Just About Soccer

Thanks to all of you who read this! And of course thanks to Lukanicus, who probably read it more often that I did XD

Nediar
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Just About Soccer
Chapter 14

Most of the weekend, they spent swimming in the nearby lake and relaxing in the shadow of the trees. Ray watched Brian having fun in the water, while he was walking along the shore and letting the sun tan his skin. In a few days, he would follow his lover into the refreshing cold. His wound was healing quickly.

Brian never did stay in the water for too long. He did not want Ray to be alone. One day, he noticed some girls curiously eyeing his lover from their position a few metres away. He went back to where they had their own blanket and bags, pulling Ray along with him before the rival beauties could have their go. When the girls realised that the boys were not just friends, they started giggling uncontrollably, but at least they stopped flirting with the brunette.

As Brian and Ray sat in the sun, they talked about soccer, their families, and what they would do if they won in the lottery. While they were evaluating the option of buying their own island with a soccer pitch and lots of butlers, Ray got sunstroke and they decided to return to their holiday home. There, Brian took care of his lover’s blurry mind by kissing him senseless… Okay, it did not really help improving Ray’s perception, but it brought back some life into his body.

On Monday, Ray took Brian to the office of the soccer club that was interested in the blond, before making his way to the school’s football pitch where the others were already practicing.

Of course, everyone wanted to know where Brian was. Zach had told them that Ray and Brian lived together for the rest of the holidays. Some of them were surprised about that, but no one really wondered about the reasons. They apparently got along very well and it was no big secret that Brian was not overly fond of spending the holidays with his parents. The blond himself had never told anyone about the problems his parents had with soccer, but he was pretty sure that one of the nosy girls who sometimes followed him almost all the way home must have found out. Moreover, they were not exactly professional at keeping secrets.

Ray and Brian had come to the agreement, that they would not mention their relationship to anyone who was not explicitly asking them about it. That way, they would not have to lie. Additionally, Ray had to promise not to talk about the soccer club appointment. Brian had felt that it was only fair to do that on his own.

***

Like there was some kind of antenna attached to him, after three hours on the pitch, Ray sensed the arrival of his blond lover without having seen him. He turned around and went some metres until he saw Brian almost flying around the corner. Remembering that they were in public Brian stumbled to a halt in front of Ray, and instead of hugging and kissing, he just grinned and excitedly stared at him.

“I did it. From October on, I’m on their team. They said I just had to figure it out with my school time table.”

“Congratulations, baby. Do you… feel ready to tell the others about that, too?”

Brian looked down to the ground and his smile broke.

“I don’t think so but I guess I’ll never really be.”

“It won’t be so bad, come on. You have to tell them!” Ray smiled at him encouragingly.

“I know…” Brian sighed.

“Well, now or never.”

They went towards the others and Brian said he had news for everyone if they could please sit down for a second.

“Um… look, I… will… quit playing soccer with the school team by the end of September, I guess…”

Ray was surprised the blonde was so straight forward.

Nobody really understood what their mate was talking about, so they did not comment on it. They just stared at him in surprise.

“That’s not all…” Brian continued.

Ray saw Zach hide a grin. His cousin was more intelligent than most people thought. Sportsman were not usually the first on the best-students list. On the other hand, Ray knew that this was by no means always the case. Ray, on the other hand, knew that this was by no means always the case.

“Um… I got an offer from… well… another club. A real club, I mean, no school team, not that school teams are worse but you know about my wish to become a professional somehow and now that I got this offer, I mean it really wasn’t easy for me to decide but now I got support you know, and I thought you might understand it and I’m really sorry about…“

Zach started laughing and Brian stood still in shock.

“And I thought he didn’t even notice you!” Ray’s cousin laughed.

Brian was obviously confused.

“What…“

“That scout who was there at the last match before holidays started. I suspected he was interested in you but since you never said something I assumed he was as useless as all the others who came before him and never noticed you.”

Brian blushed deeply.

“It wasn’t the first offer.” he admitted shyly.

“Brian!” Zach started. “Why didn’t you… Are you crazy?”

“I was… I still AM afraid you could be mad at me and…“

Jack joined their conversation.

“You are one hell of a stupid prick! This is about your future! Take the chance and make as much as you can out of it! Are you afraid we’d be jealous? I don’t want to play for a real club! Why should I be mad at you? Not everyone here wants to go pro! And my mom always says that jealousy is some of the best acknowledgment you can get, anyways.”

Dave nodded in agreement and one of the less talented players grinned, “Maybe I have a chance to be on the pitch more often now... Somehow I should say thank you, don’t you think?”

Brian smiled. “Maybe…”

Zach laid an arm around his neck and announced, “We did it guys! One of us is going pro! Don’t you disappoint us, Bri?”

“I’ll do my best.” the blond boy nodded in obvious relief.

Everyone started applauding and congratulating, only a few appeared a little hurt, but the team spirit won.

Only a defence player named Arnold succeeded in keeping the venom in his gaze. He hid his disapproving glare behind long strands of dirty blond hair and turned away from the happily chatting crowd surrounding the star of their team.

Some seconds later their coach arrived and as his son told him about the “great news”, the shock clearly showed on his face. Quickly, he managed to turn it into a somewhat more positive expression, but Zach noticed the tension in his whole attitude now.

Martin looked at Brian in honest disbelief.

‘Not my son but… that… lawyer’s brat? Where have all the skilled talent scouts gone?’ he thought.

He forced out a smile and said, “But I hope you’ll visit us from time to time? Maybe show us some new tricks and stuff?”

“If I may?” Everyone except Arnold grinned at him and Dave said, “You need to. Can’t leave us so easily, boy!” Jack agreed on that, as did everyone else.

Zach suddenly gasped. “Um, Bri, you know… we have a match on Wednesday? Against our rivals from…“

Jack interrupted him and continued the request, “Oh please, you’ll support us there? Only that last match?”

Dave expectantly fixed his eyes on Brian.

“Um, I don’t know… I mean, I’m still coming to the training every week if I may, but shouldn’t I let someone else actually play in a match? I mean…”

Dave laughed at that. “Listen Bri, all the pro soccer players support their teams until the day their contracts tell them to stop. And so will you do for us. Except for the part with the contract thing, of course. I guess everyone agrees with me on that?”

Most of the others supported Dave’s opinion and so coach Martin could not decide against it.

“Talking about contracts, when will you go to your first official training?” suddenly someone asked.

“The contract says October.” Brian’s voice was low but proud.

Ray saw Arnold role his eyes at that. He decided that he hated that boy.

“Then you WILL join our practices until October. Can’t let you go there without training, eh?” Zach commanded.

“But then”, his dad added, “we cannot let you play in any other official matches than that on Wednesday. That wouldn’t be just.”

“I understand, no problem.” Brian smiled. He had missed the cool tone in Martin’s voice, as everyone else except Zach had. He hoped that Brian would not get into trouble, just because the coach’s pride as a father was hurt.

On Tuesday, the team met again to make up a strategy for the match on the next day. Another half an hour later everyone left the pitch totally exhausted. Training had been pure torture and Zach had a suspicion about the reason for the roughened conditions.

Brian and Ray were rather oblivious to the growing scorn of the coach against the blond. When everyone else had left, they found themselves in the situation of being totally alone in the locker room. This brought an appealing thought to Ray’s mind.

“Bri, baby?”

“What is it?”

“You look exhausted.”

“I am.” Brian laughed and continued pulling on his socks.

“Are you sweating? You should have a shower…”

“You’re growing old, huh? We already had.”

“But you’re sweating again, aren’t you?”

“It’s summer and this room is pretty heated up…” This conversation was irritating Brian a little bit. Why did Ray insist on that topic?

The answer came right away, “So I volunteer to wash all the sweat off your sexy ass, baby.”

This time Brian got the hint.

“What makes you think I would want you to?”

“You can’t resist me.”

“Who told you that?”

“You did.”

“When?”

“Yesterday I guess… and two days- excuse me - two nights ago.”

Ray grinned and moved backwards, in the direction of the shower room, slowly pulling off his black tee and threw it towards his bag, where it landed on the floor in front of Brian. Then, he carefully placed his shorts on the bench on the right hand side. They had been his all time favourite shorts, so throwing would have been a sacrilege.

“Is that an offer?” Brian rather concluded than asked, and admiringly examined Ray’s tanned, muscular body. He approached the door, which led to the showers, where his lover was showing his most seductive grin. This scene had something of a porn movie - one of those without the plot, of course.

However, Brian all too obediently got rid of his socks first and then threw his shorts on the bench on top of Ray’s.

Ray cheerfully took Brian’s hand into his and pulled him towards the showers, shut the door and turned on the water.

For some seconds he simply stared at Brian and then slowly moved closer. The sight of his angel wet all over and with that indescribably trustful look was just too much of heaven. Ray finally stood close enough for their bodies to touch and he whispered, “I told you I’d like to shower with you.”

The cold water was running down their warm and sweating bodies, providing a pleasant contrast to the dry heat on the pitch.

Ray’s voice sent an additional shiver down Brian’s spine. He followed the urge to wrap his arms closely around the taller one’s body. Brian held onto his lover like that, as if his life depended on it. Somehow it did, actually. Brian did not want to live without his dream anymore, now that it seemed to have come true.

“Hold me,” he breathed.

Ray did.

“I love you Brian.”

“Thanks…”

They stood there for some seconds until Brian started to kiss Ray’s chest. A soft sigh rewarded the action, and finally their lips met, before Ray pushed Brian away and held him at arm’s length.

“But I wanted to soap your back!”

Ray pouted playfully, and when Brian just answered with another longing look the brunette grinned suggestively and set his lips over those of Brian again.

Ray dominated the kiss and kept it slow. When he opened his eyes slightly, he saw Brian frowning and keeping his eyes shut, which made Ray wonder why he was not entirely enjoying this. The older one broke their kiss.

“What’s up, baby?” Ray wanted to know.

“I- I’m okay. Why did you stop?”

Ray noticed the shaky tone and examined the soft features he was looking at with very special care. He found what he was looking for.

“Well, at first I mistook that…“ - the brunette placed his thumb next to Brian’s eye - “for drops of water. But in fact…“ - Ray now licked the tip of his thumb - “it’s salty. And the water in a shower is not salty. So it’s tears. And now, you will tell me what triggered them.”

Brian grinned awkwardly. When he asked his body, he wanted to touch, most of all to be touched. When he asked his heart… touching was just not enough. If there were a chance to totally melt into each other, a way that went beyond sex, he would have taken it. If there had been a way of never letting Ray go again, he would have taken it.

“Bri?”

With all his intangible images and feelings in mind, it felt like he would never be able to describe it appropriately. The closest and most worldly thing to the feeling would be described in one simple sentence, which now came so effortlessly from Brian’s lips, that he was surprised about his own directness.

“I want you. Bad”

“That’s it?” Ray did not really understand why it had cost Brian such a long time to realise that. He grinned inwardly.

Brian nodded.

“Guess what, baby! I want you too.”

Brian shook his head.

“It’s more than that… But I can’t describe it…”

“That’s why you had to think abut it for that long?”

Brian nodded again.

“Wow, then you must be REALLY wanting me.” Ray was not able to conceal the pride in his voice and Brian could not help the smile.

“I do…”

Brian’s diffident voice and the hidden desire affected Ray’s instinct to protect. He suddenly became surprisingly aware of their naked, wet bodies. Seconds later Brian’s need was pulsing hot against his inner thighs. A wave of passion crashed down on him and for the third time in his life, he pinned Brian against the wall, only there were some differences to the first two times. One, they were in a shower, therefore wet and closer than ever before, without fabric in between. Two, he did it gently and passionately.

Three, this time he DID kiss Brian. Without second thoughts or doubts. Without hesitation.

Brian moaned deeply and felt his knees giving in.

“Do you guess the water will do it?”

“I hope so.” Brian simply answered, trying not to slip down the wet wall, forcing his legs to work properly.

Ray was very careful and slow with his movements and was rewarded with the most beautiful sounds he had ever come to hear in a shower.

~~~

They leaned against the wall next to each other and watched the water running over the white tiles.

“I think I understand why you wanted me to help you under the shower.” Brian grinned meekly.

“So, will you… this evening?”

“Nope, sorry. Gotta get some rest for tomorrow.”

Ray pouted but could not keep the sad face for long.

“Okay, I understand. Was just an offer… You can… always come to me in case… you change your mind. You’ve got something like a life-long voucher for sex.” The statement was accompanied by a wide grin, giving away every dirty thought on Ray’s mind.

“With you?”

“Sure with me! Everyone else who dares to touch you has got a gift token for a ticket to hell!”

“I see. Talking about which … Let’s hurry and get out of here or the caretaker will get mad… and suspicious.”

“If you say so… But… Why should he get suspicious? Isn’t it normal to find two guys showering together in here?”

“Sure it is. But not when aforesaid guys cling to each other as we do.”

They turned off the water, took their towels, opened the door leading back to the locker room and froze in place.

~

“Please everyone, relax a little and get ready for tomorrow! We meet at one thirty p.m.! Don’t forget that! Jack!”

“Oh come on! Ten minutes delay won’t kill you! I want finish lunch first!”

“You’ll have to get your lunch earlier, I guess! You cannot run with a full stomach anyway!”

Dave laughed at that.

“Seriously man, Jack CAN run with a full stomach. Especially when he runs to buy MORE food.”

Jack pouted, waved good-bye and left the others. Dave ran after him, still laughing at his own joke.

Everyone else left a minute later, too. Only Arnold turned to go back to the dark blue building behind them.

“Arnold, where are you going?”

“I just noticed I forgot my mobile phone. Gotta go back and get it! No need to wait for me!”

“Hurry, the caretaker won’t be too happy to have to wait!”

Arnold grinned. “I guess he’s pretty used to us forgetting stuff in there, isn’t he?”

Arnold quickly turned and ran towards the building. Zach thought about giving him the position as forward in their next match. He was fast and skilled when it came to defending the ball.

Arnold pulled open the door of the locker room and stared blankly at the two boys in front of him. They had nothing on but a towel.

Of course not, they were coming from the showers!

But they are all alone in here.

Of course they were. Everyone else has already been in the showers!

But they had been showering before, too. Why did they… twice?

And why did they blush?

“Uhm, I just… need my mobile phone… must be… ah!, there it is”

Arnold grabbed the gadget and quickly turned around again. This situation was awkward.

“See you tomorrow… bye!”

“Bye” Brian and Ray said together, then they were alone again.

The encounter had been so short that Ray and Brian needed some seconds to comprehend what they had seen.

“You think he knows?” Brian finally asked with a hushed voice.
“I have no idea.” Ray sounded hoarse.

“Hey!”, Zach waved at Arnold. “That was quick, man! What’s wrong? You’ve seen a ghost to come running back like that? Or was it the caretaker?”

“No, not… quite…”

“Not quite a ghost or not quite the caretaker?”

“Both a bit, I assume…”

“Maybe the ghost of the caretaker? Did he die? If there’s a ghost we maybe should tell my dad. Might be bad for the match tomorrow.”

Arnold stared at Zach blankly and then realised that he was joking. He smiled only half in amusement.
“Maybe…”

But something Zach had said was stuck to his mind.

“Hey, you’re right! I should tell the coach. This might really be bad… for the match.”

He grinned now but Zach was still oblivious to the missing joy in his eyes.

“Tomorrow this should really be a bad thing… for a certain somebody.” Arnold whispered and then turned to Zach.

“Ey, mate. May I come home with you for a second and have a quick talk to your dad?”

“Really that bad?”

“I guess so.”

Arnold said no more and Zach forgot about it.

***

On Wednesday morning, Brian was in a weird mood. Ray had not figured out yet what his mind was occupied with when they left for the football pitch. All the way there (Helen fetched them from the holiday house) they did not talk very much and Ray slowly grew impatient. He knew that Brian was troubling himself with something and it was agitating not to be able to talk openly about what was wrong. So Ray tried a few what-boys-may-ask-without-being-awkwardly-looked-at questions.

“You nervous? Big game, huh?”

Brian only barely lifted his eyes off his shoes and simply nodded. When he realised that Ray was not able soothingly to put his arms around him he added, “A little”, only to make sure that Ray kept asking him when they were alone. Because “a little” did not quite explain why he was so very depressed, Brian only hoped Ray understood the situation the same way…

Communication without talking was something even lovers have to learn before it works out.

However, it proved to work quite well when the two of them walked to the entrance to the locker rooms and had five minutes of privacy.

“So what’s up, Brian?”

“I Have a bad feeling about Arnold…”

“He didn’t look that irritated, you know?”

“Because he’s a good actor. He doesn’t like me, anyway.”

“He’d always been pretty polite, I think.”

They heard giggling behind them and Ray grinned.

“Your fan club, Bri.”

Brian smiled a bit discomposedly and whispered, before the girls surrounded them, “You’re so naïve. He’s a pretentious- Hi everyone! You gonna cheer for us?”

His smile was flawless when he turned to talk to the group of girls.

Ray sighed inwardly, patted Brian’s back to keep the buddy-image and went off to the pitch. Did that prick just call him naïve? Ray’s mood had changed rapidly from caring to angry. Naïve. He simply believed in the good side of people… Okay, that was naïve - and not even entirely true. Was Arnold really such a good actor?

The match started out well for the team and Brian looked like a little god on the green grass, or so Ray thought. One could clearly see that the others trusted him and he was an excellent team player, if he wanted to. There was only one situation when a player of the opposing team trapped him in an offside position.

The schools that played today were - and had always before been - first-class rivals and a victory meant a lot to both of them.

Brian’s school had won the match the last three years and Ray had been told that the final goal was always scored by Brian. Ray was proud. And jealous. God, how much he wished to be on the field as well and play with them. A wave of hate flooded his body when he realised that his dad had forced him to quit. And the self-reproaches returned. What had he done? Or better yet, why had he not realised when things went wrong?

A sudden loud outcry from behind him that quickly turned into an overwhelming cheer brought Ray back to the scenery.

Brian was grinning and waving up at him.

“Oh, Rose! He’s waving at me!”

“Oh, sure as hell he is!” was the ironical answer from Rose. “He’s waving at ME!”

Ray grinned and thought, ‘Both you are wrong, girls. I’m sorry.’

He softly raised his hand and nodded appreciatively. Brian was content with that and turned around again to take a bath in the happy and smiling faces of his team mates.

Ray regretted his dark thoughts now. They had made him miss his lover’s goal. He vowed to himself never to let that happen again.

As the game went on he, attentively scanned the place and his eyes followed Brian’s every movement.

Only one second something else caught his eyes. And that was Arnold talking to the trainer at the side of the pitch. Suddenly, a weird feeling crept inside his stomach. Brian’s words still lingered in his mind.

Ray was indeed a little anxious about what Arnold might have told Martin, even though before, he had not really believed something bad could arise, not even from Arnold knowing about Brian and him. Why should it even bother Arnold at all? Or what could make him tell the coach? In fact, what was even so bad about the coach knowing? He could not change it anyway. Still, Ray knew that it could be troublesome if Martin found out. Some things you just knew by intuition.

Ray suddenly froze in his position when he saw Martin shooting Brian an awkward look. Then, the man shook his head, obviously in disbelief and was about to turn away when Arnold started talking again. This time the coach did not argue against the boy but listened carefully and Ray noticed that his eyes were searching for him, the brunette, among the cheering crowd.

Ray instinctively dived away behind the people in front of him and sneaked to the nearest exit. From there he could not be seen but neither could he follow what was going on down on the pitch, which made him leave the stand.

He went over to the team’s locker rooms and waited there for the halftime break.

Two minutes after the whistle was heard, the players rushed inside, only few of whom were talking and with no one smiling. Not even his team.

Ray hid around a corner and only Jack noticed him there. He quickly joined him and with the most serious expression the brunette had ever seen on the boy’s soft features he explained, Ray should better stay in his hiding place because there might be some trouble in store.

As Ray wanted to know what had happened Jack shrugged and only said that apparently something was wrong with Brian, since the coach appeared pretty pissed at him. At least, that was Jack’s wording.

That news hit Ray like lightning.

A second later Jack was roughly hugged from behind what caused him to angrily hiss at the assassin, known as Dave.

“Can’t you keep quiet? The coach needn’t know he’s here!”

Dave looked at Ray for a second, then quickly let go of Jack and curiously cracked up an eyebrow.

“What’s up, dude?”

Ray grinned at him. There was just no way you could resist that broad smile. Jack could not either.

“I’m trying to explain him he mustn’t come near the coach right now.”

“Um, why? Because our coach is talking to Brian?”

“Exactly.”

“And what’s he gotta do with it?” Dave asked with his finger pointed at Ray.

The brunette got curious as well. Why did Jack think Ray needed to be careful?

The blond boy first looked from one to another and seeing their questioning gazes he sighed.

“Yes, okay. He told me… about you…” Jack sheepishly looked up at Ray.

“When we were the last in the locker room today and that he feared Arnold-”

“What are you doing there? Got some girls in here or what?” The voice of the coach cut Jack short, but Ray had all the information he needed.

“Be careful!” Jack whispered and Dave smiled at the coach, covering his friend.

“Sure, gotta keep the spirit up, sir!”

Martin grinned and then waved at the two to get inside the locker room.

“Tell the others I’ll be there in a second, ‘kay?”

“Sure, we will!”

They vanished through the door on the left.

Seconds later Ray heard a hushed conversation that made his blood freeze white. It was no real conversation in this sense, rather a monologue with a single listener. The listener was Brian.

“Okay boy, now on to you. I was told that you… How shall I put it?”

Martin did not have to think for too long.

“That you had certain feelings… which are rather… shall I say unusual? for a boy… who plays football as good as you, I may say! I am really hoping that it isn’t true, you know, because I really don’t appreciate it. It can be devastating for your career, I’m sure. And you should be aware of that as well. I’m just giving you a hint, you see?”

His voice changed from arrogant, to disgusted to comradely.

When he interrupted himself for a second Brian asked mock-candidly, “What exactly do you mean, coach?”

Some seconds of absolute silence followed, before a harsh whisper reached Ray’s ears.

“Don’t fuck around with me! It’s enough for me to hear that you’re seducing my nephew! For god’s sake, he’s to go to a good university and get some honour to his name and then a little wannabe-football-star like you comes along and ruins his chances! If I ever shall find you touching my sister’s boy or doing something like that- Hell, I don’t wanna think about letting you shower with the rest of the team!-“

“Was that a threat?”

“No boy, certainly not. For one because I cannot threaten a student of mine and for two you can’t help your being different. But I tell you to let Ray be!”

That second footsteps were heard and Ray soon found out who they belonged to.

Arnold rose his voice, “Oh, coach, Sir, please excuse me. I’m on my way to the locker room. I didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“You told him, huh?” Brian suddenly directed his words at Arnold.

“Excuse me, Brian?”

“Who else could it’ve been? You saw us!”

“I don’t know what-“

“Yes, Arnold told me and I’m very thankful for that.”

The boy took advantage of the situation. “Uhm, coach? I wanted to ask you if I could play as well in the second half?”

The coach seemed honestly surprised. “No, sorry. I can’t put you in as a striker! You’re better in defence position, Arnold. I know Zach thinks differently, but that’s why I AM your coach and not Zach. I know better. And our defence is good today, so… I cannot let you play unless someone gets hurt.”

“But-“, the kid seemed devastated.

“No arguing there, Arnold. You will get your chance. I’ll think about letting you join the defence at some time, as a replacement for Jack. I want to see his ability as forward. Now will you join the others, please? I still have some issues here.”

Ray could hear Arnold mumble in dissatisfaction.

“Um, coach?” he started.

“Brian?”

“Did I get that right? You kick me out of the team?”

“You got that totally right. I cannot let… you… represent our school’s team, you know?”

_____

one more chapter to come...