AN: Hey there readers! FD here with another story. I know…I know…most of you guys might be wondering if I'm ever going to update my other works, and the answer is yes. Iron Man(Cinderella-Style) is going to be updated later in February during my February break from school.
That said, on to this story. I was inspired by watching a bunch of American football-themed movies over my Christmas break, and I can honestly say…they blew me away. Some of the most notable ones are Friday Night Lights, Carter High, We Are Marshall, and Invincible. I absolutely loved them, and I have decided to write this story based on those movies. Since I really didn't get any requests for a specific franchise the Marvel team will go against, I decided myself and you will see who soon enough. (**Also, I challenge you guys to guess who is going to win before reaching the end).
Disclaimer: I don't own ANYTHING! I wish I did, but I don't.
So without further ado, let the story begin…
We Are Champions
"Wahoo!" Clint exclaims joyously as he jumps up and pumps his fist in the air.
"Dude, chill-out will ya," Bucky says exasperatedly as he places his gear down, "It's way too early for this s**t."
"Come on Barnes! We are finally in the championships! How are you not excited?!"
"Oh, he's excited. He just knows how to control himself when it's 7:20 in the morning on a Saturday," another voice chimes in, prompting both teens to face Sam Wilson as he walks towards them.
"Pssh, whatever. I'm going to celebrate our dreams coming true," Clint then jumps into a small happy dance while Sam and Bucky chuckle at the sight.
"So where's Steve? And everyone else for that matter," Sam asks Bucky who is one of the first players to arrive at school.
"Well, I guess we're a bit early," Bucky replies as he checks his watch, "Coach said that he is opening the school at 7:45, and the meetings start at 8:20, so everyone else should be coming along. I called Steve this morning, and he said that he has to drive his mom to work since her car broke down."
Sam shrugs, "Oh well. I just hope that everyone gets here soon, it's kinda awkward just standing here."
Just as those words left his mouth, another car pulls-up and parks in the parking lot, and out comes none other than Brock Rumlow, an offensive linebacker and major pain in the ass for some of the players.
"'sup fellas," Brock says with a smirk that just screams 'I don't give a s**t'.
"Not much Rumlow," Bucky seethes through gritted teeth.
"T'aw come on Barnes. Don't tell me you're still sore over that one incident."
"Incident?! You practically allowed that tackle, Flash, to mow me down…and let's not forget how you didn't bother to stop Wayne from sacking Steve."
Brock just raises his hand in a 'stop' gesture, "Hold it…it was not my fault that you couldn't dodge a simple tackle or stop him with that robotic arm of yours for that matter, and I said I was sorry…"
Bucky's prosthetic arm tenses as the young man tries to hold himself back, "No you didn't. You nearly cost us the game you little…"
"Alright, that's enough you two," Sam jumps in to separate the two teammates, "That game is over and done with and we won…"
"Only by a field goal…" Bucky practically growls.
"A win is a win. And right now, we need to be civilized and work together if we want to win the championships."
"Spoken like a true captain," another voice, this one much more feminine, joins in. This makes all the guys turn to face Maria Hill, who must have arrived while they were talking. "I'm with Sam on this guys. You two better behave or I can make coach bench you both."
"Come on Maria, you wouldn't do that," Bucky huffs.
"I wouldn't bet on it," Clint joins the group of friends. This pacifies Bucky, and both he and Brock shrink back at Maria's glare. No one messes with Coach Fury's number one assistant. Though she originally started off as a water-girl, Fury became impressed with her knowledge and strategic mind and made her his right hand woman, a decision that got them to where they are today.
As Brock grumbles and slinks away to go on his phone, the remaining group of friends exchange some idle chatter to pass the time. Eventually, more of their teammates, along with the coaches and assistants, begin to arrive. The first to arrive is Coach Fury, who greets them curtly as he opens the school and allows the boys into the locker room to change. He and Maria, on the other hand, go into the coaches' office to go over the plays for the game. Then the Maximoff twins arrive, Pietro heading to the locker room while his sister waits outside, followed by Rhodey, T'Challa, Peter Parker, and Scott Lang.
Thor Odinson is the next to come in with a boisterous bellow as the captain and defense tackle greets his friends joyfully. Loki follows close behind, but heads off on his own to change. The younger Odinson just rolls his eyes at his brother. Being the back-up defense tackle, he is rarely called in to play...and he is seriously wondering why he joined the stupid football team in the first place.
After Thor is Bruce, who greets his friends quickly before getting out all the gear and equipment from the storage room. Personally, Bruce is not much of a sports fan overall and prefers a good, relaxing book over running into each other and taking each other down, but somehow his friends got him into becoming the ball boy/head water boy for a lack of better terms.
After a few more of their teammates arrived, the core of the special team finally comes in as a group. This group consists of Grant, Lance, Mack, Lincoln, Triplett, Robbie Reyes, and Johnny Gill. They are the best kickers and linemen for the job and they know it. Though they may seem mismatched and aren't really friends during school, they are like a well-oiled machine on the field. Their opponents stood no chance against this group...this shield. Following the group is defense coach Coulson, who gives a cheerful smile towards Sam, Bucky and the rest of their group before heading into the coaches' office with Fury and Maria.
The next to arrive is Tony Stark, who comes into the locker room with a flourish in his expensive two-piece suit and red tinted sunglasses. "Hello guys! Tony Stark...has arrived," he flashes a bright smile that would make any girl swoon, but for his teammates, they just roll their eyes. It's a common occurrence for the eccentric son of multi-billionaire Howard Stark to act grand and just show-off. It has been one of the greatest mysteries of Marvel High as to why Tony bothers to join the football team when it is obvious he would much rather be part of the engineering and robotics clubs. When confronted about this issue, he just waves it away and continues on his merry way. But still, he is one of the best cornerbacks they have.
Not bothering to change into his gear, he joins his friends and throws an arm over Bruce's shoulders as the said teen checks through the list of equipment, "So Brucie, you goin' to the 'Yea-we-just-won-the-f**king-championships-for-the-first-time-in years' celebration party at my place later today? Whole team's comin'. Oh, and Buck, how's that arm of yours doin'?"
"It's great actually, I can't thank-you enough for the new upgrades," Bucky demonstrates his new, upgraded prosthetic arm's mobility. Having lost his arm years ago in an accident, Bucky believed that he could never play another sport again, even with the simple prosthetic his parents bought him. But when he and Steve transferred to Marvel High, Tony offered him a new arm if he agrees to be a test subject for the said robotic arm. And the rest is history. Bucky can play, and Tony continuously upgrades and tests the tech for no charge.
"No prob buddy. So Bruce…"
"You should come, no one wants to miss a Stark party," Bucky chuckles as he packs up his remaining stuff and prepares to head out towards the sports trainer's room to get bandaged up, "Say, has Helen come in yet?"
"Yea, I just saw her," Grant says as he steps in. Bucky thanks him and heads out.
"Though, that's quite a mouthful for a name Stark," Clint says as he too prepares to head out.
"Ay, but his festivities are certainly the most anticipated events of the year, next to my own…" Thor adds with a smirk, to which Tony responds indignantly.
"Now, what is that suppose to mean?!"
"I don't know Tony…I promised Betty I would take her out today….and besides…what if we…"
Tony lets out a loud laugh and grasps both Bruce's shoulder with both his hands, "Bruce! Just bring Betty to the party! Besides, all the girls are coming, and more! And oh ye of little faith…you really doubt that we can win?!"
"No!...I mean…one can never know for certain…"
"Bruce," Sam gets his attention, "don't worry man, we got this in the bag."
"Yea, besides, if by the minute of a percent chance that we lose, I can just rename the party 'Oh-well-we-tried-and-there's-always-next-year'. We can feel sorry for ourselves while drinking and having strippers dance on our…"
"Tony!" Bruce and Sam exclaim, while Thor bursts into laughter.
The next few minutes saw the arrival of several more players, and the locker room quickly becomes crowded and loud as the guys chat with friends, laugh, and cheer for their success. Those that have already changed head to the trainer's room to get bandaged up or to grab some bandages to do it themselves. Others crowd the hallway in front of the locker rooms, taking pictures, eating breakfast from a table full of sandwiches, and/or just having a good time. All are confident in their ability to win.
As scheduled, the individual team meetings start right at 8:20, beginning with the JV offense and defense. As the varsity team waits their turn, they filled the time quiet talk. Sam, Pietro, and Clint all end playing catch with a rogue football in the gym as they wait for their turn. Tony decides to finally change into his gear; Bucky stretches and does a bit of tai chi; Bruce, Fitz, Darcy, Ian, and Harley start making the Gatorade and ice water; and Thor meets-up with the rest of the main defense line and friends.
"Can you guys believe that for some of us, this is our last game together as a team?" Sam decides to break the silence in the gym.
"I know. I mean me, Thor, Bruce, Tony, and Bucky…we're all graduating this year," Clint replies with a shake of his head, "I'm seriously going to miss Marvel High."
"Have you decided what college you're going to play for?" Pietro asks curiously.
"Don' know if I'm going to college to be honest," Clint answers, "Was hopin' to join the army or somethin', maybe Marines."
"That's awesome man. If it's something you want to do, go for it," Sam smiles encouragingly.
"Yea. It's just that the idea kinda makes Laura uncomfortable, and I don't know to be honest," Clint shrugs sadly, throwing the ball to Pietro.
"I agree with Sam, just go for it." Clint just shrugs and watches as the fastest player on their team throws the ball to Sam, "What about after football? I know I'm doing track and field."
"Of course you are Quicksilver," Sam replies with a knowing smirk, "I'm hopin' to get into basketball, but I heard the X-Men are really picky with their players."
"Don't bother Sam, you'll have better luck getting into almost any other team in this school," Clint adds with a grimace, "For me, I'm going for the decathlon or archery."
Both Sam and Pietro blow a simultaneous whistle. The silence of the gym is then shattered by the arrival of the cheerleaders, drawing the attention of all the guys in the room. Tony, who had entered the gym, goes over and gives Pepper a solid hug, while Thor and his friends go over to greet Jane and Sif, and Clint goes over to Natasha, who gives him a fist bump.
"Hey, is Steve here by any chance?" Natasha asks after looking around the otherwise empty gym.
"No, thought you would know actually," but a shake of her head tells Clint that she doesn't know where their friend is either.
The cheer coach, Victoria Hand, then enters with her student assistant, Laura, and tells the rest of the cheerleaders to go change and get ready. After a few parting waves, and a goodbye kiss between Clint and Laura, all the girls headed into the girl's lock room, while the one boy cheerleader, Sitwell, heads to the boy's locker room.
A few minutes later, Maria comes running up to the group of friends, "Guys, have you seen Steve? Special team's almost done and offense is up next."
"No I haven't," Sam answers with worry evident in his voice.
"Steve just texted me. Said he is stuck in traffic and should get here in a few more minutes," Bucky offers after checking his phone, having finished his exercise earlier.
"Well tell him to get his ass here soon…" Maria says before heading back to the meeting.
True to his words, Steve just managed to arrive at school in the nick of time, only for Maria to drag him to face a ticked-off Coach Fury. After a quick reprimand over his tardiness, Fury tells him to put his stuff away before heading to the meeting. In the locker room, Sam, Bucky, Clint, Tony, Thor, and Bruce meet-up with him, all asking what took him so long.
"Sorry guys," Steve apologizes quickly as he shoves his jacket into his locker, "There was some heavy traffic on the way here. Plus I had to head back home since I forgot my cell."
"Well, whatever man. It's good that you are here. We gotta have our star quarterback now do we," Sam chuckles as he and Bucky throw their arms over Steve's shoulders.
"Come on guys, you don't really need me," Steve says bashfully, earning him some scoffs from his friends.
"Are you serious!? Dude, we would have gotten our asses handed to us last year by Dreamworks of all schools, if you haven't stepped in after Marv Vell broke his arm," Clint exclaims.
"Plus you gave us one of the best seasons Marvel has ever had in a long time," Bucky adds, giving Steve a small noogie, "and when you're only a sophomore too."
"Ay, our captain has never let us down and will continue to do us proud," Thor throws his arms around the trio and gives them one of his suffocating bear hug, "You shall lead us to victory!"
"Yea!" they all cheer. Steve blushes some more as he untangles himself from his friends.
"Steve, you better get going before Fury gets more...well…furious," Bruce reminds Steve, who acts like he just got hit by a bolt of lightening and rushes out of the room, followed by Sam, Bucky, and Clint.
"As if Fury would ever get mad at our golden boy," Tony mutters to Bruce as the two head back to the hallway with Thor.
Bruce smirks, "True. Well, I guess I better get going and move all the stuff outside for when the buses get here."
Tony cringes at the mention of getting into a tight fitted school bus with all the rest of the players, "Ugh, I hate those buses." Then a mischievous grin appears on his face, and Bruce could only wonder what Tony is up to.
A few minutes later, sleek, elegant, air-conditioned, coach buses arrived to pick them all up.
"Now this is how you travel like football players," Tony gestures to the buses, only to bend over laughing at the gaping faces of all the players, coaches, cheerleaders, and assistants.
To Be Continued...