wickerpark | [David & Izak] The Basketball Diaries

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[David & Izak] The Basketball Diaries

Dad had texted just before practice that he was going to be late again - and Mom was in London tonight, anyway, sleeping off her last international flight - so David hadn't seen much point in going home. Probably would have just been Rosa's enchiladas, he thought. Not that it was a bad thing, but sitting at the kitchen island in their silent apartment wasn't exactly his idea of a good time.

Of course, the problem with going to school where he did was that everyone else he knew - even the other guys on the team - were too worried about whether they'd get into Notre Dame or Stanford or wherever to do anything that might approach fun. Never mind they'd all been admitted now. Hell, he was even admitted now, even if his five acceptances didn't have Ivy cachet. They were all stuck in the habit, even now that grades didn't matter anymore.

Well, whatever, he thought as he sacked out on a bench and glanced in all directions before he slipped a joint out of his pocket. Just a few more months of this, then they'd all be away. It probably didn't much matter now.

He barely saw the shadow of someone coming by him as he was lighting up, and David's eyes flashed upwards, uncharacteristically sharp and incisive for a moment. Then he saw who it was, and he grinned.

"Hey, Kagan. You're out late. Riding herd on your baby sis?"

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Izak was, David thought, the type of guy you'd have to kiss to get to shut up. It might not even stop him if you tried, and he was tempted to, but...well. They were at the pizza place, anyway, so he just pushed it open and slouched towards a booth.

"What kind do you want?" He asked. "I mean, the sausage is good, but it's Chicago. The sausage is always good. It's the law."

He would stop if kissed. At least he imagined he would, though he didn't have a whole lot of experience with the whole thing. Following David into the shop and sliding into the other side of the booth.

"Uh, no can do. Most sausage is pork." And, well. Pork was a no go. They might not have been the most religiously observant family, but they did try to avoid eating the wrong things. Even if Turkey bacon was just not the same as real bacon. "I actually stick with the veggie pizza, with a splash of pineapple. You?"

"You're missing out on the best parts of the world, man," David said, though he managed to not wrinkle his nose at the idea of veggie pizza. With pineapple. It was a travesty, he was pretty sure.

Still, he supposed sacrifices had to be made. "I think the veggie pizza's okay here," he said. "It's got broccoli and artichoke hearts on it, though, if those are no-gos. Roasted red peppers, too."

Izak would never understand people's objection to pineapple on their pizza. He wasn't the only one that liked it. For one, he'd gotten it from Hadyn- who like him, enjoyed the sweetness of the pineapple mixed in with the more savory flavors. And two? It wouldn't have been on a menu if someone out there didn't buy enough of it.

"Nah, man. That actually sounds really good. Usually we have to remind places that black olives are from the devil and we don't want them- my dad and me, I mean. But everything else if kinda golden." He said, smiling. "You sure you're okay with the veggie stuff? I mean...most people don't really go for it."

David would point out that anchovies are, too, and he was pretty sure he and his mom were the only ones who really liked them on a pizza. "It's not a pizza unless it's got at least three kinds of greasy meat on it at our house," he admitted. "I think Dad might be allergic to most veggies. But it's not going to kill me, yeah?" His eyes twinkled a little under his floppy brown hair. "I wouldn't want you have to go confess to your rabbi, or whatever.

"Besides," he added as he leaned back, glancing over his shoulder at the waitress who was finally heading their way. "I hear they're good for me. Are you good for me, Izak?"

"I-uh-wha?" Izak started, blinking and staring as if he wasn't sure he'd heard David right. He had a hundred things he could have said to the whole Veggie thing. For one, Hadyn- sort of crazy when it came to diet. For another- he didn't really care much for meat when he thought about it too much. Especially the greasy kind.

Yet all that just sort of died when all he could do was stare. And then let David order, only managing to get out a choked 'coke' for what he wanted to drink.

After the waitress left, he sort of shook himself out of it. "I....I-I-I don't know? I mean, um. I'm sort of just...nerdy. And not all that into pot. And I....really like you, so I'm going to just....just shut up. Now. Oh God." He muttered the last part, feeling himself turning bright red slowly. Sarah was going to kill him for how pathetic he was.

David laughs a little, low and amused, but not cruel. "Dude," he said. "We go to the Latin School. No matter how much Mike and them act like meatheads, we're all pretty much nerdy in our own way, or we would have had our asses kicked out and into lesser but equally exorbitant private schools by now." Even David kept his grades up pretty well; more of a humanities guy than Izak was, but still.

"I really like you too," he said, brushing aside the pot thing. No one was as into pot as he was, anyway, which was possibly...mildly concerning.

"Yeah. Well....some people are still more nerdish than others." He assured David, as he smiled at the waitress as their drinks were brought to the table. But David saying he liked Izak...that just sort of baffled him a little.

"You....do?" He asked, genuinely surprised by that. "I...didn't really think I was your type." He managed to get out, scrubbing his hair. "Not that I'm at all unhappy. I like...beyond. I just. Uh...Surprised."

"Well, you're hot," David said easily. "But with that total vibe of having no clue whatsoever that you might be attractive, which sort of makes you more hot. Plus, I don't get the feeling that I'm, like, a notch with you. You know, David Oliver, star point guard. Sometimes it's like I'm a level every gay or bi guy at the school wants to get through."

He shrugged. "You don't think of me that way. At least I don't think you do."

"No. Absolutely...not. I sort of thought of you as this crazy crush that I never had a chance at." He said, picking at one of his nails. "Definitely not a notch- even if it would be the first."

Because while Izak had always day dreamed about being cool and popular, he'd never thought once about using people to get there. And he really hadn't even considered David would ever notice him. "You really think I'm hot?" He asked, smiling a bit bashfully as he looked up at David. "I-I don't know. I think I look sort of dorkish. You should see me in my glasses."

David quirked his brow a bit at the first comment - most guys he knew, no matter how geeky, had fooled around a little - but he let it pass. It'd only make Izak go red and choke, and while the first would be pretty interesting, the second would just raise uncomfortable questions from the waitress.

"Sure," he said instead. "Yeah. Not everyone finds Mike Sullivan attractive, you know." Including, if David had to guess, Izak's little sister, no matter how much she flirted with him. "I bet you're cute with your glasses, anyway. Let me guess, they're those plastic black types."

Well, fooling around wasn't really something Izak had had much chance at, honestly. He might have had a whole floor in the house to himself, but guest 'were not allowed' down there with him. Alone. Not that he'd make out with his friends, but whatever.

And in truth, it only took Hadyn backhanding him once when he was 11 for Izak to decide somethings weren't worth pissing your parents off that much. Even if, ironically, it had been Hadyn's reaction to the incident that disturbed him more than actually getting popped.

"Well, no. Guess not." He said, nodding before laughing a little. "Yeah. That's it. Total hipster frames." He'd worn them to school a few times, when his contacts were acting up or he lost one. If he'd have thought about it, he'd have thought David would have seen him in them at least once.

"My little sister wears these lime green pointy frames with sequins on them that I swear she must have found at a junk store or something. Wears them all the time." David twirled his straw in his hand idly and watched Izak. "Yours probably aren't as bad as that. Leigh looks someone dipped the 1950s in acid whenever she wears them, I swear."

He leaned back as the waitress dumped cheese bread on the table, then grabbed one, dipping it in sauce and chewing thoughtfully. "So, do you want to fool around, or are you just in it for the pizza?"

"Nothing wrong with a hip retro look. Sarah's always telling me I need to be more adventurous, anyway. Maybe it is a girl's thing, though. Because I don't think I look so bad with my clothing. Or glasses." He said in a bit of a ramble before picking up a cheese stick and biting into it without any sauce.

Then he almost choked on it, looking both surprised and mortified at the same time after David's last question. The smartass in him had a witty comeback, one that he might have been able to pull off around his friends with even a smarmy smugness he'd learned from his Uncle. But the words 'why not both?' just sort of stuck in his throat and wouldn't come out.

"I-uh," he started, looking a bit bashful as he picked at the table, trying to regain some of his calm, coolness. "Well- I...I don't want to assume things, I mean. Buying dinner...or whatever, isn't like 'do me now' or something. No-not that I don't want to, because...I would. Like that. I just. Um...."

He trailed off, staring at the breadstick for a moment as he chewed on his bottom lip. He was so fucking hopeless, he thought.

"I mean....yeah. Yes. I. Would." There, he thought, he'd said it. Even if he couldn't quite look at David when he did.

"Your sister's one of those fashion-y types. No one ever looks good enough for them. She'd probably try to make me over if I gave her the opportunity." The trick was not making eye contact. And moving fast enough to avoid critique.

Any other boy, David thought, and he'd be full of his own sly, witty quips. Another night, he might have said them anyway, to see just how red Izak Kagan could blush. He wasn't so much in the mood, though.

"That's good to hear," he said lazily. "Dad's not getting home 'till late tonight, if you want to go to my place."

"Yeah." The difference was that David didn't live with Sarah. Ty didn't have to suffer, but that was more because Tyler didn't open the door for Sarah and usually had something assholish to say when he spoke up. But, Izak thought, it was just sort of a brotherly thing. He and Ty got along alright, at least.

"Um." He started, looking up at David finally, and feeling utterly out of place in that moment. "Yeah. Yeah, sure. I mean. Sounds cool."

He was so going to be dead by the end of the night at this rate, might as well make it worth it. Right?

David laughed a little as the pizza arrived, waiting until the waitress had left before he said anything.

"I rarely kill visitors, promise," he said as he flicked his hair out of his eyes. "It's not the opening scene of a Wes Craven movie or anything."

"I...wasn't worried about you killing me." Well, unless it was out of embarrassment or something. It could happen still.

"I just..." It wasn't like he could admit it was a virgin. Though, he thought, he kind of already had. So. Yeah. "I just...sort of feel like I'm gonna wake up any second now."

"Mm." It was the kind of noncommittal sound that Adam Oliver excelled at, and it would annoy David if anyone pointed out that he sounded like his dad. Looked like him a little bit, too, as he raised an eyebrow and slid a slice of pizza onto his plate.

"You know, I'm just a guy. Not...I don't know, Bono or something."

"Pretty sure Bono is also just a guy. A rich guy." But then, so were they. Or so was Izak. One of them was going to inherit the Kagan family business. And even if they didn't, they were sort of set for life. Trustfunds, the stuff of wet money dreams.

"Sorry, I just..." He sighed a little. "No one's ever been interested in me before, so it kinda seems a little unreal." And for better or worse, David was a jock. And for all he knew this was a total Drew Berrymore, Never Been Kissed, plot set up from hell. "I'm not Tyler, who I am pretty sure has fooled around with everyone in his year."

The Olivers were pretty solidly upper middle class. Or maybe it was salaried upper class; in any case, they weren't suffering, by any means, even with two kids in private school and an expensive downtown condo.

"Maybe you just haven't noticed that anyone's been interested in you before," he said. It was true that Izak wasn't a...magnet the way his younger brother and sister were; even David had noticed that both Tyler and Sarah were surrounded by very distinct hives of admiring types. But still, he was pretty sure there were a few boys and girls who went for the cute, awkward thing. Not just him.

He wasn't particularly unique when it came to guys, after all.

"Maybe." Izak agreed, though he picked at the table. It was a bit like being told you were an idiot, being told you'd never noticed people being interested.

Reaching out, though, he picked up a slice and took a bite. Mulling over things he chewed on the piece quietly before looking at David curiously. "Can I get away with asking how long I've been completely stupid and oblivious to your interest?"

It was a hard question to answer, because it wasn't like David had been counting the seconds since he'd first noticed Izak. It'd been a slow noticing, to tell the truth, and he shrugged his shoulders as he took a drink.

"About three months, I think," he said. "Before basketball started. Around when Tyler was making you play goalie for his free kicks on the field."

Tyler talked Izak into being goalie for his free kicks a lot, which usually ended with Izak having a bloody nose and his little brother giving him a 'you are so pathetic' look while trying to patch him up. He always wanted to protest that Ty didn't, at least, have to hit the ball so damn hard.

"Ah," he said, after a moment. And then he laughed, more at himself than anything. "Sorry, I know. I'm saying that a lot. Just sort of impressed you noticed me more than Tyler, I guess." Ty was, in some ways, an athletic dream boat all on his own. With the bad boy attitude to boot. It made him rather 'hot' with the girls, and some of the guys.

"You're brother's not really my type." Tyler was kind of broody and moody, which definitely made him catnip for the girls, but David figured he was quiet enough himself. If he got into a relationship with someone else like him, it'd probably be 100% moody silence.

"If you're trying to set him up, though," he added with a half-grin, "I'm pretty sure at least three of the basketball cheerleaders have been writing his name with theirs in little hearts."

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