Page 42 of Offensive Edge
They suffered a loss to LA that stung since they were in the same division, but they were ending the season against Anaheim, whose game had been off the rails since the beginning of the season. Rowan saw a busy summer break for everyone involved there.
The Serpents were officially playing gently. They had to keep up their energy for playoffs, and they were specifically told not to do anything that could risk injury. Rowan was told not to get into a fight, which everyone got a laugh out of. Since he and Theo had started thawing their shit out, the team had started joking with him, and folding him into the group more. He didn’t think anyone had been unwelcoming on purpose, but it felt like everyone knew they could exhale now.
Even without giving it their all, they easily beat the Tigers 3–1, and to celebrate the end of the regular season, they went out for a late dinner. Vic wouldn’t let them go out and party. They could celebrate for real when they won.
Rowan had just completed his favorite regular season he had ever played. He felt untouchable on the ice, and he had his best friend back. Or, he had his best friend sitting next to him, as they carefully repaired their feelings for each other.
Rowan continued his campaign to make things between them better. His Google search history was downright embarrassing at the moment, but he wanted to be Theo’s boyfriend, and he wanted to be good at it. Even though he was twenty-six, Rowan had never been someone’s boyfriend, which meant he had googled “how to be a good boyfriend.” Even more embarrassingly, it was super helpful.
“This is better than that dinner I made you,” Rowan said, pointing to the steak on both their plates. Steak, potatoes, and broccoli were foods Rowan was grateful he never got sick of.
“Stop trotting out the things that make you feel bad,” Theo said. Rowan got the feeling that Theo was being so emotionally understanding because he felt some responsibility for the post-draft situation, too.
“Okay. Then this is totally unrelated to the dinner I made you,” Rowan said, and got a laugh from Theo that burst out of him in surprise. In the back of his mind, he remembered the goal he set for the year to make Theo look this joyful. He couldn’t believe he achieved it.
“I’m really enjoying wanting to talk to you again, you know.” They were keeping their voices mostly low, keeping their conversation to themselves. In a booth in a large restaurant, the din of noise surrounded them. They had to be close to talk to each other, and it had Rowan thinking of Theo’s mouth. A lot.
“I am enjoying you enjoying…you get it,” Rowan said, losing the thread of thought as his mind sank into the idea of kissing Theo.
“Alright, that’s your last beer.” Theo took his glass and stole a sip, and when Rowan rescued it back from him, he put his lips right where Theo’s had been. He watched Theo watch him take a drink. Theo’s eyes fell to his throat as he swallowed.
When Drew suggested getting back to the hotel, Rowan was the first on board.
* * *
The boys filed back into their hotel rooms, each identical hockey-shaped boy going to put himself to sleep in the same identical hotel room as everyone else. For this roadie, their hotel assignments had been shifted around a bit, so Theo’s and Rowan’s rooms were right next to each other. Not only were they next to each other, they had the adjoining door. Rowan noticed when they checked in that morning, but he didn’t bring it up to Theo.
He used the few minutes it took for him to put his pajamas on to strategize the best excuse to use to knock on the adjoining door. It was late, and they should be resting up for the playoffs. But the playoffs didn’t start for three days, and Rowan felt a momentum with Theo that he didn’t want to ruin with sleep.
He was just settling on a lie about needing to borrow toothpaste when a knock came from Theo’s side of the door. Rowan took a breath, trying not to look too desperate before opening his own side up. Theo’s bare chest was on display. He was end-of-the-season lean, but he still had definition, and his shoulders would always be broader than Rowan’s, no matter the level of muscle mass. He wanted to put his hands on the full curve of Theo’s pecs.
“Do you want to hang out?” Theo asked, his dirty-blond hair tousled, round fuzzy cheeks looking adorably chipmunky. Rowan was still fascinated by all the ways Theo had changed, but his beard was one of the more obvious things. It was almost a little red on the sides. Theo would stop trimming it and let it grow through playoffs now, and part of Rowan wanted to win the Cup just to see how long it could get.
“Duh,” Rowan said, trying to keep his cool as Theo invited himself in and climbed directly into his bed. After Rowan being sick and Theo being injured, there wasn’t a lot of bed-hangout awkwardness left over. Rowan climbed into the other side of the bed, and instead of Theo flipping the TV on like Rowan was expecting, he slid further into bed on his back, folding his hands behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. Rowan slid down and followed suit, but he was only on his back for a moment before he turned to face Theo.
“Remember when we would spend nights like this making out until we were in physical pain?” Theo asked the ceiling.
“Uhh,” Rowan panicked. Obviously, he remembered.
“Sorry if that’s awkward.”
“No, of course I remember.”
Theo tipped his face toward Rowan. “I’ve been thinking about those days a lot lately.”
“What about them?”
“About how yes, hockey was my entire world. But actually, you were my entire world.”
“You were mine,” Rowan whispered back.
“I used to think that intensity of feeling was something very teenage. After we…whatever, broke up for lack of a better term, I did try. I spent eight years trying to find someone who could hold a candle to that feeling, and I couldn’t muster up anything past sexual interest.”
“You’ve dated a lot?” Rowan almost certainly didn’t want to hear about Theo’s dating history, but he couldn’t help himself. If the information was on the tip of Theo’s tongue, he was going to ask for it.
Theo’s smirk let him know he’d caught on to Rowan’s interest. He wasn’t being coy, and Theo had always read him better than anyone else.
“Not a lot. I usually have some kind of regular hookup girl.”
