Chapter Text
The sun was starting to rise and seep into the car casting an orange glow inside making it seem deceptively warm. Reggie fidgeted restlessly inside the car, without his lanky friend to distract him with his anxious antics, he found himself becoming anxious as well. He rhythmically drummed his fingers against the steering wheel and his leg. He shook the nerves off and tried to focus on the world outside of the car that still had a lingering scent of strawberries. Puddles splashed underneath the tires from the rain that must’ve occurred last night. Hopefully the track isn’t too wet.
Six minutes till the destination is reached.
Fuck.
“Just teach them the stuff your brother taught you.” Hughie said very plainly.
Four minutes.
Shit.
“If they’ve made it to a collegiate level they probably already know enough.”
He was in the parking lot.
“Remember you aren’t a supe here. They can’t do the things you were able to do.”
He let Hughies words from last night ring out in his head before giving himself a couple light slaps to the noggin and stepping out of the car. Hopping a few times to warm himself up he started towards the athletic administrators office to pick up his set of keys for the locker room and track gate. He put as much bounce, confidence and swagger into his walk as he could. It felt familiar. Uncomfortably comfortable. He didn’t want to find solace in this persona but alas. All he needed was Ashley on his heels yelling about some sort of promotional photo shoot he had to do and it was like he was The A-Train again.
The walk to the building wasn’t a long one but it was long enough for him to collect his thoughts. He cracked his knuckles before opening up the door. A woman that appeared to be in her late 40’s sat at the desk upon entering. She was currently preoccupied on her ipad, typing away furiously. He cleared his throat before speaking.
“Hey there, Reggie Franklin. Head coach of men's track. Just looking to pick up some keys.”
The woman startled a little, clearly thinking she’d be alone for the time being. Setting down her Ipad a big smile broke out across her warm face.
“Well hello there!” She stuck her hand out waiting for Reggie to grab hold of it and shake like any normal person would. Taking her hand Reggie shook it and gave her a 1000 watt smile. “A-Train! Oh my son just loves you! Can we take a quick picture?” She reached for her phone before pausing and turning back to face him. “ Oh god, where are my manners, my name is Candace.” she reached her hand out again seemingly for another handshake before quickly pulling it back once she realized her mistake.
“Hey it’s no biggie.” He smiled, feeling almost bashful at the praise and admiration having almost forgotten the feeling.
Candace ducked her head, seemingly feeling a bit awkward in his presence. Doing an about face turn she began rummaging through the drawers at her desk in search for what Reggie could only assume were his set of keys. “So! Uh what made you decide you wanted to pick up coaching? You seemed pretty comfy.”
Reggie took pause. What did she mean by that? That he wasn’t financially responsible and blew all his money? That he needed this job or something?Was it simply unfathomable to be young, black, and rich? Reggie shook it off, maybe he was looking too deeply into this.
He looked down and let out an amused laugh before answering. “No actually my brother made me promise to give back once I made it.” Candace looked up from the drawer and nodded.
“Yeah of course!” She finally stood up with keys in one hand and her phone in the other. Walking around the desk and she dropped the keys in his open waiting palm. “Just ya know…” she shrugged her shoulders. “Oh never mind! Can I get that picture? My son thinks you're just an absolute specimen and my god is he right-” she reaches out and prods at his arm. Reggie listens with half interest as she yammers on and on about how other worldly he is, when he’s only a man. A man that can run faster than average. A man that's a little bit stronger than average. A man that's only above average.
Reggie tunes back in at the last second. “Also John is just dying to meet you so you’ll probably see him towards the end of practice.” He smiles and nods and makes some sort of lame excuse about needing to warm up before the guys got to the track before him. She pressed one last time for the picture that Reggie was now weary to take but did anyway before letting him go.
The light, cold mist that drizzled down and landed on his face was sort of refreshing.He made sure to savor it on his walk up to the track. It was cloudy but not dark, a perfect day to spend indoors. It made him miss the apartment he and Hughie called home for the time being. Which in a really weird, strange way made him miss Hughie. The thought of missing the gangly fellow left Reggie feeling a bit perturbed. Must be because they’ve been spending so much time together lately.
It was normal to miss your friends though. Right? Could he even call Hughie a friend? Shaking himself from these abnormal thoughts, he unlocked the track gate and began stretching.
He did a light 400m lap to warm up, not really pushing himself just trying to get warm. Slowly students start trickling in and putting on their spikes. Mingling amongst themself while Reggie got his clipboard out to take a quick attendance. He should know all these kids' names as apparently he was the one that scouted them but alas.
“Alright you guys gather round.” The students hustled their way towards Reggie and attentively waited for his next words. It almost unnerved him to have so many people waiting on his instruction and not for him to perform but what is teaching if not a form of performance. “As you know I’m Coach Franklin and you are all here because you wanted to be. I want you to remember that and act like it.” Reggie went on his spiel about what he expects of them. The standards he has in place in order to compete and stay on this team. He repeated what he’s heard on TV or from scripts of movies he's been in and it seemed to be working as the young athletes nodded along.
“Cool so we’re gonna warm up. Sprint the 100, walk the 300. Sprint the 200, walk the 200 so on and shit, you get it. Then we're gonna work on coming out of the blocks efficiently. Got it?” He looked around and saw the nodding of heads and a couple of “Yes Coach’s”.
“Let's get it then.”
-
Practice went swimmingly. The guys were eager to learn and soaked up everything Reggie said with vigor and enthusiasm. They took corrections well and seemed overall excited to be there. A couple walked around with the air of they were supposed to be there but that bothered Reggie none because hell for all he knew maybe they were?
Just as he was about to wrap up practice he saw a blonde man about in his late 40’s walk onto the field. He didn’t seem to be interrupting anything, maybe coming just to spectate. Reggie paid him no mind for the time being, making a mental note to go and introduce himself after practice ended and he finished giving his closing thoughts.
“Ok thank you guys for showing up. Not for me but for yourselves. I expect this kind of effort every practice. Now we're gonna cool off by doing a light 800. Pace yourselves, if you do anything under 2:30 you're going too fast and I’m gonna make you do it again. After that you're free to go.”
Reggie felt buzzing in his pocket. Looking down to answer it he saw it was Hughie or as saved in his phone “LOML”. He shoved the phone back into his pocket as the blonde that he had spotted before was approaching him. The closer he got the more familiar he looked.
“Holy shit.” Reggie whispered underneath his breath
“The A-Train! Alive and in the flesh! It's just awesome to have you here.I had to come meet you for myself.”
“Home-”
“Oh please no one calls me Homerunner anymore. It's John now. John Butcher.”
“Bu- butcher?”