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It's been a few weeks since Gyuvin and Ricky's reconciliation in the kitchen of their dorm, and things, for the most part, have been moving as usual. In some ways, even faster.
Basketball practice had gotten more frequent. They were set to meet four times a week for the remaining two weeks they had til the big day; Hao was sure that this would help both the team and The Gyuricky Theory.
So, there they were—basketball practice had been running for some time, and they were now on their fourth practice of the first week. They just had to get through the next four practices next week, then the big day, and finally it'd be winter break! Gyuvin couldn't wait.
He was particularly excited to be practicing today because he had binge-watched a bunch of this random basketball champion's YouTube tutorials the other night. He studied his movements, even getting up a few times to copy them. He was sure that he'd be able to throw the basketball today! Maybe one day he'd be able to land it in the hoop!
Ricky thought someone had to tell the Bambi that 'one day' had to be Monday or they would lose the tournament, but he wouldn't be the one to ruin his mood. He enjoyed seeing the other so upbeat about practice when he was usually self-conscious and hiding in the cor— wait, what?
Okay... Anyway... Yeah, Ricky, there's no moving on from that.
Ricky wouldn't lie and say that he didn't feel at least a little bit more interested in Gyuvin over the last few days. He'd taken Hanbin's words into serious consideration and, after watching some of the meditation videos that Gyuvin had left in the watch later folder on their TV, he'd decided to help the latter. He needed it anyway.
But that's all! There was nothing more to it; just two up-and-coming buddies helping each other out like all buddies do. Right?
... Right!
Returning to the practice session and not Ricky's off-brand version of hell for a mind... Hanbin was watching over the team, occasionally joining in and giving some tips for Gunwook who seemed to be pursuing his passion of becoming Red from Angry Birds (he kept zooming for the hoop instead of throwing the ball at it). Gyuvin was concerned for him, but Jiwoong was laughing at him.
"Gunwook-ah..." Hanbin sighed, trying to contain his impatience under a mask of everlasting understanding. "You have to throw the ball... Not yourself..." he reiterated what he'd been trying to say for the past 10 minutes more gradually, hoping that the words would get through to the younger boy that way.
"Uh-huh... and that's what I'm doing, hyung!" Gunwook tried reasoning with the elder boy, demonstrating his struggles physically by flapping his arms like a bird. Hanbin was close to retiring and living his life under the pseudonym Haneul. Wink wink.
Ricky watched the interaction unfolding from the sidelines. He had just returned from getting Gyuvin knee pads because he was afraid that he would damage the Bambi Benders. He was starting to look forward to the silly titles the younger gave his body parts. He did not want to know what he called his... friend... though...
Anyway! He had to butt in.
"Gosh, Gunwook, you're turning into Gyuvin 2.0." Ricky snorted, acting like the male in question wasn't standing right next to him, in earshot, completely capable of hearing the slander.
"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Now, Gyuvin could try arguing with anyone in that room about his basketball skills, and no matter how much they loved or hated him, he would walk out defeated. His skills were so bad that even his mother had to give him a reality check! ("Honey, I think you have to invest in professional training..." "Mommmm!")
"You are, but I'll be the judge of that later today." Ricky hinted at his little plan. He was quite excited to see how well Gyuvin played under pressure. He was also excited to see if his training would make Gyuvin any better. He'd be able to prove his leading capabilities to Hanbin that way. The guy's getting old, a replacement is much needed.
"Huh?" Gyuvin voiced, snapping his head up to look Ricky in the eye. He gave him a mildly confused look before asking the obvious; "What does that mean?"
"I'm helping you after practice today." Ricky decided to reveal his plan, hoping that Gyuvin had no plans after school. That would totally mess up his scheme, even if it wasn't particularly evil. "You know, you need it," he added in hopes of persuading the younger to stay back.
"What? Says who?" Gyuvin asked vaguely, leaving Ricky a bit stumped. Was he asking who said that Ricky was going to help him, or who said that he needed the help at all? The answer to the second one is quite widespread...
Ricky shook his head and chose to reply either way. Something vague would do.
"Says me." He responded briefly, causing Gyuvin to roll his eyes at the obvious and expected answer. "You gonna accept it or not, Bambi?"
🏀
"Bye Gyuvin! Bye, Ricky!" Gunwook waved goodbye to the two who had yet to pack up their stuff and leave practice. If it wasn't obvious, Gyuvin had accepted Ricky's offer. Ricky knew he was trying to hide it, but Gyuvin was extremely optimistic about the fact that Ricky wanted to help him out in the first place.
"Bye Wookie!" Gyuvin exclaimed, catching Ricky off guard with the use of a nickname. He wouldn't lie and say he didn't feel at least a small shift in his emotions. Okay... What's there to be mad about?
"Do you have nicknames for everyone?" he chose to ask, trying to somehow validate his emotions and eliminate them all in one. When Gyuvin didn't respond (Ricky thought he was taking time to make up one for him), Ricky felt the urge to resonate his feelings.
"I guess you wouldn't have one for me, right?" He tried joking around to hide the offense he felt at the delayed response.
"No, no! I do! I just didn't want to use it because I thought you hated me and wanted me to fall into a small pit and never escape and... die..." Gyuvin trailed off as he recognized the mortified look on Ricky's face.
Damn. I know I'm scary, but I didn't know I was that scary!
"I made you think that?" Ricky questioned, genuinely concerned and scared. Maybe yelling at him that day did more than Hanbin had said... Or more than he had even realized...
"Well, you apologized! So not anymore, unless you do something worse..." Gyuvin gave him a threatening look, or at least tried to because it came out more cute than— Okay...
"That doesn't necessarily mean I should be forgiven..." Ricky mumbled, suddenly feeling extremely guilty. He never felt remorse for the people he had wronged in life (mostly because he had done it for good reasons) but this was different. This was Kim Gyuvin. The Bambi. His roommate!
"Don't worry, you're too good-looking for me to not— Woah!" Gyuvin covered his mouth at Godspeed, begging, praying, hoping that the good-looking man in question didn't catch what he'd said. With the way Ricky eyed him with a mixture of suspicion and shock, he thought it was safe to say that he very much did hear him.
"I didn't hear that right, did I?" Ricky thought denial would help him in that situation. He did not hear that right. He didn't hear it right... didn't hear it right... didn't—
"Yeah! Totally! I didn't say anything, haha..." Gyuvin stumbled a bit whilst trying to move away from Ricky. They were standing around the benches on the sidelines for now, trying to catch their breath after a strenuous practice session. Hanbin showed no mercy!
"I'll trust you for now," Ricky muttered, realizing how much time they'd spent just standing. "We should get started now, right?" he started, moving to grab a ball without waiting for a response from the other male.
Gyuvin hummed enthusiastically in response, following Ricky with a pep in his step. He was ready to get his basketball skills going for the first time in his life!
"Okay... Let's just start with something basic like, I don't know, finding the right spot to stand." Ricky thought for a while, switching his mindset from that of a Center to that of a Small Forward player. "Right, so, since you're a small forward, you should be on the baselines. Near the wings, ideally." he led Gyuvin to where he was supposed to stand and helped him face the correct direction as well.
"This is kind of an awkward position, no?" Gyuvin asked, tilting his head as he held the basketball up towards the hoop which was almost directly in front of him if not for his distance from it. "What's my job as a small forward anyway?" Ricky was glad he'd asked that question because the boy really had to know.
"You do a little bit of everything. You can score for our team or you can defend us from the opposing team. You can also create open lanes so that our team's offense, which is usually Hanbin-hyung, can shoot the ball with greater advantage. You're also eligible for rebounds," Ricky pulled up his Wikipedia definition of the position, hitting every point there was and explaining in full detail (except for rebounds, which he was sure would ruin Gyuvin's last two brain cells for life) for the younger.
"Ooh..." Gyuvin nodded his head at the information, seeming happy with his position. "What does opening lanes do, exactly?" Ricky was glad the younger was asking so many questions—it reassured the doubt that he'd only joined for shits and giggles.
"In all simplicity, it gives the shooter at the second enough time to score in the hoop without the opposing team being nearby. That basically gives us a higher opportunity to shoot successfully." Ricky looked out to the court, using his hands to demonstrate how the game would go if Gyuvin were to open lanes.
"That's so simple..." Gyuvin whispered, appearing to get ahold of the game much faster than Ricky had anticipated. "Why'd I think I would dread this moment?" he questioned himself, looking down at the ball in his hand while contemplating his doubts.
"Well, it sounds easy, but it might be stressful on the court. It's one of those spur-of-the-moment things, really. You could be able to do it or you could not." Ricky didn't want to ruin Gyuvin's confidence, but he had to set the reality of the game in stone for the up-and-coming player. He couldn't have him going on the court and messing up... again...
"You'll teach me everything though, right?" Gyuvin looked at Ricky expectantly, a goofy smile on his face which told Ricky all there was to be said; 'You better teach me! Or I'll put these sharp, filed claws to use!' is a rough translation. He dabbled in the Bambi Bocabulary [sic].
"Yeah, yeah." Ricky dismissed the face, grabbing the ball from Gyuvin's hands. Like every cheesy K-drama out there, their hands brushed, but because they weren't Na Heedo and Baek Yijin, they paid no mind to the short contact. "Need me to show you how to shoot again?" he asked soon after, not in position just yet.
"Yeah! I tried to watch videos about it on YouTube but I'm still confused—I mean, what's considered a long or close shot?" Gyuvin approached Ricky, leading him to the center of the court where the Chinese male usually resided during their lessons.
"Don't worry, you'll learn that soon. Hanbin-hyung's great at explaining in detail." Though Gyuvin wanted Ricky to teach him everything there was to know about basketball right there and then, he understood that maybe having someone with more experience would be better. The Bambi nodded at Ricky's words after some consideration and stood directly next to him, waiting for further instruction on what to do.
"I kinda forgot everything you taught me since the last time you showed me I... gave you a very bad smack in the face..." Gyuvin looked ashamed of his actions, to which Ricky almost let out a chuckle. Ricky was sure that he had something wrong with him cognitively because he could clearly remember seeing red (literally, there was a lot of blood) when he'd gotten bashed in the face with a basketball. Now it was just funny, and Gyuvin looked cute talking about it.
Huh?
Anyway,
Ricky eventually laughed it off, dismissing Gyuvin's guilt with a wave of his hand; 'It's whatever,' he'd told him, 'I'd be angrier if you had broken my nose.'
Gyuvin ended up laughing himself, though hesitantly as he wasn't sure if he was allowed to. Ricky noticed his reluctance and decided that he'd better start teaching, well, reteaching Gyuvin how to shoot the ball.
"Not sure if you remember the stance, but make sure that your legs are spread shoulder-width apart and bent to a degree where you're stable enough to shoot upward," Ricky spoke as though he were reading off of a script, professionalism sprouting through his instructions. Gyuvin nodded confidently, following his words to the best of his ability.
"Like this, right?" Gyuvin asked after a few seconds, looking a bit awkward since he didn't have a basketball in his hands. Ricky glanced over at him and gave him the ball, moving in front of the Bambi to check if he was positioned properly.
"Your legs aren't shoulder-width apart," he commented, squinting his eyes as if that would help him identify any more flaws within Gyuvin's technique. Gyuvin pursed his lips and widened his stance further, going beyond where his shoulders were. "Woah, don't get so confident. Your shoulders aren't that broad." Ricky chuckled, walking directly in front of Gyuvin so he could manually position him.
"It's not my fault I don't look in a mirror every second of the day!" Gyuvin whined, trying to hurt Ricky's ego to test just how far he could go before they had a repeat of December 8th. Ricky scoffed at his words, sparing the younger not even a glance.
Ricky pushed Gyuvin's shoulders back so he wasn't as hunched over, already seeing an improvement in his posture just from that. He estimated where "shoulder width" would be for Gyuvin and crouched down, measuring the distance between Gyuvin's two feet with just his eyes.
"Move your feet just a bit inward," he instructed, his eyes still squinted as Gyuvin shuffled his feet closer to one another. "Okay," Ricky nodded, standing back up whilst looking down so he could assess the difference between Gyuvin's shoulders and his feet.
Gyuvin also looked down, trying to record the position he was in with his mind so he wouldn't have to deal with all this refurbishing during actual practice. He brought his head back up soon after, tuning out whatever nonsense Ricky was yapping about. He zoned out as he realized the proximity of him and the blonde, literal inches.
"...You just have to estimate how far apart your shoulders are and translate that into your stance. And make sure your hands aren't too far down, maybe around the middle of your torso is..." Ricky looked up amid his lecture only to find the Bambi giving him the most insane doe-eyed look ever. "...okay..." he finished his sentence, albeit hesitantly, as he absorbed the sight in front of him.
Inches, possibly even centimeters in front of him, his roommate, his teammate, the Bambi; Kim Gyuvin.
Holy shit.