Archive of Our Own

Charlie's mind only had one goal - and that was to win their frustrating ass game against the New York Islanders. 

He resisted the urge to slam his stick into the side of the boards as he hustled off to make a quick change. 

He maneuvered around Marchand to get to his set spot next to his current D partner - Jeremy Lauzon. He took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down, as he had always done in frustrating games. Jeremy turned slightly to acknowledge him, but Charlie didn't so much as turn his head. He feared if he did he'd accidentally send Jer a nasty look, which wouldn't be his intention, just his emotions reflecting themselves onto his face. Jer turned away quickly, turning his focus back onto the play. 

Charlie did too, watching as they had a surprisingly easy D zone exit off of a rare mistake by Jordan Eberle. It was Matt Grzelcyk who took advantage of the mistake, skating ahead with the puck in his stick.

It looked like a routine play for both Matt and Eberle - both skating hard to get to the puck. Matt was trying to make a "dump and chase" pass to Pastrnak with Eberle right behind him, trying to make up for his error in his offensive zone.

Both grabbed a hold of each other's arms and, in a matter of seconds, they both stumbled down to the ice. Eberle popped right back up, but Matt had positioned himself tight together in pain. 

Charlie, along with the rest of the team, stood up to heckle the refs on the non-call. Charlie tilted his head up to take a look at the replay. He watched as the collision happened, but didn't see where Matt could've gotten hurt. Still confused, he asked for a replay of it on one of their iPads.

A clip of it was quickly conceived and Charlie gave thanks to their video coordinator before gripping the iPad himself and taking a closer look. 

Marchand and Lauzon took a look over his shoulder as he watched the replay close-up. The three of the simultaneously groaned seeing for the first time the way Matt's arm bent unnaturally, tucked underneath the weight of his own body.

He turned around and handed the iPad back before turning back and pondering back onto the ice, seeing Matt still shaken up. It wasn't much longer before Matt made it to his feet, talking profusely with their athletic trainer, Don DelNegro.

He watched as Matt forcibly glided in circles in an attempt to skate it off, a bad habit of his Charlie's been yelling at Matt about since their days at BU. But he didn't have to have a close-up shot of Matt to tell he was in pain. He could tell by the way Matt was tenderly holding his stick with his left hand that his arm was really bothering him. He frowned, knowing the consequences of Matt playing through an injury. 

It wasn't until more talking with Don that Matt ultimately skated off and toward the dressing room, pain and anger in his posture as he made his way down. 

He, along with the rest of the team, tapped his stick along the sides of the boards a couple of times in honor of his best friend before heading onto the ice to become Matt's replacement on defense.

Matt just tried to keep his head down in the tense locker room after their bad loss. He could practically feel the frustration in the air, along with the rest of the nasty odors coming from the guys. Matt, however, had time to take a quick shower before getting his arm checked out. He was just wearing a loose, gray t-shirt and some athletic shorts, his wet hair dripping and leaving obvious wet marks on his shirt.

To summarize, Bruce did not go lightly on them in his regular post-game speech. No one could blame him though, they had deserved it after not even being able to get one past Varlamov.

He finished with a huff and stomped out of the locker room, leaving them to get undressed in mostly awkward silence besides a couple quiet side conversations between the Vets. 

Matt stood up and turned to look at his messy locker that he hadn't had the chance to clean up yet. He quickly saw a problem in doing so, as his bag, which wasn't packed but still heavy as itself, was on the top shelf. He internally cursed himself before reaching for his bag with his right hand only in attempt to maneuver it down to the bottom of the locker.

He got a pretty good grip on it and decided he was ready to slowly bring it down. Although within two seconds his plan went haywire and his grip slipped. Instinctively, his left arm reached out to catch the bag. And it did, but with the momentum of the bag falling it also brought his arm down with it.

Matt was able to lessen the impact and pain of it by quickly kneeling down and sneaking his right arm in underneath it too. But this wouldn't stop the pain Matt's left arm still felt. He was unable to bite back a hiss and curse at his own stupidity.

Just to his luck, this of course caught the attention of his locker mate, Charlie McAvoy.

Matt had expected some sort of looks or reaction from his teammates at his obvious clumsiness, but Charlie's face suddenly appearing next to the side of his locker startled him a bit.

"Sorry, sorry," Charlie whispered, looking away after he said that as if thinking he'd made too much noise in the otherwise silent locker room. "You okay?"

"Perfectly fine," Matt practically growled, but then looked up to see Charlie's genuine face of concern. He silently apologized before turning and going back to packing up his equipment. Charlie still had his equipment on, as he was always pretty slow with taking it off. Although he had picked that up from his days at BU with Matt, where both of them would purposely take their equipment off slower so that they would walk together to their cars after games and practices. 

Matt took a deep breath before speaking again.

"They don't know the extent of the damage, but they don't think it's that bad," Matt explained, still putting his equipment away. He didn't need to turn his head to know Charlie was still there, he could feel Charlie's worry radiating over him like a sun lamp. 

"I'm in a good amount of pain, but I think in a few days with some pain meds and rehab I'll be good to go," Matt finally turned and gave him a small smile. Charlie nodded, his worried face starting to fade. But there was still a hint of concern in his eyes Matt could see. 

"Alright, man. Good to know," he patted Matt's good arm before going back to taking his equipment off.

In a pivotal game against the Philadelphia Flyers, three days after their game with the Islanders, Matt felt he was ready to play again. He had worked real hard with Don and made sure to not use his arm as much throughout the three days.

"Happy to have you back, man," Charlie approached his locker mate, who was of course almost already finished putting his equipment on. Matt looked up from tightening his skate laces, returning Charlie's smile with a smile of his own.

"Me too," was all that Matt had said, though his excitement was internally through the roof. 

Matt's excitement boiled over throughout the game, playing some of his best hockey in awhile. Some of that might've just been him feeding off of the rest of his team's winning mindset put into action, but it didn't matter. He was just happy to be playing. And he was grateful for the fact that his arm wasn't bothering him much at all. He was able to mostly do his job without much distraction.

His feet were all rested up and carried him the length of the ice with no objections. Which is why he figured when he was due for a change he'd go back behind his own net to receive a dump-and-chase puck.

He checked over his shoulder to see a speeding Scott Laughton on his tail, but he decided to go ahead and make the play anyways. He'd make the pass, take the check, and then go for a change.

He focused on the puck as he moved closer towards the boards. What he didn't expect was to have his foot swept from underneath him, but unfortunately for himself and the team, it wasn't from a trip. It was a fucking crack in the ice. But what was even worse was that his left foot was still carrying momentum and wasn't stopped by the crack in the ice.

His face squeezed in anticipation as he was put into the most physically awkward situation he's been in on the ice, in the splits position. He could only try an bend his knees as much as possible to keep from pulling a muscle or two. He wanted nothing more than to get out of the postion as quick as possible, but he was unable to move as Laughton, who's momentum was still going, narrowly avoided cutting Matt's upper body with his skate as he tried hopping over him. He groaned in agony, the pain too much to handle.

Charlie, who had just hopped on the ice, joined in on the play in their defensive zone only to see Scott Laughton toppling over Matt, pinning him against the boards in the most awkward position. He refrained from the curses as he skated towards the two of them to hopefully get a stick on the bouncing puck that had hopped off Matt's stick. If Charlie wasn't busy worrying about Matt he would've been impressed, seeing as though Matt had won the battle despite being in a predicament. 

It just so happened that Laughton landed right in front of Charlie's skates. Charlie looked to Matt, who was letting out devastating groans of pain, before fixing his eyes back on Laughton. There was no hesitation with Charlie's anger boiling over as he bent over, giving Laughton a couple of cross-checks for good measure. Charlie looked back at Matt, who looked to be attempting to get up. He took that as a good sign and went off to join the play in their offensive zone.

Their offensive zone play had turned to nothing, and the puck was dumped back into their end. He made a quick change, seeing as though Philly didn't have any forecheckers going to give Jaro grief. He ended up next to Matt, who was doubled over, breathing heavily. Charlie moved his hand onto Matt's back as a sign of comfort, rubbing it soothingly. Matt barely reacted, breathing too hard to respond.

After a few seconds Matt began to rise back up, and Charlie's hand fell back at his side. He heard movement and looked over his shoulder to see Don approaching him. He made sure to scoot over to let Matt and Don have their private conversation.

He heard some mumblings and eventually Don stepped back from Matt with what sounded like a sigh. Charlie scooted back closer and looked over at Matt with concern.

"Dude, you're fucking insane if you're thinking about continuing to play right now," Charlie whisper-yelled at Matt while Don explained to Bruce what Matt's status was. Matt gave him a side eye roll.

"'m fine, Cheeks. Period's almost over and I'll have all of intermission to rest it," Matt told him with a reassuring look. Charlie wasn't fooled by it - he could see the hesitation in Matt's eyes, but nodded anyway. He wasn't going to win this battle.

Matt sunk slowly into his ice bath, trying not to freak out as he felt his nerves scream at the freezing cold water. As he usually like to do it, he took a deep breath before diving all the way into the bath, letting out harsh breaths once he was all the way in. He closed his eyes, trying his best to relax. 

After the ice bath he did some quick stretching that had been instructed by Don just before putting his equipment back on and heading back onto the ice for the third. He was definitely not 100% but he'd get through the game.

Matt tried his best to ignore the sharp pain that was riding up his left leg, but it was constant and nagging all throughout the period. 

The period was just more than three quarters over, and to his surprise he'd played a lot. He did so in a good amount of pain, but it didn't matter - the team needed him. Bruce was aware of his injury, meaning he'd double-shifted Zboril a couple times. But mostly Matt was able to earn his minutes.

He quickly made his way over the boards for a shift, ignoring the instant pain in doing so. He strode up the ice, doing his best not to show off his injury.

The rest of the team was playing really well, meaning there was extra pressure on him to keep up with them. All he needed was one good shift, and he got it.

A nice simple pass to Brandon was all he needed to get himself on the scoresheet. He smiled genuinely for Brandon, gliding over to celebrate with him and the rest of the boys. For the first time that period Matt couldn't feel his leg as the adrenaline kicked in.

Unfortunately for him the adrenaline wore off quickly and his next shift was not so good.

He was too slow getting to a puck battle in the offensive zone, leading to a 2-on-1. He was lucky enough that Jaro had bailed him out, but it was still a poor showing on his part. 

The next shift was similar, his speed, well, lack there of, was killing him and it was evident to Bruce.

Matt huffed as he reached the bench, his bad leg on fire with pain. He quickly sat down next to Charlie and Brandon. Bruce was quick to find him.

"Can tell your legs' botherin' ya, Gryz. We're gonna let you sit the rest of this one out. You'll get checked out and we'll see where we go from there," Bruce told him, hands on his shoulders as a sign of comfort. 

Matt did his best not to sigh. Instead, he turned around to face his coach, a half-smile plastered on his face. Still unable to speak due to his heavy breathing, he just nodded in understanding. Butch returned his smile and gave him a pat on the shoulder before going back to focusing on the game. 

Charlie gave Matt's good leg a pat, the same way he had with his good arm just a few days ago. He turned Charlie's way to give him a thankful look. Charlie's face was a mixture of sympathism, concern, and warmth. Matt felt heated with all the attention Charlie had given him over the past few days with his injuries. He didn't like to see Charlie worried, let alone be the cause of Charlie's worry, but it felt nice to be cared about.

Matt rallied around his happy team, dancing to JD's weird ass music after their shootout win. JD was giddy with excitement, as he had gotten the shootout winner and therefore got aux privileges. 

He put on a fake smile for the guys, but he knew they all saw the way he played. 

It was an awkward situation, as at the same time as a dance party going on the guys were also busy giving him sympathy looks. He felt pretty uncomfortable, and started taking his equipment off earlier than usual to give himself a distraction. 

He of course had to stop in the middle of doing so, as their excited locker room was in the midst of being captured for an episode of Behind the B.

But as soon as Bruce had finished his post-game speech, the camera also went away.

Matt went back to taking what was left of his equipment off and packing it away. 

He zipped up his bag and prepared himself to start walking towards the trainers room. He knew it wouldn't be pleasant, as his muscles had plenty of time to tense up. 

He took a short step with his bad leg to adjust to the sure pain, although it had hurt more than he expected. This was definitely not the worst injury he's ever had, but it still hurt like a bitch.

He took a step with his good leg this time, only to realize anchoring his weight onto his bad leg hurt even more than taking an actual step with it. He froze in frustration and pain, shifting his weight onto his good leg. 

Matt knew he wasn't going to get away with standing in the middle of the locker room like a statue for long, and before he knew it Charlie was approaching him.

"Are we really bringing back the Mannequin Challenge? Come on, bro, it's 2021." Matt brushed off Charlie's joke with a small chuckle. Charlie looked Matt up and down, scanning him to see just how much pain he was in. 

"Okay, uh, you're heading to the training room, right?" Matt nodded. "'K, well I could go grab you some crutches, or, because it's faster, you could just lean on me?" Matt took a second to comprehend what Charlie was offering, and the implication that Charlie would be taking Matt there himself.

"Anything to get me there as fast as possible," Matt mumbled, already leaning into Charlie's firm figure. And although he already knew how this worked, he still barely managed to hold off a gasp as Charlie's hand slithered around his waist. He tried to hide his face flushing by looking down.

"Ready?" Charlie asked.

Matt replied with a muffled, "mhm," and with that they were off to the trainers.

"You really don't have to do this for me, Chuck," Matt told him, but Charlie was a persistent guy. 

He shrugged and nonchalantly responded, "It's really no problem." Although Charlie couldn't see it, Matt smiled genuinely through the pain of the stretches Don was putting his leg through. There was a few moments of silence before Charlie added, "To be honest the real reason I'm still here is so I can see your dog when I drop you off." Matt laughed.

"'Course. Always a catch with you, McAvoy," Matt's laugh died off slowly into a soft chuckle. Charlie softly smiled, glad he was able to provide some comfort to his best friend while he went through a no doubt painful stretching session.

"Hey, I'm just bein' honest," Charlie raised his hands up in a sign of defense, chuckling along with Matt.

Their pointless small talk continued all throughout Matt's time with Don. Charlie didn't even mind that his eyes started to get heavy, or that his muscles were pretty achy. He just enjoyed his time with Matt, cracking joke after joke. Just like they'd been doing since the moment they met.

"Alright, Gryz, you're good to go," Don gave Matt a pat on the back as Matt sat up on the table. "We'll do check-ins every other day and we'll see where we go from there," he told Matt as Matt braced himself to stand up.

"Got it, thanks, Donny," he said sincerely. Don noticed Matt's struggling.

"Oh, I'm sorry I can go grab you some crutches," he motioned behind him, where there was no doubt a pair of crutches somewhere in his cluster of trainers equipment. Matt shook his head.

"I actually have a pair of crutches at home. I can manage tonight, but thanks anyways," he offered his thanks as he finally stood up, quickly wobbling onto his good side. Charlie had already stood up and was by his side in a second, extending his hand for Matt to take so they could make it into open space before getting set to walk out of the Garden.

"No problem, Gryz," Don said as he cleaned up around the area as the pair managed to make their way into open space. 

They got set and were off to the parking lot, which was a lot harder than making it to the trainers office.

They had to stop a couple times because of how much both their muscles throbbed, but they eventually reached Charlie's car, both sighing with relief once they sat on the smooth leather interior of Charlie's car.

The same way they had made their way out of the Garden, taking small breaks in between certain stretches of walking, Matt and Charlie were able to make it to Matt's apartment door with no problems. Although they were both exhausted, extra hockey was never good for anyone but the fans. 

Matt took his keys out and fiddled with them before finding the right one and inserting into into the lock. The noise of course alerted Rocky, Matt's dog, his dad was home, leading him to the path of the noise. He planted himself in front of the door, tail wagging a million miles a minute. 

"Hey, boy!" Matt cooed at his dog as Charlie carefully opened the door wider, cautious not to hit Rocky.

As soon as they were inside, Charlie helped Matt out of his coat before helping him over to his couch so that he could say a proper hello to Rocky.

Charlie shut the door and then went over to see Matt and Rocky. He could already here Matt's giggles, and as he walked closer he figured out the cause for them was Rocky licking all over his face.

"Rocky too, huh?" Charlie chuckled at the comparison of Matt and Rocky to himself and Otto. 

"Oh, yeah," he replied with a smile, eyes still closed as Rocky was licking closer to his forehead. "After every game. Guess I don't blame 'em, must be pretty lonely." Charlie nodded in agreement, as he had had many thought similar to that before. He only had to have one of his buddie's take care of Otto on road trips, but even with home games he was gone for hours at a time.

"Yeah..." his voice trailed off, as he began rubbing Rocky's head. The pup shifted his attention from Matt to Charlie, letting out whimpers of pleasure at the touch. 

Matt, realizing his time with Rocky was over for the time being, picked up his remote and turned on the TV. His thoughts drifted elsewhere, the TV and Charlie giggling were just background noise.

Pending back on Bruce and Don's words, "we'll see where we go from there," he found the words disheartening, like there wasn't any official timeline he would be back. Could be days, could be weeks. Matt hated that part the worst - being in the unknown. Without knowing it, he let out a sigh, drawing Charlie's attention away from Rocky. Charlie looked up at Matt's face that looked to be in some other world.

"Gryz." Matt's head snapped up, eyes wide in expectation. He was met with Charlie's confused face, eye brows scrunched and head leaning in. "You okay?" Matt was caught off guard by the question, though he really shouldn't have been as so many things in his life were most definitely not okay.

"Just thinking about my injury - that's all," Matt tried to downplay his emotions, but Charlie wasn't buying it. Charlie tilted his head sideways with an 'i know you're lying'  look. Matt looked away, knowing he was going to have to come clean. "I just hate not knowing a timeline for my injury. And the fact that I've had two injuries and we're only four games into the season?" he laughed at himself bitterly, embarrassed. "What if.. I'm not equipped to handle the pressure this season? Torey made it look so easy. You know, being the skilled little guy. What if I just can't fill his shoes?" He cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the shakiness in his voice. His leg bounced anxiously, looking all around the room but at Charlie. He felt so embarrassed. Charlie didn't really need to hear his internal worries.

"Matt." This really caught Matt's attention, as Charlie had hardly ever called him that. He fixed his gaze on Charlie, who's face had changed from concerned to a mixture of sad and sympathetic. Abruptly, Charlie grabbed his hands. He was pretty surprised, looking down at their hands intertwined to confirm he hadn't made that up in his head. But the sound of Charlie's voice again made his head tilt up. "Torey was not perfect. He had his ups and downs. So.. this is just a down for you. But I know  you can handle the pressure. You're injuries were total flukes, man. Forgetta 'bout them, 'k? Just.. focus on getting healthy and then proving yourself wrong," Charlie finished, raising his eyebrows for emphasis. He was unknowingly squeezing Matt's hand quite hard, but Matt didn't mind. Actually, he couldn't really focus on that over the butterflies in his stomach. The two continued to look lovingly into each other's eyes, so much history and compassion there. They stayed that way for a few tension-filled seconds before Matt broke the silence.

"Jeez, Chuck. When'd you become so poetic?" Matt asked, trying to make the situation less awkward for them. Of course he had wanted there to have been something between them, but he was too afraid to confront that incase he was just overplaying the situation and Charlie wasn't actually into him. Charlie's gaze became more relaxed, but his eyes looked confused.

"Dunno. Maybe it's all the Netflix shows I've watched," Charlie shrugged, chuckling. There was an edge to his chuckle that Matt couldn't quite put a finger on.

"Okay, well I should probably get going," Charlie rose from the couch, offering his hand out to Matt.

"Oh, no. I'm fine. I'm gonna watch TV a little while longer," Matt explained, though it was a lie. He really just didn't want to have Charlie do something else for him tonight after he'd already done so much. Plus, he felt the awkwardness pouring off of Charlie. 

Charlie tilted his head, "You sure?" Matt nodded. It might've been that Charlie was exhausted or that he just took Matt's nod sincerely, but Charlie accepted it. "Alright, call you tomorrow. See ya," Charlie waved as he walked away, letting himself out of Matt's apartment door.

Matt barely had time to dwell more on the awkward interaction, as he was asleep just minutes after Charlie shut his door.

Charlie couldn’t help but feel confused as he drove himself home from Matt’s apartment. There'd always been a special connection between the two, but Charlie was just then starting to discover what that really was. It was love. Pure, passionate love.

The more Charlie thought about it, the more it made sense. The way his heart would flip whenever Matt walked into a room, the way Matt'd always be the first person he'd call when he needed someone to talk to, the way Matt's smile would light up a room, etc, etc...

He'd always downplayed those feelings as just friendship. He chuckled to himself, in disbelief and nervousness. He was in love with his best friend. 

The next week was filled with hope and determination for Matt. He focused all his time and effort into getting healthy. Well, when he wasn't secretly watching TV with Charlie and cheating his diet by eating some buttered popcorn with salt.

"You hear they're doing a Mighty Ducks reboot?" Charlie asked Matt, slightly uncomprehendable as his mouth was full with popcorn.

Matt turned his head quickly. "Really? With Emilio Estevez?" 

"Yep," Charlie smiled as Matt raised his eyebrows in excitement, mouth open wide.

"That's sick," Matt spoke softly, turning back towards the TV." 

They sat with a comfortable silence for a little while, watching, laughing, and providing some comical commentary on some new game show.

After a while they needed to clench their thirst from the salty popcorn with some water, so Charlie went up to get some.

"Ya know, we're really happy to get you back tomorrow, Gryzzy," Charlie told him with sincerity.

Matt scoffed jokingly, "Oh, yeah? Cuz you guys have won every game since my injury. 'Are the Bruins really better without Matt Grzelcyk? My column..." Charlie whole-heartedly belly laughed, walking back into his living room to deliver Gryz his water. "No, but seriously I'm really happy to be back too," Matt said, a smile blooming on his face. Charlie felt a blush rise on his face at Matt smiling at him like that. Good thing it was dark out.

"Actually, I'd like to read that article. They might have a point," Charlie joked, cheekily smiling. Matt exasperatedly gasped, grabbing the nearest pillow and chucking it at Charlie.

Charlie gasped, as his open water bottle proceeded to spill on his t-shirt. He looked down at his damp shirt and then back up at Matt, who was studying his face to see if he was actually mad or not. Charlie took that as an opportunity to grab his nearest pillow and chuck it at Matt.

"It's on, Grzelcyk," he challenged, sitting up straighter to have better positioning. 

The two of course went on to have a pillow fight, both feeling like teenage girls at a sleepover - giggling like maniacs.

"Guess who's back, back again," Gryz joked to the guys in warmups, smiling like an idiot - thankful to be playing again. But his smile slowly faded throughout warmups, as he noticed a pain that still lingered in his left leg. He was confused, as he had felt good with it all throughout rehab and stretches. But he decided to ignore it, as he figured it would eventually go away as the game would go on.

But as the game went on, the lingering injury turned into something much more. His leg was burning bad like it had the night he injured it and he was struggling. His specialty was of course his miraculous skating ability, so it wasn’t hard for others to figure out something was wrong too. 

"Gryz, you look to be in pain out there. Everything alright with that leg?" Don approached him on the bench about halfway through the second. 

He answered honestly, "I'm in some pain, but it's not too bad," he looked back at Don to see if he had bought that. He looked at Matt, scanning his face for any lies. Good thing Matt was a good liar.

"Okay. Let me know if it gets worse throughout the period and I won't have you play in the third," he told Matt, patting his shoulder as he stood back up and backed away. Matt wanted to tell the truth, he really did, but he was just so impatient to get back out there. His team was having a good game. Everybody looked good out there - everybody but him. He wanted to prove to the media and to himself he would overcome the injury.

Sadly, he would be mistaking himself.

The pain was so bad by the end of the game that he didn't even try to hide his limp as he headed into the locker room.

The pain was also obvious in his face - eyebrows scrunched and teeth gritted as he limped around the locker room.

The guys gave him privacy, as another detail on his face was anger. And boy, was he angry. Angry with himself, mostly. That he'd been so impatient to come back. Maybe his own joke was actually true - did the Bruins really need him?

He put his thoughts on pause as Bruce came in the locker room, fired up after their big win against the Penguins.

Bruce didn’t have many critiques after the game, as they had all played hard, making this a solid fourth win in a row.

”Keep fuckin’ goin’, boys!” Bruce finished his short speech, raising his fist in triumph and chuckling as he walked out of the locker room.

Matt slowly took off his equipment and got changed into his t-shirt and shorts, having to stop a few times while putting on his shorts because of the pain. 

He hissed as he finally managed to put his shorts on, and, feeling a sense of deja vu, was heard by none other than his locker mate, Charlie McAvoy. Charlie, who had just finished changing, stood up and peaked his head around the corner. Matt had need to sit down and let his legs rest after exerting them for an extended period of time. 

Charlie frowned. He of course hated to see Matt so down on himself like this. He knew it wasn't just Matt's physical pain that was bothering him.

After letting Matt take a couple minutes to himself, Charlie extended his hand forward to help Matt up. Matt gratefully accepted and he was lifted to his feet. 

“Let's not make this a regular occurrence,” Charlie was still frowning, concerned as Matt looked to be in more pain than last time.

"You're tellin' me," Matt remarked. Charlie didn't even have to ask, as Matt automatically leaned into him. He quickly steadied Matt and got ready to make their journey once again back to see Don.

"This time I'll be more cautious about your return date. I'd say it'll be at least a week and a half or two," Don told him as Gryz sat up after being checked out for what Matt felt like the 100th time. He was getting sick of sitting on the cold table, so stiff it made his back sore. 

Matt nodded understandably. He had knew that was what Don was going to say, but it still stung to hear. 

Charlie helped Matt up and they headed out of the trainers room to make their trip to the parking lot.

They went through the same routine as they had just a week ago to go about getting Matt to Charlie's car and then to his apartment. Although things were tenser than they had been the last time. This wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was a confidence deflater. 

It was almost the same thing as last time, as Rocky made it hard for Charlie to open the door to get himself and Matt into the apartment. He helped Matt out of his coat and hung it on the coat rack next to the door. He then helped Matt over to the couch and heard Matt sigh as he went over to shut the door behind him.

He made his way over to Matt and sat down next to him. Matt was being ambushed with kisses from Rocky. He barely cracked a smile.

Rocky eventually got tired of his human and went over to Charlie, curling up in his lap. Charlie gently rubbed his hand through Rocky's fluffy fur as he turned to get a look at Matt. His face was flat, but his eyes were sad. Charlie thought about what to say for a few moments, half expecting Matt to say something. Eventually, Charlie felt he needed to break the silence.

"Do you want some company, or do you want to be alone right now? I'm fine with both," Charlie clarified.

Matt looked down, thinking about what he actually wanted. Although, he knew he never minded Charlie's company.

"Company'd be nice." Matt's eyes were still glued to the floor. Charlie shuffled uncomfortably in the silence that followed Matt's words. He said a silent apology to Rocky, who was annoyed by Charlie's anxious shifting and got up to leave. Charlie took that as an opportunity to fully turn to face Matt, silently letting him know he was ready for whatever Matt wanted to talk about. 

Matt saw out of the corner of his eye Charlie turning to face him, and was taken out of his thoughts - reminded he had a guest that was ready to support him. He sat up straight and turned to face Charlie, still not making eye contact. 

"There's not really one particular thing that's sticking out in my head... just... I tend to overthink a lot, as you probably guessed," Matt let out a nervous chuckle. "It's nerve racking.. I just thought I was solid for the game today, but obviously I was wrong." He finally looked to Charlie, who was looking right back at him. He gave an understanding nod. 

“Hey, it’s no big deal, man. You just need more time. And when you do get back out there, one-hundred percent healthy, you’ll blow every dipshit fan who doesn't know how great you are away,” Charlie assured him in a fierce tone that made Matt actually feel hope for himself. That was just the power of Charlie McAvoy’s speeches apparently.

He actually smiled,  just thinking about how grateful he was to have Charlie in his life. To have Charlie to always pick him up when he was down.

"Another day, another Charlie McAvoy motivational speech. At what point to I pay you to become my life coach?" Charlie chuckled.

"I'm fine doing it for free, but don't tell that to my other customers," Charlie whispered that last part, holding his hand to the side of his mouth and leaning in.

"Oh, wow. I feel special," Matt put his hand on over his heart.

"You should." Charlie's face was actually genuine, mouth in a natural smile. Matt tilted his head slightly smiling along with Charlie. They both held their gaze a little longer than they should have, soaking the moment in. 

Both men were too afraid to even breathe, afraid to ruin the moment. Luckily for them it was Rocky who ruined it, barking at them from the floor. He hopped up and down yapping and yapping.

"Rockman, people are trying to sleep!" Matt whisper-yelled, trying and failing to keep a serious face. Rocky's timing was just too comedic. Charlie, too, couldn't suppress a chuckle at Matt's dog. "I think that's my cue to get him to bed," Matt said, pushing himself up and off the couch. Charlie shot up too, gripping Matt's arm without hesitation. Realizing what he had done, he looked down at Matt for confirmation. Matt didn't look back up at him, instead giving confirmation by draping his own arm over Charlie's shoulder. Charlie moved his arm to Matt's waist and they made sure Rocky was out of the way before heading toward Matt's bedroom.

Charlie had never been in there before, as this was a new apartment for Matt, but it was just how he expected it to be - spotless. His carpet was stainless, clothes were all away in his closet, and bed was neatly made. 

Matt made it to his bed and sat down, sinking into his memory foam mattress. He took off his shirt and tossed it close to his closet, where it was closest to his hamper. He didn't know how to ask for help taking his shorts off, but luckily he didn't need to as Charlie saw his mental struggle and came to the rescue. Matt was left in a solid red colored pair of boxer briefs as he began to get settled into bed.

"I've got it from here, Chuck. But thank you... for everything," Matt told him, holding intense eye contact to let Charlie know he meant it. Charlie gave him a sheepish smile.

"Anything you need, man," was Charlie's response. "Night, Matt."

"Night, Charlie," Matt said, already moving to position himself comfortably in his bed. Charlie felt a warmth leaving Matt's apartment, knowing he had been there for Matt. He wished he could let Matt know how great he was all the time - quite frankly he found it strange Matt couldn't already realize that. But he knew Matt didn't like him like he liked Matt. He'd just have to be Matt's friend.

"I know ur meeting with Don tomorrow, but wanna grab a coffee after?" Charlie asked his ~friend~ over text after a light morning skate on game day against the Flyers. He hadn't seen Matt in person for about six days and wanted to catch up with him - make sure he was doing okay. He'd thought a lot about their last interaction, and... well he just needed to see Matt again.

"Yeah, sounds good👍," Matt texted back, secretly smiling through his phone.

"Ok - see u then!" Charlie replied, smiling as he put his phone back in his bag and got up to leave Warrior Ice Arena.

Charlie waved at Matt as he stepped into a local coffee shop Matt had picked out. Matt was wearing a black coat, gray sweatpants, and a black sweatshirt, while Charlie was wearing a black jean jacket with a white sweatshirt and black jeans. 

Matt walked over to the two-person table Charlie had chosen, which was a nice spot by the window. As Matt walked closer to the table, he was couldn't help but stare, as the sun shone perfectly on Charlie's face, highlighting his beautiful features. 

"'Sup, Chuck? You order your coffee yet?" Matt sat down in the seat across from Charlie, shredding his coat and draping it over the seat in the process.

"Nah - was waitin' on your slow ass to get here first," Charlie told him, smiling playfully. "Now that you're here I'll go get the coffees." Charlie rose from his seat. Matt did too, until he heard the plural on the word coffee. He froze halfway to standing up.

"I could just get my own, Chuck. Do you even still remem-"

"Hot Americano with a splash of milk," Charlie cut him off, relaying Matt's order with no hesitation. Matt's eyebrows shot up in shock. 

"Impressive. Thanks, man," his face flushed, no one but his ex's had remembered the little details about him. It made him feel special.

Charlie returned from giving the barista his orders within minutes, sitting back down with a smile. 

"So.. what'd Donny have to say today?" 

"Uh, he said he thinks I'm pretty close - might return against Buffalo this weekend. Well... that's if it doesn't get postponed. He said if that's the case I'll most likely return against New York on Wednesday," Matt explained cheerfully. Charlie's smile grew wider, feeding off of Matt's excitement.

"That's great! So you're feeling good? Leg's feelin' better?"

"Yeah, feelin' good - great, honestly. I'm progressing really fast. Just ready to get back out there," He admitted, chuckling. Charlie nodded understandably. There was a moment of silence before Matt spoke again. "How's the energy in the room? Team must've been buzzing  after the last win." Charlie grinned.

"Yeah, yeah the guys were going fuckin' nuts.  And Anders got aux, so you know the music was good," Charlie chuckled. Matt laughed along with him, feeding off of his electric energy. Charlie wanted to add something like:

'Wish you were there. I miss ya, Gryzzy.'

But he wasn't going to do that, as a risk of exposing his true feelings for Matt. Besides, he didn't want to upset Matt by saying something like that.

"For Charlie and Matt!" Both rose at the same time, but it was Matt who insisted on getting the coffees.

"Sit your ass down - I gottem," Matt gave a playful smile while Charlie flipped him off. Matt chuckled as he went up to grab the coffees.

Charlie smiled as Matt delivered his coffee to him. He immediately picked it up and started drinking. He and Matt had both established one of their pet peeves is a room temperature coffee, so whenever they get coffee they both take a few minutes to just drink most of it - wanting to preserve the heat of the drink.

Charlie let out a satisfied sigh, setting his cup down after gulping three quarters of it. He looked over to Matt, who's coffee was barely touched. He gave Matt a weird look.

"Gryz." He caught Matt's attention immediately, as he quickly looked up from his phone. Charlie motioned to Matt's coffee with his hands and Matt just shrugged. Charlie had none of that. "Dude, you're the biggest coffee drinker on the planet," Charlie pointed out, just maybe  overexaggerating. Matt sighed.

"Yeah, well my coffee's not hot - not even warm," Matt chuckled, bitterness obvious. But he wasn't one to point that stuff out, so he kept his mouth shut. Charlie's eyebrows raised a bit, clearly surprised. "But, it's really no big deal. I'll just grab some Dunks on the way ho-"

Charlie shut him up by quickly getting up from his seat, snatching his coffee from the table on his way by.

Matt watched as Charlie made his way over to pick-up station, talking with one of their workers. He was relieved Charlie looked to be doing it in a calm tone. It didn't take very long, and Charlie was making his way back to Matt, rolling his eyes playfully.

"This is why you're bad at on-ice chirps. You're too nice, bro." Matt's shrugged, smugly smiling. He actually took that as a compliment.

"Not like I haven't been told that before. And I'll leave the chirps to Marchy and Freddy." 

"Hey, you underestimate Ritch's chirping abilities," Charlie pointed out, literally pointing a finger at Matt.

"True, true. Oh, and Wags is pretty good too." Charlie shrugged.

"Eh, his idea of a chirp is just screaming whenever someone makes a bad play or loses a puck battle or somethin'." They both chuckled, Charlie had a point. 

"Okay, best chirp anyone's every said to you?" Matt asked, his smug smile returning as he curiously awaited Charlie's answer.

"Um... once when I was caught standing still on D a guy said, 'I've seen statue's move faster than that!'" Matt chuckled. "Oh! Oh, and, this is my favorite - this one guy said, 'you're easier to undress than a barbie doll." Matt was full on belly laughing now, feeling heat on his face from how hard he was laughing. Charlie laughed along with him, possibly even laughing harder.

This went on for two or three minutes before the comfortable silence began to fill the void once again. Although this time, the men found themselves just staring at one another, feeling all sorts of emotions. They both wanted to look away out of embarrassment, but they stayed still, similar to a situation that had already happened twice. Both Charlie and Matt were beginning to believe it wasn't a coincidence.

"Matt!" Matt rose from his seat, with luckily no competition from Charlie. He walked up to pick up his freshly made coffee with a small smile. He was about to say thanks to the girl, but she pulled out a plastic bag and handed it to him. 

"We're so sorry about the inconvenience, so here's two bagels - one for you and one for your boyfriend," She smiled brightly. Matt froze, feeling his face heat up as he took the bag from her. 

He stuttered, "Actually, we're not a... we're... he's not my boyfriend." She looked at him weird, raising her eyebrows. She shook it off though, turning to the side and grabbing cream cheese packets and plastic knives. "Well anyways, enjoy!" She dropped them in the bag, smiling brightly. 

"T-thank you," Matt spoke softly, turning away as quick as possible, flabbergasted from the interaction. He tried to maintain a flat face as all of these thoughts swam through his head: Were he and Charlie really that obvious that strangers thought they were a couple? Did this confirm his suspicions that Charlie just might have feelings for him too? What would Charlie think if he told him?

He was able to push all those thoughts to the back of his mind temporarily, as he approached the table, setting the bag in the middle of it. Charlie looked up at Matt, a combination of happiness and confusion spread across his face.

"For the inconvenience," Matt explained. Charlie took that as a green light to dive into the bag. Seeing as there was two bagels, Charlie grabbed one of the bagels along with a packet of cream cheese and a plastic knife.

"Nice of 'em to give us two," Charlie smiled, eyes still glued on his bagel as he doused it in cream cheese.

"Yeah.." Matt's voice trailed off, as his previous thoughts made their way back to the very front of his mind. He tried to tune them out by gripping the bag and taking out his bagel.

Both Matt and Charlie simultaneously decided to give each other some space, realistically meaning they were too busy thinking about their feeling for each other and dwelling on all of their interactions to actually find a time to hang out with each other. 

Although, they had no choice in seeing each other just a few days after, as Matt had finally earned his spot back on the roster for their game against the Rangers.

"Hey, Gryzzy," Charlie greeted just Matt as he walked into the locker room. 

Matt couldn't help but grow a smile after seeing Charlie's contagious one. He stood up to properly greet Charlie. And he wasn't sure exactly what he was expecting, but it certainly wasn't Charlie pulling him into a big bear hug. He accepted it gratefully though, wrapping his arms tight around Charlie's upper waist.

"Proud of you," Charlie whispered into Matt's shoulder, and Matt could've just about sobbed. He didn't know how much he needed to hear that, and it made it even better coming from Charlie. He pulled away from Charlie so that he was only a few inches from his face, his own face a careful red-pinkish color. He had so many things he wanted to say in that moment. 

But considering they were in the locker room surrounded by their semi-confused teammates, Matt settled for: "Thanks, Charlie." Charlie just smiled back at him as if he were the prettiest person. Matt may have felt his blush brighten on his skin.

The next hour or so was just a nervous blur to Matt, his usual routine of getting his equipment on, manifesting a good performance - and, specifically for the game, making it out of the game healthy.

But unfortunately for Matt, just as they had all season, his manifesting backfired. 

Warmups were actually fine, giving Matt false hope that he really was 100%.

But it only took two shifts in for Matt to once again get that nagging pain in the same spot, his left leg. The burning sensation was back, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

Unlike his last game, he was consistently slow getting to every  puck battle. And what was worse? He was a -2 in a 3-2 game.

The first goal wasn't necessarily his fault, although he probably should've been net front instead of leaving that to Wags.

But what came in the next period was no doubt his worst shift of the season - maybe even his whole career.

With about five minutes left to go in the second period, while they were on the powerplay of course, was when it happened. 

Brad Marchand had the puck on his stick just a few feet away from him on the blue line. Being hounded by Mika Zibanejad, Brad quickly tossed the puck to Matt. But Matt wasn't expecting this, standing as still as a statue. To be fair to Matt, it wasn't a great pass, as it came in between himself and Kevin Rooney. But as stated, Matt didn't win a single puck battle that night.

Kevin Rooney easily picked off the pass, sending it forward to an already speeding Mika Zibanejad. 

On a good night, Matt had a good chance of catching up to him.

But in the moment he knew he had no chance from the beginning of the race. His left leg specifically was holding him down like a deadweight. He tried, he really did, dropping his head and just moving as fast as he really could.

As they approached closer toward the net, and Matt realized he was really really  fucked, he swung his stick at Zibanejad as a last resort. Of course, it didn't work and Zibanejad got a good shot off. Luckily for Matt, Tuukka bailed him out. By the time that shot was off, Matt was already turning to head back to the bench, gasping slightly for air. His legs though were the real problem, moving maybe half of they're normal speed.

He just barely made it to the bench in time for it not to be obvious that they had too many men, as Miller had impatiently already hopped into the play going on in the neutral zone. 

He just about collapsed onto the bench, still sucking in air painfully. He could barely feel his left leg, which, in the moment, was actually a good thing for Matt as his right leg was cramping up after skating about 150 feet down the ice. 

Matt knew his breathing problem may have been a combination of not skating that hard in a couple weeks, but also him freaking out.

"Woah, woah," Charlie grabbed his arm, which actually did help stabilize him. "Just breathe, Matty," he commanded, worried voice hiding behind a calm tone. 

It took a few seconds, but Matt's breathing pretty much evened out. Charlie was still looking at him, hand gripping as tight as he could with his gloves on around Matt's arm. Matt finally looked over to Charlie, heart seizing in his chest at Charlie's scared face. He turned away, unable to handle everything. 

It wasn't long until Don found him,  a knowing look in his eye. Matt didn't even try to hide how much pain he was in, his last shift was plenty enough evidence.

"We're gonna sit ya the rest of the period and treat you during intermission. I'll leave it to your pain tolerance whether or not you wanna play the third."

Matt nodded understandably, just taking the time he had left of the period to try and move his legs just enough so he'd know he'd be able to properly walk down the tunnel after the period.

By the time the period ended, his muscles were really stiff, but he managed to walk down the tunnel. He was taken to get treatment immediately.

By the time the third came, there was no doubt in his mind he was going to play. His team needed him, and he wasn't going to let them down.

He got through most of the third struggling, once again losing puck battles and skating halfway decent. It was evident to Bruce after the Rangers tying goal, which Matt just happened to be on the ice for, that Matt wasn't fit to play. He sat Matt on the bench for the remainder of the period and overtime. Matt was lucky that the Bruins managed a win, considering he felt like he had let them down.

The guys all joked and chirped Tuukka in the locker room after their win for his mistake of coming out of the net when he wasn't supposed to. Luckily for Matt, that drew their attention away from him, who was really struggling to even take his left skate off without a pain shooting up his leg.

He dropped his leg carefully, breathing heavily. He dropped his head in his hands, sighing. It was then that Charlie turned around from talking with Jake, watching as Matt let out a frustrated sigh. He made his way over, approaching Matt slowly. Matt's head rose, watching as Charlie neared closer and closer to him. 

"Need help?" Charlie asked, although he already knew the answer. Matt nodded, lifting his leg so that Charlie could carefully take his skate off. He hissed as Charlie pulled it off with some force. "Sorry, sorry," Charlie mumbled. He placed Matt's skate in his bag and then looked up at Matt, who was already taking off his other skate. Charlie sighed, coming out of his kneeling position to get to his own stall.

It wasn't long after that Matt and Charlie found themselves in the same predicament as before, with Charlie helping Matt to Don's room.

"I thought I said we shouldn't make this a regular occurrence?" Charlie got a slight smile out of Matt. And without saying another word, Matt was leaning into Charlie and they carefully made their way to see Don.

"I know this isn't what you want to hear, Gryz, but I'd say at least three or so weeks. This injury hasn't gone away with rehab, so I think the best thing for it right now would be rest," Don empathized after a calculated evaluation of Matt's leg. Matt had pretty much expected it, and in a way he was really relieved because he knew Don was right, but it still gutted him. His reaction must've been visible too, as Charlie took his hand as a sign of comfort. Matt was caught off-guard by the action, nearly flinching away. But he saw Charlie only meant him comfort, and he focused his attention back on Don.

"I'll call you sometime in a couple weeks to discuss how we're going to get you back on the ice. For now, let's get you into an ice bath before you head home," Don looked from Matt to Charlie. Charlie tightened his grip on Matt's hand to help stabilize him as he hopped down from the table. 

Charlie waited the full forty-five minutes or so for Matt to finally be ready to get going. He and Matt slowly made their way to Charlie's car as they had twice before - and from there they made it to Matt's apartment. Rocky was as happy as ever, tail wagging at the sight of his dad. This time, they went straight to Matt's bedroom, as it was too late for TV. 

Charlie helped Matt out of his shorts as Matt simultaneously took off his t-shirt. Rocky followed quickly behind them, sighing as he settled into his dog bed besides Matt's actual bed. 

Once they were done and Matt was once again left in some boxer briefs, Matt had to pick up his leg with his arms to get it to move. From there, he carefully tucked both legs underneath his huge blanket and comforters. Charlie felt helpless watching him struggle. 

"Anything you need these next few weeks - call me," Charlie pointed a finger at him.

"Promise I will," Matt smiled softly, genuinely appreciative. 

Charlie smiled back, "G'night, Gryz."

"Night, Chuck."

Over the following week or so Charlie wasn't surprised that Matt had hardly reached out. A couple texts reassuring Charlie he was okay, but that was it. Neither did either one of them know that they were both finally planning on confronting each other about their feelings. 

That was until Matt finally reached out for something he needed.

"Hey, Chuck. I need some new groceries, so I was hoping if I venmo'd you some money that you'd get them for me?" Matt had texted him.

"Yeah - for sure. I'll have them over around 4. I could cook us some dinner if you want?" Charlie bit his lip as he pressed send on that risky text. Although, Matt didn't leave him and his nerves together much longer.

"Sounds good - thanks, man :)." 

Charlie carried as many bags as he could holding the food Matt had further texted him. As he inched closer to the door, he maneuvered the bags around his upper body so that he'd have a free hand to knock. Although, he didn't do a very good job, as one of the bags began to fall away from his grip. He stumbled trying to keep it resting on his arm, but it was no use.

Very fortunately for him, the bag just so happened to have been caught by Matt, who had opened his door just in time.

"Woah!" He exclaimed as he managed to catch the bag, not to mention keep the food from spilling out. He looked at Charlie, who was just as surprised, before they both burst out laughing.

"Warming up those stone hands for when you're back in action," Charlie quipped as he walked past Matt into his apartment. He turned right and, as delicately as possible, placed the bags on Matt's countertop. He turned back to Matt, who was approaching the countertop.

"There's a few more bags in the car," Charlie told him, already starting to move his feet back towards the door. He saw out of the corner of his eye Matt nod before Charlie turned the corner into the hallway of Matt's apartment complex.

Charlie sighed as he placed the last of the bags onto the countertop, arms falling to his side. Matt chuckled.

"So.. what are we having for dinner?" Matt asked, beginning to put away the last of the food into his refrigerator and cupboards. 

"I was thinking chicken alfredo?" Charlie said, implying for Matt's opinion. Matt nodded, impressed.

"Thought you were more of a takeout guy. When'd you become a good cook?" Matt asked, smirking playfully. Charlie shrugged, a cocky smile on his lips.

"I never said I was a good  cook," they both laughed.

"Well in that case I should probably help you." Charlie exasperatedly placed his finger on his chin, stroking it all while looking up to Matt's ceiling.

"I guess," he finally responded, chuckling.

"Wow, I'm honored, Chef McAvoy," Matt laughed, his hand placed on his heart.

The two of them worked on different sections, Matt with the homemade noodles and Charlie with the chicken and alfredo sauce. The process took a total of around an hour and a half or so, but the end result was absolutely worth it. The sweet sweet smell of the chicken, alfredo sauce, and noodles filled up the room, leaving Matt and Charlie very very anticipated to try.

Charlie had set Matt's countertop with placemats, utensils, and napkins. Matt had taken out a couple white, porcelain plates out of his cupboard and filled them up with the perfect amount of chicken alfredo.

He carefully brought both plates over and settled them onto the placemats. Seeing the nice dinner set in front of each other, they both turned to smile at each other, proud of their work.

They both sat down on Matt's chairs, metal chairs with a comforting pillow-like material on top of it.

"You taste test first," Charlie insisted. Matt went on and picked up his fork, spinning it into the pasta before picking it up again and digging the fork into a piece of chicken. It was certainly a mouthful, and took a few seconds for Matt to chew it, but Charlie could tell before Matt spoke that it was really good. Matt held up a thumbs up, groaning in satisfaction. Charlie chuckled before digging in himself.

The dinner left them in full an in awe. They cleaned up their mess in the kitchen and plates before settling into Matt's couch. Matt scrolled endlessly through his cable channels before eventually giving up and putting on some weird buddy-cop movie.

Both men sat in silence for a little while, seemingly waiting for the perfect time to bring up that conversation. But just to give the both of them something to talk about, Charlie spoke first. 

"How have you been doing?" Charlie turning his head to Matt's. Matt looked down.

"Alright - not bad, but not good," Matt told him, although it was definitely not the truth. He had been struggling big time, getting in his own head and giving himself his first panic attack in a few months.  Charlie stayed silent, knowing Matt had more to say. "It's just different this time. The last two times I got to rehabbing like right away," Matt explained, shifting his head to look at Charlie. "Now I have to worry about, is this going to affect my stamina? Is this going to keep affecting my the rest of the season? Did I make it worse by playing through it? If I play through it when I come back, am I eventually going to injure it to the point I'm going to need it surgically repaired?" He rambled and rambled, only stopping because Charlie had taken his hands, giving them a supportive squeeze.

"I'm just so tired,  Chuck," Matt's voice trembled, barely above a whisper. Matt felt the need to be comforted more than just holding hands, and he leaned in. Charlie was able to wrap his strong arms around Matt's figure before Matt's face hit his neck. Matt let the tears fall, undoubtedly getting the collar of Charlie's shirt wet. But Charlie didn't mind, he just rubbed circles into Matt's back, comforting him similar to the way they had comforted each other after their SCF loss just a couple of years ago. 

Matt, feeling as vulnerable as ever, leaned back and decided he might as well get something else off of his chest.

"Charlie..." his voice trailed as he prepared for what he was about to say. Charlie's eyes were laced with concern, fearing the worst for what Matt was about to tell him. "I love you. And not just as a friend..." His teary eyes looked up to meet Charlie's, searching desperately in his face for some sign of reciprocation. Charlie's concerned eyes were replaced with wide ones - like really, really wide. His mouth fell open, shocked. Matt couldn't necessarily tell what Charlie was feeling, so he went to apologize: "I'm sorry... I probably just made things really weird betwe-"

"Matt, I love you too," Charlie confessed, the words leaving his mouth faster than ever. Matt's eyebrows raised and it was his turn to drop his mouth open in shock. 

"Y-you do?" Matt stuttered, eyebrows still raised. Charlie nodded vigorously, chuckling out of relief. Matt joined in, and they chuckled together at their obliviousness. "Oh my god," Matt said softly as he finished laughing. He ran his fingers through his hair. After all his planning for this moment, he hadn't thought of what he'd say after. "Uh, how long have you known?" Was the first thing that came to Matt's head. 

"Kind of just recently. But I think I've known deep down since we first met," Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. It still felt so surreal to him to actually be saying that out loud to Matt.

"Me too," Matt told him, a sheepish smile on his face. 

"Wow. So, what do we do now?" Charlie looked to Matt for affirmation about the whole situation, though Matt himself was still flabbergasted. 

"I guess we, uh, go on a few dates? And then, if we want to, become a couple?" Matt asked for Charlie's opinion with his hesitating tone. Charlie didn't hesitate to agree, nodding his head with the brightest smile. 

Neither dare spoke, just looking lovingly into each other's eyes. And it was then that Charlie decided to lean in close, no longer able to resist the undying need to kiss Matt he's had for weeks. He paused halfway to make sure Matt was thinking the same thing, and judging by Matt licking his lips to get the leftover alfredo sauce off of it, he wanted it too. Charlie couldn't wait any longer, and finally crushed their lips together.

Both melted into the kiss, letting lose - feeling free. Matt opened up his lips, allowing access to Charlie's eager tongue. Charlie let out a pleased groan as he opened his own lips and their tongues found a nice rhythm.

Eventually, they had to pull away to breathe, but both were smiling like idiots. It would be impossible for any stranger to guess that these man were friends just minutes before as the way they both looked at each other made it seem like they'd been lovers for centuries. 

It was one in the morning just hours after their first kiss, and oh how they had progressed sexually since then. Experimenting with all sorts of things they only knew about because of books and descriptions from gay men they had known in college. 

Matt lay on Charlie's chest - both panting for air. Charlie's arm wrapped protectively around Matt's shoulders. Matt shuddered from the cold and snuggled closer to Charlie. Charlie pulled Matt's blanket up and over Matt's shoulder's shielding him from the cold. Matt found the gesture sweet and tilted his head up, lips in a smile and looking for a kiss. Charlie planted a quick kiss on Matt's lips and Matt's head once again found the warm pillow that was Charlie's chest. Charlie combed his hand through Matt's hair, quickly losing the urge to stay awake. It only took a few minutes to realize through Matt's slow breathing that he was asleep, granting Charlie permission to fall asleep himself. And so he drifted off to sleep with Matt, and only Matt, on his mind - what their future could be like and how he'd always take care of him and be there to build him up. Always.