Day 2: Trust / “Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey. At other times, it is allowing another to take yours.” ― Vera Nazarian
“They’re waiting for you out there.” They both know this. There’s no reasons for Goh to state the obvious.
Then again, there’s no reason for Ash to be hiding in the dressing room, when a stadium full of people has come to see him.
“I can’t do this.” He confesses, small and vulnerable. And Goh has to do a double take because there’s no way those words have just come out of his friend’s mouth.
“I don’t know anyone else who can,” He replies. It’s not meant to be encouraging. It’s just a fact.
Goh works with facts and numbers all day, he understands probabilities, and why some events are more likely than others. He’s a rational, data-driven man.
He’s run all the numbers for today and, with Ash’s experience, his current roaster, and the way he’s prepared for this moment for the last ten years, all the calculations say he’s got an eighty percent chance of winning the battle today.
Goh is a rational, data-driven man, and today, he has decided probably can take a holiday, because he is one-hundred-percent sure Ash will win the match.
He knows it, because he knows the man sitting with his head buried in his bent knees in front of him better than he knows himself.
He knows it, because he’s put his life on the line for this man before, without a moment’s hesitation. That’s how much faith he has in him. That’s how much he trusts him.
He knows it, because this is the man he loves.
“Come on. I didn’t come all the way here to watch you give up.” Is what he says, “And neither did you.” He adds.
“You are going to win.” He promises. The numbers - and his heart - say so, and there’s nothing but calm confidence in his voice when he says the words to his anxious friend. “You’ll win today.” He repeats. “Now, come on.”
There’s a hand stretched in front of Ash’s kneeling body. Tan and steady.
Ash has held that same hand many times. Sometimes to get out of trouble, sometimes to jump straight into it. It’s a comforting constant in his life. It’s the hand of a friend that hasn’t left his side. Not even when things have been at their hardest.
It’s the hand of the one person in the world he trusts unconditionally. The person who would never lie to him.
And if he says Ash will win today, then he will will today.
He reaches out, hands clasping, sealing a promise as blue-eyes meet brown.
