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Liam was sweating by the buckets, the sun was hitting him hard as he looked at his lacrosse practice buddy, "Hey" he said walking up to him, "Are you good to go again?"
"Yeah! Are you? You seemed a little exhausted back there," Nolan said, his eyes, mouth, and tone of voice making it clear that he was teasing the beta. Liam smiled, turned around and went back to his position on the goalie.
They've been at it for more than three hours now, and in the entire time, Nolan hadn't landed one score on him. Liam felt proud, not only was he not using his heightened senses, but Nolan was proving to be his equal at lacrosse. Even if he hadn't scored, he was still getting better and better by the minute
Liam already knew this, but Nolan had doubted it since the start. "Nolan, you're co-captain material okay? So stop underestimating yourself okay?" He had told him back when they started their private sections a few weeks ago.
At first, Nolan refused to believe him, but after a few days into the practice he started to see progress and now he fully believed it. Liam had also gotten slightly better thanks to the hunter, the practice lessons benefited both of them and Liam loved every single moment of it, and he couldn't deny that spending time with the human was easily becoming the happiest moments of his days.
Not only did spending time with Nolan made him forget about all of his duties about interim alpha, but they also gave him comfort. Made him feel like he was a teenager and that he could do teenager stuff, that he didn't have to worry about the end of his days when he was Nolan.
No, with Nolan it was different, with Nolan it was like everything else didn't matter and it was just them against the world–
"Liam!" Nolan yelled at him, Liam shook his head his fantasy about the hunter leaving his mind as he saw a ball headed towards him. He had to use his super-speed in order to evade it, otherwise, he was risking getting hit in the face.
"Are you okay, Li? You seemed distracted back there," Nolan said running towards him, Liam looked at him and all he could think was Yeah, I was distracted. By you.
"I'm fine, just thought of something is all." He said, shaking his head and trying to get himself in the practice. But how could he? Not only was Nolan looking like that but he also knew how to tease a person. Every second that Liam would look up he would catch Nolan biting his lip, or stretching his arms and revealing the patch of hair that traveled all the way down until it disappeared under the waistband of his boxer briefs. Or he could be wearing something… more revealing.
"Are you going to stand there or are we going to practice?" Nolan teased, Liam looked up and saw a smirk painted on his lips and he had to force himself to look away.
"You're on hunter boy," he answered, getting ready for whatever play Nolan was gonna throw his way. For the next hour and a half, they practiced quietly. Nolan had given him a run for his money a few times, but luckily Liam managed to pull through. It wasn't until the last minute of their section that Nolan finally managed to score,
"Hey!" He heard the human call to him, he looked up and saw Nolan preparing to send the ball flying towards him but instead, "Look at this," he said lifting up his shirt, revealing his tanned skin Liam kept looking up until he gasped. There was a tattoo. A snake climbed all the way from Nolan's left rib and placed a kissed at his right nipple. Liam swallowed hard and tried his best to ignore the hunter, but it had been too late.
Nolan had thrown the ball up into the sky and it was hurling fast towards Liam, by the time the beta realized what happened the ball was flying next to him and hitting the goalie and falling to the ground with a loud 'smack'.
"That's...that's cheating," Liam managed to whisper, swallowing hard as Nolan tucked his shirt down to his waistband and jogged up to him. Liam looked up and saw Nolan blush, they both looked down immediately, embarrassed with their reactions,
"Sorry, Li," Nolan said, "I just...I wanted to get a goal and well...I saw the opportunity and..." He trailed off not looking up or wanting to finish the sentence. Liam couldn't help but smile softly at the suddenly shy guy standing before him,
"Don't go all timid on me now Nolan, not after you did that," Liam said, smiling and trying to get Nolan to look at him but the hunter wouldn't look up to him. "Hey, Nolan, it's fine okay? You don't have to worry about anything...I...I liked what I saw okay?"
"You did?" Nolan said, finally looking up to meet the beta's eyes. Liam smiled and wrapped his hands around the hunter's waist, bringing closer so that they were chest to chest.
"I did, more than you think." He took a deep breath before speaking the next words, "I liked it, cause...I like you, Nolan." Liam smiled, making Nolan smile as well.
"I…" Nolan began, looking away, "I like you too, " he said his cheeks as red as a rose, "Uhm, I'm not sure about you but I'm gonna go take a shower, it's really hot out here and I'm all sweaty as well" Liam nodded, his eyes roaming Nolan's body you're right, you are sweaty but it's not the temperature that's hot. It's you. He thought as Nolan walked away,
"Are you just gonna stand there, or you plan on joining me?" Liam nodded, Nolan's shyness had diminished and now his face sported a smirk that Liam couldn't help but want to trace it with his tongue. He followed his friend into the locker room, he grabbed his bag but before he could open it he felt Nolan's warm hand on his wrist,
"Let's go out." He blurted out, "I… don't want to lose my confidence and regret not asking, so I'm just going straight for it." Liam managed to smile, as he grabbed Nolan's hand when his free hand.
"Yeah, I'd love to go out with you." He said and looked down at Liam's lips, he leaned in, thinking that he would manage to steal a kiss but before he could, Nolan turned his head and chuckled.
"Maybe after that first date?" Nolan said, "Maybe I'll even let you look at the tattoo up close." He said as he took a step back, Liam could see pieces of Nolan's confidence mask breaking bit by bit as he let go of his hand and walked towards the showers.
"Tonight?" He screamed at his friend, "We could go and watch a movie?" He asked, and for a minute or two he thought that Nolan wouldn't answer,
"It's a date!" He ran back out, his towel wrapped around his waist and kissed Liam in the cheek, he looked up and saw Nolan's cheeks as red as the sun. He smiled and nodded.
"A sneak peek of what's to come," he said and ran back the way her had come. Liam just sat there and smiled to himself. This was the start of something great, he just didn't know how good it would be for the both of them.