Work Text:
Harris flipped on the light in the entry hall of his and Troy’s new house, greeting Chiron with enthusiastic pets that flopped his ears around. “Hey good boy, how are you?” He cooed, loving on the big dog before pushing past him to let him out into the backyard. Behind him, he heard Troy drop his keys on the counter and let out a long breath.
“So…that happened,” Troy said, scrubbing a hand over his face.
Harris laughed and walked over, wrapping his arms around Troy’s middle and giving him a little peck on the lips. “Yeah, it did.”
“Tell me why we agreed to a double date with Shane and Ilya?”
“Because Shane is new to the team and looking for friends, and clearly he doesn’t have a lot of queer friends?”
Letting out a long breath, Troy sighed. “Right.”
“To be fair, I shouldn’t have recommended bowling to three professional athletes.”
Troy gave him one of his rare smiles. “Yeah, that was a bad calculation.”
Harris barked out a loud laugh. “I feel like that’s an understatement. I guess I didn’t realize the competitiveness would extend to bowling.”
Troy bent down and unlaced his tennis shoes, stepping out of them before tucking them into the cubby in their mud room. “I did.”
“Well of course you did. You’re Ilya’s best friend,” Harris retorted.
He stopped and looked down at the shorter bearded man. “Shut up, no I’m not.”
Toeing off his own shoes, Harris huffed. “Yeah you are.”
“No, I’m not,” Troy argued, shaking his head. Harris rolled his eyes at him.
“Are you really going to argue with me about this?” Troy made a ‘what’ gesture with his head and shoulders and Harris began counting off on his fingers. “One–you went to a gay bar together. Two–you came out to each other. Three–you told him about your crush on me–”
“Hey, I didn’t tell him, he guessed,” Troy interrupted.
Harris raised his voice again with a laugh. “You told him about your crush on me! Four–He told you about Shane–”
“He didn’t tell me about Shane,” Troy argued.
“He told you enough that you guessed, right? You know who else knew before they were outed? Shane’s parents, Ryan Price because apparently he walked in on them, and Hayden Pike and Rose Landry–Shane’s best friends.”
“Okay, okay, fine. If I agree with you will you stop?” Troy asked, grabbing Harris’ hands and pulling him in for a kiss.
“I suppose. For now.”
They padded through their house with their socked feet, headed toward the kitchen.
“Boy, one thing they definitely didn’t lie about was their fucking rivalry,” Troy said, getting a glass of water and sliding it over to Harris. “Do you think they’re always liked that?”
“If the argument I overheard between them after yesterday’s practice was anything to go by? Yes,” Harris laughed.
“Argument?”
“Yeah, they were fighting over who won in a race to get to the showers.”
“You’re kidding,” Troy said, pouring a cup of water for himself and taking a sip.
“No! And for the record, it was Shane.”
“Oh it was, was it?” Troy teased.
“Yes. By a nose. But that’s not the point.”
“What’s the point? That they’ve been married for three months and are already arguing about things?”
“No! I think it’s like…foreplay for them,” Harris said.
“Ew, what?”
“Yeah, I saw them making out in their car when I was leaving the rink. I booked it once I realized what was happening. I didn’t want to see something I wasn’t meant to see.”
Troy sat down on the stool by their bar. “Huh. Well good for them, I guess.”
“I know everyone thinks that they’re so different or like diametrically opposed or something, but after getting to know Shane better–they’re two sides of the same coin.”
Troy chuckled. “They are, aren’t they?”
Harris walked towards him, slotting between his legs to lean in for a hug. “How badly was Ilya pouting when Shane won?”
“Pretty badly,” Troy murmured, and then he put on a bad Russian accent. “‘No fair, Hollander. You are already a hockey genius and now you’re bowling genius too? Is it because is boring?'”
Harris snorted. “Do you think ‘boring’ is a code word for them?”
“Probably. It probably means something like, ‘you’re so cute I want to bite you,’ or something like that.”
Harris straightened up. “Oh? Is Shane cute enough to bite?” he teased.
Troy blushed and Harris’ mouth dropped open. “You do think he’s cute!” he crowed. “Oh man, Shane Hollander, Scott Hunter, me…” Harris’ jaw dropped open. “You have a think for the boy scouts,” he said.
“Shut up, I do not,” Troy argued, standing up from his stool and turning to leave.
“You do! You have a thing for good boys!” Harris called as he went to the back door to let Chiron back into the house. “You are such good boy Chiron, yes you are!”
“Did you just call yourself a good boy and then say the same thing to Chiron?” Troy asked from the other room.
Harris gave the giant dog a treat and joined Troy in the living room. “Maybe.”
“Dork.”
Dropping onto the couch where Troy was laying, Harris poked his side. “Admit it! You have a thing for the clean cut goody two-shoes types,” he insisted.
Troy rolled his eyes again. “Clean cut?” He asked, rubbing his knuckles over Harris’ short beard.
The other man batted his hand away. “You know what I mean!”
“Alright, fine. I will admit that your,” he swirled his hand in the air looking for the right words, “inherent goodness is what drew me to you.”
Harris laid his head on Troy’s chest. “Is that right?”
“Yeah,” Troy confirmed, kissing his forehead. “It’s part of why I fought it so long.”
“To keep your bad boy reputation?” Harris joked.
“You mean my asshole reputation?” Troy corrected, rubbing a hand up Harris’ arm. “No, I was worried I was like…tainting you, or something. Or like I was draining you like a vampire. Just taking your goodness with nothing in return.”
Harris looked up at him. “Oh, babe. You weren’t draining me…I mean, at least not in ways I didn’t want you to,” he snickered.
Troy pinched his side. “I was worried I would bring you down.” Harris fell silent for a second, letting that sit between them, not sure how to respond, how to assure Troy that that was not what happened. Troy spoke again, “What really happened was you lifted me up.”
Harris looked up at him. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
The shorter man pushed up to kiss him softly. “And you gave me exactly what I needed.”
“What was that? Sarcasm and social anxiety?”
“Really hot sex,” Harris deadpanned.
“Awgh!” Troy replied, head dropping back to the pillows. “You know, I almost asked Ilya for Shane’s phone number when I first got to Ottawa.”
Looking at his boyfriend with eyes like saucers, Harris gaped at him. “You didn’t.”
“No, I didn’t. But I had heard he was gay, and I just thought…”
Harris picked up a pillow off their couch and smacked Troy with it. “Oh my god! You did have a crush on him!”
“Just a little one. He’s hot,” Troy shrugged, holding up his hands against another plush attack.
“You know, Shane told me that he was jealous of you and me before he joined the team.”
“He did?”
“Yeah. Apparently Ilya said you’re hot and I’m adorable,” Harris answered with a grin.
“No one can say Ilya doesn’t have great observational skills,” Troy smirked. “Look at you getting the hot goss from Hollander. Are you vying for that third speed dial spot on his phone? Joining the list of besties after Hayden and Rose?”
“Hot goss? Speed dial? Who are you?” Harris asked, cackling.
Troy turned pink and covered his face with a pillow. “Yeah, that felt weird when it came out of my mouth,” Troy admitted, voice muffled from under the fabric and stuffing.
Harris pulled the cushion from Troy’s face. “I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to, you know.”
“Is that a fact?” Troy asked, shifting under Harris and straightening his legs.
“Yeah, and not only because I fully believe Ilya would have killed you if you asked for Shane’s number.”
“Oh, thanks.”
Harris beamed at him. “I love you, Troy.”
“I love you too, Harris.”
“Let’s go to bed.”
They stood and turned off the lights, then retired to their bedroom.
Exactly where they were supposed to be.