Story:Jak and Ava: Light in the Dark
Jak and Ava: Light in the Dark
Written by Unskaeth and Cherry
Google Doc (for better formatting)
April 8th, 2026, Wilsonville, Oregon
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…
Rain tapped softly outside the arena walls while Jak sat at the far end of the locker room, elbows on his knees and his head lowered. The room moved like it always did before the game started, shoes squeaking, teammates talking, but he barely paid attention to any of it.
Three months ago, he would’ve been halfway across the room already.
Back then, pregame, he was sprinting around the court and bouncing on his toes like he had too much energy to keep in one body. He used to carry that feeling everywhere before a game.
Now, he just sat there with one knee bouncing. Ever since that incident, it had been like that. The energy was still there somewhere, but every day it felt harder to reach.
Tonight, he’d been bumped up to the first unit off the bench. Meaning more minutes. A bigger chance to matter if the starters stalled. A few months ago, that would’ve lit him right up. But now, he just accepted it.
“Court in four…” said one of the coaches.
Jak nodded once and rose from the bench. He rubbed his palms against his shorts, then forced himself to walk toward the tunnel.
The noise of the arena hit him first. Familiar and usually comforting. Tonight, it only made his chest feel a little tight.
Once he stepped onto the court, he started moving straight away. Corner to wing. Catch, rise, shoot.
The first one dropped clean.
He kept moving after that, shooting from every angle over the three-point line. The ball still felt right in his hands.
“C’mon Jak…” he muttered to himself.
For a little while, he was feeling a little relaxed. The music, announcements, the crowd roaring, all filled his ears.
Then, he looked across the court.
The wolf was there.
Jak averted his gaze straight after, but it was too late. His body had already gone tight. The next pass almost slipped through his hands. He shot it anyway.
The ball hit the back rim.
He chased the rebound down, breathing a little harder now.
“Just warmups…” he told himself.
Just another game.
Just… another-
Tap.
“Jak…?”
The possum’s whole body jolted.
“Fuck-” he spins around all of a sudden, breathing hard for a second before he realised who it was, “don’t do that… don’t ever do that again,” he said, voice low and tense.
The wolf, Scott Hayes, stands awkwardly before Jak. He appears unsure what to do with himself, fidgeting with his hands and guiltily gazing off and away, unable to meet the possum’s own.
It’s a tense moment while he can’t find his voice, muzzle opening and clamping shut a few times before any words can utter from it.
“I… I just wanna talk. Please…?”
When it seems to Scott that the possum is hearing him out, albeit hesitantly and cautiously, he glances up at Jak, but quickly averts his gaze once they land on the scars running along the side of his neck. The ones he made.
“What… what happened. What I did. It… it wasn’t me. I’m not sure who or what it was… but I’d never hurt you like that, Jak…”
Jak glares at him.
“Yeah?” he muttered with a pause, “well, it sure looked like you, and it still fuckin’ happened to me… you don’t get to stand there and say that like it makes it better.”
“I-I know, but I… no… no, you’re right, it-it doesn’t make it better…”
Scott hangs his head and sighs deeply before turning his head to the side and rubbing his elbow shamefully.
“But… I wanna be better. I’m trying to be better… I didn’t even go to All-Star Week because I was busy in fucking therapy trying to figure out why the hell I’d do the things I’ve done…”
“I’m really trying here, Jak…” the wolf then murmurs, his voice barely a broken whisper.
“...good,” Jak said flatly, “you should be… because what you did was insane.”
Scott flinches at the truth in Jak’s statement, his ears drooping and tail curling in between his legs.
For a few seconds that felt like a century, neither of them said anything. The noise of the arena filled the space between them, but up close, it felt strangely far away.
“I’m glad you’re gettin’ help… seriously. Keep doin’ that.”
His eyes flicked away, then back.
“But me and you?” he shook his head once, “nah.”
“I don’t like you anymore, Scott… so leave me the fuck alone…”
He passed the ball back to his teammate before walking off, leaving Scott standing there, alone…
“Hm…”
…
The final horn soon sounded in the arena, the crowd still buzzing.
The Swashbucklers had won that one by 8 points against the Mayors.
Jak stood still for half a second near the bench. The scoreboard stared back at him, cold and certain. Nine… almost ten minutes for him. No points, three rebounds, two assists… two turnovers, and one steal.
Worst being, however, was now his knee’s throbbing bad enough that standing still hurt worse than moving.
“Fuckin’ hell…”
Glancing around as he chugged some water showed that Scott was nowhere to be found. Not even during the game on either the floor or the sidelines. Not that he wanted to pay him any more mind than he has already.
He couldn’t wait to fly out of Oregon. This day has proven to be more trouble than it’s worth-
Tap.
Jak’s whole body jolted again.
His knee already hurt, his nerves were already shot, and whatever patience he had left disappeared completely.
“I already told you to f-”
He turned quickly, only to stop himself mid-sentence.
It wasn’t Scott.
It was a lynx.
Jak blinked, the tension in his face cracking all at once into awkward surprise.
“O-oh shit. I’m so sorry… thought you were… someone else.”
“Bit jumpy, hey?” the lynx comments teasingly before flashing an apologetic grin, “sorry for scaring ya. Just wanted to get your attention. Looked like you were kinda out of it there.”
She then sticks out a friendly hand, her gaze warm and welcoming.
“Jak Reyburn, yeah?”
“Uhm… yeah, that’s me…” he glanced at her hand, then slowly reached out to shake it, “Ava, right? Shouldn’t you be celebrating with your team?”
“Ava Lafferty, mhm!” she nods cheerfully, shaking the possum’s hand with a firm grip before letting go, arm returning to her side.
“Yeah, probably, but eh,” the lynx then shrugs, hooking her thumbs casually into the waistband of her uniform shorts, “locker room’s been a little too… tense for me lately…”
Ava suddenly clears her throat and widens her smile, swiftly switching gears.
“Anyway, I wanted to say: good game. And sorry to have seen you limp off in the second quarter,” her expression sympathetically softens, “I hope it’s nothing serious. I just came back from being hurt like a week ago myself.”
Jak’s ears flicked once and he rubbed the back of his neck meekly.
“Uh… thanks… I wouldn't exactly call it a good one from me, but yeah.”
He looked down at the knee that felt like it was busted before glancing back up at her.
“I think it’s not too bad. Just sore as hell right now,” he lets out a small breath, somewhere between a sigh and a tired laugh, “hoping as well it’s nothing.”
The possum smooths out his jersey and clears his throat before speaking again.
“So, you just got back from injury, yeah?” he asked, a little more gently, “that’s rough… glad you made it, though.”
“Thanks,” Ava murmurs with a light chuckle, “just a bit of inflammation in my foot. Wasn’t too bad, thankfully.”
She then grins confidently and gives a gentle, light-heartedly scolding push to the possum’s shoulder.
“Don’t get so down on yourself though! Last time our teams met, I remember seeing that hustle of yours in every play, the energy… it was kinda contagious,” the lynx compliments with a hushed giggle, admiration and respect shining in her mismatched eyes.
Jak blinked at that, caught a little off guard by how easily she said it.
“...yeah? Guess I’ve been a bit bad at doin’ that lately. But, uh… thanks… means a lot. Just tryin’ to play my role and not screw it up.”
He looked at her properly then, still a little awkward, but softer now.
“There is room for fun in there too, y’know,” Ava smirks mischievously and leans in a tad, “it’s still a game we’re playing here, after all. After… recent events, I’m doing my best to remember that as well…”
The lynx’s gaze then falters, a hand coming up to ghost over the fresh scars on her shoulder. She recovers quickly, however, shrugging it off.
“I’m just happy to be here. Trying to make the most of my literal dream job, heh."
“Yeah… that makes the two of us,” he said quietly. A small, tired smile then tugged at his muzzle.
“Good on ya for comin’ back, though. I should try to remember that too.”
A tiny grin appeared after that. Ava responds with one of her own.
“You should. As hard as that can be sometimes.”
She glances over at the Swashbuckler bench for a moment with a searching, somewhat cautionary gaze, but then lets out a gentle sigh and turns back, eyes down.
“I mean, no one can decide our futures but us, right?” she murmurs, tilting her head back up to meet Jak’s gaze with a hopeful, but weary one of her own.
“Yeah… I guess so…” he said quietly, as he returned the same hopeful gaze to her, “but, uh… what made you wanna come over here in the first place?”
Ava’s eyes widen and she chuckles awkwardly, “right, right, sorry. Didn’t mean to suddenly get so, uh…” she waves her hands about and sucks in air sharply, “deep, or whatever.”
The lynx then rubs the back of her neck and turns away, lightly flushed with embarrassment.
“Just, uh… I saw you getting into it with Scott before the game. Scott Hayes…?”
She clears her throat uncomfortably after the name leaves her lips, “sorry, I just, er, am a little curious what that was all about… if I can ask.”
Jak bristles at the name too, but manages to keep it down.
“Well… it wasn’t much of a chat, I’ll tell you that… we just had a few exchanges, really,” he lets out a small breath through his nose, “wasn’t exactly pleasant though… just some stuff needed sayin’, I guess. Nothin’ you needa worry about.”
That last part came out a bit too quick.
“Sorry, that probably sounds dodgy as hell… just not really somethin’ I’m in the mood to talk about, heh…”
Ava nods understandingly, her gaze dropping to the hardwood as she fidgets with her hands.
“No, no, I don’t wanna pry. Sorry I asked…” she mutters softly, biting her tongue to stifle a comment, “I just- I…”
The lynx sighs out tensely, letting her arms go limp at her sides.
“He and I, um… got off on the wrong foot, so, I-I guess seeing that made me wonder if he was like that with everyone...”
For a moment, she appears tense, uneasy… but then shakes her head dismissively, raising back into a small forced smile and lifting her head back up.
“But no, you’re right. Nothing I need to worry about. I shouldn’t have brought it up. He was probably… probably just going through something,” her voice falters throughout that, as if trying to convince herself more rather than Jak.
“Nah… don’t do that.”
He holds eye contact with her for a moment longer than he intends.
“If somethin’ feels off, then trust it. You don’t seem like the type who should be talkin’ herself into ignorin’ that ya know?”
He paused, then added, “it would be a shame really.”
His ears flicked, then he tore his gaze away, suddenly very interested in the floor.
“...point is, you don’t gotta make excuses for someone if they made you uncomfortable.”
Ava then raises into a little grin, her voice tinged with a smidgen of playfulness.
“What type am I to you then?”
Jak felt like his heart stopped for a moment.
“W-what type…?” he let out a short, awkward huff, “ah, don’t do that…”
A faint smile appeared before he looked off to the side.
“I dunno… just… not the type to put up with shit from people like that. Not… not in a weird way. I just mean…” he trailed off, then shrugged a little, “you seem nice. That’s all.”
Ava then chuckles lightly, a strange, warm buzz fluttering in her chest at the compliment, which she brushes off quickly before she shakes her head.
“Heh, no, but you’re right about not making excuses. Just… holding resentment and such, I feel I can’t when I have much more important things to worry about,” she begins, loosely crossing her arms, “when I do think about it though, I wonder why, what compelled him to be like that, if he’s always like that… if that’s his type.”
The lynx shrugs weakly, her expression now full of uncertainty.
“I’d like to believe it isn’t. That there’s a future where, y’know, time’s healed. It’s better than letting it rule me, my life…”
Ava sighs out and relaxes her shoulders before looking back at Jak with a gentle and apologetic gaze.
“Sorry to get all… y’know, again. I, uh… haven’t had the chance to speak much about this- with anyone, really.”
“I don’t think you’re wrong for wonderin’ about it,” he starts, gazing back at her, “just don’t let understandin’ them turn into excusin’ what they did to you.”
After that, his eyes fell back to the floor, as looking at her a little too long had him a bit flustered.
“And uh… you don’t gotta apologise for talkin’ about it. Really. Better out than lettin’ it rot in your head, yeah?”
Ava nods slowly in agreement, raising into a more genuine and warmer smile now.
“Yeah. Thanks… for listening, I mean,” she mutters with her head turned to the side as she bashfully rubs her cheek, fingers running through the fluff.
“Hey… no worries okay? If you need someone to talk to, let me know,” he reassures with a warm smile, gazing a bit too deep into her eyes.
After realizing and averting his errant gaze quickly, face flushing, the two stumble into a bit of silence, save for the continued clamor of the crowd and announcements over the loudspeakers…
“...so-” “Anyway-”
They pause after interrupting each other, eyes meeting one another before both bursting into awkward chuckles.
“Nah, you go…” he insisted.
Ava giggles quietly and nods, sharply clearing her throat of any tension.
“So… since the season’s about to end, and we might not see each other on the court for a little while, would you… wanna exchange numbers?” the lynx proposes with a raised brow, her gaze hopeful and rather excited, “no pressure, of course. Just, ah, been real nice talking about this stuff is all, heh.”
Inside Jak’s head, he was feeling a little too much all at once.
Surprised, mostly. A bit embarrassed, too. And underneath that, something warm.
“Uh… yeah… yeah, I’d like that a lot-” he stopped, cringing at himself before continuing, “I mean… would be nice, actually.”
He then adds, “as long as you don’t get sick of me bein’ weird, anyway.”
Ava rapidly shakes her head dismissively, inching a little closer to the possum.
“You’re not weird. At least, I haven’t known you long enough to decide that.”
She smirks a little, then pats her shorts a couple times, her eyes widening with sudden realization.
“Shoot, my, uh, phone is back in the locker room,” she huffs out, her gaze searching around, “mm, nothing around here to write with either…”
After taking a moment to think, the lynx then turns back to Jak, ears perked and the corners of her muzzle curling into a bit of a sly grin.
“Not sure what the policy is in having opponents in our locker room, but… if you’re willing to risk it to keep in touch, then so am I,” she murmurs whilst leaning in with a conspiratorial tone, nodding over to her team’s tunnel.
“Risk it, hey?” Jak let out a short laugh. For a second, he pretended to think about it more than he really needed to.
“Yeah, alright, lead the way then. Wouldn’t wanna miss my chance, heh… to… uh, give you my number… obviously.”
“Right,” Ava chuckles lightly, giving the possum a sneaky once over as she turns and beckons Jak with a wave, which he doesn’t hesitate to follow, his heart racing strangely...
…
“Here we are.”
Ava pushes the locker room doors open and glances over at Jak, narrowing her gaze in mock suspicion, “I’m trusting you won’t steal any of our secret plays to report back to your team while you’re here.”
She flashes a toothy grin, then steps inside and saunters over to her own little nook marked “LAFFERTY” in bold lettering.
The possum blushed a little watching her go, trying to hide it by tilting his head down, “bit weird bein’ here, not gonna lie. So… we, uh… exchangin’ or…?” he asked nervously, already getting side eyes from Ava’s teammates while they’re engrossed in their postgame rituals.
Not answering immediately, the lynx is instead slipping out of her jersey and hanging it up inside her locker. She then bends down and snatches a drawstring bag from the floor of the cubby.
“Yes, yes, just gimme a moment!”
Ava turns back to Jak in her compression tank as she pulls her bag open and whips out her phone, now meeting his eyes with a cocky grin.
“Already itching to leave, huh?” she remarks teasingly as she unlocks her phone and flips it around to hand it to him, “well, here. Don’t go snooping now. Know what they say, curiosity killed the cat. Or, well, possum in this case.”
“Yeah, yeah, wouldn’t dream of it, heh,” he huffed, not daring to look up at her as he went to put his contact in. He hesitated on it for a second, mulling over putting a cutesy little possum emoji beside his name. After he decided to go for it, he instantly felt a pang of awkward regret.
“...ah, whatever.”
He grunted to himself before he handed the phone back to her, “there, done. Promise didn’t steal any plays. Half of them confuse me anyway.”
“And for the record, curiosity nearly killed the possum a few times already. Pretty sure I’ll survive this one,” he retorts, shooting her a tiny smile.
“I wouldn’t be so sure yet, Reyburn,” Ava winks as she stuffs her device back into her bag and slings it over her shoulder.
She then leans against a nearby wall, their gazes transfixed on one another.
“Well… you’d better head out before someone gets the wrong idea…” Ava sighs out with a little grin on her face, seeming pleased with herself.
“And what idea would that be?” he then asked, shifting his weight as he glanced sidelong at her.
“Espionage in plain sight, of course. You’re in enemy territory, after all,” she answers with playful suspicion, then lets out a light-hearted chuckle.
Jak let out a soft laugh of his own at that.
“Right… that’s definitely the first thing people would assume.”
“What else would they assume?”
Ava raises a coy brow.
“That you didn’t drag me here just for my number… I mean… uh… not that I’m complainin’,” he turned away for a second, fidgeting nervously with the hem of his jersey.
“I dragged you here, did I?” the lynx responds in mock offense, “if i recall, takes two to tango, don’t it?”
“Besides,” she paused to push off of the wall and take slow steps up to the possum, now staring down at him with a sharp gaze, “nature of our jobs, how else will we keep talking if not by you giving me your number?”
“Unless… you don’t want me to have it…” she then turns away with a fake pout, a grin still pricking at the corners of her muzzle, though.
Jak straightened up a little too fast as if that would save him.
“No, I didn’t say that,” he replied in a panic, already sounding more flustered than he wanted to, “I mean, ‘course I want you to have it. That’s uh… y’know… why I came here.”
A quiet huff left him as he slapped a hand to the side of his face and shook his head, “you’re makin’ this real hard for me, hey…? Not hard in a bad way… just… ah, fuck…”
Jak glanced toward the door like it might rescue him, then turned to her with an awkward and helpless little smile.
“Ya know what I mean.”
Ava squints and narrows her eyes at him, crossing her arms.
“Do I?” she grins smugly.
“Eh… probably not,” he murmured, his voice a little quieter now, “it’s just… you keep lookin’ at me like that and sayin’ flirty stuff like that, and it’s makin’ me a bit… not normal…”
The lynx’s brows furrow as a wave of confusion hits her, realization beginning to creep up, “what do you… oh. Oh, I, er…”
Her cheeks suddenly flush and she quickly averts her gaze, shoulders tensing up.
Jak then lets out a long breath through his nose.
“All I’m sayin’, I want you to have it, alright?” he said with a faint hint of red on his face.
Ava nods rapidly, stepping back a tad to alleviate some of the heated air between them.
“Right, yeah, heh. I was just… I was just messing with ya. That’s all…”
Jak’s eyes widened a little, then looked down at the floor, “right… o-of course… just messin’ with me, heh… I… should go now… It was nice meetin’ ya!” the possum stammered, then quickly sped out of the door. As soon as he was out, he ran back to his team’s locker room before it was too late.
Fuck… that was stupid of me… shouldn’t have said that much…
What… just happened…?
Ava wanted to say something to stop him before he could leave. But, the possum was quick to make a run for it, leaving her standing there, red in the face.
He thought… she was…
...was I?
The lynx blinks a few times and looks around herself at the locker room, her teammates all still minding their respective businesses and decompressing after the game.
She lets out a sharp breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, then whips her bag around and rips it open, snatching her phone back out from inside.
After unlocking it, Ava navigates to her contacts, then her eyes land on the one Jak made with the little possum icon. She just stares down at it for a good few moments.
Why is my heart beating so fast…? It was just a little misunderstanding…
She swallows down the nervous lump in her throat, then moves her finger to shakily hover over the “compose new message” button.
Ugh, why IS this so hard now…?
Eventually, she just bites the bullet and presses it before hesitantly scrolling the emoticon bar to find one in particular…
Bzz.
Jak’s ears perk at the sound of the vibration, pausing while he changes out of uniform. He’s controlling his breathing a little better now, but the awkward memory is still haunting him.
Tossing his jersey over his shoulder, the possum then reaches tentatively into his locker to retrieve his phone. With it in hand, he turns back around and stares down at the screen as he pushes the power button.
Unknown number: (1) new message.
Wha? Oh, it… must be…
Quickly inputting his pin, he opens the text to see… a little lynx emoji.
The sight of it almost takes him out for good, but he manages to reel it in with an amused and slightly surprised scoff being forced out of him.
“...heh, that’s… wow…”
Why…
Why is the only word coming to mind “cute”?
Ah, fuck…