Chapter Text
Your legs were burning underneath you, but you didn’t care. Your feet kept pounding against the grass and you knew that your adrenaline was carrying you. All you could focus on was pumping your arms to keep the ball in your stick and running as fast as you could to the opposing team’s goal. You wove yourself in and out of the spaces between defenders, running low and fast. A defender approached you from the side to interfere, but you stopped dead in your tracks as you approached. Cleats digging into the dirt, you changed directions in a split second, sprinting around the player as fast as you could. The shot was there and you knew it, but you had to make sure it was placed just right. You extended your arms behind you, sliding your top hand farther down the shaft of the lacrosse stick and twisting your torso as far back as you could without altering the trajectory of your running. You spotted the open corner where you needed to bury your shot, but this goalie was tough and had stopped shots (like the one you were about to take) all game. You stared straight at the goalie, bringing your arms forward to take the shot. The goalie was set in their squatting position, stick at the ready to stop or at least block your shot, arms thrusting out to the top right corner where they saw you looking to place your shot. As soon as you saw them throw more of their weight into their block, you cradled the stick, rewound yourself for shooting, and let the ball fly straight into the bottom left corner of the net. Your teammates exploded into cheers, many of the girls on attack running over to pat you on the back or tap their stick against yours. It was nothing close to the winning shot for the game - especially considering that you were only about 10 minutes into the match - but it was what helped your team turn around the scores of the game.
You awoke the next morning, body sore and spent but completely happy. After all, you had scored your first goal in your first ever college lacrosse match. It was a tough game, and you thought about this as you stretched your arms across your chest with the hopes of relieving the tightness in your shoulders, but that was what made the win so worth it. You recalled that the score was 5-1 in the opposing team’s favor before your shot, but by the time the whistle blew announcing halftime, your team had already started balancing out the score with three more goals (including yours). The match ended up being your team’s win, 5-8. You smiled remembering how one of the girls who had insulted your teammates threw off her goggles and walked off the field just as the ref started counting down the last five seconds. You finally brought yourself to climb out of your bed and worked on stretching yourself out. It felt incredible on your muscles. You rushed to prepare for your classes, and before you knew it you were sprinting out the door with your favorite song blasting in your headphones.
The chattering in the hallway grew louder as you walked out of your lecture for Calculus. One guy even turned to face you as he was leaving the lecture hall.
“Hey, I heard about the game last night. Nice job!”
“Oh, haha, thank you!”
He shot a quick smile before walking out of the doorway.
Lacrosse certainly wasn’t the most popular sport at your school, and definitely a fairly unknown sport in general, but even so it seemed like you got a lot of congratulations for the win last night. The recognition wasn’t wholly unwelcome, but you didn’t quite know how to handle the attention regardless. So as you walked to the library on campus, you did your best to keep your head down to avoid interactions. Unfortunately, keeping your head down came with another side effect. Just as you were going up the stairs to the campus library, you ran into something soft yet firm. Before you even had the chance to look up and see what you had run into, you heard a soft ‘oomph’ and saw papers go flying everywhere. Your head shot up.
“Oh my goodness, I am so sorry, I totally wasn’t looking where I was going!”
You apologized profusely, rambling quickly.
“Not to worry, I wasn’t paying attention either!”
Only upon hearing the kind voice of the person you had run into did it actually register that it was Doctor Octavius.
“Oh! Doctor!”
You noticed that he was starting to bend down to pick up all his papers.
“Hey, hey, no, let me pick these up for you sir. I was the one who made you drop them after all…”
Before he could protest, you were already squatting and gathering all his papers as quickly as you could. He let out a small chuckle.
“It seems like all that lacrosse certainly helps your mobility!”
You grinned up at him and offered the stack of his papers out, which he graciously took.
“Well Doc, it probably does but to be completely honest with you I’m not quite in tip top shape right now myself.”
As much as you didn’t want to concern your favorite professor, you were afraid you couldn’t help the small hiss that escaped you as you stood back up with your sore legs.
“Ah, that’s right! Congratulations on winning the match, and although I am not what one would call a sports aficionado, it seemed to me that the goal you made was rather impressive!”
You couldn’t help but feel your face warm slightly at the praise. You raised one of your arms to scratch your neck in embarrassment.
“Thanks Doctor Octavius, I’m lucky to have a great coach and fantastic teammates. But if you don’t mind me asking, how’d you hear about my goal?”
“Oh I don’t mind at all, but I didn’t need to hear about it; I was at the match.”
“For real? That’s awesome! So now that you’ve seen a game, what’s your opinion of the sport Doc?”
“I found it rather exhilarating actually, and I can’t believe that the only protection you girls play with are a mouth guard and goggles!”
“Well, that’s why we always joke about it being ‘football for men’ after all.”
Both of you shared a warm laugh for a moment before Doctor Octavius glanced down at his watch.
“It seems like I should get going, but please congratulate the rest of your team for me!”
He instructed as he began to walk away.
“Will do Doc!”
You stood there for a moment, smiling warmly. You didn’t know how to handle compliments, but for some reason accepting them always seemed more natural if they came from Doctor Octavius. You always ended up chalking it up to the fact that you had a great respect for your professor. Lingering for a moment longer, you spared one last glance at him walking away before heading inside the library.