“You’re fucking full of it,” Aiden said with a laugh. “Just for that, I’m not going easy on you.”
“I thought you hadn’t played in ages?” I asked.
“So? Now I’m definitely not going easy on you.”
“You know I’m a professional athlete, right?”
“And? What the fuck does playing rugby have to do with mini-golf?” he asked indignantly. “It means fuck all.”
“I’m a professional athlete too,” Bailey said as I finally lowered Aiden down and shut the front door. Not that anyone was out there, but in case we got distracted and didn’t want to go out.
“Yeah, but you’re a fullback. You do fuck all,” I said with a smirk.
“Fuck you, wanker!”
“If you ask nicely,” I said. “Or I win.”
“Wait, are we betting on this shit?” Aiden asked, looking between us with an expression that had turned dangerous. Like we might be unleashing a monster we hadn’t realised existed.
“We were thinking about it,” Bailey admitted as he walked over to us, bending down to steal his own kiss from Aiden. “Winner gets to decide what happens later.”
“Deal,” Aiden said, sealing the bargain with a kiss.
I grinned. Somehow I didn’t think this was a bet any of us would end up losing.
It took us a while to get moving and out the door because we kept getting sidetracked. Bailey and I needed to get changed since we were both in old T-shirts and joggers, but it took forever because Aiden kept distracting us.
Not that I minded. We weren’t in a rush.
The way Aiden complimented and praised my body made something warm and fuzzy hum in my chest. I still struggled with my body image, often comparing myself to other people onthe Knights or guys we played against, but the way Aiden talked about me, like I was beautiful and somehow precious, made it easier to ignore the lingering whispers in my brain.
I felt a little bad because Bailey had been telling me I was gorgeous for years, but there’d always been an element of trying to keep it cool. Friendly but not sexual or romantic. Complimenting me like you would do a mate at the gym. And even now we’d started to open up to each other, it was still easier to focus on Aiden’s words. Maybe because he’d been a hookup from the start and not someone I’d actively tried to suppress my attraction to.
“This is random, but I guess something I need to ask,” Aiden said as we waited outside our flat for an Uber. “But how much do you two get recognised around here? Are you famous? Or do most people leave you alone?”
“We get a few people who recognise us, but it depends,” Bailey said. “Lincoln’s a pretty big student city, so if they like rugby, then yeah, they might know who we are. And some of the general public do. But we don’t get the sort of crowds the football does, even if we’re better than them—at least if you compare division placements. We’re in the top tier of English rugby, and the football team are in League One.” He shrugged in an annoyed but what can you do about it sort of way.
The lack of overall support for club rugby, ticket costs, and the seeming disinterest in getting new, younger fans into the sport from rugby’s governing body were all major sources of irritation for most of us, and something we’d all complained about multiple times. If rugby wanted to grow and thrive as a sport, it had to engage more people, but it seemed like some people behind the scenes were afraid of changing the status quo and instead kept doubling down on keeping things the same as they’d always been. But that wasn’t going to work long term.
And it shouldn’t be left to clubs to figure it out by themselves.
Fuck, some clubs in the Championship would never be able to be promoted into the Premiership because they didn’t meet the minimum numbers for stadium seating. Half of them basically played on glorified playing fields, doing the best they could with twenty quid, feral enthusiasm, and a dream. And for what was supposed to be the second division of the sport, it was bollocks. Especially compared to the fact most football teams had proper stadiums, no matter what league they played in.
I knew it was a bigger sport, but it still sucked.
“We might get stopped sometimes,” I added, stopping myself from going off on a rant about the shortcomings of English rugby. “But everyone’s always nice about it. Usually, they only want a picture or to say hi.”
“Good to know. Then I’ll keep my hands to myself. We’re simply three friends going to play a highly competitive game of mini-golf for no discernible stakes.” He grinned, not seeming fussed by what he was saying.
“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Bailey said with a nod and I hummed in agreement.
Bailey and I had been pretending around each other for so long, I barely even realised we were doing it anymore.
But having to do the same with Aiden felt… strange. Not bad. Just strange.
I’d never want to force him into anything if he wasn’t comfortable, so if we did get together, I’d never say we had to go public, especially with how weird people could be about polyamory and all the shit I’d been reading about the rise in transphobia. Aiden’s safety and privacy would always be important to us. And I would never want to put him at risk of harm—whether that was physical or being pulled apart in the media and online.
But it was still strange to think about all the pretending we’d have to keep doing.
Maybe it was something the other guys at the club would understand. Maybe one day I’d actually pluck up the courage to ask them about it.
We should probably talk to Aiden first, though, about a lot of things.
Like how Bailey and I needed him in our life, not only for a night here or there, but permanently.
Because without him, everything else would fall apart.
