Page 36 of Bro Code

“I’m just playing with you.” Nic took the hat as he reached into his jacket pocket. “I have one.” He set the hat on the table and uncapped a sharpie, and with a brief sideways look added, “Is this your hat, or Dad’s?”

“Um, mine,” said Trevor.

Nic smiled as he scribbled onto the brim. “Great. You like hockey?” Trevor nodded, staring at the pen. “Do you play?” Another nod. “What do you play?”

“Um, center.”

“Yeah?” Nic looked up as he finished a loopy Arsenault, and flashed the million-watt smile that probably landed him all those branding deals. He flipped the hat up and flopped it on top of the kid’s head. “Good man.”

As the kid sprinted back to his table, Louis said, “You carry pens now?”

“Have to. What am I gonna do, send ‘em away?” Nic capped the pen and put it back in his pocket, then scooped up his beer. “Where were we?”

“Liam,” Louis reminded him.

Nic sighed. “Right.” He sipped the beer and set it down and stared at the table a moment, collecting his thoughts. “It’s not that I think Liam doesn’t wanna say it. But I think it’s, like…pretty difficult for him? Because communication in general is a struggle, which is not his fault, because he’s autistic. It took him six years to apologize for breaking my shoulder! And if I say it, but he’s not ready…and then he feels weird…and then it gets weird…”

He shrugged, looking a little helpless.

Louis watched him with the same feeling in his chest that he’d had the day he met Nic at Pride four years ago. Nic had been standing in the crowd by himself, in a pair of sunglasses and a ball cap, looking overwhelmed and nervous. The disguise wasn’t working – Louis recognized him immediately — and even though Louis had been ecstatic to realize that one of his favorite hockey players was maybe queer (because hello, he would absolutely hit that) he also recognized the Nic Arsenault didn’t need a fuck at that exact moment. He looked like he needed a friend.

He reached across the table and took Nic’s hand, which made Nic jump in surprise, and said, “Maybe just tell him, babe? It’s probably gonna be fine.”

Nic nodded, blowing out a long breath.

“And maybe have Dr. Tremblay, like, queued up for a tele-health check-in or something, just in case.”

Nic laughed. “Right. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you’re probably right.”

Louis squeezed his hand and let go. “Is he ever gonna come out, you think? Liam?”

“I don’t know.” Nic picked up his beer. “I’m trying not to worry about it. It would be nice? Eventually? We could live together, etcetera. But that’s a long way off anyway. I’m just trying to focus on the season.” He sipped. “But anyway. What’s up with you? How’s the job?”

“Agh.” Louis shook his head, picking up another slice of pizza. “It’s good. It’s just a lot. A lot of jargon I don’t understand.”

“I thought you loved jargon. Star Trek? Hockey has a neutral zone, it can’t be that different.”

Louis rolled his eyes. He chewed quietly for a few moments, thinking, then said, “I have a theory about Webb.”

Technically, he had a lot more than just a ‘theory’ about Webb. He also had an accurate mental model of his dick and a raging hard-on for his underwear pics. But there was no reason to get into that with Nic. It was over: they were just colleagues now.

“Holly thinks he’s hiding an injury that New York didn’t catch,” Louis said. “But I don’t think so. Is that possible? That she’s wrong?”

Nic nodded. “Totally. Every team I’ve ever played for has always been super into their own organization and completely looked down on everyone else, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she was overly confident. What do you think it is?”

“I mean…” Louis spread his hands. “It’s pretty obvious, right? The guy came out four months ago and now the media is all over him.”

Nic nodded, chewing.

“And obviously he’s not the only guy dealing with that, and you and Rodriguez seem to be handling it fine, but what if he’s more like Liam? It’s not like you have to be autistic to have a hard time dealing with the media.”

“New York’s psych probably met with him, though, right?” said Nic.

“Yeah, she did,” Louis sighed. “And so did ours, and they both said he presented normally. And I don’t know shit, so I could be totally wrong. But maybe the psychs missed something? Or he lied? Like I said: it’s a theory.”

Nic shrugged, taking another bite. “Take it to Holly. See what she says.”

“That’s what I’m thinking, but I need to get the data together first, or she won’t listen to anything I say.”