antihero. f. tatis jr

✿ he loves me not

"cheers to a great season."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

serena was sat with mack at AJ's seasonal end of the year gathering. they'd usually meet on some rooftop that overlooked petco to celebrate the season. and if they couldnt celebrate the season, well... they'd celebrate something.

for example, last year they celebrated the chargers losing after the padre's fiasco of a season.

this year they actually had something to talk about though. everyone stepped up to make this happen.

the atmosphere was always amazing. it was a time to set aside their differences and varying ways they each ended the season and just talk about the good parts.

what felt weird though were the seating arrangements. she was sat at a table of six, with mack (her "date"), joe, and arica. there was this large void across from her that had "bebo" engraved on the card in front of it.

meaning fernando was invited but never showed.

she never asked manny about what happened after he called him, but it must be alright. she heard that bob melvin and tatis keep in touch and text every other day.

serena felt bad, speculating he didn't come because of the sheer embarrassment of having to face his teammates.

as ha-seong kim — who was up there giving a speech — mentioned the rookies and their grit this season, (mack and cj, who were invited back for this at the teams request) mack smiled widely and slightly held up his hand as a grateful gesture.

serena grinned brightly at mack, who just kind of rubbed off her expression and avoided her eyes. she let it go though, he'd been nervous all night because he was back home.

"but who i'd really like to mention here is miss lense." kim said hopefully towards serena as his speech was coming to an end, "she helped me get my confidence back. she helped me with a lot of stuff. so thank you, miss serena." he thanked as serena nodded in gratitude. soon, the whole room was applauding her as her cheeks flushed red. she looked to mack beside her once more. he didn't look too thrilled for her. she hoped she wasn't bothering him.

a few seconds later, kim ended his speech and peter seidler came up.

"while we're on the topic of dr lense, i'd like to bring her up here for a little special something."

serena shook her head. she didn't prepare a speech!

"come on, go up!" arica exclaimed, helping her out of her chair and nudging her towards the podium.

serena smoothed her black dress before stepping up to receive whatever "little something" she was about to be given.

peter came out with a little gold plaque, leaning into the mic next to serena as he addressed to the audience, "we've never done this before. i bet you're all very confused." he look towards the girl.

"am i in trouble?" she asked softly, but still close enough to the mic for them to hear it. the crowd chuckled a little

"no, no," he assured, "just in honor of our lovely sports psychologist, dr lense, i want to present you a little something mister blake snell here came up with." he chuckled. serena nodded toward him in the audience before shaking her head. blake had a huge smirk on his face. he always had the most funny and absurd ideas.

"miss serena it is my pleasure to present you the 'keeping us sane' award, for your greatness of keeping this madhouse in order." he grinned, the audience applauded and laughed.

serena smiled widely as she took the award. her name was engraved into it and the gold metal on the plaque was reflective. it was quite a beautiful piece of hardware.

"have anything to say?" peter asked as he side hugged her and she was about to go back to her seat.

"sure." she shrugged, "umm, hi everyone!blake! big man, thanks for making me this award, it means a lot..." serena trailed, humor in her voice, "i firmly believe you guys would behave absolutely fine if i wasn't here... but i appreciate it nonetheless!"

"hey, don't pretend like you don't do anything round' here. hell, you even had to chaperone our zoo trip!" someone — who she assumed was trent grisham — exclaimed from the crowd.

"okay, the zoo was a different story! i had juan soto here convinced he was allowed to help the zookeepers clean the elephant tusks." she found soto in the audience who had his signature grin plastered across his face, "buddy, you almost got eaten!" the many people on the roof shared a laugh once more, as serena started one more story, "and honorable mention, chris paddack. i know he's not here. but this idiot was feeding the giraffe and almost got pulled into the habitat had we not kicked him hard enough to get him to let go of the lettuce. i don't think i need to keep you guys sane, i think you guys need some common sense." she grinned, while everyone giggled once more.

"but as always, i love my job. i love being here. it was a run to remember. maybe this team wasn't quite as electric as last years... but it was the start of something. san diego's got some history, but let me tell you. this group right here is gonna rewrite some of it and bring it home. 2026 baby! book it!" she began to walk off stage, smiling at her award, before realizing she forgot to say something important.

"oh!" she dashed back to the mic, "GO PADRES!"

the many players and wives all around hollered at her excitement. they went out of their way to get serena this award. she did a lot for them, and they wanted to make sure having a sports psychologist wasn't just another appointment to visit or persons salary to pay. she was amazing.

serena sat back down and thanked both joe and arica, only to notice mack was gone.

"where'd mack go?" she asked, worried.

"oh, uhm..." arica started, looking around.

"i think he just needed a breath of fresh air, that's all." joe said.

"oh."

her expressions went a little glum. if anything she wanted to share this achievement with mack. she loved him after all.

but he'd been so distant lately and unwilling to talk.

republished 6/21/23