Page 242 of Off the Pitch

“Sure? We can leave if you want. I’m sure Christian will understand if it’s too much.”

“Nah, I’m not leaving. We’ve gotta be here for them. I’m just worried this is gonna turn into a shitshow. You know what these fucking vultures are like,” I said under my breath.

Liam nodded. “Me too.”

“Budge up.” I turned to my other side to see Lily King squeezing into the gap next to me. “Come on, move your ass.”

“There isn’t room,” I said, elbowing her gently. “Why don’t you go sit at the front so they can see you?”

“No way,” said Lily. “I don’t want to put Christian off. Besides, this isn’t about me. It’s about them.”

“This is what you get for being famous,” I said. “You have to stand at the back with the plebs.” Lily rolled her eyes. “How was Vegas?”

“Yeah, pretty good,” Lily said, not looking at me and suddenly becoming very interested in the crowd. “Pretty standard stuff. DJed, met Lady Gaga, got married, played some poker. Oooh, we visited the Grand Canyon too. It’s pretty cool.”

“What the fuck?” Liam said, leaning around me to stare at Lily. “Go back a minute. Repeat that.”

“Yeah, especially the part in the middle,” I added. I was sure I’d heard her correctly, but I wanted to double-check.

“Played some sets, met Lady Gaga, won some money.”

“Nah, you missed something,” I said.

“Got married?” A little smile crept onto her lips. “Harper and I got married while we were out there. Just a little spur of the moment thing, I guess.” Her skin flushed as she held out her hand to show off a sparkling ring, little multi-coloured stones flashing under the overhead lights. “Surprise?”

“Oh my God! Congrats,” I said, pulling her into a tight hug. “That’s fucking awesome.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah, that’s amazing,” Liam said, pulling Lily across me and into another hug so she was sandwiched between us. “Does, um, does Christian know?”

“Not yet,” she said with a weak chuckle. “I haven’t worked out how to tell him. Or my mum. I’m not sure who’s going to be more upset.”

“Mate, it’s gonna be Christian,” Liam said. “Sorry.”

“Yeah, probably.” She sighed. “I’ll make it up to him somehow.”

“Good luck with that.” I laughed. “Got any ideas?”

“Yeah, maybe I’ll just give him my firstborn.” She snorted and shook her head.

“So that’s why you’re hiding then. You don’t want him to see your ring?”

“Pretty much. But I wanted to be here for him. He deserves this. Hugo does too.” Lily looked down at the scuffed pink Vans she was wearing, twisting her foot on the floor. “It’s been hard for Christian not to be open about his relationship with David. Especially since they got engaged. Like, I can just walk down the street and hold Harper’s hand, or we can go out to dinner and kiss and nobody cares, well, not unless they’re a bigoted asshole. We can just live our lives being ourselves and never have to worry about the consequences. But Christian can’t do that. He and David can’t hold hands when they go out. He can’t wear the engagement ring David bought him. They can’t post pictures of themselves together or randomly kiss each other because they think the other one looks cute. They couldn’t even dance at your wedding.” She looked at Liam, giving him a soft, sad smile.

“Kit and Hugo are the same. Although maybe less so because Hugo’s not in the public eye quite as much, but I know they find it hard too. Everything we take for granted becomes a continuous navigation for them. And sure, it’s probably gonna be really hard for a while after today, because some people are dicks and there are parts of social media that’ll be really cruel. But at least they won’t have to hide anymore. They can be together. And maybe they’ll be able to show other people they deserve love too.”

I reached out and took her hand, squeezing it tightly, and on the other side Liam did the same. Her words settled in my chest as I realised the full extent of them. I’d always known things sucked for Christian, but I’d never really considered quite how shitty it was. Like not even being able to kiss David quickly or keeping an eye out so nobody saw you holding hands. I didn’t even know David had bought him an engagement ring.

The team all knew, but he’d never been able to bring David to formal team dinners the media attended in the same way Liam brought Ali.

My chest tightened at the realisation that that was going to be my life with Félix until I came out. No parties, no Instagram photos, no pulling him in for a kiss because he looked so fucking sexy I couldn’t resist.

No wonder Christian and Hugo were ready to tell the world. Given the choice between hiding forever and facing some shitty people who they could hopefully ignore, I’d choose the second option every time.

The room went quiet as Christian and Hugo, both dressed in smart suits, stepped onto the stage, flanked by Lucas and Alex. Lucas and Alex’s faces were set and neutral, and Christian looked even paler than he normally did, as if he was about to projectile vomit across the stage. Even Hugo looked distinctly more nervous than usual. The four of them took their seats in front of their microphones, and beside me, Lily gripped my hand even tighter.

“Good morning,” Lucas said. His voice was calm and firm, and it settled my nerves slightly. He sounded as if this was nothing more than an ordinary press conference he’d do before a match, something he’d done hundreds of times before. “Thank you for being here today on such short notice. Christian King and Hugo Serin have a small personal announcement they would like to make, and then they will take a limited number of questions. We ask that you be respectful. Anyone asking questions that myself or my colleague Alex feel are inappropriate will be asked to leave.”

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