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rsadelleMaster Post - Part 1 - Part 2
Danny texts Claude when he gets out of class on Wednesday, to let him know he's on his way home. Claude doesn't text him back, but his car is in the driveway when Danny gets home.
Danny only has time to close the door behind him and kick off his shoes before Claude comes to find him. Claude puts his arms around him and kisses him. It's another new kind of kiss for them, somewhere in between comforting and starting something.
Danny shrugs partway out of Claude's grip. "Can I put my backpack down?"
Claude lets him go just enough that he can let the straps slide off his shoulders and put his backpack on the table, and then they're kissing again. Danny's prepared not to stop this time - it's really good, and the phone sex did nothing to diminish how much he wants to take Claude to bed - but Claude gentles it until they're barely kissing.
"I brought things for sandwiches."
Danny gets both hands on Claude's ass and pulls him close. "Or we could have sex."
Claude groans, but then he pulls Danny's hands away. "Food. Then we're going upstairs and not getting out of bed until dinner."
It's early for lunch, but Danny's not waiting any more than he has to, so he lets Claude pull him into the kitchen and they make sandwiches and take them to the table. Claude tells him about the road trip, the things he can't get from watching their games, like Hartsy swapping out all of Schenner's socks for flower print ones.
"No one would lend him any either," Claude says, "so that was what he was wearing to the game."
Danny chuckles. "Did he get back at Scott?"
"Not yet." Claude grins. "We're all waiting to see what he's going to do." He nudges Danny's knee with his own. "What about you? Did you choose me over your study group?"
Danny groans. "Yes. We met yesterday. They wouldn't stop chirping me about it."
Claude laughs. "You didn't have to tell them you were choosing me."
"I didn't. Hunter follows the Flyers. They figured it out."
Claude looks at him for a minute. "You love it," he says.
Danny shrugs. "Yeah. It's not the same as playing, but, yeah. We're a team."
"And that gives them the right to hassle you about your booty calls."
Danny laughs. "Or at least they think it does."
"Unwritten rule of life," Claude says, "your team gets to chirp you about your booty calls."
"Your team doesn't chirp you about yours."
"Nope," Claude says with a grin, "because I'm not stupid enough to tell them about mine."
Danny makes a face at him, which just makes Claude laugh and then lean over and kiss him.
"Hartsy would make both our lives hell if he knew this was what I was doing with my day off." Claude runs a hand down Danny's arm, shoulder to elbow. "Are you done eating?"
"Yes."
They put their plates in the sink - Danny can always put them away later - and Claude laces their fingers together and walks Danny up the stairs. Danny pushes his bedroom door closed behind them, and Claude pulls him closer and lets go of his hand so they can put their arms around each other.
"You have no idea," Claude says, "how hot it was that you called me for phone sex."
"I think I have some idea." Danny nips at Claude's jaw. "You weren't the only one getting off on it."
"But you-" Claude shakes his head and kisses Danny instead. It's a deep kiss, and it seems to go on forever, with only the barest pause so they can breathe. "God, I really want to fuck you."
"I don't know what you're waiting for."
Claude's hands slide up under the hem of Danny's shirt. "I also really want to kiss you." He does, and they stand there kissing for a while longer, until they're rocking into each other, and Danny's starting to get dizzy with it.
"Claude, please." Danny pushes Claude's shirt up, until it's rucked up under Claude's arms, and he pushes until Claude lets go of him and Danny can pull Claude's shirt all the way off. "You can keep kissing me while you fuck me."
"You're in such a hurry." Claude steps back and looks at Danny for too long before he pulls Danny's shirt off, his hands skimming up Danny's sides the whole way.
"I remember you promising to finger me open and then fuck me," Danny says, "and my hands weren't enough."
Claude groans. "You're making it really hard for me to go slow." He puts his hands on Danny, just rubbing over his skin. It's good, and it's only making Danny want his hands everywhere.
"You don't have to go slow."
Claude bends and leaves a line of kisses from Danny's shoulder to his nipple. "I want to."
Danny says, "I want you to-" and cuts himself off when Claude tugs at his nipple with his teeth. "Okay," he says, when Claude moves to the other one. "You can do that."
Claude grins at him and kisses down his stomach. He stops at the waistband of Danny's jeans and stays there for a second, mouth pressed to Danny's skin, before he undoes Danny's fly and pulls his jeans down his legs. Danny steps out of them and kicks them away.
Claude doesn't go for his underwear next; instead he presses his mouth to Danny's cock. It's good even through the cloth. It's heat, and slight suction as Claude works his mouth over him. He's almost not ready for it when Claude stops, but then Claude does pull his underwear down and he pushes Danny toward the bed as he stands up.
"Please tell me you're going to fuck me now."
Claude leans over him and kisses him for a while, then opens the drawer to the nightstand.
Danny sits halfway up. "How do you want me?"
Claude pushes him down, hand warm and heavy on the center of Danny's chest. "Just like this." He squeezes lube onto his fingers and moves down the bed. He just rubs his fingers over Danny's hole for a bit, and he puts his mouth on Danny's cock and sucks for just a moment. He grins up at Danny when Danny curses at him, and pushes one finger into Danny. It's so much better than when he does it himself. His wrist isn't twisted weirdly, and Claude can reach so much deeper, even with just one finger.
Danny pushes down onto Claude's finger. "More."
Claude kisses his hip and sucks on his cock for a second. "Not yet." He fucks Danny with just one finger, and keeps dipping in to suck his cock for brief moments at unpredictable intervals.
Danny has to ask twice more before Claude finally stretches him open with a second finger, but it's a good kind of torture, and the second finger is such a relief that he barely notices the moment where his body has to adjust to it.
"This is what I'm going to be picturing next time we have phone sex," Claude says. "You all stretched out and desperate on my fingers."
"There's not going to be a next time if you keep me desperate." It's a completely empty threat, and Danny knows it. This is already hot enough to merit some kind of reward, maybe even more than Claude giving him space to study did.
It must be making Claude desperate too, because Danny doesn't have to wait as long for a third finger, or maybe time is losing meaning. He does his best to push down into Claude's touch, tries not to thrust too hard up into Claude's mouth when Claude sucks him for tiny spaces of time that aren't even close to enough.
He's swearing, and probably begging, probably saying things that would be embarrassing if he could think about anything but Claude winding him up and keeping him on edge.
Something works, or Claude decides he's gone slow enough, because Claude pulls his fingers out, wipes them off, and puts on a condom. He hooks one of Danny's knees up over his hip and pushes in slower than he needs to.
"More," Danny tells him. "You don't have to-"
Claude cuts him off by leaning over and kissing him. "I want to." He nips at Danny's bottom lip. "Let me, please."
Danny drops his head down and groans. "You're going to kill me."
"I'm not going to kill you." Claude's voice sounds strained too. "I'm going to make this so good for you."
Danny pulls Claude down and kisses him hard. "You are. Just fuck me."
It doesn't work the way he wants it to. Claude moves, but he moves unbearably slowly, and he's strong enough that even Danny wrapping his legs around Claude and digging his heels into Claude's ass doesn't make him move any faster. Claude just groans and kisses Danny.
"Please," Danny says, because he is in no way above begging. "Claude, please."
Claude rests their foreheads together. "Danny," he says just above a whisper.
Danny puts his hands on Claude's cheeks and kisses him. "Please. This is good, I promise, just fuck me now."
Claude groans against his mouth and finally does. Danny lets his legs fall apart so Claude can move, fast and hard and just right.
Claude knocks Danny's hand away when he tries to touch himself, and wraps his hand tight around Danny's cock. He doesn't move it much; it's mostly the force of his thrusts pushing Danny into his hand. It's enough.
Danny pulls Claude down and they kiss messily, breaking apart to breathe, to groan, to mutter swear words into each other's mouths, then coming back together again.
Danny comes before Claude does, and Claude comes just after him with a shout.
Claude kisses him, still messy and off-center and hard to maintain when they're both shaking and breathing hard. It takes a minute before Claude pulls out of him, hand on Danny's thigh while he does, and takes care of the condom and wipes up the worst of the mess on Danny's stomach. Danny left Kleenex on the nightstand and the trash can next to the bed so he doesn't even have to leave the bed to do it.
Claude kisses him again, and Danny pulls Claude down to lie on top of him, kisses him deeper and with more concentration.
"Claude," he says after a while.
"Mmm."
Danny puts his hands on Claude's cheeks and holds him back enough that Danny can see his face when he says, "Best sex of my life."
Claude's grin splits his face, and he laughs, and they're both smiling too much to kiss easily, even though they give it their best shot.
*
"We should talk about spring classes," Sarah says one afternoon in Huntsman. They've done some homework, but no one's really in the mood, and mostly they're sipping coffee and idly talking about classes. "Registration is next week. We have to take most of the same things anyway. We should figure out if we want to take the same sections of things."
Caleb nods. "This," he waves at the four of them and their table, "has been a huge help this semester. We should do it again."
"I'm in," Danny says.
They all turn to look at Hunter. He shrugs. "Okay, but I'm not taking any eight a.m. classes."
"Awesome." Sarah pulls out her laptop and opens the spring catalog. "We're all taking stats, OPIM, and BEPP, right?" When they all agree, and she says, "What else are you thinking about taking?"
None of the rest of the classes they each want to take line up, so Sarah says, "Okay, just those three."
"Do we need to work around your work schedule?" Danny asks Caleb.
"No, they'll schedule me around classes."
"And I don't really want eight a.m. classes either," Sarah says. She looks at Danny. "What about you?"
"Nothing too early on Tuesdays or Thursdays."
Danny does his best not to give anything away while they all look at him for a moment. Then Caleb laughs, which makes Hunter narrow his eyes at him and ask, "Are you making us schedule classes around your booty calls?"
"Seriously?" Sarah asks through her laughter.
Danny shrugs. "Claude's more likely to be home those mornings," he admits. "Otherwise I would take eight a.m. classes."
"Eight a.m.," Hunter groans. "How can you do that?"
"It's not that bad," Danny says. "And I'm not making you take them with me."
"You bet you're not," Hunter says.
They all get out sheets of paper to write down and scribble out possible class schedules. Sarah has them all look up the other classes they want to take first, and then they go through the three they're all going to take.
There's a slight argument about stats professors, with Caleb putting in the deciding vote, and after more time than it seems like it should take, they have an agreement about schedules.
"If we can get into those sections," Hunter says.
"We'll get in," Sarah says.
In the end, she turns out to be right, although it's mostly because she texts them all to make sure they're up and ready to log on to register for classes first thing in the morning on their day for registration.
Sarah texts, Told you so! once their texting chain confirms that they're all registered for the same sections.
Danny can almost imagine the grouchy face that goes with Hunter's, We got lucky, in reply.
*
The homeless shelter fundraiser falls on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. There was some disagreement about the date, but Joanna told them they always get an increase in donations around Thanksgiving, and most people who are traveling won't have left yet.
Danny and his group spend most of the afternoon setting up. They split up to get ready, and then Danny heads back to campus to pick up half the group and drive them to the fundraiser.
They're all still plenty early so they can take care of any last-minute things that need to be done and be ready when people start arriving.
The division of labor means Danny's job is to mingle as people arrive. It's an easy enough job; he's been the name on enough charity events that he knows how to chat with strangers, sign autographs, and make people comfortable. It helps that he's been in Philly long enough that there are people he recognizes from other events, and they seem glad to see him.
There are a few people who have brought their kids with them. Kids are easy; Danny signs autographs and asks them if they play hockey. He likes kids, the kids are happy to have someone pay attention to them, and the parents like that he takes the time to talk to the kids.
Danny stands up from talking to a little girl about her hockey team and turns to talk to the next person. The next person is Claude, grinning at him and wearing his current favorite plaid suit.
"What are you doing here?"
"Is that how you talk to donors?" Claude grins and hugs him. "I bought a table. Thought I would check it out and support the shelter."
"Really?"
"It's a good cause." Claude's smile bends a little. "And I wanted to help make your fundraiser a success."
Danny can't help smiling back at him. "Thank you," he says. He squeezes Claude's arm. "I appreciate it. Now get out of my way so I can keep schmoozing donors."
Claude laughs and says, "I'll find you later," and wanders off into the crowd, probably to do some schmoozing of his own.
Danny loses track of him, and he keeps greeting people until they announce that it's time for dinner, when he has to take his place at the head table with the shelter staff and board. They get to relax a little during dinner - Danny spots the rest of his group at their table at the back - and then there are speeches over dessert and a reminder that the silent auction closes in half an hour.
People start mingling again after dessert, and Danny makes his way through the crowd to the silent auction to see how they're doing.
Sarah catches him before he can quite get there, and links her arm through his. "I see your boyfriend showed up and bid on things."
"Not my boyfriend," Danny says.
"Right," Sarah says. "He just really wants to win the case of wine."
"He's supporting a good cause." Danny wanders down the silent auction table with her. Claude's signed jersey and the hockey game with Danny have the highest bids, but the rest of it is doing well. Claude's winning the wine auction. Danny adds his name and a bid to a four-person river outing that isn't doing as well. If he gets it, he can take the boys, or maybe his study group.
"He's supporting his boyfriend." Sarah keeps her voice low enough that they don't attract any unnecessary attention.
Danny gives up and doesn't bother to contradict her before he turns to chat with someone dithering over bidding on a quilt.
Kayla gathers up the slips when the silent auction ends, and she and Aaron take turns announcing the winners to the room. People are still mingling while they do, so Danny stands at the back with most of the rest of the group and watches the cheering from people who've won auction items and the smattering of laughter and applause some of those announcements get.
After they announce the last item, Aaron leans into the microphone and says, "Thank you all for coming and supporting this great cause. This is the end of our planned festivities, but the bar is still open, so y'all hang around and enjoy yourselves."
That gets a round of applause from the whole room, and Danny wanders back into the crowd. The end of the auction doesn't mean the end of donations, and even if no one else makes direct donations tonight, he knows what celebrity endorsement can mean for future donations.
Claude finds him not much later and says, "I'm headed out. Game tomorrow."
Danny nods and hugs him close. "Thank you for coming."
Claude holds on just as tight. "You did a great job." He pulls away with a grin. "And I got a case of wine out of it. If you're lucky, you'll get to drink some of it."
Danny laughs and squeezes his arm. "You'd better share."
He's still grinning when Claude walks away, and Danny watches him stop to talk to Sarah and Hunter on his way out.
Caleb appears from somewhere behind Danny and says, "Boyfriend," with a grin before he sends Danny in the direction of a family with kids who are staring at him.
It takes a while for the party to wind down, and their group hangs out to make sure clean-up goes well and to tally up donations with the shelter staff.
Joanna has tears in her eyes when she looks at the final total. "This is a record-breaking fundraiser for us," she says. "Thank you." She goes around and hugs every single one of them.
They're all smiling by the time it's down to just their group.
"High-five," Connor says, and they go around high-fiving, and then Kayla gathers them into a group hug, and then they have to divide into two groups for the drive back.
The half of their group in Danny's car is jubilantly happy about the success of their fundraiser. Danny and Kayla, as the two with the most fundraising experience, agree that it went extremely well, and everyone is in a good, cheerful mood when he drops them off on campus.
Danny is also in a good mood, and he smiles all the way across the river and home. Claude's car is in the driveway, and the porch light is on but the house is otherwise dark. Danny pulls in next to Claude and turns off the porch light when he gets in the house. It's quiet, not even any light coming out from under Cameron's door when he goes upstairs.
Claude is asleep in Danny's bed, and Danny undresses quietly to keep from waking him. He closes the door to the bathroom before he turns on the light, and turns off the light before he opens it again.
Claude stirs when Danny gets into bed with him. "Hey."
"Hi." Danny puts an arm around him. "Go back to sleep."
"'Kay." Claude presses a clumsy kiss to Danny's cheek. "Good party."
Danny kisses Claude for real, but softly. "Thank you for being there."
"Mmhmm," Claude murmurs. "Of course."
*
Danny wakes up in the morning when Claude gets out of bed. On a Sunday, when he was out late and just wants to sleep in.
"Sorry," Claude murmurs. He leans over and presses a kiss to Danny's jaw. "I have skate this morning. I'm borrowing one of your shirts."
Danny waves a hand at him. "Go."
Claude kisses him again. "Do you want to come to the game?"
Danny turns his head into his pillow. "No. I have homework. I'll watch it on TV."
"You'd better." Claude presses his lips to Danny's neck and keeps them there. "We leave after the game. I'll see you in a couple of days."
Danny takes his head out of his pillow and looks at Claude. "If I promise to miss you, will you let me go back to sleep?"
"Only if you mean it."
Danny runs his hand through Claude's hair. "I'll miss you." He moves his gaze down to what Claude's wearing. "And my shirt." He kisses Claude. "Go. Score some goals. Make Philly proud."
Claude laughs, and he finally gets out of Danny's bedroom so Danny can get some more sleep.
*
Claude shows up at Danny's unannounced after he gets back from his road trip.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asks, turning away from his homework spread out on the dining room table. They don't have class until Monday because of Thanksgiving, but he's trying to get a head start on it. Anything he finishes now is something he doesn't have to work on this weekend.
"Aren't you glad to see me?" Claude puts a bag down on the kitchen counter and comes over to bend over Danny and kiss him.
"I'm in the middle of writing an essay."
Claude just laughs at him and goes into the kitchen. "I brought you wine." Even from across the room, Danny can see that the labels on all four of the bottles Claude takes out of the bag are the same.
Danny abandons his essay and goes to see what the wine is, and laughs when he recognizes it as coming from the case Claude bought at the fundraiser. "You don't have to share."
Claude shrugs. "Seems like the right thing to do." He starts to put it in the wine fridge, but Danny pushes him away.
"Don't. There's a system."
Claude laughs at him while Danny rearranges what's in the fridge to make room for the wine Claude brought.
"You're very serious about your wine," Claude says.
"That's supposed to be a good wine," Danny says. "I don't want to ruin it."
"We should have some with dinner," Claude says. "I can make grilled cheese."
"We're not drinking wine with grilled cheese," Danny says.
Claude collapses into laughter. "You're such a snob." He reaches for Danny and pulls him close. "I guess that means no pizza either."
Danny makes a face at him. Claude's just chirping him now.
"We'll order something that goes better with it," Claude says. He bends his head and kisses Danny.
Danny can feel him smiling into it, and he can't help smiling back. "You're picking it up," he says after a few minutes.
"You're just trying to get rid of me so you can work on your essay," Claude says.
"Maybe I just don't want to leave you alone in my house."
"I lived here," Claude says.
"And I worried about leaving you here alone every time," Danny says with a smirk.
Claude flips him off. "I'm choosing dinner."
"Not grilled cheese," Danny says, but he doesn't mind that much. He trusts Claude to pick something that will pair well with the wine.
"Not grilled cheese," Claude says. "And it'll give you time to work on your essay." Then he frowns at Danny. "Tomorrow's American Thanksgiving. Why are you doing homework?"
"So I don't have to do it all on Sunday. And so I can go to your game on Friday and not worry about it."
Claude smiles at him. "You're coming to my game?"
"With Cameron," Danny says.
Claude smacks a kiss onto his lips. "Go write your essay," he says. "I'll stay out of your way."
Danny doesn't know what Claude does to entertain himself, but he does stay out of the way, long enough that Danny gets through the rest of his essay and does his art history reading. He's just getting into his econ homework when Claude comes into the kitchen with a couple of plastic bags. Danny blinks at him; he didn't even hear Claude leave the house.
The smell of food wafting out of the bags makes Danny's stomach growl; he's been deep in his homework for quite a while. He makes quick work of putting his homework away and lets Claude deal with silverware while he opens a bottle of wine.
They taste the wine before they start in on dinner.
"I don't know if this is worth what I paid for it," Claude says, "but it is good."
"You were making a donation," Danny says. It is a good wine, rich and velvety, and it goes well with the pasta Claude picked up.
"And supporting you," Claude says. "Did your school friends all go home for the weekend?"
"Hunter and Sarah did. I sent Sarah with a card since it's her birthday on Saturday." Danny sighs. "I'm going to have dinner with Caleb tomorrow, after he gets off work. I tried to get him to come hang out more than that, but he said he's on the schedule most of the weekend since a lot of the people he works with were going home."
Claude winces. "Poor kid."
"Yeah. I wish I could get him to come over here more."
"If anyone can, it's you," Claude says. "You're good with rookies."
"You would know," Danny says, grinning at him.
Claude grins back, and then turns serious. "You had a lot to do with making me the hockey player I am today, and you did just as much for Couts. You'll do that for Caleb too." Claude frowns. "Or whatever it is you're making him into that's not a hockey player."
Danny reaches across the table and squeezes Claude's hand.
After dinner, they put the dishes in the dishwasher, and Claude traps Danny against the counter, kissing him deeply.
"I still have homework," Danny murmurs.
"And you have a whole weekend to do it." Claude trails kisses down Danny's neck. "You don't have the whole weekend to do me."
Danny laughs. "That was terrible."
"But true." Claude mouths at Danny's jaw. "I have tomorrow off, but I have skate and a game on Friday, and we leave for Boston right after the game."
Danny tips Claude's head up and kisses him slowly. "We could finish off the wine."
"Are you trying to get me drunk?"
"It would take a lot more than half a bottle of wine," Danny says. "And I don't have to get you drunk to get what I want out of you."
Claude leers at him. "What do you want?"
Danny reaches past him for his wine glass and the bottle. "Come find out."
Claude follows him across the entryway into the living room. The couch may not be the best looking couch around, but it is incredibly comfortable, and more than big enough for the both of them. Danny pushes Claude down into one corner of it and sits down with his back to Claude's chest, their legs tangled together in front of them.
"This wasn't what I thought you meant," Claude says.
Danny refills both of their wine glasses and sets the bottle on the floor next to them. "We don't have to be anywhere. My homework can wait. Cameron's at Sylvie's. Just enjoy it." He leans more into Claude's chest, letting his head fall back onto Claude's shoulder.
"Cuddling on the couch with wine," Claude says. "We've become old and boring."
Danny chuckles and turns his head to kiss Claude's cheek. "There are plenty of other people you could be hanging out with if you want young and exciting."
Claude turns his head toward Danny and kisses him, slow and deep. "We are going to have sex later, right?"
"Yes," Danny says with a laugh. "In a while."
Claude wraps an arm around Danny's chest. "As long as that's part of the deal."
They stay there, exchanging lazy kisses and desultory conversation while they finish the wine, and longer. Their kisses get deeper, take on more purpose. Danny turns and Claude slides down so they're lying on the couch, making out and rubbing against each other. They're both hard, but there's no urgency to it.
"I thought only teenagers made out on couches like this," Claude says.
"You wanted young and exciting."
That sets Claude to laughing, and Danny can't help joining in, and they almost fall off the couch with it. When they're steady on the couch again, Claude puts both hands on Danny's ass and pulls him down against Claude. It feels so good that Danny's laughter cuts off with a gasp.
Then it's not slow anymore. They exchange frantic kisses. Danny rubs himself against Claude, wanting the friction and the feel of Claude hard below him, as much as Claude's hands on his ass will let him. Claude holds them close together and licks into Danny's mouth.
Claude lets go of Danny's ass to fumble at their pants between them. Danny almost doesn't care if they don't manage to get naked, but he lets Claude get both of their pants open and their cocks out. It's even better like this. Claude puts his hands back on Danny's ass, and this time there's nothing between them, skin on skin, their cocks rubbing against each other, Claude's fingers digging into the bare skin of Danny's ass and Danny anchoring himself with his hands gripping Claude's shoulders.
They stop kissing when they can't anymore, when they have to just breathe into each other's mouths, small noises escaping with their breath.
Claude comes first, groaning and holding Danny tight against him as he does, and Danny slides his cock against Claude's come-slick skin until sparks flash behind his eyes as he comes.
They lie there panting together as they come down. Danny loosens his grip on Claude's shoulders, and Claude strokes Danny's back instead of squeezing his ass.
"Young and exciting enough for you?" Danny asks.
Claude laughs softly. "Is that how the college kids do it?"
Danny shrugs. "I try not to think too much about exactly what they do."
"You're one of them."
"Not quite like that." Danny kisses Claude's shoulder. "And you're definitely not one of them."
"Are you calling me old?" Claude asks after a moment of silence.
"No," Danny says. "I'm calling you experienced."
Claude is suspiciously silent, and Danny raises his head to smile at him.
"I like it," he says. "I benefit from that experience."
Claude kisses him and then says, "I'll blow you in the morning if we can go to bed now."
Danny laughs and climbs off of Claude. He kicks his pants all the way off; he's too messy to bother with pulling them up instead. He does pick them up and take them upstairs with him, since he's a responsible adult. Claude follows him up the stairs.
"Your ass is still amazing," Claude says.
Danny looks over his shoulder, but doesn't manage to catch Claude's eye because Claude really is just watching his ass.
Their clothes get left in a heap just inside Danny's bedroom, and they clean up and brush their teeth in the bathroom before Danny turns out the lights and they climb into bed.
After a day of school, homework, half a bottle of wine, and sex, Danny falls asleep in no time. He wakes up just as easily in the morning, feeling rested and lazy with the knowledge that there's nothing he has to do right now.
He doesn't have to wait long before Claude starts to wake up, rubbing his face against the pillow and then turning toward Danny and opening his eyes.
"Mmm, morning," Claude mumbles.
"Good morning," Danny says. "You said you'd blow me this morning."
"I didn't say when," Claude says, but he runs his hands over Danny's body and finds his cock. He strokes it a few times before they move so he can get his mouth on Danny instead. Everything is slow and leisurely in the soft morning light, and Danny returns the favor when Claude's done.
"Happy American Thanksgiving," Claude says after, when they're both lying curled together with no real reason to get out of bed.
"I'm feeling very thankful," Danny says.
Claude laughs at him, and they spend a while lying in bed before the prompting of their stomachs pushes them out of it in search of food. Claude makes them eggs for breakfast, and grilled cheese later for lunch.
They watch football on TV, fool around on the couch again, and go for a walk around the neighborhood when they're both in need of some exercise.
"Do you want to come to dinner with us?" Danny asks when it's time for him to comb his hair and find some shoes and a coat before he can go pick up Caleb.
"Will I be in the way?"
"I have no idea," Danny admits. "I don't know what will be easier for Caleb. You can come if you want."
Claude gets up off the couch. "I won't get to eat if I don't." It's a complete lie, but Danny lets it stand as an answer
They drive into Philly where Danny texts Caleb, who comes out to meet them.
"I hope it's okay that I brought Claude," Danny says.
"Sure," Caleb says, getting into the back seat. "Hi, Claude."
Claude says hi to Caleb, and Danny takes them back out into the nearly empty streets. They go for Chinese food, because they're open and because Danny thought it might be easier for Caleb to do something completely different for Thanksgiving.
"You didn't have anything better to do today?" Caleb asks after Claude tells him that all they've done is laze around the house all day. "It's Thanksgiving."
"We're Canadian," Claude says. "Our Thanksgiving was last month. And it was good to do nothing on a day off."
"Sorry to drag you out of the house."
"Don't be," Danny says. "We needed the break, and we've exhausted Claude's ability to cook for us." Over Claude's laughing protest, he adds, "And I wanted to hang out with you."
Caleb smiles, mostly. "I don't think I'm the best company today."
"It doesn't matter," Danny says. "You shouldn't be stuck alone all day."
Caleb's smile disappears. "I wanted to call them," he says. "I didn't think they'd pick up."
"I'm sorry," Danny says, feeling helpless. His experience with children and rookies hasn't prepared him for quite this situation. He's used to homesickness, his own and other people's, but it's never been homesickness for a family that doesn't return the sentiment.
"It is what it is," Caleb says. He turns his head away from them a little and blinks, but Danny can still see the sheen of tears in his eyes.
"What it is is shitty," Claude says. "If I thought Danny would let me, I'd get you drunk."
Caleb laughs a little. "Thanks."
Claude grins at him. "You're welcome."
"I wouldn't get you drunk," Danny says, "but you can always talk to me or hang out if you want to."
"Thank you," Caleb says softly. "You're a really good friend."
Their conversation over the rest of dinner is lighter, telling stories and chatting about their homework and the holiday break. The restaurant is slow, so they linger over their table for a while before they get in the car and Danny drives Caleb back to his dorm.
Danny and Claude both get out of the car to hug him. Claude goes first and hugs him quickly and ruffles his hair.
Danny hugs him for a little longer. "Happy Thanksgiving," he says. "Call me if you want to hang out or work on homework."
"Thanks," Caleb says. He pulls away with a shaky smile. "We didn't do the go around and say what you're thankful for thing, but I'm thankful for you." He waves at them and goes inside before Danny can figure out what to say to him.
Claude puts an arm around Danny's shoulders. "You're doing a good thing for him. You can't do anything else right now. Let's go home."
They get into the car, and Danny manages to make it halfway home before he says, "I can't imagine doing that to your child."
"You never would," Claude says. "Some people are shitty."
Danny sighs. "He's a good kid."
"He's got you," Claude says, "and Sarah and Hunter, and whoever else he's making friends with. It's not his family, but there are people to care about him. And," he adds, "you're going to end up adopting him anyway."
"I'm not going to adopt him," Danny says. The rest of it is probably true.
"Of course you are," Claude says. "You can't resist a lonely rookie."
Danny grins at him. "I can't resist you."
Claude laughs and reaches across the car to rest his hand on Danny's thigh for a minute.
When they get home, they stretch out on the couch. They make out a little, but mostly they just watch It's a Wonderful Life, and it's not very late when they go to bed.
*
Danny wakes up warm and well-rested on Friday. Claude's still asleep next to him. Danny doesn't have any reason to get up, so he lies there watching Claude sleep and enjoying his warmth.
Claude doesn't wake up until his phone blares an alarm. Even then he just fumbles for his phone and groans into his pillow.
Danny laughs at him. "You got so much sleep."
"It's so loud," Claude says, fingers still wrapped around his phone. He drags his head out of the pillow and smiles at Danny. "Good morning."
"Morning." Danny leans over and kisses him lightly. "You have skate this morning?"
"Yeah." Claude looks at his phone. "In a couple of hours." He drops his phone on the nightstand and pulls Danny close. "Enough time that I don't have to get up right now."
"Yeah?" Danny raises his eyebrows at Claude.
"Yeah." Claude grins and kisses him. He rolls and takes Danny with him so Danny's lying on top of him. "This was good the other night."
It's good this morning, too, moving against each other slowly until they both come. Claude gets up for the first shower, and that means he's cooking breakfast when Danny goes downstairs.
They eat together and clean up the kitchen, and then Claude kisses Danny for a long time before he pulls away and says, "Skate." He runs his thumb across Danny's lips.
"Go," Danny says, letting go of Claude. "I'll see you after the game."
Claude kisses him again, quickly this time, and Danny stands in the kitchen staring off into space until he realizes what he's doing, shakes his head at himself, and gets out his homework.
The homework is all done by the time he picks up Cameron from Sylvie's, and that means he can just enjoy dinner and a hockey game with his son.
They've been around the rink for a long time, so in addition to the usual autograph seekers who talk to Danny, there's a contingent of kids who play hockey and players' children who surround Cameron. Neither of them mind the attention, and they spend time with other people until they take their seats just before the game starts.
They get involved in the game, of course, and it's a disappointment when the Flyers lose. The crowd agrees with them, and people file out of the arena with sullen grumbling.
Danny and Cameron go down to the room to see Claude anyway, and the smile Claude gives them is genuine if not as bright as it might have been if they'd won.
"You'll do better in the next one," Cameron says.
Claude hugs him. "I think I've heard that before."
Cameron grins at him. "It's what you and Dad always say when any of us lose a game."
"Then it must be a pretty smart thing to say," Claude says.
Danny takes his turn hugging Claude. "Next game," he says.
Claude nods and holds on a little longer than he did with Cameron. "Thanks for coming anyway."
"It's hockey," Danny says. "We had fun." He squeezes Claude's shoulder. "Kick some ass in Boston."
Claude laughs. "We will." He hugs them both again. "I'll see you when I get back."
They leave Claude there, and Danny drives Cameron back to Sylvie's.
"Thanks," Cameron says, leaning over to hug Danny before he gets out of the car.
"You're welcome." Cameron's a little old for it, but Danny presses a kiss to the top of his head. "I'll see you in a couple of days." He waits for Cameron to get into the house before he drives home to a house that seems too empty.
*
The rush of finals arrives well before Danny's ready for it. There's a gradual lead-up to playoffs, those last games of the season, watching the standings. There's nothing like that for finals. They have class, and then all of a sudden they have two days of no classes to try to cram everything into their heads before finals start.
Danny spends most of those two days on campus, in the library by himself - or sitting by himself anyway; it seems like half the student body is in there studying - or in Huntsman with Caleb, Hunter, and Sarah, trying to figure out what they need to know for finals, what they already know, and what they've forgotten.
Danny turns down three invitations to hang out with Claude and barely sees Cameron. It's worse than playoffs in a lot of ways. This isn't something he's done before, not at this level, and midterms and other tests throughout the semester haven't really gotten him used to this kind of testing.
Claude shows up at the house one day, bags of Chinese food in his hands, and says, "We're having dinner." He calls upstairs for Cameron, and the three of them sit down at the table.
Claude asks Danny about finals and Cameron about school, and tells them his recent stories. Once the conversation moves on from his finals, Danny manages not to think about school for at least an hour. It's a good break, and he says that to Claude after Cameron disappears upstairs and Danny's helping Claude clean up.
"You need breaks." Claude puts an arm around Danny's shoulders and kisses his temple. Then he leers at Danny even as he lets go and reaches for the stack of dishes ready to go into the dishwasher. "You could thank me."
Danny's mildly tempted, but he says, "I still have a couple of chapters to reread."
"Are you going to be too tired for sex afterwards?" There's something incongruous about Claude asking that while he's cleaning up Danny's kitchen, so casual that he doesn't even look up from what he's doing while he asks.
"Probably," Danny admits. "Sorry."
Claude tosses the sponge he was using to wipe down the counters into the sink and comes over to kiss Danny. "Want me to stay anyway?"
Danny holds onto him for a minute, leaning against Claude's solid, hockey-built bulk, such a completely different world from his schoolwork. "Yes," he says, "if you don't mind."
"I was planning on it anyway." Claude tips Danny's head up and kisses him again, slow and lingering this time. "Go study." He smirks at Danny as he lets go. "I expect lots of sex once finals are over."
Danny laughs. "Me too."
*
Finals are brutal, and then they're over just as Danny feels like he's getting the hang of them. Econ is the last one, and he reconvenes with his study group for lunch.
Hunter is entirely smug when he tells them, "I'm done."
"Me too," Danny says.
"One more," Sarah says.
"Two," Caleb says. He shrugs at their commiserating frowns. "I'm not going home anyway, so it doesn't matter."
They all fall into silence for a moment, until Caleb breaks it by asking what the rest of them are doing over winter break. Sarah and Hunter are both going home, and Danny tells them he'll be around.
"We can do something," Danny says to Caleb.
"I'm going to be working a lot," Caleb says, "but yeah, sure."
"Is Claude going to be here?" Sarah asks. "We need you to tell us details now to tide us over until school starts again."
Danny thinks about his promise to Claude that they would have lots of sex after finals and just says, "Yes."
"That's it? Come on, details," Sarah says.
"We don't have any specific plans," Danny says. "My older boys are coming home for their breaks. That's probably going to take more of my time than Claude."
Sarah heaves a theatrical sigh. "You're a terrible disappointment. I expect to hear stories when we get back. Or while we're gone. You can text us."
"Please don't," Hunter says. "At least not about Claude. Hockey is good."
Danny chuckles a little. "Sure," he says. "I'll probably go to at least one game with the boys."
The conversation drifts away from him to Sarah and Hunter's plans for the break. They linger over lunch for a while since Sarah and Caleb still have finals, but not today.
They walk back to campus together, and when they hit the place where they would usually splinter off in different directions, they stop and stand there for a couple of minutes, despite the cold.
Sarah hugs Danny first, holding on tightly and saying, "I wasn't joking about details."
Danny laughs and hugs her back. "Have a good break. Enjoy the California weather."
"I'm from Marin County," Sarah says. "It's not all sunshine all the time like Southern California." She's smiling while she says it, and she goes from him to Caleb for another hug.
Hunter comes forward for a bro hug next. Danny has to bite back his smile at it, but he goes with it.
"I'll see you in January," Hunter says. "I don't want to hear about it, but I hope you get laid."
Danny laughs. "Thanks. Have a good time at home."
That just leaves Caleb, and Danny pulls him into a tight hug. "We'll hang out," he promises.
"Sure," Caleb says. "Have a good time with your kids." He smirks. "And Claude."
Danny laughs. "I will. I'll text you about doing something."
Then they've all said goodbye and there's nothing to do but wave goodbye and split up. As relieved as he is to be done with finals, Danny's going to miss them over the break.
He tells himself on the drive home that it's okay to relax now that finals are done. He hasn't quite convinced himself of it by the time he gets home, but it's better. It's even better when he closes the door behind him and looks up at footsteps and sees Claude leaning over the railing on the landing.
"Hi," Danny says.
"Hi," Claude says. "Cameron came home and left again to go study with friends. Come upstairs so we can have sex."
Danny grins at him and takes the steps two at a time. When he gets upstairs, he pushes Claude backwards into the wall. "I did promise you sex."
Claude lounges against the wall, looking relaxed and comfortable. "You promised me a lot of sex."
Danny laughs and kisses him, laughter bubbling up between them. "I did. Let's get started on that while the house is empty."
Claude grins at him. "Bedroom?" He puts his hands on Danny's hips.
Danny walks backwards, pulling Claude with him, both of them smiling at each other. He doesn't look where he's going, trusting Claude to keep them from running into anything. Claude squeezes his hip when they get to the bedroom door, and Danny turns with his nudging, keeps walking backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed. Danny sits down and looks up at Claude while he unbuttons Claude's pants.
Claude runs his hands through Danny's hair. "We're going to have so much sex."
Danny laughs and gets Claude's pants out of the way. "So much," he promises before he goes down on Claude.
Claude's answering laugh cuts off with a groan. He stays still, just petting Danny's hair while Danny sucks him, until they've settled into it and Danny tugs at Claude's hips to let him know he can move. Then he thrusts shallowly into Danny's mouth. Danny has his hands on Claude's hips, so he can stop it if it gets to be too much, but Claude's pretty well in control of himself, for all that Danny's putting some effort into it, and Danny loses himself in the enjoyment of making Claude feel good.
He's not trying to drag it out, just trying to get Claude off, and he doesn't have to wait long before Claude is warning him and then coming in a salty rush across his tongue.
Claude drops to his knees after he pulls out of Danny's mouth, and Danny lifts his hips up so Claude can get his pants off. Claude's mouth closes around him as soon as his cock is free.
Danny gasps and reaches for Claude's shoulders so he has something to hang onto while Claude sucks him hard, no finesse, just heat and suction. It's enough. It's more than enough. It's so good, and such a contrast to the tension Danny's been carrying through finals week.
Danny curls over Claude when he comes, breathing hard and clinging to Claude's shoulders.
Claude sucks him a little longer, then pulls off his cock and tips his head up to kiss him. Danny kisses back and relaxes his grip on Claude, still holding on but not quite so tightly.
Claude pushes Danny back. Danny goes with it, kicking his pants all the way off before he slides up the bed.
"That was a good start," Claude says after a minute.
Danny laughs. "You're going to have to wait before we can do it again."
"Yeah," Claude says. He turns onto his side so he's facing Danny. "Are you going to sleep or do you want to make out?"
Danny grabs the shirt Claude's still wearing to pull him closer. "Both."
Claude grins at him and kisses him. It's messy and wet, lots of tongue, and Danny groans into it and kisses back the same way.
"I'm really going to like your winter break," Claude mumbles into his mouth.
Danny grins at him. "Think about how much sex we can have when the boys are with Sylvie."
Claude groans and kisses him harder. "This is going to be so good."
"So good," Danny agrees. He pulls Claude as close as he can and kisses him until he's too close to sleep to keep going.
*
They do have a lot of sex, when the house is empty and Claude's home.
In the middle of the week, Danny goes to a game with the auction winner. It isn't the same as going to a game with his boys, but it's a good time, and he gets to watch Claude make a beauty of a play to open the scoring.
Claude has a road trip at the end of the week, and then Caelan comes home. Kim and Eric insist on picking Alexis up from the airport and suggest they just get Caelan too. Danny gives in because it doesn't seem worth all of them making the trip to the airport, and it won't mean that much of a delay before Caelan gets home.
They don't come in with Caelan; Danny hears the car pull up, and then Caelan comes into the house. It's only been three months, and Caelan's at an age where kids don't change that much from day to day, not like when they're toddlers, so he shouldn't look that different. He does, though. Tan, of course, from living in LA, but also older in a way that Danny thinks probably has more to do with being on his own than the actual passage of time.
Caelan drops his bags in the entryway and his face is already lit up with a smile when he meets Danny's hug.
"I missed you," Danny says. "It's too quiet around here without all of you around."
"I heard you have plenty of teenagers around," Caelan says with a grin.
"My study group is no substitute for you and your brothers." Danny has to eventually let go of Caelan, so he does and takes him into the kitchen for a snack. He knows how cross-country travel goes; Caelan's probably hungry, and they won't have dinner until later.
They settle in at the table with a snack and catch up. It's not like they never talk, but it's different sitting at the table than it is over the phone or on Skype.
Calean's recounting of his finals experience sounds a lot like Danny's, and they compare stories for a while. There are other stories, Caelan's new friends, his hockey team, what it's like to live with Alexis. Danny resists the urge to give too much advice about that; he may have had experience living with a partner at a young age, but Caelan knows how that story ends.
The front door closes later, and Cameron comes barreling through the house to jump on Caelan, who gets up from the table so they don't knock anything over.
Danny just watches the two of them playfully wrestle into a hug and talk over each other. It's good to have both of them in the house.
"You missed Claude," Cameron says. "He won't be back for days."
Caelan puts his arm around Cameron's shoulders and turns a smirk on Danny that's disturbingly similar to the way his study group looks at him. "I'm sure I'll see him while I'm home. It sounds like he's here a lot."
Danny cuts that off at the pass. "We'll make sure you see him while you're home. What do you two want for dinner?"
Caelan laughs at him, in a way that means he knows exactly what Danny's doing, but he drops it and starts trying to convince Cameron that since he just got home, he should get to choose what they have for dinner.
*
Carson gets home two days later, and Cameron and Caelan go with Danny to the airport to pick him up. They make a raucous bunch at the curb while they hug and all talk over each other. After he gets his own hug, Danny herds them all into the car and drives them home. He can't stop smiling.
They're all sitting around the living room, catching up and just being together, the boys showing each other pictures on their phones, when Claude shows up. He comes right into the house and drops his bag in the entryway.
Caelan and Carson jump up from their spots on the couches.
"Claude! I didn't know if we were going to see you," Carson says.
Caelan laughs and pushes Carson out of the way. "I knew we would see you."
Claude laughs with both of them, and squeezes Carson's arm. "Are you getting bigger?"
"Gotta bulk up if I'm going to make it to the NHL," Carson says. He grins. "I'm going to have to be able to muscle you off the puck."
"I'd like to see you try," Claude says.
"Any time, old man," Carson says.
Claude looks like he's biting back laughter when he says, "That sounds like a challenge."
"Let's go," Carson says. "I'm ready."
Claude does laugh then, and looks past them at Danny and Cameron. "How about it? Skating before dinner?"
"Who said you're invited for dinner?" Danny says with a smirk. He stands up, though, and says, "Let's go. Skate Zone going to be open?"
"I'm the captain," Claude says. "They'll make room for us even if they're busy." Even so, he does call ahead to make sure they can get on the ice.
Danny and the boys gather up their gear bags - Caelan and Carson both thought ahead enough to bring theirs home with them - and they take Danny's car to Skate Zone. As glad as Danny is to have made friends with his study group, they don't compare to having his boys home.
Even though it's late on a Sunday afternoon, there are a few people hanging around who stop to say hi to them. They gear up quickly, and head onto the ice with a handful of pucks.
They spend a couple of minutes warming up, getting a feel for the ice and stickhandling around each other. That lasts just as long as it takes Carson to lose patience with it and come to a stop in front of Claude.
"Let's do this," he says.
"I get your dad," Claude says.
"Not fair," Carson says.
"We'll let you have Caelan and Cameron," Claude says.
Danny's not entirely sure about the wisdom of that - he's somewhat out of practice - but this is mostly between Claude and Carson.
Carson looks at the other boys and says, "Fine."
As the youngest, Cameron gets stuck dropping the puck for the initial faceoff, then circles around into the game.
Claude's good enough that being outnumbered doesn't doom them, but it's not easy for Danny to keep up with the boys. They play to three, and then take a break to catch their breath and change up the teams.
"I want Dad and Caelan this time," Carson says. It's a completely uneven division, and he knows it, going by the way he smirks at Claude.
Claude slings an arm around Cameron. "No problem," he says.
Being on a team of three is a little easier - Danny doesn't have to be the only backup for whoever has the puck - and it's a different experience to play with Carson and Caelan. They're both good, if not quite Claude's level of good. Danny knows how they play because he taught them a lot of it, but he doesn't know how they play in the same way he knows how Claude plays. He doesn't have years of playing with them in a game situation to draw on.
They put him at center after Claude and Cameron tie things up, 1-1, and that's easier than playing wing. He can see what Claude and Cameron are going to do, and he just has to feed the puck around them to Caelan or Carson.
Claude manages to steal it, but Carson gets it back, dishes it to Danny. He takes it out, comes back into the zone and watches for the moment when Cameron's focusing too hard on him to notice that Caelan's open.
Danny sends it across the ice, right onto Caelan's tape, and Caelan taps it in. Cameron groans while Caelan and Carson cheer and converge with Danny for a group celebration.
"Two-way play," Carson calls to Cameron. "Work on your defense."
It's good advice, but it's also the kind of thing that could lead to a fight when it comes from one of his brothers. Claude knows that just as well as Danny, and the two of them quickly rearrange everyone into a faceoff for the next point.
They swap teams a couple more times, until even Claude and the boys are tired out.
"You are getting stronger," Claude says to Carson on the way back to the locker room. "I'm going to have to get the Flyers to draft you so I don't have to play against you."
"You're getting up there," Carson says. "You're going to need the help."
The good-natured chirping is all said with smiles, and Carson has a proud glow about him at the praise.
They take quick showers and gather their gear up. The boys take off for the car with Danny and Claude trailing behind them.
Claude throws his arm over Danny's shoulders. "Good to have them all here."
"Yes," Danny says, watching the boys. He's going to have to turn them over to Sylvie soon enough for her turn with them, but for now he has his boys home again. The boys are far enough ahead that they can't be overheard and there isn't anyone else within earshot, so Danny also says, "Harder to have a lot of sex with them around though."
Claude laughs, loud enough that the boys look back at them for a moment. "I think we can manage something," he says. "And they're going to Sylvie's for part of the time anyway. You'll need company then."
"I will," Danny says. Then he brushes his hand over Claude's hip. "Thanks for making this happen."
Claude smiles at him. "You know I never give up a chance to skate with you."
*
Claude has to leave before the boys even leave for Sylvie's, but he calls from the road and asks, "What are you doing for Christmas?" the moment Danny picks up the phone.
"Hi, Claude," Danny says just to be an ass. "I'm fine. How are you?"
"Hi, Danny," Claude says, with enough exaggeration that he's also being an ass. "What are you doing for Christmas?"
"I have the boys Christmas Eve day and the day after Christmas. Dad's going to Guylaine's."
"Good," Claude says, "that means you're going to be alone on Christmas."
Danny doesn't say anything, waiting to see if Claude will figure out what's wrong with that on his own.
"I'm sorry you don't get to be with the boys on Christmas," Claude says with a huff, "but this means you can come with me to Hartsy's."
"Why would I want to spend Christmas with you and Scott?"
"You'd love to spend Christmas with me," Claude says. "And it's not just us. A couple of the other guys are coming too. You can bring Caleb, if you're worried about him."
Danny is worried about him. It's hard enough to be away from your family at the holidays when they're still in your life; he can't imagine what it's like for Caleb. "You really want to bring me and a college kid to Scott's for Christmas?"
"Yes," Claude says. "I really want to bring you to Hartsy's for Christmas, and Caleb is a good kid, so if that's what it takes to get you to come, then he should come with us."
"I'll ask him," Danny says, "but no promises."
"You should promise," Claude says. "It won't be as much fun without you."
"I've heard stories about what you and Scott get up to. I'm sure you'll have enough fun whether or not I'm there."
"It'll be better if you're there."
"I'll try," Danny says.
"Good. Now," Claude says, and Danny can practically hear him smirking, "what are you wearing?"
Danny laughs. "Nope. Cameron has practice in twenty minutes."
"Come on," Claude says. "We can do a lot in twenty minutes."
"I'm leaving the house in five."
"At least promise me some other time."
Danny considers it for a moment. "Okay," he says. "Some other time. That's a promise." He lowers his voice. "In the meantime, you can jerk off thinking about it, and tell me about it next time."
Claude groans. "You're a cruel man."
Danny laughs. "Go jerk off. I'll ask Caleb about Christmas and call you about it." He hangs up smiling and calls out to Cameron that it's time to go.
*
Danny usually communicates with Sarah, Hunter, and Caleb mostly by text, which is probably why Caleb sounds surprised when he answers the phone and says, "Hi, Danny."
"Hi." There's probably a careful, delicate way to do this, but Danny dives right in. "If you don't already have plans for Christmas, my boys are with their mom. Claude invited us to go to the thing he's going to, or if you don't want to do a Christmas thing, we can hang out here and have Chinese food and watch movies or something."
"You want to spend Christmas with me?" Caleb asks after a moment.
"Yes." Danny hesitates for a second, and then says, "It's going to be hard for me to be away from my family for Christmas, and I'm sure it's going to be for you too. Let's have some fun instead."
"Are you sure? Claude wanting you to have Christmas with him seems like a boyfriend thing."
Danny doesn't bother saying they're just friends. "I'm sure. His thing is just a bunch of guys who aren't going to see their families, and he invited both of us. It's going to be low-key, mostly just dinner and some hanging out."
"Okay," Caleb says. "Thank you. I wasn't looking forward to Christmas."
"I'm glad you're coming," Danny says. "I'll pick you up at noon."
"Do I need to bring anything?"
"No. They'll take care of dinner, and it's not a big gift kind of thing. Well, there might be some presents, but just the guys who are friends, so you don't have to bring anything."
"Okay," Caleb says. "I'll see you on Christmas. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Danny hangs up and texts Claude, Caleb and I are coming to Christmas.
Part 4
Danny texts Claude when he gets out of class on Wednesday, to let him know he's on his way home. Claude doesn't text him back, but his car is in the driveway when Danny gets home.
Danny only has time to close the door behind him and kick off his shoes before Claude comes to find him. Claude puts his arms around him and kisses him. It's another new kind of kiss for them, somewhere in between comforting and starting something.
Danny shrugs partway out of Claude's grip. "Can I put my backpack down?"
Claude lets him go just enough that he can let the straps slide off his shoulders and put his backpack on the table, and then they're kissing again. Danny's prepared not to stop this time - it's really good, and the phone sex did nothing to diminish how much he wants to take Claude to bed - but Claude gentles it until they're barely kissing.
"I brought things for sandwiches."
Danny gets both hands on Claude's ass and pulls him close. "Or we could have sex."
Claude groans, but then he pulls Danny's hands away. "Food. Then we're going upstairs and not getting out of bed until dinner."
It's early for lunch, but Danny's not waiting any more than he has to, so he lets Claude pull him into the kitchen and they make sandwiches and take them to the table. Claude tells him about the road trip, the things he can't get from watching their games, like Hartsy swapping out all of Schenner's socks for flower print ones.
"No one would lend him any either," Claude says, "so that was what he was wearing to the game."
Danny chuckles. "Did he get back at Scott?"
"Not yet." Claude grins. "We're all waiting to see what he's going to do." He nudges Danny's knee with his own. "What about you? Did you choose me over your study group?"
Danny groans. "Yes. We met yesterday. They wouldn't stop chirping me about it."
Claude laughs. "You didn't have to tell them you were choosing me."
"I didn't. Hunter follows the Flyers. They figured it out."
Claude looks at him for a minute. "You love it," he says.
Danny shrugs. "Yeah. It's not the same as playing, but, yeah. We're a team."
"And that gives them the right to hassle you about your booty calls."
Danny laughs. "Or at least they think it does."
"Unwritten rule of life," Claude says, "your team gets to chirp you about your booty calls."
"Your team doesn't chirp you about yours."
"Nope," Claude says with a grin, "because I'm not stupid enough to tell them about mine."
Danny makes a face at him, which just makes Claude laugh and then lean over and kiss him.
"Hartsy would make both our lives hell if he knew this was what I was doing with my day off." Claude runs a hand down Danny's arm, shoulder to elbow. "Are you done eating?"
"Yes."
They put their plates in the sink - Danny can always put them away later - and Claude laces their fingers together and walks Danny up the stairs. Danny pushes his bedroom door closed behind them, and Claude pulls him closer and lets go of his hand so they can put their arms around each other.
"You have no idea," Claude says, "how hot it was that you called me for phone sex."
"I think I have some idea." Danny nips at Claude's jaw. "You weren't the only one getting off on it."
"But you-" Claude shakes his head and kisses Danny instead. It's a deep kiss, and it seems to go on forever, with only the barest pause so they can breathe. "God, I really want to fuck you."
"I don't know what you're waiting for."
Claude's hands slide up under the hem of Danny's shirt. "I also really want to kiss you." He does, and they stand there kissing for a while longer, until they're rocking into each other, and Danny's starting to get dizzy with it.
"Claude, please." Danny pushes Claude's shirt up, until it's rucked up under Claude's arms, and he pushes until Claude lets go of him and Danny can pull Claude's shirt all the way off. "You can keep kissing me while you fuck me."
"You're in such a hurry." Claude steps back and looks at Danny for too long before he pulls Danny's shirt off, his hands skimming up Danny's sides the whole way.
"I remember you promising to finger me open and then fuck me," Danny says, "and my hands weren't enough."
Claude groans. "You're making it really hard for me to go slow." He puts his hands on Danny, just rubbing over his skin. It's good, and it's only making Danny want his hands everywhere.
"You don't have to go slow."
Claude bends and leaves a line of kisses from Danny's shoulder to his nipple. "I want to."
Danny says, "I want you to-" and cuts himself off when Claude tugs at his nipple with his teeth. "Okay," he says, when Claude moves to the other one. "You can do that."
Claude grins at him and kisses down his stomach. He stops at the waistband of Danny's jeans and stays there for a second, mouth pressed to Danny's skin, before he undoes Danny's fly and pulls his jeans down his legs. Danny steps out of them and kicks them away.
Claude doesn't go for his underwear next; instead he presses his mouth to Danny's cock. It's good even through the cloth. It's heat, and slight suction as Claude works his mouth over him. He's almost not ready for it when Claude stops, but then Claude does pull his underwear down and he pushes Danny toward the bed as he stands up.
"Please tell me you're going to fuck me now."
Claude leans over him and kisses him for a while, then opens the drawer to the nightstand.
Danny sits halfway up. "How do you want me?"
Claude pushes him down, hand warm and heavy on the center of Danny's chest. "Just like this." He squeezes lube onto his fingers and moves down the bed. He just rubs his fingers over Danny's hole for a bit, and he puts his mouth on Danny's cock and sucks for just a moment. He grins up at Danny when Danny curses at him, and pushes one finger into Danny. It's so much better than when he does it himself. His wrist isn't twisted weirdly, and Claude can reach so much deeper, even with just one finger.
Danny pushes down onto Claude's finger. "More."
Claude kisses his hip and sucks on his cock for a second. "Not yet." He fucks Danny with just one finger, and keeps dipping in to suck his cock for brief moments at unpredictable intervals.
Danny has to ask twice more before Claude finally stretches him open with a second finger, but it's a good kind of torture, and the second finger is such a relief that he barely notices the moment where his body has to adjust to it.
"This is what I'm going to be picturing next time we have phone sex," Claude says. "You all stretched out and desperate on my fingers."
"There's not going to be a next time if you keep me desperate." It's a completely empty threat, and Danny knows it. This is already hot enough to merit some kind of reward, maybe even more than Claude giving him space to study did.
It must be making Claude desperate too, because Danny doesn't have to wait as long for a third finger, or maybe time is losing meaning. He does his best to push down into Claude's touch, tries not to thrust too hard up into Claude's mouth when Claude sucks him for tiny spaces of time that aren't even close to enough.
He's swearing, and probably begging, probably saying things that would be embarrassing if he could think about anything but Claude winding him up and keeping him on edge.
Something works, or Claude decides he's gone slow enough, because Claude pulls his fingers out, wipes them off, and puts on a condom. He hooks one of Danny's knees up over his hip and pushes in slower than he needs to.
"More," Danny tells him. "You don't have to-"
Claude cuts him off by leaning over and kissing him. "I want to." He nips at Danny's bottom lip. "Let me, please."
Danny drops his head down and groans. "You're going to kill me."
"I'm not going to kill you." Claude's voice sounds strained too. "I'm going to make this so good for you."
Danny pulls Claude down and kisses him hard. "You are. Just fuck me."
It doesn't work the way he wants it to. Claude moves, but he moves unbearably slowly, and he's strong enough that even Danny wrapping his legs around Claude and digging his heels into Claude's ass doesn't make him move any faster. Claude just groans and kisses Danny.
"Please," Danny says, because he is in no way above begging. "Claude, please."
Claude rests their foreheads together. "Danny," he says just above a whisper.
Danny puts his hands on Claude's cheeks and kisses him. "Please. This is good, I promise, just fuck me now."
Claude groans against his mouth and finally does. Danny lets his legs fall apart so Claude can move, fast and hard and just right.
Claude knocks Danny's hand away when he tries to touch himself, and wraps his hand tight around Danny's cock. He doesn't move it much; it's mostly the force of his thrusts pushing Danny into his hand. It's enough.
Danny pulls Claude down and they kiss messily, breaking apart to breathe, to groan, to mutter swear words into each other's mouths, then coming back together again.
Danny comes before Claude does, and Claude comes just after him with a shout.
Claude kisses him, still messy and off-center and hard to maintain when they're both shaking and breathing hard. It takes a minute before Claude pulls out of him, hand on Danny's thigh while he does, and takes care of the condom and wipes up the worst of the mess on Danny's stomach. Danny left Kleenex on the nightstand and the trash can next to the bed so he doesn't even have to leave the bed to do it.
Claude kisses him again, and Danny pulls Claude down to lie on top of him, kisses him deeper and with more concentration.
"Claude," he says after a while.
"Mmm."
Danny puts his hands on Claude's cheeks and holds him back enough that Danny can see his face when he says, "Best sex of my life."
Claude's grin splits his face, and he laughs, and they're both smiling too much to kiss easily, even though they give it their best shot.
*
"We should talk about spring classes," Sarah says one afternoon in Huntsman. They've done some homework, but no one's really in the mood, and mostly they're sipping coffee and idly talking about classes. "Registration is next week. We have to take most of the same things anyway. We should figure out if we want to take the same sections of things."
Caleb nods. "This," he waves at the four of them and their table, "has been a huge help this semester. We should do it again."
"I'm in," Danny says.
They all turn to look at Hunter. He shrugs. "Okay, but I'm not taking any eight a.m. classes."
"Awesome." Sarah pulls out her laptop and opens the spring catalog. "We're all taking stats, OPIM, and BEPP, right?" When they all agree, and she says, "What else are you thinking about taking?"
None of the rest of the classes they each want to take line up, so Sarah says, "Okay, just those three."
"Do we need to work around your work schedule?" Danny asks Caleb.
"No, they'll schedule me around classes."
"And I don't really want eight a.m. classes either," Sarah says. She looks at Danny. "What about you?"
"Nothing too early on Tuesdays or Thursdays."
Danny does his best not to give anything away while they all look at him for a moment. Then Caleb laughs, which makes Hunter narrow his eyes at him and ask, "Are you making us schedule classes around your booty calls?"
"Seriously?" Sarah asks through her laughter.
Danny shrugs. "Claude's more likely to be home those mornings," he admits. "Otherwise I would take eight a.m. classes."
"Eight a.m.," Hunter groans. "How can you do that?"
"It's not that bad," Danny says. "And I'm not making you take them with me."
"You bet you're not," Hunter says.
They all get out sheets of paper to write down and scribble out possible class schedules. Sarah has them all look up the other classes they want to take first, and then they go through the three they're all going to take.
There's a slight argument about stats professors, with Caleb putting in the deciding vote, and after more time than it seems like it should take, they have an agreement about schedules.
"If we can get into those sections," Hunter says.
"We'll get in," Sarah says.
In the end, she turns out to be right, although it's mostly because she texts them all to make sure they're up and ready to log on to register for classes first thing in the morning on their day for registration.
Sarah texts, Told you so! once their texting chain confirms that they're all registered for the same sections.
Danny can almost imagine the grouchy face that goes with Hunter's, We got lucky, in reply.
*
The homeless shelter fundraiser falls on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. There was some disagreement about the date, but Joanna told them they always get an increase in donations around Thanksgiving, and most people who are traveling won't have left yet.
Danny and his group spend most of the afternoon setting up. They split up to get ready, and then Danny heads back to campus to pick up half the group and drive them to the fundraiser.
They're all still plenty early so they can take care of any last-minute things that need to be done and be ready when people start arriving.
The division of labor means Danny's job is to mingle as people arrive. It's an easy enough job; he's been the name on enough charity events that he knows how to chat with strangers, sign autographs, and make people comfortable. It helps that he's been in Philly long enough that there are people he recognizes from other events, and they seem glad to see him.
There are a few people who have brought their kids with them. Kids are easy; Danny signs autographs and asks them if they play hockey. He likes kids, the kids are happy to have someone pay attention to them, and the parents like that he takes the time to talk to the kids.
Danny stands up from talking to a little girl about her hockey team and turns to talk to the next person. The next person is Claude, grinning at him and wearing his current favorite plaid suit.
"What are you doing here?"
"Is that how you talk to donors?" Claude grins and hugs him. "I bought a table. Thought I would check it out and support the shelter."
"Really?"
"It's a good cause." Claude's smile bends a little. "And I wanted to help make your fundraiser a success."
Danny can't help smiling back at him. "Thank you," he says. He squeezes Claude's arm. "I appreciate it. Now get out of my way so I can keep schmoozing donors."
Claude laughs and says, "I'll find you later," and wanders off into the crowd, probably to do some schmoozing of his own.
Danny loses track of him, and he keeps greeting people until they announce that it's time for dinner, when he has to take his place at the head table with the shelter staff and board. They get to relax a little during dinner - Danny spots the rest of his group at their table at the back - and then there are speeches over dessert and a reminder that the silent auction closes in half an hour.
People start mingling again after dessert, and Danny makes his way through the crowd to the silent auction to see how they're doing.
Sarah catches him before he can quite get there, and links her arm through his. "I see your boyfriend showed up and bid on things."
"Not my boyfriend," Danny says.
"Right," Sarah says. "He just really wants to win the case of wine."
"He's supporting a good cause." Danny wanders down the silent auction table with her. Claude's signed jersey and the hockey game with Danny have the highest bids, but the rest of it is doing well. Claude's winning the wine auction. Danny adds his name and a bid to a four-person river outing that isn't doing as well. If he gets it, he can take the boys, or maybe his study group.
"He's supporting his boyfriend." Sarah keeps her voice low enough that they don't attract any unnecessary attention.
Danny gives up and doesn't bother to contradict her before he turns to chat with someone dithering over bidding on a quilt.
Kayla gathers up the slips when the silent auction ends, and she and Aaron take turns announcing the winners to the room. People are still mingling while they do, so Danny stands at the back with most of the rest of the group and watches the cheering from people who've won auction items and the smattering of laughter and applause some of those announcements get.
After they announce the last item, Aaron leans into the microphone and says, "Thank you all for coming and supporting this great cause. This is the end of our planned festivities, but the bar is still open, so y'all hang around and enjoy yourselves."
That gets a round of applause from the whole room, and Danny wanders back into the crowd. The end of the auction doesn't mean the end of donations, and even if no one else makes direct donations tonight, he knows what celebrity endorsement can mean for future donations.
Claude finds him not much later and says, "I'm headed out. Game tomorrow."
Danny nods and hugs him close. "Thank you for coming."
Claude holds on just as tight. "You did a great job." He pulls away with a grin. "And I got a case of wine out of it. If you're lucky, you'll get to drink some of it."
Danny laughs and squeezes his arm. "You'd better share."
He's still grinning when Claude walks away, and Danny watches him stop to talk to Sarah and Hunter on his way out.
Caleb appears from somewhere behind Danny and says, "Boyfriend," with a grin before he sends Danny in the direction of a family with kids who are staring at him.
It takes a while for the party to wind down, and their group hangs out to make sure clean-up goes well and to tally up donations with the shelter staff.
Joanna has tears in her eyes when she looks at the final total. "This is a record-breaking fundraiser for us," she says. "Thank you." She goes around and hugs every single one of them.
They're all smiling by the time it's down to just their group.
"High-five," Connor says, and they go around high-fiving, and then Kayla gathers them into a group hug, and then they have to divide into two groups for the drive back.
The half of their group in Danny's car is jubilantly happy about the success of their fundraiser. Danny and Kayla, as the two with the most fundraising experience, agree that it went extremely well, and everyone is in a good, cheerful mood when he drops them off on campus.
Danny is also in a good mood, and he smiles all the way across the river and home. Claude's car is in the driveway, and the porch light is on but the house is otherwise dark. Danny pulls in next to Claude and turns off the porch light when he gets in the house. It's quiet, not even any light coming out from under Cameron's door when he goes upstairs.
Claude is asleep in Danny's bed, and Danny undresses quietly to keep from waking him. He closes the door to the bathroom before he turns on the light, and turns off the light before he opens it again.
Claude stirs when Danny gets into bed with him. "Hey."
"Hi." Danny puts an arm around him. "Go back to sleep."
"'Kay." Claude presses a clumsy kiss to Danny's cheek. "Good party."
Danny kisses Claude for real, but softly. "Thank you for being there."
"Mmhmm," Claude murmurs. "Of course."
*
Danny wakes up in the morning when Claude gets out of bed. On a Sunday, when he was out late and just wants to sleep in.
"Sorry," Claude murmurs. He leans over and presses a kiss to Danny's jaw. "I have skate this morning. I'm borrowing one of your shirts."
Danny waves a hand at him. "Go."
Claude kisses him again. "Do you want to come to the game?"
Danny turns his head into his pillow. "No. I have homework. I'll watch it on TV."
"You'd better." Claude presses his lips to Danny's neck and keeps them there. "We leave after the game. I'll see you in a couple of days."
Danny takes his head out of his pillow and looks at Claude. "If I promise to miss you, will you let me go back to sleep?"
"Only if you mean it."
Danny runs his hand through Claude's hair. "I'll miss you." He moves his gaze down to what Claude's wearing. "And my shirt." He kisses Claude. "Go. Score some goals. Make Philly proud."
Claude laughs, and he finally gets out of Danny's bedroom so Danny can get some more sleep.
*
Claude shows up at Danny's unannounced after he gets back from his road trip.
"What are you doing here?" Danny asks, turning away from his homework spread out on the dining room table. They don't have class until Monday because of Thanksgiving, but he's trying to get a head start on it. Anything he finishes now is something he doesn't have to work on this weekend.
"Aren't you glad to see me?" Claude puts a bag down on the kitchen counter and comes over to bend over Danny and kiss him.
"I'm in the middle of writing an essay."
Claude just laughs at him and goes into the kitchen. "I brought you wine." Even from across the room, Danny can see that the labels on all four of the bottles Claude takes out of the bag are the same.
Danny abandons his essay and goes to see what the wine is, and laughs when he recognizes it as coming from the case Claude bought at the fundraiser. "You don't have to share."
Claude shrugs. "Seems like the right thing to do." He starts to put it in the wine fridge, but Danny pushes him away.
"Don't. There's a system."
Claude laughs at him while Danny rearranges what's in the fridge to make room for the wine Claude brought.
"You're very serious about your wine," Claude says.
"That's supposed to be a good wine," Danny says. "I don't want to ruin it."
"We should have some with dinner," Claude says. "I can make grilled cheese."
"We're not drinking wine with grilled cheese," Danny says.
Claude collapses into laughter. "You're such a snob." He reaches for Danny and pulls him close. "I guess that means no pizza either."
Danny makes a face at him. Claude's just chirping him now.
"We'll order something that goes better with it," Claude says. He bends his head and kisses Danny.
Danny can feel him smiling into it, and he can't help smiling back. "You're picking it up," he says after a few minutes.
"You're just trying to get rid of me so you can work on your essay," Claude says.
"Maybe I just don't want to leave you alone in my house."
"I lived here," Claude says.
"And I worried about leaving you here alone every time," Danny says with a smirk.
Claude flips him off. "I'm choosing dinner."
"Not grilled cheese," Danny says, but he doesn't mind that much. He trusts Claude to pick something that will pair well with the wine.
"Not grilled cheese," Claude says. "And it'll give you time to work on your essay." Then he frowns at Danny. "Tomorrow's American Thanksgiving. Why are you doing homework?"
"So I don't have to do it all on Sunday. And so I can go to your game on Friday and not worry about it."
Claude smiles at him. "You're coming to my game?"
"With Cameron," Danny says.
Claude smacks a kiss onto his lips. "Go write your essay," he says. "I'll stay out of your way."
Danny doesn't know what Claude does to entertain himself, but he does stay out of the way, long enough that Danny gets through the rest of his essay and does his art history reading. He's just getting into his econ homework when Claude comes into the kitchen with a couple of plastic bags. Danny blinks at him; he didn't even hear Claude leave the house.
The smell of food wafting out of the bags makes Danny's stomach growl; he's been deep in his homework for quite a while. He makes quick work of putting his homework away and lets Claude deal with silverware while he opens a bottle of wine.
They taste the wine before they start in on dinner.
"I don't know if this is worth what I paid for it," Claude says, "but it is good."
"You were making a donation," Danny says. It is a good wine, rich and velvety, and it goes well with the pasta Claude picked up.
"And supporting you," Claude says. "Did your school friends all go home for the weekend?"
"Hunter and Sarah did. I sent Sarah with a card since it's her birthday on Saturday." Danny sighs. "I'm going to have dinner with Caleb tomorrow, after he gets off work. I tried to get him to come hang out more than that, but he said he's on the schedule most of the weekend since a lot of the people he works with were going home."
Claude winces. "Poor kid."
"Yeah. I wish I could get him to come over here more."
"If anyone can, it's you," Claude says. "You're good with rookies."
"You would know," Danny says, grinning at him.
Claude grins back, and then turns serious. "You had a lot to do with making me the hockey player I am today, and you did just as much for Couts. You'll do that for Caleb too." Claude frowns. "Or whatever it is you're making him into that's not a hockey player."
Danny reaches across the table and squeezes Claude's hand.
After dinner, they put the dishes in the dishwasher, and Claude traps Danny against the counter, kissing him deeply.
"I still have homework," Danny murmurs.
"And you have a whole weekend to do it." Claude trails kisses down Danny's neck. "You don't have the whole weekend to do me."
Danny laughs. "That was terrible."
"But true." Claude mouths at Danny's jaw. "I have tomorrow off, but I have skate and a game on Friday, and we leave for Boston right after the game."
Danny tips Claude's head up and kisses him slowly. "We could finish off the wine."
"Are you trying to get me drunk?"
"It would take a lot more than half a bottle of wine," Danny says. "And I don't have to get you drunk to get what I want out of you."
Claude leers at him. "What do you want?"
Danny reaches past him for his wine glass and the bottle. "Come find out."
Claude follows him across the entryway into the living room. The couch may not be the best looking couch around, but it is incredibly comfortable, and more than big enough for the both of them. Danny pushes Claude down into one corner of it and sits down with his back to Claude's chest, their legs tangled together in front of them.
"This wasn't what I thought you meant," Claude says.
Danny refills both of their wine glasses and sets the bottle on the floor next to them. "We don't have to be anywhere. My homework can wait. Cameron's at Sylvie's. Just enjoy it." He leans more into Claude's chest, letting his head fall back onto Claude's shoulder.
"Cuddling on the couch with wine," Claude says. "We've become old and boring."
Danny chuckles and turns his head to kiss Claude's cheek. "There are plenty of other people you could be hanging out with if you want young and exciting."
Claude turns his head toward Danny and kisses him, slow and deep. "We are going to have sex later, right?"
"Yes," Danny says with a laugh. "In a while."
Claude wraps an arm around Danny's chest. "As long as that's part of the deal."
They stay there, exchanging lazy kisses and desultory conversation while they finish the wine, and longer. Their kisses get deeper, take on more purpose. Danny turns and Claude slides down so they're lying on the couch, making out and rubbing against each other. They're both hard, but there's no urgency to it.
"I thought only teenagers made out on couches like this," Claude says.
"You wanted young and exciting."
That sets Claude to laughing, and Danny can't help joining in, and they almost fall off the couch with it. When they're steady on the couch again, Claude puts both hands on Danny's ass and pulls him down against Claude. It feels so good that Danny's laughter cuts off with a gasp.
Then it's not slow anymore. They exchange frantic kisses. Danny rubs himself against Claude, wanting the friction and the feel of Claude hard below him, as much as Claude's hands on his ass will let him. Claude holds them close together and licks into Danny's mouth.
Claude lets go of Danny's ass to fumble at their pants between them. Danny almost doesn't care if they don't manage to get naked, but he lets Claude get both of their pants open and their cocks out. It's even better like this. Claude puts his hands back on Danny's ass, and this time there's nothing between them, skin on skin, their cocks rubbing against each other, Claude's fingers digging into the bare skin of Danny's ass and Danny anchoring himself with his hands gripping Claude's shoulders.
They stop kissing when they can't anymore, when they have to just breathe into each other's mouths, small noises escaping with their breath.
Claude comes first, groaning and holding Danny tight against him as he does, and Danny slides his cock against Claude's come-slick skin until sparks flash behind his eyes as he comes.
They lie there panting together as they come down. Danny loosens his grip on Claude's shoulders, and Claude strokes Danny's back instead of squeezing his ass.
"Young and exciting enough for you?" Danny asks.
Claude laughs softly. "Is that how the college kids do it?"
Danny shrugs. "I try not to think too much about exactly what they do."
"You're one of them."
"Not quite like that." Danny kisses Claude's shoulder. "And you're definitely not one of them."
"Are you calling me old?" Claude asks after a moment of silence.
"No," Danny says. "I'm calling you experienced."
Claude is suspiciously silent, and Danny raises his head to smile at him.
"I like it," he says. "I benefit from that experience."
Claude kisses him and then says, "I'll blow you in the morning if we can go to bed now."
Danny laughs and climbs off of Claude. He kicks his pants all the way off; he's too messy to bother with pulling them up instead. He does pick them up and take them upstairs with him, since he's a responsible adult. Claude follows him up the stairs.
"Your ass is still amazing," Claude says.
Danny looks over his shoulder, but doesn't manage to catch Claude's eye because Claude really is just watching his ass.
Their clothes get left in a heap just inside Danny's bedroom, and they clean up and brush their teeth in the bathroom before Danny turns out the lights and they climb into bed.
After a day of school, homework, half a bottle of wine, and sex, Danny falls asleep in no time. He wakes up just as easily in the morning, feeling rested and lazy with the knowledge that there's nothing he has to do right now.
He doesn't have to wait long before Claude starts to wake up, rubbing his face against the pillow and then turning toward Danny and opening his eyes.
"Mmm, morning," Claude mumbles.
"Good morning," Danny says. "You said you'd blow me this morning."
"I didn't say when," Claude says, but he runs his hands over Danny's body and finds his cock. He strokes it a few times before they move so he can get his mouth on Danny instead. Everything is slow and leisurely in the soft morning light, and Danny returns the favor when Claude's done.
"Happy American Thanksgiving," Claude says after, when they're both lying curled together with no real reason to get out of bed.
"I'm feeling very thankful," Danny says.
Claude laughs at him, and they spend a while lying in bed before the prompting of their stomachs pushes them out of it in search of food. Claude makes them eggs for breakfast, and grilled cheese later for lunch.
They watch football on TV, fool around on the couch again, and go for a walk around the neighborhood when they're both in need of some exercise.
"Do you want to come to dinner with us?" Danny asks when it's time for him to comb his hair and find some shoes and a coat before he can go pick up Caleb.
"Will I be in the way?"
"I have no idea," Danny admits. "I don't know what will be easier for Caleb. You can come if you want."
Claude gets up off the couch. "I won't get to eat if I don't." It's a complete lie, but Danny lets it stand as an answer
They drive into Philly where Danny texts Caleb, who comes out to meet them.
"I hope it's okay that I brought Claude," Danny says.
"Sure," Caleb says, getting into the back seat. "Hi, Claude."
Claude says hi to Caleb, and Danny takes them back out into the nearly empty streets. They go for Chinese food, because they're open and because Danny thought it might be easier for Caleb to do something completely different for Thanksgiving.
"You didn't have anything better to do today?" Caleb asks after Claude tells him that all they've done is laze around the house all day. "It's Thanksgiving."
"We're Canadian," Claude says. "Our Thanksgiving was last month. And it was good to do nothing on a day off."
"Sorry to drag you out of the house."
"Don't be," Danny says. "We needed the break, and we've exhausted Claude's ability to cook for us." Over Claude's laughing protest, he adds, "And I wanted to hang out with you."
Caleb smiles, mostly. "I don't think I'm the best company today."
"It doesn't matter," Danny says. "You shouldn't be stuck alone all day."
Caleb's smile disappears. "I wanted to call them," he says. "I didn't think they'd pick up."
"I'm sorry," Danny says, feeling helpless. His experience with children and rookies hasn't prepared him for quite this situation. He's used to homesickness, his own and other people's, but it's never been homesickness for a family that doesn't return the sentiment.
"It is what it is," Caleb says. He turns his head away from them a little and blinks, but Danny can still see the sheen of tears in his eyes.
"What it is is shitty," Claude says. "If I thought Danny would let me, I'd get you drunk."
Caleb laughs a little. "Thanks."
Claude grins at him. "You're welcome."
"I wouldn't get you drunk," Danny says, "but you can always talk to me or hang out if you want to."
"Thank you," Caleb says softly. "You're a really good friend."
Their conversation over the rest of dinner is lighter, telling stories and chatting about their homework and the holiday break. The restaurant is slow, so they linger over their table for a while before they get in the car and Danny drives Caleb back to his dorm.
Danny and Claude both get out of the car to hug him. Claude goes first and hugs him quickly and ruffles his hair.
Danny hugs him for a little longer. "Happy Thanksgiving," he says. "Call me if you want to hang out or work on homework."
"Thanks," Caleb says. He pulls away with a shaky smile. "We didn't do the go around and say what you're thankful for thing, but I'm thankful for you." He waves at them and goes inside before Danny can figure out what to say to him.
Claude puts an arm around Danny's shoulders. "You're doing a good thing for him. You can't do anything else right now. Let's go home."
They get into the car, and Danny manages to make it halfway home before he says, "I can't imagine doing that to your child."
"You never would," Claude says. "Some people are shitty."
Danny sighs. "He's a good kid."
"He's got you," Claude says, "and Sarah and Hunter, and whoever else he's making friends with. It's not his family, but there are people to care about him. And," he adds, "you're going to end up adopting him anyway."
"I'm not going to adopt him," Danny says. The rest of it is probably true.
"Of course you are," Claude says. "You can't resist a lonely rookie."
Danny grins at him. "I can't resist you."
Claude laughs and reaches across the car to rest his hand on Danny's thigh for a minute.
When they get home, they stretch out on the couch. They make out a little, but mostly they just watch It's a Wonderful Life, and it's not very late when they go to bed.
*
Danny wakes up warm and well-rested on Friday. Claude's still asleep next to him. Danny doesn't have any reason to get up, so he lies there watching Claude sleep and enjoying his warmth.
Claude doesn't wake up until his phone blares an alarm. Even then he just fumbles for his phone and groans into his pillow.
Danny laughs at him. "You got so much sleep."
"It's so loud," Claude says, fingers still wrapped around his phone. He drags his head out of the pillow and smiles at Danny. "Good morning."
"Morning." Danny leans over and kisses him lightly. "You have skate this morning?"
"Yeah." Claude looks at his phone. "In a couple of hours." He drops his phone on the nightstand and pulls Danny close. "Enough time that I don't have to get up right now."
"Yeah?" Danny raises his eyebrows at Claude.
"Yeah." Claude grins and kisses him. He rolls and takes Danny with him so Danny's lying on top of him. "This was good the other night."
It's good this morning, too, moving against each other slowly until they both come. Claude gets up for the first shower, and that means he's cooking breakfast when Danny goes downstairs.
They eat together and clean up the kitchen, and then Claude kisses Danny for a long time before he pulls away and says, "Skate." He runs his thumb across Danny's lips.
"Go," Danny says, letting go of Claude. "I'll see you after the game."
Claude kisses him again, quickly this time, and Danny stands in the kitchen staring off into space until he realizes what he's doing, shakes his head at himself, and gets out his homework.
The homework is all done by the time he picks up Cameron from Sylvie's, and that means he can just enjoy dinner and a hockey game with his son.
They've been around the rink for a long time, so in addition to the usual autograph seekers who talk to Danny, there's a contingent of kids who play hockey and players' children who surround Cameron. Neither of them mind the attention, and they spend time with other people until they take their seats just before the game starts.
They get involved in the game, of course, and it's a disappointment when the Flyers lose. The crowd agrees with them, and people file out of the arena with sullen grumbling.
Danny and Cameron go down to the room to see Claude anyway, and the smile Claude gives them is genuine if not as bright as it might have been if they'd won.
"You'll do better in the next one," Cameron says.
Claude hugs him. "I think I've heard that before."
Cameron grins at him. "It's what you and Dad always say when any of us lose a game."
"Then it must be a pretty smart thing to say," Claude says.
Danny takes his turn hugging Claude. "Next game," he says.
Claude nods and holds on a little longer than he did with Cameron. "Thanks for coming anyway."
"It's hockey," Danny says. "We had fun." He squeezes Claude's shoulder. "Kick some ass in Boston."
Claude laughs. "We will." He hugs them both again. "I'll see you when I get back."
They leave Claude there, and Danny drives Cameron back to Sylvie's.
"Thanks," Cameron says, leaning over to hug Danny before he gets out of the car.
"You're welcome." Cameron's a little old for it, but Danny presses a kiss to the top of his head. "I'll see you in a couple of days." He waits for Cameron to get into the house before he drives home to a house that seems too empty.
*
The rush of finals arrives well before Danny's ready for it. There's a gradual lead-up to playoffs, those last games of the season, watching the standings. There's nothing like that for finals. They have class, and then all of a sudden they have two days of no classes to try to cram everything into their heads before finals start.
Danny spends most of those two days on campus, in the library by himself - or sitting by himself anyway; it seems like half the student body is in there studying - or in Huntsman with Caleb, Hunter, and Sarah, trying to figure out what they need to know for finals, what they already know, and what they've forgotten.
Danny turns down three invitations to hang out with Claude and barely sees Cameron. It's worse than playoffs in a lot of ways. This isn't something he's done before, not at this level, and midterms and other tests throughout the semester haven't really gotten him used to this kind of testing.
Claude shows up at the house one day, bags of Chinese food in his hands, and says, "We're having dinner." He calls upstairs for Cameron, and the three of them sit down at the table.
Claude asks Danny about finals and Cameron about school, and tells them his recent stories. Once the conversation moves on from his finals, Danny manages not to think about school for at least an hour. It's a good break, and he says that to Claude after Cameron disappears upstairs and Danny's helping Claude clean up.
"You need breaks." Claude puts an arm around Danny's shoulders and kisses his temple. Then he leers at Danny even as he lets go and reaches for the stack of dishes ready to go into the dishwasher. "You could thank me."
Danny's mildly tempted, but he says, "I still have a couple of chapters to reread."
"Are you going to be too tired for sex afterwards?" There's something incongruous about Claude asking that while he's cleaning up Danny's kitchen, so casual that he doesn't even look up from what he's doing while he asks.
"Probably," Danny admits. "Sorry."
Claude tosses the sponge he was using to wipe down the counters into the sink and comes over to kiss Danny. "Want me to stay anyway?"
Danny holds onto him for a minute, leaning against Claude's solid, hockey-built bulk, such a completely different world from his schoolwork. "Yes," he says, "if you don't mind."
"I was planning on it anyway." Claude tips Danny's head up and kisses him again, slow and lingering this time. "Go study." He smirks at Danny as he lets go. "I expect lots of sex once finals are over."
Danny laughs. "Me too."
*
Finals are brutal, and then they're over just as Danny feels like he's getting the hang of them. Econ is the last one, and he reconvenes with his study group for lunch.
Hunter is entirely smug when he tells them, "I'm done."
"Me too," Danny says.
"One more," Sarah says.
"Two," Caleb says. He shrugs at their commiserating frowns. "I'm not going home anyway, so it doesn't matter."
They all fall into silence for a moment, until Caleb breaks it by asking what the rest of them are doing over winter break. Sarah and Hunter are both going home, and Danny tells them he'll be around.
"We can do something," Danny says to Caleb.
"I'm going to be working a lot," Caleb says, "but yeah, sure."
"Is Claude going to be here?" Sarah asks. "We need you to tell us details now to tide us over until school starts again."
Danny thinks about his promise to Claude that they would have lots of sex after finals and just says, "Yes."
"That's it? Come on, details," Sarah says.
"We don't have any specific plans," Danny says. "My older boys are coming home for their breaks. That's probably going to take more of my time than Claude."
Sarah heaves a theatrical sigh. "You're a terrible disappointment. I expect to hear stories when we get back. Or while we're gone. You can text us."
"Please don't," Hunter says. "At least not about Claude. Hockey is good."
Danny chuckles a little. "Sure," he says. "I'll probably go to at least one game with the boys."
The conversation drifts away from him to Sarah and Hunter's plans for the break. They linger over lunch for a while since Sarah and Caleb still have finals, but not today.
They walk back to campus together, and when they hit the place where they would usually splinter off in different directions, they stop and stand there for a couple of minutes, despite the cold.
Sarah hugs Danny first, holding on tightly and saying, "I wasn't joking about details."
Danny laughs and hugs her back. "Have a good break. Enjoy the California weather."
"I'm from Marin County," Sarah says. "It's not all sunshine all the time like Southern California." She's smiling while she says it, and she goes from him to Caleb for another hug.
Hunter comes forward for a bro hug next. Danny has to bite back his smile at it, but he goes with it.
"I'll see you in January," Hunter says. "I don't want to hear about it, but I hope you get laid."
Danny laughs. "Thanks. Have a good time at home."
That just leaves Caleb, and Danny pulls him into a tight hug. "We'll hang out," he promises.
"Sure," Caleb says. "Have a good time with your kids." He smirks. "And Claude."
Danny laughs. "I will. I'll text you about doing something."
Then they've all said goodbye and there's nothing to do but wave goodbye and split up. As relieved as he is to be done with finals, Danny's going to miss them over the break.
He tells himself on the drive home that it's okay to relax now that finals are done. He hasn't quite convinced himself of it by the time he gets home, but it's better. It's even better when he closes the door behind him and looks up at footsteps and sees Claude leaning over the railing on the landing.
"Hi," Danny says.
"Hi," Claude says. "Cameron came home and left again to go study with friends. Come upstairs so we can have sex."
Danny grins at him and takes the steps two at a time. When he gets upstairs, he pushes Claude backwards into the wall. "I did promise you sex."
Claude lounges against the wall, looking relaxed and comfortable. "You promised me a lot of sex."
Danny laughs and kisses him, laughter bubbling up between them. "I did. Let's get started on that while the house is empty."
Claude grins at him. "Bedroom?" He puts his hands on Danny's hips.
Danny walks backwards, pulling Claude with him, both of them smiling at each other. He doesn't look where he's going, trusting Claude to keep them from running into anything. Claude squeezes his hip when they get to the bedroom door, and Danny turns with his nudging, keeps walking backwards until the back of his knees hit the bed. Danny sits down and looks up at Claude while he unbuttons Claude's pants.
Claude runs his hands through Danny's hair. "We're going to have so much sex."
Danny laughs and gets Claude's pants out of the way. "So much," he promises before he goes down on Claude.
Claude's answering laugh cuts off with a groan. He stays still, just petting Danny's hair while Danny sucks him, until they've settled into it and Danny tugs at Claude's hips to let him know he can move. Then he thrusts shallowly into Danny's mouth. Danny has his hands on Claude's hips, so he can stop it if it gets to be too much, but Claude's pretty well in control of himself, for all that Danny's putting some effort into it, and Danny loses himself in the enjoyment of making Claude feel good.
He's not trying to drag it out, just trying to get Claude off, and he doesn't have to wait long before Claude is warning him and then coming in a salty rush across his tongue.
Claude drops to his knees after he pulls out of Danny's mouth, and Danny lifts his hips up so Claude can get his pants off. Claude's mouth closes around him as soon as his cock is free.
Danny gasps and reaches for Claude's shoulders so he has something to hang onto while Claude sucks him hard, no finesse, just heat and suction. It's enough. It's more than enough. It's so good, and such a contrast to the tension Danny's been carrying through finals week.
Danny curls over Claude when he comes, breathing hard and clinging to Claude's shoulders.
Claude sucks him a little longer, then pulls off his cock and tips his head up to kiss him. Danny kisses back and relaxes his grip on Claude, still holding on but not quite so tightly.
Claude pushes Danny back. Danny goes with it, kicking his pants all the way off before he slides up the bed.
"That was a good start," Claude says after a minute.
Danny laughs. "You're going to have to wait before we can do it again."
"Yeah," Claude says. He turns onto his side so he's facing Danny. "Are you going to sleep or do you want to make out?"
Danny grabs the shirt Claude's still wearing to pull him closer. "Both."
Claude grins at him and kisses him. It's messy and wet, lots of tongue, and Danny groans into it and kisses back the same way.
"I'm really going to like your winter break," Claude mumbles into his mouth.
Danny grins at him. "Think about how much sex we can have when the boys are with Sylvie."
Claude groans and kisses him harder. "This is going to be so good."
"So good," Danny agrees. He pulls Claude as close as he can and kisses him until he's too close to sleep to keep going.
*
They do have a lot of sex, when the house is empty and Claude's home.
In the middle of the week, Danny goes to a game with the auction winner. It isn't the same as going to a game with his boys, but it's a good time, and he gets to watch Claude make a beauty of a play to open the scoring.
Claude has a road trip at the end of the week, and then Caelan comes home. Kim and Eric insist on picking Alexis up from the airport and suggest they just get Caelan too. Danny gives in because it doesn't seem worth all of them making the trip to the airport, and it won't mean that much of a delay before Caelan gets home.
They don't come in with Caelan; Danny hears the car pull up, and then Caelan comes into the house. It's only been three months, and Caelan's at an age where kids don't change that much from day to day, not like when they're toddlers, so he shouldn't look that different. He does, though. Tan, of course, from living in LA, but also older in a way that Danny thinks probably has more to do with being on his own than the actual passage of time.
Caelan drops his bags in the entryway and his face is already lit up with a smile when he meets Danny's hug.
"I missed you," Danny says. "It's too quiet around here without all of you around."
"I heard you have plenty of teenagers around," Caelan says with a grin.
"My study group is no substitute for you and your brothers." Danny has to eventually let go of Caelan, so he does and takes him into the kitchen for a snack. He knows how cross-country travel goes; Caelan's probably hungry, and they won't have dinner until later.
They settle in at the table with a snack and catch up. It's not like they never talk, but it's different sitting at the table than it is over the phone or on Skype.
Calean's recounting of his finals experience sounds a lot like Danny's, and they compare stories for a while. There are other stories, Caelan's new friends, his hockey team, what it's like to live with Alexis. Danny resists the urge to give too much advice about that; he may have had experience living with a partner at a young age, but Caelan knows how that story ends.
The front door closes later, and Cameron comes barreling through the house to jump on Caelan, who gets up from the table so they don't knock anything over.
Danny just watches the two of them playfully wrestle into a hug and talk over each other. It's good to have both of them in the house.
"You missed Claude," Cameron says. "He won't be back for days."
Caelan puts his arm around Cameron's shoulders and turns a smirk on Danny that's disturbingly similar to the way his study group looks at him. "I'm sure I'll see him while I'm home. It sounds like he's here a lot."
Danny cuts that off at the pass. "We'll make sure you see him while you're home. What do you two want for dinner?"
Caelan laughs at him, in a way that means he knows exactly what Danny's doing, but he drops it and starts trying to convince Cameron that since he just got home, he should get to choose what they have for dinner.
*
Carson gets home two days later, and Cameron and Caelan go with Danny to the airport to pick him up. They make a raucous bunch at the curb while they hug and all talk over each other. After he gets his own hug, Danny herds them all into the car and drives them home. He can't stop smiling.
They're all sitting around the living room, catching up and just being together, the boys showing each other pictures on their phones, when Claude shows up. He comes right into the house and drops his bag in the entryway.
Caelan and Carson jump up from their spots on the couches.
"Claude! I didn't know if we were going to see you," Carson says.
Caelan laughs and pushes Carson out of the way. "I knew we would see you."
Claude laughs with both of them, and squeezes Carson's arm. "Are you getting bigger?"
"Gotta bulk up if I'm going to make it to the NHL," Carson says. He grins. "I'm going to have to be able to muscle you off the puck."
"I'd like to see you try," Claude says.
"Any time, old man," Carson says.
Claude looks like he's biting back laughter when he says, "That sounds like a challenge."
"Let's go," Carson says. "I'm ready."
Claude does laugh then, and looks past them at Danny and Cameron. "How about it? Skating before dinner?"
"Who said you're invited for dinner?" Danny says with a smirk. He stands up, though, and says, "Let's go. Skate Zone going to be open?"
"I'm the captain," Claude says. "They'll make room for us even if they're busy." Even so, he does call ahead to make sure they can get on the ice.
Danny and the boys gather up their gear bags - Caelan and Carson both thought ahead enough to bring theirs home with them - and they take Danny's car to Skate Zone. As glad as Danny is to have made friends with his study group, they don't compare to having his boys home.
Even though it's late on a Sunday afternoon, there are a few people hanging around who stop to say hi to them. They gear up quickly, and head onto the ice with a handful of pucks.
They spend a couple of minutes warming up, getting a feel for the ice and stickhandling around each other. That lasts just as long as it takes Carson to lose patience with it and come to a stop in front of Claude.
"Let's do this," he says.
"I get your dad," Claude says.
"Not fair," Carson says.
"We'll let you have Caelan and Cameron," Claude says.
Danny's not entirely sure about the wisdom of that - he's somewhat out of practice - but this is mostly between Claude and Carson.
Carson looks at the other boys and says, "Fine."
As the youngest, Cameron gets stuck dropping the puck for the initial faceoff, then circles around into the game.
Claude's good enough that being outnumbered doesn't doom them, but it's not easy for Danny to keep up with the boys. They play to three, and then take a break to catch their breath and change up the teams.
"I want Dad and Caelan this time," Carson says. It's a completely uneven division, and he knows it, going by the way he smirks at Claude.
Claude slings an arm around Cameron. "No problem," he says.
Being on a team of three is a little easier - Danny doesn't have to be the only backup for whoever has the puck - and it's a different experience to play with Carson and Caelan. They're both good, if not quite Claude's level of good. Danny knows how they play because he taught them a lot of it, but he doesn't know how they play in the same way he knows how Claude plays. He doesn't have years of playing with them in a game situation to draw on.
They put him at center after Claude and Cameron tie things up, 1-1, and that's easier than playing wing. He can see what Claude and Cameron are going to do, and he just has to feed the puck around them to Caelan or Carson.
Claude manages to steal it, but Carson gets it back, dishes it to Danny. He takes it out, comes back into the zone and watches for the moment when Cameron's focusing too hard on him to notice that Caelan's open.
Danny sends it across the ice, right onto Caelan's tape, and Caelan taps it in. Cameron groans while Caelan and Carson cheer and converge with Danny for a group celebration.
"Two-way play," Carson calls to Cameron. "Work on your defense."
It's good advice, but it's also the kind of thing that could lead to a fight when it comes from one of his brothers. Claude knows that just as well as Danny, and the two of them quickly rearrange everyone into a faceoff for the next point.
They swap teams a couple more times, until even Claude and the boys are tired out.
"You are getting stronger," Claude says to Carson on the way back to the locker room. "I'm going to have to get the Flyers to draft you so I don't have to play against you."
"You're getting up there," Carson says. "You're going to need the help."
The good-natured chirping is all said with smiles, and Carson has a proud glow about him at the praise.
They take quick showers and gather their gear up. The boys take off for the car with Danny and Claude trailing behind them.
Claude throws his arm over Danny's shoulders. "Good to have them all here."
"Yes," Danny says, watching the boys. He's going to have to turn them over to Sylvie soon enough for her turn with them, but for now he has his boys home again. The boys are far enough ahead that they can't be overheard and there isn't anyone else within earshot, so Danny also says, "Harder to have a lot of sex with them around though."
Claude laughs, loud enough that the boys look back at them for a moment. "I think we can manage something," he says. "And they're going to Sylvie's for part of the time anyway. You'll need company then."
"I will," Danny says. Then he brushes his hand over Claude's hip. "Thanks for making this happen."
Claude smiles at him. "You know I never give up a chance to skate with you."
*
Claude has to leave before the boys even leave for Sylvie's, but he calls from the road and asks, "What are you doing for Christmas?" the moment Danny picks up the phone.
"Hi, Claude," Danny says just to be an ass. "I'm fine. How are you?"
"Hi, Danny," Claude says, with enough exaggeration that he's also being an ass. "What are you doing for Christmas?"
"I have the boys Christmas Eve day and the day after Christmas. Dad's going to Guylaine's."
"Good," Claude says, "that means you're going to be alone on Christmas."
Danny doesn't say anything, waiting to see if Claude will figure out what's wrong with that on his own.
"I'm sorry you don't get to be with the boys on Christmas," Claude says with a huff, "but this means you can come with me to Hartsy's."
"Why would I want to spend Christmas with you and Scott?"
"You'd love to spend Christmas with me," Claude says. "And it's not just us. A couple of the other guys are coming too. You can bring Caleb, if you're worried about him."
Danny is worried about him. It's hard enough to be away from your family at the holidays when they're still in your life; he can't imagine what it's like for Caleb. "You really want to bring me and a college kid to Scott's for Christmas?"
"Yes," Claude says. "I really want to bring you to Hartsy's for Christmas, and Caleb is a good kid, so if that's what it takes to get you to come, then he should come with us."
"I'll ask him," Danny says, "but no promises."
"You should promise," Claude says. "It won't be as much fun without you."
"I've heard stories about what you and Scott get up to. I'm sure you'll have enough fun whether or not I'm there."
"It'll be better if you're there."
"I'll try," Danny says.
"Good. Now," Claude says, and Danny can practically hear him smirking, "what are you wearing?"
Danny laughs. "Nope. Cameron has practice in twenty minutes."
"Come on," Claude says. "We can do a lot in twenty minutes."
"I'm leaving the house in five."
"At least promise me some other time."
Danny considers it for a moment. "Okay," he says. "Some other time. That's a promise." He lowers his voice. "In the meantime, you can jerk off thinking about it, and tell me about it next time."
Claude groans. "You're a cruel man."
Danny laughs. "Go jerk off. I'll ask Caleb about Christmas and call you about it." He hangs up smiling and calls out to Cameron that it's time to go.
*
Danny usually communicates with Sarah, Hunter, and Caleb mostly by text, which is probably why Caleb sounds surprised when he answers the phone and says, "Hi, Danny."
"Hi." There's probably a careful, delicate way to do this, but Danny dives right in. "If you don't already have plans for Christmas, my boys are with their mom. Claude invited us to go to the thing he's going to, or if you don't want to do a Christmas thing, we can hang out here and have Chinese food and watch movies or something."
"You want to spend Christmas with me?" Caleb asks after a moment.
"Yes." Danny hesitates for a second, and then says, "It's going to be hard for me to be away from my family for Christmas, and I'm sure it's going to be for you too. Let's have some fun instead."
"Are you sure? Claude wanting you to have Christmas with him seems like a boyfriend thing."
Danny doesn't bother saying they're just friends. "I'm sure. His thing is just a bunch of guys who aren't going to see their families, and he invited both of us. It's going to be low-key, mostly just dinner and some hanging out."
"Okay," Caleb says. "Thank you. I wasn't looking forward to Christmas."
"I'm glad you're coming," Danny says. "I'll pick you up at noon."
"Do I need to bring anything?"
"No. They'll take care of dinner, and it's not a big gift kind of thing. Well, there might be some presents, but just the guys who are friends, so you don't have to bring anything."
"Okay," Caleb says. "I'll see you on Christmas. Thank you."
"You're welcome." Danny hangs up and texts Claude, Caleb and I are coming to Christmas.
Part 4