Colin and Bradley ended up skipping first and second period, driving instead to a little cafe fifteen minutes from the school. The sky had become cloudy and a chill wind was blowing through the streets. Colin ordered tea to warm himself while Bradley ordered coffee.

They sat silently, shifting on the uncomfortable stools and sometimes looked over at one another. There were moments when Colin wanted to break the silence and talk but he couldn't bring himself to utter a sound. He watched Bradley sip at his coffee and then watched the passersbys outside, hurrying down the street before rainfall. He smiled to himself, reaching across the circular table to place his hand over Bradley's.

Bradley lifted Colin's hand up to his lips and he held it there, the tip of his nose brushing against Colin's knuckles. Sighing, he slowly let himself relax and tried to hold on to the weightless feeling of lying in the meadow with Colin. His father's words were never too far from his mind, but the warm touch of Colin's skin anchored him in the moment. Briefly he wondered if his father and mother had ever sat similarly in a coffee shop, holding hands; he couldn't quite picture it.

Colin lifted his index finger and brushed it gently across Bradley's upper lip. He stopped at the corner and brought his thumb up to Bradley's chin. He looked up into Bradley's eyes. His heart was steady, maybe it was the calming effect of the tea. It seemed as good a moment as any. "I love you."

Bradley closed his eyes and kissed Colin's extended finger. He slipped his hand around Colin's wrist and let it slide down to Colin's elbow as he leaned over the table. He pressed their lips together, unmoving, with the faintest of pressure and as he pulled away, answered in the space between them with a barely audible hesitation. "I love you too."

Colin had to grin. It just felt so damn good. He sat back in his seat and looked away for a moment. The girl at the counter was staring at them with pink cheeks. She grinned back at him. He checked his watch.

"Class starts soon."

Bradley groaned. "Yeah, I suppose we should be getting back." He dropped a few notes on the table and nodded at the counter girl as they left.

Once at school, Colin hurried down the hall, urging Bradley with jerks of his hand to speed up. He slipped into class first and smiled apologetically at his professor before finding his seat next to Gwen; Bradley had gone to sit with his friends.

"Hey," Gwen whispered to him as he sat down, raising a brow and nodding in the direction of Bradley.

Colin smiled at her as he took out his notebook. "He'll be alright. Did I miss much last class?"

She shrugged. "Lecture," she replied, turning to search through her bag. "Pages are bookmarked, just pass it back on Monday," she said as she handed Colin her notebook. "Speaking of lectures..." Gwen sighed.

Colin looked on noncommittally as Miss Nimueh called for attention and managed to pay attention to at least half of the lecture. The sound of the bell was sweet relief and as he stood up and walked to the door he only distractedly worried about his work ethic lately. Bradley was waiting by the door, grinning at one of his buddies as they passed by. Colin was about to slide up to him but Vivian planted herself in his way. Eyebrow raised he gingerly side stepped her and came around to Bradley's side, snaking his arm around his waist. He smiled sweetly when Vivian eyed his arm skeptically. Gwen patted him on the shoulder and rolled her eyes jokingly as she left.

"Bradley, you may ask me to the dance this weekend."

Colin looked at Vivian, looked down at his arm around Bradley's waist to ensure that it was truly there, then back and her.

"I'm afraid I've already got a date," Bradley leaned his head against Colin's. "My princess here."

Colin elbowed him.

Vivian clicked her tongue and sighed. "Are you serious?"

"Quite," Colin assured her.

She looked between them and chewed on the inside of her cheek. "Well, you've got my number when you change your mind." She winked at Bradley and walked briskly out of the room, glancing back with a smile.

Colin waved at her. "Cheers."

She glared.

He smiled.

Bradley laughed.

Turning back, Colin stepped away from Bradley and, hand on his hip, shot him a glare of his own. "Princess?"

Bradley shrugged innocently.

Colin sighed and took out Katie's car keys. "Come on, let's get these back to her. She's probably already inspected the car for damages.

"I would have," Bradley said, following Colin out of the room.

Katie was in the cafeteria with Gwen and Lancelot and two others, a lean and tall guy and a dark-skinned lad, who were familiar to Colin, though he couldn't recall their names. When Katie saw him she held out her hand.

Colin dropped the keys down into her awaiting palm and sat down. "I didn't wreck it."

She smiled at him. "I saw," she laughed, glancing at Bradley before looking back at Colin, "I take it things went well?"

Colin nodded and looked up at Bradley. "Sit?"

The blond shook his head. "Heading out for practice, get to miss my last period to get ready for this game," he said with a grin, nodding at the two sitting next to Lancelot. "Ready?"

Colin huffed. "I didn't know there was practice, do I get to miss last period?"

"Ehm," Bradley hummed and swept his hand through Colin's hair to push the fringes into his eyes, "no. Players only, I'm sure we'll manage without you, love." He stepped toward Katie and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "See you at home?"

She squeezed his wrist and smiled.

Colin looked between them smiled. Katie's eyes had lost their tired look and her smile was as bright as always, which gave him a certain relief. His eyes slid over to Gwen and Lancelot, who were leaning into each other before the latter pecked her lips and stood up to follow after Bradley and his teammates - Colin's teammates too he thought sheepishly. "Right, those two guys, what were their names?"

Gwen chuckled. "Come on, Colin. Don't even know your own team well enough?"

"The tall one was Percival and you really should know Elyan, Colin," Katie cut in, shaking her head.

"Right, right," Colin hummed, trying to commit the names to memory. "Percival and Elyan," he repeated. "Elyan," he echoed again, the gears in his mind turning with a painful screech. "Oh," he groaned, smiling tight-lipped at Gwen, "Elyan. Your brother."

"Don't worry about it," Gwen said, waving her hand in the air, "it's not as though you've seen us together much at school." Side-glancing Katie, she leaned toward Colin and slyly grinned. "You should know Leon though, team favourite he is."

Colin caught the dark look Katie shot Gwen and sat back, curious. "I do know him, he's the only guy with a beard on the team. Is he someone's favourite in particular?" Before Gwen could answer him, Katie turned to him, purposely blocking Gwen with her body.

"So you spoke to Bradley?"

"Yeah," Colin said, "yeah, he's good. Well, he wasn't good, probably still isn't but he's okay, you know?"

Katie nodded gravely. "I'm getting tired of this, of them two at home."

Gwen poked her head into the conversation over Katie's shoulder. "At least Bradley will blow off some steam tomorrow at the game, yeah?"

Katie groaned. "Don't remind me. I swear every year he just gets worse," she said with a shake of her head. "I'm really starting to think he has a problem."

Colin perked up with interest. "What's that all about? I mean really, over some foul play from years ago?" he asked, furrowing his brows.

"Long story short," Katie began, "Pendragon and Cenred have a professional rivalry, but to add to that, it's on a personal level for Bradley with Mordred because of all this horrible nonsense that happened around the time when his mother passed away between Uther and Mordred's dad. Mordred being a prick doesn't help. Every year, and I mean every year, when this game happens Bradley always loses it on the field, once even to a point where he nearly got kicked off the team for punching Mordred in the face."

Colin slowly let her words sink in. "Bradley let himself almost get kicked off the team? And what nonsense?"

Katie waved her hand at him. "Nothing I want to get into, but half the reason everyone always comes to watch the game is to see if Bradley or Mordred will have a go at each other," she said in a disgusted tone.

"Sometimes they leave it off the field," Gwen added, shrugging. "Remember that year after the game at the pub?"

"Funny, Bradley never mentioned it," Colin mused, thinking on the game the next day with a new light. "Should I be worried?"

""I'm not going to say 'no'," Katie answered, standing up. "But, that's for tomorrow, let's get to class."

As Colin followed behind the girls he had a decidedly bad feeling about the game; he'd seen Bradley be a jerk and even borderline furious, but the way the girls had described his feelings toward this Mordred guy seemed on a different level. He supposed the next day would resolve any questions about the subject. Katie didn't seem overly worried, he reflected, more annoyed really. He sighed and hoped for the best - not even for Bradley, but for himself, two injuries would send him onto the field and that he wished to avoid at all costs.