CARNIVORE [MxM+]

Chapter 26 [Revised]

Tycho Black.

AS MUCH AS I EXPECTED IT, I DIDN'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN. My luck was never that lucky, I guess.

A week has passed since I rejoined the team and as much as I wanted things just to go back to normal, I knew they wouldn't. I've been completely ostracized from the team. Nobody talks to me anymore, much less even look at me. To top it off, I've been riding the bench since I got back because in Coach Roy's words he "didn't know if I was ready to play again." 

That conversation lasted a long time. I had to deal with a lot of threats, mainly pertaining to the 'safety of the LGBTQIA-plus community.' Fuck, that's a lot of bullshit letters to remember. I bet they didn't even know what they all meant. 

Even though I didn't like his decision to keep me benched, I begrudgingly understood. That little voice in my head wanted to argue against every little thing I didn't like but the rational side of me knew I deserved it. I insulted their quarterback harshly, and they defended him as a team should. 

Louis was the only one who interacted with me. I knew he was also trying his hardest to get me back into my original spot, but Roy knew he was just being the nice guy. That was a reason I respected him. Coach could always see past the bullshit in front of him to focus on what was best for the team. Plus, I liked the break. As much as I didn't want to admit it, I was rusty. 

The whistle blew and the ball was shoved into my hands, reminding me that I was currently on the field in full gear. Sometimes I hated spacing out even though I loved it. It had the tendency to get me in deep shit occasionally.

Whatever thoughts I had a second ago quickly left my mind as I focused on the drill in front of me. My short goal was to make my way as fast as I could through a set of cones while keeping the ball protected at my side. Thankfully, the movement still felt natural. After I was done, I ran back to the line and handed it to the kid behind me-- who coincidentally was the one now in my position. I thought nothing of it until he finished with his turn.

"Tycho. Nice to finally talk to you," He whispered at my side.

I turned to look at Jayden, who I noticed only came up to my collarbone. I'll admit, I was more than a little surprised that he had the balls to talk to me, especially in front of the team. There was no way he wasn't on the Tyke hate-train.

"What do you want?" I spoke quietly because Coach Roy absolutely hated it when our focus wasn't on the task in front of us, and I definitely needed to be in his good books right now.

He bent down a bit, seemingly catching onto my apprehensiveness. "I was wondering if you had any tips or anything to help me out. I'm still fairly new to being first string." 

A jealous voice in my head told me to tell him to fuck off because that was my position, but I was also terrified that I was completely making myself out to be worth more at halfback.

I hummed, trying to contain every negative emotion from entering my voice. "I... guess I could. But I've never really 'given tips' before when it comes to football." 

The kid's face lit up as if I told him we were going to McDonald's after practice. He gave me this toothy grin that screamed he was kind of stupid. "Perfect! And hey, I hope there aren't any hard feelings about me taking your spot, man. I really admired how good you were." 

Were? Who the fuck does this kid think he is? I held down the remark with a bite to the cheek. 

Stay in Roy's good books. Stay in his good books.

We stopped talking after that. And the rest of the practice went by smoothly. 

I twisted the knob to the shower, turning it to the coldest setting. My skin itched for me to cover my naked body, but that feeling stayed as an itch. I didn't know why, but I weirdly felt more in control this time. As hard as it was to believe, I didn't want to think people like Louis were looking at me like I'm prey. At least not here. Here is familiar, so in a way, I felt safe. But reality is always there to rip that feeling away.