Chapter 20

Trigger warning: use of homophobic slur

Derek's POV

I stayed right by Adrian all night in a chair. It was not uncomfortable. It was all cushioned, but sleeping in a chair is not fun. I'm also way too fucking tall to be sleeping in a chair. I couldn't really get a solid night's sleep, but it's fine. Adrian's alright, that's what matters most.

"So, you sure you're okay?" I ask him as he sits up, finally waking up.

"Yeah. Thanks for staying here all night, you didn't need to."

"No, it's fine. I wanted to hang out with you last night anyways, and if staying at a hospital all night was what I needed to do to chill with you, it was worth the sacrifice," I state.

"I really don't know what I would do if you weren't here for me, Derek. You're too nice to me," he claims. I don't think I'm being too nice. I think I'm doing the right thing by hanging out with him. You would do the same, hanging out with a literal angel is nice.

"I'm not too nice to you, Adri. I'm just hanging out with you because I really enjoy the time we spend together."

"Thanks. I really enjoy it too. I think we should probably get going. I need real clothes. I should've said something about the street clothes I have in the locker room, but I was so confused about where I was. Can we go back there?" he asks and I nod.

"Yeah, of course. So you can't play for the next 2 games?"

"Yeah. Good luck. Just know you're nothing without me," he jokes grinning at me.

"Lowkey though, but we'll be fine. Two road games and then we're back here and you'll play that game."

I see him visibly frown and furrow his brows.

"Oh, shit, that's the game we play-" I start but I'm cut off.

"Yeah. We play them."

"I won't let them fuck with you, Adri. No one should hurt you," I look into his eyes and he smiles weakly.

"Thanks. Don't fight them though, please. You shouldn't be starting trouble."

"Of course."

"Alright, let's go."

Adrian gets out of the bed, in a hospital gown, which is pretty revealing. I'm doing everything not to stare at him. I don't even know if the back is tied right. What if he's not in anything under the gown? Holy shit.

"Derek, could you do me a favor and check if this is tied in the back?" he asks and I scream in my head. What am I gonna see.

"I-yeah. I will."

I walk over to him, take a deep breath, and look down and see the gown tied correctly. I internally thank God for it being tied right.

"It's tied right. Let's go."

"Do you think they'll just let me walk out with this on?" Adrian asks.

"I mean, you don't have any other clothes. They probably prefer for you to be wearing that than nothing, so yeah. Besides, there's no way they reuse gowns, it would be thrown out anyways."

"You're right."

We exit the hospital and he's still in the hospital gown. He's getting a hell of a lot of air circulation from that. I'm lowkey jealous because it is unbelievably hot outside right now. It's only 8 AM and it's already 90 degrees out.

"I think people are staring at me," Adrian says sheepishly. People are staring at him, but I can't tell if it's because he's the most beautiful person in the parking lot or if it's because he's in a hospital gown.

"Here's the car," I say. "Thank God we decided I should drive yesterday. I still would've ran to the hospital, but it's better to go in a car."

"Yeah. Thanks for the lemonade by the way, you already know me really well."

"I mean, when I'm spending all my time with one person, it kind of makes sense I would get to know them well. Just like how I know you hate Tom Brady," I laugh.

"Don't even remind me of that cheater. Thank God he's retired because that son of a bitch was so annoying. The awful thing is that he's so fucking hot! But he cheats! Why can't we ever get good things?"

"Sometimes we can have nice things though. Look at Chris Evans."

"If he didn't have a side part he would be the total package," Adrian claims.

"He isn't enough already?" I ask.

"I mean, he's great, whatever, but his hair is just not it. Someone's gotta get him in a barbershop and line that man up with some hair texturizer."

"I kind of agree, but he's still fine."

"Yeah."

Me and Adrian continue talking about random male celebrities that we like or don't like. I never really though I'd be this comfortable talking about liking men. I always though I'd just be hiding forever, and even if I did come out, I wouldn't be cool with just talking about this kind of stuff. But Adrian is so amazing, I really don't mind talking about my love for my own gender around him. He just makes it so not awkward somehow.

We were able to pick up Adrian's bag, and we hung out all day, talking about literally anything. Adrian is quite literally bringing joy back into my life. Even before I caught feelings for him, he was already making me so happy by just being around him. This is the reason I consider him my angel, he's saving me from thinking that I'll just be alone forever. He gives me hope for the future.

2 weeks later...

Adrian's POV

Today is our eighth game.

Against Florida State.

And Josh.

I haven't played in the last two years because I got a concussion. It was painful, but Derek made it better. I didn't expect for him to show up at the hospital, but I was so fucking happy he did. He's so fucking caring and he bought me pink lemonade again. I feel spoiled. I know someone like Devin or Aaron would be super caring and sweet, but I never imagined that Derek could be this sweet.

"Hey, don't sweat this game, alright? Ignore them, just keep your head down, and play the way you were playing before your concussion, and everything will be okay," Derek tells me.

We're sitting in my room right now, I just told him I'm kind of scared about our game tonight, and he's just telling me that everything will be okay.

"Thanks, Derek. Again, don't start a fight with them, you'll just get in trouble."

"I know, but still. I want to fight them. I haven't really had a chance to just release a bunch of anger out on anything in a while. I used to just go to a park and play basketball way too physically, but now I don't have time."

"Yeah, that's not that cool," I laugh.

"Whatever," he smiles at me. "We should get going soon, I want some time to warm up."

"Yeah, for sure. Can we stop at the gas station wh-" I start but he cuts me off.

"Where they sell pink lemonade? Of course, I was planning on going anyways."

"Thanks. Let me pay this time, you keep paying for me and I don't like it."

"Fine. I'll just pay next time," he says.

"Sure. Whatever."

We leave my room and go to my car. I'm gonna drive today, but I'm gonna let Derek know where my keys are in case I get hurt again. I really don't want to get hurt, but if it's gonna happen in any game, it'll be this game, and if it happens, I know Derek will go to me wherever I am. Him showing up at the hospital was one of the sweetest things ever. I am falling for Derek at an insane pace, and I have not hit the floor. I know I can fall even more for him, and he's making it super easy.

I drive us to the gas station, and I am finally able to pay for myself.

"Where did you even get the money to pay for all of my lemonades?" I ask Derek as we go back to the car.

"That's a secret, but I definitely don't rob banks. It might be NIL, it might not be. I might have an Only Fans," he jokes.

"You definitely don't have an Only Fans."

"I was joking but how did you know?"

"Because you're not like that, I guess? You have dignity," I state.

"Barely. I'm the first to admit I don't really have that much dignity. I wear slutty clothes. But yeah, I probably have enough dignity not to do Only Fans."

"Exactly."

We eventually get to the field, where only Florida State's team is. I take a deep breath and Derek looks at me knowingly.

"Hey, as long as I'm here, no one will mess with you, okay?" he says.

I nod at him. "Thanks."

Me, Derek, and Cameron go up for the coin toss, and to my relief, Josh wasn't picked as a captain for Florida State, so he didn't come up here. Me and Derek will still probably have to defend him at some point in the game. Unless he's still complete garbage like he was over the summer. In that case, he won't even get playing time, which is fitting.

"Since you're the away team, you get to choose. Heads or tails," the ref looks at the closest Florida State player to him.

"We'll pick heads," he answers.

The ref flips the coin, and it lands on tails.

"It's tails. UCLA gets to choose what they would like to do," the refs says, shifting his attention to me, Cam, and Derek.

"We'll defer," Cam answers.

"Alright. Florida State will get the ball first. Let's play a clean game, I don't want to have to throw anyone out tonight. Good luck to all of you," the ref says.

We all walk off the field and the kickoff happens. Our special teams does a good job, pinning them inside their own 20 yard line. They have a lot of field to get back. I think it's mostly because everyone on our team is so fast, so it's impossible to get more than 25 yards on a return.

I take a deep breath as I walk onto the field, looking out for specifically Josh. He's somehow gotten the starting job. Maybe he actually did improve.

Me and Derek line up on our side of the field, and Josh lines up across Derek. He sees me and somehow knows it's me through my helmet. He grins like the psychopath that he is, and gets ready for the play.

"Hey, Sanders!!" he yells. I ignore him. "How has this season treated you so far? Anyone called you a faggot yet?"

Derek's fists clench in front of me as he glares at Josh, who is closer to him than me. Before I can tell him not to do anything, Florida State snaps the ball, and they run it, picking up 2 yards.

"Has anyone called you a faggot yet?" Josh asks again.

"Shut the fuck up!" Derek yells at him. There's a ref in the area and he's eyeing the three of us right now, ready to stop any conflicts that might come up at any minute.

"Derek, just ignore him, it's fine," I tell him.

"No it's not."

Before I can say another thing, the next play happens, and Josh runs straight towards the middle of the field, and I cut him off and bat down a pass that was intended for him. Josh shoves me a little, but still, he's not strong enough to really get a decent hit on me. I stood my ground and ignored him, but Derek didn't let that slide.

Derek walks up to Josh and shoves him a little bit, and Josh falls back a lot, and laughs in our faces.

"The faggot has a bodyguard," he taunts.

"Shut up fatass," Derek says.

"Derek! Stop, I don't want you getting in trouble for me, just ignore him."

Derek takes a deep breath. "Fine. Sorry."

"You better be sorry, Adrian should've told you not to mess with me," Josh says. He looks like a twig right now.

I roll my eyes at him and lock in again for third down, which is another terrible run play. Despite this whole homophobic slur drama, Josh and his team has really done nothing to back up their trash talk. Especially him. He's complete trash.

Our offense gets on the field and slowly but surely drives up the field after basically 5 yard gain after 5 yard gain until Aaron punches it in for a touchdown. They took off a hell of a lot of time from the clock, which is a good thing.

Me and the defense get back on the field, and Josh is nowhere to be found to start this drive, which makes sense. He was total dookie on their last drive, so he doesn't deserve to be playing this time.

On first down, they for some reason run the ball again, which goes nowhere for them. Devin is a fucking beast on the field, and he doesn't give up yards easily. Even our defensive line has improved drastically from the beginning of the season. I'm surprised, but I'm happy about it. Our team improving is never a bad thing in my eyes.

We lock them down for the rest of the drive and they are forced to punt again. With no Josh, they still can't get past our brick wall on defense. Florida state is 5-2, so they're not terrible, but they're playing like a 2-5 team. We're 6-1, which is crazy. Sports talk shows are all going crazy for us because we're a team led by mostly freshmen and there hasn't really been a team like that. There have been good teams with a couple freshmen starting, but a team where most of the players are freshmen and they're good hasn't happened.

As we run back onto the bench, I sit next to Derek.

"You're doing great, Adri, I'll listen to you and I'll back off of that complete fucking asshole. Unless you tell me to kill him, because I will in a heartbeat," he says.

"Don't do that. You're just gonna get in trouble, and I think I've said many times that that's exactly not what I want happening to you."

"Yeah. I'll try to control myself, but if worse comes to worse, I'm willing to go after him."

"Derek, ju-he's probably gonna be protected by all his linemen friends, and you don't want to mess with them," I state.

"I know. I'm fully aware of my limitations, but I can turn into a fucking monster if I have to. Nothing's stopping me from becoming a monster right now."

"Derek, I don't want you getting hurt."

"I don't want you getting hurt even more than you don't want me getting hurt," he fires back.

I sigh. "Just don't, okay?"

"Fine, but I'm not promising anything."

Cam throws a touchdown pass to Kai and we take a 14-0 lead right before the second quarter begins.

As we run back onto the field, Josh stares me down maliciously, grinning from ear to ear, freaking me the fuck out. He's so fucking creepy. I feel like he might crawl on a ceiling like one of those insomnia monsters.

Me and Derek once again have to defend this bitch, which so far hasn't been a tough job, but the way he's talking, you would think he's actually playing well.

They again decide to do the exact same run play on first down, which is terrible again. Coach Nelson told us to pay attention to the run, because their runningback is supposed to be good, but so far, I've seen nothing that proves that. I don't think their runningback is any good.

"Hey, Sanders!!! You're lucky we're not doing pass plays, because your faggot ass would be dusted!" Josh yells at me.

I ignore him and Derek looks back at me ignoring him and does the same. I'm glad he's not trying to fight him anymore. As great as seeing Josh's face beaten to a pulp, that's not something that can really happen. Derek will get in trouble and might get suspended or kicked out of UCLA.

The next play, Josh gets a quick screen pass, which is easily predicted by Derek, who bodies the shit out of Josh. He looks down at Josh's bitch ass lying on the ground, but instead of being all hurt and injured, he grins up at Derek.

"You're gonna regret that, lil bro," Josh says. I don't know why he's calling Derek, who is literally ripped, lil bro. Josh is the tiny bitch here.

"Get up, pussy," Derek says, walking off.

"Thanks for not punching him," I tell Derek.

"I was holding myself back, trust me, and it was difficult. He's so fucking horrible." There it is again, the way he pronounces the word 'horrible' makes it clear that he definitely used to have a Boston accent. In my opinion, that's pretty hot. Accents that aren't the accents of the place I'm from are pretty hot. LA doesn't have a distinct accent, except for Valley Girls, but that's a whole different story. A Boston accent, when it isn't coming from someone that's a horrible person, is very attractive.

Josh again gets a screen pass, and this time I tackle him, basically just shoving him down kind of hard. He just did the same thing, grin up at me before getting back up.

"Nice move, fag. Unfortunately, you didn't hurt me, so it doesn't really matter to me. I'm not hurt because I know God is looking down at me, knowing I'm doing the right thing," he states.

I roll my eyes at him yet again. "Shut your bitch ass up dumbass."

"Don't call me dumb. I happen to be very smart," he claims.

"Aight bro."

The rest of the game goes similarly, with us winning 30-6, which is pretty good. We were only favored by 5 points, and we won by 24. Our offense was slow, but still played pretty consitently all night. Josh ended up getting 4 total receptions for 3 yards. That means he picked up less than a yard on every single reception. Those are not starting receiver numbers, those are bench warmer receiving numbers.

Now we're in the postgame high five thing, which I really don't give a shit about, but it shows good sportsmanship.

Derek is right behind me and we're just saying "good game" to everyone on Florida State. Soon enough, it's time to say good game to Josh, but he probably has no intention of that.

"Good game," I mutter.

"Kill yourself you ugly faggot," Josh snaps at me.

"The fuck did you just tell him to do?" Derek asks.

"You heard me. I told him to kill himself. One less of his kind will clean this world," Josh says.

Derek shoves Josh and I have to hold him back.

"Derek! Stop, you're gonna get in trouble!!" I tell him.

He finally relaxes and looks at me in the eyes. "I'm sorry, Adrian."

"It's fine, thanks for trying to protect me."

Somehow, we didn't gain an audience from all of this drama, people are still going through the line, but the three of us are just off to the side.

Me and Derek walk away and go towards the locker room, probably to talk about something, I don't know right now, but Derek is the only person that I want to talk to right now. I feel so shitty right now. Josh called me the f slur so many fucking times, and that does hurt.

I sit down next to Derek and he puts an arm around me.

"Hey, look at me," he says, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah?"

"You were great, Adri. You really pushed through that, and I'm so fucking sorry you have to deal with that. You should've let me fight him, that would've been so satisfying."

I smile at him. "Yeah, but still. I don't want you or anyone on the team getting in trouble. Besides, I can defend myself against that scrawny bastard."

"Yeah, but I'm worried about his friends. You said he has linemen friends that could beat me up, that's what I'm really worried about, more than him. He can talk all the shit he wants, but at the end of the day, if I'm in a fight with all of them, the linemen would be my biggest concern," Derek points out.

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you so much for sticking up for me."

I rest my head on his shoulder, and he pulls me closer. "Don't even mention it, Adri. I just want you to be okay, and if you want me to be here for you, that's what I'll do."

"Thanks."

The rest of the team gets to the locker room and barely notices me and Derek already being here. Coach Nelson gives us his postgame speech, and I don't think anyone other than me and Derek were even aware of Josh calling me homophobic slurs, because no one brought it up.

I can't fucking stand people like Josh, for what should be obvious reasons. He's such a useless piece of garbage, and people should be opening their eyes to assholes like him. Derek knows, but more people should know.

Speaking of Derek, I want him so fucking bad. I want to kiss him so much, as a 'thank you' for being there for me, for always being so sweet to me, all of that. I want to give him all the love he never got from his mother or anyone else for that matter.

I want to be with Derek forever.

A/N: I love Adrian and Derek so much already and they haven't even gotten together yet. I am seriously debating even putting angst in this book. I'll put plenty of drama in the later chapters, but once they actually get together, I think Derek wants Adrian enough to not care that his mother is homophobic. I know you can make that argument for Cameron and Aaron, but Cameron was still living with his family, and Derek moved out and barely speaks to his mother anymore anyways. Thanks for reading!!!