Chapter Text
The match had ended, 4-4. A draw.
Again.
This was the second draw against Invincible United and it was driving Shakes crazy. He looked around at his teammates and saw they were just as much losing their minds as him. He glared over to the opposing team and they seemed to be mirroring the expressions of his own team. Skarra kept on scowling at Shakes and didn't seem to care about the earful Vince was giving him.
It wasn't like it would make any difference anyway; if it did, it wouldn't have happened again after the first time, but twice...this time the goalposts almost got broken! He could hear screaming from the bench and could only assume it was Coach.
Their team trudged back to the locker rooms, Shakes choosing to focus on Coach's ranting instead of the throbbing pain in his arm from Skarra's foul.
"This is the second time!" Coach snapped, pushing open the door to the locker room. "Because you boys can't beat Invincible United, now our entire season is being delayed and our team is dropping down the board!"
"Coach Mon," Dancing Rasta muttered, putting up his hands in surrender, "it's not only us. All of us were really good tonight out there. I mean, sure, we trained all week, but so did they!"
Coach looked at his exhausted team and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
Twisting tiger looked at Shakes, placing an ice pack on his arm.
"You okay, Shakes?" he asked, diverting the attention away from Coach's anger.
"That was a pretty bad fall" El Matador leaned over, looking at the angry, purple skin.
Shakes shrugged angrily. "It's okay, it doesn't hurt too bad. But this is all Skarra's fault! If he stopped godamn distracting me, we could have scored that last goal! I-"
The whole team, including Coach, exchanged a knowing glance.
Oh they had distracted each other, alright.
They kept riling each other up, so oblivious to their surroundings, that at one point the ball had just rolled past them and they didn't even notice, too busy throwing insults at each other.
"-swear to god that when I see him again, I will-"
They let out a collective sigh and tuned Shakes out, knowing from experience that he wasn't going to stop any time soon. They picked up their bags walked out, Shakes following them, praying they wouldn't have to run into the opposition on their way out.
They weren't that lucky.
They had stepped out the same moment the other team did.
The teams looked at each other like deer in headlights, bar their star strikers, who didn't even notice, too busy up in their heads.
"-and his head's so far up his ass! like could he-"
It also seemed like Invincible united were having the same problem, praying they wouldn't run into each other.
Shakes and Skarra caught sight of each other and immediately bristled.
As usual, Skarra opened his huge mouth first."Oh, look who it is! Mr. High and Mighty himself! Can't handle a little bit of banter, can you?"
"You know, Skarra, if you focused on your footwork instead of obsessing over me, you might actually be a decent player."Shakes retorted, smirking.
The players of both teams exchanged weary glances, knowing all too well the volatile history between Shakes and Skarra. Insults flew back and forth, fueled by the thick tension in the air.
The Coaches sighed heavily. This clash had gone beyond mere rivalry; Shakes and Skarra were hell-bent on annoying each other. It was not the first time a game had gone awry because of their relentless bickering.
As the arguing started to escalate, the teams sent panicked glances to their respective coaches. Coach and Vince made eye contact for a split second, before Coach, grudgingly nodded to the exist. Everyone fled the room and Big Bo shut the door behind him, grinning widely as the sound of the two strikers finaly drowned out. Everyone sighed, relived.
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"So," Vince started," How many times a day does your boy talk about our Skarra?"
Both teams were out of the stadium and were standing at its entrance, facing each other.
"Alot." Coach replied. He looked haunted. "Alot."
Klaus pulled out a very thick book." This is za book that contains all ze records about Shakes and-" Klaus flipped trough the book "aha! Shakes talks about Skarra on avarage of 23 times a day!"
The whole team nodded in aproval.
"Blearuk !" Blok added.
At Invincible's confused faces, North translated."Skarra is all he ever talks about!"
"And brother is only with us half the time" Cool Joe sighed.
"You think thats bad?" Snake chuckled.
Dingaan pulled out his phone and showed them his recordings app, filled with many,many recordings. "I have recorded all the times Skarra talked about shakes this week."
"And it's only Tuesday!" Dooma growled.
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Back in the room, the aurgument continued.
"Well, at least I can actually score goals! What was that tonight, 12-4, and all the times we've played?" Skarra sneered, taking a step forward and towering over the younger boy.
Shakes scowled. "It was 4-4, dumbass. You couldn't get one through the goalposts if you tried!"
Sweat dripped down his forehead and back, his clothes clinging to him stickily. Their words flowed one after the other, retort after retort, unthinking. Pent up frustation and anger from years ago flooded out like a broken dam. Right now they were too far gone and no one was in the mood to stop them from going too far.
"What about you, then, you think you can do any better, poster boy?" Skarra mocked, stepping closer.
"Yeah, I do, actually."Shakes challenged. "If I wasn't held back by a player who can't keep his fucking hands to himself!"
"Oh, yeah, is that why you lost?" Skarra snarled
"Both of us know I would have scored a goal if I wasn't constantly having to fight off a dirty player trying to break my arm!"
"Don't act like I did anything to you, I barely touched you!" Skarra exclaimed, mockingly lying through his teeth.
"Barely?" Shakes snorted. "Just like you spied on me and called the junkyard watchman while I was training! Or left me alone at the mall before the important match!"
And there it went. Shakes had brought up the past. Again. This was never going to end now.
Skarra scowled. "Don't you ever let go of the past? It was ages ago! and it worked out in your favor anyway!"
"Only because you jumped off the train like the selfish moron you are!"
Skarra narrowed his eyes, a glint of guilt shining in them. He roughly pushed Shakes against the wall.
"Selfish? How was I supposed to know it was gonna turn out alright, huh? i thought I was going to die!"
Shakes was taken aback by the sudden action but still angry. "So was i!" he roared, grabbing Skarra's shirt
Shakes continued. "And what about the time you pushed me back into the water? Or about our community center that you were so ready to demolish?"
Skarra slammed his hands beside the shorter boy's head.
"That wasn't my idea, that was Vince's! And besides, you guys stopped us, remember?"
Shakes pulled Skarra down so that they were eye to eye. "Doesn't matter, we shouldn't have had to go through all that stress in the first place."
Skarra scowled. "You don't need to tell me, it wasn't fun for me either, you know!"
They were both pressed up against the wall,chest to chest , faces inches apart, red with anger. With each word, their breath fell on each other's face, lips getting dangerously closer.
"Well maybe if you weren't such an arrogant, stupid asshole, I wouldn't be so mad at you!"
"God, just shut up!" Skarra groaned.
And thats when they finaly noticed their compromising position. They stared at each other, suprised, yet making no move. They could feel each other's racing heartbeat aginst their own, hardly daring to breath. Shakes' eyes flickered down to Skarra's lips for a split second, before meeting his eyes once again, shining with something akin to desire.
"Make me." He said, voice thick, barely above a whisper.
Skarra closed the space between them.
Skarra kissed him.
Shakes's eyes widened, even though he was expecting Skarra to pull the move. His eyes fluttered closed, and he found himself responding to the kiss, moving his lips in sync with Skarra's.
Skarra moved his arms around his waist, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss. Shakes ran his hands through the other's dark hair, feeling a shiver run through his body as Skarra let out a small moan into his mouth. He pulled away first, desprate for air.
"Fuck." Skarra whispered, breathing deeply
"Double fuck." Shakes grinned, before pulling him in again.
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"Do you think it was a good idea leaving them alone?" North Shaw asked, worried.
20 minutes had passed and there was still no sign of the strikers. They had all gone back inside to the AC and were sitting in the sofas at the entrance. Patience was running thin.
"Probably not." Cool Joe replied
"The worst that can happen is they go at each other's throats" Automatic shrugged, like it was not that big of a deal if they killed each other.
"And anyway," Dooma added, rolling his eyes "they'll be too busy arguing to actually kill each other."
Thats when the door burst open, revealing Skarra and Shakes. Their faces were bright red and their lips seemed kind of bruised but they were both definately alive. They both wore matching smirks, a bit too content for rivals who were just supposed to be aurguing.
"Hey guys! What are you still doing here?" Shakes asked, his hair a mess.
"Waiting for you, mon. What, -umm, happened in there?" Rasta questioned, staring at the two.
This time Skarra replied."We got into a fist fight, which I clearly won!"
"No, I won! You just made the first move!" Shakes glared.
"Well-"
The rest of the teams groaned, following their youngest out, still confused.
They were in need of a long nap.
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And that was the story of how Shakes and Skarra became Enemies with Benefits, with minimum emotional attachment.