Checkmate (BxB) ✅

9: awkwardness & sexiness

Axel

It was Monday. Fourth class. Art. With Elias. My palms were sweaty as I stood in front of the door. I was terrified at what Elias would say or do. We hadn't seen each other since that awkward moment in my bedroom which screamed gay. I hadn't dared text him during the weekend to explain myself. I didn't have anything to explain. Once Drew confronted me about my feelings, I realised that my feelings for Elias were more than friendly. And that put me in deep shit.

"Yo Ax, you going in?" Ethan arrived next to me and jerked me out of my panicked thoughts.

"What? Oh yeah," I replied, trying to keep my voice level.

I opened the door to the art class and followed Ethan in. I spotted Elias in his usual seat, his chocolate brown curls flopped over his glasses as he leaned over, sketching something. I bit my lip and tried to calm my breathing as I slowly made my way over to the seat next to him and sat down. I made sure to leave a wide gap between our seats.

I darted a sideways glance at him as I unpacked my sketchpad. He was concentrated on his paper and didn't look at me.

"Hi," he said, his gaze still fixed on sketchpad.

I jumped and gulped, glad he was too concentrated to notice my turmoil.

"Oh hey," I tried to sound casual.

"Do you want to see what I'm working on?" Elias asked.

"Sure," I replied, slightly reassured by his nonchalant tone.

If he wanted to act like nothing had happened then that suited me just fine. I shifted in my seat to have a look at his work. He stopped drawing and tilted his paper up.

"See, I've noted down all the things you like that you've told me about and then sketched something symbolically related to it," he explained, pointing to his paper.

I looked with interest, and some awe. I had never realised how good a drawer he was.

"That's beautiful," I said, genuinely impressed, pointing at the small black panther he had sketched.

"Thank you," he muttered and I could see his cheeks reddening.

I wished I knew if he was blushing because he had been complimented or because of my proximity.

"Well then class, I hope you used the weekend as an opportunity to get to know your partner more," called out Miss O'Neal.

There were barely any nods and a lot of awkward side eyes. As if two completely socially opposite people would have met up on the weekend. For a school project. Wake up Miss O'Neal.

"Remember your artworks are due at the end of next week so depending on your idea you should start working on your final project as soon as possible," Miss O'Neal continued.

The class filled with chatter as people realised they had no idea what they were going to do.

"What medium are you going to work with?" Elias asked me.

Surprisingly enough, I had actually started to think about what I was going to do and I had a vague idea of the outcome I wanted.

"Clay," I replied, "And it's going to involve turtles." I winked, "What about you?"

"I'm thinking water colours on canvas so far," he replied, "And there'll definitely be a black panther." He smiled, echoing my earlier mention of his favourite animal.

"Can't wait to see what the final product will look like," I said, genuinely interested.

Elias beamed and I relaxed, glad that our 'moment' seemingly hadn't affected our friendship or whatever it was. The fact that I wished that it was more than a friendship was beside the point. We continued to chat for a bit before I jumped into the deep end.

"Hey you want to hang out after school today?" I asked Elias nonchalantly.

"Sure but don't you have soccer?" He tilted his head, before blushing as he realised that it sounded like he had kept track of my training times.

Not that I would be against that. It would be kind of cute if he had learnt my training times. But how could I expect that kind of thing from an allegedly straight boy who I had barely talked to before this project?

"Yeah," I replied, "But if you come and wait at the oval I'll leave with you afterwards and we could hang out in the park that's close by."

I waited with bated breath to see whether Elias would agree or not. He seemed to hesitate but then nodded.

"Okay, I'll wait for you after school then," he smiled.

I smiled back, hoping that he couldn't tell how excited and happy his reply had made me.

~~~

Elias

The school was empty as I made my way out of the library towards the oval. For once it was with a purpose other than admiring Axel that I headed towards the training soccer players, although I might as well do that too while I was waiting. I was so scared when he walked into class today that he would make some sort of comment. That Drew had broken his promise to secrecy and outed me. But nothing had happened. Axel had seemed awkward but then we both silently agreed to pretend that nothing had happened. Which was a relief. Somewhat.

I paused on the side of the oval. The boys were packing up, having finished their training. My eyes were immediately drawn to my golden-topped crush. He was walking my way with his teammates, towards the changing rooms.

"Hey," he smiled at me as he came up to me.

He reached behind him to grab his collar and removed his shirt in one fluid movement. I gulped. Not only was the movement hot, I had never been this close to a shirtless boy before. And this was Axel. Ripped, sexy, Axel. Whose lean and muscular body was covered with tanned skin currently covered in sweat. Which should have been disgusting apart from the fact that the drops of sweat sliding over his firm pecs and the defined ridges of his abdominal muscles (of course he had to have a six-pack) was I sight that made my pants tighten.

"Uh hi," I stammered out, having trouble concentrating on something other than Axel's beautiful chest.

I don't know if he did it on purpose to tease me or if it was an accident, but he flexed his pecs at me and I gulped as I fought my will to lie my hand on his defined muscles and dusty pink nipples. Which were erect. Damn it I couldn't do this. I ripped my eyes away from his body before I did something I would regret and before the bulge in my pants became too noticeable.

"Like what you see?" I heard Mitch chuckling beside Axel.

I rolled my eyes, not trusting my voice enough to reply. I didn't know what I could reply either. One answer would label me as gay and the other would make Axel think that I didn't find him attractive. And that was too big a lie to say.

"I'm going to go get changed and then I'll come back, okay?" Axel told me.

I nodded, avoiding his eyes. He sighed and swept past me to follow Mitch, patting my shoulder as he went. Even though I was wearing my jacket, I felt as if his touch seared right through to my skin. His musky scent of cologne mixed with grass and the salty tinge of sweat brushed over me.

A/N: Happy New Year's Eve/Happy New Year to everyone!! 🎉
May 2020 be an amazing year filled with happiness and love to you all! 🥰
In regards to Checkmate, would you like me to draw what Elias and Axel's final artworks look like when I describe them later on in the story? 🤔
Remember to vote and comment 💞