Meant to be Broken [boyxboy] [Watty Awards 2012]

Chapter Twelve

Ives made it a point to only talk about archery with Mark from that day forward, especially as the January tournament drew closer. Even the day of the tournament he hardly said anything to the captain, until Mark approached him directly.

"Right, so can we just forget that I slept with your sister?" he asked.

Ives looked up from his phone, where there was a new text from Tomi wishing him luck. "I'm just pissed that you made sure I would see it. You could have just told me. Now my mind is scared for life."

"Fair enough," Mark replied. "I'm sorry."

Ives quickly typed a reply to Tomi, thanking him. "Accepted. Please stop bringing it up."

"That's fine by me." Mark glazed around at the gym full of colorful school uniforms. "I hope no one has gotten better at shooting indoors since last month."

"I bet the whole Madison team did," Ives said as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. "They have Nelson Kashmir. He's an archery instructor at a club in Walton."

Mark focused his attention back on Ives, eyebrows raised. "I didn't know this. How did you find out?"

"I have a friend who goes to Madison and knows him," Ives replied with a shrug.

"A friend?" Mark asked slyly. "I didn't know this, either."

Ives leaned down to pull his wrist guard from the bag at his feet. "Boyfriend, actually. There's a lot you don't know." He turned away before Mark could say anything, and left the startled captain staring after him. Sweet revenge, Ives thought to himself with a smug smile.

Much to Ives' surprise, Mark didn't seem to hold anything against him, because he still asked Ives what he thought of the competition at the end of practice. He didn't say anything about what Ives had said, and he didn't mention Kylle, either. Ives hoped he really had convinced him not to talk about his sexual adventures anymore.

"How did you do?" Tomi asked when Ives came over later that day.

Ives kicked off his boots at the front door and slipped out of his coat. "We took third place. So, not bad."

Tomi took his coat and hung it in the closet. "That's good."

Ives took a step closer and let his hand brush Tomi's. It had been way too long since he'd been able to touch him. Tomi blushed and glanced around the room to make sure they were alone.

"Come on," Ives said with a smile, "I want to kick your butt playing Xbox."

Tomi rolled his eyes behind his dyed hair. "As usual."

As they headed toward the stairs, Tomi's mother came out of the kitchen with the magazine she was reading. She smiled when she saw Ives. "Would you like to stay for dinner?" she offered. "I'm ordering pizza in a bit."

"Sure," Ives replied politely. "Thank you."

In Tomi's room they sat on the floor with their backs against the bed and waited for the system to load. Ives was really tempted to kiss Tomi, but he settled for putting a hand on Tomi's knee, where he could quickly move it if the stairs creaked. Tomi looked down at his hand, then put his own hand over Ives'. Ives used the moment to examine the rings that Tomi wore; a plain silver one on his thumb, a silver Celtic knot on his index finger, and a black ring with a whole shaped as a dragon on his middle finger. Ives had always found it annoying to wear rings, but seeing them on Tomi was different. He linked them. They were a part of Tomi.

The stairs creaked and Ives gently took his hand away. The game had loaded, so they started playing, and Ives avoided looking at Tomi so Tomi would have an easier time avoiding blushing if his mother walked in. But Mrs. Miliani got to the top of the stairs and walked the other direction. Ives heard Tomi exhale heavily next to him.