"Nigga, I'm the life of the beat. Fuck that, this year gotta eat."
Added as a last resort to restore Jujutsu High's once glorious basketball team, Yuji's natural talent did nothing to overshadow his naivety and his inexperience that eventually turne...
WORD COUNT: 7.5K TW: cursing, corny friends-to-lovers scenarios. NOTE: corny chapter lol but I love it, very self-indulgent
"THIS IS MY CANVAS, I'MA PAINT IT HOW I WANT IT BABY..."
— J. COLE. | APPARENTLY
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"Aw, what?! That was definitely a foul!!"
(Y/N) shrugged her shoulders at Yuji's response, stuffing another handful of cough drops in her mouth. With individual blankets wrapped around their bodies and covering the top of their heads like nuns, they sat on Yuji's living room couch like watching a movie premiere. Except, instead of watching a movie, they switched between countless basketball games, starting with the most iconic and trailing down from there.
Most of the games were ones Yuji had already watched like Kobe Bryant's 81 points against Toronto or when Shaq scored 61 on his birthday, or the 2010 NBA finals. They became some of the staples he used to develop his unique, shitty style of basketball because he tried to shoot like Stephen Curry before he learned how to dribble properly. However, as Yuji watched them closer than before, he noticed just how strong their grasp was on the foundations before they developed their godly skills.
To start, they were all amazing dribbles. It made it harder to steal and easier to run across the court when you could rule the ball instead of letting the ball rule your pace. Secondly, they never kept the ball for too long, preventing their opponents from predicting their next move. During Yuji's game with (Y/N), he held the ball to the point she could determine his next plan of action. He needs to either decide what he'll do at that moment or pass the ball to his team member to prevent steals. Thirdly, his grip on both the ball and the floor was slippery. Professional players do regular strength training in their fingers and toes improve footwork, since those limbs were two of the most important to consider in basketball. Fourth, hand-to-eye coordination was everything and a staple in basketball if he desired to be the shooting guard, small forward, or point guard. Finally, he had the form of a monkey in a jungle, making an absolute fool of himself while trying to shoot. Although he had a lot to improve, (Y/N) was going to make it as fun and rewarding as possible for both of them.
The professional players they watched had such a strong grip on the basics that they further built their specialty skills from there—it didn't just happen magically. They built on whatever they were the best at, and despite Yuji not being so tall, (Y/N) thought he had the potential to be the center.
