Football One Shots

Eden Hazard: Broken Player

Eden paused as he saw a flash of light illuminate the night sky for a brief second. The anticipated thunder came maybe ten or so seconds after. He sighed and began reminiscing all the times his childhood thunderstorms were the best occasions.

As soon as the lightening flashed, at least one of his brothers could be heard barreling towards the others. One would swing open whatever door they happened to be behind. Their eyes all gleaming, and wide grins on their faces.

"Let's go!! It's football time!" One of them would exclaim.

There was something oddly alluring about playing in a thunderstorm. The brothers had figured out a way to light the field just enough to see each other, but it was always clearest when the sky flashed.

The rumbled of the thunder called for an intensity the boys all enjoyed, and the hard rain, almost always accompanied with it, made the game most fun. They always returned home soaking wet, and muddy grass stains on their clothes.

But now that he's 27, thunderstorms just meant his dog running around more frantically than usual. He could hear the pitter patter of paws against the wood flooring from the level below. Eden sighed, and then went to comfort his puppy, feeling loneliness engulf him.

Eden yawned as his alarm blared. Still feeling down, he went through the motions getting ready for training and even greeting all his fellow teammates. Most of them remained oblivious to his sour mood. Some of his closer friends noted the way Eden seemed to be only giving the present moment the smallest amount of attention. But everybody's entitled to their bad days.

The lack of acknowledgment continued as he trained. He figured that he's pretty good at football, and if he only gives half the effort today, maybe it'll go unnoticed.

It worked pretty well. He was passing, dribbling, scoring, and communicating just enough to seem like he was trying, but not really trying. It's a fine line.

Eden dribbled down the touchline, he was planning to cut in to the right and get his shot off once he got to the edge of the box. He felt the ball at his foot, and he noted Azpilicueta in front of him.

As Eden began to make the quick decisions needed to get around Azpi quick enough, Azpi had changed his own plan of action, and Eden wasn't expecting that at all.

In fact, he was so unaware of the change of position Azpi made, when Eden decided on what to do, he had Azpi's foot sticking in Eden's way, and Eden went tumbling over the ball.

Eden laid against the grass and drew in some deep breaths. Azpi reached his hand out and playfully smiled at him. Eden reached up to accept his offering, and as he begun to stand, felt a terrible pain flash through the veins in his ankle. Eden let go of Azpi's hand and fell to the ground, and grasped his ankle.

Azpi's playful grin fell to complete concern.

Eden had to be helped by the medical staff to even get to the examination room. He was completely devastated at this point. He knew he was lonely, and he knew that he just wanted some time to mope and then become his flamboyant self again. But, he couldn't even get that. Instead he had gone and broken his ankle.

He laid against the cot with an ice pack wrapped around his ankle, and his hands covering his face. He heard the door open, and wasn't too intrigued to greet the doctor.