Chapter Text
Sidney woke up to a shaking of his body and padding of feet on the carpet of his bedroom. He assumed that it was Claude, but he turned over to check and make sure. He also caught a glimpse of the clock. It read 1:47am.
“Claude? What are you doing at 2 in the morning?” Sidney asked in the darkness of the bedroom, rubbing his eyes to adjust to the slight light seeping in through the curtain from the city of Pittsburgh below. It was the day before Christmas Eve, after the
Pens played the Flyers and the Pens won 5-4 in a shootout. It was heartbreaking for Claude for his team to lose in a shootout and Sid saw him crying next to his door when he reached his apartment. He promised him that he would make it better, and he did.
“Don’t you remember?” Claude replied. “My flight leaves this morning. I wanted to spend my night with you before I flew back to Philly.”
“Well, okay. Please be safe out there,” Sid replied. “The weather called for a heavy snowstorm to start around 3, so if you end up getting grounded, please call me.”
“Okay. Give me a kiss,” Claude ordered. Sid pushed up and pursed his lips out to meet Claude’s. He closed the gap for one quick peck. “I love you.”
“Love you, too, baby,” Sid replied before flopping back onto his pillow. “Call me when you get there.”
“Got it,” Claude said before picking up his bags and walking out of Sid’s bedroom. Sid stayed up only to hear the door of his apartment open and close. He snuggled deep underneath the comforter and sniffed it. It smelled like him and right away he missed him, even though Claude was probably not even 50 feet away from the door of the apartment. Sid was back asleep within thirty seconds, imagining that Claude was still here and holding him close to his body.
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Sid woke up later to hear the TV on, with the volume up at a moderate volume. This freaked out Sid a little. He peered over at his clock, reading 6:38am. Rubbing his eyes, he slithered out of bed only wearing his Pens boxer briefs and wrapping himself up in his comforter that still smelled like Claude, even though it was almost 5 hours later. He opened the door to his bedroom and more light filtered down the hallway. Now, he could hear what was being said and it sounded like commentators for SportsCenter. He padded down the hallway slowly, but froze when he heard a voice call out to him.
“Do not leave that comforter on the floor again, Sid. Put it back into the room when you’re not using it.”
Sid walked to the end of the hallway and found Claude, his Claude, laying on the sofa.
“Claude?” Sid asked, using his hand to rub his eye. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in Philly?”
“Flight got cancelled,” Claude said without taking his eyes off the TV, which was showing the hockey highlights from all the games that happened yesterday. “Coach texted us saying that the flight was cancelled due to the bad conditions that were coming. It did start snowing heavy at around 2:30.”
Sid looked out the window that was in the living room and saw heavy flakes falling gracefully past. It looked beautiful, with the city lights shining underneath them.
“So, I came back here,” Claude continued, snapping Sid out of his trance and back on him.
“But, why didn’t you get back into bed with me once you came back?” Sid asked.
“I didn’t want to disturb you from your ‘beauty sleep,’” Claude put in quotations before returning his arms to their crossed position. “So, I decided to sleep out here on the couch.”
“Why did you do that? You didn’t have to do that.”
“I respect you, Sidney,” Claude replied. “I know that in the beginning of our relations, I used you as a sex toy. But over time, I realized that it was wrong. I actually liked you, and it made me feel disgusting that I was using you only for sex. It was unfair to you.”
“I didn’t mind the—”
“Don’t say that you didn’t mind the sex, because it was unfair to use you like a slut. You are an amazing human being and you deserved better treatment. So, I came to my senses and realized that I love you. I fucking love you, Sidney Patrick Crosby and it took me so long to find that out. So, to conclude, I just wanna apologize to you.”
Sid froze. He processed what Claude said. He had no idea that Claude loved him this much to apologize for all the times before. Claude truly cared for Sid and this made him start to tear up. He traveled around the side of the couch and laid on top of his boyfriend, covering Claude up with himself and the comforter. Sid then let the tears flow freely. Claude wrapped him up tightly in his arms, wiping away the tears and rubbing his back soothingly. He tilted up Sid’s head and captured his lips in a searing kiss.
He separated, but continued to rub tiny circles on Sid’s cheek bone.
“Je t’amie, Sidney. Joyeux Noël,” Claude spoke in perfect French. “All I want for Christmas is you.”
“Same here, Claude. I love you too,” Sid replied. “Joyeux Noël.” Both of them fell asleep to the sound of the sports commentators blabbing and the sight of the Christmas tree lights twinkling. This is where Sid belonged.