Sunday... 11:30 p.m.

(NO POV)

Basketball by moonlight had been one of their secrets all summer. Why it had been so much fun, why it had been such a thrill in the first place? Neither of them knew...

It was part of growing up... Sneaking out of the house at night.

A rather stupid way to show responsibility and maturity, but a common one none the less.

"You're not gonna make it..."

"Yes, I am."

"No you're not..." Fang couldn't help but grin, even though Iggy couldn't see him.

Iggy continued dribbling the ball in place with one hand, his face barely fifteen inches from Fang's. So close he could smell stale potato chips and soda on the other boy's breath. And he lifted his left hand, flipping Fang the bird as he faked to the right.

Fang bought it, although Iggy wasn't sure how since it had been obvious to him anyway what he was going to do. He did it almost every time.

Fang cursed bitterly under his breath as he stumbled a few steps turning in time to see Iggy make his shot from the three point line. A little bounce on the balls of his feet, hands coming up, putting some backspin on the ball as it sailed through the air...

Iggy listened, drawing breath between parted lips, mocking the sound of the ball as it fell perfectly through the hoop. He didn't laugh... Gloating wasn't his style... But he did turn, rather nonchalantly and cup his hand to his ear.

"How many was that again? I lost count."

He could feel Fang flipping him off so he returned it, "Come on, how many?"

"Thirty to two..."

"Jeez-us, Fang, loosing to a blind guy... I mean, that's BAD..."

"Stuff it."

"Where and when?"

Fang checked the ball to him and wiped sweat from his eyes.

Iggy checked the ball back.

"Come on, we're not playing four-square, Ig," He bounced it back.

"I know ... It's your ball, you're defense, remember?" He returned the ball again.

Fang didn't reply, but tried to shoot and Iggy merely stuck up his hand and batted the ball down again then bounced the ball between Fang's legs, rolled around him, caught it, and started down the court whistling the highschool's Fight Song.

"Don't do that again! I thought you were gonna spike my balls!" Fang shouted after him, discretely cupping himself to ease the fear that something had gotten hit.

Iggy paused mid-court, bouncing the ball by his side, grinning like Satan incarnate, then with a vertical jump that peaked about three feet in the air, shot from mid-court, listening for that satisfying 'swoosh!' sound.

But what he heard instead was Fang snapping out his wings and taking to the air, catching it like a football, cradled against his chest, giving a little grunt when he did.

"Hey... I thought we were playing fair, Ig?"

"We never play fair, that's the fun of it! I travel with the ball, and you get tired of loosing and Wing-out..." Iggy crossed his arms. "You just need to learn to loose."

Fang landed, his wings still out and checked the ball to Iggy, "Fine, you win..." He snuffed again, wiping his nose on his bare arm. "Horse, then we gotta go home..."

Iggy grinned and checked the ball back, "You're ass-tro-turf!"

"What are you talking about, I'm good at Horse."

"Yeah, I know, I hear you all the time 'NEE-EEEEEHHH'!"

Fang punched him in the shoulder, "Shut the hell up! Psychopath..."

Iggy made a face, much like a monkey by puffing his cheeks full of air and crossing his eyes. "Ain't that the truth! Hanging out with you? I've got a reputation to uphold! What was I thinking!"

"Yeah a reputation with Mrs. Cleary!"

"Fucker!" Iggy threw the ball at his head laughingly. "I'm turning down girls left and right!"

Mrs. Cleary was the ninety year old librarian that had supposedly slept with every male member of the yearbook staff for the last seventy-years. Although absolutely none of it was true... It had only been once and with a girl...

Fang caught the ball before it smashed his face, "Iggy, your girls ARE your left and right..." And he made his shot, "H!"

Iggy shook his head, "I'm not the one who had to buy new underwear last week because all of mine have mysteriously disappeared!" He dodged a punch he knew was coming, all the while laughing to himself and followed the sound of the ball, hoping he didn't kick it and wind up chasing it halfway down the hill before he caught it.

Thankfully he retrieved it without incident and took his shot, "H!"

"So what do you think about it, huh?"

"Think about what?" Iggy waited while Fang took his turn. "The fact you've got magically disappearing underwear?"

"Shut up... I mean that whole big thing tomorrow at school."

"Damn it... I forgot about that... Shit, I haven't practiced at all!"

Fang laughed, "Its Band, Ig, how much do you have to practice?" He cursed under his breath when the ball bounced off the rim. "If I didn't have to work I'd be doing something too. Probably like metal shop... Make a big ass sword or something..."

Iggy laughed under his breath, "It's pretty damn hard to play in the band, thank you very much! We won State Competitions last year I'll have you know!" The ball 'SWOOSH'ed through the hoop. "O."

"You stand there and hit a drum, how complicated can that be?" Fang bounced the ball once and took his shot but it bounced off the backboard and came back at him. "Crap..."

"Hey, Fang, what's the difference between a quarter note and a sixteenth note?" Iggy laughed.

"I don't know ... And you're blind, Iggy, you can't read music anyway!"

"I don't have to read it, I can HEAR it. I can FEEL it. And it's harder than you think to PLAY drums," SWOOSH! "'R'."

"A monkey can play drums," Fang was becoming irritated now... "'O' ... Finally."

"Bull SHIT! Monkeys can't play drums!"

"Bull shit my ass! There's a video of it on YouTube!" Fang barely contained a gloating 'YES!' when he made the shot. "R."

"I'll believe it when I see it," Iggy followed the ball again and picked it up, bouncing it lazily at his size as he walked forward, taking his shot, gaining an 'S' and listening as Fang picked up the ball.

"You're BLIND, Iggy!" The ball made a hollow 'GUNG' sound as it bounced off the rim.

"See? Problem solved!" Iggy grinned and when Fang passed him the ball, he took his shot hearing that beautiful 'SWOOSH!' sound. "OH! What was that, Fang? What was that?"

"'E' Iggy..."

"THANK YOU!" He bowed and the ball Fang had thrown at his head missed him by half an inch.

Fang's watch started beeping, and half a second later the cell phone in Iggy's pocket started literally screaming. (One of his favorite ringtones.)

Fang looked at his watch and a slightly nauseated smile came over his face. "Hey, Ig..."

He grunted as he pulled out the phone running his fingers over the extra large buttons, feeling the Braille on them then pressing the one with the raised star on it, activating one of the phone's special features. "The time is... Twelve A.M."

The phone itself had been what Iggy had bought with the money he was paid from teach drum lessons to a few grade-school kids. Although his service contract had run out, it was still nice to have just for the clock feature.

"We are now officially, two members of the Graduating class of 2012."

Iggy shrugged, stuffed his phone back into his pocket, took the ball from Fang and without looking, threw it over his shoulder and walked away...

But he couldn't help smiling when he heard it make that lovely 'SWOOSH!' sound through the hoop again.

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