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When Yuki had first joined the team, Ja had been… ambivalent. He’d watched some of the Olympic games, watched how this 5’8 Japanese guy ran circles around much larger players, but he really didn’t know what to expect. Within a few practices, though, he’d managed to make a place for himself in everyone’s heart. He was funny , something no one had expected from his brief, almost shy introduction, and he loved hanging out with the team. That might’ve been because he didn’t know anyone else in the area, but regardless, he was always a fun presence when they hung out outside of practice.
He didn’t really know exactly how he and Yuki had gotten so close, but they were talking every day, even when there was no practice, they had their own handshake, and he even had a nickname for the other man.
Almost overnight, Yuki endeared himself to the fans as well, and they loved him. There were “we want Yuki” chants during games, tons of gifts for him, and people lining up to take pictures. It wasn’t only the fans, though, it was their team as well. Yuki and Jaren had their own handshake, he’d done a photoshoot with Zach where neither of them could stop laughing long enough to take proper photos, the whole team seemed to be obsessed with him. Ja wasn’t necessarily jealous , but there were some negative feelings about it. The quiet assurance that Ja would always be his favorite helped, but seeing him so close with not only his team, but also with other players still lit a pit of envy in his stomach.
It became even worse during the Lakers game. He’d had to come off the court early from a rough foul and watched Yuki’s first NBA points from the sidelines, rather than being in the game and being able to hug him. Watching the guys do everything he wanted to be able to do made him frustrated, and surprisingly, he felt genuinely upset. But being the good teammate he was, he swallowed his jealousy and cheered as loud as he could, making sure Yuki felt loved, pretending he didn’t feel jealous when Hachimura had his hands all over his national team captain during their jersey exchange.
The hip injury and subsequent forced him to do some self-reflection, and in that time, he managed to identify the mysterious, vaguely negative feeling as greed. He wanted all of Yuki’s time and attention, he didn’t want to share. Greed wasn’t something he was unfamiliar with, it’s almost impossible to make it to the NBA without being inherently greedy, but it had always been associated with the game, with the bright lights, never with a friend.
Every game Ja sat on the sidelines made him more impatient. He was fine, 100% feeling well enough to start and he voiced that, both to his team and to the media, but the answer was always the same. Wait . It was always wait, wait, wait, but he wanted to get back on the court. He itched for basketball, his skin was crawling with the sensation of watching but not playing. Of course, he’d experienced it before, but this time was so much worse. Not only did he not get to play, he didn’t get Yuki’s high fives, his encouragement, the handshakes and pictures on the court. They got to talk more on the bench, but it wasn’t the same.
After (hopefully) the final game he’d be forced to sit out, he opened Twitter and froze. Right at the top of his timeline were a couple pictures of Yuki and a fan. It would be nothing out of the ordinary if it wasn’t for the jersey he wore in the photo. It was a Ja Morant jersey, one size too big. Apparently the fan only had a Ja jersey but wanted Yuki to wear it for the picture or something. He didn’t really know, he hadn’t paid too much attention to the translated caption. His eyes were fixated on Yuki, smiling broadly while wearing his jersey.
“What are you looking at?” The question came from Jaren, the nosy little rat, and Ja quickly turned off his phone, but not before he saw.
“Oh, no way, man!” Jaren laughed loudly, attracting attention from the other members of the team. Thankfully Yuki wasn’t around, having some type of interview, but Ja didn’t really have the energy to be grateful for the small mercies as he buried his face in his hands and groaned. His weird possessiveness over Yuki was an open secret. Anyone with eyes could see how he did his best to monopolize the other man’s time, talking his ear off so he wouldn’t be distracted by the others.
Scotty trotted over and asked, “What’s up? Why are you laughing so hard?”
Ja muttered “Fuck off…” at the same time Jaren loudly replied “Guess what Ja was looking at?”
“Uh… porn?” came the bemused response.
Jaren cackled before managing to get out, “So much worse… Ja show him!”
“Fuck no, man! I’m not showing y’all shit!” Jaren dove for his phone and Scotty, now intrigued, helped hold him back until Jaren could grab the phone from his hand. The scuffle only served to grab more people’s attention, and when Jaren and Scotty finally emerged victorious, half the team had gathered around them, nosy about what was happening. Ja did his best to stop them from unlocking it, but eventually he gave in, knowing he was fighting a losing battle.
Jaren opened his phone and pulled up the picture, making sure to zoom in on Yuki before showing the team. Despite himself, Ja still felt a weird sense of pride at the picture, though it was diminished by the laugher and incredulous looks they were giving him.
“Oh my god, leave me alone…” he groaned, burying his face in his hands again. This had to be some type of workplace bullying. He could report them to HR for this. Was there even HR for the players? The teasing suddenly died down and he looked up to see that Yuki had entered the locker room. He looked confused, even more so that everyone had stopped talking once he came in.
“What? Did I do something?” he asked, the silence deafening.
Ja was quick to reassure him. “No, no, these guys were just being stupid, you’re good.” Jaren, for once choosing kindness, slipped Ja his phone and condescendingly patted him on the shoulder before moving back to his own locker.
“Oh, that’s good,” Yuki replied absentmindedly. “Hey, Ja, did you see that a fan asked me to wear your jersey for a photo earlier?” Every eye in the room snapped to the two of them at the same time, poorly-stifled laughter breaking the silence.
“Haha…” Ja laughed awkwardly, “Yeah, I did. Kinda weird, right? Sorry ‘bout that.”
Yuki looked surprised. “Why are you sorry? It’s funny, I could pretend to be you. It’s a parade inside my city, yeah!” His far-too-polite impression of Ja’s viral clip broke the tension in the locker room as everyone burst out laughing.
He sat down next to Ja and began unlacing his shoes. In a quieter voice, he said, “I’m serious, though. I liked it, it was nice.”
Ja swallowed hard. Yuki had no idea what he did to him.