fluffy - axel x mark

59 - a longing glance

The match was an eventful one to say the least. Even though Mark decided to play, he found it extremely difficult to focus, and kept almost missing goals.

Luckily for him, his teammates had his back, but the match had to be spontaneously stopped midway through as Jude hurt his leg.

Mark felt like an idiot, as Axel kept glaring at him. He knew that he should keep his head in the game. He knew it, so why couldn't he?

However, Jude recovered quickly, and the match started again.

*******

At half time, Royal were ahead by one point.

"What's wrong, Mark?"Nathan asked.

Mark just shrugged.

Nelly marched over. "Listen here, Mark. You need to get your act together, now! Something is missing in you today that shouldn't be!"

Mark nodded, but didn't say anything. He looked over at Axel, but instead of making eye contact, he looked away.

Mark wanted to ask him why. But not on front of everybody. Axel still wanted to keep things secret for whatever reason, and Mark had to respect that.

*******

As the second half began, Nathan couldn't bear to see Mark get pummelled like he was. Even though Mark wouldn't tell him what was wrong, and he clearly told Axel and Sylvia. He could see the knowing glances that they shared. And it hurt him.

He thought he was Mark's best friend, but he felt extremely left behind. He wanted Mark to like him, and not Axel, as selfish as it seemed.

Sometimes he wished Axel would just disappear, even though he was one of the teams star players. Just because he so selfishly wanted Mark for himself.

Still, Mark couldn't bear to see Nathan and his other team members get hurt because he was too incompetent to block the shots by himself.

Axel was so fed up with Mark's bullshit. Mark promised him that he was going to try his best, and he was just doing nothing, at the expense of the other teammates. He had enough.

So, during another break in the match, he fire tornadoed him. It was the least he deserved, in Axel's opinion.

Mark shot backwards, his body skidding along the astro of the pitch.

He looked up, and when his vision finally cleared, he saw Axel looking over him. All his other teammates could do was watch.

"Axel?"Mark said weakly.

"Mark, what the fuck?!"Axel said angrily. "You promised! You promised me! And I was stupid enough to believe you!"

"What? I'm keeping the promise, I swear!"

"You're not doing a very good job, then!"Axel grumbled. "Stop thinking about what will happen after the game. All that matters is the game right now!"

Mark's stomach sank. He hated when Axel was angry. He hated Axel looking at him like that. What happened to the warm, loving Axel of earlier?

"Please don't tell me you just lied and told me what I wanted to hear,"Axel said. "I thought you were better than that."

Axel walked off, and Mark's heart sank even further down into his chest. He couldn't disappoint Axel, or the rest of the team.

But Jude and Celia.....

Still, he knew Axel was right, got up, and took his position as goalie. He was going to try his hardest to win. He had to.

Mark started blocking shot after shot, and Axel couldn't help but grinning at him, with love in his eyes. Ugh, he hated that he couldn't stay mad at Mark for long.

On a similar vein, Nathan looked at Mark with the same look in his eyes, but nobody noticed, because Mark was too busy gazing at Axel.

Unrequited love was tough, huh?

However, Axel's passion had him score a goal for Raimon, because after seeing Mark's renewed spirit, he felt a burst of energy.

And it was this passion that won Raimon the match. The passion between Axel and Mark made them successfully perform the Inazuma One in the final minute of the match.

They won. They won.

The whole team were cheering and jumping up and down with excitement, including Sylvia, Celia and Nelly.

As they waved to the cheering crowd, Axel got as close to Mark as humanly possible without arousing suspicion.

"I'm proud of you."

Mark didn't say anything back, and just smiled.