Better Sorry than Safe

27.

Sem snorted, automatically picturing it. Blake made it sound so simple. Connor had cared enough to visit him, and the odds of Connor possibly taking him back weren't completely zero. He had a shot, and he'd be an idiot not to at least try to talk to him after this whole mess.

"Okay." Sem inhaled deeply, and exhaled through his mouth, "Okay, I will."

Blake grinned. "That's the spirit! Let's go!"

Immediately following his words up by deeds, Sem hopped off the bed and strode over to the nurse, with Blake right behind him. "Ma'am, this guy over here is gonna stay with me, so I can leave right?"

The nurse lady looked up from her paperwork, glanced from Sem to Blake, and back. "Yes, you're free to go Sem." Her eyes narrowed in another one of her stern looks. "But remember to take it easy."

"Got it." Sem held up the pamphlet with information to emphasise his point, and placed the icepack on the desk. "See you. Thanks for everything."

Sem strode into the hallway next ignoring the way his body protested, and with Blake almost jogging to keep up. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"To the athletics fields," Sem replied, "I don't think Connor will be there, but maybe his friends know more."

When they turned the corner however, Sem suddenly saw Nick right ahead, hastily walking towards them. He was clearly on his way to the first aid, but stopped when he spotted Sem and Blake.

Nick's forehead creased into a frown. "Where are you going?"

Sem half wanted to just keep walking, right past Nick, avoid him all together. Shit, he wanted answers, and delaying said answers. It was all part of ripping the bandaid, Sem reminded himself. He'd done the ripping. Now he needed to deal with the exposed wound, and God, his palms were sweating.

"The nurse said I could leave."

Sem raised his shoulders in a shrug, trying to play it lightheartedly. But Nick stayed all serious and tense, his brow stayed creased.

"Well, I need to talk to you first." Nick glanced at Blake "Alone."

Blake grinned cheerfully at Nick, saluting him. "Sure, got it." He leaned closer to Sem, muttering a "good luck, I'll be outside" under his breath, before winking, and strolling out of the hallway, leaving him with Nick.

"So," Sem swallowed thickly. His mouth suddenly seemed to contain too much saliva, "Shoot. What do you have to say?"

"Uh, well, I just wanted- how are you doing?" Nick seemed to be caught off guard by Sem's directness, stumbled over his words a little, "I suppose alright then, since the nurse let you leave."

"Sure, aside from those kicks in the head I'm fine," Sem replied cautiously, not sure what to make out of Nick's nervousness, whether it was a good or bad sign. "How's the team doing?"

Nick took a deep breath. "They're still on the field training. For as far as they can focus on training now. Except for Matthew; he stomped off, pissed. The coach said he's going to get suspended. They called his parents and everything. As for the rest of em, you gave them a shocker, that's for sure. Ethan's making gay jokes," Nick shook his head, blowing some air out of his nose, "You know how Ethan does that. Tom and Charlie say you should get suspended too because you were provoking Matt. Callum doesn't understand why we're making such a huge deal out of someone being gay. Some of the other guys are weirded out, still wondering if you were even serious about what you said. Others say you're fucking Blake in the ass."

Sem's feet shuffled below him, kicking the ground. "I see."

He'd known it wasn't going to be all acceptance and one big happy rainbow family. From what Nick said, it wasn't nearly as bad as he'd expected either. But his stomach still clenched with disappointment. Somewhere, somehow, he'd still hoped that everyone would immediately be okay with it. Was Nick, though? He'd mentioned their other teammates, but he hadn't mentioned himself.

"...And what do you think?"

Nick promptly avoided all eye contact. He started gaze ping-ponging, scratching his chin. "I think I suddenly understand some of the shit you did lately a lot better."

"Yeah."

"Do you have a boyfriend or something? That why we didn't hang out much?"

"That too."

"Blake?" Nick immediately asked, making Sem's eyebrows shoot up.

"What? No!" he laughed, "Blake is just a friend. His name is Connor."

Nick blinked, tapping his index finger against his lip. "Connor? That dude you wanted to drunk dial after the clubs? That's ironic. Ethan said he bet that was your secret boyfriend."

"Betting Ethan was actually right on the money," Sem joked, "What do you know."

Nick chuckled. "So, when am I going to meet this Connor? I mean, the best friend has to approve of his bro's boyfriend..." Nick paused, scratching the back of his head. "Damn that's going to take some getting used to, changing all the jokes to guys for you."

Sem shifted in his seat, wetting his dry lips. "You're going to get used to it?"

"Are you kidding?" Nick hesitated for a second, and then playfully pushed his arm, "Gotta keep you around. You're the perfect wingman. Gets me all the girls, never out to keep them for himself."

"Hey, I'm only gay. I can't work miracles," Sem teased, pushing Nick right back.

"Great. That's just great," Nick made a show out of raising his arms and dropping them to his side again in mock-exasperation, "And I was making an effort to be nice here. Glad to know you're still your jackass self."

Sem gently elbowed Nick in the side, "Hey, I'm not suddenly a different person now, you know."

Nick's smile fell, again making place for a more serious, contemplating expression. "No, I suppose not."

He regarded Sem for a few long moments. Then he suddenly leaned in and pulled Sem into an unexpected hug. Sem tensed, but then quickly relaxed.

They rarely hugged, and it had to be the most awkward hug Sem had ever gotten from Nick, but still, the relief flooding him at Nick's acceptance made it one of the best hugs all the same. It'd definitely take a while to resolve all the awkwardness between them, but at least Nick would hug him.

After a powerful pat on the back that nearly knocked the air out of his lungs again, Nick pulled back and loudly cleared his throat.

"Now that that's out of the way. The coach actually sent me to tell you that you shouldn't leave the sport centre. Your parents are on their way here, and your mom's not happy. Coach wants to talk with you and your parents."

"You called my parents?!"

"Hey, I didn't call your parents," Nick held his hands up in defence, "But come on, you were in a fist fight, and it was bad enough to land you in a first aid bed. Of course the coach called your parents."

"Well, shit."

If his mom got her hands on him, she wasn't going to let him out of her clutches again, and he definitely wouldn't be able to go find Connor and try to fix things. He couldn't let that happen. He had to try.

"Nick, I'll come back here to sit down and talk with them, I swear," Sem said, "But I really, really want to talk to someone else first. Gotta find him. But the nurse said I shouldn't go places alone. You think we can sneak off, take a small detour before my parents get here?"

Nick looked behind him, gave the back of his neck a scratch, but finally nodded. "Fine. What did you have in mind?"