Gabriel's conscience

Gabriel was angry on Wednesday afternoon.

The day before, right after saying goodbye to Sadie and Milles, Gabriel had followed his routine home path with an empty look. In his mind thought that somewhere would be Theodore with that cute little girl.

Now, wasn't Theodore gay? So why the hell was he holding hands with a beta girl? He never saw him next to a girl in all those first months of school, and suddenly one appeared. The feeling so strange that he took possession of himself the moment he saw them in the corridor, had him march to separate them immediately.

It was not enough the great obstacle that was your captain of the volleyball team, now would arise another person to steal Theodore from him?

Gabriel had immediately stopped walking.

Steal it from him?

Who?

Theodore?

Why?

He was your friend, you could make friends with whoever you were. Wouldn't it be nice if he had friendships other than Nicolas? So that the school would stop creating strange rumours about him? He should be happy for your friend.

But he wasn't there.

― But what drug is happening to you Gabriel? ― Grumbled the boy to himself, returning to walk.

Amid his attempt to soften the confused thoughts, his eyes rose to the facade of a new cafeteria. As he lowered his attention to the window, he felt the strange sensation come out like an uncontrolled locomotive.

It was that girl next to Theodore.

The two of them together.

Laughing.

Theodore smiled so much that his little fangs were exposed. Radiated like a sun its splendour to that girl almost exclusively.

That image had stuck in his memory throughout the day. He couldn't concentrate on his studies, let alone sleep. The anguish was not only to have seen Theodore with a girl, but the reason he cared so much himself.

Why would he get that weird, disgusted feeling in his chest?

Why would your hand tingle and want to hold Theodore's wrist and rip him off?

Why did Gabriel want to monopolize Theodore?

And then on Wednesday afternoon, when the coach had gathered the team to resume training, Gabriel was in a bad mood.

― What's the matter with you, huh?

Turning his face to his friend and team-mate, Gabriel sighed denying with his head. It wouldn't be worth being honest with Milles when even he didn't get along.

― My face is better than yours, which is all screwed up.

Making a grimace, Milles passed the tip of his finger over the bruise near the eye, muttering softly.

— That kid's got a heavy hand. If you look at him, you think the wind can take him away from so small it is. But the son of a bitch is a good fighter.

― You don't get tired of fighting with him, do you?

Laughing loudly, Milles hugged Gabriel's shoulder.

— It's not about getting tired. I want to win. That's it. As long as I can't beat the little guy in a fight, I'll keep putting him through hell until I find his weakness.

Gabriel rolls his eyes the same moment the coach beeps warning the start of the warm-up. The players spread around the gym to warm up, having Gabriel the ideal sight for the door.

He could watch the arrival of Theodore in the gym accompanied by his best friend, who went to a corner to talk to the coach. Then, Nicolas went to the dressing room while the blonde opened his backpack to take a notebook continuing his conversation with the teacher.

― Tell me something, Biel. You got beat up by the little one for the blonde in the bathroom, huh?

― From whom?

― The guy over there. ― Milles was pointing with his chin at Theodore.

Moving his shoulder away from his friend's embrace, Gabriel sighed low.

― I had a little fight with Theodore, and his friend came up. Nicolas always tries to keep me away from Theodore.

― Is Theodore such a good person? You're always with him.

― He's my friend, of course he's good people. You should give him a chance to get to know him.

Milles had made a slight grimace, without averting his eyes to the assistant.

― Well... as long as you don't turn gay either, I don't care if you're still friends with him. But I don't think our captain thinks the same way.

In a way, Milles was right. Nicolas would not think the same way. Gabriel had felt in that punch a rage held only for him. From the day he met your captain, he didn't give him a smile. He didn't even say good morning when he greeted Theodore in the morning.

There was nothing out of Gabriel's mind that his captain might have any feelings for Theodore.

― Hey, Milles, do you know if the captain is like Theodore?

— What do you mean? ― Arching his eyebrow in a silent message, Gabriel waited for his friend to understand. Milles softened his expression then ― Incidentally, you will not believe it.

― In what?

— Yesterday, after we left the coordination, he tried to go after the little guy to settle the score. I said if he left you alone I wouldn't get in trouble with him either, but here comes the bomb. ― Milles approached Gabriel to then whisper to him ― The captain assumed he is also gay.

― What?

Gabriel's cry had echoed throughout the gym, making the other players turn to the two friends. Milles gave a push to Gabriel's head, who had apologized for the overreaction.

― Did he say that in every word? Who was gay?

― I actually said that he and Theodore are not ashamed to say that they like other guys. That should be a statement, no?

The brown eyes returned to Theodore, who opened a simple smile to Nicolas who had returned from the locker room in his physical education uniform. The two talked and soon separated, having the blonde going to sit on a bench to make some note in his notebook.

And as usual, Nicolas entered the court to warm himself by shooting Gabriel and Milles with his typical bad mood.

Would that mean that Nicolas was really jealous of Theodore with Gabriel? Is that why he be so skittish, trying to get them to distance themselves at all costs? Gabriel imagined that the only reason would be his friendship with Sadie, who had already been explained in his early days of class.

But now he wasn't so sure.

A sly smile appeared on Milles' face, which caused several different types of shivers on Gabriel's back.

― It seems that the husband is very jealous of his wife.

― Come on boys, today we will train the reception of you. In training!

After the call of the coach, Gabriel had no chance to question his friend about the reason for that stupid smile on his face. He would certainly do something just to provoke Nicolas. If it were that, Gabriel wanted to stay out.

Volleyball training was drawn to the players, who were five days free to study for the first tests. With few remaining, training returned to prepare the team for the next week's qualifiers.

Gabriel had found there a way to try to rid his mind of the thoughts that had bothered him so much in the last twenty-four hours. Which was a total failure, because while waiting in line to receive the ball, his eyes fled to the bench where Theodore was sitting.

And then their looks met.

Ah, Theodore was watching him train.

A smile appeared on Gabriel's lips, being imitated by Theodore. Poor heart that accelerated to see the blonde watching him and driving a shy smile. Gabriel still raised his hand waving, but the other did not reciprocate.

Theodore had looked around before raising his hand and waving back, shy and hidden.

Biting his lower lip without hiding the happiness of being well with his friend, Gabriel widened his dazzling smile without diverting his attention. He realized that the more he stared at the omega, the more he was embarrassed trying to look away. But always spying to see if Gabriel still looked.

When it was his turn the alpha had positioned himself at the bottom of the court watching the teacher lift and cut the ball. Coming towards him, Gabriel flexed his knees stretching his arms forward, feeling the ball hit his hands. Playing as high as he could on the other side of the net, impressing the other players with the good play.

Returning to the back of the line, Gabriel looked back at Theodore, raising his closed fist celebrating his small victory in activity. The blonde laughed shaking his head, covering his smile with his hand trying to disguise part of the blush that took his face.

Yes, it was exactly what Gabriel wanted. It was much better to have Theodore's smile for him than to see him deliberately ignore him. He felt more alive and happy to have his friend with him.

Good thing he had insisted on resolving the misunderstanding.

Okay, he didn't smile the way he smiled at that girl in the cafeteria, but Gabriel managed to make him feel ashamed and that was a real prize. It was enough for him for now.

Training had followed its schedule with the team split in two for a training match. This time Gabriel had been on the same team as Nicolas, having to work together with the little guy lifting some balls for himself.

It was a relief that the target of the fury of the captain that time would be Milles, who was on the opposing team. Gabriel could take a break from accompanying his captain so cranky, and might laugh a bit at watching his friend sweat his shirt to try to block Nicolas's cuts.

When the match was over, the coach gathered the entire team on the court looking at a leaflet in hand, turning it to the boys.

— I was informed this morning that the school intends to create a festival to promote our team in the qualifiers. ― The athletes soon began to whisper excited, needing the teacher to sound the whistle to resume their attention. ― The main event of this festival is a kind of beauty contest, and our team was asked to choose a player to participate.

― Beauty contest? Since when do we care about cute little faces?

― I also found it strange, but apparently it was the most voted event among students.

― I bet it was Milles' little coconuts who want to see him on a stage.

― So my contact list is fuller than yours, Thunder!

The laughter among the boys dispersed their attention, and once again the teacher had to shut them with the whistle.

— Anyway, the new board is very eager to promote our team and the school at the same time. So we're gonna play by the rules. So... who's gonna represent our team?

― Shouldn't it be Milles?

― He's the only one with a chance of winning...

― I'm sorry, I've been approached to represent my class.

― How unfair, so we don't win.

― How about Gabriel? He's been doing well with the girls too.

The eyes fell on Gabriel, who until then was hugging his legs completely oblivious to the subject.

― Why are you looking at me?

― Don't you want to enter the contest to help us?

― No. ― Answered categorically, causing a wave of complaints from his colleagues.

― Come on! Are you afraid your girlfriend will fight you? I bet she would also support you entering the contest.

Gabriel cures his brow in confusion.

― But I don't have a girlfriend.

― There's no point in denying it, everyone already knows that you stayed with Milles' sister.

Lifting his uncomfortable shoulders, Gabriel looked at the bench where Theodore was standing. He was relieved to notice that the boy was wearing headphones writing something, without paying attention to the conversation.

Then he looked back at his colleagues, opening a friendly smile.

― I'm not dating Sadie, stop talking nonsense.

― It does not matter, I want to know if you will enter the contest or not. ― Scolded the coach already without patience.

Gabriel didn't care about activities like those, so he didn't want to participate. But there were several pairs of begging eyes, begging him to accept and give the team some chance to win. If he refused, the team would probably blame him for something, which would be as annoying as accepting.

In the end, Gabriel had accepted the invitation receiving the hugs of his colleagues.

― All right, then go talk to the committee that is organizing the event. In more are dismissed, we continue tomorrow.

Dismissed from training, the players got up going to the locker room. Gabriel had remained sitting on the floor sighing heavy already regretted having to participate in such an exhausting activity.

Beauty pageants seemed so superficial, that only girls would spend time enjoying them. Being the center of attention, being forced to look beautiful without them caring about the kind of personality he had... Gabriel definitely couldn't cheer up.