Page 43 of Two for Charging

“We have the best baby costume.”

Vanderbilt wouldn’t reveal in advance what he and Cheryl had decided to dress Lily up as, which led to other team members with children describing their best baby costumes and Howie bragging about the costume he’d been working on but wouldn’t tell anyone about. Finally, everyone was talking to everyone all across the table, loud and boisterous, and Chris could return to his seat and eat his steak.

He was almost finished when he looked up and caught Phil watching him.

“What?”

“We ever gonna talk about the A not on your chest?” Phil asked mildly, as if he didn’t care either way. Chris’s pulse sped up all the same.

He looked down at his food and didn’t answer.

Chapter Eight

Denisov: How am I feeling ahead of the season opener? Good. Confident.

Olivia Starling [off-screen]: Even though the Sea Lions made the conference finals and the Firecrackers didn’t make the playoffs?

Denisov: We had a longer summer than we would have liked, but it gave us more time to prepare.

Olivia Starling: Last season in December, you had an interesting encounter with the Sea Lions’ Kilian Howard. Can we look forward to a repeat?

Denisov: That is up to him.

Top comments:

firecrackers_spark: oh shit I’d watch my back if I were Howard tonight lol

seelionssaylions: I know Starling’s a beat reporter for the Sea Lions but it seems kinda rude to barely ask about the team you’re interviewing

(From Chicago Firecrackers’ pregame media availability with Damir Denisov, 10/14/2024)

The start of the hockey season was always exciting. No matter that the team had already been together for a month with training camp and preseason games, no matter that the coaches toyed with roster additions and cuts right up until the last second, none of it felt real until they took to the ice for warm-ups during the first game.

Chicago wasn’t home, but the rink was smooth, and the fans were loud. They didn’t cheer for the Sea Lions, but Luca thrived on adversity.

He did a few easy laps around their half of the ice, watching out of the corner of his eye as Tom and Jax did passing drills ending in increasingly unlikely shots on goal. The grand finale involved Jax going for a backward between-the-legs shot. It came close enough to bounce off the post. Luca still hoped he wouldn’t try it during an actual game.

Tom threw his head back and laughed.

It struck Luca how different he looked than when Luca had joined the team last year. Not much about his appearance had changed (though he now favored a much better haircut), but his entire demeanor had shifted. When Luca first met him, Tom rarely smiled, and on camera, he became so uncomfortable it was painful to watch. He didn’t make speeches in the locker room, leaving the moments before big games to his alternates.

But over the course of last season, Tom had left his shell more and more, revealing a man of great focus and determination when it came to his own game, but understanding and patience when it came to younger players in need of advice.

Howie hero-worshiped the man.

Luca, who made a point of never asking anyone for advice if he could help it, was further removed from the situation.

Seeing Tom now, Luca understood this difference had come about in no small part because he loved another man and had ceased fearing discovery. The thought gave Luca hope for his own future.

He came to a neat stop beside Breezy, who was flipping pucks over the boards for kids in the stands. Breezy flashed his trademark million-watt grin, dimples digging deep into his cheeks, and handed Luca some pucks of his own.

Luca wouldn’t be able to stop loving Breezy anytime soon. Not living and playing with him, seeing him every day, and spending so much time together. Moreover, he didn’t want to. Being around Breezy, loving him, trying his best to make Breezy feel appreciated, giving back just a little hint of what Breezy gave the whole team every day, was worth whatever indignities Luca might suffer for it.

And now that he knew he wasn’t alone, now that Tom and Jax and Phil shared his secret, the idea of simply not getting over Breezy became much more palatable.

Luca had spent the last three years, his full tenure in Italy, believing he was proud to be bisexual. Allowing himself to experience the full breadth of emotion he was capable of for the first time in his life, Luca realized he had never been truly proud. He’d been scared to be different and angry at his own fear. Playing in an environment where, for the first time, he could be sure his teammates wouldn’t censure him for being himself had unlocked a world inside him that he’d kept hidden, even from himself.

It stung to discover his ex-girlfriend, his siblings, and his coach had all accurately accused him of being emotionally closed off, but such was life.