Work Text:
5:00 AM
For the past hour, Will has been staring at a face he vowed to never see again. Confused? So was he. Why? For one, he’d already gone through the trouble of hanging up a tiny poster of this said particular face a long time ago when he still BELIEVED in them. And for another, constantly loud snoring wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to sleep with. Daryl is one of his best friends, his closest. Somebody he wouldn’t trade for all the Claws in the world - sleeping in the same small, dirty, cramped apartment with him however was starting to drive the goat insane. Along with barely getting any sleep, he’s also been dealing with a number of other things that were currently keeping him awake…
Like how the Semi-Finals went, how Jett treated everyone, how the past week for him has been a rollercoaster of emotions that was actively being rode on to this very second, how Jett won the game, how Jett couldn’t trust them after all their time together, how beautiful she looked in her golden outfit the night before everything happened, how-
Wait- . . .
A rapid flush of heat rushed to the sides of Will’s face, which made him blush, which made him uncomfortable. Which then caused him to sheepishly pull the one slightly clean blanket he could find over his head in (quite) visible embarrassment. He knew with absolute certainty that the two people around the place were asleep, but he didn’t want to risk anyone seeing him flustered like this here.
You’re just staring at her face . . . Dog, look at you. Y-You’ve been staring at her face! Thinking and fussing about her when she did ALLL that junk to the Thorns–? She doesn't deserve an ounce of your attention! Besides, there’s nothing that you should be worrying about anyhow. Jett clearly wants to be left alone, she’s shown you that as clear as you could get.
Noticing his phone next to him, Will sighed heavily. Might as well find out what time it was to see if he could make it to the cage and shoot some before Grizz did.
5:05 AM
Damn.
…Why was he even surprised?
5:06 - 5:19 AM
Mustering the last bit of his strength to scramble over the last trash heap blocking him, Will managed to get in front of the bathroom door he needed to open.
Open this door . . . A door that’s faced with trash from all directions needs WITHOUT rustling any of it.
“. . .Great.”
Cautiously putting his hand on the doorknob, he turned and managed to pry open the door enough for him to squeeze through before touching a black trash bag filled with who knows what.
On the court, Will doesn’t let somebody get away with calling him a small - but it’s rarely during moments like these where he actually stops to appreciate how much of a benefit his size truly is. Not wanting to waste another second, the buck pushed himself through the tiny pocket of space, shutting the door behind him once he was fully inside the room.
As soon as he turned on the shower, a quiet sigh of relief escaped from him. An ice cold shower was bound to help him forget Jett’s face, no matter how deeply it was etched into his memory.
Stupid Jett.
Stupid Jett and her dumb whiskers.
Dumb, stupid . . .
. . . Adorable whiskers.
5:29 AM
Eventually, Will’s route of escape finally drew near. Up ahead were three more heaps of tattered clothes Will had to hobble over - easy work with his nimble graces.
Left, right, another left and a-
“ . . . Will? Is that you?”
In classic goat fashion, someone’s voice suddenly coming out of nowhere was quick to make him jump, accidentally knocking over a lamp and every bit of junk in front of it during the process.
“S-Shit-! Hannah-?”
“I know I’m not your mom or anything, but where are you going so early?”
He rolled his eyes in annoyance to her question, turning his head to look left from her.
“Nowhere special.”
“The cage, huh?”
“Mhm, I’ll catch you guys later. Make sure to tell Daryl that the takeout in the fridge is mine-”
“For the fourth time since Thursday?”
“Okay. What’s with all the questions-?”
Listening to him snap like that at her, The aardwolf exhaled defeatedly. Besides them, Daryl was (un)surprisingly still snoring on his falling apart gaming chair not too far off.
“. . . Sorry, dude. I’m just worried about cha, you’ve been . . . Leaving a lot.”
“Well. I gotta keep practicing, don’t I?”
“I thought you weren’t gonna play basketball because of Jett-”
Will cleared his throat rather loudly upon hearing that name, immediately moving his hand to land on the knob and start twisting it as soon as he felt his face begin to grow hot anon.
“SHE- . . . S-She has NO influence over my basketball, I just don’t want to lose my . . . S-Skill-! That’s all! That’s all it has been, is and will be sohowaboutIleaverightnowandseeyoulater-”
“Will! Could you step away from the door for a second and listen to me?”
“I really gotta go, Han-”
“. . . Talk to her.”
Silence soon hung in the air following that sentence, drawing Will to stop at a sort of standstill. He could bury his emotions and say they were practically non-existent, Hannah still had a point in a sense-
But in WHAT world though, now?! I wasn’t the person who decided to betray my team or throw the friendships I made in the gutter! How am I even expected to act, oh. OH-! LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED-
“That's all you can do.”
“Nah,”
Stepping forward, his head shook.
“We’ll see.”
He then slammed the door and marched forward, promptly beginning to grit his teeth in a worrying mixture of irritation and anxiety. He didn’t need his roommates to make him feel worse when he already felt tormented by his own words, especially when one of them was right.
Shut up, don’t listen to Hannah.
Don’t listen, don’t listen.
She doesn’t even know the HALF of it, I can’t forgive and forget like how she can-
He made it about halfway down the block in relative silence before his phone buzzed, prompting the herbivore to take it out.
5:38 AM
1 NEW NOTIFICATION FROM: Han
HAN: do it man. I believe in you. ,’:-3
Cute.
Yeah, try being in my shoes - THEN you’d see how it feels.
You try to make a genuine bond with someone you thought was the entire world.
You try loving someone who takes you from the clouds, to the dirt- . . . And-and then back up to those exact same clouds again! YOU try being the only one in your ENTIRE TEAM who comforted them when no one else did no matter how loud she hissed and scratched at your face.
“Tch . .”
Shoving the device back into his pocket, he yawned tiredly and took around five more steps into an alley before his right ear suddenly twitched.
“Wh-”
Will wholly paused his movements, letting his ear lift up more to help make out the sound he was hearing approach him better.
“WILL-! . . ”
. . . No.
He never failed when it came to recognizing Jett’s tone of voice, all he had to do was hear the tiniest snippet to know the leopardess in a crowd of thousands. The voice who he thought called out his name…That snippet made his heart stop the nano-second he remembered the alluring amber eyes that accompanied her shadow’s advancing figure.
“W-Will!”
Before his brain could even process her in his general view, Will found himself unable to retreat.
STUPID GOAT INSTINCTS-!
Being frozen, his eyes were the only part of his body that dared to move.
Jett now stood in front of him, her lowered ears and slouched shoulders granting her an almost regretful appearance dimly lit by the sunlight hitting her back.
5:55 AM
“I was wondering where I was gonna find you . . . Heheh.”
Taking in a shuddering breath, Will’s haunches relaxed somewhat seeing her standing there and not coming any closer. A loud huff however soon left through his nose as the fear transformed into anger, she was giggling at him. Was Jett toying with him? Snickering at her doormat like she used to?
“You’re . . . Laughing at me, Jett?”
“I-”
“You know what- no, I-I ain’t.”
He bit his tongue forcing his legs to walk away from her, leaving the feline stuttering after him.
“Just let me explain, kid-”
“There’s nothing to explain, you know what you did.”
“I was just trying to protect the team . . . I-I had to-! Our reputation was on the line-!”
Morning traffic started to buzz melodically around the two, quickly taking the pair’s bickering from the realm of coherence and replacing it with unintelligible, animalistic growls and bellows.
“Who CARES about that?! You didn’t have to treat them like garbage.”
“Will-! If I lost, I would’ve let ALL y’all down! Tell me. If I actually choked and lost the game, do you really think they wouldn’t go back to bashing my name tomorrow? I would lose my entire legacy-!”
“You mean the same people that talk trash ‘bout you? THAT’S the thing you’re worried over?”
“I-! . . . I-It’s more than that.”
“IS it?”
…Something wasn’t working anymore, she could barely get a word in talking to Will this way.
“T-Then who?”
Determined to at least try and keep up with him, her footsteps grew more stalled as the weight of her guilt ate her insides alive.
He was getting away, the last thing that truly mattered to her was leaving her grasp.
“Who? Who would want to stand next to such a disgrace-”
“ME-!”
He’d snout, turning his head towards her as his voice nearly cracked.
“A-And us! But you didn’t wanna talk to us, Jett. That’s the problem! YOU didn’t tell the team we got sold, I did-!”
“ . . . . . ”
Not receiving a reply, he almost considered running off and put an end to their senseless fighting, but something within compelled him now to stop and fully address her.
“When you met me and made me fumble those questions on live t.v, I pushed it aside. When you played Mane’s diss track on repeat for three days straight, I didn’t care. I-I didn’t mind it because in between those moments of . . . O-Of embarrassment . . . I got to see you, The Jett these chumps talked down to. I saw how much it hurt and all I wanted to do was take that from you because you NEVER deserved it-!”
“None of us thought you did . . . M-My mistake.”
He turned his back towards her for the second time, raising a foot up while he did so.
He was almost inside the cage’s entrance. Once he crossed over those lines, she knew that their relationship would be lost - for good.
I can’t. Lose him. Too.
“F-Fine-! Fine, you’re right. I’m selfish! But I was scared that if I didn’t carry us and win- I’d . . . I’d be useless to you, and the team.”
The absence of sound did little to calm her, but it relieved her. It meant he wasn't leaving and that she still had a chance after all.
“I mean - . . . J-Just take a look at me. Thirty-two, fifteen years in the game and I haven’t won ANYTHING for this place. I saw folks laughing at me for years. Flo laughed and mocked me, too. One day, the pain went dead - numb. And since then, I made that pain tolerable. . . ”
The cat sniffled quietly attempting to hold back her welling tears, gathering her bearings for a moment before she resumed.
“When I saw your itty-bitty face for the first time? I basically knew that you were replacing me right out the door. I-I see your spunk, Will! I used to be the rook everyone paid attention to and freaked out over. Seeing you standing in the same spotlight I used to have, I couldn't take it. Humiliating you . . . A-And degrading you was my way of trying to push you out, but when you decided to stay and endure me . . .”
Advancing closer, her soft voice trailed off as she let her lips curl into a tender smile she’d ached to give him for days.
“You helped me see why I couldn’t let a few words get to me by taking me to that restaurant, yeah?”
A tiny nod shook the smaller animal’s head, keeping his features concealed.
“And showing me the best apple pie in Vineland?”
“. . . Maybe.”
“You also showed me a part of this place that I never thought I would see since my come-up, made me realize whose voices . . . R-Really mattered, proved yourself to me time and time again. I’m so sorry . . . For everything I’ve done to you.”
Another huff from Will was his reply, nothing else.
Time stretched between their shared silence, no one and nothing daring to move for ages.
Ages
Ages.
Eventually, he turned his head back to see the remorseful leopard still there behind him.
“. . . D-Do you really mean it?”
Approaching her, the goat then drew out his left hand and offered it for her to shake.
“Because I don’t want you touching my hoof unless you are, Jett.”
Her eyes wavered until they met his below. One stare narrowing while another gaze softened. Green, rheumy eyes clouded with uncertainty were reaching out for the color of gold - the color of his last hope.
“N-Never again.”
Jett affirmed, firmly grabbing his hand.
“It won’t ever happen ag-”
Her words were cut short as Will suddenly wrapped his arms around the small of her back.
“It better not, cuz I . . . You know, don’t wanna lose you.”
Grinning sheepishly, his expression of joy soon changed to shock as the she-cat knelt down and returned his embrace.
“Me either, Will . . .”