💎A Collision of Fates💎 (Straight to Gay) (MxM) (18+)

52 - Chris and Landel

The panae court was a different world. Chris had never seen it like this before.

Students lined the four, large stone walls that surrounded the court, stuffed into every possible seat available. On the corners, where two walls met, towers stretched up, decorated with white banners, The Academy's flag, which was a golden, open book on a white field. The teachers, masters, and administrators got to sit at the top of the towers, watching the proceedings from a distance.

Chris, Adam, and Vinton took it all in as they followed the herd of people moving towards the court. Some of the swarm of students stared at them as they walked, whispering to each other and pointing.

"People are looking at us," Chris said, trying not to notice the huge crowd of spectators around them.

Vinton grabbed Chris's hand and pulled him closer, intertwining their fingers. Chris tensed immediately.  Adam was right beside him but. Fuck it, Adam already knew.

"Don't worry about it, deelo. The panae souls competition is a big deal."

Adam shook his head. "I had no idea."

"Me neither," Chris said, turning to his friend. Adam smiled at him. His eyes slid down to Vinton and Chris's intertwined hands. Chris's heart stopped, he almost pulled out of his soulmate's grip, but then Adam smiled, a warm smile, a supportive smile. He looked back up at Chris and nodded.

Chris smiled and returned the nod.

It was weird to be holding hands with a man in front of his best friend, but it also felt fucking good. He could finally be with Vinton at The Academy, no strings attached.

"It gets even more intense the longer it goes on," Vinton said. "You'll see."

"You confident about your chances?" Adam nudged Chris.

"We're going to fucking destroy Pwain and Jalson," Vinton said. He shrugged and squeezed Chris's hand harder. "The other ones... I guess we'll see."

Chris laughed. "I'll torch the shit out of them."

Vinton seemed to know where to go, so Chris let himself be led.

On the outside of the main court, hugging the walls, there was a series of coloured tents. They passed a purple, green, red, and blue one before Vinton stopped them in front of a red one, closer to the sun forest than to The Academy.

The endless swath of students was behind them now, the entrance to the court itself was further back.

Chris stared up at the tent in front of them. "What the fuck is this?"

"It's our competitors tent." Vinton squeezed Chris's hand. "They place them around the court and, when a team is eliminated, they take that tent down."

"What do we use it for?" Chris said. "Why are we here."

"Cause I've got a surprise for you," Vinton said, smiling.

"God, I feel like I should be fucking taking notes or something. Landel will want to know everything that happened," Adam said, putting his hands on his hips and taking a step back to admire their blazing tent.

"Maybe he should've come himself, then," Vinton said, winking at Adam. "The Prince is too busy saving the world, though."

Chris chuckled. "Fucking loser."

It was just his meeting with Master Tew, but Landel had explained to them all that morning that he couldn't miss it. They needed to figure out who was working for The One, and they needed to do it fast. Chris understood, of course he did.