Out of Your League

Chapter Twenty-Four

After two weeks of not being able to play soccer, Keith could not wait to feel the dirt under his cleats again as he sat in the locker room and fastened his shin guards. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as he pulled back his hair. It felt so nice to be back in his uniform. The compression shorts and sleeves comforted him while he walked out onto the field. 

"Our favorite omega has arrived!" Rolo laughed, flipping his platinum blonde hair out of his eyes. 

Keith blushed, laughing softly as he joined his teammates. "Did you guys come up with any new strategies while I was gone?"

"Not really..." Matt rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. 

"Why not?" Lance asked as he walked up behind Keith. He slid his arm around Keith's waist and pulled him close. Since mating with Keith, the alpha's instinct to protect his omega intensified greatly. He felt the need to show everyone else that the omega was his.

Keith smiled, tilting his head to look up at his boyfriend. He leaned back against the taller male, blushing. 

"Because we didn't have our captain or our star player," Hunk laughed. "But we came up with a few new plays that we wanted to run over with you two."

"Pidge did a great job pulling up the schematics and possible outcomes of what the plays will look like in actual gameplay. It's really cool, actually," said James.

"She always does," Keith commented, looking over at the small brunette. 

"Of course I do. I'm a genius. There's a reason I'm in AP classes even though I'm a freshman," she retorted, pushing her glasses up her nose.

Matt rolled his eyes, grinning at his sister. The rest of the team sighed, laughing slightly.

"No need to rub it in, you fucking gremlin," Lance chuckled, ruffling the short girl's hair.

Pidge literally hissed as she swatted Lance's hand away. That had Keith laughing. He covered his mouth as he giggled. He hated laughing in front of other people because he couldn't stand how he looked when he laughed. 

Lance smiled, wrapping Keith in a hug. He nuzzled his nose in Keith's neck, making the striker laugh harder. He shoved at Lance's face, blushing furiously. "Lance! Stop!"

"Ah, young love. I remember that," the voice of their coach made the two boys stop right away. They straightened up, embarrassed that their coach had to see that. 

"Sorry, Coach," Lance muttered.

"No need to apologize. But we do need to get going. Nationals are coming up fast and we haven't had our captain or our star player for the past two weeks," the ginger man said, his voice now serious. "We need to work double-time if we want to catch up to the other teams. The other teams will have worked their butts off coming up with new tactics to catch us off guard. So we need to come up with even better strategies. Okay, team?"

"Yes, coach!" The team shouted in unison.

"Alright then!" He clapped his hands together, smiling under his thick mustache. "Let's go over the plays that Miss Holt pulled up. Then we'll put them into action."

The team gathered around Pidge and her computer, kneeling down to see the screen. Pidge already had the program that she had made for designing the plays. She scrolled down and clicked on one of the new plays that the team had come up with while Lance and Keith were away.

"So basically, this one is focused on defense rather than offense. A variation of a defensive four-three-three. Keith will be on the opposite side of the field, as per usual. He'll keep himself open at all times, cuz' he's super fast..."