Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Matt wasn't quite sure how Frank convinced him to come to the library. Sure, they had an assignment to work on, but he had made the argument that they could do it in his room.

Frank, almost immediately, turned this idea down. Said they needed a "proper work environment," because he "couldn't focus if he wasn't at a table." Which didn't make much sense, because they did assignments in Frank and Connor's dorm all the time, with them on one bed and him on the other.

Still, he found himself in the middle of the empty library, books piled up in front of the two of them, notebooks open, computers ready to type on a blank document.

It had been twenty minutes, and Matt didn't understand a fucking thing that was going on. Frank didn't seem to either, but he seemed to be getting it a little more than Matt, which made sense. Frank was a science major, which was a lot more tied to math than literature, Matt's major, was.

After a while, Frank had resigned to pulling up a video, a guy in front of a chalkboard trying to talk them through it. Matt wasn't paying attention, though. No, his eyes were elsewhere.

Specifically, at the guy who just walked into the library. Well, guys, but he wasn't worried about the other, the blond. He was looking at the dark, curly haired guy, with a splatter of freckles on his face. With his lips pressed together tightly, and eyebrows furrowed, like he was frustrated.

He had a bag on his back, and Matt could see his muscles. God, he looked strong. Not strong enough to pick Matt up, obviously, but strong enough to put up a good fight. Enough that it would be fun to pin him down, getting to earn his submission.

He had to be red as a fucking tomato right now. He averted his eyes, looking back at the laptop with the instructional video on it.

When he looked back up, finally getting his blush to go down, the guy was gone.

He pulled out his phone.

He put it back facedown on the table. He knew Connor was going to chirp him for it, and he just couldn't hear it.

Thankfully, he spent the rest of the day avoiding Connor, who only sent back an eye roll emoji to his text. He wasn't so lucky the next day, though, when they had practice.

Matt wasn't the best guy on the team, not by far, but they kept him around because he threw a hell of a punch and could keep morale high after a bad game.

Not that they had bad games that often. Only against BC. Which, Matt didn't get to witness. He had a bad streak of getting injured, or suspended. Most of these tended to happen surrounding BC games, which got quite a laugh out of the entire team.

Connor cornered him right out of the locker room, staring, no, glaring, up at him. "Dude."

Matt rolled his eyes, already heading out to the ice. "I can't believe you didn't even talk to him. I'm disappointed in you."

"Oh, like you talk to guys you find cute. You can be disappointed in me when you talk to Fraser," Matt chirps back, before skating off. He gets halfway across the ice before Connor grabs onto him, face red.

Before he can say anything, though, Coach has them running drills in pairs, with Matt together with Mack, and Connor with none other than Minten himself.

Mack wanted to go out after practice, to some restaurant ten minutes from campus. The guys were keen on the idea, until they found out the only reason he wanted to was because his boyfriend was there.

The team wasn't homophobic. Far from it. They were, perhaps, one of the queerest college hockey teams ever. No, the problem stemmed from the fact that Mack's boyfriend went to Boston College, BC, their biggest rival.

So most of the guys didn't go, and it ended up just being Matt's core group: him, Connor, Frank, Mack, and Fraser. Plus, as Mack as said, Will and his friends.

It wasn't Matt's ideal night, spending time with BC guys, especially with how tired he was from practice. But Mack offered to pay, and he would never turn down free food.

The restaurant, a little burger joint fit with an arcade, was fine. A bit chilly, more than Matt would've liked. He cuddled up in his jackets, a Carhartt over his BU sweatshirt. He felt a bit awkward, with so many layers, but he felt a little less weird when Connor shrugged on his own sweater.

They waited about ten minutes for the BC group, with Connor and Frank leaving to play basketball, and Mack going to the bathroom.

It was a bit weird, sitting alone with Fraser. He was, easily, the person in their group Matt knew the least. He was mostly Connor's friend, after all.

Fraser reached into his bag, pulling out a book, and saving Matt from any awkward small talk.

Mack came bouncing back minutes later, minutes spent with Matt pulling at the the little piece of wood chipping off their table, with a blond boy on his arm. He looked like an Instagram model, all blond curls and blue eyes, big grin showing off his shiny teeth.

A boy he recognized from the library just earlier that day. And sure enough, behind him, were three guys, with one of them being the guy from the library Matt saw him with hours ago.

"Guys, this is Will," Mack says shyly, gesturing towards the blond guy. "And James, Leno, and—"

Mack was cut off when Connor slumped back into the booth, beside Fraser, hair sticking to his forehead. "Nazar plays dirty," he said with a dark look in his eyes, as Frank slid in beside him, laughing.

"And I'm Gabe," the guy from the library says, almost annoyed. His eyes flicked to Matt, and Matt was hoping, praying, that he would slide into the booth beside him.

He didn't. No, Matt was stuck between Fraser and one of the BC boys (the one named James, he later figured out). Because of course. That was just his luck.

When the conversation started going, mostly with Frank, Mack, Will, and Leno, he pulled out his phone.

But when Matt looked up, he wasn't. Gabe was off into space, head tilted back as he stared at the ceiling. Matt tried not to look at the vast expanse of skin there, the vein as he swallowed.

What if Gabe thought he was hot?

It wasn't the most out there though in the world. Matt knew he was a decently attractive guy. Maybe he had a chance with Gabe.

He would've liked to dwell on it, but Connor's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

"So, Gabe, what were you doing at BU earlier? In the library?"

Connor shot Matt a smirk, before looking back at Gabe, who didn't answer. Instead, Will did. "Dude, they had like, every copy of the book he wanted gone from our library. Gabe dragged me along to see if they would let him check it out from your all's."

Will pauses for a second, before looking at Connor. "How did you know we were there today?"

Connor shrugged, leaning back against the booth. "Matt said he saw you."

God, Matt must be so fucking red right now. He could feel the heat in his cheeks as he ducked his head down.

This time, this time he was. And when Matt caught him, he didn't look away.