Hoop Dreams (Gaston Jr.)

[Gwyn Locksley]

Gwyn jogged slowly down the court, easily dribbling the basketball as she went. Just a light warm up, it wouldn’t do to strain herself now, not before the challenge. Grinning to herself, she paused long enough to shoot the ball, her smile widening as it dropped through the basket. She had been slacking a bit over the winter, but she still had it.

Retrieving the ball, she took another glance at the clock. Just like Gaston to be late, although she had to cut him a bit of slack since he had just arrived back the night before. Of course Gwyn being Gwyn, she hadn’t given him much time to settle in, sending a message with Eddie to reissue the challenge. She hoped her brother had remembered, he knew she would hurt him if he forgot after all, but she was starting to wonder, but then she had always been very prompt.

Spinning the basketball on her finger, she glanced toward the door. She had to admit, she was a little excited to see Gaston. Sure, he was her brother’s best friend, but she liked to think that he and her were rather close as well. He was one of the few people she allowed to call her Gigi, and he didn’t ignore her like many boys would their friend’s younger sisters. Besides all that, he was fun.

Tossing the spinning ball up in the air, she just barely managed to catch it on her other finger when the doors opened.

[Gaston Jr]

It was his first day back at the academy after his prolonged absence and already things seemed to be looking just that little better. It was strange how much peoples perceptions of you could change, just from a couple of changes to how you look. He had always thought it was ridiculous, he used to laugh at Tristian and his mother, even at times the King himself, and now…he had to eat his words. From the minute he stepped on campus things had been different, the way the girls looked at him, the way some of the guys had said ‘hey’…it was something he had never experienced beforehand.

He had to hand it to her; his mother had done a great job.

After having one to many buckets of tar and feathers poured on his beautiful luscious locks he had been told that he had to have it all shaved off. Not wishing to stay at school and face the ridicule he had escaped back home until a semblance of it had grown back in. It may have seen drastic but until the tar and feathers moment it had been extremely easy to hide a closely guarded secret that he had carried with him for a long time, since birth. His mother had been more than sympathetic and allowed him to stay and sulk in the Summer Country on the promise that we keep himself busy and take her advice. Thanks to her…this secret remained secret, and thanks to her his new look was gathering a lot of attention.

His first port of call was going to be up to see Meredith, to see what she thought but…he got nervous. He really wasn’t sure if that was the best idea, would she like it? He didn’t know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing? Would she hate it? Would she demand to know who he was? It was just…complicated… Luckily the choice was no longer there when Eddie found him and passed on a message from Gwyn, without even changing his clothes, and grinning from ear to ear he headed down to the gymnasium, excited to see his friend.

Flinging open the doors he walked into the gym hall confidently, grinning at her and taking off his sunglasses. “Gigi,” he called out happily, “are you ready to get your head in the game…I cant believe I actually just said that.”

(( For how he looks nowwww.efronpictures.net/displayimage.php?pid=47750&fullsize=1

[Gwyn Locksley]

When the door opened and Gaston walked in, Gwyn’s first instinct was to run over and hug him. Now Gwyn was never the most observant person, but to her credit she did only manage to make it halfway across the room before she noticed the very obvious changes in his appearance. The basketball falling forgotten to the floor, her eyes widened as she looked him up and down before finally fixing her gaze on his hair. Finding the ability to move again, she made her way over to stand directly in front of him, one hand reaching up to finger a strand of his much shorter hair.

He had told her he had cut it, she shouldn’t have been surprised. In fact, she was the one who had suggested he cut it in the first place after her failed attempt at helping him clean the tar from his former long locks a few months back. His beautiful long locks. Gwyn didn’t normally pay too much attention to anyone’s looks, but she had always loved Gaston’s hair.

“It’s... different,” she finally said, running her fingertips through a section at the front. It really wasn’t too bad, and if he liked it then that was all that mattered. Bringing her eyes back to meet his, she smiled. “It is very becoming, though I’m not sure how you intend to properly play against me in those clothes.”

[Gaston Jr]

Her expression did fill him with much confidence.

He immediately lost his confident composure and looked at her worriedly as she ran her fingers through the front section of his hair. This was bad, this was really bad. If Gwyn didn’t like it then…well…she was his friend. So what if other people liked it, he didn’t want to lose the opinion of his friends. I mean didn’t she realise the new hairstyle sort of helped with his whole Han Solo cosplay?…not that he did that stuff anymore…well not publicly but… oh this was bad.

Shifting uncomfortably on his feet he said, “Is it…is it that bad? I mean the longer hair was good and it was…well…I had to cut it because of the tar and…it uh…that bad huh?”

When she pointed out he was wearing the wrong clothes as well he wrapped the coat a little tighter around his body and said, smiling weakly, “yeah, I guess so…they uh, jeans are quite stretchy though, I might just…loose the jacket. I’m sure that wont help…yeah…You’re looking great.”

[Gwyn Locksley]

Now Gwyn was hardly the most observant or tactful or really any good quality in the world, but even she could tell when someone was worried and needed some reassuring. Well, at least when that someone was a close friend whom she thought she knew pretty well. Feeling bad to have made Gaston worry, she smiled warmly at him.

“It looks great, really. Very modern. Very... cool,” she responded, reaching up again to ruffle his hair before jumping back away from him. There were many people who would not appreciate such a gesture and would retaliate in kind. “Besides, I’ve always been a fan of change, and it is only hair.” Her own was tied back in a ponytail so it didn’t interfere with her game, but it was certainly a lot shorter than it had been when she had first arrived at Tintagel, though she had been growing it out again the past few months.

“Jeans may be stretchy, but they’re heavy and restricting, but suit yourself. Just don’t use it as an excuse when you lose.” Okay, so maybe he had just returned and she hadn’t seen him in months and she still hadn’t really properly greeted him, but she also wasn’t going to let Gaston off easy. It really wasn’t her style.

[Gaston Jr]

When she jumped back from ruffling his hair he had been about to reach out and do the same to her own, but she was just too fast. Always one step ahead was our Gwyn and it made him grin happily. He had missed this. Hanging out with friends, playing, joking and friendly jeering it was good fun, and when he had been home in Camelot it had certainly been lonely. He was however, glad that she didn’t appear to be too put off by his new look, thinking only about the game than the actual aesthetic in the end, but he didn’t care. It was same old Gwyn and so when he was with her he would be the same old Gaston…with a couple of improvements.

“When I lose? No, wait I’m confused. Lose?” he said grinning and shrugging off the leather coat and throwing it over on to the stands, “No, you see, you must have me mixed up with some other guy. I never lose.”

He pretended to think about it for a second and then the grin dropping a minute he continued, “well ok, normally I lose. I mean a suck at football, rugby is just beyond me and hockey is just extremely violent…and lets not even talk about fighting.”

Turning to grin at her again, “But basketball, well that’s a completely different kettle of super mutant gold fish. This is my game.”

Quickly dashing forward he scooped up the basket ball dribbled it over to the hoop, jumped up and did a three step lay up and dunked the ball through it. Turning back to grin at Gwyn as the ball bounded to the side he said, “Did I tell you that Arthur got a hoop installed in the caves under the castle back in Camelot? Yeah, he’d watched Space Jam one too many times.”

[Gwyn Locksley]

When Gaston claimed to ‘never lose’, Gwyn didn’t even need to justify it with a verbal response. All she did was raise her eyebrows that clearly stated that she didn’t have enough fingers and toes to count all the times she had seen him lose at something. Fortunately, he was not oblivious to his own track record either and retracted the statement quickly.

He did, though, claim that while he sucked at many other sports, basketball was not one of them. Of course Gwyn was about to argue and talk some more ‘smack talk’, but her mouth wasn’t as fast as her feet and before she could even open it he was off, scooping up the basketball and performing a rather impressive lay up.

Well, that had been unexpected. For the first time in a very long time, Gwyn felt a tinge of worry about her competition.

“Alright, that was pretty good,” she reluctantly admitted, “But let’s see how you do when the path isn’t clear. How about first to ten baskets?”

She could claim that while he was home practicing endlessly, she had spent practically a month sick as a dog and still wasn’t up to her full athletic ability again, but that would just sound like an excuse. And excuse she could use later if, as much as she hated to consider the possibility, Gaston actually beat her.

[Gaston Jr]

“First to Ten it is, and just so everything is fair and equal, we wont make that last one count,” he said grinning from ear to ear.

Running over to retrieve the ball he scooped it up and began throwing it from hand to hand, pretending to be lost in thought. “We should probably establish a few ground rules as well, not that either of us could be accused of cheating but you know, just in case. Rule number one,” he said and began to dribble the ball, still looking up at her. You can only hold on to the ball for here seconds when you’re standing, then you have to dribble. Rule number two, you can only dribble for five seconds and then you have to try and shoot.”

Throwing the ball over to Gwyn he said, “And Rule number Three, no physical contact, so no elbowing, slapping or head butting. Agreed?”

[Gwyn Locksley]

Rolling her eyes, Gwyn almost protested that he could keep his grace point and that she would still beat him anyway, but it really hadn’t been a fair point, and they hadn’t officially started the game yet. He was acting just a little too cocky for his own good right now, though; Gwyn should know, of course, as he was suddenly acting a frightening amount like her. Her confidence in her win took another minor hit.

Moving to stand in front of Gaston as he laid out the rules, she wisely kept her mouth shut. She knew how to play the game, but it couldn’t hurt to reiterate the rules so there could be no confusion, not that she really expected him to cheat or try to claim ignorance. Eddie maybe, but not Gaston.

“You say that as if you expect me to play dirty,” she said, catching the ball. Of course he wasn’t the only one who could show off. Dribbling the ball from one hand to the other, she passed it back between her legs and caught it behind her. Tossing it into the air with a spin, she caught it on one finger where it rotated quickly several times before she caught it between her palms again. “You know I always play fair.” Holding the ball under one arm, she held her other hand out for him to shake. “Agreed.”

[Gaston Jr]

Shaking her hand he grinned and said, “Excellent. Now since you’re in possession of the ball at the precise moment, you can start. Besides, I’m nothing if not a gentleman and ladies always go first…that and I don’t have a coin to toss.”

Taking up position a little further away from her, not wanting to initially be up in her space, he watched her with the ball. Her little showing off before they had shook hands had given him a glimpse of what she was capable of and he was certain he had a worthy adversary. Now if they were playing dungeons and dragons there would be no contest, he was definitely the better player, no one was really as good as him…well maybe Eddie. But of course any other physical sport and Gwyn would most definitely trump him. This was the only sport he had really got in too, or was any good at, and he’d had plenty of time to practice.

“So how’s things been anyway? School going ok? Got yourself a boyfriend yet?” he asked, waiting for her to make her move.

[Gwyn Locksley]

Gwyn rolled her eyes at Gaston’s brief statement of false chivalry. It had been a long time since anyone had called her a lady, probably as long as she had been here. Although she did believe him to be a gentleman, the other two reasons he gave for letting her start sounded more likely. She had always been more of ‘one of the boys’ than a lady, and often got treated that way, at least by her brother anyway.

Widening her stance and facing off against him, Gwyn dribbled the ball, pulling a face at his question. “You know I don’t have time for a boyfriend,” she replied. Making like she was going to fake left, she instead stopped and just fired off a shot from where she stood. “Besides, romance is just a distraction. I have too much to do and too many goals to let a boy get in my way.”

While she spoke, the basketball bounced off the backboard and fell effortlessly through the hoop.

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston had jumped up to stop it but it had flown over his hands and he turned and watched it as it flew through the hoop. Hmm, maybe he shouldn’t have been so cocky, clearly Gwyn had been doing just as much training as he had and she was just naturally good at everything. He was going to have to up his game a little bit. He ran towards the ball and walked back out on to the court dribbling it quickly so that Gwyn wouldn’t be able to tell when he was going to try and make the shot.
 
He grinned and said, “Who says he would get in the way? Maybe he could help, stand by and support you as you achieve greatness.”
 
The idea of Gwyn having a boyfriend unsettled him in a strange way he didn’t quite understand. There was no denying it he was completely and irrevocably in love with another girl, had been for a while. But he had always been close to Gwyn, she had always been there at the corner of his eye and more recently, especially as it was beginning to dawn on him that the girl he loved might harbour the same feelings towards someone else…he couldn’t help but try and move on, and shift his attention and Gwyn…
 
She was pretty brilliant. She didn’t get bored when he talked about nerdy things, she was excellent at everything and ok she was a little socially awkward but he had always got on with her. And she was pretty, very pretty. If it weren’t for the desperately in love thing and the fact that there was a possibility Gwyn might break his arm if he even attempted to ask her on a date, he could see himself with her…more than that he could see himself happy with her… Although she probably didn’t feel the same way as well, after all he was desperately hopeless with girls, and he wasn’t exactly what he imagined her type of guy to be like. Nah. No chance.
 
But her and another guy…he didn’t like it…but he knew he had no say and kept his opinions on that to himself.
 
He faked to go right with the ball, attempting to put her off and shot up and to the left in stead watching as the ball headed towards the basket hoping it wouldn’t rebound.

[Gwyn Locksley]

It was a nice thought, but a complete fantasy. Of all the guys Gwyn had met in her life, there were very few that would be content to just stand by and support her while she became a legend. Most men wanted the recognition, they never wanted to be upstaged by a girl. To expect any of them to support her instead of trying to steal her glory was unfathomable. Gaston was one of the few boys she knew who was man enough to not feel emasculated by a girl being better than him at anything.

“You know that wouldn’t happen,” Gwyn stated simply, her eyes fixed intently on the ball as Gaston dribbled it, approaching her. “Besides, I would have to spend time with him, and think about him, which leads me right back to not having time for a boyfriend, and not being willing to let myself get distracted.”

It sounded logical to her; it was an easy answer. The easy answer; too easy, but Gwyn didn’t see it that way. To her it was the truth, nothing behind it, just the simple truth.

Even talking about it was a distraction, so by the time she went for the ball Gaston had already gotten his shot off and she only succeeded in colliding with him as the basketball danced around the rim a moment before falling through the hoop and evening the score.

[Gaston Jr]

He put his hands on her shoulders to steady her when they collided, not wanting the two of them to careening towards the floor. Watching as the ball went through the hoop he grinned, and only just stopped himself from punching a hand up into the air. Such displays of cockiness only meant that if he lost the fall would be greater, as would the mocking. Instead he looked down at Gwyn and still grinning, winked at her, before running off to retrieve the ball that was now bouncing along the floor.

“You wouldn’t have to think about him all the time, I mean it’s not like the thought police are going to come and arrest you for not thinking about your boyfriend all the time,” he said scooping up the ball, “and besides distractions are good. Allows you a little break, take your mind of things. I hear boyfriends can be great at massaging, especially after all that training you’ll be doing. Think how nice that would be.”

He threw the ball over to her as it was her turn to start now and took on a defensive position near the hoop rather than close to her. If she went for a jump shot then he’d be lucky to intercept, but if she came in for a lay-up he would have a better chance.

“And ok, some guys cant sit by on the sidelines and watch female greatness, but there are still a few good ones out there that can,” he said watching her with the ball, “I mean just look at Eddie, he sits back and lets you take all the greatness all the time. Not that I think you should date your brother.”

He grinned and said, “And me. I come from matriarch society, there’s nothing but female greatness where I come from.”

[Gwyn Locksley]

Halting immediately when Gaston grabbed her shoulders, Gwyn’s head snapped around and she followed the ball with her eyes as it fell through the basket. Hmm. Turning her attention back to him, she pulled a bit of a face when he grinned and winked at her. It was no worse than anything she would do when she won, but there was a big difference between her and Gaston: Gwyn hated losing.

There was also a big difference, Gwyn was quickly realising, between practising her basketball skills on her own and actually having a game with someone else. She had played a few people in the past, but she didn’t really know many people, didn’t have any friends beyond those from Camelot, so the few that had dared accept her challenge had learned quickly not to do so again. Not only had she practically obliterated them, but she had been very cocky about it as well.

It was a trait she had definitely inherited from her father.

“You’re talking nonsense. Distractions are not good,” Gwyn replied, propping her hands on her hips a moment before catching the ball Gaston tossed her way. “I have nothing I need nor want to take my mind off of, nor do I need someone groping me under the guise of helping me relax.”

Honestly, his argument was making no sense to her. She didn’t think about things like this because she didn’t need them. She knew what she wanted and she was on the right path to get them, so why change now? Why would she let anyone stand in the way of that? Why would she risk losing her focus so that maybe she ended up being the one to stand in the way of her own dreams? It was silly.

“So two guys out of a million and one of them is my brother? You know I like to defy impossible odds, Gaston, but even I wouldn’t attempt those ones,” she continued, hoping he would realise she just wasn’t budging and give up. Gwyn just wasn’t like most girls; the very last thing on her mind while at school here was finding a boyfriend, and she was not about to let Gaston change that.

Dribbling the ball a few times, she considered just taking a shot from where she stood, which she knew she could make, but if they just continued to take shots then this was hardly a real game, now was it? Nor would it be a challenge. She had already honed her skills with point shots, now it was time to work on her actual gaming skills with another person. There was always an area to improve in. So she played right into his expectation, running for the net and going in for the lay-up.