Justin showed up at Josh’s door at exactly one-thirty. After the training he’d went through with his father to please him, focusing extra hard so he could leave early, he’d quickly went up to their room. He’d taken a quick shower and got dressed, then nearly sprinted to Josh’s room to tell him they could go. He knocked impatiently and smiled when Josh opened the door.

“I thought you stood me up.” Josh commented as he saw who it was. Justin shook his head, his smile falling a little.

“I had to convince my dad.” Justin watched as Josh walked back in the room, leaving the door open. Justin took it as an invitation and walked after him.

“You still want to go right?” he asked, a little insecurely.

Josh nodded till his relieve. “Of course, I was just afraid you forgot.”

Justin shook his head. “I wanted to come, I wouldn’t forget.”

Josh smiled now too as he saw the sincerity of the boy reflected in his eyes.

“Well let’s go then.”

Justin didn’t know what came over him. They passed a bowling alley and before he knew it, words left his mouth his brain apparently felt he needed to express.

“Let’s go bowling.” His brain apparently thought it was a good idea.

“You wanna go bowling on our first date?” Josh asked incredulously.

They’d had such a good time thus far. They’d strolled the mall and talked as they went. They’d had a bit to eat and they’d both forgotten all about the tournament and the fact that they were really opponents. It didn’t matter, at the moment they were just enjoying each other’s company and to Josh this bowling idea Justin seemed to have would prove to be a big disaster. Justin however seemed to think it was a good idea as he nodded in determination to Josh’s question. His pride was talking and Josh wanted to stop this. He didn’t want to ruin their date and so he shook his head.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Justin’s eyes lit up as he asked challenging, “Afraid you’ll lose?”

Josh stiffened, drawing his shoulders. “No, I’m afraid you’ll lose.” And it will ruin our date. He added inwardly. Justin scowled.

“We’ll just see about that,” he said hotly then took off towards the entrance, leaving Josh to follow. And with a sigh and the hundred percent certainty that this could not end well, he followed his date inside.

Josh was saddened to realize the easygoing mood they’d both been in today was totally gone. It was completely replaced with an atmosphere of competition and rivalry, something that Josh had absolutely wanted to avoid on this day off. However Justin seemed really into it, he prepared every shot with a controlled sense of technique and strategy. Josh knew this was not about having fun. Justin was here to win.

They were neck to neck. Only one more frame and both were able to win this. Justin had a slight disadvantage of having to go first. And then although if Justin would be able to knock all the pins down, Josh would only need to strike down eight pins and he’d be the winner. Justin watched nervously as Josh got up and went to retrieve a ball, ready to win this game and make him a loser.

Josh prepared his shot carefully: his index, middle and ring finger tugged in the holes while supporting the ball with his left hand, holding it up to his cheek in concentration.

However somewhere during the preparation of the throw and the few short steps he took before releasing the ball, it seemed he’d decided to miss and let Justin win. This date meant more to him than winning and if that meant he had to lose to keep the relationship they’d built today, he would do it. Satisfied he watched as only six out of the ten pins tumbled to the ground as the ball hit them. He changed his expression however before he turned to face Justin.

Justin scowled at him when he turned around. Josh was surprised, anticipating a smug grin instead of this glare.

“You missed.” Justin stated.

Josh nodded, although he hadn’t missed them all, there were four left standing but that wasn’t what Justin meant. He meant he’d left four up and Josh still didn’t understand the anger in his voice.

“Yes?”

“On purpose.”

Josh frowned. “What?”

“I saw it Josh, you missed that shot on purpose!”

“No, I didn’t.” Josh denied, although if he was completely honest with himself he had to admit that he had not missed that shot accidentally.

“Yes you did!” he nearly yelled.

Josh sighed, “Fine, I missed on purpose so what?”

“That’s not why we came here!”

“Then why did we come here?”

“To win!” Justin said in the heat of the moment.

Josh snorted. “Funny. I actually thought we came here to have fun,” Justin squirmed.

“Guess I was wrong,” he stated before grabbing his jacket and turning to leave.

Justin watched in shock as Josh stormed out of the bowling alley. He couldn’t move to stop him, didn’t know if he even wanted to. He scowled as he turned back to the bowling lane they’d played on, the four pins Josh had left up on purpose were still standing there, waiting for someone to finish the game. Justin walked towards the lane in a few short strides, he picked up a ball and almost threw it at the pins. They all tumbled over. He was even angrier after that. He plumped down on a hard plastic stool and dropped his head in his hands.

Josh had let him win and that angered him, Josh didn’t have to baby him. He didn’t have to let him win because he thought he couldn’t handle it otherwise. Justin knew he would be angry if Josh had won as well but it would be different. He would be angry with himself, now he was angry at Josh. Justin sighed heavily, if he was honest he knew he wasn’t really angry at Josh. He knew this bowling thing had been a bad idea but he honestly hadn’t known what had come over him. Maybe it was pride or that he wanted to prove something to Josh. But what? And why had he even felt the need to prove something to him? They weren’t competing, they’d been having fun and Justin realized… he’d ruined it. He kicked himself mentally. He’d ruined their date. How could he be so stupid? He kicked at the chair’s leg, then got up quickly. He needed to find him, he needed to apologize for acting like a complete asshole.

“Here.” Justin offered softly as soon as the door opened and he was met with Josh’s angry scowl.

“What’s this?” Josh wondered, although you could see he’d promised himself to not make this easy on Justin. There was reserve in his question and trepidation in his movements as he reached out to take the single piece of paper Justin was holding out for him.

“It’s a peace offer.” Josh unfolded the paper and saw instantly he was looking at game scores.

“What is this Justin?” he questioned frustrated although he knew what it was, he was just wondering what the hell Justin was trying to do.

“I got it when I paid for our game of, bowling,” he said the last word quietly, shame taking away his volume.

“These are our scores, you won Josh.” Justin said, thinking this could make it better.

“You still don’t understand,” Josh said simply then stepped back to close the door in his face. Justin was shocked as Josh started to close the door and quickly shoved his foot in front of it to stop it from happening.

“What?” he questioned truly confused.

“You don’t understand what this is about, just go.” Josh said again, trying once again to close the door but Justin didn’t move his foot and the door wouldn’t close if he didn’t.

“Then tell me!” he cried, thinking he was screwing up all over again.

“Just explain to me what this is about.” Josh sighed, finally giving up on trying to close the door, it obviously wasn’t working and Justin wasn’t willing to leave.

“You come here with this to show me I won the game. You don’t get that I don’t care about the fucking game. I don’t care about winning. I was having a really good time with you till we went bowling. Winning obviously is everything to you and I’m sorry but… I don’t want to go out with someone who puts winning above everything else.” Josh explained, he really hated to do this. He really liked Justin but if winning indeed meant everything to him, it wasn’t worth it. Justin was too dumbfounded to react but once Josh started closing the door again he quickly snapped out of it.

“Wait! Okay, okay.” Justin caved.

“I understand, I’m sorry it was a stupid idea to go bowling and it was even stupider to give you that,” Justin said as he gestured towards the piece of paper Josh still held in his hand.

“But I meant well, with the peace offer I mean. The bowling idea, I don’t know why I thought that was a good idea and I’m sorry I got caught up in the whole thing. Winning is important to me but not the winning itself. I just, can’t… help it,” he let out softly, slumping in defeat. Josh’s angry scowl disappeared somewhat, his attention peaked.

“What do you mean?” Justin sighed, then looked up.

“Can we, um, go inside?” Justin asked, not wanting to discuss this out here in the hallway.

“Eric is inside.” Josh said as an answer, as if that should explain it. But it did.

“Come on.” Josh suddenly said, taking Justin’s hand and letting the door shut behind him.

He took him to the end of the hallway and around the corner. There was another hallway but there was also a niche that overlooked the street. There was a small table and a couch. Josh pulled Justin down to sit, then faced him. Justin looked a little nervous, he was gazing down at his hands and kept quiet. Josh gently took his hand and Justin looked up.

“Why can’t you help but want to win?” Josh asked quietly, wanting to continue their conversation. Justin eyed him suspiciously, obviously debating with himself whether or not he should reveal this. But he knew that he could either keep his secret or he could keep Josh. He chose Josh.

“I don’t enjoy winning, I can’t honestly say I enjoy the game even it’s just… my father.”

There.

He’d said it.

“Your father?” Josh urged him on.

Justin nodded. “I was into basketball for a long time. I loved it, loved the game and I really loved to play. My dad ruined it. Once my mom was gone he started to come to all the games and I mean all of them. He came to a lot of my games before but he just went overboard after that. He never missed a game. He pushed me to compete and of course to always, always win. It got so bad I decided to quit, he was really mad at me but I didn’t care, I was mad at him too. He’d ruined all the fun I had in playing basketball. For a while I did nothing but after a few months I really wanted to play sports again. I picked up bowling. I knew football and baseball would cause the same pushiness from my father and I kind of liked bowling and most importantly I knew my dad hated it. So I figured he wouldn’t bother me.” Justin took a deep breath, letting it all out in a sigh before he continued.

“But I was wrong. He did get involved and it started all over again. I had to be the best at everything and he pushed me into winning, telling me it was the only thing that mattered. I don’t really enjoy bowling anymore either but he’ll be so mad if I quit, I just can’t.” Justin looked Josh in the eye.

“I can’t help but compete, I have to win although I don’t really want to. And I hate my father for making me think that way. I just can’t help it, I’m sorry.” Justin finished finally, letting his head drop in his hands very similarly as he’d done at the bowling alley when Josh had stormed off. This time however he felt hands pulling away his own and lifting his head gently. He was met with a gorgeous smile and Justin couldn’t help but smile back although he didn’t really feel like smiling.

“It’s okay,” Josh whispered, “I understand.”

Justin looked surprised. “You do?”

Josh nodded. “Let’s just agree not to go bowling on our next date,”

“Our next date?” Justin wondered surprised.

Josh nodded. “If you want to.”

Justin smiled and nodded.

“Good but we’ll go to a movie then or something.”

“Alright.”

“I really like you Justin.” Josh expressed honestly.

“I really like you too.” Justin replied in the same manner.

Their eyes locked and they stared deeply into the blue pools that were the other’s eyes. They were both lost and began to lean in at the same time, both so drawn to each other they could not stay away. Their lips finally met in the middle and both eyes slipped closed at the contact. They grazed each other’s lips and a hesitant tongue flipped out, gently pushing at the other’s lips. Justin’s mouth opened immediately and Josh’s tongue took up the invitation right away. Hands came into the picture now as the kiss became more lustful and needy. Josh’s hands went up to cup Justin’s cheeks while Justin’s hands found Josh’s waist and he pulled himself closer. He was nearly sitting in his lap but neither seemed to notice nor mind.

They were forced to break apart when they both began to feel a lack of oxygen in their lungs and they did so with a gasp. Both from surprise of the wonderful kiss they’d shared as the need to take in a gulp of air. They breathed heavily as they stared at each other, almost not believing the other was real. Justin couldn’t stare any longer however, he pushed himself closer again and pressed his lips to Josh’s who accepted the warm and wet lips eagerly.

“What… what… time… is it?” Justin gasped in between contact, several moments later. Josh frowned but looked quickly at his watch, never breaking free from Justin’s eager and loving lips.

“7.52.” He gasped his answer and was ready to deepen the kiss again but till his surprise Justin pulled back completely.

“What?! It’s almost eight?” he questioned in shock. It was eight already?

“Yeah so?” Josh wondered, not understanding what the big deal was.

“I’m sorry but I have to go.” Justin told him apologetically.

“You have to… what?”

“I have to go, I promised my dad I would be back by eight to rest. I’m sorry.” Justin explained quickly but he didn’t get up.

“Oh, okay,” Josh said in response, understanding although he didn’t want to let Justin go now.

“I had so much fun today, till I was an ass, thanks for understanding.” Justin said, a slight blush creeping up his cheeks from embarrassment at the way he’d behaved but Josh just smiled.

“It’s fine, let’s just forget about it. I had a lot of fun too, I’m glad you came.”

“I will see you tomorrow.” Justin said, trying to draw this conversation to an end but not really all that convincing as he smiled, already eager to meet again. Justin let his lips land on Josh’s again, a few quick kisses as he didn’t seem to be able to get enough of this guy. He finally forced himself to let go and stood immediately, knowing he would never leave otherwise.

“Okay I really have to go.” He bend down and kissed him quickly.

“Bye,” he said hastily then turned and practically ran to the elevator to make it in time.

He did, he closed the door behind him at exactly eight and although his father scowled at him when he entered, he’d pushed it, he however said nothing and Justin knew better than to risk it now. He got into his pajamas and crawled under the blankets, resting as was the deal. And being in bed this early was definitely worth it in comparison to what he’d gotten in return. Josh.

Josh had sat on the couch, the feel of Justin’s lips on his still fresh, for more than ten minutes before he was finally able to push himself up and walk back to his room. He knocked, seeing he’d forgotten his keycard when he’d ushered Justin away from the room just a short hour ago and was met with Eric’s carefully concealed expression.

“What?” Josh wondered.

“Just forgot my card.” He said as if he needed to explain anything to him.

Eric hummed under his breath then returned to his bed, laying down on his back and holding the magazine he’d been reading but his eyes were on Josh.

“What are you planning going out with him?” he wondered nonchalantly.

Josh whipped around, eyeing him, surprised he even knew they’d went out. Well he must know but he always seemed so closed off. Josh discovered that it was hard getting through to him but it didn’t mean everything was getting past him. He may give the impression he was only focusing on the game but apparently that wasn’t true, at all.

“I’m not planning anything.” Josh denied, shaking his head.

“Maybe you should, he’s your competition.” Eric said meaningfully before he put the magazine up in front of his eyes and continued to read.

Josh shook his head and ignored him, he got his discman out of his backpack and turned his back to Eric. Josh couldn’t believe people would be that sneaky, in his eyes a competition is about who is the best, not about who can play the dirtiest game. Josh felt sick thinking about it. Some people would do anything to win. He listened to his music but his thoughts were on Justin and the most amazing kiss they’d shared.