Winner Takes All (MxM) - oneshot

Winner Takes All

They won. The Jameson Jaguar's won the goddamn State Championship.

And Ryan made the winning touchdown.

The crowd in the stands clad  in blue and yellow stood up and cheered. Confetti shot out from behind the goal post. Jameson High school had been wanting this victory for a long time. It was their first state championship in four long years and Ryan Beltram just made the winning touchdown.

'We won. We won. We won.' It echoed in his head like a mantra.

His teammates rushed to mob him for a victory hug but the blonde couldn't tear his eyes away from the Kingsley Knight's quarterback. He couldn't quite make out the expression on AJ Tucci's face since it was obscured by his helmet but he swore he could see the opposing quarterback smiling.

Suddenly, Ryan was taken back to three weeks ago.

They were sitting on the bed of Ryan's truck drinking beer they stole from AJ's dad's restaurant. AJ's long wavy black hair was pulled back in a messy bun. The sunset made his bronze skin glow and Ryan just couldn't stop staring. He watched in fascination as AJ's soft lips met the end of the amber bottle as he downed the last of the beer. Ryan's brown eyes trailed down his neck, watching AJ's Adam's apple bob as he swallowed.

AJ tossed the empty bottle into the nearby trash can and turned to him. "You're doing it again you know."

Ryan's face turned bright red, making the light freckles that dotted his nose darken. "What?" He choked out.

AJ rolled his green eyes. "Don't give me that shit, Beltram." He said. "You know exactly what you're doing."

They first met several months ago. Ryan had started listening to this local band called Hero's Fortune. They had a gig at Tucci's Bar & Restaurant one night and he couldn't convince any of his other friends to come with. He ended up going alone on a Wednesday night. There had to have been all of five people there, himself and AJ included.

AJ had taken off his busboy uniform and slid into Ryan's booth, asking him if he'd ever been here before. Ryan scoffed and told him no. One, the restaurant had only been open for a month, and two, he was pretty sure it was a front of the mob. The tongue lashing he got from AJ after that comment definitely wasn't the kind he wanted.

After apologizing profusely they actually hit it off right away.

It wasn't until school started that Ryan found out that AJ was the new quarterback for the Kingsley Prep Knights after their old one left. He didn't know what his team would think of him hanging out with the "enemy" and he didn't care to find out. Still, he was drawn to AJ because of the guy's charisma and easy-going attitude. He was just so much more chill than any of his friends at Jameson. Not to mention the guy seemed to be a fucking genius. They could actually talk about shit besides football and girls. (Though AJ could wax poetic for hours about deep his love for the Seahawks and how he thought Ryan was a tool for being a Pats fan.) But AJ also listened to Ryan when he rambled about how scared he was about going to college, growing up, and the shitfest that was life in general.

The first time they made out was in the back of Tucci's Restaurant after the Knights' first winning game the season. Ryan had gone to the game and sat in the crowd, watching as AJ threw the winning pass. The boy had a cannon of an arm. The Tucci family had dinner afterward at the restaurant and for some reason, Ryan was fortunate enough to get invited. It was weird meeting AJ's family. All throughout dinner, Ryan kept stealing glances at AJ while fielding questions from his relatives. Mr. Tucci seemed to like Ryan a lot and offered him a job in the restaurant when AJ mentioned that Ryan loved to cook. He had conveniently left out that Ryan was horrible at it.