Chapter Text
Griffin has never really been outside his friend group circle. Finney and Bruce are the only people he ever really hangs out with, with Vance’s friend group as an exception since he’s his younger sibling. He liked having a small relationship tree anyway. He wasn’t an extroverted person. Instead, he was invisible everywhere he went. But not invisible enough that he didn’t attract bullies and his name was skipped during attendance. That would’ve been the better version of invisible he’s talking about.
People never notice him in the first place or often forget about him. Like when you find a pretty shell on the beach and bring it home but you forget about it and it’s rotting somewhere in your house… untouched. Completely forgotten about. He only becomes invisible when he’s useless to anyone. But Griffin liked the lack of attention sometimes. It’s better to not be a big deal than to be a big deal.
Billy Showalter on the other hand..? Completely disregarded the idea. Griffin thinks he just doesn’t get the memo that he’d like to be left alone in his own little space. Pushing him away should already be enough to tell Billy off and tell him to fuck off. But obviously, it doesn’t seem like he’s giving up any time soon.
Like that one time he decided to go with Vance and his buddies to the 7-11. Worst mistake of his life. That’s how he ended up accidentally introducing himself to the one and only Billy Showalter.
Vance and Robin were at the front of the line, fighting about something stupid or whatever. So Griffin was left alone with Billy in the back, how lucky.
“So,” Billy started. “You’re Vance’s little brother?” It was like Griffin was, like, a five year old little brother. They were only two years apart.
“No. I'm obviously Robin’s little brother.” He commented sarcastically, trying to avoid eye contact and any further conversation with this boy. He knew that wouldn’t be the case for the entire trip to the convenience store. Billy only giggled at his statement.
“Vance talks about you sometimes. Griffin Stagg?” He didn’t answer back. Billy continued. “I’m Billy Showalter.”
“I know that.”
Billy was already one of the popular kids, tied up with Bruce. He’s in the newspaper club (and surprisingly a paperboy for his neighborhood). He likes writing. He wears the same red letterman jacket to school every day. He’s on the soccer and basketball varsity team. He’s the second heartthrob (Bruce being first) of literally almost every girl in the school. But recently, there’s been a rumor that apparently, he likes guys too.
Unfortunately for Griffin, Billy didn’t shut up. Not even when they arrived at the convenience store. Griffin tried taking off to a different aisle. Billy would find him. He tried making conversation with Vance or Robin. Billy would insert himself. It was only when he told Vance he would be going back home earlier than him was he able to quickly pay for his snacks and sneak out the door. What a nightmare.
Or that other time where Billy asked if Griffin would like to go to his basketball and soccer games. Of course he found a way to slither out of it. But it was hard.
It was just about the end of the day, Griffin was collecting some things from his locker to take home. As soon as he shut the door, he was jumpscared by Billy waiting behind to talk to him. Though the word ‘scare’ in ‘jumpscare’ hadn’t become much of a habit anymore, because Billy was making the habit of doing this every single day.
“Hi! Wanna go to my soccer game? If you’re free, of course,” He was leaning against the lockers, backpack slumped off his shoulder.
“I’m busy.”
“Really? I hadn’t even told you when it is yet.”
“When is it?”
“Next week, Friday after school.”
“I’m busy.”
And just like that, Griffin was able to shut him down and make a run for it before Billy could find the chance to make more small talk or ask any more questions like ‘Could I walk you home?’ or some other things.
And so on, the series of Billy annoying Griffin goes on and on without any end. Never would he be able to get a Billy-free week, or even a day. Even if the boy was sick, he’d still find a way to make it to school. The motivation of Griffin probably being at school already is probably what encourages him to go. Robin once told Griffin that Billy hates waking up early when he’s sick. It’s very much obvious he only goes to see Griffin.
And has Griffin gotten the idea that maybe the boy has got a crush on him and he’s trying to make it obvious?.. No. Of course not. He’s blinded by the fact that, hey, this guy is super annoying for no reason. Is Billy informed about the fact he may have feelings for Griffin? Yeah. And he won’t stop trying until he gets noticed.
Griffin was eating his lunch on the bleachers with Finney and Bruce when he made the big mistake of deciding to head to the washroom. He’d almost let his guard down until halfway walking through the hallways he realized the chances of bumping into Billy. But the hallways were pretty much empty, anyways. He knew that Billy often spent his lunches in the outside cafeteria area with Vance and Robin.
Of course, to Griffin’s utter dismay as he pushed open the washroom door, he was met by the sight of Billy at the sink washing his hands. When Billy noticed him, he immediately perked up. Griffin tried his best to ignore him and rushed past him to get to the stall.
For a moment, there were no questions. No talking, no annoying nagging, just silence for a little bit. Though he didn’t hear the washroom door opening and footsteps leaving the room. So when Griffin exited the stall, he saw Billy leaning against the wall, supposedly waiting for him. Griffin just headed to the sink, still continuing to avoid him. Griffin knows he’s probably going to ask him about a basketball game. He overheard one of the players talking about it in the halls.
“I have a-”
“I know.” He didn’t even let Billy finish.
The paperboy only smiled faintly as he always did whenever Griffin talked to him. “Are you coming?”
“Do pigs fly?”
From the corner of his eye, he saw Billy’s shoulders drop as if he had been holding them up in excitement. “Come on, you never come to any of my games!”
“Why do you think I should?” Griffin’s already trying to hurry up the job of washing his hands and leaving. He swears Billy always asks this every single week.
“‘Cause I want you to be there. I mean, you don’t have to watch or anything, you can just bring Bruce and Finney along and just talk with them or whatever.” His tone was uncertain about the ‘bringing Finney and Bruce along’ part, but who in the world comes to a game just to talk to your friends?
Griffin only sighed in return, already reaching for the paper towels, getting ready to dash out the door any second. “I’ll think about it.”
But right as he was getting ready to dash out the door, Billy’s suddenly right behind him and holding up something in Griffin’s face. It took a minute for him to figure out what it was since the paperboy was literally holding it in his face, but he couldn’t believe his eyes once the realization hit him.
“Are those..?”
“The newest trending model of high-quality headphones? Yeah.”
Okay. He knew Billy was kind-of rich, but he couldn’t imagine him being actually rich. This boy just causally bought one-of-a-kind impossibly priced headphones just so he could bribe Griffin with it and persuade him to go to his god forsaken basketball game. Not to mention, it was Griffin’s favorite color. Who knows how he even obtained that information.
“Let me guess. You’re gonna bribe me with these headphones just so you could see me in the bleachers at your damned basketball game?”
“Absolutely correct.” A frisky smirk appeared on his lips.
So, he wants to play dirty? Then he will.
Finney scoffed. “You? Going to Billy’s basketball game? I can’t believe my ears right now.”
The trio were eating lunch on the outside bleachers once more, talking about random things when Griffin had brought up the thought of going to Billy’s basketball game.
“I thought you hated that guy with your guts?” Bruce gave him a playful nudge as he slurped his drink through the straw.
“Listen, I know, and I do. He asks me to go to his games literally every week.”
Finney rolled his eyes as if what Griffin was saying was just another excuse. “And you decided that he’d finally won you over and that you’ll go to his game?”
“No!” Griffin exclaimed in disbelief. Never in a million years would he allow Billy Showalter to win him, Griffin Stagg over. “He sort of… bribed me with headphones.”
Bruce and Finney looked at each other in confusion. “You accepted his invitation just so you could get some cheap-ass headphones probably bought off SHEIN?”
“They aren’t cheap, Bruce. I’m telling you, he pulled out that shit and shoved it in my face for my own eyes to see. Y’know those crazy expensive trending headphones everyone’s chattering about? That thing’s, like, eight hundred at best!”
“You’re joking.”
Griffin rolled his eyes. “Are you coming with me or not?”
He never thought he’d actually be attending one of Billy’s games before, but here he is. Sitting on the bleachers alongside Bruce, Finney, Robin and Vance. He’d planned to sit at the very back, but since his friends were idiots with crushes, they wanted to go wherever Robin and Vance were sitting. Which was, like, at the very front.
The game hadn’t even started yet and Griffin was already on his phone, planning to not pay attention to anything for the rest of the day. He couldn’t even talk to Bruce or Finney anymore, courtesy of Vance and Robin deciding to appear out of nowhere where Griffin’s friends could see. They were busy in conversation with each other.. kind of.
Griffin had his worn-out headphones around his neck and was planning to put them on later on. He wasn’t a fan of loud noises. Loud music he liked though? Duh. So as soon as he heard that obnoxiously loud buzzer and saw the teams preparing on the court, he wasted no time throwing his headphones on.
But surprisingly enough, Griffin’s phone wasn’t the first thing he paid attention to. It was Billy. He was one of the starting people on the court. And one of the tallest. Griffin never really noticed how tall he was. Basketball was a sport of tall people though, so maybe he’d just never connected the dots. He watched as the players sorted out who was going to do jump ball for their team.
Would you look at that? Billy Showalter makes his way to the center, face to face with his opponent.
Griffin guessed he was also one of the best players on the team anyway. Only he’d never really seen him play, so he couldn’t be the judge of that. But because of the fact his teammates put him up for jumpball and he was a starting player, he probably was good.
Everyone assumed their positions on the court. And in a few seconds of silence, the referee threw the ball up and everyone watched in anticipation to see who’d get the ball first. Griffin eyed Billy and saw as he was able to push the ball back to his teammates. The entire gym cheered as Denver took the first ball. The first player made it past the opposing team smoothly when he tossed the ball to Billy who drove it to the hoop and made a layup, scoring easily.
The entire gym erupted with cheering and screaming here and there. One of the reasons why Griffin doesn’t go to school games in a cramped area. Everyone was batshit crazy for no reason. It was just a point.
But maybe Billy could do more than just score a point.
Suddenly, attending the basketball game wasn’t about the headphones anymore. Griffin was indulged in the play. Of course, mostly focused on Billy rather than anyone else. But he was still watching the game like a hawk. When Denver High scored, he couldn’t deny the fact he cheered internally and made a few gestures of victory.
Of course, all his friends noticed it. He was so going to get teased about this after.
Billy was insane on the court. He was amazing at offense and defense. He knew how to handle the ball. He could easily shoot the ball. He knows that ‘team’ has no ‘I’. He made his foul shots look easy. He was definitely doing extraordinarily well out there. Him being on for the first two quarters was already enough to tell Griffin he was the team’s MVP.
It was only when the opposing team made a boo-boo and fouled hard on Billy. Looks like someone couldn’t control their temper. The guy must’ve been angry about losing horribly, so he took his anger out on Denver’s best player. Almost everyone (including Griffin) in the gym stood up and made sounds of disapproval when Billy had literally been roughly pushed to the ground and spat on as his check tried snatching the ball on him. The referee blew the whistle immediately.
Griffin was able to take a peek at Billy’s face before his teammates surrounded him and helped him get to the bench. There was nothing to describe but anger, determination, and pure hatred as sweat poured down his face, his eyebrows furrowed and his knuckles pale white.
Man, that idiot has some nerve.
Billy was sat out for the rest of the second quarter. Still, Denver didn’t lose that easily. They were still winning by a few points, but they weren’t playing as well as when Billy was still on the court, and the other team was catching up. The paperboy caught Griffin’s eye through the busy court, and through the chaos he still sent him a small smile and a wave. Griffin only averted his eyes in return. A silly move.
Halftime came around the corner, and the entire friend group ran up to Billy commenting about the accident that happened earlier. He wasn’t that badly injured, but there was definitely going to be a bruise the next morning. He was covered in sweat, exhausted, but he still managed to pull off his good looks as he always did.
When the crowd cleared up, Billy made the opportunity to approach Griffin who was still sitting at the bleachers.
“How’s the game so far?” He sat next to him, but not too close knowing he probably stinks from the sweat. “—And you can’t deny you weren’t watching, ‘cause I saw you.” Checkmate.
“It was good, I’ll admit. You’re hostile on the court.” Again, that same bright smile appeared on Billy’s face. Griffin swore he could see a faint pink tint on his cheek that he tried to hide by looking down to scratch his neck.
“You’re staying for the rest of the game?”
“Only if you quit being a wuss and get back onto the court and earn your team some points again.”
Billy scoffed. “So you don’t even care about my well-being? How sweet of you.”
For a moment, there was nothing but the loud chatter and echo of people in the room.
“That fall looked rough.” Griffin finally decided to put away his phone, but only stared out into the court where a group of kids were playing a fun game of basketball, still avoiding Billy’s eyes.
The paperboy looked right back at him, with an expression mixed with faint surprise and confusion. Was Griffin really showing some empathy this time?
“It was. I kind of got elbowed in the stomach and spat on, if you didn’t see.” He was able to finally get a small chuckle out of the shorter boy. Barely audible, but still there.
He decided to not comment on it.
“Here,” Billy gave Griffin the box he shoved in his face in the restrooms the other day. The box with the lethally expensive headphones. In public.
“You’re actually giving me this shit? $800 just for showing up to your game? How the hell do you even purchase something so expensive and just casually lend it off to me?”
Billy only shrugged. “You can open it if you don’t believe me.”
Griffin definitely didn’t believe him. He’ll admit, he kind of was excited about the headphones, but realized halfway through the day that they might just be a fake. So he ended up going just so he could entertain Billy. He’ll open the box at home.
“I’ll open them later. Quit spending your money on stupid things.”
“But I don’t think you’re stupid, Griffin Stagg.”
Right before Griffin could answer, the buzzer went off and it was Billy’s turn to take off without an answer.
The rest of the night went very well. Griffin had a bit of fun watching the other team crumble to their dismay as soon as Billy was back on the court. Of course, Denver had won three out of four quarters. The one singular quarter was just an unlucky one. They were only off by one point.
Everyone was saying their goodbyes, getting ready to go for the night. Griffin had already waved off Finney and Bruce, about to get ready to leave with Vance and finally go home for the night. It was only around half past five anyway.
Griffin debated on saying bye to Billy, but he figured he’d do it to return the favor because of the headphones. He was able to catch up to him in the parking lot, the paperboy loading his bags into the trunk of his dad’s car.
“Griffin! Decided to finally greet me goodbye for the first time?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m already regretting coming out here.”
Billy chuckled. “Bye, love.”
“What’s up with that?” Griffin was just about to return the greeting when Billy decided to call him an unfamiliar nickname. Sure, he’d been called ‘Griff’ by his friends including Billy before, but never something as crazy as that.
“What’s up with what?” He teased.
Griffin gave him a deadpan stare. “Forget the greeting then.” He immediately turned around and walked away.
He could feel the smile Billy had on his lips even with his back turned.
“See you next week!”
Once Griffin got back home, he was planning to help his mom cook dinner and then head off to bed. Huge events like that always drained his social battery, and playing video games or sleeping always recharged him. He dumped his bag on the floor of his bedroom and was about to head down to the kitchen when he nearly forgot about the headphones Billy got for him.
Still skeptical, he unzipped his bag and pulled the box out. He sat on his bed and unboxed it carefully with anticipation. The seals seemed to be in the right spots, no sign of it already being opened. When he finally opened it, what met Griffin’s eyes was just pure beauty. Dark green flawless wireless headphones. This boy had really gone out of his way to buy expensive shit to try and win Griffin over.
He examined the headphones in disbelief. He was really thinking about why Billy would do something for someone who very obviously couldn’t care less about him. $800 in his hands. Griffin was seriously debating his hatred towards this boy. Why does he even hate him in the first place? Why is he so cold and distant all the time? After all, Billy was a pretty decent boy. He was kind, helpful, smart, pretty…
No. No way. Griffin had already learned his lesson the last time he really tried loving someone. He lost them. Love was useless to him, something he already gave up on. He won’t let someone like Billy tempt him just because he’s the definition of a perfect teenage boy.
When he heard his mom call from downstairs, he set down the box on his bed when he’d noticed a yellow sticky note that had probably fallen off from the bottom. He picked it up and read it… A phone number. Who else could it be?
Griffin discarded the sticky note and left it on his bed, planning to throw it in the trash later.
What he didn’t know is that he didn’t end up doing that at all.