Chapter Text
Anthony Potero had always known his role.
He was the captain of the school soccer team, he was a decent student, a good son, brother and friend.
He always knew the right things to say and do, whether it was on the pitch or during small talk with adults.
He was a nice, charming and charismatic young man. One who was highly respected and liked by everyone around him.
He even managed to contain a form of mutual respect between himself and the players from the rivaling schools. He had never been disliked by anyone.
That was until he met Coy Piso.
Coy had moved to the town at the start of the spring semester of junior year.
Anthony was, like the rest of his teammates, curious about the guy that had moved in the middle of the school year and quickly joined their team. Just from his first practice, Anthony could tell that Coy was good.
Like genuinely good, maybe even at the same level as Anthony.
He didn’t like to brag but he knew he was better than the rest of the team. They just didn’t put in as much work and effort as Anthony. The most of the team played for fun, but soccer was Anthony’s life, it was his future.
So naturally, seeing someone that possibly had the same passion for the sport as he did was exciting. Anthony was sure he was about to make a new friend.
But then he went and ruined it.
It had been Coys second practice with the team. Anthony hadn’t had the chance to properly talk to him yet, but he was planning to.
The team had been divided into two, Coy and Anthony on opposite teams.
There were three minutes left of the practice match, and they were tied 2-2. Anthony and Coy had been the ones to score. Anthony only seemed to get more and more pleasantly surprised by the boy.
He wouldn’t have guessed Coy to be the athletic type just by looking at him, but he was surprisingly fast, every move being perfectly calculated.
Watching Coy move with the ball was like watching a carefully crafted dance, and honestly, Anthony might’ve been a little bit in awe.
It was nice to finally be challenged again. He knew that it only was practice and that the result didn’t matter, but it was safe to say that Anthony was competitive, and that he wanted to win nonetheless.
Coy was currently in possession of the ball and on his way towards the goal. He was about to score, but Anthony wasn’t gonna let that happen.
Then he did something he would soon come to regret. He sprinted toward Coy. Facing him, he made an attempt to tackle him by kicking the ball away from his feet. Instead, he managed to kick Coys knee.
Anthony immediately knew he had fucked up.
The scene unraveled in slow motion.
Coy fell forward, groaning in pain.
Anthony quickly kneeled down beside Coy, who was sprawled out on the field.
Panic rose trough him “shit, I’m so sorry” his voice frantic.
Coy tried sitting up, wincing as he moved his knee.
Their teammates started flocking around the two of them, their coach rapidly following and kneeling besides Coy, who was red and breathing heavily.
Coach Shirley ended up taking Coy to the nurses office, his arm slumped around her shoulder in order to support him while they slowly walked off the pitch.
Anthony waited for Coy to turn around, so that he somehow could give him a look or something that signalized how sorry he was, but he didn’t.
……
The next morning, Anthony found Coy standing alone by his locker.
”Hey”
”Uhm, hi” Coy replied cautiously.
”How’s your knee?” Anthony asked. He felt so guilty. He’d laid awake that night replaying the accident over and over in his head.
Coy crossed his arms. “It’s fine now”
Anthony ran a hand through his hair. “I’m really sorry Coy”. Coys eyes narrowed, studying Anthony as he continued “It was an accident, I swear”.
”Yeah, I bet” Coy replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
”What?”
”You almost tore my knee!” Coy snapped
Shit. That would’ve been bad.
“But I didn’t!” Anthony countered, a little too defensive.
“Yeah, but you wanted to.” He took a steep towards him. “I know your type.” Hard green eyes stared into Anthony’s. “You think you’re the best, and you take it upon yourself to sabotage any potential threats”. Coy hissed as he gave Anthony’s chest a shove with his hand.
What the fuck
Anthony tried to seem unfazed, ”You don’t know me”.
Coy muttered ”Whatever” before turning away from Anthony and storming out of the hallway, leaving Anthony by his locker, confused and with a racing heart.
……
Fast forward to the present, it was the first practice of their senior year, and Coy still hated him.
Anthony had tried apologizing again and again, but Coy was so goddamn stubborn, it drove him crazy.
So eventually, he gave up trying to be his friend, viewing Coy as nothing more than his competition.
It was a chilly afternoon in the middle of September, the sun was starting to set, and Anthony was wearing a black shorts and a matching track jacket with their teams logo on it.
Around him were two dozen of guys dressed similarly to him, warming up by running laps around the pitch.
Anthony was, minding his business, running in front of the others when Coy passed him, his light brown hair fluttering as he ran.
”I see someone’s gotten slower over the summer” he taunted.
Anthony shot back a ”Fuck you, Piso!”, before accelerating and catching up to him.
They were now running side by side, each of them trying to outrun the other, simultaneously pushing at each other’s sides.
Coy shot an irritated look at Anthony, “Back off Potero.” He grumbled.
Anthony was right in front of him now. ”Yeah?” He flashed him a playful look, a mischievous smirk on his face “Make me.”
So he did.
Coy pushed him, making him fall face first on the turf.
A little dazed, Anthony looked up to see that Coy already was far gone, looking back at Anthony with a sneaky grin.
Asshole
Anthony and Coy were both held back after practice.
The two boys were currently sitting on a bench in the locker room, coach Shirley standing in front of them with her purple tracksuit, her curly brown hair in a ponytail.
With her arms crossed she said “I take it that the two of you haven’t become any friendlier with each other since last semester?” her eyebrow raised.
“He pushed me!” Anthony answered quickly while pointing at Coy.
“He asked for it!” Coy objected.
Coach Shirley looked unimpressed, “It doesn’t matter who did what.” she sighed, “You’ve been tormenting each other since the start. You need to start acting like teammates, not rivals.”
She paused slightly before continuing, ”Therefore, I have decided that the two of you will function as co-captains this semester.”
What. The. Hell.
Anthony could feel his mouth drop.
She couldn’t do this to him.
Anthony turned to Coy who already was looking at him with a shocked expression on his face.
”You will prove to me that you can set aside your differences and work together to improve this team.” She declared firmly.
Lastly, she said the worst thing possible, “If you are unable to do so, I will have to find someone else to captain the team.”
No No No No Noooo
Anthony had worked so hard for that role. All those hours he’d spent practicing and training to be the fastest, the best tackler, the greatest goal scorer. He was literally their striker, and a fucking great one too. Their team wouldn’t have managed to score half the amount of goals that they did last season if it wasn’t for him.
And now, he was at the risk of loosing his captaincy just because he didn’t get along with his asshole of a teammate.
He knew better than to argue with coach Shirley, but this time he just couldn’t help himself.
Rapidly, he rose up from the bench, “You can’t do this!” The frustration evident in his voice.
”I sure can, Anthony.”
He was so damn pissed, “This is so unfair.” he barked, running his fingers through his hair.
Coach Shirley remained silent. Anthony turned towards Coy, who was looking up at Anthony with an unreadable expression.
God, he was probably delighted right now. The thought pissed him off even more, “Fuck this.” he muttered before he stormed out of the locker room and out in the parking lot.
Just as he was nearing his car, he heard the sound of the door opening and closing behind him, followed by the sound of footsteps and a certain assholes voice calling out “Potero!”
Anthony turned around to see Coy jogging towards him.
Was he here to tease him? To taunt him? To rub it in his face?
”We should talk.” was all he said.
Now he wanted to talk? Anthony had spent a month trying to get Coy to talk to him, to hear him out and clear the air, but he didn’t bother, and now he wanted to fucking talk?
His hands balled into fists.
”Talk about what?” he barked, “About the fact that I’m at risk of losing my captaincy, because you’re a stubborn dick who just couldn’t get your head out of your ass and forgive me when I repeatedly tried making amends?!” simultaneously moving his hands as he spoke.
Anthony must have been imagining things, cus he could’ve sworn he just saw Coy flinch.
Coys lips parted, he almost looked sad. “I’m- I’m sorry, okay.” He confessed, shifting his gaze towards the ground.
Unbelievable
He scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.
God, Anthony could almost laugh. Who would’ve thought that Coy Piso had the ability to feel sorry, and even admit it. It was absurd.
”I can’t deal with this today” was all he said before he turned and got in his car.
Whilst driving out of the parking lot, he looked in the rear view mirror to see Coy still standing in the same spot, watching Anthony drive away.