I AM THE EYES

ouch.

stephen tries. a football match.
yeah, you wouldn't associate the two.
but stephen was determined nonetheless.

it was half time and the squad was discussing things in the changing room. stephen was beside will, a gentle red dusting his cheeks.
people, including himself, had joked about stephens sexuality, and since will lenney entered stephens life it became a total mess.
he wasn't good with girls, he never said he was, he was always so awkward and anxious around them, and he never had any courage to take things a step further. but with will, he felt so different. a comforting jolt of electricity would always strike the older boy whenever wills hand brushed against stephens, it was ridiculous. stephen knew it was a crush, he could never admit it to himself though. never mind tell anyone, especially will about it.

the smaller boy's train of thought was abruptly stopped by will, resting a hand on his shoulder and asking him if he was alright. stephen just nodded, tying that up in a bow with a small smile, and the touch was gone. he missed it immediately, and the ghost of wills hand was still lingering on his shoulder, almost as if it was teasing him, causing him to shudder.
after deji gave everyone a veeeerrryyy inspiring speech, the bell rang and it was time to play.

everyone stood up and filtered out of the changing room, and stephen had forgotten how intimidating the crowd was. the amount of cheering was blinding, but it was nice too. he was so overwhelmed with how many people had come out to see the teams play, it amazed him, to say the least.
stephen wasn't a leader, so he followed after will to the pitch.
he knew that some of his friends were in the crowd, max, alex, george, those kind of people, all clearly supportive of stephens team.
he also knew ryan franklin was on the opposing team. it was youtubers vs youtubers, unlike last years where they faced the sidemen and some other youtubers, it was a fair stand off.
ryan, otherwise known as craig, had a definite opinion on himself, will, george and alex. he didn't like them one bit. stephen hadn't exactly been involved, but because he was one of wills closest friends he supposed that ryan wouldn't like him anyway.

he caught ryan's eye contact for a second, and he could tell he was driven by rage. george had practically ruined his youtube career, everyone knew him as craig, there was no stopping it.
and because of stephens friendship with will, both of them knew if stephen was hurt in any way, will would get pissed off to no end, and so would george and alex too. it was a chain reaction, all because of ryan.
stephen knew something would have to happen, ryan had never settled his anger towards his friends, so something would kick off, no matter what.

and so the match continued, stephen had got the ball quite a few times and scored once, it was by chance of course. he was happy though, mainly because will ran over to him and lifted him into the air, and actually kissed his forehead. even though it was a friendly gesture, it made stephen go red in the face, his mind rushing with thoughts, it made him even more determined to try and score again.
but around the 60 minute mark of the match, the thing happened.
stephen was kicking the ball along the pitch, doing quite well, if he said so himself.
then no other than ryan franklin caught up with him, stephen didn't have the best metabolism, nor was he that fast. so ryan was quick to catch up with him, going ahead and drove his foot into stephens leg. the small boy fell to the rough ground with his eyes scrunched closed, a heart clenching yelp leaving his lips as his leg throbbed with pain. ryan just continued along with the ball, and he heard him laugh, the cherry on top.
opening his eyes, he looked at his leg. it was bleeding quite a lot, more than stephen was comfortable with. ryan must've used his studs to break the skin, rather clever to be honest.
as stephen tried to get up, he failed miserably, all his energy seemed to be draining out of his wound with his blood.
everything felt like it was going in slow motion. he could hear the crowd, mainly shock, but also they were booing ryan, stephen wasn't complaining about that. most of his teammates were just as shocked as the crowd, but what he saw next probably brought him to tears, possibly not.
he spotted will on the absolute opposite side of the pitch, and as soon as he clocked what happened, will ran as fast as he can, stephen had never seen will run so quickly. apparently no one else had, because the crowd was cheering will, and it filled stephen with happiness seeing as he was so affected by this. what he wasn't happy with was how much pain he was in, but all of that seemed to go away as the blurred figure he knew to be will approached him faster than he anticipated.
will skidded on his knees and stopped just beside stephen, placing a hand on his torso.
"holy fuck stephen, the hell happened to yous?"
he panted out breathlessly, he just bloody ran across the whole pitch at a incredibly fast pace, no wonder he was out of breath.
"ryan just knocked me down, i expected it to happen to be honest. i'll look like an actual nonce now that i'll be limping after this."
will let out a hearty laugh, stephen could always make light of any situation, no matter what situation that may be.
"fucks sake ste, nows not the time to make jokes. now come 'ere."
will stood up, and what he did next stephen could never expect, never mind imagine.
he gently picked up a confused stephen bridal style, making sure not to hurt his leg at all costs. stephen had a light frame, so for will it wasn't that difficult to carry him. will looked down at the injured stephen, sighing softly.
"i'm sorry mate. if i could i'd make me the person with the bloody chewed up leg, not you."
"not your fault is it? just that twat ryan. you've got nothing to apologise for."
"i know but still, i should've been faster to get to yous."
will spoke as he looked at stephen, and all stephen did was lean up and kiss him.
today was just full of surprises, innit?
stephen expected will to pull away, but he didn't, he kissed back.
what?
no, what?
stephen would never even believe that in a million years time, that he kissed will and will actually kissed back.
after a few blissful moments the pair pulled away from each other's lips, breathless.
"wanna explain that ste?"
"no, can't really explain my feelings for you can i?"
"you have me there mate. but i like you too, if that's what you're saying."
both teams watched, just as confused as the next person, will could've waited for the paramedics, yet he just carried the poor boy himself. stephen was just as shocked as everyone else, he never would expect today to play out like this. conversations perked up between the two teams, not about the pair, surprisingly, but why the fuck ryan had such sharp studs, and why he did it in the first place. it was safe to say that ryan was given a red card and send off the pitch for the rest of the game.
the pair quickly reached the side where the medkit was, and the ambulance was called too. (thanks to max)
george and alex immediately left the crowd as soon as this played out, quickly going to try and comfort stephen. he played it off and said he was fine, chuckling with it too.
neither george nor alex questioned the kiss, honestly they both were expecting it to happen sooner or later.
they supported it of course, and no words were needed to validate that, they knew that both stephen and will were happy.
eventually the game continued, and the ambulance arrived shortly after. will didn't leave stephens side as he was escorted to the hospital, he could tell stephen was in rather a lot of pain. ryan's studs were not only sharp, but covered in dirt so that got into his wound, making it sting and twice as painful.

when they reached the hospital, stephen was taken to an operating room almost immediately so they could clean and stitch up his wound. ryan's studs had gone through a vein, so that's why he lost so much blood.
will was definitely worried, he just sat in the waiting room, staring at his lap. he didn't even touch his phone, his mind was too focused on stephen. he drank nothing, ate nothing and didn't say a word. he just thought about what had happened, if stephen was okay, how long it would be till he saw stephen again, and the kiss.
he never thought he'd like a guy, will had always labelled himself straight, yeah he'd had his fair share of crushes on male celebrities, but he didn't expect himself to actually kiss a man. it felt right, however. kissing stephen felt so right. will supposed his self proclaimed straightness wasn't as straight as he thought, and thankfully so, because stephen's kiss had just shown him how he had been attracted to stephen for longer than he thought.

finally will got to see stephen again, he had been under anaesthetic for over 2 hours, and unconscious for another 3. five hours will was there. and will was also there when stephen opened his eyes, looking around to gain sense of where he was, then they finally landed on will.
"how long have i been out?"
was his first question.
"5 hours. your operation was 2, and i've been sat here for 3 hours waiting for you to wake up."
will answered, happy to finally see stephen awake.
"how do you feel?"
"drowsy, tired, but i mostly wanna go home. today was too hectic. my leg is still a little sore, but i'm mainly glad to see you again."
"yeah, you too mate. you worried me sick, now you stay there while i look for someone to ask when you can come home."
"can't exactly go anywhere can i?"
will laughed at stephens little remark, standing up to find a nurse who was taking care of stephen.
she informed him that stephen could go home as soon as he wanted, he would just need a lot of support to walk.
will took in the information, finding his way back to stephen.
with a smile, will took stephens hand and spoke.
"come on ste, let's take you home."

aye lads i'm on a proper roll me
hope you enjoy, any comments are appreciated like xxx
new chapter up soon hopefully lol and i hope this isn't shit haha x
-z