"Somethings going on, Mark. And you're not telling me,"said Nathan.
"Nothing is,"said Mark. "Other than you annoying me. These hang outs aren't even fun anymore."
"Look, I'm sorry, but it hurts a little, you hiding stuff from me. I tell you everything,"Nathan sighed.
"I want to tell you,"said Mark. "But there's consequences if I do."
"I won't tell anyone about it. Who would I even tell? You're the only person I talk to like this anyway,"Nathan said.
"What about that girl on the track team?"Mark asked.
Nathan laughed. "Miles? She doesn't know anything about me. We're acquaintances at best."
"You hang out with her a lot though,"Mark said.
"You're using her as an excuse. You can tell me,"said Nathan. "I won't tell anyone. Why would I? You haven't told anyone about me being gay yet, have you?"
"No."
"And I haven't told anyone about your obvious crush on Axel,"said Nathan.
"About that,"Mark said.
Nathan tried not to grin. He was finally getting somewhere.
"We kissed. Not technically, but kinda. He kissed me,"Mark blurted out.
Nathan's eyes widened. "Well, I wasn't expecting that."
"Don't lie, you definitely were,"Mark sighed.
"No! I was expecting you to like hug him, or that you finally convinced him to join the team. Not that he kissed you!"Nathan yelled.
"Don't yell! He comes up here too sometimes,"Mark said.
"How? He only came here that one time you two had a talk,"Nathan said.
"No, he said he saw us cuddling up together here or something,"Mark said.
"Oh?!"Nathan grinned, pulling Mark close and hugging him. "Is this sensual enough for you Axel?"
Nathan licked his ear and started laughing. Mark half expected Axel to jump out of a bush and get mad at him for telling Nathan about the kiss.
"Well, he clearly isn't here,"Nathan pulled away. "So, tell me, how did he end up kissing you? Tell me the whole story!"
Mark blushed as he remembered the kiss again, but he was secretly glad to be able to tell someone.
"So I was walking home from school. I genuinely completely forgot about practice yesterday. That part wasn't a lie,"Mark said. "And I saw Axel walking across the road."
"Let me guess, you stalked him!"
Mark lowered his head. "God, Nathan, you have a way of making things sound terrible. But yeah, that's exactly what I did."
Nathan curled his legs up underneath him and took a sip of water.
"So anyways, he went into a hospital. So I followed him inside."
Nathan's face went serious. "Oh. Is there something medically wrong with him?"
"No, but i'm going to keep the reason he was in the hospital private. There isn't anything wrong with him, but I feel it would be a bit disrespectful,"Mark looked down.
"That's understandable."
"So I was outside the room he was in, and then he opened the door. I fell over in shock, and he was a little annoyed with me, but he helped me up and invited me in."
"We talked for a while about why Axel was in the hospital, and then I hugged him-"
"Awww!"Nathan interrupted.
"Shut up!"Mark said. "Anyways, then he pulled away and he couldn't even look at me. Then I hugged him again."
"When does it get spicy?"
"Nathan! I swear you're lucky i'm even telling this story at all. Anyways, I left the room, and Axel walked after me. Then it happened,"Mark stopped. "Ah this feels weird talking about this. He specifically told me not to tell anyone."
"You've already told me most of the story. So you might as well finish it."
"You're right. He just pinned me against the wall and kissed my neck. I don't know why i'm so freaked out about it, it wasn't even a proper kiss. But he swore me to secrecy."
Nathan sighed and looked out into the distance. "I'm jealous. I wish that would happen to me. Sounds like something straight out of a mafia fanfiction."
Mark laughed. "That's where your mind went?"
"Yeah. Except Axel didn't have a gun. Obviously,"Nathan laughed.
Mark took a bite out of his sandwich.
"I'm worried that Nelly might like him too,"Mark blurted out.
"Nelly? Nelly Raimon?"Nathan asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. This morning before Kevin perfected his shot, I saw Axel watching us. Then Nelly pulled up in her car, got out and grabbed Axel's shirt. It looked like she was trying to kiss him,"Mark said.
"Wait, what? He wasn't into it? I know most guys at our school would kill to kiss Nelly Raimon. You've got to admit, she's good looking. And I don't even like girls,"Nathan sighed.
"Yeah. He just pushed her away and walked down to the pitch and talked to us. I wish I could've heard their conversation,"Mark sighed.
"Me too. Sounds juicy,"Nathan said. "It's still weird though. Nelly Raimon is a prude. I can't imagine her coming on to someone."
"Neither could I until today,"Mark said.