Allured

Ch. 5

Raul watched as Theron had a light sweat to him that shivered under the hot sun. Again, he felt envious of a liquid that can trail such a handsome body so well. If only he can follow that trail himself to where the down south was. Before he knew it, as it went by like a blur, Theron easily got three axes in the row into the center to get a perfect score of sixty points.

He wiped his forehead, grinning to himself. There was a lot of whistles and slaps on his back since they acted like they expected him to get a perfect.

Raul knew that he must of practice long and hard to be able to get a perfect naturally. No one can do a perfect that well in the first shot. He wondered if Theron did it to either prove himself or simply get a solid lead so that he wouldn't disappoint later?

He might never get to know. Either way, he was disappointed when Theron didn't look over at him again. Sighing, Raul sat down when he realized he had gotten up from his seat. He casted his eyes downwards. He knew better to raise his hopes like that, but he did that to himself every damn time. He was starting to think that he should lower his expectations.

Though, as soon as he thought that, he saw shoes in front of him. Someone shook him instantly. Raul blinked before he slowly raised his head. Of course, the one he sees was... He sagged his shoulders.

"Man, you look happy to see me." Welch spoke up, tilting his head at him. "Shouldn't you be? Your rival won first place."

"We can't be rivals if I can't enter the games." Raul muttered, trying to hide his disappointment again. He had thought that Theron came over to him. These hopes were killing him. "Can't you like pick a different word instead?"

"Maybe jealousy is a better word." Welch easily agreed, nodding.

"What!" Raul gaped, eyes wide, "Why?!"

"Well, you used to bring him all the time yet have sadness in your eyes. Sometimes, you'll talk about him bitterly as if you wished that you could be more like him or something." Welch rubbed the back of his neck as he sat next to him, looking uncomfortable already.

"I hate my friends." Raul decided, looking up at the sky. "Odin, why did you bestow me such worthless people?"

"Hey!" Welch laughed, sounding torn between being amused or upset with Raul's answer. He punched his arm. "I and Parnell are great guy friends. We'll always have your back. I can't say the same for Banu as she wasn't aiming to be a friend of yours from the start."

Raul swallowed. Always, huh? Would they still be his friends if they found out about his interest in men? Not a whole lot of people accept that. Especially in their village. The only one that was accepting was Banu. "Well, friendship is all she's going to get from me."

"Man, I can't believe you're going to turn that woman down." Welch commented. "She's witty, courageous and supportive. She would do you really good, Raul."

"I'm sure she could." Raul said, starting to get uncomfortable with the conversation turned to him and about his relationship with Banu. "We should pay attention to the last class. I'm sorry to say, but I'm sure Egil is going to take your second place."

"Egil was aims to be first." Welch admitted, glowering at the arena. "He needs to keep his beef with Theron's older brother and leave it at that. Theron isn't Ichiro."

"I think he desires to prove himself." Raul said, shrugging. "The only way he can is to win and go on that voyage. I'm sure he wants to go were Ichiro was so he can keep his rivalry going, but, until then, he's going to settle with his current obstacle which is Theron."

"Seeing him as an obstacle makes more sense than making him another rival." Welch nodded as he crossed his arms. "He's right after Theron too."

"Always the competitive type." Raul muttered as he watched Egil step up to the center to get ready to throw the axe. He practiced his swing before picking up the axe and did the exact swing and let it go. It landed in the center. The second swing was off the side of the center. The last swing, to everyone's shock, was also the center. He beat Welch by five points.

"Well, fuck." Welch swore, glaring. "I was hoping this year would be my year in the axe throw too."

Raul patted Welch on the back. "It's okay. You still got the other games as well as next year." He lamely said, trying his best to comfort him. Truthfully, it made him concerned for Theron. He'd rather have Welch go head to head with him than Egil. Like Welch said, Egil's real target wasn't even Theron in the first place.

Egil received a lot of praise before he went back to everyone else. After that, Raul wasn't paying attention to the third class anymore. They made the announcements of everyone's places. The main three right now were Theron, Egil and Welch.

All three judges told everyone have a good day, and that they'll see them all tonight for the celebration of the first game night. The games starting in mid-morning and ended nearly towards late afternoon. It was a very long day for everyone, but, of course, everyone wanted the excuse to get drunk.

"I'm going to go get Parnell." Welch told him. "I'm sure he's sleeping again, but I hope his mother will let me wake him instead."

Raul shuddered. "You better hope so. She's really scary when she wakes him."

Welch's face was grim of acceptance. "I know." With that, he left shortly after towards Parnell's home. Raul send out his mental good luck to him. He would need it when it came to that.

Before he could move any further, Raul was stopped again when someone grabbed his arm and turned him around real fast. "Wait!" Theron panted, his hair all over from his jog over, "Don't go yet!"

He blinked at him. "Okay?" Why must he be even more attractive out of breath?

"I wanted to ask if you wanted to come with me to the party." Theron said, finally catching his breath. "Have a few drinks and get to talk more to each other about stuff?"

Raul felt his heart pick up as if it felt his surprise and hope. "Well, I'm sure that would be fine." He said, a little wary all of the sudden. "I'm not going to see your jackass side, am I?"

Theron laughed, shaking his head. "No. Like I said, I was frustrated and well alcohol didn't help those frustrations." He pouted at him. "So, please, come with me?"

Raul observed his face, seeing that Theron looked genuinely hopeful and excited to spend time with him. That and, well, he was guilty of giving into pouty faces. "As long as that is in check," He said, carefully, "Then yes, I will come with you."

Theron looked absolutely over joyed. "You won't regret it!"

He swallowed. Raul hoped that he wouldn't regret it, but he won't know until Theron had too many drinks to find out if he was true to his word or not.

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A/N: Sorry that this chapter was shorter than most! I struggled a little in this chapter.