Reid and Luke Go To a Cheer Competition 3/5
Title: Reid and Luke Go To a Cheer Competition
Pairing: Reid and Luke. Reid and Luke are dating, but not living together.
Other Characters: Megan, and Natalie.
Summary: Luke and Reid have been roped into being chaperones at a cheer competition in Chicago.
Warning: Some strong language.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters.
All mistakes are mine.
A/N This is not intended to disparage cheer parents or cheerleaders in anyway. I just thought that it would be funny to put Luke and especially Reid in this situation.
Special thanks to lemondrop34 for clarifying why Luke knows so much about cheer.
I think that this would qualify as AU. Terminology is not my strength…sorry.
As Reid and Luke entered the competition venue, Reid felt like it was an assault on his senses and definitely not the good kind.
Reid hadn’t known what to expect, but whatever it was it certainly wasn’t this. First of all the room was dark. Not so dark that you couldn’t see anything, but there were no overhead lights on. It was weird. The light source was primarily coming from a giant screen at the front of the room that was playing back the routine that was being performed on the stage in front of it. Across the room from the stage was a table with about twelve people sitting at it. The table was raised so that it was the same height as the stage.
“Who are they?” Reid asked
“Those are the judges.”
“Why are there so many of them? Wouldn’t one person suffice?”
Luke shrugged, “There’s a lot going on in a cheer routine, it would be impossible for one person to catch everything. All of the judges have score cards and the high and the low are thrown out and the others are averaged.”
“Why do you know so much about all of this again?”
Luke smiled, “I listen when Natalie talks to me, and besides who else would answer all of your questions?”
Reid just rolled his eyes and looked back at the stage.
He realized that this wasn’t an ordinary stage, for one thing it consisted of what looked like blue mats that had been raised up and taped down. He had never seen anything like it.
“Why is the stage raised like that?” Reid asked Luke.
“It’s a sprung floor,” Luke answered.
“What’s a sprung floor?”
“There are giant springs under the mats. It gives the tumblers more power when they tumble, like gymnasts, but it also makes it more difficult to control the landings especially if you don’t normally practice on one.”
“Why wouldn’t you practice on one if that’s what you compete on? It seems kind of stupid not to.”
“I’m not sure that stupid is the right word but it can be dangerous, unfortunately some teams can’t afford, or don’t have access, to a proper sprung floor, so they just put down mats. Luckily Natalie’s team practices at the Oakdale Gymnastics gym, which has all of the necessary equipment.”
“Hmm,” Reid responded feeling a little bit bored and a little put out by Luke’s seemingly vast knowledge of all things cheer. “If it’s a sprung floor it must be really bouncy, right?”
“Yes, that’s kind of the point of it,” Luke answered wondering where Reid was going with this.
“I want to bounce on it; maybe I could try one of those flippy things that Natalie was doing in the room.”
“You can’t go on the floor and don’t even joke about trying to do a back handspring, I don’t want you to break something.”
“I didn’t mean I wanted to go now, I can see that it’s being used, but we’re here for awhile I’ll try it out later.”
“You can’t.”
“Why not? I’m here the floor is here, what’s the problem?”
“You don’t have cheer shoes.”
“Oh my God, Luke! What the hell are cheer shoes???”
“Cheer shoes are lightweight runners that are dedicated to cheer. If you wore your shoes on the sprung floor you would damage it, and I’m not paying for a replacement.”
“What if I took off my shoes and wore socks or bare feet?” Reid asked not willing to give up, and really wanting to try it now that he knew that he wasn’t allowed.
Luke laughed, “socks wouldn’t give you enough traction and bare feet??? Do you now how much sweat is going to be on those mats by the end of the day. Not to mention residual sweat and blood and who knows what else from previous uses?”
“Ew,” Reid shuddered. “Alright, alright I give up,” Reid said reaching into his pocket to take out his hand sanitizer, he suddenly felt dirty, and not in a good way.
The two men walked around the venue looking for seats. Reid noted that there were a lot of vendors in the room. Some were selling clothing, some were selling jewellery and accessories there was a crowded table where someone was selling make-up, none of these held any interest for Reid. Fortunately, there was also a selection of food vendors.
Luke finally found two seats that he was happy with. They were facing the stage, but a little off centre and not too close to the speakers. Reid was happy with the seats because when he looked to his left he saw a ‘Dippin’Dots’™ stand.
“Hey Luke I’m gonna get some dippin’ dots do you want some?”
“Reid, you just ate breakfast and isn’t it a little early for ice-cream?”
“What do you mean it’s a little early for ice-cream? Breakfast was at least an hour ago, it’s time for a snack!”
Luke just shook his head.
When Reid came back to sit with Luke and eat his banana split/cotton candy ice-cream concoction, he finally began to pay attention to the competition.
Reid was already bored and it looked like it was just the beginning. He leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and his index finger. Taking a deep breath in order to try and relax.
“Why are those girls all so young? They look like they are barely out of diapers?” Reid asked trying to keep himself entertained.
“They are young Reid; they’re in the tiny division.”
“What happens if you’re not tiny? Do they kick you off the team?”
“Reid.”
“Hey, I’m just saying. It’s not a very PC name, that’s all.”
“Reid it’s cheerleading!”
“Luke, they aren’t really doing very much, aren’t they supposed to tumble or something, and when I say tumble I don’t mean fall like that girl just did.”
“Reid, this is level 1, they are young kids, and they really haven’t developed many skills yet. Everyone has to start somewhere,” Luke said in exasperation.
“I’m all for kids learning and developing, but why do we have to watch the painful process? Shouldn’t they learn this stuff in the privacy of their own gyms?”
“They do learn in their own gyms and then they come here to show off what they can do.”
“Hmm, I think they needed more practice.”
“Don’t be mean.”
The two watched the cheer competition for what felt like twelve hours, but was really only three, with Reid criticizing each and every routine while Luke tried to defend them all. They had broken up the monotony by eating some horrible food for lunch. Reid had suggested that they go back to the hotel for lunch hoping for a brief respite and some alone time with Luke. Luke had refused, insisting that they had to stay at the competition.
“Hey Luke, do you have a fork on you?”
“No… why?”
“I was thinking that I would poke my eyes out to get some relief.”
“Reid, I’m sorry that you are so bored, but we’re moving onto level three, which should be more interesting. Natalie’s team is level four so they will be up next.”
“Alright, but you definitely owe me for this, and I plan to collect so consider yourself warned.”
Just then Natalie appeared before them. Reid just gaped at what she was wearing. “Natalie where is the rest of your uniform?” Reid asked.
Natalie looked confused. “What are you talking about this is my uniform, nothing is missing.”
“You look naked. Why is your top so short and why does your skirt hang so low on your hips?” There was so much skin showing between the skirt and the top that the already small uniform looked that much skimpier.
“Well the top is a little small, but I can’t get a new one. This is where the skirt is supposed to sit, at least it fully covers my butt, the same cannot be said for Megan. Her skirt is really short, but at least she has nice legs”
“What a relief,” Reid replied sarcastically.
Natalie just giggled. “Wait till you see some of the senior teams, their skirts are designed to barely cover them and they are way tighter than ours. At least ours are loose and don’t cling to us. Those ones are kind of gross.”
“Kind of??? I don’t think that I’m prepared for that kind of trauma.”
“Speaking of trauma, I need $25 for Coach Jane. I split my bloomers when I was warming up my bow and arrow so I needed new ones. Do you have the cash, Luke?”
Luke pulled out his wallet and handed over the money.
“What, pray tell, are bloomers and what is a bow and arrow?” Reid asked.
“Bloomers are like bikini bottoms that go over your underwear so that nobody sees anything that they aren’t supposed to.”
“Thank God for that,” Reid replied dryly.
“Mine are blue and sparkly to go with my uniform.”
“Of course they are.”
“A bow and arrow is a pose that I do at the top of a pyramid. I’m standing with my legs in the splits and one arm out so that I look like a bow and arrow,” Natalie explained.
“Thanks Luke, you’re the best,” Natalie said taking the money. “I’ve gotta get back to my team, our warm-up time is in about 15 minutes,” then she turned and started to walk away. “Oh, have you taught Reid the cheer yet? Make sure you guys are loud, I want to hear you,” she laughed as she witnessed the pained look on Reid’s face.
“Cheer Luke, what the hell is she talking about?”
“Don’t worry it’s easy, you’ll be able to learn it without any problems.”
Reid just gaped at Luke like in astonishment. “Yes Luke, my biggest concern here is that I might not be able to learn a cheer in the allotted time. Explain yourself, now.”
“Well when Natalie’s team is competing we will move into the front three rows with all of the other family members and we will say the cheer with them when it comes up in the routine. I’ll nudge you so that you know when to say it. Natalie always says that she tries to hear me when I come to her competitions. I think that it’s sweet,” Luke finished with a wistful smile on his face.
“Can’t I just stay here by myself while you go off with the rest of the cheer folks?”
Luke’s face fell, “I guess that’s okay, if that’s what you really want,” Luke replied staring at Reid with his big sad brown eyes.
Reid could never refuse Luke anything when he looked at him like that. “Fine,” he huffed out. “Teach me the bloody cheer, but I can’t promise to say it loudly.”
Luke rewarded Reid with a big beautiful smile and leaned over and kissed him.
‘I am so whipped,’ Reid thought to himself, not for the first time.
“Okay, let’s go out into the hall so that we won’t disturb anyone,” Luke suggested.
Reid just rolled his eyes at the idea that he and Luke could disturb anyone in this cacophony of noise, but he didn’t complain because he was happy for the respite.
Once they were out in the lobby, Reid noticed that there were several groups of cheerleaders entertaining themselves. Some were listening to iPods, some were playing games, some were practicing their tumbling, and some crazy one’s looked like they were trying to kill themselves.
“What on earth are those people doing?” Reid asked pointing at a teetering group of cheerleaders.
“Stunting,” Luke replied with a frown on his face. “They shouldn’t be doing that out here because it is dangerous to stunt without proper spotters and mats. They could really hurt themselves.”
“Is Natalie at the top of one of those thingies during her routine?”
“Yes, she goes up about five times. She flips twice and she does a series of poses the other three times. She’s really good at it,” Luke said proudly.
Reid looked worried. “Has she ever been hurt? It seems pretty dangerous, now that I’ve seen it up close.”
“Natalie has never had a serious injury, but she has been hurt a few times. She’s been kicked in the nose and the mouth, which has led to a fair amount of bleeding. She has sprained her ankle twice, but that’s about it. She’s been lucky. Other girls have had broken legs, arms and noses. It’s just part of the sport,” Luke shrugged.
“Couldn’t she do something that has less risk, like swimming? Maybe she could take up competitive chess; very few people have chess related injuries.”
Luke chose to ignore the chess suggestion. “This might be her last cheer season, because she has to choose between cheer and dance at the end of the year. She no longer has time for both.”
“You should encourage her to choose dance. It seems a lot safer and a lot more versatile. What kind of dance does she study?”
“She takes ballet, jazz, modern and stage. She has finally started to appreciate ballet, but jazz and stage are her favourites. I hope that she picks dance as well.”
Reid took one more look as the stunting group had a near disaster and shuddered.
“Okay Reid lets go over here and I’ll teach you the cheer,” Luke said as he led Reid over to a quiet corner.
Luke did a little jump, clapped his hands and nodded his head in a very perky way, “5678 Ready! Okay! We’re Here to Cheer Today!” and then he collapsed in a fit of laughter at the look of abject horror on Reid’s face.
“There’s no way that I am ever going to do something like that,” Reid stated his face as dark as a storm cloud. Luke just kept laughing and Reid turned on his heel to stomp off.
“Reid, wait I was just kidding,” Luke gasped out between fits of laughter as he grabbed Reid’s arm. “That wasn’t the cheer and no one even stands up. We just yell the cheer from our seats, OK?”
“Not really,” Reid grumbled, he hated looking and feeling foolish.
“I’m sorry,” Luke said as sincerely as he could manage. The look on Reid’s face had been priceless; he only wished somebody had been there to take his picture.
“The real cheer goes like this-
Oakdale, Oakdale we’re the best
We’re going to crush all the rest
Oakdale, Oakdale we’re elite
Proving today why we can’t be beat!”
“That’s it, I’m not going to have to clap or jump up and down?”
“Er…no. You don’t have to clap or jump up and down.”
Satisfied, Reid nodded and said “okay” hoping that no further humiliation was coming his way.
“Do you want to practice it with me?” Luke asked.
“No, I’m good.”
Just as they were about to head back into the venue, they heard a women calling, “Luke, Luke.” They immediately turned to see a petite blonde woman heading toward them looking harried.
“Hi Heather,” Luke greeted the woman.
“Oh, Luke, Thank God I’ve found you. You must be Reid,” she said smiling at him.
Reid nodded.
“Here are the shirts for the two of you. The girls should be on in about fifteen minutes so please put them on and be ready to move to the front three rows. Did you bring your noise makers?”
Luke shook his head, studiously avoiding eye contact with Reid.
Heather smiled, “don’t worry I have extras for you both,” she said smiling at them, while reaching into her bag to pull out two, obviously homemade, noisemakers. She handed one to each of them. She wondered briefly why Reid seemed to be glaring at her, but shrugged it off and headed inside to pass out more t-shirts and noise makers.
“What the fuck am I expected to do with this hideous t-shirt? I sure as hell am NOT going to wear it!”
“Please Reid.” Luke pleaded. “We all have to wear them but only for the routine, you can take it off as soon as they’re done, I promise. It’s like a uniform for the parents, to show our unity and support.”
“I’m not a parent, Luke,” Reid began, knowing full well that he was going to give in or Luke would pout and possibly cry and then Reid would feel horrible. ‘I am so whipped! Christ, when did that happen?’ “Have you looked at these shirts, why do they have to be so ugly?” Reid turned it over. “Oh my God, why does it say ‘sponsored by the Lakeview Hotel in florescent pink letters?”
Luke blushed bright pink. “My mother is a sponsor for the team. She provided the team jackets.”
“Of course she did,” Reid sighed.
“So will you wear it?” Luke asked sheepishly
Reid sighed heavily, “I’ll wear it, but I am not shaking that ridiculous noise maker.” Reid said trying to maintain one shred of dignity.
Luke beamed at him and grabbed his hand and dragged him back into the competition.
As soon as they entered the venue Luke dragged Reid toward a large group of people who were all wearing the ugly t-shirts. They definitely did not look better en masse than they did individually. Luke dropped his hand and gave him his ugly t-shirt. He looked over to see that Luke already had his on. Reid sighed and pulled the shirt over his head. The t-shirt was a white loose fitting boxy t that had the words “Oakdale Allstars friends and family” in an ugly sky blue colour in an equally unpleasant font. The back had the name of Natalie’s gym in plain black font at the top of the shirt and the ugly big pink letters advertising the Lakeview. The only saving grace, as far as Reid was concerned was that the only person who knew him here was Luke and he was wearing the same shirt.
The next thing Reid knew, Luke grabbed his hand and he felt himself being dragged to the front row. Luke made sure that they were seated at the end of the row so that Reid wouldn’t feel quite as claustrophobic as he would be if they were in the middle. Luke also kept holding Reid’s hand, partly to comfort Reid and partly for Reid to comfort him. Even though he wouldn’t admit it to Reid he always got nervous when he watched Natalie compete.
All of a sudden the Oakdale Allstars were announced and there was a flurry of white and sky blue running onto the floor, yelling and screaming and tumbling. In an instant they were all still and posed ready to begin. The music started and they were off.
Reid was shocked to find that he was mesmerized by the routine. There was so much going on that he forced himself to focus on Natalie. She was amazing. He held his breath every time she was up in the air. He was fascinated by the poses she transformed her body into. Her posture was straight and she seemed rock steady as she changed position. He flinched when he saw her pose in what must have been the bow and arrow. It was beautiful but it also looked painful. Ouch.
Before he knew it Luke squeezed his hand and everyone started cheering and Reid found himself caught up in the moment cheering along. Then Natalie was up in the air again for the final pose and it was all over.
“Wow,” Reid said as he turned to Luke who was grinning like a loon. “That was amazing!”
“Yeah, they are pretty great. Come on, we can’t stay here,” Luke said as he led Reid to the back of the room, both of them removing the ugly t-shirts as they walked away.
They walked into the crowd of other parents who were all busily congratulating each other on how well the girls had performed.
“Luke, Reid we’re having the team dinner at Papa Joe’s right after the girls are done. It’s only about one block north of here,” Heather said. “We’ll see you both there, right?”
“Yes, we’ll be there,” Luke answered as Reid rolled his eyes.
End Notes: The next chapter will be the team dinner. I have made up the restaurant Papa Joe’s it is not intended to represent a particular place.
Cheer competitions always felt endless to me, so I have tried to convey that feeling in this story.
I feel sorry for Reid and he will suffer at dinner too, but there is light at the end of the tunnel I promise.
I just wanted to note that plenty of dancers are injured as well and that their costumes are often pretty skimpy too. (Don’t tell Reid)
I hope that you have enjoyed this. Please let me know what you think.