On Your Toes| Ongoing

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞 - 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐬

"You! You're the goddamn captain for fuck's sake! Be a goddamn example! What the hell do you think you were doing starting fights in the —"

"How about instead of getting on me you should teach your colorblind bat of a son what the colors on our jerseys mean?" Darren says as he faces Jayson. He pinches the black collar of his jersey and pulls at it repeatedly, and speaks to Jayson in a similar tone he would use with a child. "Do you see this? This means we're. On. The. Same. Fucking. Team. You fucking idiot!"

Jayson jumps to come at him but once again his father got between the two and put a dark skin hand against his chest. "ENOUGH!"

"I've had enough of this bullshit! Go take a knee with the rest of the team," Coach demands. Jayson was the first to move, glaring at Darren as he passed. Coach Danvers still held a tight grip on Darren, pulling him down to look him in the eyes. "You better remember where the hell you are and who the hell you're talking to. Or else, I'll demote your ass down to waterboy. Do I make myself clear?"

Darren stares down at the man before him, images of tonight's home game flashing at rapid speed in his head. Splinter's disappointed face in the stands is the most persistent of them all. He took those images and fueled them into calming energy. "Yes, sir."

Coach releases his shirt with a slight shove and Darren turns around to face the rest of his teammates. The devastation and exhaustion displayed clearly on all of their faces. He sat beside his best friend, Elias Hart. Elias doesn't spare him a glance though, echoing the fact that he failed his team. Darren pushes his dampen hair out of his face to look up at Coach.

"Never in my fifteen years of coaching the Black Bears have I ever seen a shit show as embarrassing as that! If I didn't know any better I would have thought you'd never competed before," he sarcastically laughs with complete and utter disbelief. He runs his hands over his head, removing his black cap. "We would have had a better chance had I put JV on the ice."

"Anybody wanna explain what happened out there? Wanna explain what's been happening all season?" Coach Danvers surveys the room and not one of them spoke a word. What could they say that wasn't an excuse? He tosses his hat on the ground and drags his hands down his face, groaning, "I swear if I didn't need this job, I'd tell them to give away our funding."

Jayson opens his mouth to brave a response but the words only tumble out as stutters. Coach's eyes zip over to him, annoyance gleaming with every unblinking second. The boy never did have a good sense of timing, Darren knew that from the moment he met him. It was at the beginning of the school year, during tryouts. Since being made captain last year, it was his responsibility to assist in choosing the new potential additions. He hadn't known that Jayson was the coach's son when studying the freshman which only made his decision to deny the boy all the more effortless. For good reason too. Every opening there was for a pass, Jayson ignored it and took that as his chance to be a puck hog and take the victory all for himself. Nevertheless, he made it through for reasons unknown to Darren. The Black Bears were fine with the people he'd chosen; they didn't need a team member who didn't know what the word team meant.

"So now he speaks?" Coach starts. "Can you see too? Or was Darren right about you being colorblind?"

Jayson stayed silent, allowing his father to scold him in front of everyone.

"I thought you were ready. I actually thought you had what it takes to be on this team. But the only thing I've learned tonight and every game before that is that you are still a child. A child who has yet to learn to share his toys. From the moment you and Darren got on the ice, it was a domino effect of disaster."

The boy cast his head down, not being able to maintain a straight face anymore. Coach Danvers pivoted toward the bench where Darren and Elias sat. Darren thought he couldn't possibly feel any lower than he did right now, but the look on Coach's face begged to differ. He wanted to melt into the floor and disperse into thin air and never be seen again.