James was certainly off as he climbed down, speaking somewhat slowly and admitting he was a mess. Curious; Will would never have admitted that himself, but it seemed James was less hesitant to do so than he was. Pursing his lips as he climbed down himself, he shook out his limbs, filing the admission away for later assessment when he spoke to Cris. Or perhaps… perhaps he shouldn’t bring this up to Cris after all.
Snorting softly at James’s allowance that he could go on with his day and leave him be, Will shook his head slightly. “Nah, I’ve got no schedule today or anything. I’m free. We should probably start getting to know one another better anyway, honestly, and with how tired you seem to be, I’d feel better if I walked you home after. Let’s head to that diner down the street, yeah? I’ll cover us today.”
A rare moment of niceness; Will didn’t like being kind to near anyone, save those few that he let in really close to him. But James seemed to need it, and there was a small part of him that felt for him, seeing as he had just lost his team and best friend in one fell swoop. Will didn’t know why, but he did understand losing a partner, even one that could seem antagonistic at times. “How have you been feeling about practice?” he questioned lightly, leading James out of the gym and toward the diner. “Liking it well enough?”
“Oh, yeah,” James responded casually, hands in pockets, “It’s great. Feels like home already. And Em is amazing. She said, you know, she said we should get to know each other more. So it would help our game performance. But I guess I just haven’t had time to really reach out yet. Or maybe I was waiting for you, since, you know, I’ve heard so many gruff rumors about you.” He laughed at that, hoping that Will wasn’t too offended. It was true, though. There were plenty of rumors out there about Will, and they were all generally bad.
“Hey, you’re marrying the team owner though, aren’t you? Pratt?” James attempted to change the subject, “He’s...uh, he’s something alright. A good looker though. What was...what was it like, admitting to the team that you were with him? Like...weren’t you afraid they were going to judge you or something? Especially as a beater, didn’t you think someone would think you weak for being gay? And like, the fans. What about them?”
Said like a true stoner, each word was drug out far too long and his thoughts were jumbled together. He was genuinely curious, though, and had been curious for a long time, but couldn’t quite find the right person to ask. Now, he seemed to have a good opportunity in front of him, and he wasn’t going to miss it.
