Chapter Text
You’d think that the last year of high school would be the easiest. After 3 years, you’re probably already well established with friends, clubs, sports and whatever else you might want to be established in. And Kai was just that. Established. He was popular, the captain of the basketball team, had pretty decent grades, went to plenty of parties and on top of all of that he also had almost every girl in school swarming over him. His life was the closest thing to perfection that you could possibly imagine. Right up until HE came along.
Cole Brookstone A.K.A. Kai smith’s worst nightmare. Cole had joined just at the end of last year and Kai didn’t really think much of him (which is really just a nice way of saying he didn’t know he existed.) But FSM did he wish he had paid attention when Cole first came to the school. Maybe then he could have gotten a better read of him, but instead he’s sitting on the benches only half paying attention to what coach Wu is saying and desperately trying to figure out what this guy’s deal is.
He scored goal, after goal, after goal, after goal! And then when he was asked about it by another teammate he just brushed it off by saying “experience.” WHAT KIND OF EXPERIENCE DO YOU HAVE TO HAVE TO BE AT THAT LEVEL THOUGH?!?! OK calm down Kai, It’s not that big of a deal. He probably just got lucky, or maybe everyone was just playing nice without even realizing it because they wanted him to feel at home on his first day! Yeah, that was probably it, luck and niceness. After all there’s simply no way anyone could be better than THE Kai Smith at basketball. Well except for the professionals obviously but that doesn’t count because-
“Kai Smith, do you mind paying attention or are you just going to look at the new guy all day?” Kais’s thoughts were abruptly interrupted by their coach Wu who spoke to him in a sharp tone. Wu was the best of the best at basketball in his days but now he had reached an age where he could no longer play professionally so he settled for being a high school coach. In which he is also the best of the best.
“Sorry coach. Won’t happen again” Kai tried to play it cool but honestly, he was a bit embarrassed that he had been called out on staring, especially in such a way. Coach was great but he could be a bit harsh from time to time. But no matter that, he was just called out for staring in front of the entire team! Ugh Nya is never gonna let him live this down… AND NOW COLE KNOWS THAT HE WAS STARING AT HIM! So much for sitting in the back so no one would see him. It’s gonna be fine though after all Cole is just the new kid and Kai was curious about him. It wasn’t gonna hurt his image one bit! Probably.
“Good. Now that that’s settled everyone can go. I better see you all on your A game tomorrow, I’m looking at you Kai.” Well, that was embarrassing as hell. Whatever, tomorrow he won’t hold back unconsciously, and he'll once again prove why he's the captain. And everyone will cheer for him and they’ll bring him flowers and hold a parade, and all the girls will swarm around him and he'll be called the best basketball player to ever live and-
“Hello? Earth to kai! Are you sleepwalking or something?” His thoughts were, once again, interrupted. Can’t anyone in this school let a man be alone with his thoughts? Though to be fair last time it was a lot more embarrassing.
“No Nya I am not sleepwalking. Why would I be sleepwalking?” It came out a little ruder than intended but luckily it didn’t seem to affect the intended statement too much.
“Hell if I know but you’ve been distracted ever since practice. And since the all mighty kai could never get hung up on such a thing as someone scoring more goals than him, I just figured you were sleepwalking.” She made a point to make it sound fancy when she called him 'the all mighty Kai' and to sound completely neutral for the rest of the sentence.
“That’s the conclusion you came to? Not that I was simply just tired and didn’t want to talk? I’m hurt.” He tried to make it sound like he was hurt by her words while making it clear that he wasn’t and was just joking around.
“I have literally never heard you not talk about yourself for more than 5 minutes.” She replied quickly, almost like she planned that response.
“OK now that one was actually hurtful.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Anyway.” Kai said playfully. “Thank you for making me un-distracted, I might have walked into a wall or something if you hadn’t” It was a semi-desperate attempt at trying to change the subject from Kais side and he was hoping Nya would pick up on it and follow along. Luckily for him Nya knows him better than anyone, which could actually become a problem in the future, but that’s a problem for future Kai.
“Yeah, well I still need you to drive us home.” She said casually and quickly, once again like she planned it. Is that like a new thing she’s doing or something?
“So if I wasn’t the one to drive us home you would’ve just let me walk into a wall?”
“Oh absolutely. Next time you get like this I might just ask Jay if I can sleep over at his place since he lives so close.” Nya said it teasingly knowing damn well Kai is going to jump to conclusions and get protective of her like always. Kai is generally not fond of Nya sleeping over at guys places even though he himself has girls over all the time, so obviously Nya teases him whenever she can.
“You absolutely will not.” Kai says looking down at her. His tone isn’t necessarily harsh or angry well maybe just a little but not enough to genuinely sound mad. He knows that if Nya wants to sleep with someone, he can’t stop her and since he was sleeping with girls when he was 17, he can’t really be mad at her if she decides to do the same. But for the love of the FSM please don’t let it be Jay.
“I won’t as long as you don’t get extremely distracted again.” Nya says teasingly, more so than before.
“Well, now I just might if you keep annoying me about you and Ja-“ Kai was cut off for the third time today but this it wasn’t his thoughts and it wasn’t because someone talked to him. This time he bumped into someone. That’s what he gets for not looking where he’s walking in a hall full of high schoolers trying to get home.
“Oh sorry. Didn’t see you there.” Kai said in his usual apologetic yet smug tone he used if he landed in situations like this one. He wasn’t quite looking at who exactly he bumped into at first, but when he did, he got a shocked look on his face that he quickly replaced with his usual smug grin in hopes that no one noticed the switch.
“It’s fine, I should’ve been looking where I was walking too.” Cole replied quickly in a sweet tone with an even sweeter smile on his face. Luckily, he wasn’t carrying anything, so they got to avoid the awkward moment of trying to pick up his things at the same time. Kai really hates it when he accidentally stumbles into a Disney movie scenario so he’s happy he got to avoid it this time around.
“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow at practice!” Cole said and walked away. Kai wanted to see which way he was gonna go but that would require turning around and looking back at him, which is even more Disney than the previous thing and also extremely cringe.
“It might not have been a wall, but you did bump into something tall and sturdy, so I’ll take this as a win.” Nyas voice pulled him out of his thoughts and back to reality.
“Why would that be a win?” Kai asked genuinely curious but trying not to sound like it. Nya started walking again and Kai followed suit walking next to her.
“I predicted that you would bump into something while distracted and you did. That must mean that I can see the future or something like that.” Nya said jokingly while grinning a bit.
"You didn't predict that, I did!"
"Yeah, well I manifested it and that's close enough!"
"Close enough for a loser" Kai muttered to himself right before they reached the end of the hallway but before kai could manage to even as much as touch the door Nya opened it for him with her left arm and put her other arm over her stomach acting like she was a butler.
“Ladies first.” She said with a smug look on her face. “Thank you so much your highness.” Kai replied in a fancy-like tone and walked through the door.
Nya walked up next to him again after having to hold the door open for like 5 more people and they walked to the car in silence. The drive home was pretty much the same except for the faint sounds of the radio that neither of them were paying attention to. But the inside of Kais head was a whole other story. Despite his best efforts he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe Cole was some sort of prodigy that was going to get far beyond his level in basketball. He couldn’t let that happen. He’d just have to train more, push himself more. Nothing was going to stop him from being the best, especially not some new kid. Kai had to stop himself from thinking more about that though. He didn’t want to crash the car, so he tried his very best to focus the last 2 minutes of the drive, which surprisingly worked.
Once him and Nya were back inside their shared apartment Kai immediately went to his room and doomscrolled for about 2 hours before making himself dinner. He was in the middle of eating his sandwich and thinking about nothing in particular when Nya walked into the kitchen and started making her own dinner. It didn’t take her long to put together a sandwich that was similar to Kais and sit down at the same table he was sitting at.
“So, I know that you don’t want to talk about it but…. What happened at practice today?” Nya said in a careful tone. She knows that Kai is quick to avoid topics he doesn’t like so she’s always more cautious with topics like these.
“What’s there to talk about. The new kid’s just talented. That’s it.” Kai said and took a big bite out of his sandwich so that he could avoid talking for a little longer while he chewed.
“Yeah, there’s that and also you staring at him. Are you upset he scored more points than you or something?” She said curiously and took a bite out of her own sandwich. It was followed by a few seconds of silence as Kai and Nya chewed on their bites.
“Not at all. I was just analyzing him is all.” Kai says as he took the last bite of his sandwich. He finished chewing before Nya did, so he decided to take the opportunity to leave. He stood up and put his plate over on the counter. “Thank you for the concern but I don’t need it. I’m going to bed now.” Kai said and walked off quickly before Nya could start the conversation again.
He was tired and wanted nothing more than to sleep so he could be ready for practice the next day. He quickly went out to be bathroom to brush his teeth, not even bothering with the technique, and then went off to bed.
His room was dark and he didn’t feel like turning on the light, so he just hoped there was nothing on the floor and guessed his way over to his bed. He doesn’t quite remember when but a couple of years back he decided to sleep without pj’s and has just stuck with it since then. You’ll only catch him wearing some when it’s really cold but the rest of the time, he considers it a waste to wear perfectly clean clothes to bed. After throwing his clothes on a random spot on the floor he ploped down onto his bed and tried for a couple of minutes to get comfortable without success. Eventually he just lays on his back and stares at the ceiling in hopes he would get tired enough to fall asleep soon.
While he’s lying there, he starts to think about what happened today and how he can improve tomorrow. He can’t just fall over and say “that’s that” when someone better than him comes along to challenge him. Wait a minute Coles not better than him, like at all! And also, it was just his first day so even if he was better (which he isn’t) Kai would have no way of knowing yet. Why is he obsessing so much over this? It’s not a big deal now and it won’t be a big deal in the future.
Kai sighs heavily and turns to lay on his side again in hopes that it would be more comfortable now than the 10 thousand other times he tried before, and to his enjoyment it actually was. It doesn’t take long after that for him to drift off to sleep.
It’ll go better tomorrow.
I know it.