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Jaden was humming along to the music filtering through his headphones. In front of him, he was tapping a pencil against his crossword book. The puzzle he was doing had only a few words filled in. Shifting his attention from the music to the crossword puzzle, Jaden scanned the clues.
5 Down: Layman’s esophagus
Bopping his head along to the music, Jaden wrote throat. Filling out a few more answers, Jaden began tapping his pencil against the book a second time when he reached a quizzical clue.
13 Across: Town at Eighth Mile of Boston Marathon
Jaden paused his music, slid his headphones around his neck, and turned to Brayden. He put the crossword book on the tray in front of Brayden, pointing at the clue.
“You’re a trove of useless knowledge,” Jaden said, “do you know the answer to that?”
Instead of answering, Brayden grabbed the pencil and wrote Natick across the correct squares. Smiling, Jaden slid the crossword book back in front of himself. Brayden handed him the pencil, turning back to the movie he was watching on the seat display.
“Thanks, Schenner,” Jaden said, punching Brayden playfully in the shoulder.
Humming, Brayden smiled. “You’re welcome, Jaden.”
Leaning over, Brayden checked his shoulder against Jaden’s. Jaden’s mouth went dry, face heating up. Despite himself, his traitorous body felt gooey and fuzzy. Jaden quickly slid his headphones on, restarting the music. The last thing Jaden needed was Brayden to figure out how he felt.
For the rest of the flight to Toronto, Jaden tried to focus on the crossword and the music. He tried not to focus on the lingering gooey and fuzzy feelings the shoulder check from Brayden caused. Keyword: tried. Even with his music, Jaden could hear Brayden laugh along to the movie. Every time Brayden laughed, the gooey and fuzzy feelings bubbled deep in Jaden’s gut.
When the plane landed and everyone was disembarking, Jaden kept to himself. He knew his face was burning as bright as the morning sun after everything that had happened. The last thing he needed was someone to question him about it.
Thankfully, the bus ride to the hotel was without incident. Jaden was able to finish his crossword, with some help from Brayden on the tougher clues.
When everyone was assigned their rooms, Jaden and Brayden were paired together. The two were chatting about how to handle Andersen’s goaltending in the game tomorrow when Brayden put the keycard in the door. Walking into the room, they both froze as they dropped their luggage.
Looking at each other after a moment, Brayden cursed while Jaden ran a hand through his hair.
“One bed,” Jaden said, swallowing thickly. “There must’ve been a mix-up with the room assignments.”
Brayden sighed, turning to Jaden. “I’m alright with it as long as you are.”
Jaden noticed something strange beyond the surface of Brayden’s eyes; it looked like hope.
Feeling himself short circuit, Jaden nodded quickly. “Yeah, it’s fine.” His words felt heavy, nervous. If Brayden noticed, he didn’t acknowledge it.
Motioning to the bathroom, Brayden began unzipping his suitcase. “I’m gonna take a quick shower. It helps me sleep.”
Feeling his mouth go dry for the second time that night, Jaden nodded. He had seen Brayden after a shower plenty of times; this time though. This time felt personal. Intimate. They would be sharing a bed, something that Jaden had dreamed about for a while.
As Brayden went to shower, Jaden changed into his pyjamas. Swallowing thickly, he wanted to kick himself for packing nothing more than a pair of loose boxers as pyjamas. Normally, that would be sufficient; he always had his bed. Today though. Today some power that existed made it happenstance that he would share a bed with the man he had a lunar-sized crush on. In other words, loose boxers felt insufficient to share a bed with your oblivious crush.
When the bathroom door opened and Brayden emerged wearing only boxers, Jaden felt less psychotic for wearing his. Shimmying over toward the window, Jaden allowed room for Brayden on the side of the nightstand. Brayden hummed in appreciation, slipping under the covers. Flicking on the lamp, he rolled over to face Jaden.
“I hope you don’t mind that the lamp is on,” Brayden said, motion behind him. “Leaving a light on helps me sleep.”
Jaden could see a blush rising on Brayden’s face. Jaden smiled softly as he slid under the covers, fluffing the pillow to get comfortable.
“No,” Jaden said, “I don’t mind.”
Jaden felt his heartstrings tug in different directions when Brayden lit up with a genuine smile.
“Night, Jaden,” Brayden yawned, closing his eyes. A few moments later, Brayden’s breathing evened out.
“Night, Schenner,” Jaden mumbled, rolling over. He closed his own eyes, drifting off to sleep after a few minutes.
In the morning, Jaden felt warm. Too warm. His first thought was that he had a fever. He grumbled and shifted around, trying to get comfortable in his newfound heat. That caused another grumble that Jaden decidedly did not utter.
“Stay still, Jaden,” Brayden mumbled, “cuddling you is no fun if you move.”
Jaden sprung up as if he was on fire, looking down at Brayden. Brayden grumbled leaning on his elbow to look at Jaden.
“Everything okay?” Brayden asked, sounding concerned.
Jaden swallowed, nodding haphazardly. “I’m sorry for invading your space like that.”
Brayden ran a hand along Jaden’s bicep. Jaden shivered, leaning into the touch.
“You didn’t invade anything. I would’ve stopped you if I didn’t like it,” Brayden paused, watching the cogs turn in Jaden’s head.
“You mean...”
Nodding, Brayden smiled. “Yes. I have feelings for you. Have had feelings for you for a long time.”
Sitting up properly, Brayden cupped Jaden’s face. On instinct, Jaden brought his hands to Brayden’s ribcage. Shivering at the contact, Brayden leaned in and ghosted his lips over Jaden’s. Jaden felt his lips tremble at the feather-light sensation. He leaned in to chase the feeling, lips making contact with Brayden’s.
The two kissed for a moment, pulling back when Jaden nibbled on Brayden’s lower lip. Brayden looked blissed and content when Jaden looked into his eyes. Brayden caught Jaden staring and smirked.
Jaden ducked his head, placing it on Brayden’s shoulder. Grabbing Jaden’s chin, Brayden pulled his head up. Looking into Jaden’s eyes, Jaden could see nothing but tenderness and care in Brayden’s eyes this time.
“You have pretty eyes,” Jaden mumbled.
Brayden’s face turned a soft shade of pink as he leaned in, kissing Jaden. The kiss was soft, sweet, and the most meaningful kiss Jaden had ever experienced. Unlike the kisses Jaden had with people in the past, this kiss with Brayden felt like it mattered in the grand scheme of things. It felt right.
Laying down to cuddle some more before morning skate, Jaden didn’t hear his phone vibrate on the nightstand. Brayden did and grabbed it to hand to Jaden. However, Jaden had fallen asleep before Brayden had a chance to hand the phone over. Kissing the top of Jaden’s head, Brayden checked the notification. Cackling, he put the phone on the nightstand and slipped back into dreamland with Jaden.
To: Schwartz
From: Pietrangelo
You’re welcome for getting you a room with one bed. If you two can’t get your heads out of your asses after that... well. I don’t know what to tell you.