The soft sound of laughter and heavy feet on the sodden grass soothed William as he finished the last few pages of his human anatomy textbook
It of course wasn't homework, he'd done that ages ago, this was just for his own personal enjoyment....he'd read all his textbooks for all his classes and it was all enjoyable for him
School had ended an hour ago, but William had taken a liking to lingering around the soccer pitch to read ahead in his books as well as to indulge in his secret writing hobby
He loved soccer, he enjoyed it thoroughly in fact, but since he'd started to reside in the old bleachers he'd taken to fancying one of the players on the team...which had inspired his short little poems
In William's house writing was shunned as being a waste of time, the only time he was ever allowed to enchantedly fill pages with his words was here at the field away from the rules and opinions of his parents
A smile of anticipation formed on his face as he finished reading the last words of his textbook. He slipped the large book into his backpack and exchanged it for his old notebook
His eyes wandered to his crush, watching him pass the ball effortlessly and joke about with his teammates in an equally effortless fashion
William had never been athletic and some even considered him socially inept, which was actually quiet valid considering how much anxiety William experienced when talking to people
If he was more skilled in the arts of communication, he might've mustered the courage to talk to the younger player....however, both communication and courage were rare subjects which William simply couldn't master
He much preferred to admire from the sidelines and hope and dream of a possible reality that was so far fetched it was almost laughable
William, ever the observant, had noticed that the player was a incredibly popular amongst his teammates, though he looked far younger
William clicked his pen a couple times and had just pressed it to the blank paper when he heard a loud, 'HEADS UP!'
He looked up startled and barely managed to block his face with his hands as the ball bounced roughly off his hands
"Sorry bout that bruv" came a deep voice from the field below him, "now would you just toss it back?"
William felt his cheeks burn out of both annoyance and embarrassment, he could tell the player below wanted nothing to do with him and his apology was empty and not sincere at all
William tossed the ball back roughly and took joy in watching the player fumble with it
"The fuck is your problem?" Came the ignorant rather cocky voice
William felt himself tense with anger, a boldness he didn't know he had seemed to fill inside him
"Me? Correct me if I'm mistaken but you were the one who kicked the ball at my head and didn't have the decency to apologize proper"
The boy let out a snort of laughter, "is that your deal then? You want a proper apology?" He asked in amusement
William's face further deepened into a frown but before he could speak a soft gentle voice was calling
"Oi what's goin on?" His crush trotted over with a face full of concern looking from his teammate to William, causing William's heart to flutter
It took everything inside William to keep his composure as the smaller boy's brilliantly blue eyes locked with his
"This git is wantin an apology for no reason"
"But didn't you nail a ball at his head?" The boy asked innocently with the slightest traces of a grin on his face
The taller player turned toward him, anger present on his face
"How bout you just run along Tom...this is a situation above the mental capacity of a thirteen year old"
"Sixteen" Tom corrected him quietly
The older boy chuckled, "I'm glad to see your loyalties lie with your team" the he said sarcastically, he shot a menacing look to William before stalking away angrily
William's heart ached seeing the hurt look on Tom's face as the other boy stormed off
Tom let out a sigh and walked over to William, "Sorry about him...are you alright?"
William almost went into a cardiac arrest seeing Tom heading his direction, and when the boy began to speak to him it was all he could do to not run away and hide
"I-I'm alright thanks..h-how are you?" William felt his mind blanking and his words seemed to form on their own
A slight smile spread across Tom's youthful face, "I'm good actually...hey you're that Schofield guy right? Top student in the school"
William felt his heart drop to his feet, Tom knew who he was...
"Y-yeah that's me...b-but it's nothing really" William said modestly as he scratched the back of his neck and adjusted his glasses
Tom smiled in a rather admiringly way, "come on mate that's somethin! Man I'd kill to be one of the smart kids"
William smiled softly, "I mean you're one of the best athletes in the school and you're younger than the rest of the boys on the team"
Tom's eyes were wide for a second before he laughed nervously, "I guess maybe but, I still fink you have it better"
William chuckled a little and admired the soft features of Tom's face, his wavy hair was unkept and slightly damp from sweat and there was a few specks of mud on his face
"I have to say though, I've been wonderin when we was gonna meet" Tom said as he walked a little closer to Will, taking a seat on the Beecher beside him, "been seein you at all our games"
William blushed furiously and averted his eyes away from Tom, his mind was racing to think of an excuse but his mind was blanking completely, all he could think of was his crush sitting a few feet away from him
"Well you know I'm uh I'm studying for my courses and well it's a nice place to study...good company"
Tom chuckled, "is that it then?"
William nodded feverishly
"Aw mate...that's awful because I was startin to hope that maybe you was comin to these games for me?"
William almost choked at this, his eyes widened and he felt himself gaping at the words of the younger very confident boy
"W-well...I -I"
"Look Sco, you don't need to lie to me I know"
William's mind was racing, how could he have known...he hadn't let anyone read his notebook and he'd never told anyone of his feelings toward Tom
"Know? Know what?" William said in a paranoid uncomfortable voice
"Well you ain't subtle mate" Tom said with a grin, "I see The was you always be lookin at me and I can catch ya starin at me sometimes"
William felt his face redden worse than he thought possible, he wanted to bury his face in his hands but was paralyzed with shock and fear
"Let me just say...sometimes I do them same looks toward you...but you never catch me because I'm subtle" Tom grinned slyly at his own remark
William felt his heartbeat quicken, Tom felt the same? He was confused and felt he was in way over his head socially
"Look...Id like to get to know ya a bit better, if that's okay with you?"
William nodded once again
Tom smiled, "here, gimme ya number and maybe we can get lunch sometime?"
Feeling a shiver coarse through him, William quickly rummaged through his bag until he was able to produce one of his pens
"Here just write it on my hand" Tom said easily offering his hand to William
He felt himself shaking all over as he gently held onto Tom's soft and surprisingly delicate hand, he liked the way his hands engulfed the younger boy's but didn't dare say so
He gently pressed the pen against the soft skin of Tom and wrote his number
Tom grinned, "brilliant...fanks mate, now watch me get ya a goal today" with that Tom winked and jogged back to his teammates
William felt as if he'd just exercised all the energy he'd ever had, he sunk back into the bleacher and let out a long sigh
Of all the ways he'd imagined them meeting, that was the most bizarrely wonderful way
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