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Thud
All heads turned toward the team captain who just slammed his hand flat on a locker.
Distraught faces atop red basketball jerseys glued their gazes on him. He smiled. They looked at each other, confused.
" Listen guys," Keith called loudly, standing at the door and his body assertively composed, " I know I haven't been the perfect team captain, or the perfect classmate to some, but I want you to know that I'm proud of the progress we made. We're a great team and I believe we can win tonight, if we work together. I'm sorry if it took so long to say. But let's not dwell on the past, or think of the future. Right now, we got butts to kick."
The locker room fell so silent they could hear a pin drop; it wasn't every day they heard their captain giving a pep talk. Shortly after, somebody roared in excitement and the rest followed.
Lance clapped, approving of Keith's decision to be supportive at such a time. He even offered him a smile which the boy returned, only making his inevitable following actions harder.
" Team!" Shiro's voice blared from the hall outside, ushering them to join him before the game started. Their stomachs twisted and their heartbeats raced, but there was an unseen communication between them- good vibes that resonated from one player to the other- as they walked out to join the assistant coach.
" Keith." Lance called out in a low voice.
" Yeah? Something wrong?" The boy asked, ceasing his movement and turning back to his teammate.
" Before we go out there, I wanna tell you something."
Keith stared at him, his brow arching upward, and when he didn't speak, he decided to speed up the pace of the conversation.
" Well? Tell me."
" I wanna apologize for a lot of things..." Lance said so quietly that Keith had to walk closer to hear him. " Starting with the fight up until the lunch incident, I may have stepped over your personal boundaries or something... And the notes. Those were mean, but I'll have you know I just wrote the loner one."
Music echoed from the gym, mixing with people chatter and the voice of a student commenter over the microphone. Keith appreciated the apology, but something was rushed in the whole situation, it felt off to be having a moment that required special attention- especially for the two of them- while they should be warming up with the others.
" I guess I'm also sorry for tonight." Lance admitted, slowly moving to stand on Keith's other side.
The team captain smirked.
" A little competition to see who scores the winning goal, huh?"
The brunet had walked to the door as Keith spoke, and held onto the knob.
" Something like that." He smiled, although it looked guilty and it was slowly disappearing behind the blue colored wood.
" Wait! Lance, no!"
Seeing Keith's face distort in realization, he shut the door and locked it twice.
The boy got to the door too late. He held the door knob and twisted, he slammed his fists on the wood, he kicked, he pleaded. He wasn't even sure Lance was still on the other side. His screaming was drowned by the sounds from outside.
" Please, please don't do this." He said, recollecting his calmness. " I care about this game as much as you do."
No answer, not even movements from the other side of that blue door.
He threw a tantrum at the door again.
Lance went to rejoin the team, they were almost done with warm ups.
" Where's Keith?" Shiro asked him, nervous as he held his whistle.
" He wanted to be alone. He went that way." The blue eyed boy pointed in the opposite direction of the locker room.
" That's all he said?!" The assistant coach panicked, though tried to stay composed.
" No, he also said good luck tonight."
The bulky guy ran a hand along his face, shaking his head. He glanced toward the hallway Keith supposedly went from, but then he looked at his team. Teenage boys with unbroken dreams, waiting on him for the next step they should take. He didn't want them to end up like him, with shattered ambitions and having to stand on the side watching other people play.
" Doesn't matter. Every one of us is capable of so much. We're here to win tonight! This is our home! Our field! Let's show them that the Garrison Team is not to be messed with!"
The team cheered for the second time, this time even louder. They loved Shiro and respected him to an unimaginable extent. They take his every word seriously. When he says they can win, they believe they will.
Lance held his arm, standing a little on the side. The student commenter was introducing the teams, it was time to go out there.
" Hey Shiro!"
What.
The assistant coach turned to see Roland, with Natalie on his side.
" If you're missing a player, you know I got skills. I know basketball tryouts aren't for another month, but I can play tonight and show you I deserve to be part of the team when we win." Roland, with his blond hair, blue eyes and unrejectable charm, smirked.
Lance felt sick to the stomach. Natalie locked gazes with him, seeming as deadly and charming as ever, like she was daring him to tell the truth and promising him something he'd very much enjoy, at once.
This was a mistake. I was never going to be the one to score the winning goal, it will be Roland.
He knew he'd fight him for that goal. He could already see the game happen in his head. It was all his fault. Everyone will think Keith bailed on them, they will welcome Roland with open arms.
" I'm sorry, Roland. I'm sure you failed the last tryouts for a reason. The coach knows better. Besides, we have a few bench players, they will be glad to have a chance to play tonight."
" My cousin deserves this, Shiro. Can't you make this little thing happen? For me?" Natalie asked seductively, her hand on his shoulder.
Cousin?
Lance understood her act now. He was glad to see Shiro take a step back and decline the offer once again.
The team walked into the basketball court and the crowd cheered. Shiro followed, being fed up with Natalie's attempts to convince him.
Lance ran. He ran like his life depended on it, toward the locker room.
" Don't you dare!" Roland roared from behind him, wrapping his arms around his torso and pulling him away from the golden doorknob.
" Lance, it's too late to do this. Let it go!" Natalie yelled, not engaging in the physical violence happening.
Lance, not able to see his opponent, elbowed him in the stomach so he'd let him go. Turning around, he grabbed Roland and pushed him down on the ground.
He fumbled with the keys that were already in the door, turning them once before Natalie pulled them out abruptly.
" Give me that!" He yelled at her, she laughed.
" Lance, you're so gullible, I swear. I mean, you're hot but you're not all there when it comes to pretty girls. It was so fun messing with you, but right now, I'm gonna need you to get out there and pretend you know nothing." She sounded less seductive, less charming, almost threatening.
Still, Lance reached for the keys. She shrieked and clawed at his hands with her perfectly manicured nails. By the time the boy almost had the key in his grip, he was pinned against the wood and held by the collar of his jersey. The key stared back at him from the floor.
" Two years, two tryouts failed. What's their excuse for not taking me in? That I'm unstable, that I don't have a team spirit. Can you believe that? Talk about discrimination, you know who else is unstable and doesn't have a team spirit?" Roland gritted his teeth, slamming Lance hard on the door, emptying his anger on him.
" You know... nothing about ... Keith." The basketball player struggled to talk properly.
" But no! Shiro wants Keith on the team! He gets accepted. He becomes team captain! And people like me and you watch from the background, listening to our fathers talk about their own high school teams and urging us to get a basketball scholarship!"
Lies. I'm not in the background. You won't get in my head.
Natalie caressed the attacker's arm, whispering a small it's okay in his ear.
With his collar almost suffocating him, Lance couldn't speak. But oh, did he regret getting himself in this mess. Roland's actions were clearly a result of family pressure and insecurities, he himself knew about those enough to understand the results. Heck, his actions toward Keith were a result of insecurities.
Now, look at him. Held back by a couple of jealous people, barely breathing and he's going to miss the game that already started, he could hear it.
I'm so sorry, Shiro.
I'm sorry Keith.
What's going to happen now?
In the midst of his thoughts, he suddenly fell to the floor. He gasped for air as the sounds and the scene around him unveiled.
Keith was fighting off Roland, every push more powerful. He sent him rolling on the ground with a punch in the stomach. His body thrust forward toward Natalie, showing her that he wasn't afraid to hit her either. She ran backwards, helping her cousin up.
Keith's fists clenched seeing the two cowards turn the corner and vanish in the hallways.
The boy on the floor looked up at the outstretched hand waiting to help him.
He gladly took it and was pulled to stand. It was ironic how many times they were forced to touch hands but now they do it willingly.
He kind of missed the contact, since their detention ended the day Keith had a panic attack; apparently Shiro requested so from the principle and she quickly agreed.
" How did you... get out?"
Keith stared at him blankly. Only now did Lance notice how wet the shorter boy was.
" There's a small window. I crawled outside."
He ruffled his own hair to stop it from sticking to his forehead. " And it's raining ..." He smiled lightly, maybe amused at himself, but boy did Lance like his smile.
" I'm sorry." The taller one said, but was quickly interrupted by a hand in his face.
" Shut up. We'll talk about it later, we got a game to be at." Keith smiled again, and lance's stomach twisted.
" Yeah, you're right. Let's go." He grabbed his arm and pulled him to the gym.
Their eyes immediately darted up to check the result.
Home: 7 Visitor: 5
Bliss. Relief. The game was on fire and their teammates held the lighter.
The two guys looked at each other and laughed aloud, engulfing each other in a hug.
Keith was the first to pull back, realizing what just happened. They chuckled awkwardly before joining Shiro who stood on the side of the court yelling things to the team.
The crowd cheered from the bleachers behind them, some calling their names, for they were the supposed star players everyone loved: the talented team captain and his agile teammate who some people easily confuse as the team captain.
Lance waved back at his family who were excited as ever at his presence, his siblings making faces at him.
" You two, I'm not even going to ask what happened, but is everything okay now? Cause I need you to play in the second half."
The two looked at each other, then back at the bulky guy.
" Oh, everything's more than okay now," Lance beamed, finally sensing that something did improve between them.
" Mhmm, more than okay." Keith said at the same time.
Shiro let out an awkward okay, clearly knowing he's in the dark but insisting that he won't ask about it.
Nobody ever understood the relation between these two anyway.
Author's note
Hi again, people!
This chapter is almost 2k words, I feel accomplished lol.
This was written in the comfort of my bed while the droplets of rain tapped on my window. Pure bliss.
Chapter dedicated to GhostQueen27 because she added this story to her reading list "books I have yet to read" and I thought why not grab her attention to the book and maybe she'll start reading now and share the feels with us.
Did it work? Lol
So what did you think guys?
Please VOTE if you liked it, just a click awayyy
More of Klance coming at ya soon.
Next chapter will be After the game ;)