Necessary Roughness

Relationship: Matt/Nico

"You slept with her?" Nico asked. He and Matt were gathering equipment up and taking it off the field, and as they had done often enough over the past couple months, they were sharing stories about their frustration in being gay men that worked for a professional football team.

"We both know that there are members of the team that suspect our orientation."

"Don't say it like that." Nico replied, shaking his head. "But why did you have to sleep with her? And why her?"

"She was good looking enough; besides, now that she's going to be working for the team, she will probably insinuate what happened, even if she doesn't mean to," Matt grinned.

"You didn't even know she was a therapist until after the fact."

"So? I got lucky in finding an attractive woman who also happens to be the therapist that can help pull our team back together."

"Oh, don't tell me you like her."

"I mean I don't want to sleep with her again or anything. But I do like her; she's spirited. I think it will be entertaining to keep flirting with her. After all, around here, my charms would be lost on everyone but you."

"I think they're lost on me too," Nico joked.

"That hurts."

"Says the guy that sleeps with women because he's afraid people will find out he doesn't want to. I'm not the one who's afraid of people finding things out about my life."

"You don't have to be. No one ever learns anything about you unless you want them to."

"So you're upset that I'm more naturally mysterious than you are?"

"Kind of, yes," Matt answered. "Besides, I'm the team's trainer; it would be much worse for me than for you if the team found out. Suddenly things that I do assessing injuries are going to be looked at quite differently than they should be."

"It shouldn't be a problem though. You don't have a crush on anyone that works here, right?"

"No," Matt answered too quickly. "I don't have a crush on any of the players, no."

"Well, if you're that worried, and if it would help, I could flirt with Dani too," Nico offered.

"How would that help?" Matt asked, looking very confused.

"Well, two men fighting over an attractive woman seems very heterosexual. Besides, I love a good competition."

"But this is a competition I've already won. She slept with me once, obviously she will want to do it again. There's no sport in that."

"But she will be drawn to my mystery. As you've just said, I'm very mysterious."

"You're on," Matt grinned. "But how are we going to determine when one of us wins? Neither of us actually want to sleep with her."

"Who said there needed to be a winner?" Nico smiled broadly.