Chapter Text
“Roz! Where are you going?” Cliff yelled over the thumping music, grabbing his friend's arm as he stalked, alone, toward the club’s exit. The girl Roz had been all over earlier was nowhere to be seen. Normally, he wouldn’t have asked because Roz was a grown ass man who could handle himself but he’d been off for months. More tense and angry than he’d ever seen him, and that was saying something because his baseline personality was Asshole. Now, though, Roz was mean. He kept up the usual chirps on and off the ice but they weren’t lighthearted anymore.
Cliff had had to break up a few arguments that Roz started in the locker room so they wouldn’t escalate into something physical, and was doing his best to look after his best friend outside of the rink without getting his head bitten off. That meant being there for him without actually making it seem like he was worried. Just the occasional forced shared meal and dropping by his captain’s house unannounced to play video games or to kidnap him for a night out.
Tonight, though, had been Roz’s idea, thank God, and Cliff was hoping that meant that whatever cloud his friend had been living under was finally lifting. So when he saw Roz walking quickly towards the exit with his face screwed up like he wanted to hit somebody, Cliff had to step in already mentally preparing himself to be the guy to get hit. Better him than some random who would press charges.
“None of you’re fucking business, Marly.” Roz didn’t even look at him, he just stood there seething with his eyes on the door. Cliff could practically feel him vibrating where he held his arm. Maybe whatever it was wasn’t too bad since Roz hadn’t immediately laid him out on the floor.
“Buddy, what’s going on?” Cliff shifted a little closer and leaned down to try and catch the slightly shorter man’s eyes. Under the flashing lights, he could see Roz’s jaw working in barely contained rage. He obviously wasn’t planning on answering.
“Just…be careful, man.” That seemed to be the right thing to say, because Roz finally looked at him and his face relaxed a little, even trying to offer a little smile at Cliff’s concern. It came off as more of a grimace, but it was something. Then he turned away and walked out into the night.
Cliff turned back to the bar and glanced at the empty seat next to him before taking a sip of his drink. The girl he’d picked up must’ve gotten bored and moved on. He stared down into his glass and tried to convince himself not to call it a night. This was supposed to be fun, so why wasn’t he having fun? He was young, only 25, and he wasn’t one to let whatever shit his best friend was going through get in the way of having a good time. Well…maybe if it was super serious like a major injury or if Roz had knocked a girl up but it couldn’t be that bad because then Roz would’ve definitely told him what was going on. So what was the problem?
Turning to face the drunk crowd, Cliff scanned the room trying to find something to get him out of this shitty mood. But, his mood just kept getting worse, because all he could see were couples. Holding each other close, staring lovingly into each other’s eyes, making each other laugh. Fucking disgusting. Cliff ignored the pit of yearning in his stomach and kept looking.
Well, well, well.
Cliff smirked and knocked back the rest of his drink before navigating his way to the other side of the club. In a dark corner, a little separated from the main crowd and face lit by his phone, was Hayden Pike. A very agitated looking Hayden Pike. Perfect. Cliff wasn’t in the mood to be charming enough to get laid, but he was in the mood to mess with Pike. He could always get a rise out of the much, much, shorter man on the ice and he couldn’t wait to see if the same was true off of it.
“You get lost or something, Pike?” Cliff boxed Pike into the corner a little, making sure to emphasize their height difference but leaving enough room for Pike to get around him if he really wanted. Cliff was an asshole, but he only wanted to rattle the guy a little. He didn’t want to actually scare him or anything.
Pike looked up from his phone, startled, and Cliff couldn’t help but laugh. Pike’s face looked like a surprised hamster with his big blue eyes wide and pink lips slightly parted in shock. Recognition flashed in the shorter man’s eyes and his expression shifted from startled to annoyed.
“Aw, don’t make that face, Pike. You looked so cute just now.” And, yeah, maybe that came off a little more flirty than he wanted, but fuck it, he was finally having fun.
“The fuck are you doing here, Marleau?” Pike was really glaring at him now and was he…? Oh my God, it must be Cliff’s birthday, because Pike was lifting his heels off the floor trying to make himself look taller.
“Probably the same reason you’re here, twinkle toes.” Pike looked away, embarrassed, as he planted his feet back on the floor and Cliff’s smile got wider. His cheeks were starting to hurt with how much he was smiling, but he didn’t care. He wondered if he could get Pike to blush even harder.
“Fuck off. Don’t you have some poor girl to go underwhelm, or something?” Pike was looking everywhere but Cliff.
But he wasn’t trying to leave either.
“Hmmmm, maybe,” Cliff drew out, leaning a little closer into Pike’s space. “But, this is more fun.” Hayden looked up at Cliff in annoyed confusion as he blushed even harder. Score one for Cliff.
Before he could come up with something else to say to get farther under Pike’s skin, the shorter man narrowed his eyes at Cliff like he was trying to figure out a puzzle. Cliff’s smile slipped a little as the vibe started to shift.
“What, Pike? Not gonna tell me to fuck off again?” He teased, trying to bring the mood back. He didn’t want to go back to whatever he’d been doing before. He wanted to keep making Pike squirm.
“Marleau,” Hayden smirked, apparently having put the puzzle pieces together. He stepped closer to Cliff and placed his hand on his chest. The fuck? Cliff’s stomach did a weird flipping thing as he registered the warmth of his hand through his thin t-shirt. “Why are you here? Talking to me?”
It was Cliff’s turn to look shocked. His heart was beating fast and he wanted to run out of the club but at the same time he couldn’t get his legs to move. Hayden laughed (when did he become ‘Hayden’ instead of Pike?) and slid his hand up to Cliff’s shoulder leaving a hot tingling trail in its wake. He’d seen Hayden angry, frustrated, annoyed, defeated, and cocky but he’d never seen him like this. Confident in a way that made Marleau’s mouth dry. Like he knew something important and loved that Cliff wasn’t in on it.
Cliff was frozen as Hayden laughed in his face and let his fingers brush the sweat-damp skin on the back of Cliff’s neck. “Oh my God, Marleau! The look on your face, ha! What?” Hayden asked between gasping laughter. “You can’t take it when someone actually flirts back?”
“What?” Cliff’s mind was buzzing, trying to process how the fuck shit had gone so sideways so fast. It didn’t help that he was getting turned on by whatever the fuck this was.
Hayden gave him a pitying look and patted his shoulder, just like any of Cliff’s teammates would, and then the…whatever vibe from a few seconds ago was gone.
“Nothing, man. I gotta go find my friend. See ya later.” With another smirk, Hayden stepped around Cliff and disappeared in the crowd looking at his phone again. He didn’t even look back.
Why the fuck do I want him to look back?
…
Finally, after 10 texts and a couple missed calls, Shane let Hayden know that he’d made it home.
Thank fuck.
Hayden let himself relax into his couch where he’d been anxiously waiting and hoping that his best friend was okay. It wasn’t like him to leave a hangout without letting Hayden know first. Something had probably upset him at the club, but Hayden was gonna wait a couple days to ask him about it. He’d learned over the years that you couldn’t push Shane into opening up. You just had to let him get there on his own and stay by his side until he did. He just hoped whatever it was didn’t fuck with his head too bad and mess up his game. That would only make the spiral he was in 10 times worse.
He let out a deep sigh into his dark apartment and put his worry for Shane on the backburner. The more immediate and surprising problem was Cliff Marleau.
Cliff fucking Marleau.
He’d been the last person Hayden had wanted to see as he tried not to panic that he couldn’t find Shane. Marleau was a professional irritant on the ice and he got under Hayden’s skin so easily it was stupid. Turned out he could do the same off the ice, too.
Hayden blamed the alcohol for giving him the bright idea to try and make himself taller by standing just a little bit on his toes. He’d just felt so vulnerable without his gear on with Marleau looming over him like a fucking giant. Then Marleau had started flirting with him, for God’s sake, and, yeah, Marleau’s an asshole and Hayden hates him, but he’s also smoking hot. Hayden’s just your average bi man, so he blushed at the attention…then he’d realized that Cliff fucking Marleau was flirting with him. And the guy didn’t even seem to realize it. Ha!
So, Hayden decided to turn it around on him, gambling that Marleau would do the classic Straight Dude Bro thing and run away in disgust and fear, but the reaction he’d gotten was so so much better. The poor guy had looked stunned, confused, and turned on, and Hayden had never felt more powerful. Maybe Marleau wasn’t completely straight after all.
But that led to the problem: now that he knew there was maybe a slight possibility of Marleau being attainable, Hayden wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about him. The thought that Hayden, short, average Hayden, could turn on a guy that looked like that? It was intoxicating and he already wanted more.
Plus…plus Hayden was lonely. He’d tried dating women and had even had a serious relationship for a couple years earlier in his career, but it hadn’t worked out. She couldn’t handle the amount of time he was away and when she’d broken down and told him how lonely she was, he’d decided to call it. He loved her too much at the time to beg her to stay in a relationship that was making her that unhappy. And now he was lonely. Maybe he and Marleau could be lonely together.
God, he hoped this wouldn’t turn into another one-sided crush like he’d had on Shane when they’d first started playing together. That had been a special kind of hell, especially sharing a room on road trips. He’d probably cried in every shower in every four-star hotel in cities with NHL teams at this point.
With another sigh, Hayden stood up and moved deeper into his apartment to start getting ready for bed. They had the day off tomorrow and Hayden was going to spend that time doing anything except thinking about the state of his love life and Cliff Marleau. The All Star break was coming up and they wouldn’t play Boston again for weeks. Better not work himself up now just for it to end up being nothing.
I hope it's not nothing.