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Patrick, a lowly equestrian, was invited to the EPSYs. The EPSYs. He was nominated for an award.
So he may or may not be silently losing his mind as he was ushered through the doors and up a flight of stairs. It felt a little surreal. He was surrounded by some of the best athletes in the world. Simone Biles was nominated for the same award as him, so he felt pretty good about himself. He didn’t expect to win. At all. He was humble enough to know that . But still, it was fun being here with the best of the best. Plus, equestrians never got invited to this type of shit.
New York was fun. He had dinner with a possible client the next day, so as he was handed a glass of champagne, he told himself not to get drunk. This was a time to look good, feel good, and try to bring more attention to equestrian sports because Lord knows they need some good publicity after the mess that was the 2020 Olympics Modern Pentathlon.
Travis spotted him, somehow, from across the rooftop and screamed his name, causing everyone to turn and stare at the football player. Patrick sighed. It was August 13th, and he was pretty sure Travis had a preseason game tomorrow, so he wasn’t quite sure what the fuck so many NFL players were doing here. He worked his way over to the NFL player, aware that now he was being stared at. He tried to brush it off, but a low murmur rose as a few people recognized him and whispered to the people next to them who he was. People turned back to their conversations, but a few curious gazes stayed on him and the Chiefs players.
“Travis, have I ever told you how much of a pain in the ass you are?” Patrick asked, before yelping as he was swept up in a hug.
“Please, you know you’re gonna miss me this winter,” Travis said loftily, releasing him with a grin. The other players greeted him similarly until Patrick finally squirmed free.
Patrick wrinkled his nose at Travis as he moved to the tight end’s side. “You keep bullying me and I won’t visit at all. Not a single game,” He threatened, shaking a hand at him.
“You love it,” Travis said, unperturbed. Patrick shoved an elbow into his ribs, making Travis yelp, and ducked as swung an arm at him.
“Patrick.” Patrick’s head shot up, a sheepish grin overtaking his face as Clark and Tavia Hunt approached their small group of Chiefs players.
“It’s good to see you, darling,” Tavia greeted, moving in close to hug him. Patrick pressed a kiss to her cheek, feeling very European for a moment. “You look dashing, but skinny, are you eating enough?” Tavia said as she stepped away, looking over him with a critical eye.
“I’m on an equestrian diet, I’m not a football player you can keep feeding,” He reminded her. Tavia nodded but still looked concerned. Patrick bit back a sigh, he could expect free meals coming from her.
“Oh! Aaron!” The Chiefs quarterback, Matrick Pahomes, called. A group of Packers players made their way over, and Patrick felt even more out of place. He moved to escape, but Travis stepped in his way, and suddenly they were surrounded by even more NFL players. Patrick glared at Travis, who just smirked at him.
Patrick turned and looked at Aaron fucking Rodgers just as the quarterback greeted the Chiefs players. “Hello, how are you guys?”
Patrick felt his worst enemy rise up inside of him. Bisexual Panic .
Look, he knew Aaron Rodgers was an attractive dude, he had seen photos and videos of the man, but he was even more gorgeous in person. Patrick cast a panicking look at Travis, who had a knowing glint in his eyes. Travis just laughed at him, gaining everyone’s attention.
“Yo, who’s this?” A player who Patrick recognized as Davante Adams asked.
Travis’s grin widened. “This? This is Patrick Mahomes. He’s an equestrian, Olympic-winning, by the way, and the Hunts sponsor him. They own his horse, Arrowhead.”
A few chuckles rose up from the crowd of players as more people gathered, an impromptu NFL meeting occurring.
“So you like, ride horses?” Josh Allen, the Bills one, asked.
Patrick began nodding as a few players had scathing responses.
“He’s an equestrian, dumbass, what else would he do!?”
Patrick laughed. “It’s fine, I’ve been asked dumber questions. And I’ve been asked that question while on a horse, so there are worse times to ask it,” He said calmly. He could feel Rodger’s gaze on him and flashed the quarterback a confident smile.
“How many horses do you have?” A player Patrick didn’t recognize asked.
“In my barn? About thirty. I don’t own them all, I only own about half of them, and three-quarters of those are resale horses,” He explained, thinking fondly of Callie, his resale fail. Goddamnit, Arrowhead.
“I want a horse,” Tyreek muttered. Patrick slanted him a look .
“Not any of mine, thank you very much,” He said. A low chuckle from near him made him jump, and he made eye contact with Aaron Rodgers. Hello, blue eyes. Patrick was silently screaming as Rodgers stuck out his hand for him to shake.
“I’m Aaron, it’s nice to meet you,” The Packers’ quarterback introduced himself.
Patrick willed his brain to function. Attractive man, attractive man, attractive man. He grinned charmingly, shaking Aaron’s hand. “Nice to meet you too,” He murmured.
“How come he gets an ‘it’s nice to meet you’!? When we met the first thing you told me was to ‘fuck off’.” Tyreek’s annoyed voice filled his ears and Patrick side-eyed him.
“The first time we met, you were harassing my horse.”
“I just wanted to pet her!”
“She is worth more than you. You don’t get to just pet her-” Patrick cut himself off as Aaron gazed at him with an amused look in his eyes. He felt himself flush scarlet and turned to glare at Travis, who wasn’t even hiding his grin. The tight end knew too much about Patrick for this.
“I love horses,” The Packers quarterback spoke again, causing him to startle slightly. “Let me buy you a drink, we should talk some more.” Patrick cast Orlando a panicked look. The offensive lineman shot him a thumbs-up. These dumb motherfu-
Before Patrick knew it, Aaron had a hand on his arm and was guiding him toward a bar near the back of the rooftop. His hand was warm. Patrick was having a silent crisis. Jesus, he hated hot people.
Patrick sat down on an empty barstool, Aaron sitting next to him. Aaron leaned forward, a bartender walking over.
“What do you like to drink?” Rodgers asked, a perfect smile on his face. Patrick knew he was blushing.
“Oh, I’m not picky,” He said, before flashing Aaron a grin of his own. “You’ll find equestrians can and will drink anything, anywhere, anytime. Especially before showing.”
Aaron tilted his head, looking both curious and amused. “You sound like you have stories, you’ll have to share some,” He said, smiling before he turned around and ordered for the both of them. A few moments later, something was placed in front of the two of them. “It’s sweet, but it’s strong,” Aaron warned, picking up his own drink. “It’s a favorite of a good few of my teammates, which should be enough of a warning.” Patrick rolled his eyes, but smiled at him.
“Don’t worry, I can hold my own,” He said, picking up the drink and sniffing it. It smelled like tequila and fruit, so he shrugged and took a careful sip. When he glanced back up, Aaron was watching him curiously. Patrick met his gaze, and the quarterback’s lips curled up. It was charming. And on a man with a face like that, stupidly attractive.
“So, you’re an equestrian?” Aaron prompted, leaning back slightly. His blue gaze was friendly, and curious, but Patrick somehow felt that he was being peeled apart, layer by layer. He felt himself flush as he set down his drink and dipped his head.
“Yes, I um, I event. Three-day-events,” He explained, fiddling anxiously with his watch. “The equestrian events ended the seventh, but my events ended the second. I also show jump, but eventing is my main and I didn’t want to do both at the Olympics. Plus, my best jumper needed the break,” He rambled, glancing up at Aaron. The quarterback’s smiled widened and he leaned towards him.
“I don’t know much about show jumping or eventing,” Aaron admitted, but his eyes were bright. “Tell me about it?” He asked.
Patrick lit up like a Christmas tree. He was in love. A man as gorgeous as Aaron who was willing to listen to him ramble about his horses and his discipline? And who hopefully wouldn’t be a condescending, know-it-all, prick when he discussed them? He drop down to his knees right then, good god.
“Okay, so, eventing has three phases, and in the upper levels, is spread across three days, you have dressage, cross country, and show jumping…” Patrick began, launching into an explanation of his life . What he lived for , goddamnit. If he ever had to choose between him eating or the horses, he would choose the horses. Aaron seemed interested, which was nice. He let Patrick talk and asked questions.
The two chatted for a long while, Aaron telling Patrick what it’s like in the NFL inbetween Patrick’s horse stories. Patrick was smitten, Christ, this wasn’t fair. No one who was that pretty should be this nice . There had to be something up. It wasn’t until Travis came and grabbed Patrick by the arm, dragging him to their seats, that they separated. Patrick followed Travis, smiling, and the next morning he woke up to a text from an unknown number.
Hey, this is Aaron. Travis gave me your number, if you don’t mind?
Well, maybe he could sweet talk the Green Bay quarterback into buying him an expensive meal. Or, even better, a warmblood.