This voice came like that of an angel. It skillfully freed Joachim from this awkward atmosphere.

The young man who had uttered these words was almost as much of a phenomenon as his sudden appearance.

Beautiful, olive-colored eyes were narrowed in a friendly expression, dimples burrowed into his cheeks as the corners of his mouth curled into a smile, while his golden hair framed his face. He was also tall, perhaps even taller than the man in the tracksuit, but that certainly did not make him as dominant and oppressive as the person mentioned.

After Mr. Nowak gave Joachim a brief contemptuous look, he turned around and disappeared into the back of the vehicle.

The angel sat down in Mr. Nowak's old spot, crossed his long legs, leaned back, and rested in a relaxed posture.

"I hope the shock was not too much for you. I mean, Kay Nowak, the legendary coach, is not exactly patient," the angel hummed calmly, "What's your name, by the way?"

Joachim hadn't forgotten Kay Nowak's warning, so he made the car drive carefully, not fast and extremely careful. When he was sure that he would not lose control of the car, he opened his mouth to answer the angel, after all, he was infinitely grateful to him!

"My name is Joachim, it hasn't been very long since I became an, uh, uh," Joachim began to stammer. He did not know the name of his current occupation!

"Bus driver? Figured," the angel laughed a little.
Joachim could feel heat rushing into his cheeks, restless he rubbed the steering wheel in front of him with his thumb.

"My name is Aaron, professional athlete, as you might have guessed," the smile in his voice was audible, "And we are just on our way to the Olympics, to take part in the athletics competitions there."

Although both went silent after this brief exchange, the atmosphere was relaxed. Joachim concentrated fully on the traffic in front of him, Aaron leaned in his seat, relaxed, his eyes only half-open.

"You have to turn onto the highway here," Aaron commented softly. Joachim stiffened, but flipped the switch, which he vaguely remembered to be the turn signals of the pre-apocalyptic cars, and pulled into the only road nearby.
He felt Aaron's gaze on his profile, uncomfortably he tried to slide a little deeper into his seat, he could already imagine what was coming. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the young man in the same white tracksuit open his mouth, there it was...

"Then you can just follow the road for an hour and a half. Don't worry, as suddenly as you had to fill in, it is understandable that you don't know the route that well yet."

A lecture... huh?

Joachim's thoughts froze briefly. There was not a hint of accusation in Aaron's voice, no, it sounded ... apologetic?
He was confused, no one had ever said anything to him that resembled an apology. At the same time, a fluttering warmth rose in his chest, his heartbeat accelerated a little, and he gave Aaron a few more stealthy glances, but his eyes were already closed.

He hadn't felt that good in ages, or, in fact, never felt that good before. Stress-free, equal, what a magical sensation! He would have loved to enjoy this even longer, but everything beautiful has to come to an end.

"Aarooon, why don'ya come to the back? I'd looove to have a drink with you," someone cheered behind them, destroying what Joachim thought was an almost sacred atmosphere.

Disappointment pricked into his heart like a sharp needle, he watched with annoyance as Aaron stood up and turned to the owner of the voice, Joachim could not see said person.

"Good morning, Frank. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to drink anything so shortly before the Olympics," Aaron replied politely.

"Oh com'onnn, are you sure you can't?" This Frank seemed to be quite pushy, Joachim remarked in his mind. But he continued to concentrate on the traffic, the cars sped past him, and he himself drove at a considerable speed.

He would have preferred to split into two to listen to the two of them, just as well as he had to pay attention to the traffic.

"Even if you slip up, don' worry, my father will just put you somewhere else," Frank kept insisting on Aaron drinking with him while the latter tried everything to decline him.

Joachim couldn't watch it any longer, suppressing his insecurity, he cleared his throat loudly, interrupting Frank's stream of words. Drawing his attention to himself.

He could hear Frank uttering an 'Ah' before he took a step forward: "You're the new driver, right? You should consider yourself lucky, not everyone gets the chance to drive such famous people!"

His drunken appearance made Joachim uncomfortable, never before had he seen someone so lost in alcohol. This awkward, clumsy manner, a very special, strange sparkle in his eyes, together with the unpredictability, all this seemed odd to Joachim, as if he had come across an alien who was trying to pass himself off as a human being.

"Nevermind, what's your name? I'm Frank Weber! The son of the owner of BlueBird company!" With these words Frank puffed his chest like a peacock his feathers, his speech became clearer for a moment. But he did not possess any noble, let alone intimidating qualities.

Aaron quietly watched the whole thing and glanced briefly at Joachim as if he was trying to gauge whether he should intervene.

When Joachim noticed this, his heart tightened, that sweetness he now felt shooting through his veins was almost addictive. Despite his unease about his first 'Realm', he opened his mouth resolutely, and the rules and warnings for 'Realms' spun in his mind: "Good morning, my name is Joachim. I hope I can get you to your destination satisfactorily, despite my lack of experience".

Frank had nothing noble about him, but if he could brag about his father's position, his father had to be very powerful, so it was especially important to act respectfully.

The other party seemed to like Joachim's attitude, the broad grin on his average face became even broader, he patted him firmly on the shoulder: "When we take a break later, come and have a drink with me."

With that, Frank retreated to the back again.

A shiver ran down Joachim's whole body from the touched shoulder. When Frank had touched him, he would have preferred to pull his shoulder out from under his hand. But in the end, he did not dare to do it.

A relieved sigh was uttered, then Aaron gave a gentle, deep laugh. It was captivating, sounding as beautiful as his appearance was, once more he sank into the seat next to the driver's seat, crossing his legs yet again.

"That went surprisingly well."

He winked at Joachim, who only caught this action in passing, but still felt his pulse accelerate even more. His heart was beating against his chest, seemingly trying to escape from the next encounter with Frank, and at the same time, wanting to hide in the safe and strong arms of the angelic man.

Longing for more interaction with Aaron, he kept glancing over at him. Seemingly unaware of this, Aaron bent over to grab a pre-apocalyptic map and hummed with his deep, melodious voice: "Don't worry, in thanks, I will assist you here."

A/N: Comments are very welcome!!

           Thank you for reading!!