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After hugging Neil, (god above did that boy sweat) Athena hung to the side as Kevin started the interview, his perfect press-ready smile shining in the cameras.
It still summoned tingles in her stomach, but less now that she’d been the receiver of a real Kevin Day smile. But she supposed she’d never be over him, the way she’d first seen him, posing confidently, racket in hand.
She smiled at his answer when he was asked about the Trojans, heaping effusive praise as usual.
“He’s going to leave me for Jeremy Knox one day.” She whispered to Matt, who snorted good-naturedly.
But then the interviewer asked about Edgar Allen. Athena tensed, smile fading. She appreciated Andrew and Neil at his side, and she was certain Neil could rip every reporter a new one if necessary.
But to her surprise and delight, Kevin stayed strong, looking almost unphased. Her heart squeezed at his bravery. Oh, he was going to change the subject and reveal his parentage, wasn’t he? But then her boyfriend spoke and her heart jumped into her throat.
“I don’t want to talk about the Ravens anymore.” He said, sure and suave, like it was all simple rivalry and not life or death stakes. She gasped, clutching her chest.
She almost thought his eyes found hers for a split second, but that would be stupid. He wouldn’t call attention to her during an interview. Her foolish heart warmed all the same.
“Ever since my mother died it’s been Ravens this and Ravens that.” She smiled widely.
He said it so matter of fact, so bored that it was almost funny. Next to her, Matt was gasping for air. She couldn’t tell whether he was horrified, shocked, amused, or all three.
“I am not a Raven anymore. I never will again. To be honest, I never should have been one in the first place.” She could feel the mood shift, at least among the foxes, pride swelling in their hearts.
It was amazing to see the superstar persona, talented and above it all Kevin Day merge with the genuine, honest, scared man she knew. Baring his truth to the world in a strong, steady voice, sure of himself in a way she was seeing more and more.
“I should have gone to Coach Wymack the day I found out he was my father and asked to start my freshman year at Palmetto State.” Okay, now she laughed. He was just so- she didn’t have the words. The reporters’ shock had reached a climax. There were tears in her eyes at the sea of aghast expressions, a few brave journalists fumbling for words.
“The day–” The main reporter stopped, then started again. “Did you just say Coach Wymack is your father?”
She sounded so dazed. This was obviously not how she expected her day to be going. Athena braced herself on her knees, almost wheezing. For Kevin’s sake, she tried to pull herself together. She wanted to remember every moment, every word of this momentous step forward.
“Yes, I did. I found out when I was in high school.” There was a faint hint of irritation in his voice only those closest to him could pick up. Kevin loathed repeating himself. But his tone gave way to pride, and her heart squeezed again. She was so proud of him.
But his face fell into shadow, and she knew they were entering the hard part.
“But I didn’t tell him because I thought I wanted to stay at Edgar Allan. Back then I thought the only way to become a champion was to be a Raven.” She could almost feel the tattoo stinging, the ink that marked him as Ravens’ property.
His voice gathered strength, and she could hear the slight strain in his voice, the self hatred running deep into his soul. She ached to touch him, to hold him, but was forced to watch him instead.
“I bought into their lies that they would make me the best player on the court. I shouldn't have believed it; I've been wearing this number long enough to know that wasn't what they wanted for me.”
He was so strong, so brave. Her hands were clenched together, knuckles white. He was more animated now, slightly louder. But in the silence, it felt like a shout reverberating across the masses, somewhere between a revolutionary’s speech and Rabbi’s derasha.
He continued on exposing the Ravens, trashing his former team. Except that wasn’t the right term. He wasn’t hurling insults, calling them bad at the sport, or anything as trivial as that. He was systematically pulling them apart with his words, with a ferocity and precision reminiscent of his essays.
Her heart swelled with the courage he had needed, the time and space he had allowed himself to recognize what had happened to him. But also the courage needed to pull yourself and fight for yourself, for what you had lost. She was tearing up again. She barely felt Matt’s light hand on her shoulder.
And then the piece de resistance. The mic drop to end all mic drops. The hottest thing anyone had said, ever.
“Did you know I’ve never been skiing? I’d like to try it one day, though.”
It was all a haze. The stunned reporters, Matt’s gasp, Neil swaying slightly on his feet, Andrew staring at Kevin like he had never seen the man before, it all registered somewhere far away, because all that mattered was getting closer to him.
Kevin was walking away, although he’d definitely seen her running towards him. He paused and turned around, looking past her at the stupid reporters. His gaze kept flicking back to her as he proclaimed one last piece of wisdom, of undeniable truth about the world.
“Tell the Ravens to be ready for us, will you? We’re already ready for them.”
And then the bastard tried to turn away dramatically, but like hell was she letting him. She nearly tackled him in a kiss, consequences be damned.
She only saw his shock, and then something else in his eyes before she had closed her own, falling into his lips. His arms wrapped around her lower back. She pulled away for air, quickly breathing out.
“That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”
He blessed her with that dorky, elated smile again, and she wanted to devour him. But she also did want a dramatic exit, so Athena gracefully allowed him to wrap an arm around her shoulders, holding her tight to him as they left the reporters in the dust.
She almost didn’t hear Neil and Andrew complaining behind her.
“Gross.” Neil murmured.
“Ew.” Andrew said in agreement.
“Can’t they keep it in their pants for five seconds?” Her bitch of a little brother muttered, the one constantly flirting, always in Andrew’s room.
……………………………………
By the time they approached the locker room, it was less a victory parade and more supporting the body weight of a shaking Kevin, encouraging him forward.
Athena took off his gloves and helmet, her fingers gently prying the gear off his shaky frame. She let her fingers glide over his hands and neck more than was truly necessary, trying to impart some small amount of calm onto him, trying to show her awe for him. It felt like none of it registered to him.
She abandoned the equipment to the floor.
He left her support and stumbled toward the sink. He fell onto the sink, forehead pressed against the mirror. His chest and back heaved with exhaustion, his whole body trembled violently. She hovered anxiously behind him.
His meltdown was setting all her nerves on edge, even worse was that she didn’t know how to help him.
At last, he spoke. This time, shaky yet certain, voice dripping with horror.
“We’re all going to die.” Like it was a fact. Like he got to decide that. Like he got to lose hope in the last moment, like got to regret the best thing that had ever happened.
Her clenched fists almost, almost trembled with rage, barely managing to reach inside her empathy and douse the flames of her fury.
“No, we’re not.” Neil corrected, just as sure and certain as Kevin had been before, stating another fact of the universe.
She watched Kevin’s face twitch as he processed that. Athena just hoped he could try to believe it.
He moved back, bracing himself on the ledge of the sink. His other hand went up to his face, covering the small but no less powerful ‘Ⅱ’. Hateful black lines disappeared behind his tanned skin, a rough look at how he would have looked without it. If he had never been a Raven.
She watched him watch himself in the mirror, a portion of her face and dark curls behind him. Like a sun in front of dark clouds. He trembled again.
He was scared, of course, just looking at a version of himself that was blasphemous to what he’d been taught. But there was pride too, in his face. And longing, she was sure. Her heart swelled with relief. It was okay, Kevin would make it. And that tattoo better count its days.
When she remembered how her brother had literally been counting his days just a short time ago, she couldn’t decide whether that made the thought funnier or not funny at all. At least it was revenge.
Kevin turned to his pet projects, telling them there was work to do, which was fine with her. She collapsed onto a bench, bracing herself on her knees.
After taking a breath, she remembered that she was in the men’s changing room and Kevin had left for the showers, so she followed her brother into the foyer. He was in the middle of recapping everything, counting it on his fingers. She smiled slightly. He’d always be her little brother.
“‘-called the Ravens out as two-faced assholes. Oh,” he looked up at Wymack. “And he said his injury wasn’t an accident. Not in so many words, but it won’t take long for them to realize what he meant.”
Dan gasped from beside Matt. Oh, Matt was here now. She had forgotten about him.
“He what?”
“Yeah.” Neil said, much less emotionally than Dan. “And they,” he pointed behind him at her, “made out with him after so now that’s a thing everyone will know about.”
“Hey!” She called. “At least everyone will be talking about his speech, his father and his amazingly hot girlfriend, which helps you out with your attention problem.” She pointed out. She was an amazing sister, helping to distract the news from her brother’s secret life.
Said brother looked unimpressed.
She stuck her tongue out at him. “You’re just jealous I have the hottest, bravest boyfriend ever,” she sighed. Everyone ignored her, which was fair enough.
“Great,” Wymack sighed, tone burdened with as much stress and exhaustion as ever. “He’s turning into another Josten. That’s just what I needed.” She was very glad he was joking, because otherwise she’d need to hurt him for insulting her boyfriend, especially when was the most hot and courageous he’d ever been.
“At least you can legally take out life insurance on one of them,” Nicky offered. Thank you, Nicky, for being positive about this. She was very grateful.
…………………………………………….
She waited in the lobby, lounging in a comfy chair as she waited for the rest of them to get ready. Wymack talked to them about the semi-finals, and for her it all went in one ear and out the other.
She still felt that excitement and pride in her chest, though she had never once doubted them. Finally, finally, after a crowded and uncomfortable drive home in Andrew’s car, it was just them.
On the sidewalk in front of the dorms, she wrapped her arms around him tightly. There was nothing better than the feeling of him sinking into her touch, finally relaxing. She held him for a long, long time.
……………………………………………….
The next day, she cut out an article and pinned it to Kevin’s bulletin board. The headline read, “KEVIN DAY STANDS UP, REVEALS THE TRUTH.” The picture beneath, in color as she was pleased to find, was them, faces barely an inch away, grinning widely at each other, like they’d already beat the Ravens, like they already had what mattered.