Miniminter [sidemen]

The Charity Match [Simon]

"Oh, my God, look, it's Miniminter! He's so hot."

Callum chuckled bitterly, folding long, pale arms across his chest as he stalked down the tunnel toward you at the sound of your voice, sarcastic and light. "Hah. You think you're funny, yeah?"

"I know I'm funny, Callum," you corrected, stopping before him smugly.

Cal raised an eyebrow. "Honestly, babe, the whole confuse-Cal-and-Simon thing is so old. We don't even look alike."

"Mm, you're right. Simon's hotter."

Cal's face flamed, more from irritation than humiliation. You considered mentioning the similarity in the redness of Cal's cheeks to his YouTuber Allstars uniform, but the goal wasn't to piss him off; it was to hype him up.

But you were really, really good at pissing him off.

You tried for a laugh anyway, reaching up to shove Cal in the shoulder. "Relax, Airey, I'm playing. I'm just trying to rile you up before the game."

A grin erupted on Cal's face, and he dropped his voice. "There are other ways to excite a man, you know."

He stepped so near to you that the toes of his cleats were flush against the front of your trainers. In a voice just as low as his, you replied, "And there are other, more successful ways to drop a line on a girl, Callum. You know your bullshit doesn't work on me."

Cal was still grinning, still so, so close to you. "Nothing works on you."

"Nothing that you've already tried, no."

Cal stopped moving for an instance, and you stopped breathing. Hushed, locker room chants echoed down the tunnel and surrounded the two of you; the boys were still getting ready for the match. It was as if the stadium itself had a pulse, anticipation and excitement reverberating between every brick. You, as well as tons of fans walking amongst the stands above you, had been waiting for this day for weeks, and it was finally here. You weren't even playing and you were nervous as hell.

Cal tore you from your reverie with a single whisper: "I'm making you nervous."

You sputtered, "What? No. You're not making me nervous. You should be the one who's nervous, anyway!"

One of Cal's hands darted out, and long, deft fingers brushed across your cheekbone. Cal murmured distractedly, "Don't know about that. 'M feeling pretty confident."

It was your turn to raise an eyebrow. "I can tell."

"Oi!" A call and a surprised laugh echoed down the corridor quite loudly, and you sprung away from Cal to peek over his shoulder at the man who was approaching you. He was tucking his black Sidemen FC jersey into his uniform shorts, a white "Captain" band tight around his right arm. "Making plays before the match even starts, yeah, Freezy?"

Cal turned to face Simon smugly, stretching out his long limbs in exaggeration. "I'm just warming up, bro!"

Simon chuckled again, calmly this time, as he neared us and joked, "Yeah, not on my girl, you're not."

"Not your girl, Minter."

"She's not yours either, Airey."

"Can you two save it for the pitch and move your asses?" you interrupted quickly. "I'm not supposed to be down here, but when both team captains are missing from the pre-gamecaptains' interview someone's gotta drag the two of them away from their mirrors."

Cal huffed, "I've been waiting here for Simon for like ten minutes. You saw me in the hall!"

"Fashionably late, innit?" Simon teased, winking at you.