On the other side of the room, a person who also played a high amount of games as a reservee before climbing her way into a locked spot in the starting line up of every game, Hannah is starting at one of the many clocks, as soon as all of them tick to 23:00, the Point Guard gets up, putting both of her hands on the counter and turning to her team with a smile on her face.

With the attention of all the women on her, she announces, "Guys, it's been real. But I gotta go home, we all have training early in the morning."

While the people around her let out their complaints, Yuki is the first to also get up, almost in the same breath she declares, "If she's going, I'm going." After a pause, where everyone stared at her in confusion, she continued, "We live in the same apartment block, it's cheaper if we share an uber."

Cia, a little bummed that all of the veterans are leaving early, asks, "Ain't you rich? You don't have 30 bucks to burn?"

"I'm rich, not stupid!"

Hannah whispers to herself, loud enough for everyone to catch, "debatable..."

"I heard that!"

Utilizing the laughter as a distraction, Court places her share of the bill on the table and quickly leaves the establishment, moving into Santa Fe's cold air that immediately gives her chills. Resting her back against the walls of the club she notices a couple composed of two college students, smiles illuminated by the moonlight, a warm embrace of lovers moving inside their cars, whispered jokes just for two people, a jovial love that Hannah wishes she could live.

She is only brought back to reality when a heavy weight is suddenly put on her back, her immediate reaction is to look back, noticing a bright pink sweater covering her body and a presence at her left, she looks up meeting hazel eyes and a towering figure, Yuki Saya smiles at her like she has not a single care in the world.

"Whatcha waitin' for? Did you already call the Uber?" She questions while keeping her eyes focused solely on her friend.

Hannah looks away, suddenly very interested in the empty parking lot in front of her, "You know you don't have to follow me home, right? I won't be angry at you for missing practice in the morning." She almost stops talking right there, but feeling the need to explain herself further she continues, "Not right now at least, if you start being irresponsible in the middle of the season I will absolutely ruin your life."

Yuki laughs, a heartfelt laughter that is probably heard inside the club, "Jesus, bud, don't worry, I won't miss a single day when we actually begin, but I actually just want to spend time with you, nothing more."

Hannah once again looks up, searching for a hint of venom on her words, but once again, she is only met with the joyful energy the other woman radiates, trying to ignore the embarrassment burning on her body and hoping that Yuki assumes that the pinkish shade on her cheeks is a result of the icy weather.

"Cool, so I'll wake you up tomorrow at eight. You better be ready."

The uber home was quiet, at least on Hannah's side, when Yuki drinks she gets jittery, she spent ten minutes moving from side to side on her seat, showing funny videos that she found on her phone to her teammate and the unwilling driver, when they got to the gates of their gated community it was possible to hear the man let out a sigh of relief, happy to be freed from the terrible humor and short videos the woman was showing him.

Fifteen minutes later, and innumerous complaints from the taller woman, they reach the tenth floor by stairs. Hannah always argues that every athlete should maximize their health, so she avoids the elevator like a plague. Even though Yuki spent the whole way through in a drunken protest against the shorter woman, she never left her side.

Standing right outside of her door with Saya lazily resting her body on the wall against the doorway, Hannah fidgets with her key before turning to look at her friend, "I have a spare room, wanna crash at my place?"

"Why?"

"Do I have to have a reason to invite a friend that lives on the same floor as me to spend the night? Can't I just be trying to spend more time with you?" The shorter girl argues, raising an eyebrow while opening her door.

Yuki raises an eyebrow, leaning down to get on the same eye level as Hannah, before asking, "Well, are you?"

There is a moment where Court thinks about lying, but instead she just looks away, entering her own home and holding the door open, "Are you coming or not?"

"Seesh, you're lucky, I don't wanna walk to my apartment." she answered.

Yuki walked through the entrance and immediately threw herself on the couch, beginning to take off her sandals, at the same time she began squirming forwards, too lazy to get up and just walk to the tv , she tried to reach for the device without actually moving from the sofa. In moments like this, when Yuki's fingertips touch the controller a full eight feet away from it, Hannah remembers that they are not the same, that one of them is levels ahead of the other.

Shaking her head and closing her eyes to avoid the jealousy from reaching her face, Court quickly walks to the coffee table, stopping a few inches away from Yuki's arm, in a rapid motion Hannah gently slaps her hand away from the remote, ignoring the yelp of pain from her drunk friend, she turns the tv before throwing the device on the couch, "Next time, get up, you can't get sore before practice."

Yuki fixes her posture, sitting with her knees close to her chest while tilting her head to the side, in a lower tone, she says "You're no fun, you know that right?"

With a fake smile, Hannah answers "I think I'm fun enough, thank you very much."

Yuki watches as her friend swiftly moves away from her, easily moving through her almost empty home. Hannah opens her fridge, taking out two cups of nonFat greek yogurt and a sliced apple, looking behind her back, she raises the condiments, silently asking if Saya wants it too.

"Why'd you lie about the reason you play?" Yuki answers.

Raising an eyebrow, Hannah asks, "What's that gotta do with the food?"

Saya throws her hands up in frustration as she explains, "I don't want that healthy stuff! I want a pizza— Like a big one!" When the only reaction she receives is an eye roll from Court, she continues, "and don't think I forgot! Why'd you lie?"

Yuki patiently waits for a response as her teammate approaches, but Hannah just places all of the food on the table and immediately walks away from the living room vanishing from view into one of the hallways, Yuki anxiously waits for what feels like hours, when in reality it was just five minutes, but when Hannah walks back from her bedroom, all of the break was not enough time to prepare herself to what she was seeing.

Hannah wears a lace nightgown that hugs her form tightly, the chain-like straps seem to struggle to hold her chest without exposing herself, not that the neckline hides much. Yuki has to keep herself from looking at her body, but it is almost hypnotizing, she wants to stare, touch, feel, worship. Unfortunately, all of her thoughts are interrupted by Court's words, "I don't know any pizza places, we can probably find an app for you, if you're really hungry."

Yuki notices the shift in weight as Hannah's body sits on the couch at her side, but she can't bring herself to look at her, maybe sleeping over was a bad idea, deciding to keep pushing, she ignores the comments about food and asks, "You still haven't answered me, how long will you keep me waiting?"

Court laughs before responding, "I mean, you just assumed I wasn't being truthful..." she leans forwards, opening the container with the fruit as she adds, "but to your credit, It really was... a half truth..."

"Jesus! Thank you! I practically had to beg!" Yuki practically yells in an exasperated tone, forgetting about what her friend is wearing for a second before locking eyes with her and having to look away again.

"Well, you also lied didn't you? If you wanted money you'd have stopped a long time ago, you got like, five million followers, You can probably get into acting or something. And let's be honest, your contract is daylight robbery, so you could just finish this year and ride off into the sunset with naked guys and martinis."

There's no answer from the taller woman, both of them stay quiet for a moment, while Hannah entertains herself with the remote, aimlessly searching for a good film on Synergy, Yuki tries to center herself again, letting her vision wander through the living room.

Now, she is self aware enough to understand that the main reason as to why she steps on the court is not the only reason, but after denying it for years, Yuki can also understand that without it, she wouldn't be playing.

The main purpose of her WNBA career sits at her side, comfortable enough to dress in sleepwear with her. Atlanta and Washington are not that far away, so it made sense for Yuki to visit when she had rest days, there was always a game, a moment, a reason for them to meet. Anything to spend a little more time with the woman she loves.

Tightly hugging her own body, hoping that this would somehow make her smaller, voice filled with hopeful sarcasm, a futile attempt to hide the truth, Yuki jokes, "But if I didn't play, we wouldn't be in the same team now."

"Ha ha. If you ain't telling, neither am I."

Letting out an annoyed sigh, Yuki looks at her friend, enjoying the moment where Hannah is focused elsewhere, "I... Well..." she clears her throat, deciding to double down on a lie, "I wanna win, like, I want a full healthy playoff run where I can actually play at my best, I just don't like to say that 'cause it ruins my nonchalant vibe."

They exchange glances, for a moment Yuki almost confesses everything, always so quick to tremble under the penetrating gaze of the one she loves, Hannah holds the eye contact for a moment, trying to search for any sign of bluffing, apparently satisfied with the answer, she quietly turns back to the television.

Letting our another sigh, this one filled with relief, Saya has no time to complain, because a hesitant Hannah starts speaking, still focused on the screen, "I... honestly, I'm not even sure I lied, t-there's no reason for me to play, I guess, like, I just do it because I can't stop, it's everything I have."

"Being the best is not enough?"

"Nah, I don't get any joy from it anymore... I don't even know if I did at some point, when I was in middle school I played for the praise, after that, it was to beat you, and then... I don't really know, I guess I kinda lost that spark. Now I just compete because that's all that I know."

Yuki hesitates again, torn between being serious and giving sound advice or trying to lighten the mood with a joke, in the end, she decides to try the humour, just like alway, "I mean... I would take you over Sue in a heartbeat."

The sound of Hannah's laughter to Yuki is like a drop of water in an ocean, stealthy, almost invisible, but the prettiest thing in the world for those that can appreciate it, the ripples of contact perfectly imitating the way she always slightly shakes her head, the only flaw in her laughing is it's rarity, always hard to reach.

Letting a huff of air out of her nose, Hannah keeps a smile on her face as she asks, "Since we're being honest, why'd you break up with Paul? He found out you were cheating?"

It's Yuki's turn to laugh, negatively shaking her head, "I wasn't cheating, we were in an open relationship. And we just... drifted off... it would be hard moving and... yeah..."

Raising a single eyebrow while pursing her lips, her friend gently counters back, "That... feels like a lie."

"Well, it's not, I ju—" Her eyes focus on the TV as one of her highlights comes on, desperately trying to change the subject she points at it and excitedly yells "Oh look, that's me blocking a shot three times, look at that!"

From her peripheral vision, she notices how it takes a second for Hannah to turn away, chuckling to herself before focusing on the television. Yuki doesn't like lying, and she is not even good enough to do so, but apparently it is something she is doing more and more.

Yuki and Paul never dated, they were, and still are, two good friends that needed a public relationship for different motives. Thankfully, breaking up online is as easy as unfollowing your significant other. Their lavender relationship was useful, but it couldn't last through this season, she only has one year to conquer Hannah's heart while they play together and she couldn't do that while apparently dating someone else.

"We are probably gonna rely on you a lot to push our defen—" The shorter girl begins, but is abruptly interrupted by Yuki's growl of disinterest.

"We are not! Talking about this right now! Imma take a shower!" She announces while jumping out of the couch and beginning her movement to the bathroom.

Hannah waits until she is at the end of the corridor to yell, "Go grab your clothes first, none of mine fit you."

Muttering angry curses at the world, Yuki makes her way back without sparing a single glance at her friend, it is astonishing that thethew person she loves the most in the world is also the most annoying one.

But after a shower, a pointless conversation, a good night's sleep and the best morning of her life, which consisted of being woken up by Hannah with freshly cooked breakfast ready, listening to her complain about nosy neighbors and going into a forty minute run with her after, Yuki was beaming as they got into the training facility, for the first time in her 8 year old career, happy to be in practice