Chapter Text
Kel’s head buzzed with an excitement that he had waited with great anticipation to feel, and he knew when it ended he would spend the rest of his time dreaming, longing, about the feeling until he could feel it again.
The squeaking of shoes against the glossy sweat covered ground, the pounding of heart against chest, the screaming of friends, fans, and foes alike, this was the stuff that Kel lived for.
The energy that always felt so huddled inside that it made him want to throw up, this is where he could put it to use. All of this added to the thrill that his beloved game provided.
Basketball. Kel’s true love, the thing that he had spent hours upon hours mastering the art of. His passion for it overflowing into everything he did, no matter what he did basketball was always at the heart of it. Because it was his and his alone and he was the champion of it.
As the timer slowly counted down the final seconds in the game and the teams were tied, Kel could feel that energy pulsating inside of him, pushing him all around, ready to explode. He knew from experience that this feeling could only aid his performance. The adrenaline it provided helped push him along even when it felt like his body might give out at any second.
The whole game had been a back and forth between the two teams, whenever one would begin to pull slightly ahead the other would quickly put it back in its place, it had been one of the hardest games that Kel’s team had played all season. Even the ones they had lost hadn’t felt as strenuous as this one had.
Others might have faltered at the challenge that this provided, but Kel was never one to shy away from a good competition, if anything it only made him love this game even more.
Kel grounded himself back into the game, keeping his mind sharp, he couldn’t afford to miss anything that was happening on court.
From the corner of his eye he saw Avery duck away from an opposing team member, then the twist of his shoes against the smooth hardwood, positioning himself directly across from Kel.
They made eye contact. The corner of Kel’s mouth quirked upwards as he felt the weight of the ball push against him as he caught it. And then time stopped. The crowd, the gentle hum of the air conditioner, the heavy breaths of the other players all faded away until all Kel could hear was the high pitched, yet quiet whine that seemed a constant in intense moments of concentration.
In these moments there was just him, the ball, and the basket. THese were what mattered. They were the only things that mattered.
He made his shot.
And then time all came rushing back in one huge wave.
Milliseconds after the ball graced the basket’s net with its soft touch the final buzzer sounds and then Kel is surrounded by people, all cheering and clapping his back and yelling playful insults. He's lifted from the ground like a bird in flight and he can see everything, the court, the players, the absolute madness of the crowd, and he knows then, as he’s always known, that there can’t possibly be anything better than this.
“...And then Avery dodged that guy and looked at me and I was like, this is it! This is my time! And then everything got super slow and it felt like it was just me and the ball and I was kinda freaking out, you know? Like what if I didn’t make it?! But then I just went for it and BAM! I made it!” Kel hopped around recreating the moment by motioning the throwing of the ball.
“Yeah yeah we get it, you’re super cool now.” Aubrey rolled her eyes, but made no attempt to hide the smile that was plastered on her face.
Ever since they had rekindled their old friendship Aubrey had attended every single one of Kel’s basketball games. That had been back when they started junior year, and now they were seniors. Although he would never tell her, Kel deeply appreciated the dedication Aubrey had to supporting him in his basketball endeavours.
“Seriously though, dude, it was totally a cool shot.” Kim popped one of the skittles that she bought from the concession stand that one of the team members’ moms had set up into her mouth. Although she and Kel had never been close, or even what one might describe as friends, Kim had attended almost as many of his games as Aubrey had. Although Kel had a sneaking suspicion that she only came to get her candy fix.
“Well at least someone here appreciates me.” Kel said, throwing an exaggerated glare towards Aubrey.
“I’ll appreciate you with my fist, jackass.” Aubrey shook her clenched hand at him, making Kel laugh. Aubrey could always make Kel laugh, it was one of the things he loved about her, she had this brutal sadist sense of humor without ever going too far.
Aubrey stared at him for a quiet moment before saying, “But seriously, Kel, you really are an amazing basketball player, you’ve worked so hard for this.”
“Aw you going soft on me, Aubrey?” Kel teased, although he felt the tell tale signs of blush climbing up his cheeks.
“As if,” Aubrey said, and then with a small tuck of her bright pink hair she continued, “I mean it, though, Kel. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Aubrey.” Kel said a moment of awkward silence followed Aubrey’s passionate outburst, even though she had gotten better at it genuine compliments from Aubrey were still a rarity. After a few more seconds of quiet Kel decided he was done with the moment of seriousness and then lunged for one of Kim’s skittles, she quickly moved out of the way, blocking Kel’s hand from entering the colorful bag.
“Not today ball boy.” Kim stuck out her tongue and crunched down on another skittle.
Kel groaned “That nickname’s not gonna stick, is it?”
“That all depends on you, ball boy.” The sound of the three’s laughter echoed throughout the streets, their joyous attitudes pervading the darkness around them.
When Kel arrived at his house’s yard he waved goodbye to Kim and Aubrey. As they walked away Kel lingered in his yard a while longer watching as they walked away, knocking shoulders and whispering secrets and jokes to each other that Kel would never understand.
He knew that the two were close, but Kel had never fully understood how Kim had Aubrey’s relationship worked, he and Aubrey were best friends, they told each other all their insecurities and worries, there was no hesitation to tell the other something personal and everything just felt so easy between the two of them, but in some ways Kim seemed closer to Aubrey then Kel could ever be.
It wasn’t that he was jealous, Aubrey could be friends with whoever she liked, Kel just didn’t understand what made Kim’s relationship with Aubrey differ so much from his own.
Kel sighed, people were too complicated. All these feelings and emotions were so complex that he sometimes struggled to even understand his own. Just another reason to love the comforting simplicity of basketball.
Kel shivered as the winter chill in the air seemed to get even chillier, although he still felt hot and sweaty from the game so the weather actually felt quite good to him. As soon as Kel walked into his home an intense weight was thrusted against him, knocking him onto his butt. A wet tongue slopping all over Kel’s face followed swiftly after.
“Okay boy! Down! Down!” Kel laughed as his energetic dog, Hector, barked happily at his owner’s appearance.
“Silly doggy!” A voice giggled behind Hector reaching out to grab the large dog.
“Hey there, Sally, are you and Hector hanging out?” Kel’s little sister gave a nod, beaming. Pushing Hector off him, Kel got up, affectionately ruffling Sally’s hair as he walked past her. “Where are mom and dad?”
“Kitchen.” Sally intoned scratching behind Hector's ears with a placid look on her face.
“Cool, thanks!” Kel walked the halls of his house with a familiar affection, he’d been here his whole life, it was hard to imagine living anywhere else. But he would. If he wanted to become a professional basketball player he would have to leave the small town of Faraway, and that inevitable time was drawing ever closer as the end of his high school days loomed in the near future.
With it being the beginning of March not only were his high school days soon coming to a close, but even sooner the basketball season would be over. Of course Kel still practiced in the off season, but it just wasn’t the same as playing a real game.
Kel walked into the kitchen to find his mom cooking something in a pan, his dad’s arms wrapped lovingly around her waist. His mom’s head was tilted ever so slightly upwards so that she could look at her dad’s face.
To anyone else this would’ve been a sweet and intimate moment that they had walked in on, but since Kel was their son it wasn’t anything except gross, and he made sure they knew it.
Kel’s mom pouted at Kel’s gagging noise, but was benevolent enough to remove herself from her husband’s grasp.
“Welcome home, Kel!” His mom exclaimed, his dad gave him a brusque nod of the head, before exiting the kitchen and into the dining room, giving Kel’s mom a subtle kiss on the head.
A small silence ensued while Kel rummaged through the kitchen, pulling out a carton of milk and pouring himself a cup. After a quick sip of the milk Kel spoke up, “I got a buzzer beater today.”
“That’s good, sweetie.” Kel knew for a fact that his mom had no clue what that was, his grip on the glass cup tightened ever so slightly.
“Yeah it was pretty cool.” That was met by a brief smile from his mom before she turned back to her cooking. “Aubrey and Kim were there.”
“Oh really? How are they doing?”
“They’re good. Aubrey’s working on a really cool art piece, it's made out of a bunch of old letters from-”
Oh!” Kel’s mom stopped with a start, “that reminds me, a letter came by for you today from Sunny, the mailman said it got lost in the mail so it took longer than usual for it to…”
Kel was no longer listening. Sunny’s letters to him were few and far between, so getting them was a luxury that Kel always rejoiced at.
“... But he was very nice about it, a really sweet man-”
“Hey Mom?” Kel’s mom seemed startled by his sudden interruption, “Where would that letter be?”
“Oh,” she said “I put it on your bed, but Kel dinner’s almost-”
Before she could finish her sentence Kel was rushing up the stairs to his room. He slammed the door open, almost tripping on one of his many dirty clothes that were strewn about on the floor, and there it was. A small envelope with a dainty pink stamp sealed tightly to the back of it, a blatant contrast to the orange blanket that enveloped Kel’s bed.
Kel ripped the envelope open and began to read;
Dear Kel,
Sally sounds like she’s growing nicely, and it’s good to hear that you were able to get that rock out of Hector's nose. Congratulations on winning your basketball game, I’ve always hoped that I could see one someday since I never got to see you play when I lived in Faraway Town. I know that the end of your basketball season is coming soon so I’ve convinced my mom to let me come out for the week so I can see you play before you go off to college. I’ll be arriving on March 7th and leaving on the 13th. I’ve already sent a similar letter to Basil, but I hope you won’t mind telling Aubrey in person, I know that my letters to her often get lost, so I thought it might be easier to just ask you to tell her. See you soon,
Sunny.
Kel rushed over to the calendar on his wall and sure enough there was today’s date right there. March 6th, 2005. A day before the letter had stated Sunny would arrive. Damn that mailman who had lost his letter.
Kel slumped down against his bed. Sunny. Coming here. Tomorrow. Kel hadn’t seen Sunny since his confession about Mari two years prior. They had tried too, of course, but schedules didn’t match, and everyone was too busy, and ‘maybe next times’ were thrown about in almost every letter, at some point Kel wondered if both of them were subconsciously foiling their own plans to see each other.
It’s not that Kel was mad at Sunny, he really wasn't. Even when Sunny had first come clean Kel couldn’t bring himself to feel angry, putting himself in Sunny’s shoes, if he had accidently killed Hero, Kel doubted that he would react any more rationally to the situation than Sunny and Basil did.
Of course Kel saw Basil almost everyday, but there was something different about the idea of seeing Sunny, something that made Kel’s stomach turn whenever he thought about it.
But another part of him was ecstatic. He missed Sunny a lot, no matter how his subconscious felt about it, and letters were way different then talking face to face, being only a few inches away from someone instead of hundreds of miles apart. Being so close they could touch.
The idea was invigorating.
Kel wondered how it would feel to know that Sunny was watching him in the crowd of his basketball game, cheering for him while he scored the winning point, hugging him after he won. So many years of their friendship had already been wasted, now they finally had another chance at making memories together, at being the friends they used to be. Now that Sunny was free of his guilt and his pain and was open to the friendship that Kel so happily gifted out.
Sunny was giving him his shot, and Kel was not planning on wasting it.