The stadium was packed, buzzing with energy and anticipation. The lights shone brightly, illuminating the field like a stage set for a grand performance. The crowd's cheers and applause echoed through the air, creating a deafening roar.
The scoreboard read 28-25. This was the final play, the one that would determine the state champion.
Ethan wiped the sweat from his forehead as he looked around. He locked eyes with the coach, who nodded at him. The pressure was immense, but he felt ready. The fate of the game—and perhaps his life—rested on this play. They needed a touchdown to win, and every eye was on him.
'Great players stand out in great and difficult moments…' Ethan repeated to himself as he put on his helmet. This was a phrase his late grandfather never tired of saying.
Winning the state championship would be the first step toward his dream of going pro and one day winning the Super Bowl. He knew college scouts were in the stands, watching his every move, every decision.
He took a deep breath and began issuing instructions. The choices were clear: a quick pass or trying to run it himself. He analyzed the Raptors' defensive formation.
There was a small gap, but it was risky. Speed was never his strength. His precise passes and decision-making were his trademarks—he couldn't afford a hasty decision now.
"Set! Hut!" Ethan shouted, and the ball snapped into his hands. Time seemed to slow as he scanned the field. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his chest. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
'What the hell…?' Ethan thought, nearly falling to his knees from the pain, but he gritted his teeth and kept searching for a pass. Just before being tackled by a giant defender weighing 200 pounds or more, he threw the ball with precision and speed toward his star receiver.
As he hit the ground, slowly losing consciousness, he heard the one word that brought him peace: "Touchdown!"
A faint smile crossed his lips, knowing his team had won. That was his last thought before darkness consumed him completely.
He died of a damn heart attack and didn't even have time to see his life flash before his eyes—he had to focus on making that pass. If he'd failed, not only would his team have lost, but they would have suffered the loss of one of their players. At least he gave them joy before he died.
The downside was that he couldn't keep his promise…
The darkness was endless. His consciousness seemed to drift through a shadowy world, carried as if part of an invisible current.
Thinking was hard, as if he were both aware and unaware at the same time. It was a limbo where time and space didn't exist—only an infinite abyss.
As his mind sank deeper into that darkness, a flash of memory began to take shape.
"'Great players stand out in great and difficult moments, Ethan. Promise me you'll always fight, no matter what happens."
Ethan, who looked about ten years old, stood staring at his grandfather lying in a hospital bed. His grandfather had more wrinkles than ever, barely any hair, and his expression was no longer as cheerful as usual. An aura of frailty surrounded him.
"Yes, Grandpa…" Ethan said, his eyes filled with tears as he wiped his nose with his hand.
"I… I'll win the Super Bowl! Not one, not two, three—or more! I'll bring it to your grave in your honor, old man," Ethan added, trying not to cry. In Texas, they didn't cry.
"Haha, that's the spirit. But don't count me out just yet…" Richard said with a faint smile.
That memory, that promise, burned in his mind like a beacon in the darkness.
He felt his consciousness dimming, slipping into a deep slumber, but the promise he had made to his grandfather kept him tethered to reality. His will grew stronger, fighting against the dark current trying to pull him away.
Suddenly, he felt a tug, a force dragging him toward the light. The darkness began to dissipate, and a warm sensation enveloped him.
Ethan slowly opened his eyes, expecting to see the stadium, but instead, he found himself in a completely different place. There were no cheering crowds, no bright lights—only a white ceiling and warm sunlight streaming through a window.
'Where am I…?' Ethan thought, feeling an unfamiliar body. He raised his hands and saw that they were much smaller than before. His heart raced as he looked around, trying to make sense of what had happened.
He found himself in a hospital room. Around him were bright colors and complex electronic devices humming and beeping. The air was filled with the scent of disinfectant, and the hurried voices of medical staff echoed in the background.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through his head. He raised his hand to the source and felt bandages wrapped around it.
The memory of what had happened began to take shape in his mind. It was like reliving the moment in first person: he had been playing on a very tall tree, lost his balance, and hit his head hard. After that, everything went black. All he could hear were frantic voices shouting the same name: Andrew!
'Did I reincarnate…? No… The owner of this body died, and I took his place or something like that,' Ethan thought, a confused look on his face.
Through the memories he now shared with this body, he realized the fall had been fatal. Having spent so much time in that darkness and having experienced death, he understood that the five-year-old boy named Andrew had died, and he had taken his place, though he couldn't comprehend how or why.
Ethan—or now Andrew—remained silent, staring at his small, pale hands. Perhaps ten or twenty minutes passed before he sighed and shook his head.
'This is like the online novels I used to read…' Andrew thought. Despite being a quarterback, one of his hobbies was reading online novels and manga. A strange pastime for the best high school quarterback, but it was something only he knew and a hobby he genuinely enjoyed.
Besides that, he was a huge fan of pop culture.
'But this is good!' Andrew thought, clenching his fist tightly as a faint smile formed on his face. He had another chance to fulfill the promise he made to his grandfather. This time, he wouldn't fail—though, in truth, it wasn't him who failed; it was his heart that betrayed him.
His only family had been his grandfather, Richard. After Richard's death, Ethan had been left completely alone. What allowed him to keep going and avoid falling into a depressive spiral was football and the promise he had made to Richard.
Just as Andrew was starting to formulate plans in his mind, a nurse entered the room.
"You're awake?" the nurse asked in a surprised tone, looking at the boy who was staring at his hands with a faint smile.
...
In a narrow hospital hallway, two young men, barely in their thirties, were standing. Both had anxious and nervous expressions.
"This can't be happening…!" exclaimed one of the men, a redhead with blue eyes. He paced back and forth in the hallway, stopping every few steps, turning around, and retracing his path, repeating the process countless times.
The other man, more robust and clearly overweight, was sitting in one of the chairs with his hands resting on his head. He murmured things only he could hear. His forehead was covered in sweat, and his right leg was shaking uncontrollably.
"Say something, Cam!" the redhead exclaimed, desperate to hear words of comfort, even though doubt and fear still loomed large.
The man called Cam looked up and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Everything will be fine, Mitchell..." he replied, though his tone lacked any real conviction.
"With that face of yours, I don't believe it!" Mitchell shouted, his anxiety becoming more evident in his voice and gestures.
"You're not helping either, pacing around and biting your nails!" Cam shot back.
"What do you want me to do?! We're about to become the first gay couple in America to kill their kid just a week after adopting him!" Mitchell yelled, raising his voice.
"Don't say that! You'll jinx it! And calm down, for heaven's sake!" Cam shouted, grabbing Mitchell by the collar. Mitchell's eyes widened in surprise—he'd never seen his partner so aggressive before. Cam was always like a big, cuddly teddy bear, full of love.
"Excuse me, gentlemen..." said a middle-aged man with black hair and outdated glasses, looking at the couple, who seemed on the verge of a full-blown argument.
"Doctor! Is the little teddy bear okay?" Cam asked, letting go of Mitchell and gripping the doctor's hand tightly.
'Little teddy bear…?'
"Yes, Mr. Tucker. Andrew is stable, if that's what you mean by little teddy bear... He's not showing any concerning symptoms after that big fall. We conducted a CT scan to check for internal injuries, and there are no signs of hemorrhaging or significant fractures," the doctor replied, trying to free himself from the strong grip of this large man.
Cam nodded, visibly relieved. Mitchell stepped closer and asked, "What about his head? Did he need stitches? Is there any memory loss?"
The doctor adjusted his glasses before responding. "Andrew suffered a significant head injury, which caused the bleeding you saw. We've stitched up the wound, and he's responding well to treatment. Regarding memory loss, it's common after a traumatic brain injury like the one he experienced. He might have temporary gaps or difficulty recalling the incident itself."
"Well, he's only been with us for a week, so we don't have to worry too much about the memories…" Mitchell murmured, earning an elbow jab to the ribs from Cam.
Just then, a nurse hurried into the hallway. "Mr. Tucker and Mr. Pritchett! Andrew has just woken up; you can go see him now. He's doing fine."
"That's great!" Cam exclaimed with a big smile.
"Let's go. I can see how anxious you are. Follow me," said the doctor, leading the way.
"Phew… Everything turned out fine," Mitchell said, walking alongside Cam and placing a hand on his chest. His heart could finally stop racing. Seeing their newly adopted son lying on the ground with his head covered in blood and unconscious wasn't a pleasant memory.
"Yes, I should let your family know. We wouldn't want them to have a meltdown like we did," Cam said.
"What? You told my family about this? Who? My father, my sister, my mother?" Mitchell asked, his expression far from pleased.
"Your sister…" Cam replied.
"Oh no… Now she's going to look at me with that judgmental expression she always has when I mess things up. Why did you tell her? Now she'll think she's a better parent than me," Mitchell said in a complaining tone.
"I needed to talk to someone, and you weren't paying attention to me…" Cam justified.
Before Mitchell could continue arguing, they entered the room. At the far end, Andrew was lying on the hospital bed, staring out the window with an unreadable expression.
"Andrew…!" Cam exclaimed, about to run over and hug the little boy, but the doctor stopped him.
"Be careful... He's a patient and in recovery," the doctor said. If this man used the same strength as before, he feared he might harm the kid.
"Yes, sorry…" Cam replied, moving closer to the bed along with Mitchell.
"Little—"
Before Cam could call Andrew by the nickname he had given him, Mitchell interrupted, "Let's call him by his name. Just in case his memory is still a bit off," he murmured, and Cam nodded slightly.
"Andrew… Buddy, do you remember us? How are you feeling?" Cam asked in a warm tone, kneeling down toward Andrew, who was staring at the couple. His eyes opened wide, which startled both Mitchell and Cameron a little.
'Mitchell and Cameron from Modern Family?' Andrew thought, with clear surprise on his face. Modern Family was a comedy TV show with several seasons. He had watched it, though he hadn't seen all the episodes.
He immediately recognized the two men in front of him. The gay couple, one of the protagonists of the show. New memories of his current body came to mind, causing him to touch his head again.
'They adopted Andrew a week ago…' he thought, frowning slightly while touching his head.
...
With the first chapter ready, let's talk about Andrew's love interests in the future.
I had three in mind:
1) Pippa Fitz-Amobi: The protagonist girl in A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, a Netflix series. The actress is the same one who plays Enid in Wednesady. It's true that in this series, she hails from the UK, but I'll change that and problem solved xD.
2) Natalie Portman: As this world is an AU (alternative universe, the same earth with slight differences) I thought about decreasing the age of this actress to be at the same age or just a few years older than the mc. She in 2008/2009 (when Modern Family canon starts) is about 27 years old and the mc will be 15, so we have to change her birth date :y. The mc is a Star Wars lover and around that time the Star Wars trilogy came out where Natalie is Padme, so I could have the two of them meet in a comic-con or something like that.
3) Emma Watson: The age difference is not a big deal compared to the mc, in 2008 she would be about 18 years old and the mc would be 15 years old. The main problem so to speak is that she is British and as she is a real person I will not change her nationality as with Pippa a fictional character. But Emma is an actress and Hollywood is in California where the mc lives. So there are ways to make them conzocate or something.
Those are my thoughts with possible love interests for the mc. If you have any suggestions or prefer one over the other comment.
...
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