Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
I grinned, joy fizzing up in my chest. I tried to tamp it down.
We’d only just convinced Aiden to give this relationship a chance.
I didn’t want to scare him off by suggesting he move in with us.
That would be awesome, but we needed to walk before we could run.
“That would be great. And if you need a hand moving anything, our offer still stands. Just let us know what you need.”
“I will. Shame it’ll probably be too cold for you to wear shorts,” Aiden said sadly.
“Nah, it’s never too cold. We play in shorts in the snow.”
“That is too cold,” Bailey murmured. “I’ll be wearing joggers.”
“Spoilsport,” I said, sticking my tongue out at him.
Aiden chuckled fondly. “Don’t worry, your arses will look just as good in either.”
Bailey grinned, clearly taking that as a win. “Thank you!”
“I guess until then, it’s working out when we see each other,” I said, attempting to bring the conversation back before we got sidetracked again. “We can send you our match calendar and our training schedule. And we’re happy to drive down to see you.”
“I can come to you too,” Aiden said. “It’s not that far. Not really. Maybe we can do every two or three weeks? Depending on your schedules. And, er, I’ll probably look at coming up to stay with Jonny for Christmas again. If I haven’t moved by then.”
“Sounds great, and we can text every day,” Bailey said. “We’ll send so many you’ll be sick of us.”
“Don’t think that’s possible.”
The fondness in his voice made my heart soar, and across the table I could see Bailey’s face lighting up.
Aiden smiled at us, nudging us gently under the table.
“One thing I wanted to say was, I don’t mind if you two fuck without me while I’m not there.
You don’t have to wait for me to be around.
Don’t hold back because you think I’ll get jealous or be upset.
I won’t. I’ll make up for it when I see you again. ”
“Are you sure?” Bailey asked. His hand was resting on the table, and he carefully reached out to brush his fingers against Aiden’s.
“Yeah, I am.”
“You’ll tell us if your feelings change, right?” I asked.
“Of course. And maybe, if you’re feeling nice, you can send me nice things to listen to. Or watch.”
I grinned and leant closer. “Are you asking us to film ourselves fucking?”
“Only if you’re comfortable. Or you can send me voice notes you record while you fuck or blow each other. And you can call me too. We have phones, and we’ve already figured out how to have good phone sex.”
We had, and my cock twitched with interest as I remembered back to our endless rounds across the summer. It would be fun to do that again, even if it wouldn’t be quite as satisfying as having Aiden there with us. But we’d make it work.
“I’m down for that,” Bailey said. He was grinning too. Then his face changed suddenly, like he’d remembered something. “There is one more thing, I guess. Do you want to tell anyone? I mean, Jonny sent us here, so…”
“Yeah, if I don’t tell him and Devon, he’ll interrogate you until he finds out,” Aiden said. “I’ll call him later. I need to talk to him about the kitchen shit anyway.”
“And, er, it’s worth you knowing Danny and Charlie, two of our wingers, figured out we’re shagging. Well, Danny did. Apparently, we weren’t subtle back in June. Or last December,” Bailey said, his eyes flicking across to me. Aiden shifted slightly in his seat, not quite uncomfortable but cautious.
“We told him if there was something to say, we’d say it, but until then to sod off,” I added.
“But we don’t have to tell anyone. I know people can have a lot of opinions about polyamory, and I guess we’re public figures too?
Sort of? Enough that the media could come poking around.
Plus I’m aware the UK is pretty shit for trans people right now, especially with so many media outlets being openly transphobic, and we don’t want you getting dragged into anything or being put at risk.
I mean, Jonny’s always been very private about his family, and we’re happy to keep things low-key, at least until we retire.
But I don’t know how you feel about it. I don’t want you to think we’re ashamed of you or something. ”
Aiden thought for a minute, pursing his lips together and wrinkling up his nose.
“I think I’m happy for you to tell people on the team.
If you trust them. But I like my privacy and I don’t fancy having my life and my business picked over by TERFs.
I’m proud of who I am, and I love that I’m trans, but it’s fucking exhausting having to justify myself to every ignorant twat who has an opinion about my life.
Even if I don’t engage with them, I still have to delete their comments and block them, and I don’t want to deal with it.
“My business will always be proudly trans owned, but I don’t want to have to spend half my time on socials or fending off reporters from every shitty sports blog in existence.
Is that… would that bother you? If we weren’t out in public?
I know it would mean we couldn’t do romantic dates, and we’d have to be more careful around each other, and there’s still a chance people would find out, but…
at least to start with. While it’s all new… ”
“Of course,” Bailey said, putting his hand on Aiden’s arm. “Honestly, I like my privacy too. And yeah, more players being out is always cool, but I don’t want you being hounded by jumped-up wankers because of us. I want you to be happy.”
I nodded and brushed Aiden’s hand with mine, linking our little fingers together.
“Same. I want us to be happy together, not have to worry about being media ready every time I want to go to fucking Tesco. But the team, if we tell them, Ezra can monitor their socials and the rest of them are good guys. Danny might be a bit of a wanker, but he’s our wanker and we love him.
Plus he’s recently gone through his own sexual awakening, so he’s much more aware of shit.
He’s still a little shit, but I think that’s just his personality. ”
“I still think you, him, Mason, and Devon should start a group chat,” Bailey said. “They might be helpful.”
Aiden raised an eyebrow, a tiny smile curling his lip. “Group chat? For what? Needy bottoms?”
“No, absolutely not! I am not talking to Devon about this. It’s too weird,” I said firmly. I did not need to know if there were any similarities between our boyfriends. That was a step too far.
“Yeah, agreed… I’ve heard him and Jonny and…” Aiden pulled a face. “Okay, that’s enough thinking about my brother railing his boyfriend. Want to pay and head back to mine?”
“I’ll get the bill,” I said, jumping to my feet before Bailey could beat me to it. He’d probably whine all the way home. Maybe I’d suggest we get a joint bank account for dates and travel. It might be easier in the long run.
As I reached the bar, I glanced over at the two of them, smiling at the sight of them with their heads together. We still had things to figure out—our careers, Aiden’s business, long distance, and telling people—alongside making a new relationship work.
I believed in us, though.
We’d gotten this far. Nothing was going to hold us back now.
“All sorted then?” Bacon asked, walking down to the till to grab the card machine.
“Yeah, we’re good.” It was an understatement, but it was all I could think of to say.
“Thank fuck for that then. Now he can stop moping around my kitchen and singing Adele like the world has fucking ended.” He shook his head and chuckled before shooting me a pointed look.
“Never break his heart. I can’t cope with more kitchen karaoke.
And you best believe I’ll make it your fucking problem. Understood?”
“Understood.”
“Good.”