Renly had disappeared for an hour right before Jaime had finally decided to show up the morning after the accident that left me with a very uncomfortable nose. Jaime had curled his lip at me and at the state of the room when he walked in. The nurse had told me stuff cotton balls up my nose to stop the bleeding and Renly and I had managed to balance an ice pack on my nose if I lay in the right spot last night. But now both the bloody cotton balls and watered down ice pack had found their way to the floor, along with the wrappers from the granola bars Renly had inhaled.
"You look like crap," Jaime murmured. I sighed, shifting to sit up a little in my bed. At least the throbbing in my head had gone away.
"Gee, thanks, it's not like I got this way because of you," I drawled. It bothered me a bit that I had taken a punch for Jamie and he hadn't even bothered to come back last night to see if I was okay, or help me to the nurse with Renly.
"You should have stayed out of it, I was fine." He muttered. I rolled my eyes, completely pissed beyond belief at my roommate. Jaime watched me for a moment, his jaw tense before he went about gathering clothing and stuffing it into bags. "I'm going home for the day," He informed me, shouldering a backpack and fishing the keys to his car out of the desk drawer. Jaime twirled the key ring around his finger haphazardly.
"Why did he try to punch you?" I asked quickly.
"It's a long story-"
"I've got all the time in the world," I growled at him. Jaime stood for a second before he headed for the door. "Hey! I broke my fucking nose over this and you won't even tell me why!?" Jaime pushed open the door, colliding with Renly who had been returning from his trip. Jaime grunted and shoved by him, pushing Renly into the door frame. Renly watched Jaime disappear down the hallway; slowly he entered the room, shutting the door behind him.
"What's up with him?" Renly asked, setting down the backpack he had next to the bed and motioning for me to shove over a bit. I pressed myself closer to the wall, allowing Renly to flop down onto the bed beside me. We didn't fit well, I was pushed up against the wall and Renly's left leg dangled off the bed. When I had been a sophomore and Renly a freshman we used to fit nicely. But that was before Renly hit is growth spirt (he grew four and a half inches his sophomore year) and before I knew I was utterly in love with him. For a second our fingers touched in between us before he put his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.
"He wouldn't tell me why it happened; couldn't he at least say he was sorry?" I muttered. Renly shrugged, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
"Don't worry about it, he's in a lot of trouble for the whole deal so he's probably stressed," Renly said as he sat up, reaching into his backpack that he had placed onto the floor next to the bed and emptying its contents onto my lap. "So I brought you these," He placed a bag of Swedish fish on my lap and I found myself smiling a little bit. We always brought each other candy when one of us was sick. I ripped open the corner of the package and popped on into my mouth. "Along with my laptop and a few movies. And my keys so we can go get our prom stuff later." I scoffed at this.
"I don't think I'm leaving his bed any time soon, Renly," I said. Renly looked hurt.
"But I need you to show me what the color baby blue is, you promised!" Renly looked desperate. I laughed a little bit.
"That was before I got punched in the face by Gregor-fucking-Clegane." Renly smiled a little bit at my words. "Plus your driving skills suck, I was planning on driving." I added, picking a piece of candy out of one of my molars.
"My driving is fine!" He defended, reaching over me to plug his laptop's charger into the outlet next to my bed. I eyed his shoulder muscles as he flexed in the reach. Renly's driving was anything but fine. But none the less five hours later after a re-watch of The Princess Bride and The Hurt Locker I was sitting in Renly's passenger seat. He was chewing a piece of gum loudly, going on and on about something that I wasn't really paying attention to.
"Renly, stop sign," I squeaked out, willing myself not to sound like a twelve year old boy.
"Whoops," Renly laughed, slamming his foot on the break. I lurched forward a bit, and Renly reached out an arm to stop me from going too far forward. He ruffled my hair a bit as his hand returned to the wheel. I fixed it quickly and even though I wasn't driving I looked both ways just in case Renly wasn't paying well enough attention to see a car coming. Renly's older brother, Robert, who went to a different school then us, had taught him how to drive in a field by their house. And after being in a car with Robert driving I totally understood where Renly got his lack of skills from. Renly's driving didn't always put you in danger, but it was almost never comfortable. He seemed to lack the skill to ease into a stop or start slowly, which seriously infringed on the comfort of a drive.
But, Renly was kind of like that with everything. Either he did it or he didn't, there was no in between. If he wanted to punch you, he wasn't going to think twice before he did. Likewise if he felt sorry about something, he was going to go all out in an apology. In Renly's life there was no in between.
We had found out there was a place we could rent suits from, both of us too cheap to actually want to spend money on something we might wear once and Renly might outgrow. He claims he still had a few more inches to go but I'm not so sure. We inched along through the traffic going into the city, with constant stop starts due to Renly's driving style. I quickly pointed out the sign for the store when I saw it, fearing I might get sick if I have to stand any more of Renly's driving. He parked, totally not in the lines on my side but I didn't mention it and I stumbled out of the car into the sunlight. I'm was dizzy for a second, the words of the nurse telling me I had a slight concussion and to try and stay in for the weekend ringing in my ears. Renly looked at me across the car.
"You alright?" He asked, softly enough for me to tell he was worried but not enough that my ego took the hit for being too weak to do anything. I gripped the cold side of the car for a moment, willing the vertigo to leave. Renly was carding his fingers through his hair, mumbling about how we could leave and he was sorry about forcing me to go out. I brushed him off, standing up and walking towards the store.
"I'm fine. Besides, I have to make sure my sister's prom date looks at least slightly decent," I stated, forcing a smile. Renly jogged a few steps to catch up to me, his hand gripping my shoulder for a second in a silent sign of support. Sansa had gone with a red for her dress, she had shown me a picture and we had both agreed it was perfect for her. Strapless and blood red, it hugged her body intel it reached her hips where is puffed out. The trim was black and a little while flower made of fabric was sown onto the bottom left. She had told me that it was best the go with a basic suit and find a red undershirt and white tie.
Renly shoved me a bit, pointing on an extremely hideous blue vest that hung near the entrance to the shop. I groaned a bit as Renly, shameless as ever, held it up to his chest.
"Please don't your hurting my eyes," I shielded my eyes a bit to tease him and Renly just laughed, hanging it back on the hook and moving along the row. Once he had made it clear his mission was to take down anything that made my eyes hurt I surrendered to the back corner of the store to seek out one of the workers. Before long I found one and asked which one were rentals.
"Prom?" He asked.
"Yeah," I froze for a second. The man before me was handsome, slender face, bright blue eyes and black hair. I gulped. "I'm, um, looking for something tradition, just black." The worker motioned to Renly who had found a gold vest and was jokingly holding it up to himself for me to see.
"Good choice. Your date would look great in what he's holding now; black and gold go well together." I gripped a rack beside me, feeling slightly dizzy again.
"Um, yeah, no. He's not my date," I managed to say; my face had grown red from just the thought of Renly and I going to prom together. I sure wish he was my date. The worker shrugged, lowering his voice slightly so Renly might not hear us.
"To bad, he sure is cute," The worker grinned at me a little bit. I sighed, watching how Renly's hips swayed slightly as he shifted his weight onto his other foot.
"Yeah…. I know…" The words came out on their own, and I almost clapped my hand over my mouth as if I could shove them back inside.
Thou shalt not think thou's best friend is cute.
The worker says something about getting me measured and set about it, using a tape measure to measure the length of my arms. Then my shoulders, chest and hips. I tried not to show any sign of my embarrassment as he worked on measuring my legs. Before long he had me in a black jacked and I button it up as he smoothed down the shoulders and smiled at me in the mirror before disappearing to help someone else. Renly appeared in the mirror behind me, wearing a white jacket and trying to tie what he had deemed to be a baby blue around his neck. Once he was done he put an elbow on my shoulder. Renly had an inch on me, maybe a little less, so his elbow pointed up at an awkward angle when he tried to lean on me. Renly grinned at the mirror, his teeth perfect and straight.
"I think we would make excellent spies," He said, I laughed a bit, louder than I had intended and I quickly covered my mouth. Renly shoved me, taking his elbow back and fake drawing a gun from the inside of his jacket. I covered my mouth and tried not to laugh to loud as he crouched down and slid by my feet before peaking around the mirror and fake shooting. He took the lapel of his jacket and pressed it towards his mouth as if he was talking into a microphone, "Backup needed, I request Loras Tyrell for back up," I smiled down at him as he rolled back and sat down with his back against the mirror. I pulled at my jacket again, turning to the side and then looking back to the mirror. My nose was swollen on the right side, and my eye was bruised black. I reached up to touch it, wincing a little bit. Renly kicked my ankle.
"Hey, you look great," He smiled. My breath caught in my throat. "The broken nose really does wonders with your eyes," Renly winked, joking with me now. I kicked his shoe.
"C'mon, let's get out of here, the cologne is getting to me," I pulled him to his feet and we walked to the counter to pay for the rentals. The worker put the pants and jackets into bags and we left, tossing the bags into the back of Renly's car. I watched Renly's face as we drove and thought about what the guy who had fit my suit had said. Renly was cute and I had watched him grow out of his boyish charm as the years had passed. Now all the stood before me was the sharp jaw and beautiful brown eyes of a man. And I was hopelessly in love with him.
Margery and Sansa showed up in the afternoon, and since we knew Jamie wasn't coming back any time soon they took over his bed. Renly sat at the foot of mine, my legs thrown onto his lap. He had supplied me with another ice pack and drugged me up on Advil we had smuggled into the dorms with our prom suits. Margery sighed, collapsing onto Jaime's bed. She buried her nose into his pillow for a second.
"God I can smell his sexy soccer goalie sent from here," She breathed, Sansa laughed and I covered my ears.
"We don't talk about other members of the team and sexy," I groaned, pressing the ice pack closer to my face and groping my night stand for the bag of Swedish fish. Once it was found I continued to eat them as Sansa and Margery debated on going through Jaime's things or not. Renly shoved my feet off of his lap and stood up.
"Well, I will leave you in the loving hands of these two fine ladies, I have some where to be," I pulled the ice pack off my face so I could look him in the eye.
"Where?" I inquired, tilting my head. Renly opened his mouth and then shut it looking as if he was struggling for the right words.
"Nowhere," He said, finally finding the words. I snorted, Renly was a terrible liar.
"Okay, have fun in this nowhere land," I waved him off and he left for the door. Once he was gone Margery moved to take his place, falling on top of me in the process. With a grunt I let her sprawl out of top of me, she played with the ice pack, smiling.
"You sound like his mom," Margery said, lifting the ice pack to look at my nose. I tried to bat her off but she only looked more. "What do you think Sansa, does my brother here rock the broken nose look or does he more resemble a beaten up puppy?" Sansa didn't answer, she only giggled. Margery shrugged, putting the ice pack back down on my nose and taking a Swedish fish out of my fingers. "Just think, when you are an old man and you look back at your prom picture you will always remember how you got beat up by Gregor Clegane."
"Hey, be nice," I pushed her off of me and she leaned back against the wall, letting me put my legs up on her. Margery fished her phone out of her skinny jeans, jumping up when she saw the time.
"Oh my god, I am late, very late," She scrambled for her sweatshirt, pulling it on and picking up bags as she went.
"Wait you're leaving us to?!" I snapped, frowning at her. She fished around in one of her bags for a second, tossing a box of fruit snacks to Sansa who half caught them before they fell to the ground.
"Watch him for me, will you?" Margery asked Sansa as she was already half out the door. "Be back in thirty minutes or less!" Sansa didn't have much of a choice when Margery blew us each a kiss and left. For a moment we sat there in silence watching the door as if we expected her to burst back inside. I sighed, moving closer to the wall and patting the spot beside me where Renly had sat not five hours earlier. Sansa moved over to sit next to me, she was tense for a moment and I swung an arm around her shoulders, squeezing.
"Well I hope you like the rough and tumble kind of man," I said. She smiled at me.
"Loras I'm sure we will look great," Sansa assured me, tossing the box of fruit snacks Margery had given to her aside. I sighed.
"Good, finally someone who isn't going to force me to eat unhealthy food because I have a broken nose," She didn't respond just curled closer to me. It felt nice just to hold her, even if there was no romance between us at all. It was weird, I thought, that girls could hold each other's hands and cuddle and just be friends and no one would think twice about it. But the second a guy touched another guy it was all out hell. I was half asleep when Sansa spoke up again.
"Loras?"
"Mmh?"
"I won't tell anyone," She said, propping herself up on her elbow to look at me. I opened one eye to meet her gaze. "I won't tell anyone that you're gay, you can trust me," I guess that was the first time someone had outright said that I was gay, hell; I never said it out loud. The words sounded so funny to me. I am gay. Loras Tyrell is gay. Sansa was watching me concerned when I didn't immediately answer her.
"You promise?" I asked, a slight smile finding its way onto my mouth.
"I promise," She answered, lying back down next to me. I closed my eyes again. It was strange to me that I had only really talked to Sansa a few days ago, and I trusted her with the biggest secret of my life. But somewhere deep down I knew I could trust her. "I won't tell anyone, but Loras, everyone already knows," Sansa said. Her jeans scuffed against bare calf, which was exposed by my shorts.
"Not everyone," I said, thinking about Renly. I didn't want him to know. As much as I knew I was hopelessly in love with him, he could never know that. I wouldn't be able to face the embarrassment of when he realized I wasn't joking and that I was telling the truth. And things would grow awkward between us; he would stop making jokes and stop smiling that lopsided grin at me. Renly could never know I was gay.
"Almost everyone,"
"Renly doesn't." I blurted out. Sansa shrugged.
"Then tell him." It's not that simple. I think, running a hand through my hair. Sansa sighed, resting her cheek on my chest. "You're just scared he will reject you." It wasn't a question. I looked at the wall, willing my eyes to close. Sansa fell silent and when I looked back to her she had dozed off. I watched the ceiling, trying to follow in her suit. Slowly I did.
I awoke to the buzzing of my phone in my pocket. Groaning, I fished it out of my shorts, waking Sansa in the process. The caller id flashed with Robb Stark's name. I glanced at Sansa who was looking at it with confusion and answered the call.
"Yeah, Robb?" I asked, swinging my legs over Sansa and getting out of the bed so I could stand. My head throbbed a bit.
"Hey, Loras, coach just told me to rely this to all of you guys," Robb said through the phone. Robb was considered one of our captains, but we had never truly picked one. So he got information from coach to send to all of us.
"Why didn't you just mass text it like you normally do?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.
"It's too great to send through text message," Robb said. I was a slightly more interested now.
"Well, what happened?" I could practically hear Robb's smile through the phone.
"Remember Bravos, who we just lost to and everything, losing out shot at championships and all that stuff," I groaned just thinking about it. It had been all my fault, even if Jaime had claimed it was Theon's. "Well they got suspended,"
"What! Why?" My heartbeat had picked up from the excitement. If Bravos had gotten suspended then we would get a second chance at championships.
"They brought down like two or three college players to play on their team." Robb paused. "The state sport board decided to bring the fifth place team up to play against us to act as a new semi-final. If we win we get to go to championships!" I was smiling from ear to ear and Sansa was asking me what was going on, wanting to know what I was so excited about.
"That's great, oh my god," I ran my fingers through my hair, smiling at nothing. Robb agreed before bidding me farewell and hanging up the phone. I pocketed it, turning to look at Sansa who was smiling slightly. "We're getting another shot at championship!" She laughed and hugged me and I smiled. It was all falling into place now. I could redeem myself by getting us to championships and we could be state champions my senior year. It was going to be perfect.
At least, we thought it was going to till Robb called a meeting later that day. Almost everyone had stayed home that weekend, getting ready for prom, everyone that was except for Jaime. I hadn't even thought about it earlier that day when he had muttered something about going home. It was a three hour drive for Jaime to get home, why would he have been going home for just the day. We gathered in Robb and Theon's dorm room, which was on the floor below Jaime and I's. I settled on the floor of their room after Genry and Jon had admired my broken nose. Renly burst in last minute, flopping down beside me. Piled onto Robb and Theon's floor and bed Robb finally spoke up.
"So our second chance in great but we had a problem," He said, looking nervously at his shoes. I narrowed my eyes.
"What kind of problem?" Someone asked.
"Jaime can't play."