The court still buzzed with leftover energy—scuffed sneakers, echoing laughter, the tail end of banter flickering out like the dying embers of a fire. Practice had officially ended fifteen minutes ago, but the Lockwood Vipers never left clean. Someone always wanted to stay for an extra drill. Someone always forgot a stick, or lingered on the edge of the goal to replay a missed block in their head.

Tariq Jafari stretched his arms overhead, the collar of his sweat-slick practice tee tugging up to reveal a sliver of toned stomach. He’d taken a ball to the ribs during a scrimmage and laughed it off like always, even though the bruise would probably bloom purple by morning. He wasn’t built for grumbling. The ache was proof he was alive. That he was still here.

“Circle up!” Coach Killian’s voice cut through the noise like a buzzer at the end of a game.

Tariq dropped his arms and jogged toward the semicircle forming at midcourt. His heart still hadn’t entirely come down from the rush of practice—adrenaline always hung around longer than it should.

Coach Killian paced in front of them like a lion behind a glass wall—tight jaw, clipboard in one hand, windbreaker unzipped.

“Alright,” the coach began. “Winter break starts tomorrow, and you lucky bastards get a few weeks to yourselves. But don’t think that means slacking. You have personalized drills in your inboxes. You have conditioning logs to fill. You have bodies to maintain and reflexes to sharpen. Because our first game back? Dartmouth. They’re hungry. And they don’t give a shit about your excuses. So you better come back lean, mean, and ready to bury them.”

Tariq blinked once, already picturing it—Dartmouth’s signature dark green jerseys, the aggressive push of their forwards, the sweet sting of blocking a shot inches from the goal line. He didn’t mind the pressure. He liked it. Sometimes it felt like the only thing that matched the pounding in his chest.

Coach Killian continued, voice dropping lower now. “Second thing—Lockwood’s name doesn’t leave you when you leave this campus. We’re still dealing with media fallout. Still getting tagged in bullshit clips from that game against the Storm.”

The air turned tense, and Étienne Dupont actually turned to glare at Miles Finch. Miles, to his credit, acted unaffected by that glare. Everyone knew Miles was a big reason that fight against the Storm had even happened, even if no one outright blamed him. They were a team, and they would stick up for each other—even if they were wrong.

There were more reporters sniffing around lately. Fans getting bolder, more toxic online. Some of the guys had gotten harassed walking into coffee shops. One of the younger Backliners had to call an Uber mid-class because someone in the back row kept filming him.

“We’ve implemented new policies. Stick to them. If you’re traveling home, I want your flight info. If you’re staying, you’ll check in with me every 48 hours. No solo outings after dark, no public Lockwood gear, no responding to fan comments online. You’re not heroes and you’re not villains—you’re athletes. Act like it.” A beat of silence. Then, a quick nod. “That’s it. Go hydrate, stretch, and pack your damn bags.”

The team broke apart in clumps—some heading to the locker room, some to the weight room, others grabbing water or towels. Tariq stayed where he was for a moment, letting the hum of movement rush past him.

His thoughts didn’t come in clean lines—they flickered, weaving through muscle tension and half-forgotten memories. He remembered Jamal’s voice the day before he died. You can’t stay scared forever, ‘Riq. The world didn’t stop being sharp just because you smiled through it.

Tariq had made a decision after the funeral. He was going to live like joy was a weapon. Because pain was a given. What mattered was what you did with it.

Tariq finally turned to his teammate beside him, the one with the perpetually serious expression he'd grown strangely fond of. His voice was as easy as his smile—soft, smooth, like sunlight on an icy windshield. “You got plans for winter break?”

It was casual, but something in his expression betrayed deeper thought.

Part of him was hoping for big, warm-family-dinners energy. Maybe some snowy mountain trip lined up. Because Tariq hadn’t decided yet if he was going home.

His mom had called twice this week, asking. Her voice had been hopeful. He loved her—loved her the way grief sometimes made you love harder—but he wasn’t sure he wanted to walk into that house again after so long being free of it. The door down the hall from his own room was still permanently closed, Jamal's old room that no one stepped in anymore. The neighborhood hadn’t changed. The corner store still had the same flickering “Open” sign, the same broken payphone out front.

And the corner where it happened? The one where the blood dried before he could scream loud enough?

Yeah, that was still there, too.

“Thinkin' about maybe staying here,” he added, more to himself than to his teammate, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s quiet when everyone clears out. Peaceful, y’know?”

He tilted his head slightly, studying their profile. He didn’t expect a deep answer. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he wanted one. But asking gave him something solid to hold on to, something real in the middle of the mess.