Chapter 1
Dylan's in Bellmore.
It's a rare Wednesday when the Vipers and Storms the both have a day off.
He drove down directly from the rink last night (an uninspiring but adequate 3-1 win against Meridian), too tired for more than shared handjobs in the shower before falling asleep on Andrei's chest.
Andrei had to get up early to take Masha for a run, and Dylan's been thinking about getting out of bed to make breakfast in a lazy kind of way that mostly involves watching last night's highlights on his phone.
The Vipers lost 4-2, but Andrei got a gorgeous goal off a rebound and Theo Brandt is going to be one to watch any day now.
There's no rush.
They have no plans for the day, and if Dylan hasn't showered it'll be even easier to tempt Andrei back into bed for a round of lazy morning sex before breakfast.
The door opens downstairs to Masha's excited barks and then skittering paws as she comes bounding up the stairs to leap onto the bed and try to lick Dylan's face.
Not exactly who he was hoping to be kissed by, but he gives her a hug and a pet anyway, keeping his chin firmly up and out of reach.
"Yes, hello.
Where's your daddy, huh?"
She barks happily and wags her tail more, apparently not at all tired out – although now Dylan looks at the time, they're back pretty early.
Andrei comes in, wearing shorts and a tanktop, arms and throat glistening with sweat that Dylan immediately wants to lick off.
But he's not looking up, he's got his phone in one hand and is frowning down at it.
"Is everything okay?" Dylan asks.
His parents are fine – they've already messaged him this morning about a new coffee shop they've found – but Katya's in Krasnograd, so maybe there's been news about Andrei's family?
Or something's happened to one of Andrei's teammates, one of the rookies hadn't been at the game last night.
An injury?
"Hmm, yes," Andrei says, but slowly like he's thinking about it even as he's answering.
Then he looks up finally, finds a smile that isn't quite reassuring and sits on the edge of the bed to lean in for a kiss.
"Good morning."
Dylan kisses him back because he's always going to kiss Andrei back, but he can't stop thinking about it.
"You're back early.
Is there... did something happen?"
Andrei hesitates a moment, glances back at his phone.
"There is..." he pauses, then turns around properly so he's sitting cross-legged on the comforter, and takes Dylan's hand.
"I am going to ask you something, and I want you to try not to freak out, okay?
Take a breath, think about it."
That sounds... serious.
Also like Andrei is really trying to put into practice what he's learning at therapy, so that's good.
It means whatever this is, it matters and Dylan has to step up as well.
He sits up a little, squeezes Andrei's hand back.
They're already engaged, so it can't be that.
Does Andrei need to go back to Krasnograd?
Can he do that, is it dangerous for him to do that?
Should Dylan go with him?
"The Vipers are having a barbeque," Andrei says.
"At Dex's place, this afternoon." He runs his thumb across Dylan's hand, steady back and forth.
"I would like to go, and I would like you to come with me."
That's...
Dylan can feel his heartbeat ramp up.
The Vipers, Andrei's
, and Andrei's face looking like he's expecting Dylan to shut down again and how hard must it be for Andrei to ask after what happened last time, but also has anything changed from last time?
The Vipers don't know about Dylan, right?
Andrei hasn't told them, he'd have told Dylan if they knew.
"Dylan," Andrei says, firm and grounding, pulling Dylan out of the spiralling thoughts.
"It does not have to be big deal, okay?
They know you are my friend, they know you have family in Bellmore." He lifts Dylan's hand to his mouth to brush a kiss across his knuckles.
"They are my friends, and I want you to meet them."
Which is normal, and fine, and a perfectly reasonable thing to want.
And Dylan knows - he
that the mysterious Foster is gay and in some wildly unrealistic twist of fate dating Cole fucking Ramsey.
He knows that, at least according to Andrei, the whole team is fine with this.
He's met Reed who is great at the camps and his lesbian sister and her wife.
The Vipers probably know about her too, they're probably fine with it.
Andrei's thumb keeps moving across his skin, catching his ring on every pass.
Dylan tries to focus on that.
"You said we could be less careful," Andrei says.
His tone is light, very deliberately not an accusation, just a gentle reminder.
Dylan had said that, and he had meant it.
But he hadn't exactly... thought through... what it meant.
"I'm not ready to tell them about us," he says, which isn't a no. He's trying really hard not to make it a no.
"Then we go as friends," Andrei says, as though it could be that easy.
"Is casual, not an exclusive event.
Partners will be there, Foster might bring a Foster sibling, Dex's neighbours will come by." He turns Dylan's hand over to kiss his palm, his stubble scraping lightly against the sensitive skin there.
"You know Reed, from the camps."
It's fine.
It should be fine There's no reason for Dylan to be freaking out.
But then, there never has to be.
He tilts his fingers a little to touch the tips to Andrei's chin.
To hold him there, looking up at Dylan like Dylan is everything Andrei could ever want.
"You said once," Andrei says.
"Before your parents found out about us, that you wanted me to meet them.
Not as your boyfriend or your lover, just to shake their hands at a game or an awards night." His other hand has reached under the sheets somehow to curve around Dylan's ankle, rubbing against the hair there.
"Proof that the people you loved all existed in the same world."
That silent aching need to know that the world could have both things in it.
He does remember.