Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Hath..." he wasn't paying attention, that much was perfectly clear. "Garney," another futile attempt and Nic pursed his lips, so sick of watching this pathetic little display taking place in front of him. He'd been aware of what happened with every girl Garnet picked up at these things. He'd been curious once - maybe too curious - but it seemed like the ever rotating list of women were too much, like they were trying to overcompensate for something. At first he'd thought maybe his liney had some issues with being burned in the past and then he thought perhaps he was just bad in bed and had to only fuck a girl once so they thought it was a fluke and the alcohol and just hope real hard they didn't get to talking amongst themselves. But when he'd proclaimed to have a girlfriend one week and then went right back to fucking every puck bunny in sight, Nic had felt some sort of obligation to try to stop him from making every mistake in the book. As his friend, not as his teammate.

So he'd followed him, trailed after him and some clingy dye-job redhead, who - objectively speaking - was hot as sin, though given how many of the guys he'd seen the girl leave with, well... he wouldn't have touched her with a ten foot pole had his arrangement with Paige included women. He'd come around the edge of the building and found Garney putting the girl in a cab, leaning over the door and speaking to her, laughing quietly, and then tapping the roof before shutting the door and standing back, the cab leaving without him. He'd watched in silence as his best friend turned and trudged off down the street, utterly alone and looking for all the world dejected.

Nic wasn't sure why, but he'd slipped back inside that night instead of going after him, but he'd also followed him out a few nights later in Boston when he'd gone to take a girl with bright pink hair out the door, laughing and clinging to her, and looking exactly like a man about to fuck some girl's brains out the moment they were alone. Yet, when he'd found him, he was once again, gently depositing the girl into a cab and letting her leave, only this time he was close enough to hear his words before he closed the cab door for her.

"Everyone kind of expects it of me, you know? Like they want me to hook up, but... not my thing, but I figure I get a night of good company and you at least get a safe ride home, right?" She'd said something Nic couldn't hear and he'd smiled and stepped back, murmuring a goodnight before closing the door and watching the cab leave.

For the second time Nic had melted into the shadows and watched his friend walk off toward the hotel, alone and once again with the most dejected air in the world around him.

Tonight, Nic was determined to save Garney from himself, from whatever made him think he had to look like he picked up some chick every fucking night. It wasn't easy, trying to get his attention while it was focused on the adorable brunette who'd situated herself far too close to him was like trying to be heard while standing next to a jet engine and whispering. Finally, annoyed, he stood up and moved around the table to put his hand on Garnet's shoulder, fingers digging in enough to get his attention. "I need to borrow you for a minute." He smiled at the girl when she peered up at him. "I'll give him back, I promise." She laughed and untangled herself from him and to Nic's relief, Garney trailed after him as he headed outside so they could be in peace for half a minute.

Standing just inside the shadow of the building, Nic leaned against the wall and stuffed his hands in his pockets, studying Garnet's face, the way he looked more at ease here than he had inside. He addressed all of it the only way he knew how. "We're having this conversation, period. Here or at the hotel, but we're not not having it, okay?" Garney squinted at him, but nodded, and Nic took a breath, releasing it on a sigh, watching it frost on the air in front of him. "Right, so... you have a girlfriend-"

"Don't." Garnet took a step back, something like panic on his face. "Don't do this, it's not what you think."

Nic tipped his head back, unable to look at the fear on his friend's face, shaking his own slightly. "Look, man, I know you don't sleep with these girls. Let's get that out of the way first. I know you're not cheating, so why in the fuck are you trying to look like you are?" At Garnet's silence, Nic looked back at him, found him staring at the ground, hands deep in his pockets, shoulders hunched defensively, his face giving away so much hurt it made Nic ache to look at.

"I don't." He cleared his throat and then tried again. "I don't have a girlfriend. I'm just... she..." the toe of his shoe hit the pavement a few times before he murmured, "I can trust you, right? Like with anything? Even if you didn't agree with my like... lifestyle choices or something... you'd keep it to yourself if I shared, right?"

Nic shifted against the wall, beyond confused as to where this was going, finally shrugging. "Yeah, sure. I mean, I have my own 'lifestyle choices' - as you put it - that I could share in return I guess. Make us even."

Garnet looked up at him for a moment and then glanced to either side of them before moving to lean on the wall beside him, his voice small when he did speak again. "All of it's a huge lie. I've never taken any of these chicks home, I tell them all I'm not into the whole casual sex thing, but that the guys kind of expect it of me. I pay for their drinks, give them good company at the bar, and pay for their safe cab home, but that's it. I've never taken a single one of them home with me, not once. My girlfriend is a girl I dated while I was in juniors - and by dated, I mean took out to eat, went to movies with, and held hands with, but never anything else. She knew who I was and what I was about the whole time. She showed up about six months ago, soaking wet and terrified outside the rink after practice and while I'm unwilling to give her secrets away, she needed me. Needed the protection I could give her by saying she's my girl. She told me specifically not to change anything else I was doing because she knows what I'm hiding... so I didn't. I feel like it makes me look like an asshole, but it is what it is."

Nic pursed his lips, licking along the inside before he breathed out a sigh and offered, "Sometimes my wife and I invite a third person into the bedroom. I pick them and let's say... it's not women I bring home." He watched Garnet, half expecting him to make a face and then tease him about it, because a bigot Garney was not, but comfortable with the implication of Nic's sexuality was something he was uncertain of. Instead, he watched as nearly all the tension in Garnet's body eased, relief painting his features, and it was almost instantly that he knew what he'd been hiding.

"I'm gay." The words hung between them for a moment, as if suspended in fog on the air.

"I'm bi." Nic shrugged. "It's more common than you'd think... just it's not talked about. But like... we're not the only ones. On this team, even."

"You're shitting me." Garney sounded half-amused, half-disbelieving and Nic had to shut down the disbelief immediately.

"Dude, open your eyes instead of averting them all the time. I'm not even spilling any beans when I tell you Vrana's picked up right in front of everyone. Several times. While not drunk. And Wilson likes to share, pretty much the same way I do... annnd," he drew the word out until Garnet looked at him and then he grinned, "Ovi shoves his dick in everyone's face like he thinks they all deserve the pleasure of seeing it. Straight men don't do that shit to other men. Not to mention they don't willingly wear thigh-high heeled boots with a speedo on public television. I don't know anything for sure there, but I'd lay money on him not being one hundred percent on the straight end of the scale."

Garnet just blinked at him, as if seeing the world for the first time the way it truly was and Nic shook his head, reaching to gently push on his shoulder. "So stop trying to pick up and then let down and just... exist, bro. Do what you need to with the whole 'girlfriend' thing if it's helping her, but stop the rest of this bullshit... or at least pick up who you want to."

Something hot flared in Garnet's eyes and Nic found himself caught in it, his lips parting as he stared at him. Two steps and Nic was suddenly caged in between two strong arms, back pressed to brick, and he stared up into his best friend's eyes. "I think it might scare you who I actually want to pick up... dangerous territory, Dowder."

He was anything but scared. His hands reached out of their own accord, wrapped in his friend's dress shirt and tugged, slowly easing him against him and arching to fully press against his warmth with a little sigh. Garnet was hard. Thick and pleasant against his hip as he ground his hips forward, showing him his own arousal until they were both nearly rutting each other against the side of the building. "Kiss me."

Garnet didn't need to be asked twice, his mouth crashing into Nic's, covering and plundering and taking until they were gasping with every part of their lips, shoving tongues inside of one another's mouths in the least erotic of ways, hunger overriding rationality.

Footsteps crunching on gravel made them freeze and Garney took a step back, swiping a thumb over his lips as he waited, watching to see who it'd be.

Wilson appeared around the side of the building, his gaze flicking between them, a smirk growing on his lips. "Might wanna take that back to the hotel. I'll go make some excuses." He turned to leave, paused, and glanced back over his shoulder. "Secret's, "he made a wavering hand, "mostly safe with me... also, about damn time and thank you for the fifty dollars I'm about to earn from a certain goalie on this one." With that, he was gone, and they were left standing there, staring at where he'd gone until Nic breathed out a laugh and gestured down the street.

"Hotel room it is then?" He pushed off the wall and started walking, smiling when Garnet fell in step beside him.

Their walk was quiet, as if neither of them were willing to discuss it when they weren't in the shadows of the building, but once they were in Nic's room, things changed. Garney settled against the dresser, a small frown on his face. "Did I just make you cheat? You said share... but she's not here."

Nic settled on the edge of the bed, untying his dress shoes and removing them and his socks while he spoke. "No. Usually I end up finding someone I'm interested in and tell her, see if she's up for it. If she is, she tells me, if she's not, but I'm really ready to go and she doesn't want sex at all that night, she'll just tell me to go for it. I'll grant that I generally don't in those cases. Like... one time I did because trust me, worth it, but I usually apologize about her not being in the mood and move on with my life, keep the guy's number and try again later, you know? But this... us," he gestured between them, "she's known how I feel about you since you showed up in my life. Hell, she's been after me to try to see if you'd bite for so long it's kind of become part of the go-to dirty talk." He looked up, feeling his cheeks heat with the confession, finding Garnet trying not to grin at him.

"You've got a massive hard-on for me, is what you're trying to say?"

"Oh yeah. Huge."

"So you agreed... on what? That you could have me alone if you reeled me in?"

"That I could call her and put her on speaker phone and do what I wanted, wherever I wanted, whenever I wanted... as long as it was you."

Garnet pushed off the dresser and kicked off his shoes, stepping on the toe of each sock to remove them, shedding his suit jacket and unbuckling his belt. "Better get calling then, because I'm not sure how patient I can be finally getting my hands on you."

Nic yanked his phone out of his pocket and dialed Paige's number, waiting until she answered, a groggy little, "Nic, baby, you okay?" telling him she'd been asleep. He breathed out a quiet chuckle. "More than okay. You know how we agreed about Hath?"

She instantly sounded more awake, a breathless, "Oh my god, is it happening?" telling him she was still on board with their agreement here.

"Oh yeah. Right in front of me, taking his belt off." His and Garnet's eyes met and Nic wet his lower lip, breathing out, "Holy fuck... tell me I don't have to stop."

"Put me on speaker phone, baby." He lowered the phone from his ear and tapped the button for speaker, putting the phone on the side of the bed. "Can you hear me, Garnet?"

Garney paused, tipping his head toward the phone and then offered a quiet, "Yes."

"Our agreement about you is that as long as I can listen, he can have you. No boundaries."

Nic watched the way the words affected Garney, how he took in a shuddering breath, how he mouthed the word fuck, and definitely how his hand grabbed his dick through his pants and squeezed. He couldn't help but tease him then. "I think he almost popped off in his pants. Imagine how hard I'm gonna make him blow if that almost did it."

He barely finished talking when Garnet was there, his mouth crashing into Nic's, tongue invading like it had outside the bar. Rough hands pushed him down on the bed and it absolutely did not surprise Nic at all when Garnet straddled him, yanking his shirt out of his pants and shoving his hands up under it, running along his abdomen and then down his sides to his hips, holding on as he began to grind. Nic clutched at Garnet's ass, squeezing the firm cheeks as he planted his feet on the edge of the bed and let his hips rock up to meet each movement. Their kisses were loud, lewd, utterly untamed, wild in ways Nic didn't recall ever having had with someone else. He didn't care about finesse here, he cared about tasting Garnet, about claiming him, about continuing to touch him and hold him and ultimately making him cum.

He could feel him, feel how hard Garnet was, feel how warm and thick and fuck he wanted to do so many things to him and he'd be damned if this was the only time they did it.

What he didn't expect was Garnet's hitched breath and the harsher jerk of his hips, the way his glutes clenched, and then the long, low groan into his mouth and then the wetness seeping into his own pants making it clear Garney had just cum in his pants like they were teenagers.

When Garnet froze, Nic hooked a leg over him in just the right way and rolled them, fishing the phone out from under them to toss it up the bed a bit further and began unbuttoning Garnet's shirt, leaning close to his ear to whisper, "It's okay. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

Garnet's cheeks were hot and nothing had ever been hotter in Nic's entire life than watching his usually teasing, cheerful teammate struggle to form words with embarrassment written all over his face. "Try ever."

Nic's hands stilled on the pearlized buttons, his breath catching in his chest as he breathed out, "I'm the first?" Garnet nodded and Nic moaned, far louder than he intended to as he pressed himself down against him, rocking their hips urgently, feeling that Garney was still hard as hell despite his orgasm. "Hath," he whispered, his own orgasm suddenly far more urgent. The bed creaked under his enthusiasm and Garnet arched under him, moaning beautifully and instantly Nic's hands were on his fly, unbuttoning and unzipping him to reveal his prize, retrieving him from his stained navy briefs and reverently holding his dick in his palm, giving him a slow stroke. "His dick is so gorgeous, babe," he murmured, leaning close enough to the phone to for sure be heard and he listened to Paige's low chuckle.

"I bet it is."

Nic slid down Garnet's body and leaned in, licking up the hard length in his hand, lapping at the cum still clinging to the head and then sucking him into his mouth, just swirling his tongue around the head, again and again until Garnet shivered under him, a strangled little, "Nic... Dowder... fuck," escaping him.

"Tell me what he's doing to you, Hath."

Nic slid his hands into Garnet's pants, slowly feeling over his hips and then up, along his waist, over his sides, all the way up under his shirt as he took him in deep, moaning around him, and Garney's hips canted ever so slightly. He took a trembling breath and Nic listened to him telling Paige what he was doing.

"Sucking my... yeah... oh god, all the way in... oh sweet... fuck." He released a sound that was half-moan, half-sob and Nic pulled up, licked the tip and then slid right back down, taking all of him in, making him dig his shoulders into the bed and tremble.

He slid up and murmured, "Tell her what you told me." At Garnet's slightly owlish look, Nic smiled and lapped at the head of his cock again. "Trust me, she'll like it." He palmed his dick and began to slowly stroke him off, watching Garnet watch him, his hips gently rocking into the touch.

"He's my first... ever." The words were ever so slightly hesitant, but Paige's little whimpered moan made him blush and duck his head.

"Nic, baby, treat that man with reverence."

"You think I wouldn't?" Nic slid his lips over the damp head of Garney's cock again, sucking as he tongued the slit until he earned a little rush of salty precum. Only then did he slide off the tip and start kissing and licking his way down the side, cupping his cock in his hand as he did it, working his way all the way to the base and eagerly retrieving his sac from his underwear to nuzzle and kiss into, mouthing at them until Garnet began to strain up from the bed, his breath hitching, his hands fisted in the covers, looking for all the world like he was right on the edge again.

With a final lick, he sat back and reached for Garnet's pants, hooking his fingers into the waist and tugging them down until he had him in nothing but his top. Pushing his thighs apart, he went back down, nipping along his thighs and cupping his balls, squeezing ever so lightly as his middle finger slid back behind them, rubbing along his taint and making him arch and moan.

"You have lube or condoms?" Nic asked, rubbing his cheek along Garney's thigh, watching him frown and shake his head a little, looking absolutely crestfallen. "That's okay, there's other things we can do this time." He stressed the words, watching Garnet relax and he smiled. "Have you imagined this?"

Garnet nodded and Nic smiled at him, moving back to lick a stripe up his dick. "How'd you imagine it? Did you fuck me or did I fuck you?"

"All of it."

Nic groaned against his friend's dick, closing his eyes and resisting the urge to hump the shit out of the bed right then. He'd always imagined it'd be like that with Hath, that they'd switch off who pounded the shit out of the other's ass, that they'd love whatever was happening as it happened. He shuddered and rubbed his lips along Garnet's length before pulling back and sliding off the bed to unfasten his pants and shove them down his hips, stepping out of them, proud of himself for free-balling it tonight despite the damp spot on his pants.

Crawling back up the bed, he spit in his palm and slicked it over Garnet's cock before straddling him and reaching behind himself to hold his cock steady as he slid back against it. He worked his hips, rubbing Garney's cock against his hole and along his taint, taking in a shaky breath at how good it felt. "Not in, just... against."

"Yeah," Garnet breathed, his hands coming to rest on Nic's hips, almost reverent, his fingertips exploring, his eyes wide and his pupils blown as they moved.

"You have him against your ass, babe?"

"Yeah... yeah, I do. Feels good."

Her shaky breath told Nic all he needed to know about what she was doing and he groaned, sliding his knees further apart so he could actually rub against Garnet's dick, moving fast enough now that the bed springs were interested in what they were doing, creaking faintly.

Garnet's hands finally moved to Nic's cock and nothing in the world could have felt better right then than his best friend's hands all over his junk, touching and stroking and playing with his foreskin and god it felt like Heaven. Nic couldn't decide where to press, back against Garnet's cock or forward into his hands. He managed a choked off, "Faster," and moaned louder than he meant to as Garney's hand jerked him quicker. He could feel his orgasm building, tightening in his gut, spiking through him, about to explode. Slipping up until he had Garnet's tip pressed against his hole, he teased himself against it, gulping in shaky breath after breath until he was gone, falling over the edge, trembling, bucking as he spurted all over his best friend's chest and hand and god it was everywhere.

Shaky, he started to move to slip off to the side, but Garnet's hands on his hips stopped him and a faintly whispered, "Please... just... almost," left him where he was while Garnet shifted under him, just barely nudging the head of his cock against his hole, over and over until he froze and tipped his head back, moaning as his dick began to twitch between his ass cheeks, warmth pulsing out against him as Garney eased against the bed, breathing hard.

A little whimper of a moan came across the phone line and Nic listened to Paige whisper, "Night, boys," before the line disconnected, three little beeps telling him she'd hung up.

It was quiet for a moment before Garney murmured, "Did she?"

Nic shifted, slowly easing off of him and settling on the bed at his side. "Yeah, right there at the end. She's real quiet."

"Good."

Nic reached up, pushing his hand through Garnet's hair, sliding his fingers through it until he got his attention, their eyes meeting and a smile sliding across both of their lips at nearly the same time. "You good?"

"Perfect... you?"

Nic leaned in to brush his lips across Garnet's, lingering to whisper against them. "Same. Entirely perfect."