“Man, Trix,” Moose says, skating slowly past Nick. “Your friends are fuckingawesome.”
Nick grins proudly. Yeah, they’re pretty great.
“You’re welcome,” Marco declares, looking far too smug as he leans against the boards. Nick cocks his head. “You never would have met them if it wasn’t for me. So, you’re welcome. Foreverything.” Marco’s gaze moves pointedly to Matt, who’s now doing a mock face-off with Beau in which they both make the most ridiculous faces and whoever laughs loses the draw. What an idiot. Nick’s heart is going to fucking burst just looking at him.God.
As Marco skates off to go heckle Hugsy, Duke skids to a gentle halt beside him, taking his helmet off and tucking it under his arm with a grin. He leans in close to Nick, a conspiratorial expression on his face, so Nick leans in too. “This is fun,” he murmurs, keeping half an eye on the shenanigans further up the ice. “And, forgive me if it’s none of my business, but… that band girl? The tall one?” He makes a strange gesture with his eyebrows, as iftallis not the word he’s actually using. “Are you and her…?”
It takes a beat too long for Nick to catch on. “I—What? No! We’re—Me and Casey are just friends.” It takes everything he has to keep a straight face. God, he’sso close, yet so wide off the mark.
“Oh. Okay. I thought… Never mind.” Duke shakes his head dismissively. “Well, if you were, you know we would be fine with that, right? And anyone who isn’t, me and the boys wouldmakefine with it.”
Despite the urge to burst out laughing, Nick is strangely touched. “She’s awesome,” he agrees. “But she’s just a friend. I—Thank you, though. For the support.”
“You’re the best captain I’ve ever had.”
“You’ve only had one other captain.”
“Pah! Semantics,” Duke dismisses. “My point is, you are family, and if you want to date a girl who is… different, I’ll fight anyone who tries to stop you. I know what it’s like to have people try to push you out of the game for no good reason.” He gives Nick a pointed look, gesturing to himself—to his dark skin that is still uncommon in the NHL, even in this day and age. Then he shoves his helmet back on his head, winking. “So you know, if you ever need it, just say the word.”
Nick almost asks if that extends to him wanting to date a man, but now isn’t the time. In the middle of the rink, surrounded by half their team.
Biting his lip to hold back a sigh, Nick turns his attention back to Matt—the older man is oblivious to him, chasing after Moose to try and steal the puck, shouldering in on him with zero hesitation over the man’s height and NHL status.
It’s been a long time since Nick’s had this much fun on the ice, and he’s even more determined to do whatever it takes to make it always feel like this.
He’s got some phone calls to make.
It’s almost like the universe is on Nick’s side. Two of their last away games of the season are at Anaheim and Los Angeles respectively, which gives him plenty of time to meet up with Sofia and Bianca. After practice on the day in between games, Nick makes sure to take a little more care than usual styling his hair.
On his way out of the LA Monarchs’ guest locker room, Sunny scrambles to fall into step beside him. “Hey. You’re going to do that thing now, right?” he asks, a little breathless. “I thought about it and… I want in.”
Nick almost trips over his own feet. “Are you sure?” He’d only mentioned the plan to Sunny as an offhand thing, a ray of hope for the kid that things might be about to get easier for him and Mars. Sunny nods, jaw set in determination.
“I want to be part of this. To support Mars, and you. And… for myself. So if it’s still cool with you…”
“Yeah, absolutely,” Nick agrees quickly. “Man, the more the merrier, seriously. I just don’t wanna push you into something you’re not ready for.”
“I’m ready,” Sunny promises. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot.” He looks up and down the empty hallway, checking they’retruly alone, then leans in closer, eyes bright. “I’m pansexual, Nick,” he confesses, sounding so damnhappyto be sharing that with someone. As he should be.
“Hell yeah you are,” Nick says, smacking a kiss to the taller man’s forehead. “Good for you, man. C’mon, if we’re late Sofia will murder me.”
The studio space Bianca usually rents out for her photography business is in the loft of a converted warehouse. It’s got huge skylight windows, and is big enough to have a little seating area and a sectioned-off dressing room space. Bianca shows it off proudly to the two of them, gesturing to the plain black backdrop surrounded by various free-standing lights. “I want everything to look as natural as possible,” she explains, “but it’s still kinda cloudy today so we might need a boost.”
“It looks perfect,” Nick assures her. “I trust you two with the artistic vision. I’m just the idiot who wants to make a splash.”
“You’re not an idiot,” Sofia insists. “Well, you are, but not for this. You’re a goddamn inspiration, Nick.”
He glares at her. “Don’t you start with that or Iwillcry and itwillbe your problem.”
Sofia laughs, dancing across the loft to lean up and kiss his cheek. “It’s okay, honey. You’re pretty when you cry.”
“This is really cool,” Sunny murmurs, looking around the studio. The poor kid still looks nervous, but there’s a smile on his face now. “How many players did you get for it?”
“With you, there’s eight of us in total,” Nick tells him, puffing up in pride. “You’ve already had a couple guys through here, right, Sof?” He knows for sure that Julian Statler on the Monarchs did his shoot a couple days ago. When Nick had seen him briefly as they left their own practice earlier that morning, he hadn’t been able to look Nick in the eye. Truthfully, Nick had expected him to bail.
“I have. I’ll show you the pictures later,” she confirms. “And the others are all booked in to be done before playoffs start.”
Sunny gives a low whistle. “That’s amazing. I never thought so many would be willing to take this kinda risk.”
