Chapter Text
..Modo at?" Jett asks in both an irritated and bored tone of voice.
It was as if this question had slowly become clockwork by now.
The thing is that, surprisingly, it sure has become a more often than not question within the Thorn's locker room.
A new season has officially begun.
The off season consisted of daily physical conditioning to keep everyone in shape, going over future practice plans with Dennis, eating some of Vineland's best pie over at Whiskers, and getting Archie's little menaces ready for yet another long school year.
The team was now back on the court and hungry for a successful season with Will, the goat who not only changed the game but unified the Thorns, forever. Things have been great since Will's heartfelt speech at the end of their last season, since then a lot has changed for everyone.
Jett could now say she felt the most fulfilled in her career as she worked hard to earn her place as the role model and advisor of the team.
Lenny has continued to support and be supported by everyone, Olivia is working hard to de-attach herself from social media and becoming more trusting, Archie can finally find some time for himself as there's new uncles and aunties willing to help him and his daughters out, Coach Dennis is more involved than he's ever been, Will's undeniably becoming the core of the team's spirit, and Modo...
Oh right, he hasn't shown up for practice yet. Again.
Jett grumbled, "Seriously, has no one seen him or his BRIGHT purple motorcycle anywhere? This is simply getting ridiculous" she seemed to grow more aggravated by every minute in which Modo's scaly ass continued to be nowhere in sight.
"He hasn't answered any of my texts either, and I don't know about you'all but I am NOT sending another after sending the last two, like, a minute ago" says Olivia.
For a guy who as of recently seems more attached to his phone than her, the team's number one phone addict by default, he sure likes to not answer it
The thought did rounds around her mind as she refreshed the team group chat for the hundredth time. Lenny's peeking from above while also keeping a trained eye on the giant doors that separate the locker room from the main hall. His frown deepening with every-
💥BAAM💥
Just as Olivia and Lenny continued to religiously stare daggers into her phone, with Jett pacing around the locker room with her arms crossed and face twisting into a scowl, the locker room doors flew open.
Only it's not Modo with his colorfully decorated duffle bag, barging right in and cheerfully spilling short and often dismissive apologies for his lateness.
Such apologies sure do leave little place for questioning.
Instead it’s Archie, Will, and the girls. They had left the room about eleven or so minutes ago promising to "find and drag" Modo to the locker room and finally get going with practice.
Modo was nowhere in sight.
All four of them looked completely out of breath too.
"I swear, we looked everywhere! the parking lot-"
"The humidifying room!-”
"And uncle Modo's favorite hanging spots by the ceiling-"
"He's nowhere inside the building!" Archie, Will, and the twins shouted all at once.
Everyone within the locker room took the time to collectively groan, sigh, and facepalm at the disappointing, yet somewhat expected outcome of this wild goose chase.
Will lets out a tired groan while running a hoof down his left eye, the other clasped around his horn.
The team now knew the habit was a result of joy, stress, or annoyance.
They pretended not to notice for Will's sake, he seemed to do it subconsciously. The team couldn't help but find it amusing.
Ends up that after spending the off season together, both in and out of the occasional team practice that Dennis demanded they attend, everyone caught onto a few of each other's personal habits.
Back to Will, both of his hoofs were now tightly latched onto his horns.
Yea he was stressed out alright.
"Coach Dennis caught us during our second lap around the parking lot from his window. He did NOT look happy we weren't out and about in the court running our usual warm up, so we came back as fast as we could! I'm surprised he hasn't barged in here yet actually"
Besides him, Archie nodded to Will's reenactment of events in approval. The twins Adi and Ari mimicked this from their place holding onto their dad's knees.
Their nodding slightly more aggressive than necessary.
"This is it, he's long overdue for an intervention anyway, this happens at least two times a week for fuck's sake! EVERY WEEK!" says Jett, having stopped pacing ever since the locker’s doors had opened up to reveal their unsuccessful retrieval team.
Just as she finished her sentence, the locker room almost immediately erupted into loud conversation.
"LANGUAGE! There's kids around Jett!" scolded Archie while covering the two little rhino's ears.
"WELL WHY AREN'T THEY AT SCHOOL?" Jett added, already completely frustrated.
Her eyes were trained not on Archie, but the two little rhinos who stood proudly at both of his sides. The girls gave her two award winning smiles that did nothing to answer her question.
They really had Archie around their pinky.
"To be fair, the season kind of JUST started, so Modo really isn't missing anything crazy yet, should we really do anything about it?" intruded Olivia, somehow still faithfully holding her phone out with the team's group chat open. If only Modo's chat icon could start typing a somewhat comprehensible text for her to read already.
She continued, "He's been awfully busy as of late, maybe becoming the sudden owner of the Thorns wasn't his smartest idea?"
He still was an active player after all.
Lenny took a break from Olivia's phone to look directly at her in confusion instead.
Jett humorously scoffed at the ostrich's comment, walking away from a still slightly angry Archie and his menaces. The girls both stuck their tongues out at her as soon as she had her back turned.
Will silently stifled a laugh at the scene from his spot by the door by bringing up a loose fist to cover his mouth.
"Thankfully, and for everyone's benefit but mine, he thought it over and handed the ownership to none other than THE Jett Fillmore” Said Jett, now taking a seat in her locker's personal bench. Her left leg still cramped if she stayed standing for too long.
She let out a small chuckle, “Did you really forget? We all took our sweet time dealing with that legal nonsense since August. I don't think I've ever eaten that much pie in my life, we ate them a little too much while filling up those piles of paperwork"
Just thinking about it gave her the chills.
Lenny, having now fully given up on Olivia’s phone, scoffed.
"Modo ain't busy with team matters anymore! Yet he still is the last to show to practice? The first to cancel plans? He's been disappearing doing lord knows what. The thing that really gets me is him being so secretive. Believe me I've never seen him act like this"
Lenny had heard enough from everyone else. This back and forth banter was getting them nowhere.
The locker room soon fell into silence, everyone taking a minute to digest Lenny's comment.
Will, with a dumb founded look in his face as he left his spot at the door in favor of the center of the locker room, was the one to break said silence.
Now only Archie and the girls were left standing by the grand wooden entrance. The twins had taken to staring at the wooden doors in hopes that uncle Modo finally made his presence known.
Walking towards Lenny, Will quietly questioned, "I haven't been around for long enough to know but, you're seriously saying Modo's never been this…I don't know, strange? Like- wow I never thought i'd ever say that"
He really didn't know what to think of the situation. He's sure been hearing similar comments come from each member of the team since the season began tho. Their eccentric, wildcard of a teammate hadn't been acting like himself lately, and it was really starting to confuse the hell out of the team.
Will himself seemed to be the only exception. He wouldn't comment on it now…buttt Modo was still pretty much hooked on R2K, often dropping by his and Daryl's shared apartment every other day of the week.
Their gaming would have to wait, he needed to get to the bottom of all this along with the rest of the Thorns.
Everyone kind of just looked at each other for a bit, each and every one of them attempting to think of a time where Modo had been anywhere NEAR as absentminded from the team as he was now.
Sure, they could all agree he definitely hadn't ever been a model teammate, only recently did he start the habit of picking up his used towels after a day of practice instead of dumping them anywhere and everywhere.
He’d also begun minding their personal space, actually listening to what they had to say intently, a privilege that in the past was reserved for Archie's menaces only.
He had even begun to take an active part in conversation instead of butting in when he felt like it!
...Alright now that they thought about it, a lot about Modo had been slowly changing ever since the new season took off.
The team's mental lightbulb turned on.
None of the present members could think of the time in which-
💥BAAMM💥
The doors of the locker room flew open again before any of them could answer Will's question.
The sudden outburst not only almost sent said goat tumbling to the ground from the scare, the opened doors now revealed none other than the team's wildcard himself, holding the door’s open with his scaly palms completely extended upon their smooth surface.
His unmistakably colorful duffle bag was currently held by his large tail, hovering close behind him. Jett, seated at the very end of the room, couldn't help but stare at it.
Had his water bottle been ripped open or what? She had a clear view of what obviously was a shiny wet trail of water down the hallway…
What had really freaked them all out was that his self labeled iconic and colorful crests were visibly lacking in color.
That truly was the cherry on top.
They've never seen anything like this. Modo, as reckless as he may be, was never sloppy when it came to his personal image, that was fact.
His long claws now slowly traveled down the long, wooden doors, bright yellow eyes blown wide and irises darting from member to member.
A quickly heaving chest was proof that he must've really just gotten here in a hurry, the team's wildcard brought his characteristically toothy smile to his face with an obvious lack of confidence.
His growing anxiety crushed his desperate attempt at normality.
Just as he had been about to start his usual routine of rushed and hollow apologies, Dennis somehow materialized right besides Modo's mess of a bag.
His expression of utter disbelief was enough to still all activity in the hall. Now that Dennis had the chance to truly stand his ground as the team's one and only coach, he'd taken his job as nothing if not serious.
It truly was a scary sight to anyone, not only the team.
With a small giggle, Modo gave in to what had surely been a long overdue chat with his team.
With those he had come to consider his family for far longer than he'd admit.
His claws, coming completely come off the wooden doors, fell to his sides in defeat and...
"...Modo can explain?"
This was going to be long.