Always and Forever.

Chapter Fourteen: Cup Game Time Part Two

"So, is it gone?"

"Yeah." Reiner punches the grassy floor. "There's no way I can play with my ankle like this. At least not in a useful way. It will be like playing with ten men." During the warmup and contesting a high challenge, Reiner landed awkwardly on his ankle twisting it. On first inspection, the staff doesn't believe it's anything serious such as ligament damage but he is ruled out of tonight's match.

"Just great. Who's going to play up front now? I need Jean in the ten to compete physically," Mr. Shadis thinks out loud.

"Yeager. He's the best player on the team when he's on his game," Reiner says. The two of them look over to where Eren is warming up Berthold. Berthold throws the ball high towards the edge of the box where Eren is standing and Eren sends it straight back and past him into the back of the net with a thunderous volley full of venom and spite.

"Wooooooo!" the gang cheer from the sideline. Ymir and eventually Reiner who starts making his way over to them with some assistance from Nurse Nanaba, twirl their PE shirts in the air. Christa jumping up and down, Sasha climbing onto Annie's back and Armin and Mikasa giving him a ground-shaking round of applause. Eren smiles. Or at least he starts to before a 'stray' ball coming from where everyone else is warming up smacks him flush in the side of the face.

"Heads up, Yeager!" Jean shouts. He starts laughing and everyone around him quickly follows. Eren signals to Berthold to throw him a ball and he does just that knowing full well what Eren plans on doing. Eren tosses the ball into the air and, on the half volley, pings the ball at Jean to return the favour. With a loud whack, the laughing stops.

"Same to you, Horseface!" Eren returns smugly.

"Whatever," Jean shakes his head and regains his bearings. "That was a lucky shot!"

"Lucky? The only lucky shot was yours!" Eren retorts. Their friends on the side and Jean's friends around him all collectively sigh. Here they go again. "It's not like you to hit the target without ten attempts first. Or were you aiming somewhere else and managed to get it over here?"

"Screw you. I've scored the most goals for us."

"And we still can't buy a win. You're a pen merchant."

"So, what? You think you are better than everyone else?"

"Nope. Just you."

"Then why are you always on the bench?" Jean asks. His friends around him going wild. Truly, the greatest of hype men, and unfortunately for Eren, there just isn't a comeback to that. Instead, he turns back to Berthold and continues warming him up.

"Yeager!" Mr. Shadis calls out. "Get yourself warmed up. You're starting. You've talked the talk now it's time for you to walk it." A smile grew on Eren's face but a frown grew on Jeans. It was Yeager's chance to prove himself and Kirstein hated it.   

                    "Alright, listen. 4-3-3 as always. Reiner has had to pull out injured so Yeager, you're up top since we have no other forwards. Jean, you're in the ten. I want you loud and vocal. Show you deserve that armband. If we win the midfield battle and control the ball we win the game. Wingers, high and wide but make sure you come back on defence. When we don't have the ball I want us narrow. We work it into the final third playing football and once we get there, wingers tuck in to provide options and fullbacks get high to provide the width. We play with our hearts and I expect 110%. Understood?" The team break their huddle, some looking a lot more confident than others, and head to their starting positions. Their opponents from Trost already lined up and ready to kick things off as is the ref. Eren turns his attention to the opposition defenders. Sizing them up and thinking how best to go about causing them trouble, and well, talking about size, in particular, the two centre backs are certainly on the tall side. Not quite Bert's height. Maybe just under. A lot of looking up if he wants to make eye contact.