THE BOY WHO COULD FLY

20 | benchwarmers

"Come on boys. Do it for us!" Olivier shouted at the team during half. He put a hand around all of the injured players who showed up there.

Gabi had accidentally put one past themselves just before half and was beating himself up for it.

Olivier felt bad. There was so much pressure on them today and they were trying their best. The atmosphere at the Emirates was killer today and Olivier had a good feeling about it. Mikel took the team talk as all the injured players headed back to the bench. Aaron either went to them, he knew he didn't need the team talk and didn't feel like hearing it.

"Look at them, the benchwarmers!" A Liverpool fan taunted as they headed out. Olivier chuckled as he saw the man yelling. He seemed to be in his thirties with a group of four other men and two women. Olivier grabbed Aaron's arm and the two headed over to the man.

"Hello sir, how are you today?" Olivier asked him as they stood a safe distance away. The security had already gotten between them.

"Fuck youse benchwarmers!" He shouted in his almost incomprehensible scouser accent.

"Yeah and remind me real quick who's on the bench versus who paid to get in." Aaron asked and gave Olivier a low fist bump. They loved mocking away fans as a pair, specifically Aaron as a keeper.

"Least I don't play five games a season!" One of his friends shouted, directed at Aaron. Security was now pushing them back slightly.

"Or get a fucking nine month injury!" The original one shouted at Olivier. Any other day, it would've brought him down. Except for today, when he knew he'd be back before the end of the month.

"You not heard the news?" Aaron asked and looked at Olivier.

"Guess not. Hey Aaron, why don't we go train a bit?" Olivier played into it.

"Lovely idea." Aaron said and linked arms with Aaron again as they began walking away.

"Bloody wankers!" He shouted and Olivier chuckled without turning his back.

"Let's show him what benchwarmers can do." Aaron said as he picked his gloves off the bench and Olivier took his brace off. The two would practice in goal for a while before everyone came out of the locker.

"Stop being so shit and give me a hard one!" Aaron chuckled as he threw another catch back to Olivier.

"Mate, I've got an ACL. What more do you expect?" Olivier whined and shot one into the post.

"Better. Not as good as the excuse though. Still, just fucking blast it. We all heard about your academy debut." Aaron said after running after the ball.

"I'm gonna throw it and you volley it in." Aaron warned him. He saw the Liverpool fan watching  and smiled at the fact that Olivier couldn't put many past Aaron.

Olivier took a breath in and Aaron watched his movements closely. He wanted to give the kid a fairly easy one to boost his confidence, but not so easy that he could tell it had been an easy one. It was confusing and hard to calculate, but that was his hope.

When he noticed Olivier was ready, Aaron threw it in the air and Olivier finished the ball flawlessly. Even Aaron was a bit shocked; it was meant to be an easy tap in that looked difficult, but it was actually a beautiful shot. Aaron missed it awfully after anticipating it all wrong and Olivier cheered.

"Suck it, keeper kid!" From then on, Olivier's confidence was through the roof. He was making some skilled shots. Making about half into the net now.

He was enjoying his brief moment of happiness before they both rushed back to the bench. Olivier and Aaron didn't know the crowd was cheering for them until they heard the absence of noise. A weird thing to hear, but to them, much more audible than any of the actual noise.