Klay remembered it all.
"'Sup new rookie?" Steph slapped Klay's back–little too hard.
Klay felt himself tip forward from the force. He twisted his head to see his new teammate, chuckling and walking away. Klay sighed.
"This is going to be a long season," Klay muttered to himself, picking up his bag and heading towards the locker room exit.
The 2011 Warriors stepped out onto the giant practice court. Klay couldn't help but soak in the brisk, clean atmosphere of the room.
"Go ahead and shoot around a bit," the coach, Mark Jackson, announced to everyone.
Klay remained in his own bubble, solely focusing on his own game. He eagerly ran to a ball rack and put up a three. Miss. Immediately after, a ball was swished into the same basket.
"Huh?" Klay turned his head to his left and noticed that same cocky man who teased him back at the locker room with his hands still in form of reaching into a cookie jar.
"'Sup, Rookie," the man said, striding towards Klay.
Klay remained silent and put up another shot. Miss.
"What the fuck?" Klay frustratingly threw his arms in the air.
"Hey!" the man narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms. A smirk creeped up on his face. "Don't fucking cuss in my gym."
"Haha, funny," Klay reached for another ball, "but this ain't your gym for very long."
Before Klay even touched the ball, the man immediately gripped onto his wrist.
"Hey, what the–"
"Chill, man," he smirked. "You're Thompson, right?"
"Klay. Klay Thompson." He ripped his arm out of the man's grip and shot another three. He actually made it this time.
"So Klay, I'm Steph."
"I know who you are," Klay picked up another ball. "You're Stephen Curry."
Another three was drained by the rookie.
"Actually, my whole name is Wardell Stephen 'Baby-Faced Assassin' Curry, but of course, you can just call me Steph." Klay could hear the playfulness in his voice.
"I'm not here to fuck around, Wardell," Klay put up another shot. Miss. He grabbed another ball.
"You're not doing it right," Steph crossed his arms.
"Shut up, lemme do this."
The ball went up. Miss.
Steph stepped forward. "Let me help you."
"I got this!"
"Klay–"
"Get away!"
"Dude."
"Lemme jus–ah!"
Klay was suddenly paralyzed. Steph had his arms wrapped around Klay's body from behind. He slowly glided his fingers towards Klay's wrists. Some were entangled with Klay's own fingers. He could feel Steph's pelvis pushed up against his ass, almost as if it was trying to get something into Klay.
Steph's thumbs began rubbing and massaging into Klay's hands.
"You're so tense," Steph's whispering tickled Klay's ear. "No wonder you're shooting so off."
Klay shivered. He remained silent.
"This is how you do it." Steph re-positioned Klay's hands around the ball.
He could feel Steph's chin rest on his shoulder. Klay didn't even know Steph was tall enough to do that. His heart raced, but it slowed down as Steph detached from Klay.
"Now shoot with your usual release."
Klay was frozen. It took a moment for him to understand what Steph was even saying.
"C'mon Rookie."
That seemed to heat him up a bit. Klay put up the shot. Swish.
"What'd I tell you?" Steph shrugged his shoulders and smirked.
"Fuck off."
Klay turned and grabbed another ball. Steph chuckled and nonchalantly walked away to a different court.
Klay continued to shoot the ball with his new learned form. What a surprise? He didn't miss any at all. Klay looked at his hands, and then glanced at Steph who was putting up threes like nothing. Klay groaned. He hated Steph. He hated his help. But even more, he hated that he felt something for him.
After a while, Coach Jackson gathered the entire team up and split them into teams for a scrimmage. What a coincidence? Steph and Klay ended up on the same team.
"Ey, we got the rookie!" Steph jeered with his team.
They all laughed and joked and pointed at Klay. He turned red, but played it off by laughing. He looked at the floor to hide his blush.
After the first possession, Steph already hit a three.
"Woo! I'm too good at this!" he skipped past Klay.
Klay rolled his eyes and played defense on the other team's point-guard. He immediately went for the steal and knocked the ball out of Charles Jenkins' hands.
"Aw shit!" the point-guard watched Klay in astonishment.
Klay made way for the easy lay-up.
Steph clapped his hands and yelled to the rest of the team, "I taught him that!"
Everyone on the court began laughing.
After the opposing team scored an easy jumper, Steph came down dribbling the ball.
"Yo, Klay!" He gestured at Klay to sprint to the other side of the court.
The rookie did so, and Steph made an overhead pass to him. Klay caught the ball and noticed the post, who was supposed to defend him, stumble along the way. He hesitated. So many thoughts ran through his mind. Those were some consequences of having such a high basketball IQ. You don't know if you should drive, shoot, pass, or remain in triple threat...
"Shoot it!" Steph screamed.
Klay flinched, but did so. Swish. That was also a result of having such a high basketball IQ–you know what shot to take.
"Nice man, I saw that form I taught you!" Steph extended his arm out to high-five Klay.
As Klay ran back on defense, high-fiving him back.
After the scrimmage, Klay was on the sideline drinking water from a gatorade bottle.
"Dude, you're hella good," Steph said as he walked up to Klay.
Klay actually displayed a smile for once. "Thanks man, I could say the same for you."
"Y'know we put up the most points and assists during this scrimmage."
"We did?" Klay closed his gatorade bottle.
"Yeah, Coach told me." Steph flung his arm around Klay's back, and they walked towards the team huddle that was forming. "We're a hella good duo."
Klay flinched and broke a sweat. He was definitely putting too much effort in not showing any emotion. "For real?"
"Yeah," Steph smiled. "We need a name...what if we called ourselves Stlay?"
"Stlay?" Klay cringed at the name.
"No...that doesn't roll off the tongue right." Steph glanced around the court, trying to think of an idea. "Compson? Thurry? Naw..."
"Klephen!" Klay blurted out. "How about Klephen?"
Steph thought about it for a while. "Hmm...I'll think about it."
Klay frowned.
"But I guess for now we can be Klephen–Klephen Brothers!" Steph grinned.
Klay cringed at the name, but couldn't help but laugh. Steph giggled along. More importantly, they didn't realize the mutual likeness they had for each other–not yet.
