head over heels

23 ~ matter of time

[A/N - tw for a panic attack in this one :/ gotta establish an evan support group at this rate, our boy's going through itttttt.]

Now that practice was over, and he had nothing to distract him, Evan felt a bit off. Much to his annoyance, his anxiety had been simmering all day. He knew it was because of his birthday tomorrow, those never really tended to go well for him. He tried to ignore it, to brush his thoughts of the day to the side.

His racing thoughts went, however his anxiety didn't.

Evan sat cross legged on the bench in the changing rooms, tapping through his phone. Fatigue settled heavy on his shoulders. A week of full time school, practice and tutoring was starting to weigh on him.

The rest of the team had filtered out, but Evan couldn't bring himself to leave. A text from Ethan told him that Coach, Kei and Ethan were going over some plans for next week's game with the Rivers in his office, and he wasn't about to walk home, so he'd just wait here for one of them to give him a lift.

He scrolled through the massive amount of posts Riley always sent to their group chat. He was thoroughly distracted, to the point where he didn't register the door opening.

"Reed," a voice shot out, and Evan half jumped out of his skin as he looked up to find Dan standing in front of him, a pissed off look on his face.

Evan looked around the empty room nervously. Shit.

"What?" He managed.

Dan glared, "This is your fault."

Dread clenched at his heart, "What is?"

"Coach obviously feels bad for you, same with the team, that's why they're taking your side, and i'm stuck as the fucking ball boy," Dan shot out.

Evan stood then, hurriedly picking up his bag. "Nothing to do with me," he muttered, attempting to skirt around Dan towards the door, realising being stuck alone with the psycho was the fastest way to end up with a broken foot, or worse.

Dan stepped back, blocking Evans path, "It has everything to do with you," he hissed, "You're the fucking reason i'm not on the starting team anymore you piece of shit—"

Unease rattled him. Dan looked far angrier than he usually did. Usually, he looked like he found stuff like this fun, but now? He looked furious.

"I wouldn't be here, if you didn't suck Dan—" Evan started.

Immediately, Evan shut his mouth, realising that this was not the place to be provoking him. Alone. Where Dan was considerably stronger than him, and angrier.

Dan stepped closer, his eyes raging with cold fury. "Get the fuck off the team," he spat.

Evan swallowed nervously. He needed to leave. This was no world where this ended well. Whatever he said would just make Dan angrier. Fuck.

All of this was just a matter of fucking time. Dan's insults might have not bothered him since Monday, but that didn't change the fact that he was still a problem. One that was hell bent on getting him off the team.

Now here he was, with the perfect opportunity.

Panic gripped at his throat. Evan hurriedly made an attempt to get past Dan and out of the changing rooms, but Dan just shoved him back.

Evan stumbled, tripping into the lockers.

"Fuck off," Evan shot out, trying valiantly to keep his rapidly increasing panic from his words, "You think this will get you on the team? Coach will just throw you off too—"