Alpha Academy BL

Chapter 59: Chapter 59

Guilt burned slow in Errol’s middle, making his food tasteless. Was it that he didn’t know or more like he just didn’t pay attention?

Had Nael not joined the swimming club because he was too busy looking after him? Did Nael feel like he had to fulfill a duty even to his own detriment?

Nael tilted his head as he studied Errol’s downcast expression. "Is something wrong?"

"Why didn’t you join the swimming club? Is it because..."

"Of you?" Nael completed, leaning over to steal Errol’s sandwiches. "No, I just have too much schoolwork to pay attention to it right now, the club will be fine even if I don’t join for two months." He tagged on, reaching out to swipe another of Errol’s sandwiches.

"Hands off, if you wanted some, you should have gotten for yourself." He scolded hoarding his plate of sandwiches.

He could taste the sweet apple and soft bread, and tender chicken again, the guilt bleeding out.

It was always so easy for Errol to make a castle out of thin air in his head and then decidedly punish himself for it. But Nael fixed that without even knowing by just being himself.

"Don’t be mean to me, I’m a poor student who has a lot of schoolwork." Nael made a fuss.

Errol sighed and immediately gave in, "Fine but take just one... not my drink!"

Nael laughed as he stole a sip, almost choking on the sweet drink.

"Are you still worried about me not joining the club?" Nael asked quietly after the ruckus had passed, he had done it to distract Errol but he could still see that it was still on his mind.

Errol looked away, his grip tightening on his cup.

"I don’t mind if you are." Nael shrugged.

This brought Errol’s pale blue eyes back to him. "A little." He admitted.

"How about we make a deal?" Nael offered, his haze-gold eyes harboring mischief.

Errol cocked a brow, wondering what this had to do with anything. "A deal?"

"Yes, I join the team and you try out for the Track club."

Errol shrank back visibly at this, making Nael quickly backtrack, his fist clenched tight even as he tried to reassure the older Alpha. "You don’t have to if you don’t want to, I don’t know why I said that."

"No, no, it’s fine, you did nothing wrong." Errol glanced down, wondering why the very thought of joining the track club was abhorrent.

Nael sighed when Errol said nothing after that. "Are you ready to leave?"

Errol seemed to have been lost in thought for a while because he started and then rose to his feet.

The Errol Nael used to know was good at running, he also loved to run, but then Seton happened.

Errol at the same time was deep in thought as they made their way down the covered walkways. Truthfully, he hadn’t thought of joining the Track club although he already ditched the Painting club that he had been made to join.

’What was stopping him from joining the track club?’ Seton was no longer here to tell him how ugly he looked when he was fit.

Also, Nael agreed to join the Swimming team if he considered joining track. Errol wanted that because he still felt guilty about Nael neglecting his own hobbies for his sake. That decided it, Errol was going to give track a try.

Nael’s fist remained clenched even as they entered the dorm, fantasizing about meeting Seton in a dark corner.

"Nael?" Errol finally spoke up as they rounded the corner to their dorm room.

Nael looked at him. "Hm?"

"I’m going to join the Track club," Errol said, determination cooling his pale blue eyes.

Nael blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"But you also have to join the Swimming team, you made the deal." He scolded with a finger up.

Nael wrapped a hand around Errol’s outstretched finger, sunlight dancing in his hazel eyes. "Deal!" He grinned.

Errol pulled his finger and stepped away, slightly flustered. "That’s an odd way to do a pinky promise." He muttered, opening the door to their dorm room.

Although, it was easier said than done... "I can’t just join right away though," He started to ramble as he went through the motions of undressing so that he could get in Nael’s clothes. freewebnoveℓ.com

"I haven’t run in over a year, what’s more, I might have lost my skill." He went on but Nael wasn’t worried, the determination was still sparkling in Errol’s eyes.

"I did try out for the club in my first week and I was accepted, do you think they’d let me back in?" He looked to Nael hopefully.

Nael shrugged, getting comfortable on the bed with a large textbook. "You’ll never know till you give it a try. How about we both go next weekend?" He suggested, flipping a page over.

Errol fell silent as he thought about it, the prospect was still a little scary. Was it really fine for him to do what he wanted?

"Do you need help with that?" He offered to Nael when he saw him frowning at the page he was reading.

Even as he went over to help Nael, he thought that he could certainly do it if the other Alpha said he could.

"Do you think I’ll be able to run as I used to?" He blurted out after teaching Nael for a while.

Nael became very serious. "Does it matter? It doesn’t matter how you run, what matters is why you do it."

Why Errol did it? Because he wanted to! He had no interest in being the best or winning competitions, he just wanted to run.

He smiled, "Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind, now do you have any questions?" He asked, bringing Nael’s attention back to the textbook.

Nael didn’t bother looking at the book, although he probably should because there would be a test the next day but all he did was stare at Errol’s face, his smile had gotten more animated, his eyes lighting up even the littlest bit.

"Hey! Are you even paying attention?" Errol flicked Nael’s forehead to stop him from zoning out.