⚣Loving the Golden Boy

1 - The Golden Bears

A/N: Picture is of Austin Harlow, who is played by Froy Gutierrez.

Austin

We are doomed.

With five minutes left in the half, it's basically impossible to score a single goal, let alone five to tie up the game.

We're so fucked, and I can see in my teammate's slouch that they agree.

I'm up next to sub; my coach kept me off for what felt like forever because I'm smaller than the other strikers, and even those guys were getting pummelled by this team. So he decided to put me on for shits and giggles to see if a mouse could survive an encounter with a hungry pack of wolves.

"Go getter, Golden, pump out a few goals." My coach says before shoving me out into the subbing line.
"I work at five, if I get hurt you're writing my boss." I reply, pointing to my coach to emphasize my worry. I'm not about to drag myself across DairyKing with a broken leg.

But here I am, hands on my hips as I watch over the game—honestly, I wouldn't consider it a game, we didn't have control of the ball since kick-off.

Samuel, one of the larger kids on my team, checked one of the red players and sent him flying. The referee didn't stop the play, so the ball kept rolling.

"Ref!" I hear the husky shout of the opposition's coach, and I whip my head to the side to see him hollering at the official, practically throwing a fit because there wasn't a foul called.

"Are you kidding me, man?" I chirp, and his eyes drag across the field to fall on me.

Ronan Char, the coach I've been eyeing up at Summer League drafts. He's definitely one of my idols; coaching three years and counting on the university soccer team.

"Did you not see how pushy your team is? If the ref isn't gonna call illegal pushes, he's not gonna call legal ones either." I quip, shifting my focus back to the field just as Samuel takes down another player.

Fuck yeah, Sam.

"Are you talkin' to me right now, kid?" His voice booms, rattling my chest from the outside-in.

It's not the first time I've argued with a coach, definitely not the first time I've argued with a referee, either.
But it's definitely the first time I've bickered with Ronan Char, one of the most powerful soccer players in the league. I press my lips into a thin line, not daring to meet his eye.

"Do you know who I am? Show some respect." He grumbles, and something in me snaps at his words.

Respect? He's lecturing me about respect?
He's the one who was calling out the ref every five minutes and barking at his team to do better from the sidelines.

"Show some respect? Wise words, coach, maybe you should learn to follow them. Teach your team how to handle a proper hit and maybe you won't be yelling at the ref all game." I say, furrowing my brows to add some intensity to my words.

That caught some of his players' attention, and they all start to giggle like children after seeing my size.

Assholes.

I might be only a few inches over five-feet, but I'm faster than any man on this field, and I'm about to prove it.

"Why don't you shut up, shortcake?" One of them chirps right back, and my face twists in annoyance. Like I haven't heard that once before.

"Jesus, no wonder he hasn't been played – Coach, put me on with him, I'll fuck the little guy right up." Another says, and the bench erupts in laughter.