Women's Sports Imagines

Caitlin Clark- Getting Back ⚠️

Trigger Warning: Partner neglect, abuse, outing, homophobia, revenge plot ⚠️

Background: Y/N Y/L/N and Caitlin Clark had been dating on and off for 3 years. Starting Y/N's sophomore year, Caitlin's freshman year, until just before the end of Y/N's senior year, Caitlin's junior, when Y/N disappeared.

Their on again off again relationship was controlled by Caitlin's inability to accept her sexual orientation, breaking things off out of the blue, and Y/N's inability to stand up for herself and walk away. Caitlin would hurt her time and time again, breaking up with her, leaving her heart broken, just to turn around and apologize, begging the girl to take her back. 

Y/N's never been in any other relationship. She's never been 'loved' the way Caitlin loves her. Caitlin didn't break up to hurt her, she broke up because her faith and sexuality were at conflict and it was too much alongside basketball. Oh, by the way, Y/N also plays basketball at the University of Iowa. That definitely hurt the two more than it helped.

They were off when the 2023 Women's March Madness Final took place. Caitlin had broken up with her after the quarter final. Y/N was being 'too clingy' and 'wanted more attention than basketball' which was a deal breaker. Nothing was worth Caitlin Clark's attention more than basketball. In reality, she'd been staying over at Caitlin's more and more, at Caitlin's request and the star player once again found herself fighting internally. Her faith was worth more than her happiness with Y/N. 

Y/N's physical and mental health weren't in the greatest shape, but she pushed on. She asked Bluder to be pulled after a terrible first 3 minutes of the first quarter. She tried for a few minutes in the second, but played just as bad and benched herself again. Multiple teammates and coaches tried to figure her out, to get her back into it, but they failed. She didn't play at all the second half, and the Hawkeyes lost the national championship. They all knew that the outcome wouldn't be any different had Y/N gone back into the game. She was truly out of it. 

Nobody blamed Y/N for the loss. It was on the whole team. Well, 2 people blamed her. She herself and Caitlin. When nobody else was around Caitlin ripped Y/N a new one, telling her they were done for good after that performance. 

While the team knew of their relationship, nobody else did. Not other friends or even their families, except for Y/N's older sister, Ryan, who herself was bisexual and saw the signs in her sister. Otherwise, both girls were closeted and wanted to keep it that way. At a party a week later, another argument ensued and again, Y/N let Caitlin go off on her. Little did they know, someone was live on Instagram and the whole room quieted once they heard Caitlin's screaming. So everyone there, including everyone on the live, heard Caitlin yell, "God, Y/N, you're just like every stereotypical lesbian, obsessive and annoying. Stay the hell away from me!"

Everyone froze as tears streamed down Y/N's cheeks. She knows everyone heard that. She knows she was just outed. Their teammates stared in shock and disgust, but only at Caitlin. Y/N ran out the door before any anyone could stop her. Her car vanished, and so did she. Besides an email to Bluder, announcing her departure, nobody heard from her after that night. 

She wasn't in classes or her apartment. All social media had been shut down. Y/N was a ghost. Gabbie caught wind of people talking about someone in Y/N's apartment but when her and Kate checked it out they found a couple of Y/N's friends cleaning everything out. The friends explained that they have no idea where she is and that Ryan was the one to reach out and ask them to move everything out of her apartment. 

While all of this was going on, Caitlin kept to herself, confused. She knows she outed Y/N, but it's not like she did it on purpose. She made a public apology on social media, but never apologized to Y/N directly. The team held grudges, but knew they had to put it aside if they wanted to win the national title this year. Y/N's presence was missed, but there's nothing anyone can do.