Work Text:
Tuesday
iMessage
October 22nd, 2019
3:12 PM
Me: oh hey baby sorry i know you’re in lab but i forgot to ask you
Me: what do you have going on this weekend?
3:46 PM
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Oh! Let me see…
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Is your game Saturday home or away?
Me: it’s away but it’s just boston
Me: no sleepover
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Okay!
Baby🥰🌈🧣: The drama Halloween party is that night
Me: ooh that sounds fun!
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Yours is Friday at Beech Street?
Me: yes it is
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Okay, perfect!
Me: what about sunday?
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Sunday night?
Me: no, sunday during the day
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I believe I am getting breakfast with Hafsah
Baby🥰🌈🧣: And nothing after that.
Me: okay
Me: would you like to have a date🥰🥰🥰
Baby🥰🌈🧣: A date!
Baby🥰🌈🧣: What did you have in mind?🤍🤍
Me: maybe you’ll have to show up at beech on sunday and find out
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Oh my goodness. You flirt.
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Okay, consider it done.
Baby🥰🌈🧣: What’s the dress code?
Me: i’ll take care of that
Baby🥰🌈🧣: ???
Me: just let me work my magic baby🥰🥰
Baby🥰🌈🧣: If you say so.🤍🤍🤍🤍
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Have a nice afternoon🤍🤍 I’ll see you tonight?
Me: you can count on it😘
Baby🥰🌈🧣 loved a message
*
Thursday
Group Text — Kiersey Men’s Hockey
October 24th, 2019
9:23 AM
Alex Santiago: whoooooo is coming with me to do the halloween party supply run
Alex Santiago: like today
Jordan Jefferson: sorry bro im in midterms hell
Ben Shaley: i can’t today but you can take my car
Alex Santiago: ty for your service rhodey
Ben Shaley: all in a day’s work captain
Sebastián Hernandez: i can go!
Sebastián Hernandez: i need to go to the store anyway
Sebastián Hernandez: actually do you want to just send me with a list
Alex Santiago: fuck u dez
Alex Santiago: i’m PARTICIPATING
Sebastián Hernandez: my bad
Alex Santiago: we ride at 4:30 today
Alex Santiago: don’t be late
Sebastián Hernandez: ay ay capn
*
On Thursday afternoon, Nando makes a shopping list, takes twenty dollars out of the campus ATM, and meets Teegs in the driveway outside the house at Beech Street. He has the keys to Ben’s Prius, and Ben himself is on the porch, finger-wagging like a mom. “Don’t you fucking crash my car, Santiago.”
Teegs flashes a mighty grin. “Don’t worry,” he says, patting the Prius’ hood. “I’ll take extra care of Bianca. By the time I’m through with her, she’ll be wanting me instead of you.”
Ben sticks out his tongue at Teegs. “Bianca’s loyal.”
“Dez! You ready?” Teegs calls, as Nando comes down the front steps. He’s wearing sunglasses and his captain windbreaker, because it’s one of those beautiful, very cold fall days, where the sun wants to participate but so does the wind. There are leaf tornadoes everywhere. Campus looks so pretty.
“Hi,” Nando says, zipping up his own jacket. “Sorry. I couldn’t find my list.”
Teegs raises an eyebrow, like he’s curious, as he unlocks the Prius. “What do you need to shop for, anyway?”
Two options lie ahead of Nando, here. Either he tells the truth about his date planning and gets his ass chirped off for the entire grocery store trip, or he just brushes it off. It’s not that he can’t take the chirping, but something compels him to shrug and say, “I just need to pick up some stuff.”
It’s not technically untrue . Teegs throws open the driver’s side door and remarks, “Whatever you say, man,” and then, “C’mon, let’s get this show on the road.”
“Hey, Nan,” Ben calls, from the porch. Nando looks across the car to him, and Ben points to Teegs in the driver’s seat and goes, “Do not let him play trash in my car.”
Nando laughs. “I’ll try,” he replies, then waves to Ben, and gets in the passenger’s seat.
The drive is just long enough for one song, and Teegs chooses Pitbull, because Teegs is a poser who pretends to be from Miami even though he’s from Tampa. This is also exactly what Ben meant by ‘trash’ when he warned Nando to control Teegs with the aux, but Nando sings along anyway, because he’s never been opposed to Teegs’ party music. “Did you make the party mix yet?” he asks, as they park at the grocery store.
“Come on , Dez,” Teegs laughs, sliding his phone into his pocket and grinning across the console. “You already know I had that shit done last week.”
Nando laughs, too. “My bad.” It’s no surprise. After hockey, party planning is Teegs’ second favorite sport.
“Okay, we’ll split up,” Teegs explains, as they approach the door of the store. “You do your thing, and get some candy for Beech, and I’ll handle the drinks. Deal?”
Nando pulls his list out of his pocket. “Deal.”
The grocery store is mildly crowded, but not the kind of crowded where you start getting grouchy because there are people in your way at every turn. He goes for the seasonal section first, where there is, thank God, still a bunch of Halloween candy. He raids the shelves for his own purposes, and also for the party, then continues down his list as he walks through the store.
Nando can’t lie— he’s extremely excited for this weekend. Not just for the party and their game against BU, but for Sunday, too. He’s been dreaming about having the type of date he’s planning for him and Quinn since last fall.
When he meets up with Teegs again, Teegs has filled a cart with alcohol. This is typical of Beech Street party planning, and since Teegs turned twenty-one over the summer, it’s also thankfully legal— but it’s still entertaining to watch a frat guy walk around a grocery store with a cart full of literally nothing but party drink stuff. “Think you got enough?” Nando chirps.
“Hey, you can’t be over-prepared.” Teegs bounces on the soles of his basketball shoes. He doesn’t play basketball, but he does take his shoes seriously. “We’re expecting a big crowd.”
That , Nando knows, is true. Last year’s Halloween party was so big, and attracted so many random people from across campus, that it’s where he met Quinn. Quinn was invited , but still. It’s not every day that a theatre kid slash pre-med student shows up at a hockey frat house party.
Teegs grins at Nando’s own basket, as they get in the checkout line. “What the heck are you buying , man?”
Nando surveys his findings. On top of the various candy, he’s filled his basket with a box of microwave popcorn, some pumpkin-shaped string lights, two mini fall-scented candles, chocolate to melt for his papa’s famous cocoa recipe, a can of cream cheese frosting, and— most importantly— two packs of those Pillsbury holiday shape cookies. The ghost and pumpkin editions, naturally.
Teegs elbows him, still grinning, and adds, “Are those roadie snacks?”
“No,” Nando laughs, and finally gives himself up. It’s not like Teegs isn’t going to find out at some point anyway. “It’s stuff for a date. I’m having Quinn over Sunday.”
“ Damn !” Teegs remarks, the trademark smirk of a man about to chirp surfacing on his face. “I wish I was your man, Dez. You treat him right . What, are you trying to score boyfriend points or something?”
Nando shrugs. “It’s just some snacks and a couple movies.”
“Damn,” Teegs repeats. He nods with raised eyebrows at the basket, like he’s impressed. “I would crash your party, but I know Q would threaten my life.”
“I’ll save you some cookies.”
Teegs fist-bumps him. “My man,” he says, and then he’s next in the checkout line.
*
Saturday
iMessage
October 26th, 2019
6:32 PM
Baby🥰🌈🧣 sent a photo
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I just finished getting ready and thought you might want to see my costume.🥰
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Featuring Maggie. Isn’t her makeup amazing?
You loved a photo
Me: WOW
Me: baby
Me: you must be trying to kill me or something
Me: 😍😍😍😍😍😍
Me: you look so hot fuck
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Thank you🤍🤍🤍🤍
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I’m so happy with how it came out!
Me: im
Me: going to fcking die
Me: i wish i was coming home to you tonight
Baby🥰🌈🧣: You’ll see me in the morning.🥰🥰🥰
Me: it cant come soon enough
Baby🥰🌈🧣 loved a message
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I’m excited for tomorrow!
Me: so am i
Me: wow
Me: youre so fucking beautiful
Me: i love you
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I love you too.🤍🤍
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Are you at the rink?
Me: yes
Me: getting dressed soon
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Good luck tonight!!!
Me: thank you❤️
Me: i’ll be thinking of you
Me: and have fun !!!!!
Me: tell maggie not to party too hard
Me: and that her makeup DOES look pretty
Baby🥰🌈🧣: She says thank you, and no promises.
Me: 😂😂😂
Me: enjoy the party baby
Me: i love you so much
Baby🥰🌈🧣 loved a message
Baby🥰🌈🧣: I will, and I love you more.
Baby🥰🌈🧣: Score a goal for me🤍🤍🤍🤍
*
Sunday
Nando wakes up on Sunday morning to rain, which he takes as a good sign from God. He doesn’t really love rain, at least not on class days when he has to walk outside and get wet— but for a weekend in at the house, with the kind of date he has planned for the day, he’s not sure he could ask for more perfect weather.
It’s early when he gets up, or at least early in Beech Street Sunday morning terms. Teegs and Ben sleep until noon on the weekends like heathens, and Marc, Jordy, and Sam aren’t much earlier risers. Remy is probably the earliest riser in the group, but he doesn’t even technically live here yet, just crashes frequently on Ben’s bottom bunk.
It’s eight-thirty when Nando gets out of the shower and heads downstairs. Quinn isn’t even coming over here until eleven, but he has preparation to do.
He preheats the oven first, pulling the shape cookies out of the spot he hid them in the freezer. He did not trust literally any of their Halloween party houseguests on Friday night enough to put the cookies in plain sight, so he had to hide them under a bunch of bags of ice and old, frozen leftovers to ensure they survived the party.
Thank God, they did, and he unboxes them this morning for that sweet sweet childhood nostalgia. Growing up, Halloween was always a little more of a big deal for his white friends than for him, but he still went trick-or-treating. He thinks his first brush with these cookies was probably at an elementary school class party. Discovering there were Christmas ones too was a fantastic experience.
He puts the cookies on a sheet and then starts on the cocoa, chopping up the tabilla and setting aside the spices for later. The rain patters away on the window, and he sends Quinn a good morning text in a moment of idle time.
It’s going to be a good day.
He almost doesn’t notice the steps coming down the stairs. When it happens, it’s after the oven timer has gone off on the first tray of cookies, so he’s taking them off the sheet with a spatula and leaving them on a plate to cool. He’s in a groove, by himself in the kitchen with just the rain and his daydreaming mind as company— so Ben’s voice, from the direction of the stairs, almost scares him. “Duuuude.”
Nando jumps, and then laughs and turns around. “Jeez, you scared me,” he tells Ben, who’s crossing the kitchen and looks fresh out of bed.
His hair is in a messy bun, and he’s shirtless in gym shorts and Nike socks. He rubs his left eye as he shuffles across the floor. “What are you doing up so early?”
“It’s not that early,” Nando replies, which is true, at least for himself. For Ben, though— that’s a different story. “Why are you up right now?”
“Your loud ass— in the shower.” It’s phrased like a chirp, even though Ben has to pause to yawn in the middle of it. Nando puts the last of the cookies on the tray, and that’s when Ben gasps. Loudly. Like he’s just now waking up. “ Bro ,” he says, at a much fuller volume. “ Hold the fuck on. Are those— those fucking shape cookies?!”
It’s the unmistakable, ravenous fascination of a hungry jock who is about to take his own. Nando can’t let that happen; he dives to cover the plate. “They’re for Quinn!”
“‘ They’re for Quinn ’,” Ben mocks, with a loud, wide-awake laugh, and adds, “Of course they are, you fucking simp.” His hand creeps across the counter, like he wants to breach Nando’s cover of the plate. “You really can’t spare one for your poor deprived best friend?”
“I’ll kill you,” Nando whispers.
“Yeah, okay.” Ben tips back on the counter stool and calls, back in the direction of the stairs. “ Remy ! Get your Canadian ass down here!”
“ Dude ,” Nando says, surveying him with what he hopes is mild horror. He lifts the cookies out of Ben’s reach, and then adds, “You might as well have just woke the whole house up. Teegs might kill you.”
“Teegs literally sleeps through the smoke detector.” Ben spins around in his chair, then hops off it to lean on the counter as he adds, “And Rem was already awake.”
Nando tries to give him the evil eye. “Summoning Remy is not going to get you cookies.” In actuality, he knows he and Quinn won’t eat two entire packages of these by themselves— well, he himself probably could make it happen, but shouldn’t . A few cookies can work on the team diet plan, but not, like, two dozen all at once. So he does intend to share cookies with his teammates— he just wants to make sure he sets enough aside for the date before he lets them loose into the wild. They won’t last long in this house.
He puts the plate of cooling cookies at the back of the stove, then trays up the other package while Ben continues to whine. “Duuuude.” He’s now leaning all the way across the counter, gazing wistfully at Nando’s second batch as if he’s hopelessly pining after the cookies. “Look at them. They’re calling my name.”
“Just let me bake them all,” Nando tells him. The jack-o-lanterns on the second batch are smiling up at him from the tray, like they, too, are excited for Quinn to come over. “And once they’re done, I’ll put aside what I need, and then I’ll give you some.”
Ben folds his hands under his chin and nods steadily. “Hm. Possibly acceptable.” He pauses to grin, and then adds, “You’re still a simp, though.”
“What’s—” From behind Ben, the familiar, very French voice sounds extremely half-asleep. “What’s going on down here?”
Ben wheels around to face Remy, who’s approaching from the stairs. “Hey, check it out,” he says. “Nan’s baking up a storm.”
“I can smell it.” Remy rubs his eyes. He’s in his pajama bottoms and a KMH sweatshirt that says Shaley on the sleeve instead of Tremblay , which isn’t unusual lately but is still kind of funny and wholesome. (Are your homies really your homies if they don’t steal your sweatshirt and sleep over in your room? Nando is starting to think that for Ben and Remy, the answer is no.) The hood is pulled up over his tufty white hair, and he shuffles across the floor in his socks before he stops just behind Ben.
“Dude, you look dead,” Nando laughs. “I told him not to yell. Did he wake you up?”
Remy shakes his head, and then yawns, and wraps his arms around Ben to lean on him from behind. “I was awake,” he mumbles, then hides in Ben’s shoulder for a good couple of seconds.
Nando grins, and looks back to finish traying up the pumpkin cookies. “Hi,” he hears Ben say, in a quiet voice absent of any and all smartass vibes. “How’d you sleep?”
“Fine.” Remy’s voice is muffled, and Ben laughs. Nando turns to slide the tray into the oven, setting the timer for another five minutes. When he turns around, Remy is still kind of hanging on Ben, but he’s looked up again, and he’s squinting Nando’s way. “What are you making?”
“Get this, Rem,” Ben supplies, before Nando can answer. “He’s making those— fucking, uh— holiday shape cookies?”
Remy lets out a noise that’s somewhere between a sigh and an ohhhhh , like this information gets him super pumped-up. “The sugar cookies?”
“Yes!” Ben cries. “And he has the audacity to tell me they’re for Quinn—”
“I told you you could have some!” Nando protests, before they can gang up on him. “Don’t listen to him, Rem. I just need to put enough aside and then you guys can have the rest.”
Remy narrows his eyes a little. “You had better keep your promises,” he mumbles. “I take those cookies seriously.”
“Oh, my God ,” Nando laughs, and then, somewhere in the abyss of his sweatpants’ pocket, his phone buzzes.
“So what’s your, like, game plan today?” Ben is asking, as he draws it out and smiles at the screen. “Like— oh, look at you. I swear to God, Nanny, you give me more chirping material every day.”
“What?” He sleeps the display and looks up to Ben, trying to shake the doofy grin he knows he was just wearing. “Can I not read my own texts in peace?”
“You’re like a girl in a teenage romance novel,” Ben fires back, back to the snark even though sleep zombie Remy is still hanging on him. “You’re incapable of looking at your phone without blushing.”
He rolls his eyes and unlocks his home screen. “I am not blushing.”
“You’re blushing spiritually.” Ben keeps talking, even as Nando strives to ignore him. “I can see it in your heart eyes.”
“Fuck off, Rho.”
“Yeah, I love you too, you giant fucking simp.”
“Ben, he’s just texting.”
“Everything contains an opportunity for chirping, dude. Look at him, he’s typing a paragraph.”
“Their texts are, like, fifty percent emojis by volume. I’ve seen them.”
“That makes it worse.”
*
iMessage
October 27th, 2019
9:12 AM
Baby🥰🌈🧣 : Good morning!🤍🌈 I hope you slept well!🥰🥰 I’m headed to breakfast around 10. What time should I come over?
Me: hey baby🥰🥰
Me: take your time at breakfast and come over whenever you’re ready!
Me: i’ll be ready for you❤️❤️❤️
Me: have a good breakfast!!!!
Baby🥰🌈🧣 : Thank you! I’m looking forward to seeing Hafsah!
Baby🥰🌈🧣 : I’ll see you probably a little before noontime?
Me: perfect
Me: 😘😘😘😘
*
Nando spends the rest of the morning moving through a checklist.
First things first, finish with the cookies. He gets the pumpkin ones out of the oven, gives Ben and Remy a ghost and a pumpkin each to appease them, sets aside a dozen for his date, and then puts the rest out on a plate at the center of the kitchen table. When Teegs, Jordy, and Sam wake up, they’ll pretty much be done for.
Next, Nando heads up to his room. He has a field day trying to figure out how to get batteries into the pumpkin string lights from the store, but once he gets them glowing orange, he spreads them in his windowsill and draws his curtains tight shut. The sound of the rain on the glass is still a nice, chill background noise, but then again, white noise doesn’t matter to Quinn.
The idea is simple: he’s going to turn his room into a little cocoon of fall vibes, the perfect spot for an afternoon in having snacks and watching Halloween movies. The pumpkin lights and his desk lamp are a good combination for the right amount of light with the curtains shut; he lights his two mini candles and puts them on the windowsill mostly for the scent. One is called Vanilla Pumpkin, and the other is Cinnamon Bun; he hopes they’ll smell good together. He thinks they will.
His bed is unmade from this morning, but he straightens it out a little, clustering all the pillows at the top to give them a little comfy alcove to snuggle in. His laptop is charging, and he’ll keep it that way until Quinn actually gets here and they get settled. Before he leaves his room, he sets out a small stack of clothes on the edge of his bed— his best, newest hockey sweatshirt, a hand-knit pair of warm socks, and Quinn’s one pair of joggers. Gray and tight-fit, they’re only a part of his wardrobe because Nando convinced him to buy them, and Nando is satisfied with his own persuasion, because they, uh… compliment Quinn’s many assets.
But of course he’s not considering that when he puts them out on his bed. It’s obviously just so Quinn will be comfy. Duh.
Ben and Remy, for a good portion of the morning, are the only ones awake. When Nando is satisfied with his room setup and heads back downstairs, they’re in the kitchen eating the cookies Nando set aside for them and the rest of the guys.
“That is not a nutritious breakfast,” he points out, as he sits down at the counter.
“Well,” Ben says with his mouth full, “there’s nuffing else to eat.”
“Dude, gross .” Nando waves him away and laughs. “Stop spraying crumbs.”
Ben swallows and then sticks his tongue out at him before he goes for another cookie. Remy is having one, too; he stares at a half-eaten pumpkin one in his hand like it’s a skull and he’s Hamlet. Nando can’t believe that imagery actually comes to mind, but Quinn is taking Shakespeare this semester for his theatre major, so… it follows sort of naturally. He thinks.
Nando watches Ben go for another ghost one. There are at least half as many cookies on the plate than what he left them with. “If you guys eat all of those before the guys wake up, they’re gonna be piiiiissed .”
“Who says they have to know?” Ben asks, with his mouth full again.
“Well, they’re gonna see the boxes in the trash—”
“Here.” Remy reaches for the plate, takes four cookies off of it, and sets them aside. He points to each of them as he designates them. “Jordy. Sam. Teegs. Marc. Done.”
“You’re a genius, Rem,” Ben muses, and Nando snorts, getting off his chair and walking around back of the counter.
“There are other things to eat for breakfast,” he tells them, opening the cabinet, and producing a box of Cheerios to prove it. “See?”
“Booooooo,” Ben says. “Plain Cheerios are boring.”
Nando half-sighs and half-laughs, then shakes the box at Remy to gauge if he wants some before he puts it back in the cabinet. “No, thanks,” Remy says, so he returns it and shows Ben the other cereal box in there— Lucky Charms.
“Hey, hook me up with that,” Ben says. “I wanna eat just the marshmallows.”
Remy tips sideways to sink his head into Ben’s shoulder. “That is disgusting.”
“No,” Ben tells him, tossing an arm around his shoulders. “It’s fire.”
Nando looks at the Lucky Charm box for a second, then grins and tosses it across the counter to Ben, who catches it easily, even though he has to lunge to the side a little. His goalie reflexes are showing. “Thanks, Nan.”
Nando keeps looking through the cabinets, and wonders if he even really should have breakfast given that he’s planning to eat his weight in snacks this afternoon. He still should, he knows. Breakfast is an important meal. He finds a protein bar and takes a mandarin orange out of the fridge; he’s peeling the orange and daydreaming when Ben says, “ Yooo , dude, when are you making those breakfast burritos again?”
It’s enough to almost make Nando’s stomach growl. One of his papa’s many, many recipes he came to Kiersey having memorized, burritos for breakfast have been a huge hit with the guys. “I can do them next weekend,” he offers, as he finishes peeling the orange.
“It’s like you can read my mind.” Ben plunges his hand into the cereal box, then pulls out a tiny blue marshmallow and nudges Remy. “Here. This moon is calling your name.”
“I don’t want it,” Remy mumbles.
Nando leans on the counter and eats several orange pieces at once, while Ben tries to force the marshmallow upon him for a minute more. When he gives up on him, he just pops it into his own mouth, then digs back into the box as he announces, “The rainbows are my favorite.”
Nando snorts. “That’s gay. You’re gay.”
“No, really,” Ben says, as if his queerness needs validating. “Look.” He pulls out a rainbow and holds it up to the light like it’s a gold nugget. “Look at the colors.”
Remy hums and nods a little. It takes Nando an extra second to realize, but when Remy says, “It’s your flag,” it clicks. Ben eats the marshmallow and flashes a thumbs-up, and Remy rests into his shoulder.
Nando laughs. The kitchen is quiet and the morning is rainy, and his boyfriend is coming over, and he loves his friends.
*
The morning goes by slowly, because time always goes more slowly when he’s waiting on seeing Quinn, like God wants him to build anticipation in exchange for the sweet result. After his half-assed breakfast with Ben and Remy in the kitchen, he sets up snacks on his desk in his room, clearing it of various soc books and notes for the history requirement he and Ben are in together this semester (HI 107, Exploration and Discovery, a class he’s pretty confident they’re only passing thanks to Remy’s help). In place of the school stuff, which he puts temporarily on the floor, he sets their cookies, and the can of frosting, plus some of the candy and a bowl in case they decide they want to make popcorn. It’s starting to smell really good in his room because of the candles, and his laptop is fully charged, so he moves it to his bed before he heads downstairs.
The final task of the morning is finishing the cocoa, and by the time he’s doing that , the other guys in the house are starting to get up. You can’t just make hot chocolate in front of your friends and not offer them any, so he winds up giving everybody a mug once he sets a small pan aside for Quinn. “Sharing is caring,” Ben tells him, and hip-checks him at the counter. He laughs as he stirs the chocolatey goodness. It smells like home.
When the knock at the door comes, Nando is ready. Everything is set up in his room, and the only thing he has left to do is pour Quinn’s and his own cocoa into mugs. He’s in the kitchen with Ben and Teegs, while Remy and Marc are arguing in French over something NHL-related in the next room over. Jordy is upstairs in his room again, and Sam is doing homework at the table by the kitchen window. They exist in a sort of frat house harmony.
“This shit is gas , Dez,” Teegs is saying, regarding the cocoa. “You gotta make it more often.”
“Hear, hear,” Ben affirms, and raises his mug like a pub glass.
Nando loves this place.
Knock, knock, knock. The sound at the door makes his heart leap, as if it’s their first date a year ago all over again. He can’t help it; he’s excited. He’s done a lot of planning for this date, and he can’t wait to actually have it.
“Come in, baby!” he starts to call. Quinn still knocks when he comes to Beech Street. Nando has only just started living here this semester, and he figures there will come a day when he just walks in without warning, but he isn’t there yet.
But at the same time that he calls for Quinn to come in, Teegs puts his mug down on the counter and looks to him with a huge grin. “That’s him?” he asks, and Nando nods. Without another word, Teegs zips across the room to the door, and Nando only realizes he’s about to open the door for him when it’s too late to stop the deed.
“Well, would you look at that.” Teegs throws the door open. “Dez’s man, paying us a visit.”
“ Teegs ,” Nando laughs, and rushes across the floor after him. He can hear Quinn’s voice from the other side of the door, mixing with the patter of the rain.
“Hello, Alejandro. How are you today?”
“Oh, I’m chilling, Q.” Teegs leans in the doorway. “How are you?”
“I’m quite alright,” Quinn is saying, as Nando rounds the back of the door and catches sight of him. In his rain jacket and khakis, he’s closing up an umbrella in the safe, dry area of the porch overhang. Behind him, the world is gray and wet, but he is the cutest thing Nando’s ever seen. When they meet eyes, Nando waves to him, and Quinn smiles gently. “Hi, sweetheart.”
“Ooh, sweetheart ,” Teegs echoes, his voice a wise-ass euphoria. “That’s what I like about you, Quinn. You make it easy for us to chirp him.”
Quinn’s smile remains, as he tips his head at Teegs. “Oh, hush , Alex. That’s me barely trying.”
“Come in, baby.” Nando steps aside and beckons for him, as Teegs cackles. “It looks wet out there.”
“It’s… quite unpleasant, actually,” Quinn says, as he comes in and pulls the hood of his rain jacket off his head. “I can’t say I’m a fan, although I’m glad I don’t have to go to class today.”
Teegs shuts the door behind him, and Nando takes the dripping jacket when Quinn unzips it. He hangs it with his umbrella on a hook, telling Quinn, “It’s a nice day for staying in, though.”
Quinn smiles again. He rises on his tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “That it is,” he says, and adds, “Thank you,” as Nando finishes hanging up his stuff.
“You’re welcome.” With Teegs close by, he knows he runs the risk of getting fined out the ass for being cheesy with Quinn, but he’s so soft today that he really does not care at all. He takes his hand, and starts to lead him to the kitchen. “How was breakfast?”
“It was very nice,” Quinn replies, with a nod. “There were delicious hash browns.” He fixes his hair with his free hand; it’s just a little damp from being out in the rain, and Nando can tell he’s trying to push it into its normal sideswipe. “Something smells lovely in here,” he adds, as they walk into the kitchen. “Did you make—”
“Hot chocolate, baby!” Ben cuts Quinn off, like he’s finishing his thought, and waves his mug around like a pub glass again. “Hot off the presses. Mini, he’s been slaving away in the kitchen all morning. The simping is real .”
Nando rolls his eyes, with a grin at Ben. “I made two things,” he tells Quinn. “And yes, one of them was cocoa.”
Quinn puts a hand on his stomach and hums contentedly, a warm smile on his face. “You know the way to my heart, Sebastián.”
“And our hearts, too,” Teegs adds, bounding back in from his little field trip to the front door.
“Facts,” Ben replies. “Sharing is caring.”
“He’s said that to me, like, four times this morning,” Nando mumbles to Quinn, who laughs gently as they reach the counter. “You want me to pour your mug?” he asks him. “Our date is taking place in my room, but I thought you might want—”
“ Ooooooh ,” Teegs sings, like a fifth-grader. “A date in your room, huh?”
Nando flips him off, then looks back to Quinn— who is only blushing slightly— for his answer. He nods. “I’d love that,” he says, so Nando makes him up a mug, and pours some for himself, too. They endure slightly more chirping from Teegs and Ben, but manage to make it to the steps within a minute or two more.
“Have a fun date!” Ben calls after them. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
“No promises, Ben,” Quinn calls over his shoulder, which makes the guys downstairs go wild as they leave the ground floor and reach the top of the stairs. Up here, it’s a lot quieter, and Nando walks slowly to balance the two mugs of cocoa. Quinn follows close behind him; the hardwood floor creaks under their feet.
“You look like you’re on a mission,” Quinn murmurs, as they near his bedroom door.
“Well, I am,” he replies, with a wink down at him. “I promised you a good date today.”
Quinn smiles, folding his hands behind his back. “I’ve very much been looking forward to this.”
They stop in front of the closed door. Nando doesn’t really shut his bedroom door a lot, unless he and Quinn want privacy, but he made sure to shut it before he went downstairs for the dramatic effect of revealing it all decked out inside when Quinn got here. The outside of the door is home to a Coyotes poster, a couple of taped-up pictures, and a construction paper cactus with his name on it. The team manager made them all ‘door decorations’ like an RA would, when they all moved in for preseason. Nando got a cactus, Remy got a rat, Ben got a guitar, Teegs got a pair of sunglasses, and so on.
“I have, too, baby,” he replies, and starts to nudge the door open with his foot. “You ready?”
“I’m ready,” Quinn laughs, so he opens it up and lets him go inside ahead of him.
“Oh, my goodness,” Quinn marvels, as he takes in the scene. The pumpkin lights and the candles give it an orange glow, just the way Nando wanted, and Quinn looks pretty in the light as he stands in the middle of the room. “It’s like an autumnal wonderland in here!”
Nando gives him a cheeky grin, holding up the two mugs in either hand, and says, “I really wanted to do that fall Halloween vibe.”
“It’s lovely ,” Quinn tells him, and then actually laughs , which is the best noise ever. “Look at— where did you get all this food ?”
“It’s not that much food.” He comes up behind him at the desk to put down their mugs, then wraps his arms around him from behind to add, “But I raided the seasonal section at Hannaford the other day, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“My goodness.” Quinn holds both his hands against his stomach, then angles his face up to give him a gentle peck of a kiss. “And it smells so nice in here.”
“Yeah, that’s because of those.” He gestures to the candles. “Uh… vanilla pumpkin and cinnamon, I think?”
Quinn does a dramatic inhale, then breathes out all refreshed. Nando feels him fall back and rest most of his weight against his chest, so he scoops him up into his arms to give him an actual, longer, better kiss. It feels like a hello, and Quinn must feel the same, because when they come up for air, he murmurs, “Hi.”
“Hey, cariño .” He tips his forehead against his and just revels in this for a second— this closeness, this tenderness, the way this boy feels in his arms. Today may not be a special occasion, but this literally never gets old.
They share that quiet for a moment, and Nando tries not to spontaneously combust at the sight of him in his arms, in this warm light. He’s in a sweater and a collared shirt with khakis, which makes him look very cute but is not very practical for snuggling. Luckily, this is one of the many things Nando has prepared for.
“So,” he says, gently, and kisses his nose. “Do you want to know the plan?”
“I would love that,” Quinn murmurs.
“Okay.” He sits them down on the edge of his bed, and Quinn wraps right around him, staying close in his lap just the way he always does. Quinn fits in his lap so perfectly, it’s like he was made to be held by him. (Nando is pretty positive he was, actually.)
“So,” he repeats, and looks right in his eyes. “I was thinking we’d have, like… a cozy afternoon. With a movie? And the snacks. I found two movies on Netflix; they’re good for Halloween. And …” He pauses for a grin, and then gestures down to where he laid the clothes out earlier, “I got you a change of wardrobe.”
Quinn cups a hand around his shoulder. “Oh, goodness, that looks comfy.”
“I figured you’d want to be, uh…” He pauses, then tugs him a little closer. “Dressed for the occasion?”
“That’ll be perfect.” Quinn sighs into his chest, a gentle noise, and then says, “This is so lovely, Sebastián. I’m very excited.” He’s quiet for a second, and then looks up with a little, vaguely mischievous smile on his cute freckled face. He looks to the cluster of pillows Nando has created at the top of the bed. “Can we cuddle?”
“We can definitely cuddle,” Nando laughs, then hugs him close to his chest for good measure. Quinn laughs, and they share a good squeeze. God , Nando fucking loves his boyfriend.
He hops into bed and opens his laptop to cue up Netflix while Quinn changes. This is only an effective distraction for a couple of seconds. It’s not that he’s trying not to look at him; they are far, far past the point in their relationship where changing in front of each other would be awkward— he just wants to be a useful human being and actually find the movie instead of ogling at his changing boyfriend.
The problem is that Quinn is… so fucking cute. And hot. And beautiful. And just… he’s perfect. Nando sneaks a glance as he pulls his button-down off of his pale, lean chest and folds it neatly, all proper just the way he always is.
Quinn, because he is a man aware of his own assets, notices. Of course he notes. He sneaks a smile and a wink, and then goes for the belt on his khakis. Nando sighs and puts his laptop aside— because there’s no use hiding it when Quinn has already noticed— and then walks up to stand behind him.
He places both hands on his waist, and Quinn keeps his smile, reaching for the soft KMH t-shirt Nando put out with his hoodie and the sweatpants. Nando leans down to press a kiss to his shoulder. He has freckles on his shoulders, always has. It’s really the little things in life.
With his chin resting on his shoulder, he murmurs, “I’m not trying to get you in bed right now, baby… at least, not for that reason— but— that costume last night?”
Quinn’s smile grows. He still doesn’t look his way, because he loves torturing Nando’s soul. “I knew you’d like it.” He bunches up the shirt like he’s going to put it on, so Nando helps it over his head. It messes up his hair on the way by, and Quinn combs it back again immediately, because he always does that.
“You’re so fucking pretty,” Nando tells him, because he’s nothing if not a lovestruck fool for this boy. And his drama club Halloween costume from the picture last night really was something else. It was so much. In the best possible way. Nando is gay.
Quinn pulls his belt off and keeps smiling. His cheeks are just a little pink, and he looks up briefly to press a kiss to Nando’s jaw. “Thank you,” he says. “I try.”
Nando laughs. God , he loves him so much.
He goes back to trying to be useful, and successfully gets Netflix up and going while Quinn finishes changing. It’s not even his account— Mama doesn’t really do streaming services, so they don’t have a family one set up, and Nando doesn’t watch enough TV to pay for Netflix on his own. This year, they have a Beech Street Netflix pool going, and someone different pays the bill each month. Jordy and Sam share a profile, but the rest of them have their own. Teegs once went in and changed all of their icons. Nando’s is a chicken, like the restaurant. Because Teegs thinks he’s funny.
When he finds his movie of choice— The Haunted Mansion , quality Halloween viewing, and thanks for asking— he looks up over the top of his laptop and tries not to swoon. Quinn is in the comfy stuff now, sweater paws and tight joggers and all, and he’s picking up his cocoa to get a sip that looks euphoric. His eyes flutter shut and everything. When he meets Nando’s eyes again, he remarks, “This is heaven in a mug.”
“It sure is,” Nando says, and then, like Quinn can read his mind, he passes him his own mug. Nando sets it on his little bedside table so it’s in close reach, then watches as Quinn peers over his desk, still holding the mug close to his face. His hair is still messy from when he changed, and this time, he hasn’t combed it back. The sweatshirt is baggy and reaches to his thighs, and his socks are pulled way up over the joggers. It’s so cute— he’s so cute— that Nando might melt.
“Oh, my goodness,” Quinn murmurs. “These cookies are so cute.” He reaches for one from the plate Nando had to save from certain death by hockey team, and picks it up to smile at it. “The little ghosts?”
Nando grins, and leans back into the pillow-filled spot he created for them. “They’re the best.”
“Are they sugar cookies?” Quinn asks, looking to him, and the question leads Nando to realize something truly earth-shaking.
“Wait… wait. ” He leans forward on his mattress, and gapes at Quinn. “ Baby . Have you never experienced those before?”
“No!” Quinn smiles at the cookie again, and shakes his head. “I believe I’ve seen them in the store, but I’ve never eaten them.”
“Oh my Go— okay, bring them here, then.” He pats the mattress next to him. “And the frosting. I can’t believe you’ve never had them.”
Quinn looks over the desk again. “Frosting?”
“Yeah, it’s—” He starts to point to the can of frosting, but then Quinn nods and grabs it.
“Oh,” he says. “Frosting.” He tosses the can over to him, and then takes the tray of cookies and places it on the bedside table with Nando’s mug. He keeps his own mug for one more sip, and then deposits that there, too. “So what are we viewing this afternoon, Mr. Hernandez?”
“Well, actually,” Nando replies, leaning to his laptop again, “I found a serious dose of childhood nostalgia on Netflix.” He shows Quinn the screen.
“Oh, gosh,” Quinn murmurs, sitting on the edge of the mattress. “I do love this movie.”
“Me, too.” He spreads himself out a little, then lowers his voice a little, beckoning for him. The space between them isn’t that much, but right now, it needs to get a lot smaller. “C’mere, mi rey .”
Quinn smiles, and then climbs into bed. It’s a small process to get themselves into the right position— Nando takes him by the waist and maneuvers him easily into his lap, and their legs tangle together as he pulls the covers over the both of them. “Is this a good configuration?” he asks, still holding him by the waist.
“Hold on,” Quinn says, and shifts a little; Nando feels his arm wrap around his back, and then he leans his face right into the space between his chest and his shoulder. He exhales, and then hums, “Okay, yes. This is perfect.”
“Sweet.” Nando can’t help the fact that he knows full well he’s smiling like an idiot. Quinn looks incredibly snuggly and also just cute as fuck, and all his planning for this date has come to fruition, and it’s a perfect day to stay in and do what they’re doing right now, and he just— he could not be happier.
Quinn looks up and smiles at him, and Nando cups his face for a sweet, lingering kiss. “You ready?” he asks, when they come up for air.
Quinn nods. “I am if you are,” he says, and then turns off his ears, so Nando reaches for his laptop, turns on the subtitles, and starts the movie.
*
Nando loves this movie. He really does. But even ten minutes in, he is having trouble focusing.
Look, he could not be more chill right now. His room smells kind of amazing, and he’s drinking cocoa that he, to be honest, did a really good job on, and he’s all snuggly in the blankets and pillows with Quinn. The movie is funny and has always made him laugh, and he’s, like… he’s watching the movie. He really is. He’s just also… in love with his boyfriend.
Quinn has a hand resting on his stomach under his shirt, rubbing his thumb over a stretch mark he can’t see but must be able to feel. It’s warm, and his touch is gentle, and Nando would have been freaking out internally a year ago at the prospect of being touched somewhere he’s ingrained to hate on himself— but Quinn always does this, when they cuddle, and it’s so simple but so nice. Quinn has a way about him that, over the past year, has taught Nando to love himself a lot more than he ever thought he could.
So that’s a nice feeling. And so is the way he feels in his lap, all curled up and tangled with him. So is basically everything about him. Nando doesn’t think he could be more content, and he’s sort of well aware that he’s paying a lot more attention to the boy in his arms than he is to the movie.
He’s okay with that.
Not so long into the movie, Quinn sits up halfway and points over to his bedside table. Hearing aids out and set aside, he communicates with a look— he’s good at that. Nando knows what he wants. He grabs the cookie plate and puts it down on the mattress next to them, then, for good measure, grabs and takes the lid off of the frosting.
“This,” he tells him, because Quinn is looking at him, “is the only way to do it.” He takes a cookie and dunks it halfway into the frosting, then holds it out for him. It takes Quinn a second, but then he gets it, and lets Nando sort of feed it to him. His expression, as he experiences sweet Pillsbury shape cookie bliss for the first time in his life, is entertaining and endearing all at once.
As he chews, he nods. He grabs a cookie himself, and then puts it in the frosting, and returns the favor. Nando obliges. He forgot how much he loved these.
He really could eat this entire tray, but they don’t— they swap a few cookies, going back and forth, and then Quinn squints up at him and laughs, pointing to something at the side of his face. Nando actually does know that he has a little frosting on his dimple, but he pretends not to know, and raises his eyebrows like he’s confused. Quinn laughs again, and then leans up and kisses it off. Score. That’s sort of what Nando was hoping would happen.
They exchange a few proper kisses after that. Quinn tastes like chocolate and sugar, and he slides his hand back under Nando’s shirt to press his palm to his stomach again. His lips are soft, they always are, and God , does this boy know how to kiss so well. Not only that, but Quinn is close and he’s warm and and he’s cuddly, and Nando does not want to move from this spot with him in his bed for the foreseeable future.
Lucky for him, he doesn’t have to.
*
They actually do watch most of the movie. Sure, there are a couple snack breaks where the food is a more immediate thing to focus on, and they swap kisses in spontaneous little bouts, but they both pay enough attention to the laptop for Nando to follow the plot. And yeah, okay, maybe some of that is because he’s seen The Haunted Mansion at least three other times in his life, but still. They pay attention. The majority of the run time is spent with snuggling, and it’s good.
When the movie ends, they’ve made a decent dent in the snacks— they each had a few cookies, and their cocoa is gone, and they’ve broken slightly into the candy supply, too. They didn’t end up making popcorn, but Nando figures they can always just save that for next time they watch a movie. Or even later this afternoon. Which raises a question, as he closes his laptop. He frees a hand and shakes it out of the blankets, then signs at him. Stay here?
Quinn beams. He brushes at his hair— which has gotten adorably messy over the past two hours— and nods. He signs back, his motions a little slower than Nando knows they would be if he were speaking to a fluent signer— like Hafsah, his friend he met for breakfast this morning. Still, Nando can understand what he says; his spiraling fingers brought down on the top of his palm are a pretty common sign in Quinn’s introductory vocabulary. Of course.
Nando grins. He pulls him close again, because there’s no need to really talk that much when you’re cuddling. He’s going to be fluent in ASL one day, just not yet. And that’s okay. Quinn knows he’s working on it.
With no movie to focus on, Quinn faces him in his lap, and their kisses grow a little more consistent over the next few minutes. Light, snuggly weight in his arms, Quinn kisses him lazily but steady, and Nando hums when he feels him thread a hand up into his curls. That’s common, he’s found, when they’re kissing a lot; Quinn will put one hand in his hair and the other under his shirt, and he’ll tend to straddle his hips, and just— go to town.
Nando is just— God . This is a good afternoon. Life is great .
The next little while is chill beyond compare; they alternate between kissing and just resting, and eventually Quinn settles in with his face on his neck, wraps tight around him, and stays still. The rain is gentle background noise, and the room is low-lit and warm, and Nando is full of good snacks, and he is content to stay right here for the literal entire rest of the day. He actually has no idea what time it is— but he doesn’t plan on getting up and moving to find out.
He’s so warm that he starts to doze, and thinks that a nap would actually be a sort of ideal happening right now. He’s not sure if he winds up actually falling asleep. He thinks Quinn might definitely be asleep, resting on him like this. The blankets are wrapped around them, and they’re in napping position.
So he shuts his eyes and rests his head on Quinn’s shoulder. And when he wakes up, it’s to a voice in the doorway— Ben’s voice. “Hey, lovebirds!”
Nando jolts a little, but Quinn doesn’t move in his arms. “ Shhhh ,” says a second voice, Remy’s, behind the door. It’s not all the way shut, but it’s only open a sliver. “They might be asleep.”
The tiny opening widens, and Nando blinks before he sees Ben’s face appear in the crack. “They’re not asleep,” he says, looking to his side, where Nando guesses Remy must be standing, and flashing a grin. “Or at least Nanny isn’t.”
“Sorry, Nando,” Remy mumbles, as Ben pulls the door open wider to reveal both of them. Remy is still wearing his PJs and Ben’s sweatshirt, and he has his stuffed snake thing hanging around his neck and shoulders. Ben has not put on a shirt in the solid three hours since Nando has seen him. Dude has never been modest, and honestly, good for him.
“It’s okay,” Nando tells Remy, with a shake of his head. “No need to be sorry.”
Quinn must feel him talking, because he shifts a little in his arms and then looks up. His eyes are hazy, like he was sleeping, and he looks in Nando’s sight line before waving to Ben and Remy.
“Mind if we crash this party?” Ben asks, leaning against the doorframe. “I heard you have killer snacks in here.”
Nando laughs. He looks to Quinn and takes care to form his words clearly. “They want to come in.”
Quinn nods— a green light— and then points to his ear, so Nando says, “Yeah, go for it,” and gets Quinn’s hearing aids for him from the bedside table while Ben and Remy come all the way inside.
“Dude,” Ben says, falling backwards on the end of the mattress. “It smells like a Bath and Body Works in here.”
Nando snorts. “It’s my candles! Quinn liked them, too.” He looks down to him. “Right, baby?”
Quinn is fiddling with his left hearing aid; the right one is already in. “Repeat that, my dear?”
“I said you liked the candles.”
“Oh, I loved the candles,” Quinn says, at full volume, putting a hand to his heart for emphasis. He looks to Ben and Remy. “Don’t they smell nice?”
“You really went all out,” Remy is mumbling, maybe to himself, as he walks over to the desk. He leans over the spread of snacks, and plays with his snake friend, whose name, Nando knows, is something from Harry Potter. “Can I have a Skittle?”
“Just one Skittle?” Ben asks, still laying on the end of the mattress.
Remy looks over his shoulder. “One of the little bags—”
“Have as many Skittles as your heart desires, Remy,” Quinn tells him, and Remy smiles, and then pulls out a small red bag and tears it open.
Remy is crunching and Quinn is yawning, his lips warm and pressed right against the space under Nando’s ear, as Ben sits up to look their way. “We should watch a movie,” he says. “I know you guys just watched one, but still. Sharing is caring.”
Nando looks to his closed laptop, which was forgotten many tens of minutes and kisses ago. “What movie do you wanna watch?”
“I dunno. Halloweentown ? It’s on Netflix.” Ben fixes his hair. It’s falling halfway out of its bun. “Rem and I just watched John Mulaney.”
“I love that funny man,” Remy mumbles.
“Goodness, he’s so funny,” Quinn adds. “Reid could recite all his specials by heart.”
Nando looks down at him. Quinn’s drama friend Reid graduated last year, but he had probably the best sense of humor Nando has ever seen in another person. He’s definitely going to be famous. “Why does that not surprise me at all?”
Still on the other end of the bed, Ben reaches for Nando’s laptop and opens it. “What’s your password, Nan?”
“It’s…” Nando pauses. His password isn’t weird or embarrassing, just sort of specific; he’s used the same one for everything since middle school. “Let me just do it.”
Ben does a bad job of holding in a laugh, and passes it over. “Sorry, my bad. I know it’s probably, like, QuinnHernandez123 or something.”
“ Ben ,” Quinn cries, cheeks pink and smile uncontained.
“Hm, that’s a good idea.” Nando types Deziscool43 into the password bar and doesn’t bat an eye, well aware that Quinn is smiling up at him all blushy and adorable. “But it’s not it. At least not right now.” He takes a pause to wink down at Quinn, who melts into his shoulder and presses a few kisses to his neck. “So do you guys wanna watch it in here?”
“Uh, yeah !” Ben clambers up the bed, and then wraps himself around Quinn from the other end. “I finally get to snuggle with my lover Quinnington—”
Quinn doesn’t lift his head from Nando’s chest. “ Get off me, Benjamin .”
Ben only obliges slightly, because he cuts out the really obnoxious cuddling but does still lean against him, and this must satisfy Quinn at least enough not to say anything else. Remy hops onto the mattress last, and pulls his snake over himself while he rests his head up on Ben’s stomach. Nando’s non-scientific term for this is a friend pile— well, a friend and boyfriend pile, right now— and it’s really wholesome and overall a good experience.
He finds Halloweentown on the watchlist of Ben’s profile, and then figures he should probably ask, “Uh, is everyone comfortable?”
“I am absolutely chilling right now,” Ben mutters.
Remy gives a thumbs-up, and Quinn kisses his cheek. “Never better, honey.”
“You two can’t do that the whole time,” Remy mumbles. “I can fine you.”
“Just put it on my fining tab,” Nando tells him, and then kisses the top of Quinn’s head to be extra obnoxious.
“ Gross ,” Remy yells.
Nando presses play. “You’re gross.”
“ You’re gross,” Remy retorts, and Ben ruffles his hair. He yanks the hood of Ben’s sweatshirt over his head, and then moves up a little, pulling his arms around Ben’s waist. They should be fined, too, for cuddling crimes. But Nando, because he is a good teammate and a good friend, lets it slide.
He gives Quinn one last kiss to the top of the head before he lets up on the PDA, for his friends’ sake. Quinn smiles up at him, and then sort of disappears into his shoulder.
The second movie of the afternoon begins, with two more witnesses this time around. Nando settles in, pulling the blanket out so Ben and Remy can use it. Four people piled into a double bed is really kind of aggressive, and isn’t the most practical thing— but when you’re all kind of piled close together, it works. It’s worked before. It’ll work again.
These are Nando’s people, and he loves them, and as they settle in for their second movie, it’s a rainy afternoon well spent.