Chapter Text
“Please be quiet, I can’t even hear myself losing the will to live.” Kevin snapped from his hunched position over his desk. History books stacked on top of one another and notebooks full of his messy scrawl obscured the wooden surface from view.
“Did you even have one in the first place?” Aaron replied drily, hopping up onto the kitchen counter and making absolutely no effort to turn his music down.
Kevin shot him a dirty look.
“Fuck off.”
“No, you fuck off. You’re already the perfect Kevin Day on the court, nobody needs you to be the perfect student. You could probably fail all your exams and the school board wouldn’t even care. They’d just excuse you and ask if you need therapy or some bullshit like that,” Aaron shot back. He reached for a chocolate bar, and ripped it open while pointedly ignoring Kevin’s glare.
“You do know you’re on a professional Exy team, right? I know you and your brother like to act like you couldn’t care less, but you do have an image to maintain.” Kevin swiveled his black chair around to face Aaron fully. His eyes dragged up Aaron’s body slowly, sparking at what he saw. Kevin blinked, and Aaron was sure he must have imagined the heat because Kevin’s usual sneer was fixed in place. “You could at least start putting an effort in with your eating habits.” Kevin hesitated a second, then added, “And your appearance.”
Blood rushed to Aaron’s cheeks as fury ate its way through him. Who the hell did Kevin Day think he was? Just because he was famous, just because he was talented, just because he was handsome and worked to stay that way, didn’t mean he had the right to tell Aaron how to act. Aaron’s fist clenched convulsively and he fought desperately to rein in his temper. He hadn’t stayed at the Foxhole Court for two years, playing with a team of assholes, just to have his brother kill him now. He took one shaky deep breath, then another, and slowly relaxed his hand.
“Well let me know when you stop drowning yourself in alcohol, and I'll stop occasionally eating junk food. And until that day, I suggest you shut the fuck up and leave me alone.” Aaron slid off the counter and stomped to the door. He grabbed his coat and scooped up his keys.
Kevin let out a quiet plea of “Aaron” but Aaron couldn’t be bothered to find out what Kevin had left to say. He marched out of the apartment, leaving his music for Kevin to deal with. He let the door slam shut behind him.
The second he was in the hallway, he whipped out his phone and leaned against the wall. He found Katelyn’s number on his phone and started to text.
Hey babe. Wanna meet up? I don’t want to be at the dorms rn.
Seconds later, her answering bubble popped up with a quiet ding.
Yeah sure, I wanted to talk anyway. Meet at the coffeehouse?
Aaron sent his confirmation, then left to go meet up with his girlfriend.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What had he done wrong? The only good thing in his life had been her. Aaron knew he wasn’t a good person, not by anyone’s standards, but he had been trying to get better. To be better. For Katelyn. Where had he gone wrong? Had he not done enough? Been enough? All the way home, his mind kept replaying their conversation.
“I’m sorry, Aaron. I just- I can’t do this anymore.”
“What do you mean by this?” He had said, naively.
“Us, Aaron. I can’t do us. I think we need to end things. It’s not your fault, it’s not anyone’s fault, but we’re over.”
All Aaron could do was stare at her, the girl he thought he was going to grow old with. Her hair was still in it’s gorgeous blonde curls, and her freckles still dotted her cute little nose, but somehow he couldn’t reconcile the girl he was seeing with the girl he had met two years ago on his first day at university. He nodded dumbly, unable to speak.
Taking that as whatever answer she needed from him, Katelyn stood up, her flowery sundress swishing around her. She grabbed his shoulder and squeezed once, gently.
“Goodluck, Aaron.” And with that, she picked up her purse and walked out of the shop and his life.
He had nothing left. His mom was dead, his brother had chosen the problematic striker over him, and now Katelyn was gone. He didn’t realize he had made it back to the Tower until he walked smack dab into Kevin Day’s chest. He let out a soft oomph.
Kevin stumbled back quickly and then looked down at Aaron as if to see if he was still there.
“Andrew?”
“Does it look like I’m Andrew, fuckface?” Aaron snapped back, no longer able to control the emotions roiling around his body.
“No. Sorry. I’m just, you know-” Kevin gestured vaguely at his body and Aaron took the liberty of filling in the blank. Drunk? Ignorant? Utterly incapable of functioning without the support of someone with sociopathic tendencies? The possibilities were endless.
“Yeah well, I really don’t care. Just leave me alone.” Aaron said.
“Wait, are you okay? You just look...Off. Did something happen?” Kevin asked awkwardly, his inexperience with kindness apparent.
Aaron almost laughed at that. Was he okay? Ha. He had never really been okay. There had been moments, kissing Katelyn after winning the Championships, finishing his first year of university at the top of his class, finally getting Andrew to talk at one of their sessions with Bee, where he had thought maybe he would be, but clearly that was a dream. A dream that he had watched slip out the door of the coffeeshop, right behind Katelyn. Now all that was left of Aaron was spite, mediocre Exy talent and a half finished pre-med degree.
Some of the utter nothing he was feeling must have shown on his face because Kevin took a step closer with a look of concern. It was a bit disconcerting because Aaron was fairly sure the only expressions he had ever seen on Kevin’s face were related to Exy or a panic attack. Aaron took a small step back, if only to avoid Kevin’s uncomfortable pity.
“Do you want to come to the court with me?” Kevin asked. Aaron flicked his eyes up to Kevin’s to see if he was joking. He wasn’t.
On any normal night, Aaron would have rather died than go to spend extra time on the court with Kevin, Andrew and Neil, but tonight he found himself nodding. It would beat sitting alone and ignoring the buzzing desire for something he knew he could no longer have. Besides, with Katelyn gone, he no longer had anywhere else to go.
Kevin looked a little surprised at Aaron’s ready agreement, but quickly recovered.
“I’ll just go get my gear,” Aaron said, “And then I’m ready.”