The next morning I had conditioning first period. It was sweltering outside and coach just made it worse by telling us we were running. Even I groaned as he said the words, the morning sun beating down on my neck. Everyone on the team gets running partners based on how well they run in the beginning of the season. Robb and I always lead the pack, because both of us to track in the winter. I do relay, while he pole vaults. Soccer runs compared to track runs were nothing. Still, as we reached the beginning of the hill on the woods path we always ran I felt like sitting down and dying. Right there, right now.
Robb glanced behind us at the others, who were steadily falling behind. Far in the back I could see Renly huffing and puffing in a jog besides Stannis. Coach put the two bothers together for good reason. Whatever Stannis did, Renly wanted to do better, even when it came to running. From where we were I could see that Stannis was getting annoyed at how slow Renly was going, even Jamie and Theon where gaining on them. Jamie was the slowest on our team, obviously because he was goalie. And as goalie you don't do very much running. But even as Jamie was a slow runner, he held the record on the team for the longest held plank this season.
I looked to Robb as we fell out of stride, him a bit in front of me. My calf muscle protested a bit as I launched myself in a longer stride to catch him before we fell back into step. Robb glanced down at the watch on his wrist, wiping the sweat off his brow as he did so. Everyone on the team had long since lost their shirts due to the heat. I had mine tucked into the waist band on my compression shorts and felt it brush against my thigh with every step I took.
"We have to get going," Robb mumbled to me, showing his watch to me. I grunted in return, it was 7:45, coach always wanted us back by 8 or we had to do suicides at the next practice. Robb spun on his heel and jogged backwards, looking over our team. Out of the corner of my eye I admired the muscles of his legs and back side. "Pick up the pace!" He yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth, hoping that everyone could hear him.
Doing as I was told, as much as my calf muscle was protesting, I picked up the pace and Robb matched me. I had always enjoyed running in the woods, it made things much more exciting. We had reached the top of the hill, where the trees got larger. Roots cut across our path and it narrowed. It was this way the rest of the way back to the King Academy's fields. We jogged swiftly, and as soon as we saw the tree marked with the sign directing us back to the fields Robb broke into a sprint. Normally we would sprint the last five minutes of the run, but it being so hot I had hoped Robb would for once not be a goody-two-shoe and just lie to coach about it. None the less, I matched his pace, hearing Jon screaming in annoyance behind us.
Robb was fast, I couldn't deny that fact, but I knew I was faster. And wasn't about to give up my title of the fastest of the team to Robb Stark. Launching myself forward in front of him I could hear his grunt of disapproval and the footsteps of our team mates behind us slowly growing dimmer. Finally catching the sight of the green fields in front of us I kept the pace, and Robb kept his step with me. We ran out on the field and that's when I realized we were going to fall.
Now, when we work out on the grass we wear cleats, which give your foot something to hold on to if the grass is wet. None of us were wearing cleats. As my right foot hit the grass I felt it slide slightly to the right on the morning dew. But about five steps in, Robb was done for. His left foot slipped painfully into my right calf as he stumbled to the side, slamming into me. It was as accident, but I still growled as his elbow dug into my rib cage. As I struggled to find my footing with Robb half leaning on me while he fought to find his own footing, I saw the grass of our field fast approaching for the second time in the last twenty four hours. I hit it with a grunt, narrowing dodging Robb who landed on his forearms, half of me trapped under him. I rolled quickly to the side, fearing what would happen if our skin touched.
Gasping for breath we lay there, hearing the whoops and laughter of the rest of the team as they caught up to us. Obviously the rest of the team had more brain cells than Robb and I because they slowed to a walk as they hit the grass. For a moment I felt like punching Robb for being such a stuck up bastard that he couldn't accept that I was faster than him. That was before I heard the laughter coming from beside me. Robb turned his head to look at me, laughing in between the gasps for breath.
Once we had regained our breaths and coach had told the team to get a move on if we wanted to shower and dress in time to be ready for second period Renly found me. His face was flushed as we jogged lightly back to the locker rooms and he had pushed his black hair away from his face so much that it was horridly messed up. On top of everything he had a sour look on his face.
I breathed happily as I pushed open the door to the air conditioned building and into the locker room and smiled weakly at Renly.
"What's up with you frowny face?" I asked, pushing him slightly as he turned to unlock his locker. Having a last name like Baratheon meant he got a locker quite close to the beginning of the row. I leaned against the cold metal, letting my cheek rest against it as I watch him. I willed myself not to look at his bare chest.
"Stannis was being a royal pain in the ass," He muttered stubbornly, shaking the locker when he screwed up the code again. I pushed him aside and unlocked it for him before moving away to go to my own locker.
"Isn't he always?" I called back to him. My locker was almost directly across from his. I peeled off my sneakers and socks and left them in my locker, pulling out my school uniform. Even if I knew I was gay, no one else knew, so I felt so shame in changing in front of other guys. Once I was done changing into the tan pants and had managed to somewhat tuck my white shirt into them and done up my belt I shouldered my backpack and slung on tie around my neck. Moving back to Renly as I rolled my sleeves up.
"He kept yelling at me for going slow," Renly muttered, still refusing to smile at me.
"Well you were going slowly,"
"Gee thanks," Renly drawled as we started for the door. I shrugged, holding the door open for him.
"I'm just telling you the truth." I said with a nod. "Maybe if you went for runs with me you wouldn't be," I grinned at him. Renly rolled his eyes.
"You run like ten miles a day," Renly groaned, "After that four miles run I already feel like dying, let alone ten," We reached where my next class was, Chemistry. We weren't late yet, but we defiantly were not early. Renly still needed to walk to the other building for his second class. I paused to look at him. "We could still go to the peak instead of prom," Renly said slowly. I shook my head.
"No, we already went over this, I'm not stealing my sister's prom date to go to some overpriced mountain," I said firmly. Renly cracked a small smile at me. "You better get going," I said quickly, turning around to go to class. I jumped as I felt a hand on the small of my back.
"You're shirts untucked," Renly muttered, pushing the shirt back in. My breath caught in my throat as his finger grazed just barely underneath the waist band of my pants. "There, good as new," Renly grinned and I forced a smile onto my lips before pushing my way into Chemistry. I froze for a moment as I saw that my seat next to Margery had been taken by Theon. She looked at me helplessly and mouthed a silent I'm sorry. Nodding to her I retreated to the back of the room and took a seat next Sansa.
I took a deep breath and pushed my hands through my hair, watching our teacher as he found his way into the class room. Chemistry was my one bad class, and I normally scraped by by cheating off of Margery. As I held my head in my hands my mind raced to the searing heat I had felt when Renly had tucked the back of my shirt in for me. It was a friendly gesture; simply just fixing you're best buddies shirt for him. Desperately I shook my head, feeling the heat pool in my stomach when I just thought about the feeling of his calloused finger tips on my back. My mind flashed back to yesterday when I had admired his shoulders from afar.
Thou shalt not check out thou's best friend.
I shook my head and tried to focus on the fake wood of the desk below me. Someone had drawn a crude drawing of King Academy's mascot on the left side. Renly is not cute. Even as I thought those words I knew deep down that he was. Beneath the curly black hair was a firm jaw line and that lopsided grin that sent shivers down my spine every time he did me the pleasure of showing it to me. Renly. Is. Not. Cute. I chanted in my mind and I guess I must have looked worried because Sansa poked me in the shoulder with her pen. I snapped up straight looking over at her.
"Loras are you okay? Because if you are sick I would prefer if you didn't hurl all over my chem notes," Sansa said, tilting her chin up slightly. I quickly fished a pencil out of my back pack and opened my notebook hoping it looked like I was paying attention.
"I'm okay don't wo-" I started before being cut off by a glare from the teacher in front of us. He paused his lecture to stare at us and I froze like a deer in headlights. The staring was some kind of warning to us to be quiet. I decided to abide to the warning and scribbled on the side of my notebook that faced Sansa.
I'm fine. Just tired. You're brother made us sprint this morning. I lied to her through my note. The run with Robb had been nothing. The way Renly touched me had been something. She nodded in return to me not bother to write a note back. We stayed like that for a while till she reached over and drew a crooked flower on the side of my notebook, smiling a little before writing.
So who's the lucky girl who gets to go to prom with the gorgeous Loras Tyrell? Her handwriting was curvy and beautiful and I chuckled a little bit before responding.
No one yet. I'm sure you've got guys falling at your feet with roses asking for your hand.
No…. no one yet. Her response startled me a little bit. Sansa and I had never really known each other enough to be able to call each other friends but I still knew her. I had played soccer with Robb since I was little and she came to all of his games, which meant all of my games. Robb had whispered to me once in freshman year and she had said I was cute. I had just gotten flushed and brushed it off. Freshman year had been the time when I was just starting to think of myself as possible gay, so I had no interest in Sansa. But even if we hadn't known each other that well, I knew she was pretty, and from the times I had worked with her in class I knew she was smart. So it surprised me a little bit that she didn't have a date yet.
Then, the idea hit me like a ton of brick. It was like in the cartoons when a little light bulb went off inside a characters mine.
I was going to take Sansa to prom.
It would work out perfectly. She was beautiful and I could tolerate being around her. It would just be the icing on the hiding the fact that I was gay cake I was baking. Quickly I wrote a note out to her.
So you have no date to prom?
Yeah, basically.
How about you be mine? Sansa shot me an are-you-crazy look before she wrote back.
I thought you were gay. I freeze as I read the note and shook my head very quickly, willing the heat to leave my cheeks. Taking her pen I scribbled out her last note, as if the ink hiding her words was enough to dispel all rumors about me and gay. She took the notebook back from me, frowning. Besides, you're way out of my league.
No I'm not. Please just go to prom with me. I drew a smiley face next to the note. She huffed but wrote back with a yes. For a moment I thought I should hug her, but then I remember that we were in the middle of class and Margery was looking at me over her shoulders with a puzzled look.
Sansa smiles at me. And I have a prom date.
Sansa and I agreed to meet up after school. Well, more like Sansa hinted that we should and I knew the only thing harder than finding one prom date would be finding another if Sansa bailed on me because I wouldn't hang out with her. She met me in the courtyard, looping her arm through mine.
"I have practice in an hour," I reminded her quickly and she rolled her eyes.
"Please, I know," She mumbled, "Robb is my brother after all; I always know when you guys are practicing. It's like a brother sixth sense," She held her free arm up near her head, using her pointer finger to act as a fake antenna, "I have a Robb radar," I laughed a little bit at her. She felt awkward against my side, but maybe that was just me.
"So what's your family like?" I asked quickly, trying to make small talk with her. While Sansa and I had known of each other's presence for a long time we had never really talked, so finding something to converse with her was a challenge for me. Small talk was not my forte. Still, my question was useless; I knew what Sansa's family was like. Way back when we were younger I had gone over to their house once or twice with Robb after practices. Or Mr. Stark had given me and ride home after practice.
Sansa sighed in response to my question. "Eh," She answered shrugging her shoulders and squeezing my arm, "Boring," I scoffed.
"The great Stark family, summed up in one word by the eldest daughter, boring," I waved my hands as if my words were being displayed on a sign. "So articulate." Sansa giggled at me and sat down on one of the courtyard benches, tugging me down with her. She dropped my arm and I reached out to touch the rose bush next to us.
"Well, we don't do much," She smiled gently at me. I met her gaze; trying to hide the fear of females and relationships I had buried underneath my skin.
"If your family is boring then tell me about yourself," I offered. Sansa leaned back on the bench, looking at me out of the corner of her eye.
"When did you know?" She piped up suddenly, brushing off my question. I frowned at her.
"Know what?"
"That you were… y'know," She motioned with her hands and it sunk in with me. Sansa Stark was asking when I knew I was gay. I opened my mouth in shock for a second, stumbling to find the right excuse.
"I'm not-"
"Loras." She cut me off, her voice strong and ridged. And for a moment I thought it was my grandmother scolding Margery and I for not washing our hands. Not this girl who I barely knew bluntly telling me I was gay. I stared at her for a little bit and then looked down at my hands. I didn't talk about this kind of stuff, no one did. "We all know you are gay," Sansa said, her voice dropping down into a whisper at the last word.
"Who's we?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly. I sounded more like a terrified twelve year old then the seventeen soon to be eighteen year old I really was. Sansa blinked for a moment.
"I dunno me, Dany, Robb, Margery-"
"Margery!" I squawked, standing up suddenly. Sansa looked up at me, her face holding a look of worry for a moment. She stood up slowly reaching out to touch my forearm again. I felt as if they world was spinning around just me. I didn't want to come out of the closet, but it felt as if Sansa had wiggled her way behind me and was shoving me out. I opened my mouth to argue with her more when I heard the chuckling of a few boys from across the courtyard. Sansa's hand slid down to intertwine with my own finger. Robb and a few of his friends stood across the yard, grinning ear to ear at the sight of Sansa's hand in mine.
Suddenly, Sansa leaned up and pressed a lip gloss covered kiss right onto my lips.
"Ew!" I cried in protest, thankfully not loud enough for Robb and the other to hear. I reached up to wipe the lip gloss off my lips. Sansa stopped me half way, grabbing my hand. The boys cat called from across the yard before continuing on.
"No you don't," She said. "You're not gay remember?" Sansa said sternly. I dropped my hand to my side, realizing what game she was playing.
"Don't do that again," I whispered to her harshly, the sour lip gloss taste rolling around on my tongue. I bunched my face up, finding the taste weird, and definitely not attractive, "I don't like…" I drifted off.
"Kissing girls?" Sansa finished for me, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah." I said stiffly, running a hand through my hair, I reached over and picked up my backpack. "Look I have to go. See you in class tomorrow," I said, waving good bye to her as I walked away. As I jogged to the locker room it dawned on me.
I told her I don't like kissing girls.
At practice later that day coach allowed us to scrimmage. This normally was my favorite thing. Because we only have one goalie when we scrimmage Jamie takes one goal with a single defender; me. While Theon and Stannis take the side to act as defenders but without a goalie. This poses a challenge for both sides. Because while Theon and Stannis had no goalie, they had power in numbers, there were two of them compared to my singular entity with Jamie in my goal. But on my side, you had to get past me and manage to get a kick that Jamie couldn't stop.
Even if scrimmages were normally my favorite thing, I was so pissed about Sansa I couldn't focus. Robb faked me out a matter of minutes into the scrimmage. Cleaning making it look as if he was diving to the right before cutting back to the left. Jamie was so shocked that it happed he wasn't paying very good attention when Robb kicked the ball for Jamie's bad side, the right. His fingers skimmed the ball, but still missed and it shot into the net. Robb whooped and gained a high five from Renly who had been put in as Robb's other striker.
"What, all that time kissing my sister messing with your head Loras?" Robb teased, jogging backwards back to his side of the field. I curled my lip slightly in frustration.
If there was one thing I hated more than Sansa practically shoving me out of the closet, it was Robb Stark scoring goals on me. I gritted my teeth and glanced back to Jamie who gave me a-what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-you look as we all returned to our starting positions. Due to the goal, coach handed the ball off to Jon, who was playing as one of my two strikers next to Jorah.
"Jon," I called to him, taking a few steps forward so I was closer to our mid fielder, Genry. Jon glanced back to me, almost too quick for me to tell if he saw me motion to Genry. It was a risky move to pass the ball that far back with so many less guys on the field. Backpedaling back to my spot safely behind Genry I watched coach blow the whistle around his neck. Swiftly, Jon passed the ball back to Genry, taking Robb off guard, who must have been sure that Jon was going to just dive forward with the ball. Unfortunately, Renly seemed to have caught onto our plan and had taken off down the sidelines the second the whistle had been blown. He was barreling towards Genry, and even from behind him I could practically see Genry's muscle tense up when he realized he was cornered.
"Open, open behind!" I screamed to him, taking off up the field. Luckily, Genry noticed me and just as Renly was upon him passed the ball up to me. I guess the fact that I had even come up past the 30 meter mark surprised Robb, because Jon wasn't having that hard of a time keeping him from getting to me. Genry had not had such luck with Renly who had shifted his attention to pressuring me. He came up from behind me, with the mind set to tackle block me. Even if I did find Renly super attractive outside of soccer, I wasn't about to let him steal the ball from me. Realizing it was my only chance I took off up the field, hoping the Renly wouldn't be able to catch me.
Because Renly was hot on my trail, Genry had managed to work his way up the field, and Jorah down towards the goal. Realizing how much ground I had covered in my sprint away from Renly, and that Jorah was wide open I swung my foot back and slammed the ball as hard and I could. It soared in a beautiful arch across the sky and Renly bumped into me from behind as I stopped to watch it. Just as I thought it was much lucky day and I was finally going to make up for all the stupid soccer mistakes I had made in the last twenty four hours the ball soared clean over Jorah and into the woods.
"Out!" Coach yelled.
You have got to me kidding me.
I held my face between my palms and let out the most pitifull groan I had ever made. Renly clapped me on the shoulder, grinning widely.
"Better luck next time, champ,"