Chapter 28
28
T he stands were busier than I’d ever seen them. This was my first time at a home match, although I’d been to plenty of Finn’s practices and away games, and as Finn had explained, the team was getting close to the end of the season. The players in their final year of uni would be gone once the semester was over, and that meant that the chances of watching this particular lineup play together were getting smaller with every match played.
“Wow. This is bigger than I thought it would be.” Ed stared around us, echoing my thoughts exactly.
“It’s not always like this,” I told him, explaining what Finn had told me about the end of the season and the players leaving. He shook his head as we took our seats, kicking his legs up to rest on the low barrier that separated the front row from the pitch.
“I used to watch Finn at school sometimes. He’s four years older than me, but when I was in year seven and just starting at our senior school, he was in year eleven, and it was so cool having this older brother who was amazing at football and who everyone liked. I used to sneak into his matches and watch from a distance so he didn’t have his annoying little brother distracting him.”
I glanced over at Ed. “No, that’s not true. He loves you being there for him.”
“Maybe now. Not then.”
I couldn’t respond to that with any accuracy because I hadn’t known either of them back then, but what I did know was that Finn loved his brother and parents, and they loved him in return. They had such a close bond, and I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that they included me as part of their family. My relationship with my dad wasn’t ever going to be like the one Finn had with his mum and dad, and I’d made my peace with that a long time ago. Yet, somehow, I’d ended up with another family of my own—not replacing what I had, but adding to it, giving me two extra parents who genuinely cared about me and a surrogate younger brother who seemed to be able to gauge my moods and knew when to tease and when to back off. It was so much more than I could have ever dreamed of. With Finn, I hadn’t only gained a boyfriend. I’d gained a family.
“All kids are annoying in their own way,” I told Ed, doing my best to reassure him. “Finn was excited that you were coming to watch him today.”
Ed shot me a quick grin before returning his attention to the pitch, which was currently empty. “I hope so.”
“It’s true. He told me to watch out, though.”
“For what?”
“You, flirting with girls.”
Ed laughed. “Yeah, fair enough. If they’re hot, though, I’m gonna try my luck.”
“Um…okay.”
“Leo!”
I turned just in time to see Niccolò launch himself at me, laughing into my ear as I caught him, spinning him around. We’d become close friends lately, which wasn’t something I’d thought would happen in the past, with his loud, outgoing personality the antithesis of my shyness and anxiety around people. But somehow, it had, our friendship cemented after that night in the student union.
In fact, my friend group had widened to include not only Niccolò but also his boyfriend, Bennett, and several of Finn’s teammates and their partners. Noah, especially. We’d originally bonded over Mario Kart , and I’d even played him one-on-one a few times when our boyfriends had been busy with football training.
Speaking of… “Hi.” A grinning Noah lifted his hand in a wave as he slid into the seat next to Nic’s, closely followed by Elliot.
“Where are the girls?” Ed pouted as I returned Noah’s greeting.
Nic jabbed him in the bicep with a perfectly manicured, glittery blue fingernail. “Girls? Boys are better. All those lovely manly?—”
“Debatable.” Ed cut him off with a swift shake of his head before his attention was drawn to someone behind me. His eyes widened. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. Leo, be my favourite big brother and get me an intro with her. Or one of her friends.”
My brows rose. “Have you met me? I’m the least likely person to introduce myself to anyone new.”
“I’ll do it.” Niccolò followed his gaze. “Ooh, pretty. You have good taste for a straight boy.”
“Don’t encourage him,” I mumbled, but neither of them was listening to me, whispering and giggling. I forced myself to turn around to see?—
“Millie.”
“Leo.”
We both spoke at the same time, and Millie smiled widely while I gave a nervous laugh. Finn and I had played online with her and Daisy several times since the initial time we’d played a quad campaign, and although I still struggled to speak to either of them outside of the game environment, our shared love of Lesath Legends gave us enough conversation topics that I was able to get by.
“Ahem.” Ed cleared his throat loudly, elbowing me in the side unsubtly.
I sighed, my gaze flicking to Millie’s companions. “Ed, this is Millie, Daisy, and Sophie. Everyone, Ed is Finn’s younger brother.”
He grinned widely and then winked, which I honestly didn’t think people did in real life. Maybe he had something in his eye. “Which of you beautiful ladies are single and want some quality one-on-one time with the hottest Carsley brother?”
I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my smile, and Nic leaned up to whisper in my ear. “Watch out for this one. He’s as forward as I am.”
“I can see that.”
Millie was eyeing Ed with amusement. “How old are you?”
“Sixteen, seventeen in a few months. And alllll man where it counts.”
“Please, make it stop,” I whispered to the sky.
“Hmm.” Millie tapped her lips. “How about this? If you’re still single when you’re eighteen and you decide to go to LSU, come and find me. I’ll see about introducing you to my cousin. I think you’ll like her.”
“It’s a deal. Take care, ladies. Have a great day.” He blew the three of them kisses, and when he’d turned to face the pitch again, I stared at him.
“Who even are you?”
“I’d say I’ll give you some tips, but my brother would kill me. Plus, I don’t want you two to ever split up.” His eyes widened. “Fuck! That never even occurred to me until now. Please, never split up. I’m begging you.” He placed his palms together in a praying motion, sticking out his bottom lip. “I wanna be best man at your wedding. Can I be best man? Wait, how does it work with two men? Do you get a best man each? Can I be yours? Oh, but then Finn would be sad. Maybe I could be yours for half the wedding and Finn’s for the other half?”
“Ed.”
It was the only word I managed to say before Nic was barging in between us, grasping Ed’s arm.
“We could theme the wedding,” he gasped dramatically. “A gaming theme! But not tacky or anything.”
“Please make it stop,” I begged the sky again, my face heating, and it wasn’t from the sun. Closing my eyes, I did my best to tune out what was now an animated discussion of my completely hypothetical gaming-themed wedding, pretending I was anywhere but here.
“Leo?”
My eyes flew open to see Finn standing on the other side of the low barrier, looking gorgeous in his football kit.
I blinked, hoping he wasn’t a mirage I’d conjured up in my efforts to tune out the conversation that was still happening to my left.
“Leo? Baby, what’s wrong? Come here.”
I took the couple of steps forward that took me to the edge of the barrier, and he instantly wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing a soft kiss to the tip of my nose.
“Hi,” I whispered. “Your brother and Niccolò are planning our wedding.”
“They what?” he screeched, jumping back, his gaze flying to Ed and his co-conspirator.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “According to them, it’s going to be gaming themed, and Ed wants to be my best man half the time and yours the other half.”
“Is that so?” His initial shock faded away, replaced by amusement. “Where did this all come from? Is Niccolò influencing my brother?”
“What’s going on?” Bennett jogged over, coming to a stop next to Finn. “I heard my boyfriend’s name mentioned.”
“Apparently, he and my brother are planning our wedding.” He shrugged, smirking at his teammate. “I dunno about you, but it sounds like your boyfriend has marriage on the brain.”
“Don’t start,” Bennett warned him, his voice stern even though he was biting back a smile. “Do I need to remind you we’re still students, and not only that, not all couples get married?”
“Even so, you’re the one with the wedding-obsessed boyfriend.”
“Fuck off.”
They elbowed each other, grinning before a whistle sounded behind them.
“Gotta go. Wait for me afterwards, okay?” Finn kissed me softly. At his side, I was dimly aware of Bennett doing the same with Niccolò, but I only had eyes for one person.
“Good luck. Win the match.” I pressed another kiss to his lips before he stepped back. He nodded, giving me a bright smile.
A throat cleared next to me. “Yeah, good luck. Kick their fucking asses!”
Finn turned to his brother. “Thanks. I’ll try. Glad you’re here.”
Ed smiled, shooting him a thumbs up, which he returned before he gave me one final quick kiss, and then jogged away.
“Remember when you were pretending you two were just friends?” Noah teased me as Finn lined up with the rest of his teammates.
“OMG, bro, you should’ve seen Finn when he sat us down in the kitchen. All fucking dramatic, like he was gonna tell us something serious, and then he was all like, Leo’s my boyfriend, as if we didn’t know. I’m like, bro, I literally walked in on you dry humping, and I can never unsee that.”
“You did not!” I placed my head in my hands. “I hate you all. I miss the days when I had no friends.”
“Does my brother know he’s dating a liar?” Ed wondered, and then he threw his arms around me before I had a chance to respond. “I’m just kidding. You love us really, don’t you?”
“I guess so,” I mumbled from behind my hands. “Please stop embarrassing me, though.”
“Sorry,” he said sincerely, and I lowered my hands.
“It’s okay. I’m just…you know.”
“You’re Leo, and we love you, and we don’t want you to change.”
“That,” Nic said, sliding his arm around my waist.
As the whistle sounded to begin the match, I smiled.
I’d come a long way from that shy, stuttering little boy who wanted nothing more than to hide away from the world. It didn’t matter if I wasn’t magically cured of my shyness. I had people around me who understood. People who were my friends.
I was a lucky, lucky man.