#it was originally written before Alejo existed as a full character

[all-we-know-is-falling]

El Partido de Fútbol

Mateo had asked Agustín in the morning if he would like to join him at the park later on. Mateo and some of his friends and classmates were going to have a friendly football match. Agustín agreed, although he would only be there to watch and support his friend's team, rather than play.

The sun was just past its highest point, but luckily it wasn't too hot. The two boys met and made their way to the park together; they were always together. The guys who were already there greeted them. Mateo changed into his football boots, and he was already wearing his Argentina national team jersey.

Time was getting on and everyone wanted to start the game already. Raúl spoke up, "Hey, guys. Enrique said he can't make it, something's come up."

A few guys groaned.

"Our team's going to be a man down then!" Luis complained. "One of you stay off, would you?"

"Nah, I'm not going anywhere." Mateo protested. His entire team agreed.

"Oh, come on. Now it's just unfair." Daniel huffed.

Mateo scanned the field for any extra players. His eyes landed on Agustín, who wasn't even paying attention to them, but was completely in his own head, staring at the surrounding trees that moved gently in the breeze.

Mateo whistled at him. "Hey!"

Agustín turned his face to him. "What?" He asked.

"Join their team. They're missing their midfielder." The curly haired boy was totally assuming he even knew what that meant.

"Are you sure?" The other replied.

"Yeah. Come on!"

Mateo heard someone behind him murmur, "We're finished..." and another go, "What does he know?" Luckily, Agustín was too far away to hear them.

He got up and brushed some grass off of his legs. Due to the unexpectedness of this situation, he wasn't wearing very flexible pants, and he didn't have any football boots. At least he had thought to put on his Chile jersey... even if he was the only one.

"Awesome. Thank you dude." Luis stepped towards him. "Alright! Let's start!"

They all got into their positions, Agustín taking Enrique's place on the midfield, and the kickoff began.

As it turns out, those who made the comments behind Mateo were wrong. The imaginary whistle blew and the game was onto a good start. Agustín may not have scored, but he made a really great attempt that was only stopped by Daniel's above-average saving skills. His passes were decent and he was precise with every one he made. He even had an assist, being the key to Luis' goal which held their team in the lead 2-1 for a while. They didn't win in the end, but Agustín's performance was quite shocking, even to Mateo. His tackles and defence were good too, even if he wasn't the absolute best player on either team.

After the game, it was like Agustín had just earned himself some popularity points, because most of the guys came to pat him on the back and compliment his playing. A few more skirmishes went on with fewer players all round as some just wanted to sit around and cool off or chat.

Mateo took a seat on the grass beside Agustín and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Since when have you been into football?" He had to ask.

Agustín smiled to himself and replied, "I've always been a casual follower, but I was way into it for a while when I was younger. That's how I learned how to play."

Mateo grinned, "You were awesome." He then removed his hand. "You really gave me... us... a challenge there."

"Thank you." Agustín averted his eyes and felt a little embarrassed. When he looked back at Mateo, the boy was gazing at him, his eyes creased a bit and his freckled cheeks pulled his lips into a sweet smile. Agustín smiled back, his face suddenly feeling more flushed than before. Then someone appeared behind him, interrupting the moment that felt like it went on way longer than it actually did, and stole Mateo's attention with a conversation about which fast food restaurant had the better Coca-Cola. What a useless question, Agustín thought, although he knew full well that he would be totally down for that discussion if Mateo had brought it up.