At the end of the school day, (Y/n) and Kate resided in her room studying and completing homework. Kate let Alice out of her cage to stretch better by roaming around her room for a short while. (Y/n) sat on his girlfriend's bed, leaning against the bedframe and the wall, staring at his phone while the dirty-haired blonde girl sat between his legs with her head rested on his stomach, peacefully in slumber.
(Y/n) looked away from his phone and turned his attention to his girlfriend by touching and playing with her hair. He massaged her scalp and laid kisses on the top of her head where the sweet scent of her hair made his heart tingle. The need for attention easily caught Kate's attention, where she was woken up by (Y/n) touching her.
"What's up, love?" Kate asked softly.
"Cuddles." (Y/n) whined.
She chuckled to herself and sat up where they changed positions so that they were fully lying down with (Y/n) half laid on top of Kate, her hands rubbed slowly up and down his back until he felt tired himself that he quickly fell asleep. Kate smiled at the sight of her tired boyfriend and placed a kiss on the top of his head before she too slept the night off.
Tuesday
To find himself waking up along in bed worried (Y/n) until he realised his religious girlfriend was kneeling on the side of the bed with her hands together and her eyes shut, her lips moved but no audible words came out. When (Y/n) rolled over, he instantly realised that she was submitting a morning prayer to her God. At the conclusion if her prayer, Kate opened her eyes and set them on (Y/n), who in turn she caught staring at her as she prayed.
"I hope you're sending God a prayer for me because I'm glad He answered my prayers." (Y/n) flirted, his voice came out as lazy and quiet.
Kate stifled laughter and bowed her head. She quickly composed herself and put Alice back in her cage before she informed (Y/n) that she was going to take a shower. To fill out the silence in his girlfriend's absence, (Y/n) put on some music and stared his head around - but not enough that it would give him a headache - as he jumped up on Kate's bed and jumped and danced.
He didn't quite realise how much fun he was having as by the time Kate got back, she was gobsmacked. When (Y/n) realised that he wasn't alone, he smiled at Kate and stopped jumping on her bed and extended his hand out to her, asking her to join him. Hesitantly, Kate glanced at his hand, biting down on her bottom lip until she gave in and grabbed ahold of it for (Y/n) to hoist her up with him.
The two marvelled in dance and song as the music they thrived to made them breathless to the point that forfeited their fun to go out and have breakfast and go to the library before their ten o'clock lesson. It had come to (Y/n)'s attention that people were acting nicer and more friendly towards Kate which was something he found all too suspicious. He was able to take his mind off things when they took up a spot in the library and did whatever to pass the time.
Out of the blue, (Y/n) came forward with a question Kate wasn't prepared for. "Hey babe, have you thought about getting a job? Like part-time?"
Kate looked up with curiosity written across her face. Her train of thought was lost now that she had her attention brought onto her boyfriend's question. She pondered about the idea but came to the conclusion that she hadn't thought properly about it as she preferred to contemplate a full-time job.
"Well, no. I haven't." Kate answered honestly. "Why are you asking me this?"
(Y/n) shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. I just thought you might want to find something to do when we graduate."
"I didn't think I would need to do that just to stop spending time with you. I mean, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love being around you. But as much as I love spending time with you, I do need to have some space, some time to myself."
"Oh yeah. Absolutely. But, well, what I meant was, it would be good to have some experience, right? Make some money, meet new people, make friends..."
It then became clear that his asking her about getting a job was not out if the blue, but rather previously thought of.
"But why me? Why not you?" Kate questioned.
"Because I've been doing some research myself on getting some jobs outside of Arcadia Bay."
"O-Outside of Arcadia? Y-You mean like going to other states?"
"Yeah, yeah, other states, other countries... wouldn't that be nice? To go travelling, see the world?"
"I don't know about that," she chuckled nervously. "I would love to go to New York, though."
"So let's go to New York!"
"What about the others? My family?"
"We can always visit them - would be difficult to keep up with most of them but we could always think about it when we graduate. We could even, oh, I dunno, stay for a few Christmases?"
Kate smiled fondly and smiled with a slow shake of her head. "I do love Christmas. And I love seeing Lynn's reactions when I get her amazing gifts. I'd hate to see her sad."
(Y/n) reached his hand across to take ahold of hers and stared deeply, intimately into her hazel-coloured eyes.
"Seeing you happy makes my day, Kate. I would give you the world if it let's me see you smile." (Y/n) whispered.
Kate's face flushed red when she responded. "W-W-Well why would I want the world, if the only thing I wanted was you?"
This astounded (Y/n) as her attempt to flirt with him turned out better than either had hoped. It worked so well that the smile on (Y/n)'s face didn't dare fade away anytime soon. Slowly and intimately, the pair leaned over the table to meet halfway so that when they did, a soft kiss was exchanged for a good few seconds, while it lasted. The voice of the librarian interrupted their kiss, leaving both embarrassed for being told off for making out in the library.
At the ring of the bell, first period commenced. Students filed messily into their designated rooms habitually, automatically braced for yet another long, excruciating day at school. As the day went on, flying by for some; whereas for others it painfully went on for hours on end with no means of mercy to those that were troubled by a number of things.
Until the rapid ringing of the final bell for the day went off, students rejoiced - for the time being knowing they still had the rest of the week to go. As per usual, (Y/n) reunited with Kate every afternoon after school in his room. The only difference being was that (Y/n) had been summoned by Esteban to attend a dodgeball game and sub for an absent teammate who'd fallen victim to the flu. Through the encouragement of his girlfriend, (Y/n) agreed.
In the indoor basketball court, six red balls were evenly spaced across the centre court line. Five members of the opposite team eagerly waited for the game to commence whilst Esteban's teammates three huddled closely in fruitless attempt to combine their ideas for an offensive team strategy they hoped to rely on. When the three noticed Esteban return with backup, the three wanted to be relieved but instead fell short on compassion and instead went with doubt.
"The hell is this? Does this guy even know how to play dodgeball? He looks like a wimp. Can we rely on this guy?" One teammate of Esteban's questioned harshly.
"Hey, man. Ease up, will you? He's my friend. If I trust him, then you should to. Besides, he's the only chance we've got in winning this game." Esteban argued.
While Kate made her way to a decent spot in the back of the stands to watch the game, she noticed conflict between (Y/n) and Esteban's dodgeball teammates. She became worried for (Y/n) as by observing their body language she could tell things were terse between them all. It came as relief hen she saw the five come to a mutual accord before they lined up parallel with the balls they were to grab and pitch at their opponents.
The referee put his whistle in between his lips and blew, declaring the game in play. Some players on either team rushed to grab the red balls where a couple players were sacrificed for the other team to forcefully hand over their balls. As the game went on, players were constantly brought in and out by those who managed to catch what was thrown at them in exchange for one of their players to rejoin them and the other team to lose a player.
This went on for well over half an hour until half time was called via the whistle being blown. At the sound of the whistle, (Y/n) whipped his head around in search for his girlfriend. As soon as he located her, he rushed up to where she was and was given a bottle of water to gulp down. Her words of praise gave him little to no confidence of his team's progress as he in turn shared his thoughts on their losing streak.
"The other team is targeting us one by one: that way, we have no chance of getting any out unless we catch what they throw at us. They're unpredictable that way. Once they throw the ball around you, you don't realise where they're aiming until the coach calls you out." (Y/n) explained as he breathed heavily to catch his breath.
"I've noticed some of them stagger after they throw the balls at you guys. The short one seems to fumble he most after he pitches the ball. And the cute blonde one seems to have a hard time seeing with his hair getting in his eyes." Kate advised.
(Y/n) looked at her sceptically. "Cute? You think he's actually cute?"
"I'm just kidding. He's not my type."
"I hope that type you're referring to is me. Can we talk about this later? What else have you noticed that I haven't?"
"Well, the one with the glasses has to keep fixing it on his face. Plus his lenses get foggy. The fat one is the slowest - compared to the muscular one who seems the most difficult to go after. But I think his arm hurts every time he throws a ball."
"Yeah, I've noticed that. Gotta make him use up his energy - as long as one of us can stay alive long enough, that is."
"I'm praying for you, baby. You can do this. Good luck out there." Kate said encouragingly.
The dirty-blonde girl gave him a kiss on his sweaty cheek before he returned to the court and shared that information with his teammates. After spending half an hour of struggle combating the enemy team, (Y/n) and his teammates sought to organise properly as a tram and combined their efforts to pick off each member on the other team.
When they finally started to improve, that was where (Y/n)'s team found confidence they never had. At the expense of a few of their teammates being taken off the court, it all came down to Esteban and (Y/n) standing against two of the best players on the enemy team. The intense game had everyone in the stands on the edges of their seats as (Y/n) and Esteban struggled to stay alive. Out of (Y/n)'s blind eye, he missed a ball coming straight for him.
Esteban saw this and didn't hesitate a second to throw himself in front of (Y/n), sacrificing himself as the trajectory of the ball flew lower than anticipated, in turn striking Esteban right in the balls. The muffled cry of pain left Esteban speechless at his noble act. More so (Y/n) who was grateful for what his friend had done for him. Their teammates gathered around as (Y/n) lifted him up and carried Esteban off the court.
"You shouldn't have done that for me. Why sacrifice yourself - the team leader - over me? A guy who hasn't played a game of dodgeball in his life." (Y/n) asked concerningly.
Esteban was still struggling to gather words after being hit in his manhood. But once he did, he gave an honest response that surprised everyone on the team.
"Because I can see that you got the conviction to fight for what you believe in. You're noble, loyal, and you got something within you that you're struggling to hold back. Use that against them. It's just Jamie and Harry left. Besides, I also did it to impress Carol. Is she looking?"
(Y/n) laughed on an exhale. "Yeah man. She's proud."
"Hell yeah..."
"Don't worry, Diaz. I'll win this for you, brother."
As the game recommenced, (Y/n) faced off with the last two players. He knew what sort of trouble he was in but he wasn't thinking about the odds, rather how he would strategise his plan of attack.
It was now or never.