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The key finally unlocked the door, letting Alex step into his building and out of New York’s freezing February weather. He kicked his shoes free of snow and climbed the two floors of slippery stairs, letting a small sigh of relief as the warmth of his apartment penetrated him. Today’s practice had wrecked him. He needed something warm to wear, and he was starving.
He quickly made his way to the bedroom and got into some comfy sweats and an old Rangers hoodie, that had been Kasey’s, but still smelled a bit like Nat’s coconut conditioner from her last visit a few weeks before. A small pang hit his chest as he tried to catch the last bit of that too-sweet, rare and yet so familiar scent. He, Bliz and Natalie had been long distancing for almost two years now, and if at the beginning he’d thought that the hardest part would be over in the newest stage of their relationship, he’d been wrong. It was getting harder and harder to leave or let go at the end of long weekends spent together, or after the holidays.
He opted for a can of tomato soup to heat on the stove -honestly, he was too tired for anything that required one more preparation step. He checked his phone for new messages as he waited for his five-star dinner to be ready, and was surprised to find not one, not two, but three voicemails. He tapped to listen to them and put the phone on speaker while he took spoon and plate out. Maybe some crackers.
You have three new messages. Number one. Beep. Yo, Hazard, it’s Will. Listen, I’m taking Percy out to drink something tonight, same ol’ place. Alex scoffed, shaking the head to himself. He’d pass. His whole body ached, it was thirty degrees outside, and he really just wanted to sulk into his bed and sleep for a few years. He really needs to get over that date, man. So, yeah, great it you feel like coming. Maybe someone else will be there, dunno. Cap, Tweedy, Kota maybe? Lemme know. Beep.
He loved the energy of his tight-knitted team, and how close they’d got on his two years back on the Rags, but he was drained. Sure, it wasn’t the same without Logan, who’d been given back to the Lions after the one-year contract, but he couldn’t be sad to help himself for that. He’d almost felt the sigh of relief Finn had let out miles away, and Leo, and Logan, and Sirius and all his team. Jesus, Kota, too. The poor man. Even though he’d been more than accepted in Gryffindor, the icy tension of the first weeks there had been tough, and Alex could tell he was glad to be back to the Rags.
Now, Alex was able to feel Finn’s happiness through their calls, and he was so glad, because his brother deserved a period of emotional stability after everything he’d been through with Logan. He was glad. But there was always a bittersweet feeling there, seeing the throuple together again while he was missing his two. But Bliz and Nat felt it, too. He knew it. And Kase had mentioned it in their last call: it was his last season, then he’d retire. And then they could join him in New York, and if not move there, at least they’d be able to see each other more often. Alex had been happy to hear the news, because he knew the pain Bliz had went through, was still going through. It would be hard, but he was glad. He’d be there for him.
Number two. Beep.
Alexander, hi, it’s Robert. His agent. I have some, ah, news regarding your contract. It’s pretty urgent, so yeah, call me asap. Beep. Alex took a chair from under the table and let himself fall on it, staring blankly at the fridge. Christ, if he was being sent down to Florida again…or California, Texas, anywhere south, far away. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t. He had finally found some stability back to the Rags, close to his parents, not too far from his brother, from Kase and Nat, he couldn’t…
Number three. Beep.
Hadn’t he been playing well? It couldn’t be that. He’d given all he had in the last few months, and years. But was it enough? Was he enough? He could feel himself starting to spiral and hyperventilate without being able to do anything about it. Fog began to appear at the corners of his eyes.
Alex, it’s still Roger. Sorry for calling again, but I don’t want you to get the news from the media. Alex squeezed his eyes shut, biting his lip and praying. So, uh…your contract was about to expire anyways. Please, please, don’t rip me away from my life. And your coach was looking for a new staring center, with one of your boys out of the league for that back injury. So, a new arrangement was made. Alex stopped breathing, letting his head fall between his shoulders. He suddenly felt very aware of his loneliness. He’d give anything to have someone in the room with him, for a hand on his shoulder.
With the Lions. Gryffindor’s Lions. And coach Weasley did your name, so Leblanc is coming to New York and you’re going to Gryffindor. He was dead set on it. Guess there’s someone waiting for you in that locker room, yeah? You start in three days. I…I hope it’s good news. Call me asap. Bye.
Beep.
Holy shit.
Holy fucking shit.
Was that true? Had he been imagining it? Was he so tired to turn into delusional?
The fog in the room wasn’t disappearing, and he could smell something burned. He slowly turned to the stove and saw the soup boiling and sending splashes out of the pot, a dense smoke raising. He blinked, taking his time to realize that the smoke was, in fact, his dinner. “Holy shit!”
Next thing he knew, the fire alarm was triggered, and the fire sprinkler made rain fall into his kitchen as a shrill sound begun its loop. “Holy fucking shit!”
He shook his head out of the shock and quickly turned the fire off, passing a hand though his now wet hair. Lions. Gryffindor Lions. He went to turn the alarm off, not realising he’d been holding his breath. He let out a sudden sob, from all the emotions he had felt in mere seconds: tiredness, fear, anxiety, surprise, disbelief. Oh, fuck. He knew that happiness and relief were next, but his heart was racing impossibly fast now. Leblanc is coming to New York and you’re going to Gryffindor. The adrenaline made his head spin.
He opened the window to let the smoke and the smell of burned soup out, feeling the cold air’s bite. But he needed that. He brough a hand to his mouth and reached for his phone, only half aware he was lucky it was still functioning even if soaked. He tapped again on the last message, listening carefully to be sure that he’d got every word right. He had to be sure. But Robert’s voice was clear: you start in three days.
“Holy fucking shit”, he mouthed again. He was going to Gryffindor. He would play with Finn, a dream they’d had since they were toddlers, and he’d play with Bliz, again, for his last season. He would build a statue for Arthur Weasley.
Guess there’s someone waiting for you in that locker room, yeah?
With unsteady hands, he selected ‘last calls’ on his phone, and clicked on Natalie’s contact. He knew Kasey barely checked his phone, and he needed them now. As expected, one of his favourite faces appeared after a ring. Nat’s surprised and pleased smile made him shiver. She had her screen time glasses on, and her hair was in a messy braid, and Alex loved her. “Hi, baby! So nice to see your pretty face, really can’t get enough of...”
She stopped abruptly, noticing the situation on the other side of the screen. Her expression turned into concern, and she went a bit blurry with movement as she sat up straighter on the couch. “Alex, what is it baby? You okay?”
Alex felt suddenly very aware of the state of himself and his kitchen. Smoke was still floating next to the burned pot, the fire sprinkler was on, wetting the floor, the table, him, and he looked a right mess. He could see himself paler than usual, his hair matted to his forehead and his eyes red.
He heard some noise from behind Natalie’s back, before Kasey appeared in the frame. The corner of his mouth, curled up in a half smile, quickly left place to a knot of concerned eyebrows, as he leaned on the back of the couch with his forearms, a hand light on Nat’s shoulder. “Alex?”
The redhead blinked. They were studying him attentively, and he opened and closed his mouth a few times, waiting for sounds to come out.
“Alex” Bliz repeated. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Did something happen?”
“Talk to us, baby.”
“Is it raining?”
“That’s his kitchen, sweetie.”
“Oh. Wait, is there a fire?”
“Yeah, I mean no, almost, yeah. Wait, lemme just” he jogged to the hallway with the phone in his hand, and quickly found the fire sprinkler control panel, and turned it off. Then he went sit in the living room. Nice, warm, and dry. Two pairs of insisting and worried eyes were on him. “I...” He cleared his throat. “I, uh, I got a call. From Robert.” He saw realisation hit Kase hard, and Nat bit her lip.
Kasey took in a deep breath, eyes going unfocused for just a second. “Wait. I, I gotta sit down for this.” His voice was suddenly small, feeble, eyes on the floor. He made his way next to Natalie, sitting down with a small, trembling breath. He blinked, his eyes already burning. Nat readjusted to circle his shoulders with an arm and brought their foreheads together. Bliz’ voice came in a whisper. “Where?”
Alex looked at Kasey’s sad, resigned expression, eyes unable to fix on the screen. How many times had they been pulled apart? In the moments they needed each other the most, nevertheless. But they’d always found each other, their bond becoming stronger each time. Kasey was scared, and Nat too, but Alex could already see the determination burn in her eyes. He knew she was thinking fuck the distance, wherever you end up going, I’ll come to you.
And they were waiting for him to drop the destination, but all he could master was a whispered “I love you two so much.” He let out a watery laugh as hysterical tears from the tension began to fall.
Kasey, in the meantime, had taken it for the worst of news, and now his eyes were closed, and he rested his temple on Nat’s shoulder, who looked at the screen bewildered. “Alex, baby, now you’re scaring us. Just tell us, please?”
Alex took a deep breath, trying to get a grip. Jesus, what a roller coaster of emotions. He’d never been more relieved in his life, and at the same time his heart was still drumming loudly in his ears. “I... baby, don’t cry. I…we’ll need a bigger bed.” He didn’t know why, but it was the first thing that had come to mind. Natalie blinked, Bliz opened one eye. He nodded, continuing, “Yeah. I can do with the one at the apartment just fine when it’s just for the weekend, but if I'm going to stay for good, we’ll need a bigger bed so I don’t end on the floor. So, I’m coming in two days and we’re going to Ikea, and we’ll find another bed.” His voice had faltered at the end, the realisation of finally being able to see them every morning without a screen between them hitting him. He sniffed. “I’m staying for good.”
He watched two pairs of huge, watery eyes stare at him. Nat brought a hand to her mouth, while Bliz hadn’t moved. It looked like he wasn’t even breathing. Then a high-pitched squeal filled the two rooms, and Kasey had to cover his ears as Nat kept screaming.
“No way! No freaking way!”
Alex started laughing, passing a hand through his matted hair, his eyes still burning from the tears. He watched Natalie’s big smile, with teeth and all, the one she only showed when she was high on happiness. And he watched Bliz, staring back at him with tears falling silently and his lower lip trembling like he was a kid. He looked so hesitant, so cautious. And Alex couldn’t blame him; they’d been apart for so long that it was hard to picture them together. It seemed too good to be true, and Alex knew that Kasey was thinking of something he could have missed, anything that could go wrong and send one of them across the country.
“Kase” Alex murmured, “I’m staying for good.” He looked for his eyes, but the other man just closed them as other silent tears began to fall. That was Kasey: silent tears, silent pain, silent love and kindness. Kasey wasn’t a difficult person to read, if one knew where to look. And Alex had always known, and he had seen how loud Kasey could be in his emotions.
“Yeah?” he asked, a rasped whisper against Nat’s shoulder, now hugging him and bouncing on the couch.
“Oh, baby, yes. I’m coming. I’m a Lion now.”
“Wait, but how? So out of the blue?” asked Natalie. Alex shrugged.
“Rob only said that the Rags needed a new center, so Leblanc is coming here, and your coach made my name, so...yeah.” He let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t know either, but let’s not question it. I need to move my things before the universe changes its mind.”
Natalie was nodding while scrolling Kasey’s phone, eyes wide. “Fuck, it’s all over Twitter” she mumbled.
Reality seemed to hit Kasey like a truck, and he brought a hand to his mouth, letting himself fall on the couch. “Holy shit. Holy shit, Alex, you-you’re coming.”
“Yeah.” His cheeks were starting to hurt for smiling too much.
“Here to Gryffindor. Lions. You- holy fuck.”
“How articulate” the other laughed, earning a scoff from the goalie, that was staring at the ceiling.
“You’re one to talk.”
Natalie framed herself better. “Baby, it means that you’re gonna-”
“Yes” Alex exclaimed, too high on adrenaline and happiness. Kasey let out a sob, other tears beginning to fall. But those were good tears, and for Alex it was enough. “Kase.”
“Alex.” Had they been together, they would have hugged and hold hands tight, foreheads pressed together and closed eyes. And soon, they’d be able to. Natalie leaned on Kasey, unable to contain her giggling. He hugged her, kissing her hard on the forehead, and then on the lips.
“I could leave right now” Alex realized.
“No” the other two replied at once, mildly alarmed voice. Then Nat continued, “You’re not driving right now.” She was right, as usual. Alex still felt pretty shocked, and his poor kitchen, wet and fuming, mirrored the absolute chaos of his mind. Also, there were things to do before leaving. He had to say goodbye to the Rangers -they’d surely organise a farewell dinner before letting him go. He’d miss the team, but at the same time he couldn’t bring himself to be too sad about the switch. God, he was going to play with his boyfriend and his…
“Oh, fuck, Finn. I gotta call Finn.”
“Yeah, he’s been texting me” Kasey noted, scrolling his phone to find multiple texts. “Tell Nat to hang up, I have to talk to him. Come on. My turn. Plz. Pretty plz.” He snorted, but he was smiling. “Berry, he’s gonna be so happy.”
“I know” Alex replied, voice breaking.
Kasey snorted, shaking his head. “Leo also texted. Please let him hear from Alex. He’s like a kangaroo on drugs.” They all laughed.
“Well, okay, that’s my cue” Alex chuckled, passing a hand on his face. “God, this is surreal.”
“I’m so happy, sweet thing” Nat said. “Now call that kangaroo of yours and if you wanna call us again later, we’ll be awake. If not, we’ll facetime soon?”
“We’ll kiss soon, hot stuff” Alex grinned, earning a smitten smile from a blushing Natalie.
Kasey nodded, apparently recovered enough. He had a forearm over his eyes, head still dropped behind on the sofa. “Okay, so. You’ll need to empty the apartment, to transfer all your stuff here, sign off the rent…” He huffed. “Lotsa work.”
Alex dismissed him with a hand, shaking his head. “Won’t take long. Maybe Finn will come here and help me. Short family reunion.” He took a deep breath. “You’re wrong if you think that I’m not gonna leave the second I can.” Kasey sent him a soft smile, as Natalie passed a soft hand on his cheek, drying the tears.
They hung up quickly after that. Alex really needed to hear from Finn, and he promised Kase and Nat to call them soon. He tapped on Finn’s contact and, as expected, half a ring passed before he heard some shuffling and a hush. Alex smiled, a grip already tightening his throat.
“Hiya, teammate.”
“You-you bastard” was the broken answer. He could hear Finn sobbing, and before he knew, he joined in with a sniff and new tears.
“Guess we made it, eh Fish?”
“Alex.”
“I know. I’m-I’m so happy, man, I mean.” He paused, looking for the right words to convey the fireworks exploding in his head. He didn’t think he could, but he knew that Finn was seeing the very same bright colours in his mind. “I- Rob called, and I was so scared, and then he said- and I couldn’t believe…”
“Together, Alex. We’re gonna play together, I can’t believe it, oh God. Leo had to triple check before filling me in, didn’t believe it either, nobody did…” he heard a deep breath from the other line, interrupting the fast talking, and he could picture Finn closing his eyes, his mouth curved downwards. “Alex, our dream.”
Alex let out a watery laugh as he shook his head. He remembered the hushed conversation in his childhood bed, lights out and bed shared with a small, clingy Finn, who always ended up in his room after curfew. Two kids looking at the stars attached on the ceiling, stretching their arms to reach them, fighting to keep their eyes open. Alex’s grin softened.
We’ll play together, an’ be famous, an’ win the cup. So many, very lotsa cups.
Yeah, Fishy.
Promise?
I promise.
“Well, I promised, didn’t I?”
That seemed to throw Finn into another fist of loud sobs, and he heard a soft laughter coming from his line. Leo, whispering sweet nothings and kissing him. Oh, sugar, it’s okay.
He heard some ruffling on the other end of the line, someone telling Finn to put him on speaker. Then Logan’s voice. “You just couldn’t bear not to be on the same team, eh old man?”
“Couldn’t phantom the idea, no” he laughed. How strange was it for a team transfer to feel like coming home? And how goddamn wonderful? “Good thing all those practice hours on passes didn’t go to waste.”
“Good thing.”
“But how?” Finn’s voice returned, insisting.
He let out a huff. “Apparently coach Weasley knew that there was some trade going on and he had a say in it, so he made my name. Robert said he was pretty damn set on it.”
“Oh god” Finn laughed. “What a great man. Imma built him a statue.”
Next, he heard Leo’s voice. “Alex, that’s so great. So, how are you feeling?”
“It’s just- so surreal. I can’t believe it.”
And Alex really couldn’t. No more takeout dinners alone on the couch, no more dates on Face Time, or coming home to an empty apartment. He felt a lump in his throat, and could already see the mornings together, and the practices together, and the meals together. Living alone was hard for many things, but the one that had always hit Alex too hard was eating alone almost every day. He looked at the abandoned, fuming mess on the stove that had once been his dinner. Your era has come to an end, canned tomato soup. Oh yes, he was going to make pancakes on Sundays for his lovers, and learn a few tricks from Leo to surprise them. The possibilities were countless, and his smile stretched at the thought of always having his favourite people near, for him to love.
He felt like arriving at the end of the run, crossing the final line, and finally letting himself relax after tensed months.His mind was going ten times faster than his body. He could feel the race inside of him, the restlessness that, he knew, was going to keep him awake for a few hours at least albeit the tiredness he’d felt before the voicemails.
After half an hour on the phone with Finn, Alex called Kasey again, knowing that he neither was going to fall asleep anytime soon. His phone only ringed once before a giddy face smiled back at him. “Hey, Lion.”
God, how rare it was to see Kasey like that. And how good it felt to be the reason of his excitement. “Hey yourself, fellow Lion. Figured you wouldn’t go to sleep for a while.”
Kasey smiled. “There’s no way I’m getting any sleep tonight.” He looked over the phone for a second. “And Nat, neither, I guess. She already made a Pinterest folder with all the new ideas for the bedroom.” He was smiling so hard, his tone affectionate. Alex loved that they shared the identical smitten smile. “She’s taking the measurements for adding new drawers, or something. You triggered her with the word Ikea.”
“Yeah, I knew what I was getting us into.” They let a comfortable smile stretch for a few minutes, simply enjoying each other’s company and the news. “God, Kase. I-I’m scared I’m gonna wake up and find out it was just a crazy dream.”
Kasey’s grin softened. “It’s all real, babe. Now come on, I’ll make good company while you make yourself some dinner. And I’ll supervise so you don’t burn it again.”
“I was just very shocked, alright.”
The next few days in Alex’s life were a blur. Luckily, it all had happened during a long weekend, so Finn had been able to join him in the city to spend some time together and help him pack his things. They’d had dinner with their parents, that were ecstatic to see their boys playing on the same team, and he’d received the official welcome call from captain Black- no, it was Lupin now. The Ranger organised one last dinner together, Will and Percy especially emotional about slowly losing the group to the Lions. Alex had just smiled. He found he couldn’t help it, lately.
Gryffindor was waiting for him: Nat and Kasey had rearranged the room to get some space for his things, and they were waiting for him to go find a new bed. Kasey had half-joked that they’d need a space bigger than their apartment, but they’d see in the future. They had time. The idea made Alex’s heart jump. A team’s dinner at the Dumais’ was being organised to welcome him, and in the locker room, a stall already styled his name, next to a big 28.
A new chapter of his life was about to begin, and Alex new that it would be one of the most memorable ones.