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Jordie isn’t exactly sure how they have ended up here, especially considering how they only have a couple of days off, but here they are: on a snowy mountain in Switzerland (Tyler's idea), skis and snowboards respectively tied to their feet. The sun is shining, there isn’t a dark cloud in sight and not a problem to be thought of. Except, where is Jason? Jordie looks around. Sure enough, Tyler and Jamie are nearby, Tyler fidgeting with the bindings of his snowboard while smiling up brightly at Jamie who is leaning on his ski sticks and talking what looks like a mile an minute. Jordie can’t help but smile to himself. The two of them are good for each other.
Still, where is Jason? Jordie considers asking the guys but he doesn’t want to interrupt, so instead he gets his snowboard off his feet again, picks it up, and walks back into the basement of the cabin where they store their equipment. He’s right, Jason is still there. He has his skiing shoes on, but is sitting there with his head in his hands, messing up his hair. Jordie feels the instant urge to go over and smooth his hands through it himself. Instead he lets himself fall onto the bench next to Jason with a sigh.
"Hey, what’s up?", he asks quietly. Jason doesn’t reply for a whole while until he finally mumbles, "I’m not very good at this."
"Huh?"
"I said I’m not very good at this", he gestures towards his skis and Jordie's snowboard. "I know I agreed to come with you, and it really is a great idea, I’m glad I’m here, but-"
"But you’re not good at skiing. So?", Jordie frowns.
"So I don’t wanna embarrass myself!"
Oh. Jordie has to fight the laugh that’s close to bursting out of him, but again, he can’t keep the smile off his face. Jason gives him a hurt look.
Determinedly, Jordie gets up, “Wait here.”
10 minutes later he’s back with his skiing shoes in one hand and skis in his other. At Jason’s raised eyebrows he explains, “I’ll help you.”
Once they’re both ready, skis on and everything, Jordie turns to Jason, “So do you know the basics or do you want me to start from the beginning?”
"Since when are you a skiing instructor??" Jordie tries not to take the obvious disbelief in Jason’s voice to heart.
"When Jamie was little he was too shy to do the course alone so I did it twice actually."
"Ohh, okay. So yeah, I know a bit, but it’s been ages since I’ve last done this" Jason finally says.
"I can work with that."
And so Jason’s private skiing lesson begins. Jordie is skiing with his back forward, facing Jason, arms always outstretched in case Jason needs to hold on to something. He doesn't, because he's actually better at this than he let Jordie believe. Soon enough Jordie decides it's save to turn around and go down a bit faster. He'll wait for Jason at the end of the slope. Jason's eyes go wide, but Jordie just gives him a thumbs up when rushing by, and enjoys the wind in his beard.
Once he reaches the end, he stops and shortly wonders where Jamie and Tyler are, before he sees Jason appear in the bend of the slope. He can't quite make out Jason's facial expression but once Jason is near enough he actually hears him shout, "Jordie, I don't know how to slow down!“
"Snow plow, Jason, snow plow!“
"What?“
"SNOW PLOW!“
But before Jason can act on it, he crashes into Jordie and knocks them both to the ground. "Uff“, the air is knocked out of Jordie's lungs. Jason's face is right above him and he sees him close his eyes.
"Well that's a mess“ Jordie tries to lighten the mood but since he can't actually move, he can't do anything about just mentioned mess either. So instead of asking Jason to get off him he just lets his head fall back into the snow. In fact, Jason's weight feels nice on him, even though it's still a bit hard to breathe. He feels Jason's forehead hit Jordie's chest.
"Jordie?“, he hears after a while. Jordie also notices how quiet it is around them. Did Tyler rent the whole slope, too? That'd be just like him.
"Huh?“
"My ankle hurts.“
Jordie raises his head again to squint at Jason.
"Are you bluffing to get out of this? Because you weren't that bad at all, you just gotta remember to snow p-“
"No, Jordie, it actually hurts. My ski is stuck in a weird angle.“
"Oh shit! Can you move it? We need to get your foot out of the binding...“ Jordie trails off as he helps Jason get up, before kicking his skis off and getting up himself. Jason looks like a picture of misery.
“Come on, let's go back to the cabin.”
They take the ski lift up to the cabin, and once Jordie has helped Jason get out of his gear, he makes sure to steady him on their way upstairs to their rooms.
“Okay, first things first-” Jordie begins, once they have entered their shared room.
“Painkillers!” Jason has hopped over to his bed on his own and his face is a grimace now. Jordie rolls his eyes.
“Actually I think we should-”
“Jordie, please...” Jordie could swear he sees the hint of a pout on Jason's face.
“Okay, okay” He raises his hands in defeat and retreats to the bathroom to look for the pills Jason has asked for.
After he has handed them to Jason, along with a bottle of water, Jason agrees to let him have a look at his hurting ankle. So Jordie sits down next to him on the bed and carefully places Jason's leg in his lap.
“It is a bit swollen... Will probably turn blue by tomorrow... We should bandage it...”
After Jordie has done a (as he thinks) pretty good job at stabilising Jason's foot, he feels a tugging at his t-shirt. When he leans back to face Jason, he didn't mean it to be quite that close, but he finds himself not minding Jason's breath on his face.
“You know, Jor, this might be the pills talking-”
“You know I have to call Lindy about this-”
“-Shut up, I wasn't done! So this might be the painkillers talking, but: I really like you, I like having you close and I like you taking care of me-”
“- Wow, those painkillers are working fast.”
“Seriously, shut up.”
Jordie does. He notices how soft the expression on Jason's face is.
“I like you too,” he whispers.
They stare into each other's eyes, before they're interrupted by a knock. Jordie quickly sits up and busies himself with Jason's ankle again.
Of course the door opens without either of them having said “come in”, and Jamie and Tyler stumble into the room.
“Where were you guys-”
“What are you-”
An awkward silence settles between them. Jordie clears his throat and explains: “We had a little accident and Jason hurt himself falling down.”
There's a hustle and bustle and everyone making sure that Jason is alright, before they all agree that hot chocolate and some board games are a good idea. Jordie silently praises Tyler for the idea to rent out the whole cabin for those few days that they were there.
They make it downstairs into the main room with the fireplace, where Jordie helps Jason to sit down on one of the comfortable looking couches. Jamie busies himself with the fire while Tyler declares himself the “best hot chocolate cook in the house”. Jordie doesn't really trust him with the task – knows that Tyler doesn't see the nutrition plan as tight as others since his body doesn't seem to store any fat at all – so he follows him into the kitchen. Tyler noisily opens and closes all the cupboards before he finally finds mugs in the last one. Calmly, Jordie sets to prepare everything else.
While the milk is heating up, he turns to Tyler, “So, you had a good day skiing, or well, snowboarding? I didn't see you anywhere on the slope.”
“Ah yeah, we found a little sideway that led into the forest so we skied along that for a while until we were almost sure that we're lost but then Jamie found the way to another slope and got us home from there, my hero” Tyler clutches his chest. Jordie just rolls his eyes.
“You know, at times it was pretty cold, with the wind and whatnot, but luckily we had each other to keep ourselves warm...” Tyler trails off and a smug grin spreads on his face.
“NO DETAILS!” Jordie slaps him on the arm. Before Tyler can reply, Jordie is saved by the milk.
Tyler stays quiet until they are ready do head back into the main room.
“So. Dems.”
Jordie looks up.
“He's a good guy, you know?”
“Yeah, shame the thing happened today, it was fun with him.”
“Oh yeah?” Jordie raises an eyebrow at Tyler's suggestive tone.
“Yeah, like you said, he's a good guy” Jordie refuses to give in to whatever game Tyler is playing.
“You know what he's especially good at?” Tyler busies himself with one of the mugs, stirring the hot chocolate in it once more. Jordie stares at him blankly before it finally hits him.
“Are you saying that- Have you- Are you serious!?”
“Shhh, don't hyperventilate on me Jordie, it's fine! Jamie knows and it happened before we got together!”
“But you've been together for months and Jason has only been in Dallas for a couple of weeks?”
Jordie would like to wipe that smug grin off Tyler's face once and for all.
“Well, it's not the first time we got to meet him, though, is it? We hooked up back when I was still a Bruin.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.”
“So you invited him along to what, to not make me feel like the third wheel or 'cause you wanted to set me up?”
“Both, Jor, both.” And with that Tyler takes two of the mugs and leaves the kitchen.
When Jordie comes back into the room, he sees that Tyler has handed one mug to Jamie (of course) and kept the other one to himself.
Jordie mumbles a “rude” into his beard but then he remembers Tyler's plan, if one can call it that, and now he just feels weird. How is he supposed to behave around Jason? They did have a moment earlier in their room, but did Tyler even consider if Jason wants to... well, what exactly? Hook up or be in a relationship or what? For the first time since they got here, Jordie feels at loss. He tries to shake the feeling when he walks over and holds out a mug for Jason to take. When he sits down next to him, he's painfully aware of the space that is between them, or isn't, because Jason is close to leaning on Jordie.
“It's just so he can put his foot into a comfortable position,” Jordie tries to convince himself and he sticks to it, even when he sees the angle at which Jason has placed his leg on the armrest of the couch the two of them are sitting on. Or well, almost lying in Jason's case.
Jordie patiently awaits the moment when Jason will have to sit up to take a sip of his hot chocolate.
An hour or so later (who keeps track of time on off days, really), Jason is not just leaning onto him anymore, but fully lying with his head in Jordie's lap, and they've given up on Trivial Pursuit. Jason is still drugged so he was useless throughout the game, and Tyler had kept shouting whatever came to his mind first all the time. Jordie and Jamie have decided it was enough.
Unfortunately for Jordie, that means they are all sitting on the couches now, with nothing to do. He suppresses a sigh and leans back, doesn't dare to move otherwise though because he can't tell if Jason hasn't fallen asleep by now.
When Jamie looks over, Tyler all pressed and snuggled up against him (their usual position when not on the ice), Jordie shoots him a desperate look to which Jamie replies with a questioning one. Ugh, this is going nowhere. He tries to listen to Jason's breathing but the fire is crackling and Tyler is whispering sweet nothings into Jamies ear which makes the latter giggle every now and then. Ugh again. Jordie sees that he has run out of options so he quietly bends down and whispers Jason's name near his ear. His linemate lifts his head and mumbles “Wha?”, looking disoriented. So he had been asleep, shit.
“Let's get you to bed,” Jordie pats Jason's shoulder to let him know that he needs to get up first. Jason just nods and slowly sits up, only to grab his head.
“Jason, you okay?” Jordie can't help but worry.
“Yeah, just feeling dizzy.”
“But you didn't hit your head, did you?”
“No?”
“Fuck.” Jordie tries really hard to remember everything that had happened on the slope.
“Jason, I need you to be honest with me, did you or did you not hit your head?”
“Okay, yes, I did! I fell shortly after you let go of me and my head bumped against the snow, but I wore a helmet, so...”
“Shit, now I feel bad for having done that!”
“Don't, I'm just glad you didn't see how pathetic I looked!” Jason smiles at Jordie and Jordie feels his heart clench. He wants to wrap Jason in several blankets and build a pillow castle around him. And maybe hide in there with him.
“Come on, Jor, don't give me that look, I'm a tough guy, I play hockey!” Now Jason's just grinning and Jordie shoves at his shoulder. From the corner of his eye Jordie notices Jamie and Tyler getting up to sneak out of the room. What even? He ignores the thumbs up Tyler gives him before sliding out the door into the hallway, because does he even want to know.
Jordie feels a light tugging at a strand of his beard. “Can we go now too, Jor?” Jason all but yawns into his shoulder before looking up at him with puppy eyes. Joride runs a hand over his face. But he gets up and helps Jason do the same. Together they make it back to their room.
“We should get you to the hospital tomorrow, if only to get you crutches,” Jordie comments while they change into their pyjamas. Jason's only reply is a groan.
After a while of lying in the dark and hopelessly trying to shut his brain down, Jordie hears his name.
“Jor, what if I hit my head harder than I let you think?”
Jordie sits up abruptly and turns the light on his bedside table on.
“You didn't, did you?” His voice is close to panicky.
“I didn't...”, Jordie lets out a relieved breath. “But I still can't sleep.”
Oh.
“Want me to get you a glass of water? Or a cup of tea?”
“Nah.”
Jordie is about to reach for the light switch again when Jason speaks up again. “Could you maybe... Maybe come here?”
Jordie knits his brows in confusion when he pads over to Jason's bed. However, his eyes go wide when Jason lifts his blanket and scoots over.
“Oh uhm, you want me to...”
“I mean, if that's okay with you?” Jason looks worried.
“Yeah, no, sure!”
“You know, I used to do this all the time when Jamie couldn't sleep”, Jordie says, once they're both comfortable, lying next to each other, their arms touching.
“Really?” Jason breaths a laugh.
“Yeah, he was a pretty needy kid. Luckily, he's got Tyler now.”
They go quiet after that for a while.
“Good night, Jason.”
“Night, Jordie.”
This is how Tyler and Jamie find them the next morning. Jordie would be embarrassed if he wasn't still mostly in dreamland, and Tyler is quick to shush Jamie and himself out of the room again anyway.
In his half-awake state, Jordie considers going back to his own bed to avoid all awkwardness at all costs, and his thought process only speeds up when he feels Jason, who is pressed up along his body, stir, but then he feels the smile on Jason's face against his neck. His first reaction is to freeze but light fingertips ghosting over his chest tell him there's no need to. He can barely feel them through the fabric of his tshirt but he shivers when they reach his collar and wander up his neck to his jaw, where they press lightly until Jordie moves his head to look at Jason.
“Hey,” Jordie whispers. Jason is as close as a person can be, there's no need to speak up.
“Hey,” comes the reply. Jordie finds himself being mesmerised by Jason's eyes. He looks intensely at them until he sees Jason furrow his brow from the corner of his eye.
“Sorry,” Jordie is shocked by his own behaviour and is about to sit up but Jason's hand, now back on his chest, holds him down.
“Sorry, just, you have such nice eyes,” Jordie smiles apologetically, shortly, before staring at the ceiling.
“So do you.”
“They're just a boring brown.”
“Well, you're a ginger, so that makes your brown eyes special,” Jordie feels Jason's fingers brush against his beard.
“I'm not a ginger?”
To that Jason tugs shortly at Jordie's beard so that Jordie looks at him again. Jason's face displays seriousness, but also vulnerable honesty, “I like everything about you.”
Jordie's heart stops for split second before it takes up beating, though twice as fast as before. The tension between them is as thick as glue.
They both know what's about to happen, so Jordie is not overly surprised when Jason stretches up a bit and presses his lips against Jordie's. Still, it makes the butterflies in Jordie's tummy run amok. His hand automatically reaches for Jason's face and he feels a little steadier once he feels Jason's stubble on his palm.
They lie like this for a while, not doing much except for enjoying the contact of their lips and the little shocks of pleasure that feeling sends through their bodies.
At some point, Jamie knocks and peeks inside to inform Jordie that their parents have called, but Jordie barely acknowledges him when he nods and gestures him to leave again, before turning his full attention back to Jason.
Later in the morning, they've made it to the kitchen by then, but not without stopping for kisses several times, Jordie states that he won't go skiing today.
“But: I am going to take you on another skiing vacation soon, I'm not letting you go.”
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes.”