Page 10 of Lord of the Lock

Finn got up and left, and the little room felt bigger and emptier without his presence.

5

Chapter Five - Finn

I’d never had a classroom before. It was weird. But after watching one trying session with the boys, I knew they would need more visual help in defence before they had any chance of nailing it physically. I’d been going through defensive drills for an hour, but I wanted to show them all a bad defence in action.

I pointed at the projector screen. The lads, all between seventeen and thirty, were sat on exercise equipment around the gym. I’d selfishly put up a video of one of mine and Rhys’ runs against his boyfriend. It was the best video to show the lads,obviously. It just happened to be one of me.

“So you’ll see how Rhys passes to me just before Callum can impact him? The whole Scottish squad was focused on the smallest, fastest player. Rhys was so good that they forgot I existed. I’m not pretending this was a good tactic by any means from me and Rhys because it left us wide open to being tackled. But for just a second it was like the Edinburgh’s defence evaporated, and that let us score. If you are defending youcannotlet your guard down for a second, or this happens.”

I pressed play. Rhys was all ahead of the pack, me trailing just behind. As Callum reached for Rhys, he passed to me. Callum slammed into Rhys on impact and I ran over the line to score a try. All because Edinburgh had been sloppy.

The camera zoomed in on Rhys and Callum, the moment after impact. As far as I knew, this was long before they were a thing. But in the moment, both of them were so completely wrapped up in each other that I wondered how the whole world hadn’t seen they were in love. And then they both stood and Rhys looked like he was about to swing for Callum, and the good times were over.

“Every couple has arguments. Some are lucky enough to get to punch them out on the rugby field,” I said. The lads laughed. I was glad to see a lot of the old bigotry from back in my playing days was gone. Plenty of the lads I’d fooled around with had wives and kids now, but the old overtones of shame had gone from the squad for the most part.

“My girlfriend plays for the women’s team. I wouldn’t want to fight her on the rugby field, she’d knock my spark out,” said one of the younger boys. More laughter from the whole squad.

“Then you better be good to your lady,” I replied. “Right, that’s enough for this evening. Make sure you pick up your defensive drills from the pile on the way out, as well as my workout plan.”

There were a few eye-rolls and groans as the lads filtered out from the room. Rhod was a great coach overall, but he was a bit old-fashioned in terms of in-between training sessions. I wanted the lads eating well and exercising between training.

The younger guy who’d mentioned his girlfriend hung back for a second. He was tall, almost as tall as me but so gangly that I guessed it must be recent. It was obvious he was young and growing into his frame from his clumsy gait and acne, but he was fast on the pitch from what I’d seen. “Finn, can I say something?”

“Sure…” I said, racking my brain for his name. But with thirty-odd members of the squad as well as the youth and women’s teams it was tough to keep them all square.

“Ben,” he offered.

“Sure, Ben.”

“I just wanted to say…thank you for being you. I know coming out wasn’t easy, but I’m bi. And it gave me confidence to tell my girlfriend when you came out.”

“And she was OK with it?” I asked, concerned.

“She was great. I’m lucky to have her.”

“Good lad.” I patted Ben on the shoulder, and he lumbered out, knocking into the rowing machine on the way. Once the place was quiet, I started tidying the projector screen away and squaring up any training guides that hadn’t been picked up. It had been two weeks since I’d seen Nathan and our first training session was imminent.

I checked my phone - nothing since he’d confirmed he was coming. I headed to the changing room to change out of my shirt and jeans into something more appropriate for training. I had a tank top and shorts in my locker, so I stripped down to my boxers to put them on. Before I could re-dress, a door creaked open behind me. When I turned around, Nathan was standing there, pink hair wind-ruffled and his glasses in one hand. He was wearing ratty tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt that saidThe Angels Have the Phone Box.A blush had crept up his neck and was deepening across his cheeks.

His eyes roved over me just once before he took a step backward. “S-sorry,” he said. Like a ghost, the door swung closed before I even noticed he had gone. I stepped into my shorts and grabbed the tank top, yanking it over my head as I followed him out onto the training floor.

Nathan was sat on one of the rowing machines, eyes downcast as I approached. As soon as he heard me, he looked up. “I really am sorry,” he said. “I just…I didn’t mean to walk in on you in there like that. I wasn’t sure where you were and thought you might be cleaning up or something and I just…”

“Nathan, chill. I’m a rugby player. I’ve seen more men changing than I’ve had hot dinners.” I noticed he hadn’t brought a bag of spare clothes with him. “You know you’re welcome to use all the facilities, right? If you’re going to be getting all gross and sweaty here then you can always use the showers, sauna or ice bath afterwards. I’ve booked the whole place for myself two nights a week.”

“Oh-OK, thanks,” said Nathan. “I just…I don’t want you thinking I was walking in on you to perv or anything. I’m not…I’m not like that.”

I laughed. “That makes one of us. Gay, bisexual straight or even asexual, I can tell you now we’ve all had a little peek in the changing rooms. It’s only natural. We all want to know how we measure up.”

“Oh.” Nathan’s blush had returned in full force, but he stood up. “Shall we start?”

“Yessir, fake boyfriend.” I led him over to the free weights. “Today we’ll focus on upper body - your chest, arms, and stomach. I’ve booked out the place on Thursday too and it’s your choice if you want to do leg day or cardio.”

“That all sounds horrible,” said Nathan with a smile. “You do this twice a week?”

“I do this every day,” I laughed. “This is my favour to you, it’s all up to you how you use me.”

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