Never back down - (31 Parts)

[everest]

Okay, so this is an original fic. I’m a little unsure about it, but these characters have been in my head for a while and I

finally decided to write something. There’s no sneezing in this part, but I promise, it is coming.

Part one:

It was cold. You could tell just by looking out a window… that is, if you could see out the window. Currently, everything in the house meant for having a look at the outside world was covered in an icy frost. Even the huge window in the hallway was iced over. But if you could see outside, you would know that it was cold.

Snow was falling rapidly, as the wind was pushing and pulling it in all directions. I guess you actually couldn’t say it was falling fast, because it was hard to tell when it hit the ground. But the snowflakes where moving quickly, in whatever direction they moved.

Something in the way the snow was swirling around sent the message. Or maybe it was the way the trees were bending, or the sound of the wind snarling outside.

But whatever it was that made it look cold, it looked cold. And it was cold. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw my teenage brother burst in through the door, letting the wind blow a gust of snow into our house.

“David!” I exclaimed, expecting some sort of explanation. I had been worried all morning, as when I woke up he hadn’t been in the house. I had only woken up a half hour ago, but still, I was worried.

“What? I just went for a run. Calm down Jayden.” He brushed his snow filled caramel colored hair out of his face, and sniffed.

“You ran in this?! Are you clinically insane?”

“Just cause it’s snowing doesn’t mean I have to get lazy.”

“We have a workout room downstairs. Use that!” Our house was big, too big for two brothers to live alone in. And we didn’t live alone, originally. Our mom had died in a car accident when David was only ten, and our dad… wasn’t around much, thank god. When he did show up at the house, though… I shuddered at the thought, even though I wasn’t the one that went for a run in the snow.

“I can’t run in a weight room.” David said, always ready with another argument. “Just because you’re satisfied with were you are, doesn’t mean I should stop working towards my goal.” I was on a professional soccer team, the sharks. Recently, David had actually been invited on to my team. At 16, he wouldn’t be able to play in games, but our coach had decided to take him in and start training him early on. So I was confused when he talked about reaching towards his goal.

“Haven’t you already gotten what you wanted? You’re on a professional soccer team, David. At your age, that’s incredible.”

“I can’t even play in games yet. And I’m only on the team because of my brother.” He gave a small sniff, almost unnoticeable.

“You’re on the team because you have talent. You got the chance to show you talent because of me.”

“Yeah, thanks.” David said, almost reluctantly. He had thanked me often before. He thanked me so much, in fact, that I had flipped out on him, screaming at him to stop. So I could understand why he was hesitant to thank me again.

“I wasn’t looking for gratitude. I was only stating a fact.”

“You do that too much.”

“You run too much” I countered. “Go change into something warm, before you freeze.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I heard David sniff once more as he was walking upstairs. I was just about to dismiss it as a reaction to the cold air, when I heard a few barely audible hoarse coughs from above me. It could still be from the cold air, I told myself. But for some reason, I couldn’t quite let go of the feeling that something was wrong. As I heard the sound of the shower turning on, I realized I wouldn’t be able to forget about my worries.

When David came back down, he looked warmer. But he was dressed in a loose fitting t shirt and basketball shorts. Sure, he was inside now, but when you’re at your house and it’s snowing, do you usually dress in such clothes? It could only mean one thing.

“You’re not seriously going to work out now, are you?”

“Yeah, I am. What’s the problem with that? I promise I’ll stay warm.” He gave me an amused look.

“Why don’t you just take it easy today?” I suggested, doing my best to keep my tone light. If David was getting sick, he certainly didn’t need an intense work out session.

“Oh, so you’re not going to do any training today?” he challenged

“I’m… that’s different.”

“How is it different?”

“I didn’t go for a run in the snow, for one thing!” Damn. I was losing my control. With this, David would definitely ignore me.

“Whatever.” He strolled downstairs to our weight room.

Yep. Ignored. I sighed. It was probably a waste of energy to tell him to take it easy. I walked in to the kitchen and poured myself some coffee. David was stubborn. That was one of the few things in life you could count on. Just then, the phone rang. I answered it, and was surprised by the conversation that followed.

Did you like it? Please, tell me what you think. I’m really busy these days, so I don’t get a chance to write a lot, but I have

a few more parts written and I’ll post them if you want me to continue.

[Kiwifruit]

Looking good so far A promising start. And you have a writing style and characters that have drawn me in even without any sneezes in this part I would definitely like you to continue if you're happy to post more

[obsessed]

Ooh, I really like the way you write. It gets the reader frustrated too!

I'd love to see more.

[Zane]

It sounds really good! I am looking forward to more.

[*lovely_lily*]

This looks promising. I want more!

[Weirdo Girl]

Yes.

I love the way you write.

I especially love the way you describe the cold weather.

[blackrose]

nice, i would love to see more!

[tma]

Really cute and just a different scenario then I've seen (that I'm remembering). I'm enjoying the characters and point of view. Nice job!

[BlueRandom]

This is so cool!

I like the little cliffhanger, and I loooove the characters.

Please continue!

[LovelyLinda]

Wow, I really love your fic

Even though there's no sneezing in it yet.

I'm really excited how you'll continue.

You're a fab writer, your characters sound so lovable ;-)

[Aprilcot]

To say i liked it would be an understatement.

I lo0ved it and I found it quite amusing haha

Anyways, please continue!!!!!!!!

[everest]

Okay, so I really can't believe I waited this long to post the next part, especially since I had written it before I even posted part one. Sorry!

Thank you so much for you comments, and I'm really glad you liked it. There is a bit of a plot twist in this part, and I really hope that you will still like where the story is going. And, I have to apoligize again, because there isn't much sneezing in this part either. Sorry, and I promise, it's coming!

Part two. Enjoy!

Downstairs, David’s POV

It really was cold. Even though I had been out of the snow for a while now, I just didn’t feel warm. The shower I had taken hadn’t helped either. If anything, it made it worse. The warm water felt good at first, but as soon as I stepped out, I was freezing. Jayden probably noticed something was wrong.

But, hell, I hardly even noticed anything was wrong. Sure, I’d been feeling off lately, but it’s not like I actually felt sick. Until this morning.

My alarm had gone off at seven, as usual on weekends. The second I woke up, I had felt bad. But basically I just decided to suck it up. Then I stepped outside. It was snowing. I couldn’t believe it. Part of me wanted to step right back inside and go back to sleep. But I couldn’t do that. So I just starting running, forcing myself to do the whole six miles. Normally, it wasn’t a problem for me. Today, however, I felt like I was running for the first time. Every breath hurt, and I felt nauseous. My nose was running incredibly, and after five miles, I couldn’t stop the coughs that almost threw me forward. But I pressed on, finally finishing the run, with a headache as a reward.

When I walked inside, I was rewarded yet again with the sight of my 24 year old brother Jayden, looking pissed. So I did my best to appear healthy until I could escape upstairs. Once up there, I desperately wanted to go back to bed. But I knew my workout wasn’t finished. So I dragged myself into the shower, then downstairs, put on another show for Jayden, and then trudged to our workout room in the basement. And now here I sat, on the weight bench, shivering like there was no tomorrow. With a sigh, I leaned back, and began my workout with the leg press.

After having worked every part of my body that I could work without causing permanent damage, I uneasily stood up. My legs buckled, and I rolled my ankle trying to keep my balance.

“Fuck” I whispered, and sat back down, waiting for the pain to go away. It didn’t. Instead, it got worse, my body’s adrenaline wearing down. I squinted my eyes against the pain, debating on what to do. There was practice at three. Could I make it through? Experimentally, I moved my ankle. A jolt of pain followed, causing me to wince. God, how could I hurt myself so bad when I only tripped? I knew that if you landed on your ankle in just the right way, you could cause serious damage. But really? This was so not the time.

I stood up slowly, keeping my weight on my left, uninjured foot. Once I was standing, slowly, I took a step. As soon as my right foot made contact with the ground, my ankle protested. I collapsed on to the ground, feeling tears of pain well up into my eyes.

‘Damn it David’ I thought. ‘Just because it hurts doesn’t mean you have to cry. Suck it up, be more of a man.’ But it was all I could do to hold the tears in. I wasn’t a week guy. I’m not bragging or anything, but I could tolerate a lot of pain. But this wasn’t just a simple twisted ankle. It hurt like hell, and after the day I had, as well as being sick, I honestly wanted to cry.

But I didn’t. Instead, I sat on the ground, holding my ankle. Practice seemed fairly impossible at this point. Although, if I kept my weight off of it for the rest of the day… but to do that I would have to tell Jayden. And he would definitely make me stay home.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, I heard Jayden coming down the stairs. ‘Shit, shit, shit!’ I mentally cursed. Jayden opened the door.

“David? What are you… are you okay?” His voice quickly turned from curious to concern as he noticed me on the ground. “What happened?”

Taking a deep breath, I looked up at him, doing my best to hide the pain I was feeling. “Nothing. I just tripped over my feet, that’s all. I’m a total klutz.”

Jayden looked doubtful. Of course he wouldn’t trust me. I was going to have to stand. So I did, doing my best to make the move seem casual rather then forced. And then, I was upright. I smiled. “See? I’m fine.”

Jayden’s expression held. “Walk” He said calmly.

“Huh?”

“Walk. Walk towards me. If you’re fine, then walk.”

Damn it. Today officially sucked. Still holding my ‘poker face’ I mentally encouraged myself. It was only a few steps. I could do it. One of the simplest things in life was walking. So, I took a step.

The pain was overwhelming. This time I had put all my weight on my bad ankle. I took a sharp intake of breath, and toppled forward, clutching my ankle.

“Shit” I whispered.

“David” Jayden’s voice was full of sympathy.

Just then, I felt a different sensation from the pain in my ankle. My nose prickled with an oncoming sneeze, and I hastily brought up my hand.

“Hu’issh! Hu’tsh! Hu’ishuh!” I sneezed rapidly, and sniffed.

Somehow, for a few seconds, I had forgotten about being sick. But as I sneezed, I remembered the dull ache of my head, and pain in my throat.

“Bless you” Jayden sounded like he was in pain. I looked up at him to see his face full of concern.

“I’m fine” I choked out.

“Bullshit” he whispered.

So, was it okay? Should I continue?

[obsessed]

More than okay, I love how you write this! I'd love to see more.

[Dye]

BEAUTIFUL.

This is gorgeous, amazing, brilliant, wonderful and any other word that compliments something! XD

I vote for more!

[Zane]

That was amazing!!! I absolutley loved it!!! thank you so much for writing it and I so do hope you continue!!!!

[blackrose]

this is soooo much better than okay, this is great!

[Kiwifruit]

Okay? Pfft. Nah. It's great! I actually prefer the stories that don't have a ridiculously unrealistic amount of sneezing, it makes it even better when they actually do sneeze So yeah, I thought this was great, your writing is fabulous and I like the characters too! You should certainly continue

[everest]

Let me just say, I love all your replies. It's so great to read that you guys like my story, and it inspires me to write more.

The next part is, unfortunatly, painfully short. For some reason, it didn't make sense to me to stop anywhere other then where I did. But, on the bright side, if people are still reading this, I promise that I'll have the next part (which will be longer) up soon.

So, here is part three!

Jayden’s POV

Shit. David was hurt. Bad, by the looks of it. Not to mention he was sick. And he couldn’t have picked a worse time. David and I just sat there for a good minute, until he broke the silence.

“So, I guess you’re not going to let me go to practice, are you?”

“I’m not sure. I think you kind of have to.”

David’s face grew surprised. “What? Why? I mean, I want to go, but what are we doing at practice that’s so important?”

I hesitated. Actually, I had no idea why David had to go to practice. It kind of was pissing me off, but I had no say in the matter.

Our coach had called earlier. Coach Hendrix, he was called by some, but some people on our team (such as the regulars, myself included) often called him by his first name, Jim, just to bug him. He actually didn’t mind so much, but he always acted like we were being disrespectful at practice in front of the other team members.

He’s not a bad guy, not at all. I have a lot of respect for him. David does to. The kid really looks up to that man. He was the one who took David in and gave him a shot at the team. I showed him a video of one of David’s matches. He was surprised, not at so much at how well David played, but how he led his team. Every pass he made was based on the player, and the entire time it was clear that even if the skill level was below him, he was thinking of how to win. I had already told all this to Jim, but he wanted to see for himself. Jim is amazing. He could probably pick a good soccer player out of a group of one hundred, just by having the introduce themselves.

So when he called, and told me that this practice was going to be important, I believed him. He never told me why, he just told me that David and I had to come. I felt bad for David. The kid was so determined. He didn’t even quit his high school soccer team. He was their captain, David argued. He couldn’t just quit. No. David would never quit. This was part of why I felt bad for him. If there is any way for him to improve himself, he’ll try it. Even if it wears him thin. I really didn’t want him going to this practice, but, like I said earlier, I didn’t have a choice.

So, I just told him what I knew. Which was nothing.

“I don’t know why you have to go. All Jim told me was that it’s going to be an important practice, and you and I have to go.”

“Oh.” David said, not understanding but not bothering to question further. He began to slowly stand, and I walked forward to help him up. But as soon as I reached out, he pulled away. “I can do it myself”

Of course he could.

Just then, I began to hear David’s breath hitching.

“Hu… hu’issh! ITSCH!” he sneezed, the second one much more violent than the first. He stepped forward out of reflex, and probably would have been on the ground yet again if I hadn’t reached out, and steadied him. I caught a glimpse of his face turning bright red before David looked away from me. He bent over with a smaller; “Ih’chsh!” and I truly pitied him.

Out of habit, I opened my mouth to bless him, but closed it quickly knowing it would only make him feel worse. Neither of us said anything, but David let me help him upstairs. Poor kid.

Did you like it? Like I said before, as long as people want me to, I'll post the next part soon!

[Peachy]

I'm glad all these replies inspired you, cuz this story is just too damn cute!

Please continue?

[Kiwifruit]

Yes, I do like it very much! I really like how you've got plot in there as well, it makes it all heaps more interesting And an actually realistic amount of sneezes, which is kind of hard to find in these sort of fics It makes it all even better! So yeah, keep going, it's great!

[obsessed]

Ooh, I can't wait to see where this goes! You developed such a dynamic relationship between the two, and I love how well they know each other. I like the sport aspect as well!

[Zane]

I loved it! thank you so much for writing it and I hope you continue! it's so good!!!!

[Aprilcot]

Did I like it?!

Is the pope fudging catholic?

You sooo have to continue this!!!

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Please give us more!!!!!!!!!!

I will be like this otherwise

MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[everest]

So, this part starts off with some angst. Maybe a bit overdramatic, but I think it is necessary to develop David’s character. Also, no sneezes in this part, but there will be a lot in the next chapter. I have the day off from school, so I’ll actually have some time to write! I’ll try and get the next part up sometime this weekend.

In the meantime, part four!

David’s POV

I’ll be honest with you; I wasn’t feeling so hot. And I hated myself for it. Why was I so weak? Why couldn’t I keep up with people like Jayden? I mean, I couldn’t even handle a little work out. It pissed me off. I’ve done that same workout for years. Six miles in the morning, quick shower, and then weight training. I didn’t even get a chance to even train with a ball. I wasn’t strong enough.

No. I’m never strong enough. Not strong enough to finish a daily workout. Not strong enough to even walk upstairs on my own. Not even strong enough to look at Jayden.

He was always helping me. He taught me soccer. From before the time I can remember, we were in the backyard, kicking the ball back and forth. Before I knew it, he was teaching me how to shoot, practicing fakes with me, and giving me tips so I could have better control of the ball. When I wanted to learn how to slide tackle, he told me the best way to learn was by trying it so he let me practice on him. When I finally knocked him down, I was scared.

“Did I hurt you?” a much younger version of me asked.

“No. No, David, but that was awesome! Great job! You’re unstoppable.” He stood up, grinning at me.

And then Jayden got me on to his soccer team. I even needed his help to get a shot at playing with anyone like the sharks. I was so weak.

When we got upstairs, I could feel Jayden trying to meet my eyes. I avoided the stare, not able to look at him. “Thanks” I managed to mumble.

“David, let’s go outside.” Jayden said, not dropping his eyes.

I looked up at him. He was smiling, just a little bit. But his eyes told me he wasn’t kidding. Even so, I asked, “What? Uh… isn’t it snowing?”

“Just because it’s snowing doesn’t mean we have to get lazy.” He said, quoting me from earlier that day. “Go upstairs, and put on some pants and a sweatshirt.” He dropped his suportive hold on me.

I hesitated.

“Go” He said.

I forced myself forward, wincing a bit at the pain. What the hell was Jayden thinking? Slowly, I approached the stairs, and began to trudge my way up. I heard Jayden enter the staircase behind me, and glanced back at him. His eyes locked onto mine for the first time since we were downstairs, and he gave me an innocent look. He may be good at acting, but I knew something was up. I was about to ask him, but he spoke before I could.

“What? I need to change too.” He said, gesturing that I continue up the stairs.

Let me tell you, it’s not like I had made a miraculous recovery. The pain was unbelievably, and I was moving extremely slow. But I sure as hell wasn’t going to stop now. Eventually, I made it up the stairs, and I headed towards my room, pausing to muffle a few coughs into my sleeve. But I limped into my room, and changed into some jeans and a heavy sweatshirt. I was about to leave my room when Jayden appeared, dressed similar to me.

“Sit on your bed” He instructed me. I sat.

“Let me see your ankle.”

Hesitantly, I lifted my right leg. Jayden pushed back my pant leg and gently pulled off my sock. He added a quiet, “Sorry” when he saw the wince I couldn’t quite hold back. Once he saw my ankle, he paused, staring at the already swollen joint. “We’ll get ice on that later” He said, almost to himself, and then began tightly wrapping my ankle. When he was finished, he handed me back my sock, and I put it on, slightly embarrassed.

“How does it feel?” He asked me.

I moved my ankle experimentally. “Better” I said, pleased. It still hurt, but I could walk on this.

“Good. Let’s go.” He led the way out of my room, grabbing my soccer ball and bringing it with him. And now I was really confused.

We stepped outside once we had shoes on, and Jayden dropped the soccer ball at his feet. He kicked it to me. I stopped it and passed it back to him, hardly noticing the pain in my ankle. He kicked it back, and I smiled. Whatever inspired Jayden to kick the ball back and forth with me, I was grateful for it.

Anyone interested in reading more?

[Ciuty80]

i really want more please