Words

Leon paid for the room, while the receptionist looked at him with sympathy and obvious appreciation. It was understandable, they came in at dawn and it was already 10 a.m. considering that most of the couples rented the rooms only for a two-hour shift or at most, a double shift: 8 hours difference was definitely enough. 

The morning was pleasant, winter that year was late in coming, the sun was shining behind the clouds but somehow he felt overwhelmed. He has always considered himself a lucky guy, but in that moment he couldn´t avoid feeling troubled. 

He went to one of the nearby ATMs to check what he already feared, his father had cancelled his cards but it didn't matter to him, what did surprise him was that he still hadn't found out about his feat. 

He smiled to himself. Same day his father kicked him out, he made a big withdrawal of money, afterwards he opened a new account and practically emptied the account they had jointly opened with his father. He kept wondering if his father would say anything once he realizes that in their joint account there was a remaining amount of 10 usd. He smiled satisfied with his own actions.

Maybe he was a lucky boy after all.

#

It was already 4 pm, Numa was busy packing his stuff for the training session later on. He has to find a way to get rid of Leon before 7 pm, he couldn't stay so late again and he shouldn't arrive late to the trainings. 

Grandmother looked at him, and worried mentioned.

"Numa, honey, that friend of yours has been waiting outside for about 10 minutes, why don't you tell him to come up?"

"I'm ready Grandma!" he replied.

Numa smiled at her and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as he grabbed his bag and bolted for the door.

No way, he didn't want to invite anyone into his house.

He hurried down the stairs. Leon was waiting for him leaning against the car, this time he was only wearing a white shirt and jeans, but surely unconsciously there was a touch of elegance in his way of dressing. Well it was normal, he had probably inherited it from his father, considering the social circles where he moved, influential people were quite careful when it came to dressing and manners, probably he had become accustomed to it.

Leon waved a paper at him, nervously, as Numa got into the car with him. Leon quickly held it out to him, and turned on the radio while Numa read carefully what Leon prepared for him. Most of them places noted down were to be seen at noon and only 2 were for the afternoon, there were certain notes next to the phone numbers regarding the qualities of the apartment and the corresponding price, the young man frowned, the costs were quite high.

Leon shifted uneasily in his seat.

"If your dad's paying for this then it's fine."

Leon snatched the sheet out of his hand with a furious expression on his face.

"I don't have a father."

Numa was surprised, at the expression of hatred on Leon's face".

"Then we must look for something more accessible."

Numa went over all the original listing of Leon, picked three different options and handed it over to Leon.

"Here you go,"

After some phone calls that Numa had to make upon Leon's request and after a long talk, they managed to get a few appointments. They went to take a look at the first apartment, Leon reached an agreement right ago with the agent, which to Numa´s surprised was surprisingly fast.

Despite that, Leon came out evidently dissatisfied, his companion looked at him sideways with a face that hid little.

"I know, don't say anything, I'm not in the mood."

"Leon, you are lucky. They didn't ask for a warranty and that's a miracle."

"Well, being related to a politician had to be useful for something, don't you think?"

It was obvious that he was not comfortable with the idea that he hardly had any knowledge or even power.

"What now," Leon asked as he came around a corner.

Numa looked at his phone with concern.

"I'm sorry, I have to go now. Could you give me a ride to El Salvador Street?"

It was three blocks before the gym, but he didn't want to think about increasing the proximity and the risk of Leon knowing the address. 

"Sure"

answered Leon, as he looked at his bag with curiosity.

"Are you going to the gym?

Numa looked at him with a strange look.

"Not going right now, this belongs to a colleague and I have to give it back to him."

Once arrived, Leon parked the car and got out, before the somewhat questioning look of Numa, who looked at his phone again thinking that the coach would surely tell him off.

"Thank you for everything," Leon approached him slowly.

Numa smiled faintly.

"When will we see each other? "he asked impatiently.

"Call me and we'll arrange it, I have to dance on Saturday so I'll be a little busy," Numa answered.

"I could come and see you," he smiled mischievously.

Numa replied with a smile, he didn't know how to get away anymore, and he was running late.

"I'll let you go, you seem to be in a hurry."

"I'll wait for your call, okay?"

Leon approached, and in the fraction of a second grab him by the neck to kiss him softly. Numa felt his heart beating fiercely against his chest, he knew there were people in the street.

Leon broke the kiss slowly, winked at him, while he caressed his burning cheek with a finger.

"Red suits you," he whispered before turning and getting into the car in a hurry.

Numa felt strange, he turned his eyes towards the street, a woman was looking at him and he felt himself blushing even more. It was the first time someone kissed him in the street in broad daylight on a busy street, how such a simple and silly gesture could make him such a fool.

He felt ashamed because he learned to hide that kind of thing from people. He took a deep breath and started walking while thinking over and over about the kiss.

He liked Leon's personality from the beginning: he was open, shameless, fearless, and he always did whatever he wanted. He lived his life freely without hiding from anyone, and facing everything.

That courage, that attitude was something that aroused admiration, he would have liked to behave like that naturally but he knew it was not possible. He smiled bitterly, what would one of the young men of the boxing team say if he found out that there was a "faggot" in the team, he would surely get the beating of his life. He leaned against the wall and let himself almost fall.

"Pathetic" he thought of himself as he watched the people on the street. If only he could be as authentic as Leon was.