head over heels

68 ~ the cold never bothered me anyway

[A/N - sorry about who i was ten seconds ago guys, i wrote this at 3am. should have added a tw for cringe hahahah]

Evan had one single goal in mind.

That goal was to piss off Theo as much as he possibly could before he'd never, ever have to see him again.

He was so angry. It was impossible really just how angry he felt. It was this cold, solid weight in his chest. He was so angry that Theo and his shitty, shitty sociopathic personality had ruined years of his fucking life.

So, he was going to send him out with a fucking bang.

It was strange. When he stepped onto the court, he wasn't terrified. He wasn't panicking. None of it. He was numb to it all.

He'd never stood on the opposite side of the court to Theo.

Before, he'd been chained to him, like some drooling lapdog, on the court and off, there for Theo's sadistic entertainment.

The team. He remembered most of them. Landon. Matt. Jack. Jai.

Theo stood in the middle of them all, a triumphant look on his face.

He thought he'd already won.

Embarrassing, Evan thought idly. That was embarrassing for him.

"Holding it together?" Theo taunted, "Didn't look like it before."

Evan just shrugged, "Not looking so good yourself Theo."

Theo raised an eyebrow.

Evan continued, stepping towards the net, "Because—" he felt a dull sort of determination, "You know you're going to lose. Don't you?"

Theo snickered, "As if—"

"Wanna bet on it?" Evan murmured. "Cause I do."

Something in Theo's eyes flickered. "Hm, what happened to you Ev, did you finally break?"

"Yeah," Evan uttered, "You could say that."

Then, the Canyons had first serve, and the ball was instantly in Evans hands. He got it to Kei at lightning speed, but it hit the block. Evan frowned. Immediately he realised what they were doing.

Theo was marking Kei personally. He was shutting him down before he could even do a thing.

Evan squared his jaw.

Usually, he'd back down, set to someone else, but— he just. He didn't want to.

Kei looked defeated, shoulders tight as he trudged back from the net and into position. His jaw was set in a hard line. Theo was getting to him.

Evan hated seeing him like that.

"Kei, get around him," Evan said simply.

They were losing points like water through a drain right now, but Evan refused to let up.

Kei shot him a look, "Evan—"

"I mean it," he murmured.

"Evan," Kei hissed under his breath, "He's better than me. He's the best player in the fucking league right now. I won't win—"

He'd set for both of them. Extensively.

The only reason Kei was as low as he was in the rankings, was because of how often he got taken off the court last year. If that was taken out of the equation, then Kei and Theo were neck and neck.

Kei was that good. He just needed to realise it.

"You will," Evan said.

Kei grit his teeth, "Evan—"