Mon-El walked down the hall, adjusting the collar of his jersey around his neck. He suddenly saw the familiar dark curls of his best friend. He jogged around people and shoved her.

"Hey, Maggs." He smiled and she grinned up at him.

"What's up, Matthews?" she elbowed him, "Ready for the game tonight?"

"Of course," he smiled, "when's practice?"

"Right now, genius." She snorted, hopping down the stairs three at a time.

"By the way," he said, running after her, "have you seen Winn around? He wasn't in second period."

"No," Maggie frowned, turning as he jumped down the last five steps, "that's weird, Winn has never missed a class-"

"-In his life, I know." He said, straightening himself, "Do you think he's still worried about that guy Non?"

Maggie shrugged as they walked out of the stairs into the first floor corridor, "I got no clue."

Mon-El nodded, pausing for a moment, "You don't think he's actually going to try and beat up Winn, do you?"

"I got no clue, Matthews." Maggie shrugged again, noticing someone down the hall. She craned her neck and held back a smile. She put a hand on his shoulder, "Give me one sec, okay"

He nodded, "Yeah, sure."

She patted his arm a bit roughly and then walked down the corridor with a new saunter in her step. He came to his locker and watched her to see where she was off to in such a hurry.

Maggie walked down the hall to where Alex Danvers stood leaning against a locker, holding a heavy textbook and reading avidly. She had a short piece of brown hair loose from behind her ear, and she appeared to be completely lost in her text. He smiled, eyeing Maggie, and watching carefully as she walked up to the other girl and put her hand on the locker to her right, leaning against it.

Alex smiled down at her book, and then looked up at Maggie. He couldn't hear what she was saying, but he could see Alex's face, and she looked really happy to just be talking to Maggie.

Maggie turned on her heel and began to walk back towards Mon-El. He looked around her, and saw that Alex was watching her go.

"What?" Maggie said as she came and stood next to him.

"She's still looking at you." He said, smirking at her.

She rolled her eyes, "No, she's not."

"I'm looking at her." He said, "She's staring right at you."

"Shut up."

"She doesn't even care that I can see her," he smiled, "she's smiling at you."

"Shut up, Mon-El!" She hissed, back-handing his chest.

"Okay, she stopped looking." He said and Maggie brushed her hair off her forehead.

"Thank you." She sighed.

"What were you guys talking about?" He smiled, pulling some books out of his bag.

"Nothing." Maggie grinned, "I was just asking her if she was going to be at the game tonight."

"Oh, really?" He smirked and she rolled her eyes, unable to hide the smile.

"She helps her sister out with pictures for the school paper." Maggie said. She leaned against the locker next to his and sighed.

He glanced down at her and frowned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Maggie said, shaking her head and looking down.

He leaned against his locker door, "Come on, Maggie."

"It's-" she paused, "-it doesn't matter. She's not gay."

"I don't know…" He smiled, trying to cheer her up.

"Come on, Mon-El." Maggie said, "She's only ever gone out with guys-"

"-Okay, but just because she's only ever gone out with guys doesn't mean she doesn't like girls too," he suggested, "any girl would be lucky to go out with you."

"Thanks, man." She smiled, "but, she never talks with me unless I go talk to her first."

"She's probably just shy," he shrugged, zipping his bag and shutting his locker, "don't give up, yet."

She nodded and then shook her head slightly, "And anyways, it doesn't matter because I don't like her!"

"Right." He nodded as they turned away from his locker.

"I'm serious!" She said indignantly, making him stop and face her.

"I know you are." He sighed, smirking slightly, "I totally, one-hundred percent believe you."

"Good." She nodded.

He looked down the hall one last time just as a girl came bounding down the stairs across from where Alex stood. She straightened, her face brightening as she saw the other girl. Mon-El sighed and Maggie looked up at him. They began to meander slowly down the hall, towards the gym where they were going to practice. Mon-El swallowed and glanced over his shoulder slowly again, just as the other girl with Alex looked at him. He jumped and turned around.

"You know," Maggie suggested gently, "you could try talking to her…"

"I don't know, Maggs," he scratched the back of his head, "every time I think I can, I just…"

"...Freeze?" She suggested gently and he nodded. "Well that's dumb."

"Ugh, you sound just like Winn." Mon-El slumped his shoulders and Maggie shrugged,

"That's because he's right!" She said, "Kara is a super nice girl, and she's always writing nice things about you in the paper-"

"-It's her job to write nice things about the highly successful lacrosse team," he said, "plus, she mostly writes about you."

"Well, that's because she knows who the better player is!" she teased and he laughed, "But how about last week when she wrote-what was it?"

He rolled his eyes, "I have no idea-"

"-Hold on, I have it," she pulled out her phone and scrolled through her photos, "Oh! Here it is!"

"Come on Maggs-" he tried to grab it from her hand, but she held it just out of arm's reach.

"She said: 'Mon-El Matthews played yet another enormously successful game last night. His superior agility allowed him to gain possession of the ball at each face-off he took part in, while his fantastic ability to cradle it down long stretches of the field let him score two amazing goals in the first quarter out of the nine that the team earned during the whole game. He was only second to number twenty-four, Maggie Sawyer, who earned one in each quarter and two in the second, and also a notable goal was won by junior, Winn Schott, and the final goal that gave National High the match was scored by the amazing Mon-El Matthews, who got it in during the final three seconds of the game."

Mon-El blushed and looked down at the ground. "It was pretty good wasn't it?"

"It was 'amazing!'" Maggie said with mock enthusiasm. "I don't think she could've fit another synonym for 'fantastic' in there if she tried."

He laughed and they paused for a moment. She eyed him suspiciously, "Were you showing off?" He grinned at the ground and she shoved him, "You were!"

"Maybe a little," he laughed, slapping her hand away.

"Ugh, you're such a boy sometimes." She rolled her eyes, checking something on her phone. "I'm sure you probably don't even need to."

He snorted, "Thanks, Maggs." This was probably as close as he was ever going to come to a compliment about his ability to play lacrosse.

They walked down the hall in silence for a minute, and then she put her phone back in her pocket. She hooked her fingers around her backpack straps and looked up at him again.

"Why don't you just, go talk to her about the great articles she writes about you?" She said encouragingly and he shook his head.

"No, there's no point." He said, "She's probably going out with that James guy-"

"-Oh, right, because a girl can't be friends with a guy without them going out." She said, motioning between them, and making him laugh again.

"Fair point." He said and she nodded, extremely proud of herself.

"Mhm." She said and he smiled sadly.

"And anyways, I'm sure she wouldn't want to go out with me." He looked down again.

"Why?" Maggie said, stepping in front of him and making him stop.

"I-" he shrugged, "-I don't know, I just…"

"God, you're so dumb." Maggie said, "Just try! There's no harm in it!"

"But she could say no!" Mon-El said, "And there is some harm actually."

"How?" Maggie put her hands on her hips pointedly.

"Because I…" He swallowed and she raised her eyebrows. He glanced around and leaned closer, lowering his voice, "..I actually like her, and I-"

"-Don't want to look dumb, yeah I get it." Maggie waved him off and they began to walk again.

"No! It's not that," he stopped her and she turned, looking at him disbelievingly, "She'd be the first person I'd actually ever ask out, and I don't want to…"

"...Get rejected?" Maggie suggested, raising her eyebrows again and he nodded. They began to walk slowly again, "Well you won't know unless you try! Stop being stupid and get it over with!"

"Well that's funny coming from you." Mon-El said, and Maggie stopped again.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's no different than what you're doing with Alex!" he said and she put her hands on her hips. "You won't admit that you like her because you're scared of rejection." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Doctor Phil for the psych-eval." She began to walk and he shrugged snarkily.

"Just sayin'"

"Well just keep it to yourself," she rolled her eyes and they walked silently for a long moment.

He leaned close to Maggie, smirking even before he teased her, "You and Alex would be so cute together-"

"-Shut up! Don't ruin this for me!" She shoved him and he laughed, shoving her back gentler.

"Ruin what? I thought you said you didn't like her?" He raised his eyebrows and she rolled her eyes.

"I don't." Maggie snapped.

"So then what would I be ruining?" He elbowed her repeatedly and she checked him into the wall.

"Nothing except my innocent admiration of a beautiful girl!" Maggie said and Mon-El nodded skeptically.

"Right." He said, "A likely story."

"Shut up, Matthews." She rolled her eyes.

Maggie and Mon-El sat on the bench next to the field, getting ready for the game. She sat tying her shoes, and he was checking his lacrosse stick. Maggie was the only girl on the team, but she was so imposing that no one said anything about her. In fact, she was one of the best players, having scored the most goals of the whole team this season-for now. They had a bet going to see who could get the most points this year, and she'd just passed him by two.

"Ready for me to widen the gap tonight, Matthews?" She smirked evilly and he laughed.

"Don't get too cocky, Sawyer, I've got my a-game tonight." he grinned.

"That's what you said last week and look how it turned out." She said pointedly and he rolled his eyes.

"It's only two, Sawyer, I can totally pass you."

"Mhm…" She smirked and he elbowed her. They both laughed and fell into a content silence again.

Suddenly, someone rammed into Mon-El's side, making him knock into Maggie. "What the-?"

"-Do not. Draw attention to us." Winn said very seriously, ducking behind the shoulder of the boy on his other side.

"Winn?" Mon-El said, "Where were you today?"

Winn turned to look at him incredulously, "Where do you think I was?!"

"Hiding in the third floors boys' bathroom to avoid Non?" Maggie said flatly and Winn pointed at her.

"Exactly!" He said, looking around again.

"You think he'd actually do all that stuff he said he'd do?" Mon-El frowned, "Seems a bit extreme-"

"-Well, I do not want to find out what it's like to have my nose caved in so I decided it would be better not to risk it!" He snapped.

"Winn, I'm sure it'll be fine," Maggie said, "besides, we got your back, he won't mess with you."

"That's really sweet but no offense, you guys don't hold a candle to his immense power." Winn said dramatically.

"Winn-" Mon-El rolled his eyes.

"-NO!" Winn yelled, "Have you seen his muscles?! They're like the size of my head!"

"MISTER SCHOTT!" A voice bellowed.

"Oh god." Winn froze, turning slowly around, "Hi, coach Henshaw…"

They all looked up at the imposing man standing above them.

Winn swallowed, "...Sorry I was late-"

"-I heard that you spent most of the day not in class." He interrupted, "What's your explanation for this delinquent behavior."

"I…" he searched for an answer, but couldn't find one.

"It's my bad!" Mon-El said suddenly, making everyone turn to him.

"Mister Matthews?" Coach said pointedly, inviting him to continue.

"I, uh," he looked at Maggie,

"My mom made some food!" Maggie said, "And I gave it to Mon-El-"

"-Yeah-yeah, and I gave it to Winn but I waited too long and it got a bit old, and he probably shouldn't have eaten it but he did-"

"-And he spent to whole day in the bathroom throwing up." Maggie finished for him.

Coach Henshaw raised his eyebrows and Winn nodded profusely. "It was terrible."

"Well if you're so sick then maybe you shouldn't play tonight."

"No!" Winn, Mon-El and Maggie all said at once. They all blinked and looked at each other, and then Mon-El spoke again.

"He's all better now."

"Yeah." Winn nodded again.

"He threw up everything." Maggie said reassuringly.

"Yeah." Winn said.

"Like everything." Mon-El said.

"Mhm." Winn hummed.

"It was nasty." Maggie said convincingly.

"It really was." Winn said.

"But it's all better now!" Mon-El said quickly.

"Yeah!" Winn said.

"He upchucked everything he possibly could, and there's no possible way anything else could happen." Maggie said.

"Exactly-"

"-Okay, that's enough." Coach grimaced, "I get it."

They all swallowed. "You can play this time-" he said, and they all looked very excited, "-but, if it happens again-"

"-It won't." Winn said, the other two nodding behind him.

Coach Henshaw turned on his heels and walked back towards the scoring table, and the three friends turned to each other. "Thank you," Winn breathed and Mon-El nodded,

"Of course man."

"Try not to get yourself threatened again?" Maggie raised her eyebrows and Winn nodded,

"I'll, uh, do my best."

They all turned and watched their opponents walk onto the field. Lanky boys with broad shoulders, glancing around.

"I hate these guys." Maggie grumbled.

"You hate everyone we play." Winn grumbled back, watching the other team tiredly.

"These guys look at me like I'm a piece of meat, and they go easy on me." She said.

"Well, you can kick their ass and show them who should really be going easy on their opponent." Mon-El said, smacking her on the back. She lifted an eyebrow at him and he shrugged.

They sat in silence for a long menet, and Mon-El glanced over to the end of the field where three kinds stood huddled with cameras. He elbowed Maggie and jerked his head in their direction,

"Hey look," she turned as he teased her, "it's your girlfriend."

"Shut up, Mon-El!" She shoved him into Winn, who shoved him back,

"Who is it, Alex?" He asked excitedly and Mon-El nodded.

"You told him?" She said incredulously.

"Are you kidding me? No, he told me." Mon-El laughed, "But it's not that hard to see how much you like her."

"I don't like her!" Maggie snapped and Winn rolled his eyes,

"Yeah, right." Winn smiled, and Maggie leaned across Mon-El to try and pinch him. Mon-El and Winn laughed, as he pulled her arm out of his space. "So I see she's helping out Kara and James again."

Maggie stared down at her shoes and bent down to tie them again. She was making a point not to look. "Yep."

Mon-El, on the other hand couldn't care less. He stared at Kara as she laughed at something James had said. She smiled down at her camera as she adjusted the settings. The sun was just above her, and her blonde hair whipped gently around in the evening wind. She touched her glasses and turned to take a photo of something; maybe it was the trees that lined the field, maybe it was the sun, or a bird flying where he couldn't see it.

"You still like Kara?" Winn frowned and Mon-El glanced at him.

"Yeah, why?" Mon-El eyed him suspiciously.

"I dunno," Winn shrugged, "she just doesn't seem like your type."

"She's beautiful." He said slowly, watching her show her sister whatever she'd just taken a picture of, "I don't know who's type she wouldn't be."

Maggie looked up at him, raising an eyebrow again, and then turning to share a look with Winn.

"Dude." Winn said, making Mon-El turn. Winn gave him a face that looked like he was extremely concerned.

"What?" Mon-el frowned.

"That was so corny." Maggie began laughing and so did Winn. Mon-El rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his hair, looking down at his shoes on the astroturf.

"Whatever," he laughed nervously.

Winn shoved his shoulder playfully and Maggie snorted, "I'm sure if you said that to her she'd like it," she winked and Mon-El looked away abashedly, chuckling softly.

"Alright come on!" Coach Henshaw clapped, "Bring it in!"

They all stood and huddled around, putting their arms on each other's shoulders. The excitement was building.

"These guys are mediocre at best," Coach said quietly, "they're not nearly as good as the team you guys destroyed last week,"

The whole team began to shout and whoop, shoving each other and jumping up and down. Maggie laughed next to Mon-El and Winn screamed in his ear. He grinned across the circle at Coach Henshaw who shushed them with a happy look on his face.

"Alright, alright!" He beamed, "Don't get cocky!"

The team calmed down and listened to him speak with adoring ears. "We can make it to the playoffs this year; we only need to beat a few more of these guys and we'll be in the clear."

Winn bellowed again, making everyone laugh and a few people echo his call. Henshaw rolled his eyes, a half-smile on his face.

"Alright," he hushed them again, "Sawyer's going to start in the face off. I want Schott and Matthews in there to back her up."

The three juniors nodded and the guy on the other side of Maggie ruffled her hair playfully. She shoved his hand off, unable to subdue the laugh.

"I want a nice, clean game okay?" Henshaw eyed each of them in turn, "Let them do the funny business if that's what they plan on doing, but never retaliate. You play the game, you're in the right. Don't ever try and pay them back in petty fist fights."

The kids all stared at him in awe and nodded, smiling excitedly.

"Alright," Henshaw nodded, stepping away from the circle, "let's go get 'em!"

The team erupted into screams again and they began to jump around in a circle.

"Come on guys!" Winn put the end of his lacrosse stick in the middle of the circle, and everyone piled theirs on top. "One, two, THREE!"

They all screamed again and threw their sticks up in the air. Maggie pulled her helmet over her head and walked to the center of the field. She got down on her knees and looked back at Winn and Mon-El, who were behind her on the turf. She made a disgusted face at them and they laughed to each other as she turned back forward. Winn yanked his helmet on tight and winked at Mon-El, who grinned back, getting down low to watch the face off.

"Come on Maggs!" Someone bellowed in the crowd and she lifted a fist in the air, saluting them without taking her eyes off her opponent.

Mon-El and Winn whooped, and the ref walked over, speaking softly to the pair in the center. The field fell deadly quiet. The ref suddenly blew the whistle and dropped the ball. Maggie gained possession immediately and threw it back to Mon-El. He cradled the ball, running down the field towards the goal. He twisted around a boy trying to poke-check him. He passed the ball to another attack-man. The other team intercepted it and began to run down the field.

Maggie knocked the kid's stick and caught ball in mid-air. She chucked it back at Winn, who immediately got rid of it, whipping it at Mon-El who tried to get it in the goal. The goalie caught it and threw it to a kid right near Mon-El. He tried to chase after him but the boy slipped past. Mon-El stumbled into another guy, tripping in a rather spectacular way.

"Sorry man," he said, offering a hand to the guy.

He pushed Mon-El's hand away and stood on his own. He spat at Mon-El's feet and turned back to the game. Mon-El stared after him incredulously, extremely confused about his motives. Nonetheless, he jogged back into the game and played without provocation.

Mon-El sat on the sidelines, taking a drink of water after sitting out most of the third quarter. He glanced to his side and saw Kara squatting down about ten feet away, taking photos of the defenders standing in wait of the ball to return to their part of the field.

"MATTHEWS!" Henshaw bellowed, and Mon-El jumped to his feet, high-fiving Winn as she came in from the turf. He pulled on his helmet and rubbed Maggie's head as the ran out into the field. He knelt behind Maggie and watched the ref walk over to the center.

"Come on Maggie!" Winn yelled from the bench.

The ref dropped the ball, and Maggie gained possession. She tossed it over her shoulder to Mon-El. He sprinted forward, cradling the ball, and holding his stick close to his chest. Just as he was reaching the center line, something crashed into him. He went flying. He held onto the stick for dear life. He was literally in the air.

When he first hit something, it isn't as hard as he expects. He smacked into something vertical, and then they both fell to the ground. Somewhere in between, he dropped the lacrosse stick, and attempted to regain his balance. He got up in his elbows and looked down into the beautiful face of Kara Danvers.

His lips parted slightly, and stared down at her in amazement. She held her arms close to her chest and opened one eye, looking up at him. She gasped slightly, opening both her eyes and getting up on her elbows. He lifts his body up onto his hands and stays above her. They stare, open-mouthed and wide-eyed at each other for a long time. He suddenly reached up slowly and straightened her glasses on the bridge of her nose.

She wants to say something to him, and he wants to help her stand up like a gentleman, but neither of them move. He stands, taking her hands and pulling her to her feet. She stumbled slightly into him and he stepped backwards, placing a hand on the small of her back without thinking. They looked at each other for a long moment,

"Thanks," she breathed, smiling up at him.

He blinked and nodded. He looked down at his hand gently around her wrist and remembered where his other one was.

"Oh, god," he stepped back, and she did the same.

He wiped his hands on his shorts and she clenched hers nervously at her side. People began to gather around them, and he swallowed.

"Uh, sorry," He said quickly, turning and practically sprinting away.

Kara blinked, looking around and touching her glasses confusedly. Alex rushed over to her, and touched her head to see if she'd been hurt. She stared blankly over her shoulder as Mon-El stood with his back to her on the other side of the field.

"You alright there?" Maggie stood in front of Kara, shoulder brushing against Alex's.

"Huh?" She blinked, looking up at the newcomer, "Oh! Yes, thank you."

Maggie nodded curtly and then turned to glance at Alex. "Hey, Danvers." she smiled, her voice softening noticeably.

She turned on her heel and jogged over to where Mon-El was shuffling around. Kara watched, enraptured by the way Mon-El scratched the back of his head, and blushed. He didn't dare steal a glance at her, but somehow, she could tell he wanted to.

Okay guys so I should've probably warned you beforehand but this is gonna be sort of a slow burn (?) if I'm using that correctly, but I'm not gonna make it too long and it's gonna be pretty fluff. I really hoped you like it and tell me what you think!