montgomery | donny robinson

jordan fisher | kingston maverick

wallis day | everleigh meadowlark

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PLAYLIST.
(found on spotify, padawan114)

ruin my life, zara larsson ━ superheroes, the script ━ hard place, h.e.r. ━ black sheep, metric & brie larson ━ this is why we can't have nice things, taylor swift ━ breakaway, avril lavigne ━ if i could turn back time, cher ━ you ruined nirvana, mckenna grace ━ like a prayer, miley cyrus ━ great balls of fire, miles teller ━ the best, tina turner ━ i will go to war, tessa thompson ━ saint bernard, lincoln ━ mr. brightside, hayley kiyoko ━ turning page, sleeping at last ━ 10 things i hate about you, leah kate ━ hold my hand, lady gaga ━ that don't impress me much, shania twain ━ blonde, maisie peters ━ the man, taylor swift.

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❝I WANT YOU TO FUCK UP MY NIGHTS, YEAH
FUCK UP MY NIGHTS, YEAH, ALL OF MY NIGHTS.❞

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trigger warnings: conversations regarding weight/eating, graphic depictions of violence, depression, mentions of suicide, issues surrounding trans identities in sports, alcohol and drug use

contains: an actual dumbass, friendships, maybe one or two cameos, proof that rush tua is a bigger swiftie than you, my last brain cell

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CROSSES OVER WITH OVERKILL BY smidorii

as with all our crossovers, Steph and i put a lot of effort into these chapters. if you feel like you're only getting one side of the story, odds are the other side is in the other book. as such, we highly recommend that you read both. this is not like watching the prequels before the originals; this is like watching obi-wan before anything else. thanks for hearing us out, thanks for checking out brightside and her soulmate, overkill.

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[ a.n. ] this book idea came from, genuinely, just the need to write another sports book. i've never quite gotten where i want to with concussion protocol (which i hope to finish one day so all of you can love Reid as much as i do), so this is a new attempt at writing a sports romance with, of course, some chaos along the way.

with a little push from my queen Steph (who literally just had to tweet "do it" and a pinterest board was born), brightside is an ode to the lovers, the dreamers, the sad girls, and Adonis Creed.

i hope you enjoy.