(Y/n) leaned to the side as he watched a red ball fly past his face. He kept his eyes trained on the other player with the ball who reared his ball arm back and threw it for his feet. The brown-haired boy jumped to the side, his shoes scratched on the surface of the court as he narrowly evaded the red ball from hitting his shin. While Jamie rushed for a ball to acquire, (Y/n) took a shot at the short boy who barely had any time to react.
For what he gained in helping his team reach the finale of the game, he could not make up for with his height and lack of speed and agility. As a result, the ball that was directed for his face collided with his cheek, knocking the four foot seven boy off his feet as well as out of the court, which was declared by the referee at the blow of his whistle. Harry, the short guy, took his time getting out of the court before the whistle blew, resuming the game.
Now that it came down to a one-on-one, (Y/n) felt on edge being the last one on his team standing. Silence filled the crowd who sat and watched with bated breath as the two boys on the court stared each other down as if it were a Mexican stand-off. Either player hand two red balls in their hands, both of whom were itching to draw before the other. Kate watched on, biting her nails figuratively as (Y/n) prepared to attack.
The two boys raised their hands up, their balls level with their heads before they pulled said hands back and threw the balls at each other, evidently hitting and bouncing off each other's. Jamie and (Y/n) ducked out of the trajectory of their balls coming back at them before Jamie decided to strike again. Constantly, the two boys ducked and weaved away from the red balls being thrown at them.
The game went on for just that little bit longer until at long last Kate's prayer had been heard. Where (Y/n) had been attempting to strike Jamie whenever his long blonde hair interfered with his eyesight, the blonde boy had been barely holding on for as long as he could, doing his best to survive. Eventually, Jamie slipped up, thus costing his team the win.
In jubilation, a large majority of the crowd cheered for (Y/n) and his team while a small portion were downhearted by their loss. While the audience flooded the court as well as ambushing the victorious players, Kate found it greatly difficult to reach her boyfriend. (Y/n) too found it hard to get through the herd of students to get close to his girlfriend, but eventually he succeeded.
(Y/n) and Kate held onto each other's hands and shoved their way through the crowd towards the exit where she intended to congratulate him more privately. After a long game of dodgeball, (Y/n) took a quick shower to wash off all the sweat. He entered the boy's bath room alone but halfway through (Y/n)'s shower, he got company. The water ran down (Y/n)'s head so since his eyes were shut, he was oblivious to the person who dared to peek into his stall.
A towel went around (Y/n)'s head as a pair of hands grabbed (Y/n) while he was still in the shower and pried him out of the stall, carrying him by his arms and legs into the corridor for people to see. The amount of noise made drew out many people from their dorms to investigate the source of the disturbance. (Y/n)'s erratic wriggling and squirming eventually removed the towel from his head, but as soon as he did, he immediately wished he'd kept it on.
People around (Y/n) laughed at his expense; the raucous thrill of his indecent exposure as well as their recording one of the worst moments in his life. (Y/n) looked around at the faces smiling down at him when he jumped up to his feet. He hugged the towel around his waist and made a run for his room by slipping through the students huddled so closely together it was difficult to get through.
Horrified by what occurred, (Y/n) struggled to get over the humiliation. Now he finally understood what Kate had gone through over her controversial video. He sat on his bed, curled up in a ball when he heard his door click open. His heart dropped in his chest when he realised that his girlfriend had come to visit and console him. The sight of her boyfriend broke Kate's heart to see him so vulnerable and weak where she sat with him on his bed and cuddled.
"Oh sweetie. Wanna talk about it?" Kate cooed sadly.
"Is this what it was like for you? To go through all of this torment because people decided to take advantage of you in your time of need and make your life a living hell? Why me, Kate?" He responded dishearteningly.
"Listen. I want you to know that whatever happens, I got your back - I'm not just returning the favour for what you did for me, but it's also because I love you, (Y/n)."
Her words of encouragement barely lifted his spirits as (Y/n) thought all too heavily about the trouble that would now come his way for being exposed; quite literally in the sense. While he knew what happened to him wasn't as major as to what happened to Kate, but the pain still him very similarly.
"My life's going to be a living hell now. Every time people look at me, they're going to make fun of my size. Do you know what that's like?!"
Hearing the pain in his voice shattered her heart; even more so to see somebody she saw as brave and courageous as he so broken over something he most likely didn't do wrong. And now the whole of Arcadia would find out about his indecent video. Only then did the thought occur to him.
"What will Kate's parents think of me now? What about my parents? Now the whole world will be on my case and I'll never get this luxury of freedom again. I'll be a complete laughing stock to the school and the acting industry - my parents will never look at me the same way again. They'll probably disown me!" (Y/n) thought to himself, thus causing his fears to escalate.
Kate noticed his silence and withdrawn focus from her, which lead her to believe that (Y/n) was struggling to cope with his life. She knew ew it all too well - so well that she could even read him like an open book. The moment of struggle brought Kate back to her own depression from her getting drugged and controversially making out with several boys. However, it didn't affect her as much as it did before.
"I understand what you're feeling, but you've got to be brave. Things are going to be difficult. Just ignore everything people say about you. You can't let it get to you." Kate said supportively.
"You're right. You're absolutely right. Can I... could you maybe..."
"Cuddles?"
He frowned with a pout and nodded his head where he laid down on the bed and snuggled up against his girlfriend who let him snuggle his face into her chest wo that he was comfortable with the position they were in. (Y/n) felt total security being with Kate, knowing that through her love, all his worries were gone. The sudden chill (Y/n) felt was due to a lack of clothing. When he realised this, he decided to change into something more comfortable.
Kate watched him adoringly for the man he was and how much she loved him for his personality and his upbeat attitude towards things. But seeing him struggle to cope with life pained her to imagine him taking his own life as an extreme as she too thought about it herself until (Y/n) came along and showed her the bright side of life. Now was her chance to return the favour. The pair fell into slumber shortly thereafter.
After some time, the sound of a stomach growling awoke (Y/n) to the desire of eating some food. Kate noticed this and volunteered to retrieve some for him whilst he remained hidden in his room. Kate took her time retrieving some food for (Y/n) to eat. On her way back from the cafeteria, she stumbled into Max Caulfield whom she could tell was still having a difficult time getting over Chloe's funeral last Wednesday.
"Oh. Hi Kate." Max greeted with a gentle, sweet voice.
Kate waved back. "Hi Max. How are you?"
"I'm alright. Honestly feeling a lot better, actually, now that I've finally come to terms with Chloe's death. I just miss her so much. I feel so much guilt: for abandoning her after her father's funeral, going to Seattle, and coming back in time to find out she got murdered by Nathan Prescott. It's all happening so fast, but I'm glad things are starting to slow down for me again."
"Aw. I hope things are turning out better for you now."
"Yeah. They are. Thanks Kate. Hey, how are things with (Y/n)? I heard he won a dodgeball game earlier from Warren. He was very enthusiastic about how clutch Esteban's team came."
"He's... recovering. I just hope he can make a father recovery than I did."
Max furrowed her brows together in confusion over what Kate said. The brunette was currently unaware of what occurred only an hour and a half ago, so she had no clue what else was going on due to her inactivity in class and outside of her dorm and on social media.
"How do you mean?" Max asked curiously.
"Oh, you didn't hear? (Y/n)... he, uhh... s-something happened in the boy's bathroom. I don't know what exactly happened, but all I saw was my (Y/n/n) being the newest laughing stock of the school in the dorm corridor, just completely naked. I have no clue what happened but I'm really worried about him, Max."
Comfortingly, Max put her hand on Kate's shoulder and gently squeezed.
"Will he still be able to attend the play? If he can't vouch, then... I don't know what we'll do."
"I don't know, Max. I'll see."
"See you tomorrow, Kate."
"Bye, Max."
The two girls parted ways, Kate on her way back to (Y/n)'s dorm while Max took a detour to the library before heading to her dorm. For the rest of the day, Kate spent the night in (Y/n)'s room, comforting him over his embarrassing moment earlier that afternoon. (Y/n) felt so terrified to leave his room that he even refused to leave just to brush his teeth. One thing for certain was that (Y/n) wouldn't dare drop his guard again.