( 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝖾𝗋 𝗌𝗂𝗑 — 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗈𝗎𝗍 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝖺𝗅𝗅𝗀𝖺𝗆𝖾 )

In the Wheeler-Dobbs apartment, Danny was sat on the couch going through his bag, whilst Riley and Charlotte were sat by the counter, trying not to point out the amount of trophies that filled the room. Well, Riley wasn't. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about this place feels different." The blonde-haired girl mentioned in a sarcastic manner.

"Really?" Charlotte looked surprised. "Because I see the difference very clearly."

Danny followed Charlotte's eyes and looked at all of his trophies before he turned back to the girls and shrugged. "You've heard the expression 'winner takes all'." The boy held his arms out to the side, gesturing to the trophies around the room. "This is all."

"Hey, Charlie." Ben entered the room and smiled once he saw Charlotte. "Thanks for watching Emma. First practice of the season."

"Wow." Riley took notice of his outfit. "I've never seen you look so jocky." This earned a laugh from Charlotte before Brodie walked in, and decided to speak for his twin brother. "That's right. Danny's not the only one who can put a jersey on and hit things with a stick."

Danny looked in disbelief. "It's softball and they haven't won a game. Do I need to say more?" He informed Riley, making Charlotte snicker. Before she could comment on it though, Tucker walked inside the apartment with a bucket of bats in his hand. "Found 'em. They were in the storage room next to the christmas lights and what I thought was Mrs. Bart's lost chihuahua." He paused for a moment and grimaced. "It wasn't."

"Thanks, man." Ben slapped his hand on Tucker's shoulder before looking back at the others while he added. "And there will be no trash talking of the B-Bar Brawlers."

"I'm sorry." Danny told them. "I just don't see the point of playing if you're not at least trying to win." He looked down at the girls. "Back me up here, girls."

"Oh no." Riley scoffed before speaking for herself and Charlotte. "We've known you all long enough to know that 'Back me up, girls' is two seconds away from 'Shut up, girls. Who asked you'?"

"The point— wait for it—" Brodie then paused for effect before finishing his sentence. "is to have fun. And the fun is what we bring. How do you think I got elected Team Captain?"

"I ask myself that very same question." Charlotte remarked, which resulted with a glare from the Wheeler before Tucker opened his mouth. "Well, you and Ben gave us free beer and ballots and said 'Vote for us'. You just got the most votes."

"Oh my God, look at this." Riley held a photo she found in the pile of memories, in her hand, with Danny looking at it over her shoulder. "Varsity lacrosse— you and me, front and center." Danny pointed out.

As Charlotte stood up from her seat to take a look at the photograph herself, Riley hinted about her weight back in high school as she said. "Which is fairly unfortunate for all the people in the back."

"You two were on the same team?" Tucker asked, slightly shocked by the information before Danny was first to speak up, gesturing to Riley before he answered. "They didn't call her Rigantor for nothing. She was tougher..."

"and wider." Riley interjected before Danny then finished off. "than any guy on the field."

"You wanna come play?" Brodie offered for Riley to join them down at the pitch. "Everyone's welcome."

However, Riley shook her head. "Not really doing the sports thing anymore." She declined his offer and looked back down at the photo. "God, this just feels like a different life."

"Well, you athletes enjoy your afternoon." Danny approached the table in front of the couch to grab his bag for ice hockey. "I've gotta get to the rink and hit stuff with a stick... for money." He chuckled before grabbing his bag and walked out of the apartment.

"Hey, we gotta get movin'." Tucker looked at both Wheeler twins. "I need to go hit things with a stick for a beer." They mockingly laughed at that and started to head out as Ben turned around to look at Charlotte. "Hey, Charlie. Are you—"

"No, I'm not going to put on my old cheerleading outfit and cheer for you guys." Charlotte groaned, predicting what he was already going to ask, and Ben pouted. "Aw, man."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

As Ben and Brodie had returned to the apartment after practice, Charlotte and Riley were also there and feeding a hungry Tommy and Emma whilst they listened to Danny ramble on to his brothers about how uncomfortable he was with the idea of their mother dating his coach.

Danny followed his brothers into the room where the girls were, and argued. "You two can't tell me you're actually okay with this."

"We're actually okay with this." Ben casually told his older brother, speaking for himself and his twin before Riley looked up at Danny. "Well, your mom dating your coach should make for some interesting pillow talk." She pointed out.

"What?" Danny began to panic. "No pillows. How did there suddenly get to be pillows? They were just going to happy hour." Noticing his panicked state, Tommy frowned before picking up one of his chicken nuggets from his plate and held it up to Danny who glanced at it before taking it from his hand. "Thanks, Tommy." He muttered before putting it into his mouth.

"No problem." The four-year old grinned brightly at his uncle figure before he looked back at his sister who smiled in awe and winked at him.

"If I recall," Brodie started off, reminding Danny of the subject when he mentioned. "the last girl you took to happy hour got so happy, we got a noise complaint."

"But that's different. They wouldn't—" Nervously, Danny insisted. "she's a mom!"

Looking amused, Charlotte shrugged. "And Ben's a dad. Hasn't slowed him down."

Ben smirked, looking at Charlotte. "It would take a lot more than a baby." This received a grimace from Charlotte who glanced at her brother to see that he had tuned out their conversation while continuing to eat his food. "Let's not talk on that subject while there is children in the room." She reminded.

"That's it—" Danny sighed. "I cannot think about this anymore. I'm going to go workout until even my brain is exhausted." He headed towards the door, but stopped as Ben cheekily called out to him. "See you in '20." He glared back at his little brother before walking out of the apartment.

"Any progress?" Ben walked over to stand next to Charlotte, wanting to know if either her or Riley were successful in trying to get Emma to swallow her food. Having swapped places with Charlotte, Riley stood on the other side of her, with a sigh as she replied to Ben. "Well, if she could eat through her nose, I'd say she's doing great."

Charlotte passed the spoon over to Ben to let him have a try and finally, though it wasn't a surprise to Charlotte, she smiled as Emma swallowed the food that Ben fed her. "Congratulations. She's a daddy's girl."

Brodie returned from his bedroom and looked up from his phone after reading the text he just got before looking over at his brother. "Ben, Tucker and the guys are already at the field."

Ben looked down at Emma and sighed. "I should finish feeding her." He said before looking over at Brodie and told him. "Mom's gonna be here soon, can you run my equipment down to the field for me?"

"I can do it." Riley shrugged, volunteering to help Brodie as she gestured to the bag on his shoulder and pointed out. "Since you have your own bag to carry and all."

"Are you sure?" Brodie asked the blonde, and she nodded her head, almost hesitantly. "Yeah, it's fine. Don't worry." She reassured him.

"Thank you, Riley, and take my mitt." Ben said to the blonde. "You'll have fun. I promise."

The Perrin girl smiled before taking his bag filled with his equipment, along with the mitt that she held in her other hand with a groan. "Oof." And as she started to head out, she mentioned. "This weighed so much less when I weighed so much more."

Charlotte chuckled lightly and moved over to the refrigerator to get herself a drink while Ben sat in front of Emma, and sighed as he resumed feeding his daughter. "You don't care about a shelf-full of trophies, do you?" He chatted with Emma about his doubts. "Your daddy's still a winner in your eyes, right?"

Charlotte smiled sadly at her friend, although the expression on her face quickly changed into more of a surprised one as she watched the baby food splatter onto Ben's face.

Ben grimaced. "I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Charlotte reached for the wipes and took a couple before approaching Ben. "Here, these might help you out." She held them out to him and he looked at her with a sarcastic smile. "Gee, thanks Charlie."

"No problem, Benny." The Wright girl responded with sarcasm as well, and patted him on the head before she walked away to wash Tommy's plate in the sink as he said he was finished.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Once Brodie and Riley arrived on the pitch, it was not very long before Brodie left again to go to his apartment after forgetting one of the equipments he thought was in his bag. Somehow, during the time he was gone, Ben hadn't returned yet either, but Charlotte had, Riley had an opportunity to play softball ever since she stopped with sports in high school.

And for the first time ever, they had won. Yet, not one of the Wheeler twins were there to see it. Ben and Brodie had finally returned to the pitch to see everyone cheering, causing confusion to wash over their faces.

"Hey, Brawlers. Sorry, we're so late." Brodie was first to apologise as him and Ben approached the team before Tucker turned to them with a bright smile as he informed. "We did it. We won!"

"At what?" Ben asked, confused, and in response, Tucker rolled his eyes. "Softball. First time ever. But it was all Riley. She was incredible."

"Riley?" Brodie questioned, still confused on the whole context to the situation, and from behind Tucker, was Charlotte who had her arm wrapped around Riley's shoulder and her other arm raised in the air in a cheer. "Woo! That's my girl!"

"Brodie! Ben! Did you hear?" Riley began to gush in excitement over her win on the game. "Oh my God, you were right. This was so fun. These guys are awesome."

"No, you're awesome." One of the guys called out from behind them, smiling at the Perrin girl and then Charlotte. "You're an amazing cheerleader, Charlotte." He added before turning away again, making Ben look at the brunette with a gasp as he now noticed her cheerleading attire, including a Brawlers t-shirt, black shorts, her high-school pom-poms and accessories that matched their team colours.

Ben gasped and pointed an accusing finger at the girl. "Seriously? You cheer for her but not for me or Brodie?" He placed a hand over his heart and muttered. "I'm offended, Charlie."

"She's my best friend." Charlotte excused with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, this was a last minute decision and you hadn't arrived yet."

"Who cares?" Tucker interjected and changed the subject from Charlotte's outfit to Riley's win on the game. "Three home runs! Three. I think she even made the umpire cry."

"No, that was Charlotte." Riley reminded the boy, looking amused as she turned to her best friend who pursed her lips and winced. "You have your ways of talking to people, and I have mine."

"First, we are not surprised." Brodie pointed out to Charlotte at first. "Second, it sounds like we missed a great game."

"Oh, um..." Tucker trailed off as Riley left them to talk to other people. He turned his head to look at Charlotte for help, only to find out that she had also walked away from the group, making him grumble under his breath. "Cowards." He looked up at Brodie and chuckled nervously. "One other minor thing you missed. The guys voted Riley Team Captain."

"What? How could they—" Brodie stared in shock at this new information. "Wait. I thought the vote had to be unanimous." He looked at his friend in question who responded with a nervous chuckle before admitting. "I might have gotten caught up in the moment. High-five?"

Brodie shook his head. "Hell to the no."

As for now, it seemed like Brodie felt jealous over the fact that his spot as Team Captain could be taken over by Riley, but fortunately for her, after talking with the Perrin girl later on at night, out on the fire escape, Brodie made the decision and gave Riley the okay to becoming Team Captain since he thought it might be good if she took over a while, plus, the team would be happy.

Meanwhile, Charlotte was in the apartment with Tommy after his fun day with the babysitter, he was now sleeping on the couch, while the adults listened to Danny question his mom about what her and his ice hockey coach got up to. "When'd you get home? Where'd you go? He behaved himself, right?"

"Sure. Let's go with that." Bonnie nodded whilst hiding a smirk before sighing and turned to face her eldest son to reassure him. "We just went out for some Italian food."

"Italian food?" Tucker scoffed, with a smirk at his lips as he pointed out what the majority of people in the room were thinking. "Oh, we all know what that means."

"Dude, seriously." Ben, who sat next to Charlotte with Emma on his knee, grimaced, seeing as he didn't want to hear about what his mother does with other men.

"No, we don't!" Danny argued innocently towards Tucker. "What does that mean?"

"This is exactly what I was trying to avoid." The Wheeler mother sighed. "Honey, I think I should keep this part of my life private."

"Private?"

"In other words," Tucker began to say and looked amused during his next words. "just because he's your coach, don't expect to know when he scores."

"Oh my God." Charlotte shook her head at Tucker whilst Bonnie narrowed her eyes at him, before asking. "Don't you have something better to do?"

"No, not better than this, no." Tucker replied and took a sip of his beer, earning a look from Bonnie before she turned to her eldest son once again to tell him. "Okay, honey, I know that you don't want to hear this, but I'm a woman and I have needs."

"Oh god no, mom, I don't wanna hear that!" Ben groaned, covering Emma's ears as Danny turned around to grab a notepad and pen. "So make a list. I'll get whatever you need right now." He told his mother.

"Oh Danny," Charlotte sighed while muttering to herself. "sweet innocent Danny."

Brodie and Riley finally climbed back in from the fire escape, making Tucker jump out of his chair before looking at Riley in question. "So, are we good?"

"I'm Captain." Riley announced and took a glance at Brodie before she continued. "Brodie talked me into it."

"Without even opening my mouth." The Wheeler boy retorted, earning a look from Tucker before Ben cleared his throat and interjected. "The only thing we haven't figured out yet by the way, who's watching Emma on Saturday?"

"Well, it's not gonna be me." Bonnie already said before explaining why. "Hank invited me to lunch and I'm not cancelling. Our schedules are almost impossible to hook up."

"And I have a shift." Charlotte added. Although it was a night shift, she always needed a sleep after it finished, so there was no definite answer if she would be available to watch Emma or not.

"She said 'hook up'." Tucker whispered to Danny for his own amusement, receiving a look from the Wheeler mother yet again.

"I'll do it." Danny volunteered. "I'll watch Emma. I'd hate for anyone to have to cancel their plans."

Bonnie smiled. "Well, thank you, Danny."

"Problem solved." Ben nodded before Danny left and started heading towards the door, and with a plan forming in his head, he muttered softly to himself. "Not yet, but it will be."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Having missed the game on Saturday because she was asleep the majority of the day, Charlotte was available as cheerleader for the team on Sunday, mainly so Ben would stop asking.

"Strike one!"

"Hey, ump!" Riley called. "You got cable? 'Cause we ain't watching the same game."

Charlotte and Ben shared a wince, as if they were saying 'yikes', because ever since she had become Team Captain, and from what they have seen at the game, there's a chance people are starting to regret their decision on voting for Riley as Team Captain.

"Hey, so sorry I'm late again." Brodie lied, finally arriving to the pitch while holding a watermelon in his arms as a gift. "But, I've brought a little peace offering."

"Okay, it's the top of the ninth, I don't really have time for a Wheeler twin prank right now." Riley told Brodie.

"It's actually full of vodka." Brodie said, catching Charlotte and Ben's attention as they approached the two, hearing Brodie explain. "So we drink it and then launch it. There's a good chance we could clear the fence."

"First time for everything." Riley nodded and she motioned towards the bench before her next words. "Take a seat, Wheeler, with the rest of the ladies." She turned around before calling out to the umpire yet again. "Hey hey, ump! Turn your ringer on because you're missing your calls!"

"Yeah, I taught her too much." Charlotte widened her eyes, hiding a wince as she approached the bench where the Wheelers and Tucker were, and seeing as he had just arrived, Brodie turned to his teammates and asked. "So, how's it going? Are we winning?"

"We want you back!"

"Please be our captain again."

"What about Riley?" Brodie gestured towards the blonde who was coming over with a bat in hand to give to Tucker. "All right, Tuck, you're on deck. Strike out again and you'll be lickin' the lines off the field." She threatened before she started to back away while clapping her hands. "Look alive, people! Charlotte, tell them how it's done!"

The Wright girl responded by sending her friend a thumbs up before a look of bewilderment had washed over her face.

"We already voted, bro. The job's yours." Ben had told his brother. "But unfortunately, you have to fire her." He pointed out as Tucker left the bench to play. "I would... but I'm not here." He got up to his feet and moved to stand behind Charlotte and hide.

And if anyone asked how that night ended, if you knew the answer, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Charlotte chasing Danny around the bar, to stop him from grabbing every guy he saw to help set Bonnie up after her and his coach broke up, while the team celebrated the new co-captains, Riley and Brodie.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

megan speaks!

i hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! i had no idea where to fit charlotte into it since this was mostly about brodie and riley but don't worry, there will be more ben and charlotte soon!

don't forget to comment if you would like as i absolutely adore reading them! thanks for reading, i love you all!! <33