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“You bring me in so much trouble you idiot,” Quinn shushes at Cale just as his body entered the hotel room through the gap the door left. He walks to the middle of the room ruffling his hair to all sides of his head before his eyes look up, finding Cales confused gaze.
“What are you even talking about?”
“What do you mean what am I talking about?”, Quinn’s voice grows louder, but the last few words come from his lips like a whisper. No one should hear him. Here. In Cale’s hotel room. Out of all places he should be at this is the last where he should be. Booking a private jet to Colorado just to see his arch-rival. And then he brought him so much trouble in singing this contract today. Quinn wanted to stay calm but the second he sneaked into the hotel through the back entrance his heart rate is climbing to unforeseen dimensions with hitting the peak just the second Cale opened the door.
“Quinn, calm down,” Cale finally found his ability to move again making it across the room to Quinn carefully touching his shoulder. “You’re talking about the contract?”
“How could you do this without letting me know what you planned?”, Quinn wriggles out of his grip and walks over to the window. His sudden movement leaves Cale feeling a little lost. He’d been hoping for a lovely evening with his boyfriend, not an evening of being given the cold shoulder.
“We said we will not talk about the contract,” says Cale, dejected. He is not even trying to follow Quinn to the window to get a grip on him. “I thought you would be happy for me. Do you even know what this means for being a D-man?”
“Do you know what this means for me?” Quinn can’t keep his voice down anymore. His eyes are glaring at Cale shimmery and twitching from all the emotions that are stored behind his retina right now. Cale is still standing in the middle of the room his toes curling into the soft rug covering the room from side to side.
“How can you make this about you right now?” Cale snaps, his cheeks pinker than usual. He raises his hands to his forehead, resting his watery eyes in the palms of his hands. He will not cry. Not in front of Quinn who is glaring at him with all his hate he has for him right now. All the hope that fuelled him through the loss against Vegas last season, just because Quinn asked him to be his boyfriend that day is gone, in the second he catches the unexpected emotions in Quinn’s voice. All the hope this would have a happy ending where they could just play hockey and be together, even if it’s a secret to the world.
“You made it impossible for me to keep my place in the league. We play on the same level; I have to match your contract. Now I need to find a team that will pay me this much on top of their stupid star centres' salaries,” Quinn gestures with his hands supporting his explanation of the problem, “do you understand now what you did?”
“What I did was a step forward, to show the league that D-man are as important as forwards or wingers. This is a team sport. You can’t do this alone,” Cale tries to take a step toward Quinn, but he keeps glaring with a deadly stare across the room.
“No, you just ruined everything,” Quinn says quietly, the disappointment clearly audible in his voice.
Cale has no idea how to answer this. For just a few moments he looks at Quinn negotiating with himself if he wants to go where his mind is pushing him right now. “Why are you here then, when you despise me and my actions that much?” Cale shrugs.
“Because I wanted to see you,” there is a kind of surprise in Quinn’s face Cale can’t quite make out.
“I’m not sure if I want to see you after what you just said”
Quinn’s head snaps up. Did he just fuck up? He promised to support Cale no matter what would come. That there is nothing in the world that could come between both of them despite their rivalry.
“Cale, I – I’m sorry. This is not what I meant,” Quinn stutters wishing he could turn back the time to the moment he entered the room. He wished he waited a few more minutes to calm down and manage his emotions to not dump everything on Cale all at once.
“No this is exactly it. This is why this should’ve never been a thing. These secret meetings in random hotel rooms or making out after games. The rivalry would come between us eventually. I was waiting for this.”
“No don’t say this, we –“
“Quinn let’s be real. Did you really thought this would work out?” Cales gaze glares at Quinn, he feels lost and unsure about if he really wanted this conversation to go where it eventually went. Now they are here on the point no one was asking for. No one was even thinking about that this evening would go down the drain that quick. Did he even want this to go here?
“Yes, I thought so and I still believe in it. Cale, please,” there is that strong belief in Quinn’s voice. The kind of firmness that impressed him the most when he first met him. Even from far away he couldn’t miss this strong believe in whatever Quinn started.
“I don’t believe in it anymore. Maybe I have to be real and say that it’s been some time I’m thinking about this not working out,” Cale said trying his hardest not to start crying right away, falling into Quinns arms and telling him that he wants to be with him forever, never leaving his side again. But he just couldn’t.
“Now you’re also lying straight into my face. You always believed in us. There was not a second you doubted this relationship,” Quinn knows Cale, knows his motives and knows when he is trying to lie to him. This is no white lie. This is something they came across several times in their relationship. Cale tries to convince himself that this lie is close enough to the truth
“I said what I said. You need to leave now.”
“No.”
“Leave me alone, Quinn.”
“I will never.”