"Ezra, man, I know you're upset but I really think you should calm down before we go out there," Spencer said, leaning forward and knocking his knees against Ezra's. They were sitting in the locker room, waiting for their coach to come and get them, and Ezra was practically shaking with anger. It had been building since he had first seen Adrian yesterday morning, and was getting worse and worse since he'd soon have to look into the eyes of the man who had hurt that beautiful boy. His beautiful boy.

He couldn't help but to feel protective over Adrian, especially now.

"I'm fine, Spence," he lied for the hundredth time, speaking through gritted teeth as he once again thought of all the bruises that covered Adrian's face, darker today than they had been the day before. No. He was not fine.

"Ezra-"

"Alright boys," Coach said, peeking his head into the locker room and smiling at them all. "Are you all ready?" Ezra had never felt more ready in his life so he hollered along with the rest of the boys, ignoring Spencer's look of worry and moving along with the team out of the locker room. Him and Spencer were the last two to exit and his coach stopped him on the way out. "Drake, are you sure you-"

"Higgins," Ezra demanded, "let me focus on Higgens". Spencer's teeth dug into his lower lip and he look at Ezra, who looked back with a blank expression.

"Alright, son". He received a clap on the back that pushed him in the direction of the rest of the team. Spencer jogged to catch up.

"Ezra, you forget that I know you better than everyone else. You're going to do something stupid if you only focus on Caleb-"

"Ezra!" They both turned at the sound of his name being yelled. Ezra couldn't find where the voice had been called from but Spencer stuck out a hand, pointing to the sidelines where both of Ezra's parents were standing and waiting. They both walked over, Spencer with a polite smile on his face and Ezra staring blankly ahead. His mother cupped his face with both of her hands and pulled him into a bending position so she could reach his forehead to kiss it.

"Look happier, my dear boy," she said, wrapping her arms around him and Ezra relaxed into the embrace of his mother.

"I'm working on it, mom". He didn't want to pull back, but also didn't want to be the boy who stood on the sidelines and clung to his mother.

His father was talking to Spencer quickly, his eyes lighting up with excitement and Spencer seemed very amused with the short man as he nodded along. Ezra's shoulder bumped against his best friend's as he directed his attention to his father and Spencer nudged him back a bit rougher.

"You boys have better be ready. It's your last game against these champs and so far they've got you beat two to one. I expect to see you working hard out there". Ezra rolled his eyes at his father and Spencer chuckled.

"Yes sir". Ezra looked at his best friend to see Spencer staring off into the crowd, searching for something. When he found it, he nudged his head in that direction and Ezra followed his gaze to Liam, who was sitting on the bleachers grinning at Spencer. Spencer excused himself from the conversation with Ezra's father and then sent a single wink Ezra's way before he was running up the sidelines towards the student section of the bleachers. As he went, Ezra noticed something rather important to him.

This was a huge understatement.

Ezra noticed the most important someone in his life, sitting directly in front Liam. Adrian, accompanied by Helen, was sitting in the bleachers, and his eyes fixated on Ezra the exact same time that Ezra looked up at him. Neither looked away and Ezra hoped that his eyes were communicating all he wanted to say.

I'm sorry. I love you. Forgive me. I can explain. Adrian. Adrian. Adrian. I love you.

Adrian was distracted by something, more specifically, Spencer, who was standing on the steps of the bleachers and talking to him. Ezra watched his best friend's lips move as they formed the words, how you feeling, cupcake. God, Ezra thought, looking away from the scene of both Adrian and Liam grinning up at Spencer, for two completely different reasons... he hoped.

Coach was calling everyone onto the field now and Ezra kissed his mother's cheek and received a hard clap on the back from his father, who instructed him to, "go get em' son," and then he was running out onto the field with the rest of his team as the crowd cheered.

Spencer, being the idiot he was, didn't realize that he was supposed to be out on the field at that time and was still standing on the bleachers talking to his boy friend with a large smile on his face. Ezra looked at Adrian again, realizing he had the boy's full attention, and then looked away.

"Kipson!" Coach hollered to him, but the crowd was too loud to be heard over. With a single look at Ezra, who was holding out his hand for the ball, it was given to him. The only way to get Spencer's attention from a distance this far was to hit him in the head with something, and the only one on the team with good enough at these sorts of trick shots to do so Ezra.

When he kicked it, the direction of the ball was heading in was exactly where he wanted it to go, Spencer's abdomen, but as he often did, Spencer sensed it coming and caught the ball before it actually hit him. With it, he hopped down the stairs of the bleachers and ran onto the field, not thinking of slowing down when he ran and instead barreling straight into Ezra, who huffed and then pushed him away but couldn't help but to grin.

"Alright-" Coach gave his usual pep talk. Normally, Ezra would be totally engaged in the speech but today he was busy staring at the other team. They were stationed at the other end of the field, and there was one particular boy who was looking back at Ezra. Caleb grinned and Ezra's fist's clenched.

A hand brushed across his arm and Ezra looked down at Spencer, who raised his eyebrows at him, asking him silently if he was okay. Ezra glanced back at Caleb Higgins, and upon seeing the boy now distracted by a teammate, he nodded to Spencer. For a while, Ezra thought, he would be fine.

The game began. Spencer kicked the ball onto the opposing team's side and it was quickly recovered by none other than Caleb Higgins. The boy had talent, Ezra had to admit. He moved so gracefully through people, making it almost completely down the field without having the ball taken from him. But Ezra was talented too.

He moved so he was in front of the boy, and Caleb glanced up at him, recognition flickering on his features for a second. His mouth curved into a smile as he approached Ezra. When he was in front of him, he tried to be smooth, kicking the ball around Ezra's legs to one side and moving around his other side to retrieve it. He almost succeeded in this, but Ezra was faster. His leg immediately stuck out, stopping the ball in it's track and then he was down the field, leaving the other behind wondering what had just happened. Unlike Caleb, Ezra found his two strengths and passed the ball. Spencer, Landon, and Ezra made the best team, just the three of them. They were able to communicate with one another like none of the other players were, and it often confused the other team.

Landon trapped the ball under his foot before quickly moving forward. They were approaching the goal now, and Landon passed the pall to Spencer, who without even looking at him, kicked it to Ezra. The ball went exactly where he needed it to and Ezra let his foot fly forward. It was almost like time moved slowly as the goulie jumped, his fingertips brushing the ball a second before it flew into the net behind him.

The crowd went wild and Ezra glanced up at the time. Only thirty seconds had passed. He felt two slaps on his arms, one from Spencer and one from Landon, and then they were gone again, splitting up to cover more area.

When Ezra turned to run down the field, he caught Caleb's eye and smirked at him. A year ago, Caleb had been the reason that Ezra had broken his ankle and was forced to sit out for the rest of the season. If Caleb hand' of tripped him, and more importantly, if Caleb hadn't have touched his boyfriend, Ezra wouldn't have had an issue. But he did.

And it was so on.

***

It was surprisingly a relatively clean game. Sure, whenever given the chance, Ezra and Caleb would knock into each other to steal the ball, but besides a few fouls called, there was nothing out of the ordinary from this game from the one they had played the week before. It felt rather civil for the rivals.

That is, of course, before Ezra tired to once again steal the ball form Caleb and an elbow was delivered into his ribs. Ezra's breath left him and Caleb was still pushing against him until suddenly he wasn't and Spencer was there, pushing the overly rough boy off of him. "What the fuck is your problem, man!" he yelled and a whistle was blown. Ezra rubbed at his ribs with one hand and slapped Spencer's back with the other as his best friend was called off the field. Before he went, Spencer turned to him, gripping his wrist tightly. "Ezra, you're getting too angry". This seemed ironic since it had just been Spence kicked off the field for confronting another player, but it was truer Ezra glanced up to the stands where Adrian was sitting, and seeing the boy's bruised face made him even more upset.

"I know what I'm doing, Spence," Ezra demanded and Spencer swallowed, looking up at him before shaking his head.

"Don't do anything stupid, please".

This advice from Spencer was completely disregarded the next time Ezra and Caleb clashed, They were in a position with the ball between them, both of them fighting for it. Caleb was talking to him, his voice low as he kept his eyes on the ball. "You know that boy in the crowd?" he said and Ezra's eyes automatically flickered up to Adrian. That moment of distraction gave Caleb enough time to steal the ball, but Ezra was quick and snached it back from him. He began moving down the field with Caleb on his heels, kicking at his feet and still talking to him. "Yeah, the one who's been staring at you all night. The one you can't help but to look back at?" The crowd was screaming as Caleb stole the ball and he and Ezra began to fight over it again. "The one with all of those bruises." Ezra tensed, swiping his foot out and catching the ball again. He began to advance down the field but somehow Caleb caught up, speaking almost directly in his ear to be heard over the screaming crowd. "I almost fucked him".

"Shut up," Ezra grumbled and Caleb laughed, intercepting the ball as Ezra tried to pass it down the field to Landon.

Caleb began down the field in the opposite direction and Ezra ran to catch up. "He was just begging for it. I got him drunk, and drove him to my house while he rubbed my dick as I drove with his small hands. It felt so good". Ezra didn't want to hear this. He wanted to focus on the game, but as Caleb spoke his eyes were drawn up to Adrian, who was sitting in the crowd all black and blue and biting his bottom lip as he watched the two of them fight. "I started to take off his cloths-" Caleb grunted as Ezra got control of the ball and turned back around once more. "I was about to fuck him, and then he says stop". Ezra grinned to himself, pushing forward and trying to leave Caleb behind. The boy stuck a leg under Ezra's, nearly tripping him. "But did I stop? No. Of course not. I still almost had him, you know. I got him prepared and everything but he wouldn't stop sobbing and saying your name and it was a turn off-"

And then it hit him. Caleb just hadn't abused Adrian. He had actually touched him. When the boy hadn't wanted him to.

Ezra couldn't control himself any longer. His elbow flew back and he heard a crunching sound as he connecting with something hard. Caleb screamed but Ezra moved forward quickly, taking the ball with him and ignoring the whistle. From where he was standing, he kicked the ball, hard, and it flew into the goal despite the goalie's efforts.

The crowd didn't really know how to react, especially as Caleb continued screamed and clutched at his nose as blood poured over his fingers. Ezra spit in the grass as Caleb's feet.

He didn't need to be told that he was ejected from the game. He simply walked off the field and took a seat onto the bench next to Spencer, who just looked at him for a moment before saying, "Ezra".

"He almost raped my boyfriend," Ezra spat, not caring who heard him at this point, "you're lucky I didn't turn around and beat the shit out of him". Spencer's mouth parted in shock for a moment and then he closed it and nodded.

"Good job," he said, and despite everything Ezra felt his lips curving up into a smile. That is until coach stepped in front of him and his angry voice hit him.

Ezra didn't know if he had even been screamed at this much before, but with one glance over his shoulder at his father, Ezra knew that this wasn't the only time he'd be dealing with something of this sort tonight.