Monday

Ben frowned as his phone kept buzzing while he was hurrying to get to school in time. He really should’ve gone home earlier the night before. But he couldn’t possibly tell his manager he wanted to go home instead of meeting possible sponsors who could help him secure his future even more.

School wasn’t important to his manager, since his father had made it pretty clear he didn’t want Ben to waste his time on school if he could spend the same time practicing his skills on ski’s to make sure he could make a living out of it.

He was talented enough, that much was sure.

And if he would manage to win the End of Season tournament a second time in a row, he was sure he’d gain attention from enough sponsors to aim bigger next season. If he’d win, his father was even taking him to a ski resort where he could practice during summer, as to not slack off in those months.

School was merely a formality he had to attend until he was an adult.

Still, Ben really wanted a diploma, just in case.

And coming in late every time was starting to annoy his teachers. Using his excuse that it was his manager and his sponsor that had kept him up late was getting pretty old. Frankly, Ben was surprised school still hadn’t punished him severely for being late so many times before.

The buzzing in his pocket was getting annoying, and he was too curious by nature to ignore it. He retrieved his phone from his pocket as soon as he knew he was going to make it to class in time, opening the dozens of messages he had on Discord.

He really needed to leave that stupid chat. The only reason he ever even joined a gossip chat about Milan Lohmann was because he wanted to know when…

…he’d be back.

“He’s back?” Ben whispered in surprise, looking at the dozen pictures that had caused every channel to blow up in the first place.

Milan Lohmann had showed up in school, and everybody seemed excited about it. Ben, on the other hand, cursed. If Milan was back, he could possibly decide on joining the tournament that meant so much to Ben. And Ben hadn’t been able to beat him so far.

But Ben liked a challenge, and Milan’s reappearance could be the small push he needed to kick it up a notch. Milan’s rivalry had previously pushed him to his max, and once Milan was gone, Ben had found it rather hard to stay motivated. The other contestants hardly seemed to be a challenge.

Maybe this could be exactly what he needed to push himself, and finally learn a few new tricks that he simply hadn’t been able to master yet.

Yes, this could be good.

Maybe, if he had a new—or old—reason to try harder, he’d succeed in making his father proud. Maybe, just maybe, his father wouldn’t think of him as a lazy piece of shit that wasn’t worth much of his time.

The only time he ever saw his father was whenever he was being successful in skiing. All other accomplishments didn’t matter to him any longer. Not ever since he had introduced Lennox at home, as his boyfriend, and he had dared to tell his parents and his three older brothers that he was bisexual and dating a guy.

If he could, he’d go back in time and decide on staying in the closet safely, because it had changed everything at home. His brothers started acting differently around him. They started pretending he was a girl, they’d make weird comments whenever he was watching something on TV. Swimming, for instance, was a no-go now that they knew he was attracted to men as well. They’d never fail to comment on him, watching nearly naked men, while he was simply watching because he appreciated most sports.

It wasn’t like he was into every  guy.

He hadn’t even met a guy, other than Lennox, that he was attracted to.

Well, not until Milan fucking Lohmann disappeared into thin air, and everyone had been talking about him non-stop. Even Ben’s victory during the big tournament last year had been in the shadows of Milan’s absence.

It had subsequently caused him to pay more attention to it as well, reading into Milan, to figure out what happened. At first, simply because he wanted to yell at the guy for fucking everything up. For pulling everyone’s attention away from his first ever real victory.

And then, because he got worried, after learning about a terrible accident that happened in the half-pipe, in right about the same week Milan had been last seen in public.

For some reason, Milan—or his manager—hadn’t wanted media to write about it. For some reason, they didn’t want anyone to know what had happened. And by the time Ben had figured out it had been in fact Milan who had been rescued from the mountain by a trauma helicopter, Ben was in too deep.

Too deep in those bright blue eyes, charming smiles and endless stream of jokes. Ben was deeply impressed by his biggest rival. Which was why he hadn’t ever told anyone about the accident either.