"You need to stop letting them get to you! I know it's more easily said than done, but-"
"Shut up!"Axel yelled.
He got up, and stormed out of the locker room. Mark instinctively got up to follow him, but Axel seemed to have accounted for that when he opened the locker room door up again and yelled,"Not even you can follow me! I just need some time alone!"
Mark sheepishly went back to his seat and sighed. Half time had come, and the team were talking strategy, but most of the 'strategy' seemed to be focused on helping Axel ignore his ex-teammates.
"I think I'm going to bench Axel,"Coach Hillman eventually said.
There came yells of protest from the whole team.
"But he needs to show those assholes who's boss?!"Kevin yelled.
"How will he ever get the closure he needs if he doesn't stand up to them? What better way than with soccer?"Celia retorted.
"He'll regret it if he doesn't!"
Coach Hillman stood up. "Silence, please."
They all listened, and looked up at him. "I'm all for a good revenge story, but at the pace you guys are going at, it's not the best idea. Every single one of you are too distracted. Combined with the fact that Kirkwood are a pretty good team. So far, the score is 0-0, but with you guys reduced concentration, who knows? The defenders could fail and Mark could let a goal in!"
"I won't let a goal in!"Mark protested.
"Don't get smart with me,"said Coach Hillman. "I would bench you too if we had another goalkeeper."
This caused Mark to stay silent.
"But their homophobia! How can you condone it?"Jude protested.
"Oh believe me, I don't. I will be reporting this the second the final whistle goes off. The behaviour is absolutely not ok, especially considering that a large portion of our team is LGBTQ+. But we need to worry about the second half now. And I think that the key to winning is not have Axel play. It's stressing him out, and by extension, the rest of you."
"Please consider-"Mark started.
"My decision is final. I will be telling Axel this myself, so you guys do not have to worry about passing the message on,"Coach Hillman said as he got up and left the locker room.
"For fuck sake, the match just got ten times harder without a second striker!"Kevin yelled.
The team sat in silence for a minute, before Nelly spoke up. "Guys, as much as you're going to hate me for saying this, I think that the coach is right. It is stressing you guys out, and affecting your performance."
"What do you mean?!"Kevin yelled.
"I also agree,"Jude said.
A few people gasped.
"How could you, Jude?"Mark said quietly.
"I believe that it isn't fair, but it is the best for his mental health right now."
"He's going to be so upset,"Mark sighed as he put his head in his hands.
Nathan just put his hand on Marks shoulder. "Even more reason to win, right? So we can avenge Axel?"
A few words of agreement could be heard from the team, but it was clear that their hearts weren't really in it anymore.
ΔΙΑΒΑΖΕΙΣ
fluffy - axel x mark
FanfictionCOMPLETE i know everyone is in jr high but i've aged them up to like 17/18 because it would be kind of weird for them to be 13/14 for me :) mark evans is openly gay. everyone knows about his sexuality, and he is extremely confident in his sexuality...
