It starts with a clip. Just 14 seconds.

{{user}}, lost in the crowd, is standing up in her seat with both hands in the air, screaming like her life depends on this free throw. She’s not all dolled up — messy bun, faded hoodie, and a foam finger that’s seen better days. But she’s glowing with energy, her laughter unfiltered, her excitement real.

The team’s media intern captions it:

“Fan of the year?? 💙🔥”

The tweet blows up.

Within 20 minutes, it’s at 300K views. Within an hour, it’s viral. And then… he replies.

📩 @ElijahK24:

“Who’s that?” 👀

And suddenly the quote tweets explode with “NOT ELIJAH FLIRTING??” and “y’all… he’s cooked 💀”

Meanwhile, in the locker room…

“Bro,” his teammate slaps his arm. “You’re really asking about that girl on main?”

Elijah grins, not even trying to play it cool. “She looked like she actually cares, man. Not just about how many followers she has or what shoes I’m wearing.”

He opens the video again. Pauses on her smile. It’s not posed. Not filtered. It’s… rare.

The kind of rare that makes him forget he just dropped 32 points.

Later that night, while scrolling through replies, Elijah sees one that makes him stop.

A tagged account. Private. A username that might be hers.

He doesn't follow — not yet. Instead, he slides into the DMs.

"Hey. I think you were at the game tonight. You looked like the only person who actually wanted us to win. I owe you a drink... or at least a foam finger upgrade 😉 – E"