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“I didn’t think you liked football,” Garona said with a smile, piercings glinting under the stadium lights. Khad had known her for a while but they never really hung out besides during lunch and AP French. They did homework together during lunch and chatted. She didn’t care that he skipped a grade and he didn’t care that she could totally kick his ass - it was a good system.
Khad shrugged, “I think it’s alright.”
“Volleyball is better.” She said unsurprisingly. Rona was the captain of Azeroth High’s Women’s Volleyball team. She was also probably the fiercest competitor Khad had ever met, including Lothar. Which was hilarious because they were always each other’s date for dances, despite not even liking each other. They even competed about who would lead during slow dances. Khadgar figured it was just a convenient match of power.
Garona invited him to sit with her and Draka, her co-captain. He agreed and followed her to the bleachers, peering to the field every so often to see if Lothar was out of the locker room yet. He wasn’t.
He smiled and waved at Draka as he sat down, but his eyes were still focused on the field. Draka and Garona raised their eyebrows at each other because Khad really couldn’t be any more obvious. Rona whispered something into Draka’s ear and she laughed, regaining Khad’s attention.
“What?” He asked, feeling as though he was missing something.
Garona shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, Khad. Lothar will be out there soon.”
Khad plucked a loose thread on his sweater, “I’m not looking for Lothar.” He hated that it was so easy to tell. But what was wrong with Khad waiting for his friend to appear, anyway? Lothar had invited him after all. It was normal to be excited to see a friend.
The tight compression shorts are just a bonus, Khad thought and immediately shooed the idea away. He had to get a hold of himself. Lothar was just a football player who he tutored and sometimes, occasionally, didn’t hate.
The cheerleaders started waving their pom poms in the air and the crowd cheered as the Azeroth High Knights ran onto the field. Khad started cheering along with Garona and Draka and definitely didn’t have a big, bright grin when he saw Lothar.
“Do you know the rules of the game?” Draka asked, passing popcorn down to Khad and pulling napkins out of her purse. She was totally the ‘mom’ friend.
Khad smirked, remembering what Lothar had told him before, “I hear it’s kind of like chess.”
Draka and Rona looked at each other and nodded. “Pretty much. Just a lot more tackling.” Garona said with a mouthful of popcorn and Draka made a face at her that said manners, young lady. Garona closed her mouth.
———
By half-time the Knights were beating the Chieftains by 15 points and Khad was surprised that he actually enjoyed watching the game. It was so much different seeing one in real life than it was watching it on the tv. Maybe he’d come to another one of Lothar’s games.
He and Draka were walking towards the concessions stand and she was telling him about Durotan - her boyfriend who was one of the linemen for the Chieftains. She smiled slyly, “Football players make the best boyfriends.”
Khadgar shrugged, trying to fight the butterflies in his stomach, “I wouldn’t know.”
Draka smirked, “You will.” Khad bit back a smile and tried to act like he had no idea what she was insinuating.
———
There was only two minutes on the clock and the Knights were barely leading by 3 points. Khad was on the edge of his seat, willing the time to go faster. He’d seen how Lothar was the day after he had lost a game. Khad didn’t want to know how he acted immediately after losing.
Draka was trying to remain impartial but obviously she wanted her boyfriend to win. Garona rolled her eyes at both of them and sipped on the remainder of her drink. This was precisely the reason she didn’t want, or need, a boyfriend.
The Knights were trying to hold their ground but slowly the Chieftains were gaining yards. It was agonizing, hearing the whistle blow every few seconds and the coaches yelling for time outs. The constant stop-start was like being stuck in a traffic jam. Khad started watching the game between the gaps of his fingers.
“You think this is going to go into overtime?” Garona asked. Draka and Khadgar replied in unison by shushing her. “Seriously?” They shushed her again and she shook her head at them.
Ten yards were left before the Chieftains got into the end zone and there was fifteen seconds on the clock. Khad had no idea if that meant there was enough time to make a play or not, but he really didn’t want to know. He just wanted the clock to run out.
The referee’s whistle blew at thirteen seconds and he threw a yellow flag on the ground. “Fifteen yard penalty,” Garona translated for Khad, “One of the Chieftain’s defensive players just face-masked one of our guys.”
“For fuck’s sake, Orgrim,” Draka jumped up and yelled. “Now is not the time!”
Garona slurped her drink, “Apparently Grim did it.”
Khad nodded and watched the clock tick down the seconds as the next play happened. Twelve, eleven, ten, nine…
And suddenly, the game was over. The Azeroth High fans were cheering as the fans for the other team grumbled. Draka shrugged, her mouth in a flatline, “Good game. Grim blew it.”
Garona nodded in agreement and Khad would have said something but his eyes were focused on Lothar.
“Come on, might as well go say ‘hi’ to everyone.” Rona said, leading the way down the stands. Khad suddenly became nervous to see Lothar, as if he hasn’t been spending most of his time with him for the past few months.
As they made it to the field Garona tapped Lothar on the shoulder and Lothar turned around with a smile. Nobody but Khad noticed but his smile dropped for a fraction of a second, “Oh, hey Garona. Draka,” he paused, smiling again at Khad, “Bookworm.”
Garona congratulated him on the game before walking with Draka to the other team. It was just Lothar and Khad now.
Lothar played with his helmet, tossing it between his hands. “Did you like the game?”
“Of course, although I did almost have heart attack for the last few minutes of it.” Khad said and Lothar bellowed out a laugh.
“I’m starving. Are you still up for burgers?” Lothar asked, his damp hair hanging around his face. It didn’t matter how much Khad liked him, even he had to admit that Lothar smelled. Sweat and grass evidently did not make a good combination.
Khad scrunched up his nose and took a step back, “Are you going to take a shower first.”
Lothar rolled his eyes, “Yes, bookworm, I am going to take a shower first.”
“Then yes, we can go get burgers.”
———
“Lothar no,” Khad was in horror of how many burgers Lothar just ordered. Five burgers. With five orders of fries and a chocolate shake. His heart was going to stop beating and he was going to keel over and die in this diner and Khad was going to have to tell the cops it was suicide via burger.
“Lothar yes.”
Khad, a reasonable human, had ordered one burger, one order of fries and one strawberry shake. “You are a monster.”
The waitress was completely unfazed, seeing as how the entire football team was also in this diner, celebrating their victory. If they had any patty’s left for tomorrow Khad would be very surprised. Every so often a teammate or cheerleader or someone would approach Lothar and pat him on the back, saying he did good. Lothar smiled and took it humbly, which also surprised Khad.
“You can’t actually eat all that, can you?” Khad asked, after one cheerleader left, who was a bit too handsy for Khad’s taste. He fought the jealousy that was boiling under his surface. He had no right to be jealous.
Lothar grinned, his canine teeth seeming sharper - down right carnivorous. “Watch me.
———
God, help us, Khad thought, his jaw dropped, he’s actually eating all of it.
“But…But how?” Khad asks, dipping a fry into his strawberry milkshake. “Aren’t you in pain?”
“From the game? Yes. From the burgers,” Lothar paused to burp. Ew. “No.”
Khad barely finished his burger and half of his fries were still waiting for him. How can someone eat that much food? And in such a short amount of time. “That was terrifying.”
“Why do you you think they call me a lion?” Lothar asked, stealing a sip of Khad’s shake. Khad swatted his arm because Lothar probably shouldn’t consume anymore food and also he was going to drink that.
“Honestly,” Khad smirked and held back a laugh, “For awhile I thought it had to do with your hair.” Khad wasn’t sure if he had heard anyone laugh so hard.
“You’re strange, bookworm.” Lothar said with a smile that should not have been giving Khad butterflies. Khad should be insulted but instead he’s smiling back like an idiot.
“Good strange or bad strange?”
“The best kind of strange.”
Your kind of strange? Khad wondered but didn’t dare ask. That would be ridiculous. Like really, really ridiculous. Like Khad would have to pinch himself because there would be no way that that could be reality, ridiculous.
Lothar’s fingers were in his face, snapping. “Still with me, Khad.”
Khad nodded and bit his tongue to keep from saying something stupid like ‘always’.