the buzzer beater

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

Instead of risking his grandmother's reckless driving, Gabe decided to walk home from school. The half-hour that took was spent lost in such deep thought that he quickly grew out of touch with his surroundings, his body moving him on autopilot across crosswalks and past familiar landmarks. His sneakers scuffed against the sidewalk, kicking a particularly large stone. His face was blank, his expression carefully neutral, even though inside, he was going through a whirlwind of emotions. Practically everything that had happened in the past two years circled through his mind, beginning from the moment he'd decided to run away from home to the present moment. It wasn't fair. He'd escaped his father only to be swept into the conspiracy that was Hawkins, had a few months of bliss before everything fell apart again, and now, when everything was supposed to be over, he was still unable to get a break. His grandpa was dying. His friend group was slowly but surely falling apart.

Eddie drove by in his obnoxious car, rock music blaring from the windows. Fortunately, he didn't notice Gabe—otherwise, he might have shouted out his window how disappointed he was in Gabe for skipping Hellfire. As if he was skipping. As if he'd just decided out of nowhere to not show up.

Just one more day, Gabe. Just one more day, and you'll be in California. Maybe things will be better there.

One could only hope.

When he finally arrived home, Nicole was in the front yard, being watched over by their grandmother. Dolores sat in the rocking chair she'd placed on the porch for this exact reason, pretending to be excited by the rocks Nicole toddled up to show her. Bags circled her wrinkled eyes, and her hair was unwashed.

A twinge of pity went through Gabe. His grandmother deserved better. At seventy-two, she should be comfortably retired, not taking care of two children and her sick husband. But she simply didn't have enough money to send George off to a care home, and Gabe and Nicole didn't have any other living relatives. Gabe's father had never even told him his mom's name—in fact, he barely spoke about her at all. And Gabe didn't have any uncles or aunts, either.

At least, when Gabe was gone, his grandma wouldn't be completely alone. While Gabe was in California, Alina would be staying in his room. It would've probably been awkward if Gabe was any other boy, but honestly, he didn't mind. He'd trusted her with his deepest secret, and she hadn't cast him away for it. In fact, she'd recently confessed to him in a letter that she was beginning to think she liked both girls and boys.

So, Alina would be there to help his grandma. But then she'd leave, and school would resume, and things would get hard for her again. Maybe Gabe should start missing classes in order to help her out. After all, he'd shown up on her doorstep unannounced. She hadn't really had any choice but to take him in, even though he was a burden on her. Maybe—

"Gabriel! There you are!"

Speak of the Devil. Dolores's voice snapped Gabe out of his reverie. When he blinked, he realized that he'd stopped on the front lawn, staring aimlessly into the distance. Nicole, now organizing her rocks by colour, had her back to him, but when her grandma called his name, she whirled around.

"Gabe!" she cheered, dropping her stones in favour of wrapping her arms around Gabe's legs. "I missed you."

Gabe patted her head. "I missed you too, Princess."

Dolores rose out of her rocking chair, her joints protesting loudly to the sudden movement. "How was your day?" she asked. "Learn anything interesting?"

"No, grandma," Gabe responded.

"Hmph. I guessed not. I don't know what they're teaching in those little schools these days, but I do know that you're too smart for them. Now, come here. Give your old lady a hug."

Gabe did, wrapping his arms around her. She seemed so small, so brittle, like a strong gust of wind would snap her in half. She may not have been complete skin-and-bones, but she'd definitely lost weight. Another twinge of guilt went through Gabe.

Nicole, still attached to one of Gabe's legs, tugged on his shirt. "Can we play ponies, Gabe? Please please please please?"

"I have homework, Nicole," Gabe replied.

"No fair!"

"I know."

Nicole stuck out her bottom lip and unhooked herself from his leg. Crossing her arms, she stalked back towards her pile of rocks and promptly plopped down.

Once she was occupied, Gabe finally released his grandma. "Where's grandpa?" he asked. "Is he awake?"

Dolores shook her head. "He's sleeping again. I managed to get some toast into him earlier, but he completely rejected the chicken noodle soup I made him. Which was extremely rude. That was my grandmother's recipe."

Shit. Ever since he'd gotten sick, George had been sleeping far more than usual, but this was a whole new level. Lately, he'd been in bed even when he was awake, unable to possess the energy to climb out of it. Dolores had to help him take showers and use the toilet, while Gabe did his best to bring his old spark back. He'd learned to paint his nails (though he only did clear polish when he had school), and sometimes did his grandpa's when he possessed a clearer mind. Recently, he'd also been reading to him—typically his own favourite books, like Pride and Prejudice and Little Women. Sometimes, he played music.

It was never enough, though. Perhaps Gabe wasn't enough.

Something wet rolled down his lip. His grandma had turned to go open the front door, but when she caught sight of him again, her eyes went wide.

"Oh! Gabriel, honey. Go get a tissue. Your nose is bleeding."

What? Gabe swiped his nose with his hand. Sure enough, blood streaked his skin—so dark it was almost black. More dripped from his nostrils, and he hurried inside to wipe it away.

How strange. He hadn't gotten a nosebleed since he was ten, and that had been after he'd been hit in the face with a football. Not something random like this. He wasn't Alina or El.

Fortunately, it was only a couple of minutes before it stopped bleeding. Gabe balled up his tissue and tossed it in the trash. Then he headed into the kitchen to get himself an afternoon snack. Probably banana chips. They had at least five boxes in the house.

After taking out a packet from the cabinet, Gabe headed into his room. He hadn't been lying to Nicole—he really did have homework, most of it from sadistic teachers who decided that even though it was called spring break, they should still be doing classwork. It was a load of bullshit.

Of course, Gabe still did it.

It wasn't too difficult to persuade his grandma to let him go to Lucas's basketball game. At first, she'd been confused about why he wanted to go ("It's basketball, Gabriel. A sport."), but when she'd found out it was to support his friend—even if said friend would likely be on the bench for the game's duration—she was all for it. Especially since it was Lucas. Although Dolores liked all of Gabe's friends, she was glad he wasn't just hanging around with white people. Which, honestly, made total sense.

Fortunately, Gabe didn't need to endure her driving again. Nancy, who worked for the school newspaper (Gabe wished he could join, but they only took juniors and seniors), was also attending, and she'd agreed to give him a ride. Even if it meant enduring her weird new friend, Fred, who definitely had a crush on her, it was worth it.

"All right, let's go, Tigers!" Fred announced as Nancy pulled into the parking lot. Nancy rolled her eyes and struggled for a few minutes to find a parking spot. It was packed. Although other schools had obviously arrived for the game, Gabe figured that most of the cars there were actually from Hawkins High students. The pep rally this morning had proven that they possessed a strange amount of school spirit—it was practically a given that they would attend the actual game.

"Thanks for the ride, Nancy," Gabe said as he got out. "I really appreciate it."

Nancy smiled at him. "Of course, Gabe. Say hi to Lucas for me."

Gabe nodded. "I will."

God. Sometimes Nancy was so much cooler than her brother.

He was glad to have her. They'd become friends (as well as they could despite their age gap, anyway) last summer, when Gabe had pestered her about working at the Hawkins Post. Back then, he hadn't known how scummy the staff was—Bruce Lowe and Tom Holloway were notable examples—and had wanted nothing more than to join her in her internship. Will had even gotten Jonathan to convince his superiors to grant one to Gabe. But though it sounded like a dream come true at the time, Gabe had ultimately decided not to go through with it. Even with a lot of the assholes gone, the Hawkins Post still printed a load of garbage.

Still, despite this, Gabe had grown closer to Nancy. Sometimes Dustin and Mike teased him about having a crush on her (and Robin, despite the fact that she was gay, too), but he just waved them off. Mock him all they wanted. He was not going to stop looking up to Nancy Wheeler.

When he got inside and parted from her and Fred, he was hard-pressed to find a seat. The bleachers were as packed as the parking lot, with cheerleaders, band members, and regular fans taking up nearly every inch of the space. He ended up crushed between a particularly large senior with full Hawkins High face paint and the wall.

He winced as he nearly got a face full of sweaty armpit. This better be worth it.

In typical pre-game fashion (apparently. Gabe had never actually gone to a basketball game anywhere other than here, so it might have just been a Hawkins thing), the marching band played a few songs. Robin was among them, and Gabe waved at her when he caught her eye in the crowd. She was pretty occupied with playing the trumpet, but she managed to lift a hand up for a moment in order to wave back.

When the band finished its final song, the announcer—a white man in a sweater vest that Gabe was fairly certain was a senior teacher—stepped up to the microphone. "Everyone now please rise for our national anthem."

Gabe did, not wanting to risk getting in trouble with his teachers again. He'd remained seated one time to protest the continual mistreatment of black people by the government, and he'd nearly been suspended.

"Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest," the announcer continued. "All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!"

The crowd applauded as a grinning blonde woman made her way through the doors. Gabe, on the other hand, had to suppress a smile. When they'd both come out to each other, Robin had told him about her old crush on Tammy Thompson—and the fact that, according to Steve, she was a horrible singer. Still, given that she was here, she had to be okay. There was no way she could be horrible.

At least, that was what Gabe thought.

Then she opened her mouth, and all of that was thrown out the window.

Gabe's ears were just about to begin bleeding when Tammy finally finished. He sat down gratefully, leaning forward in anticipation. Sure, he didn't really know basketball rules—why was it so complicated? Shouldn't you just get one point if you get it in the basket?—but this was important to Lucas. He'd figure it out.

When the game began, Jason immediately got possession of the ball. The other school's cheerleaders urged their team to defend, but Jason quickly passed to his teammate, who got the ball back to him. He shot at the net, and the ball sunk through, putting Hawkins High two points ahead of their rival school. However, although Jason was immediately cocky—he pointed to Chrissy and winked, a silent message that he'd gotten the goal (was that what it was called?) for her—the other team quickly made up for the early blunder. That somehow got them three points.

Jason wasn't exactly happy about that.

Gabe cast his eyes down to the bench. Lucas was still there, jiggling his leg, his eyes narrowed as he focused on the game. He winced when the opposing team scored for a second time, then a third. By the way he was sitting, as if he was just about to spring out of his seat, he really wanted to get on the court.

Fortunately, it was soon to come.

Near the end of the game, there was a very obvious foul when one of the opposing players jumped into Number Ten. He fell to the ground, groaning, and held his leg. As the crowd booed, two of Number Ten's teammates hurried over to help him up. He leaned his full weight on them as he limped to the bench. It was obvious he wasn't going to be playing for a while.

Which meant...

At the prompting from his coach, Lucas got to his feet. Yanking off his sweater, he sprinted onto the court, finally getting to do something more than warm the bench. Gabe stood up, too.

"Go, Lucas! You've got this!"

Lucas met his gaze and grinned.

He turned out to be a really good basketball player. Honestly, Gabe was unsure why they kept him on the sidelines. Only a minute in, and he already gave Jason an assist, bringing the score up by a few points. The opposing school was still winning, but, if they kept this up, there was a chance that Hawkins could actually surpass them. Gabe kept cheering Lucas on, pumping his fists into the air. If Mike, Dustin, and Max weren't here, he was going to have to be loud enough for all of them.

However, despite all of the goals that were being scored, the other school continued to remain a few points ahead. By the time there was a minute left, the score was 52-50.

Come on. Come on.

With only thirty seconds left of the game, Jason called a time-out. The team huddled together, and their frantic-looking coach considered their positions. The cheerleaders started up another chant, and Gabe strained his ears. Unfortunately, he couldn't hear the team's plans over all of the background noise. He just had to trust that they knew what they were doing.

When the time-out ended, Jason possessed the ball. In the past few games Gabe had watched, he'd noticed that Jason was a bit of a hog—he barely let any of his teammates get a hold of it before clamouring for it to be passed back to him. So, it was no surprise when he was the one to take the shot.

Unfortunately for him, he missed.

What would have been a winning goal instead bounced off the rim and went back to the court. Everyone leaped for it, arms outstretched. But it was Lucas who managed to take a hold of it.

As he scrambled out of the pile of players that had formed, Gabe actually jumped into the air. "Yes!" he shouted. "Go, Lucas!"

With his eyes narrowed in concentration, Lucas got to a good angle, then turned back towards the basket. There were only three seconds to go. Lucas used two of them to prepare his shot.

At the very last second, he took it.

The ball spun in a curving arc towards the net. It hit the rim, then rolled around it, threatening to bounce back out. But, at the very last second, it hit the backboard and fell right in.

Everyone exploded into cheers. Gabe screamed, waving his hands like some kind of maniac, because Hawkins High had won, and Lucas was the one to do it for them. Lucas's face glowed as his celebrating teammates surrounded him, lifting him up in the air and starting a chant in his name. Gabe ran down the bleachers and onto the court. It took him a while, but he finally pushed his way through to his friend. Immediately, he wrapped his arms around him.

It was a bad idea. Lucas was really sweaty. Still, Gabe kept his hold.

"You did it, Lucas! You did it!"

Lucas beamed.

See, Mike, Dustin, and Max? Gabe thought when he finally let go. This is what you miss when you decide things aren't important.

Screw them, anyway.

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

A/N: fun fact, i've never been so invested in any kind of sports game until i watched this scene. for real, i was on the edge of my seat the entire time, and then, when lucas ended up scoring, i actually screamed and jumped into the air like any of it was real lmao. GOD i love lucas. and caleb mclaughlin's acting this season was absolutely phenomenal, wow.

question of the day: what were your thoughts on volume two? please tag any spoilers for readers who haven't seen it yet, but i'm interested in knowing your thoughts!

'till next time!