"Sure," I said. I guessed she'd heard Dafydd and me chatting earlier.

"Yeah, call him what you like," said Artie, who is to be perfectly honest a bit of a dickhead when he's got a drink in him. "Hoo'l. What I mean to say is -"

"Are you so drunk you can't pronounce his name, or are you just too much of a cock? Because either way, you should go home."

Now, Artie was getting defensive, which isn't his strength, really. "Who gives a shit? I know he doesn't, is it just about how bloody beautiful you think Welsh is?"

And... there's something that happens around Sophie. Where it all goes quiet. Like nobody's talking, but more than that, nobody's moving, nothing can make a sound or she'll just blow it apart. There's a prey instinct, there. You freeze.

And then she starts yelling, screaming really, top of her lungs, face going red, ear-splitting volume, like she's going to bring down the walls of Jericho. I swear a wineglass broke. And of course it's all in Welsh. She's calling him a fucker, an idiot, a pustule, and - a lot of the oaths are the same, actually, so I think he got the picture, if he wasn't going deaf.

"Anyway. She realized afterward she'd made a terrible mistake, because I was in love with her, and even rupturing Artie's eardrums wasn't worth that. But, you know. No backsies."

"Oh, you poor sod. Yes I can see why, she sounds lovely. Now, how in love are we speaking, here?"

"Entirely. Fundamentally. Madly. I'd do anything for her. I'd climb the highest mountains, swim the deepest seas - she once told me, you know, that it doesn't mean anything when I say that, because how would it matter, what would it do for her if I climbed those mountains, and so I offered to kill for her, and she just rolled her eyes and told me to stick to mountains."

...he giggles. "She really does strike me as a woman who can do her own murders."

Then he gets a little bit more serious. Not too serious, this needs a light touch, but... "Would you, in fact, do all of that for her? What would you do, really, if you had a real shot at being with her?"

"...just what I said. If she had some condition, I'd fulfill it, or try to. If she actually did ask me to swim the Channel, I'd practice until I could. If she wanted me to beat a man for her, I'd put him in hospital. But she doesn't want anything from me, so I'm stuck."

Hmmm. He supposes they'll see. There's always a chance the story is actually about finding him someone else. Or maybe about him learning to be happy on his own? Pete's open to many possibilities.

But he's shipping them.

He finishes his water. "Let's get back to the game."

"Let's!"

Game on! Game off. To the showers.

In which Pete should once again pretend to need them for the sake of appearing nonmagical.

And potential fringe benefits! Like an entire rugby team's worth of beefcake.

...once again, so glad for the "no inconvenient jiggles" feature.

Hywel smirks at him regardless. (He doesn't have any such protection, but nobody seems to care very much.)

...seriously? Does he just get hard in the showers every time, does he not get used to it, or is it just that Pete's novel. For that matter Pete didn't think he'd gotten hard back at the dorm? He supposes Hywel had been wearing clothes, he guesses there's no way for him to know.

........also he cannot not wink at Hywel right back. He just can't. No flirting rules or not it just happens on instinct, when a boy is just so openly attracted to him, it happens without a thought and he's sticking with that story forever tysm.

Artie slugs Hywel on the shoulder as he passes. "I swear you only play for the changing room after."

"Oh no, my dark secret," Hywel says very dramatically. "Now everyone will know that I like boys."

"Fucker," Artie laughs, and moves on.

"Should I not be encouraging you, should I be stern or something. Do not flirt with boys in the locker room. Did I do well?"

"Not even God could stop me. What do you care?"

"Oh I don't, it just wouldn't do to have two shameless perverts in this locker room, now, would it."

"Of course it would. We could pincer the bastards."

"...you make a very compelling point."

"I've got no specific plans as yet, but it won't hurt to have both of us onboard in case." And he heads into the showers.

Hywel doesn't actually start anything. His erection doesn't go down the whole time, but it's not like that's under his autonomous control, for all that he'll joke about it. He just takes in the scenery, not staring but not averting his eyes either, and gets himself clean. Maybe a little slower than the others.

Pete is pretty sure this is a dating sim and not a BL kinda genre so probably there isn't anything to be started. He won't start anything himself, anyway, at least until the universe gives him a sign that it would be appropriate for the genre. And, as mentioned, he doesn't get an erection, thanks to magic. ...but if Hywel would like a little bit of a show Pete would not be opposed to giving him one. Can he straddle the line well enough to not creep his other teammates out while doing that?