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rsadelleMaster Post - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6
Carson is bound to be busier than any of the rest of them, so Danny texts him to ask him to call when he has time to talk. That doesn't turn out to be for another day, and then Carson is full of news and stories about his life.
Danny tells some of his own stories too before he gets to the reason he originally wanted Carson to call.
"Caleb doesn't have a place to live this summer. I want to invite him to live here, if that's okay with everyone."
"When don't you have someone else living there?" Carson asks. Danny can almost see him rolling his eyes. "Yeah, that's cool. Is he going to want to hang out with us and stuff?"
"I don't know," Danny says. "He's going to be working, but he'll probably spend some time hanging out when he's not at work."
"Cool," Carson says. "Tell him he should brush up on his video game skills."
Danny laughs. "I'll do that."
*
Once everyone else in his house has agreed to it, Danny invites Caleb over for dinner. He makes it a Friday afternoon when Claude and Cameron will be around and he and Caleb won't have homework to get in the way.
"Claude's going to pick you up," Danny says to Caleb on their way out of class, after they've separated from Sarah and Hunter outside the building. "He'll be in the city anyway."
"Okay," Caleb says. He grins at Danny. "It'll be good to get to know your boyfriend on his own."
Danny laughs and says, "I'll see you tonight."
Cameron helps make dinner, and they're about halfway done when Claude gets home with Caleb.
Claude comes through to the kitchen first, and Danny turns to kiss him hello before he says hi to Caleb. There's a world of expression on Caleb's face, and Danny's probably going to be hearing about this from his whole study group later. He's too happy to have Claude, Cameron, and Caleb all here to be very bothered about it.
"Can I help?" Caleb asks.
"We've got it," Danny says. He nudges Claude, who hasn't moved out of his space. "Will you set the table?"
"Yep." Claude kisses his cheek and gets plates out.
"Cute," Caleb says.
"Don't encourage them," Cameron says. "They're all kissy all the time now. They're worse than Caelan and Alexis."
Danny laughs and leans up to very obviously kiss Claude when he comes back to the kitchen. Claude grins and kisses him back.
"No one's as bad as Caelan and Alexis," Claude says cheerfully. "Especially not that first year." He elbows Cameron. "See if we're nice about it when you have a girlfriend."
Cameron turns bright red and elbows Claude back. "Shut up," he mutters.
Despite the chirping, they get dinner on the table without incident, and everyone quiets down while they eat.
"This is good," Caleb says. "Your cooking lessons worked."
"I can still only make the things Mitchell taught us," Danny admits, "but that's better than before."
Caleb laughs. "Well, you've got this one down. You and Cameron."
All four of them are smiling, and that makes it seem like a good idea to bring up Caleb's living situation.
"I didn't just want to show off my cooking," Danny says. "I know you're looking for somewhere to live during the summer. We have an extra room, and we'd love to have you move in with us."
Caleb's jaw drops and he just stares at Danny.
"Transportation might be an issue," Danny says, "but we can work it out. You can take the car or one of us will drive you into the city for work. If you want to stay during the school year too, we're taking most of the same classes, and Claude's in and out of Philly all the time."
"Danny," Caleb says. "That's not- You don't have to do that."
"I know," Danny says. He also knows he's treading on iffy ground here, trying to make this better for Caleb without making it hard for him or reminding him of how much his family isn't doing for him. "But I want to. You're my friend, and we have the space."
"If you don't say yes," Claude says mildly, "he's going to keep asking until you do. That's how I ended up living here the first time."
It's probably not as helpful as Cameron saying, "The last two years are the only time in forever that we haven't had someone else living here."
"It's your choice," Danny says, "but we'd really like it if you moved in with us."
Caleb looks suddenly a lot younger and more vulnerable. "What about your other kids?"
"They already agreed to it," Danny says. He smiles, trying to put Caleb at ease, trying to make him believe this is something he should do. "Caelan's going to let you have his room so you don't have to be next door to Claude and me."
Caleb laughs a little, but his eyes are damp. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Danny says. "We're all sure."
Caleb nods. "You have to let me contribute. Pay rent or do chores or something."
"Okay," Danny says, careful not to push too hard. "We'll work something out."
"Okay," Caleb says. "Yes, thank you. I can't believe you're willing to do this."
Claude laughs. "I knew as soon as he made friends with all of you that one of you was going to end up moving in here. I didn't think it would take this long."
Danny tries to frown at him, but he's too relieved for that. "I wasn't planning on it."
"No," Claude says. His eyes are warm where he's smiling across the table at Danny, "but I knew you couldn't resist." He turns a grin on Caleb. "Congratulations. You're the latest in a series of rookies Danny's put in the guest room."
Danny knows he's pushing a little, but he says, "Welcome to the family," anyway.
Caleb ducks his head and says, "Thank you," and then Cameron starts telling him stories about Caelan and Carson.
Claude and Cameron stay home when Danny drives Caleb back to his dorm.
Caleb's quiet for most of the drive. "Are you really sure you want me to live with you?" he asks when they're over the river and just driving into Philly.
"Yes," Danny says. He glances over but can't see much of Caleb's expression in the dark. He decides to be blunt anyway. "We're not like your parents. I've thought about this a lot. You need a place to live, and this is something I can do for you."
"I wish my parents were more like you," Caleb says, so soft Danny barely hears it.
Danny reaches across and squeezes his shoulder. "I'm your friend, not your dad, but if you ever want to talk or grown-up advice, I'm here."
Caleb doesn't do more than nod, but when Danny parks and gets out of the car with him, he hugs Danny tightly for a long time.
"It'll be okay," Danny says, even though it might not be true of Caleb's relationship with his parents. He pretends not to see Caleb wipe his eyes when he steps back.
The house is softly lit when Danny gets home, porch light left on for him and Claude in the living room watching TV. Claude looks up and smiles at Danny. It's just as welcoming as the house, and Danny crosses the room to sit next to him on the couch.
Claude leans in and kisses him softly. "You can't make everything better for him."
Danny sighs and leans into Claude. "I know." It's a parenting lesson he already knows that's all that much harder when the part he can't fix is the part that shouldn't need fixing.
"Cheer up," Claude says. "He'll be living here pretty soon, and then you can make almost everything better."
Danny smiles at him. "Is that how it worked when you moved in here?"
"Yep. Both times. I got lessons on how to be a good hockey player the first time and a lot of sex the second."
Danny laughs. "Was that a hint?"
"I wouldn't say no," Claude says. "But if you just want to cuddle or go check on Cameron, it can wait."
He does want to go check on Cameron. He doesn't have the words to tell Claude what it means that he knew that, so he leans in and kisses him instead, then pats his thigh and goes upstairs.
He knocks and waits for Cameron to invite him in. Cameron's on his bed with his laptop, which he closes when Danny goes over to sit next to him. Danny puts his arm around Cameron and pulls him in close.
"I love you." He kisses the top of Cameron's head.
Cameron gives him a strange look, but hugs him in return. "I love you too."
Danny sighs. "I just wanted to make sure you know that. Your mom and I will love you no matter what."
"Yeah, Dad, I know."
Danny kisses the top of his head again. "Okay. As long as you know that." He squeezes Cameron close before letting go and leaving him to whatever he was doing before.
Claude barely looks away from what he's watching when Danny rejoins him, but he does make space for Danny, and they cuddle close together.
"Everything okay?" Claude asks when the show goes to commercial.
"Yes." Danny kisses him for a long minute. "Do you care about this, or do you want to go upstairs so I can blow you?"
Claude kisses him back with more force. "The DVR's recording it." He fumbles at the remote to turn off the TV. "What are you waiting for?"
Danny grins at him and pulls him up the stairs.
*
Sarah drops into a chair at their usual table in Huntsman. "Are you still looking for an apartment?" she asks Caleb. "I might have a line on something."
"Uh, no," Caleb says, and it's hesitant enough that Sarah looks up from her phone.
"What happened?"
Caleb looks at Danny, who gestures at him to go ahead. They're all going to know soon enough anyway.
"I'm moving in with Danny and Claude."
Sarah stares at Caleb, then at Danny. "Huh. I thought you'd want to get rid of kids now that you're living together, not add them."
"We've both had people living with us for years," Danny says mildly. "We're used to it."
Sarah says, "Huh," again, then grins at Caleb. "You're going to witness a lot of hot dad action."
Danny decides not to interpret the look on Caleb's face.
Hunter makes a disgusted noise. "I don't want to be picturing that."
"Can we please not talk about my sex life?" Danny asks. It's probably not going to work, but it's worth a try.
Caleb looks at all three of them, and then says, "One of his kids is swapping rooms so I don't have to be next door to the newlyweds."
There's half a second of silence, and then Sarah laughs and Hunter groans.
"Don't tell us that," Hunter says. "Now I'm going to think about it."
Danny manages to keep a straight face while he says, "You should be glad to know you can have an active sex life even when you're out of your twenties."
Caleb grins at him, Sarah laughs outright, and Hunter puts his head in his hands.
"Don't ever give me sex advice," he says.
Danny can see the smile Hunter isn't quite successful in hiding and agrees to that.
*
The Flyers win one and then drop two in the first round of the playoffs. The loss is at home, and Danny watches it on his couch with reading he does during intermissions. He's still slowly working his way through it when Claude gets home, but he closes his book when he hears the front door open and close.
Claude shrugs off his suit jacket when he comes into the living room and drapes it over the back of the couch before he lies down, head in Danny's lap.
"Two losses," Claude says.
"One win." Danny runs his hand through Claude's hair.
Claude turns so his face is pressed against Danny's stomach. "Does being captain after a loss get easier?"
"This is your fifth year," Danny says. "Is it easier?"
"No," Claude says. He sighs. "Yes. I know what to say now."
"You don't carry the team on your own," Danny says. He rubs over Claude's shoulders, and then tilts Claude's head up so he can loosen his tie and unbutton his top two buttons.
"It still feels like it. Like it's my responsibility."
"Some of it," Danny says, "but it's not just you." He slides his hand inside Claude's shirt and rubs over his collarbone and the top of his chest. "You can lean on your As."
"Hartsy's been good about it this series." Claude sighs. "I hate losing."
"I know you do." Danny keeps his hand against the skin of Claude's chest and runs his other hand through Claude's hair, over and over again. He misses playing, but he doesn't miss how it feels to lose. It's bad enough when it's Claude's loss. He likes being able to do this, though, make it better for Claude in some small way, be there while the tension seeps out of Claude's body.
Claude eventually sighs and nuzzles into Danny's stomach. "I like coming home to you. That makes it easier."
"I like that too." Danny rubs his fingers against Claude's scalp. It's maybe not the right time for it, but he says it anyway. "I love you."
Claude twists to look at him, and his whole face lightens into a smile. Danny smiles down at him, helpless to do anything else, and he leans down while Claude leans up. It's an awkward angle for kissing, Danny bent halfway over and Claude pulling himself up with his arm around Danny's shoulders, but they manage it.
"I love you too," Claude says.
Danny thought that was true, by now at least, but he still likes hearing it from Claude. He kisses Claude again. "Can you sleep, or do you want to go upstairs and I'll wear you out with a blowjob?"
"I might be able to sleep," Claude says, "but I'm not going to turn that down." He levers himself up to sitting, then standing, and then leans over to kiss Danny before he can get up. "I love you," he murmurs. Then his face splits into a grin. "And not just because you're offering to blow me."
Danny laughs and gets up. "Go. I'll be there in a minute." He makes sure the door is locked and the dogs are content before he picks up the suit jacket Claude left behind and goes upstairs.
Claude is already down to just his pants, which he takes off while Danny watches. Danny tosses his jacket at him; Claude catches it and hangs it up with his pants. Then he's in just his boxer briefs, cotton stretched tight over the bulge of his cock.
Danny keeps his eyes on Claude while he strips and lets his clothes fall to the floor. Usually he wouldn't leave this much of a mess, but it doesn't seem worth breaking the moment to put his clothes in the hamper.
Unlike Claude, Danny strips all the way naked, freeing his hardening cock from the confines of cloth. Then he crosses the room to Claude and strokes his hands up Claude's chest and over his shoulders.
Claude smiles at him, shoulders loosening under Danny's hands. "You promised me a blowjob."
Danny laughs and kisses him. "I did." He lets go of Claude's shoulders and hooks his fingers into the waistband of Claude's boxer briefs. He glances up at Claude and slides to his knees as he pulls Claude's underwear off. He takes his time about it, stroking down Claude's legs as he goes and finally letting Claude step out of the cloth. Danny leans in then, just rubbing his lips over Claude's cock.
Claude lets out a gasp, and then he grabs at Danny's shoulder. "I can't do this standing," he says. "Really not if you're going to wear me out."
Danny presses a kiss to the head of Claude's cock, making Claude thrust toward him just a little. Then he stands up and pushes Claude toward the bed. "You're going to be too worn out to move," he promises. He grabs the lube while he's up, and takes it with him when he stretches out between Claude's legs. He goes slow, licking and teasing for a while. He half expects Claude to hurry him along, but Claude seems as happy as he is to go slow right now.
Danny opens the lube when he takes the head of Claude's cock into his mouth. He's going slow anyway, so it's not that hard to concentrate on sucking Claude while he pours lube onto his fingers.
Claude moans when Danny pushes a finger into him.
Danny keeps going slow, sucking soft and careful and not giving Claude a second finger until he's practically begging for it. He crooks his fingers, drawing moans out of Claude.
Claude's knees come up as he spreads his legs more, making it easier for Danny to thrust his fingers into him, and his hand settles on the back of Danny's head. "Danny," he says, "please, fuck, please."
Danny changes his strategy, the time for going slow over. He sucks hard on the head of Claude's cock, presses his fingers into Claude, and uses everything he knows about what Claude likes to make him come as quickly as possible.
Claude comes with a cry, and Danny swallows around him, keeping his cock in his mouth until Claude weakly pushes him away. Danny draws his fingers out of Claude slowly and sits up to look at Claude lying sated and still on the bed.
"I'll jerk you off if you come here," Claude mumbles. It brings Danny's attention to how hard he is. He's going to come so fast that jerking him off isn't going to disturb Claude's calm.
Danny shuffles up the bed on his knees. He picks up Claude's hand and wraps it around his cock so Claude doesn't even have to open his eyes.
Claude's always been good with concrete, performance-based tasks, and this is no exception. Even splayed out and exhausted, he jerks Danny off with a quick, even rhythm.
It's too good to last, and Danny comes over Claude's stomach a bare minute later.
"You're cleaning that up," Claude says even before Danny has caught his breath.
"Yeah," Danny says. He bends over to kiss Claude while he gets enough feeling back in his legs that he can stand up without falling over.
He washes his hands in the bathroom and gets a washcloth to clean Claude up with. Claude murmurs something indistinct when Danny touches him, but doesn't do anything to help, or even get himself under the covers when Danny's done.
Danny leaves him there while he returns the washcloth to the bathroom. He turns off the lights and muscles Claude under the covers in the dark. He finds Claude's mouth and kisses him.
"Exhausted enough to sleep?"
"Already asleep," Claude mumbles. Then, clearer, he says, "Love you."
Danny smiles even though Claude can't see it. "Love you too."
*
Danny's finals arrive in a rush. There are two reading days before they start, and he spends both of them on campus, attending review sessions and studying in Huntsman with Sarah, Hunter, and Caleb. Danny makes sure they take breaks for lunch and buys them afternoon snacks, trying to stave off the worst of their crankiness. They're all stressed out, but Danny has years of important, busy spring schedules to draw on, and he knows things will only be worse if they don't take care of themselves.
"Why did we take OPIM, stats, and BEPP all in the same semester?" Hunter asks during one of their short snack breaks. "That was a terrible idea."
"You're acing BEPP," Sarah says. "Stop complaining."
"And you're acing OPIM," Caleb says. "It's the two of us," he gestures between himself and Danny, "who have to worry about everything."
"Plus our other classes," Danny says, although he feels relatively confident about his business ethics class and is only really worried about bio.
"You don't get to talk," Sarah says, pointing at Danny. "You have the supportive boyfriend to fall back on."
"It's playoffs," Danny says. "He's not around much, and when he is, he's sleeping a lot."
"I'll bet you get laid though," Hunter grumbles.
"Not as much as you'd think," Danny admits. "We're both busy."
"What good are you if we can't even live vicariously through you?" Sarah asks.
Danny shrugs. "It's not as much fun for me either," he says. "My life right now is all take-out containers, naps, and homework."
"What happened to all that stuff you learned to cook?" Caleb asks.
"Easier to get take-out," Danny says. "Especially when it's just the two of us. Cameron cooks sometimes when he's with us."
"Nobody cooks for us," Hunter says. The rest of them look at him, and he says, "You know what I mean."
"Let's get through finals," Danny says, "and we'll cook for all of you before you start leaving for the summer."
"You don't have to do that," Sarah says.
"We should do something to celebrate the end of the year anyway," Danny says. "It'll be fun."
"How good is your cooking?" Hunter asks.
Danny laughs. "We're much better. We've been well-trained."
"He can manage it," Caleb says. "I'll bring dessert. Pie or something."
Hunter looks at him skeptically. "Can you cook?"
"He brought pie for Christmas," Danny says. "It was very good."
Sarah points her pen at Hunter. "That means we have to come up with something to contribute too."
Hunter makes a face at her. "They offered to do stuff. That doesn't mean we have to."
"Don't be a dick," Sarah says. "We'll come up with something." She looks at the mess of books and notebooks spread out over the table. "It might be something rushed after finals, but it'll be something."
Hunter heaves a sigh, but Danny can see the look in his eyes that means he's starting to think about it.
*
Danny's stats final lands on the very last day of finals. The final is in the morning, and Sarah and Hunter are both leaving the next day, so they plan to have dinner at Danny's. They all stay to the very end of the two hours working their way through the test and double-checking answers, and they gather together outside the classroom.
They just look at each other for a long minute, all of them still in a test-taking daze, until Hunter says, "That's the end of the year."
Sarah flashes him a grin. "We survived it."
"Maybe," Caleb says. "We haven't gotten our grades back yet."
"We kicked ass," Hunter says.
"We did," Danny says.
"Hell yes we did," Sarah says. She stretches and heaves a sigh. "And now I have to go pack since I haven't done any of it."
"Me too," Hunter says. They share a grimace.
"I'm halfway packed," Caleb says, "but I still need to make dessert."
"Claude's going to be in the city this afternoon," Danny says, "so he's going to pick you up for dinner."
"Well," Sarah says, "that gives us a deadline. We'll be ready."
They exchange one last smile of shared relief at being done for the semester and then go their separate ways.
Danny stops at the grocery store on his way home. He could have done it earlier, but he's been so absorbed in studying for finals that he didn't want to shift his focus.
It's strange to walk into the house and know that he doesn't have anything he needs to do other than make dinner. It's even stranger than the end of the first semester. Then, he still had things to do for Christmas for Claude and for the boys, and it was only a few weeks without classes. Now, he has a whole summer stretching in front of him. Well, mostly. Claude still has playoffs, and then they'll have the whole summer free.
After he puts the groceries away, Danny goes upstairs for a nap. It's not that he hasn't been sleeping, but it's one thing to sleep and another thing to sleep knowing the semester is over and there's nowhere he has to be until it's time to pick Cameron up from school. He even wakes up before his alarm is set to go off, and he has time to take the dogs for a walk before he picks Cameron up and then starts in on dinner.
He's in the kitchen when everyone else gets there. All four of them come in together, Claude trailing behind the others.
"Wow," Sarah says as she comes over to give him a one-armed hug. "You really do cook."
"I really do," Danny says with a laugh. He nods at the bag she's carrying. "What's that?"
Sarah pulls it away from him. "That," she says, "is for after dinner." She tucks it away in a corner of the kitchen, which makes room for Danny to accept Hunter's half hug while Caleb puts whatever he brought in the fridge.
"I brought pie," Caleb says when it's his turn to hug Danny. "Something different from what we had for Christmas."
"Yum." Danny hugs him close, and then lets him go around the counter while Danny kisses Claude.
"Can I help with anything?" Claude asks.
Danny puts him in charge of the salad and gives Sarah and Hunter plates to set the table. He also gets down wine glasses for all of them.
"Contributing to the delinquency of minors?" Claude asks.
"A glass of wine isn't going to hurt them," Danny says. "And they're college students. I'm sure they've had more to drink than that."
Claude laughs and kisses his cheek. "What are we drinking?"
"The wine from the fundraiser."
Danny lets Claude take care of the wine since he now understands how the wine fridge is organized, and he puts everything else into bowls and platters to go on the table.
"Cameron," he calls up the stairs, "dinner's ready."
Cameron comes down the stairs a couple of minute laters, and they all sit down around the table.
Danny picks up his wine glass. "To the end of our first year."
They toast around the table and sip at their wine, then pass platters and bowls around. Everything is quiet for a couple of minutes while everyone digs into their food.
Hunter is the first one to break the silence. "You really did learn to cook."
Danny chuckles. "I told you we were learning."
"It's good," Sarah says. "Congratulations on mastering one of the domestic arts."
"I don't know that I've mastered it," Danny says. "I can only cook a few things reliably."
"He hasn't burned anything in months," Claude says.
It makes all of the kids laugh, and now that they've settled into their dinner, they talk while they eat, about cooking and school and summer plans. It's fun, and even more so because Danny and his study group are relaxed without the tension of homework or finals looming over them. Claude still has playoffs, but he seems to have taken the evening off from worrying about them, and if Cameron has homework over the weekend, he doesn't seem too bothered by it.
Everyone helps clear the table after dinner, and Caleb takes over the kitchen to make whipped cream - "I could have bought ice cream or the stuff in a can, but this is such a treat" - and serve slices of the pie he made. The whipped cream is a treat, and Danny catches Claude eyeing the bowl longingly even after he's eaten his one slice of pie.
"I won't tell if you have another piece," Danny says.
Claude makes a face at him, and at everyone else when they laugh at him, but he gets himself another small slice of pie with a larger than necessary dollop of whipped cream. The rest of them take small second slices too, and only after they've eaten those do they put the leftover pie and whipped cream in the fridge.
"Now it's time for our contributions to the party," Sarah says. She gets the bag from the corner of the kitchen. "I brought a game, and Hunter brought the party music." She takes an iPod out of the bag first and gives it to Hunter. While he plugs it into the speakers and starts it playing, Sarah pulls out a large red box and sets it down in the middle of the table.
"Yes!" Cameron says. "Apples to Apples is awesome."
Sarah beams at him. "Yes, it is."
Danny, Claude, and Hunter haven't played before, so Sarah explains the rules while Cameron shuffles and deals the cards. It doesn't take long before they're all laughing over card pairings and Claude's protests that he's at a disadvantage since English isn't his first language.
"It's not hurting me," Danny says. He's not winning, but he's not doing as badly as Claude.
"You're in school," Claude says. "You have to use English all the time."
"You do press," Danny shoots back. "So do you."
Claude heaves a sigh that's at least half feigned and seems to renew his efforts to do better, which only leads to more laughter at some of the word pairings that result.
They play a couple of games before Hunter's playlist runs out, and at the end of that game, the quiet makes it seem like a natural end to the party.
Sarah packs up Apples to Apples, Hunter retrieves his iPod from the dock, and Danny puts pieces of pie on plastic plates for her and Hunter. Cameron and Claude hug Caleb, Hunter, and Sarah, and then stay home to let Danny drive them back himself.
Danny parks and gets out of the car when they get back to campus. They all look at each other for a second, and then Sarah says, "Group hug," and they fall into a laughing tangle of arms.
They do individual hugs, too. Sarah holds on tight when she hugs Danny and says, "I'm really glad I met you."
"Me too," Danny says. "Have a really good summer."
"I will." Sarah laughs. "And I'm going to text you, like, all the time."
Danny grins at her. "Good."
Hunter's hug starts out as more of a clap on the back, but when Danny gives him a real hug, he returns it.
"Have a good summer," Danny says.
"You know it," Hunter says. "And, hey, I'll text you if I get down here for something."
"Do that," Danny says. "We'll hang out or go to a Phillies game or something."
Hunter grins at him and steps back.
Danny gives Caleb a quick hug. "We'll pick you up in the morning."
The four of them stand there for another moment before Hunter, predictably, is the one to break it up. Danny watches them walk away with the same kind of bittersweet swell in his chest as the end of a hockey season. They did well, and he made close friends, and even though he knows he'll see them again soon enough, he'll miss them.
Danny goes home to the rest of his family, Cameron and Claude sprawled out on the couch watching TV. Danny takes the space right next to Claude and kisses him for long enough that Cameron makes a disgusted noise. Danny and Claude break apart with a laugh, and Danny settles himself against Claude's shoulder.
Claude puts his arm around Danny and kisses his temple. "It's a good family you're building."
Danny smiles at him, and at Cameron. "We're building."
*
The staggering of people's last days of finals means campus isn't quite overwhelmed with people moving out when Danny and Claude show up to pick up Caleb. They still have to drive around a little before they find a parking space close enough that it's not going to be a terrible hassle.
With so many people moving in and out, the dorm doors are propped open, and they can go right in and up to Caleb's floor. Caleb's door is open, and Danny taps on it before they walk in.
Caleb looks up from where he's sitting on one of the beds and smiles at them as he closes his laptop and sets it aside. "Hi."
"Hi." Danny goes all the way into the room and hugs him, with Claude right behind him. "Ready to do this?"
"Yep." Caleb gestures at a small stack of boxes and a couple of suitcases. "There isn't that much to move."
"You've got two hockey players to help you," Claude says. "This shouldn't take too long."
It's just enough stuff that even with Danny and Claude carrying heavier boxes, it takes them two trips to get the bulk of it down to the car, and they come back up for Caleb's last suitcase and his backpack.
Between the three of them, they do a last sweep of the closet and dressers to make sure Caleb isn't leaving anything behind.
"Ready to go?" Danny asks.
Caleb looks around the room, white walls and bare mattresses. "Yes." He shrugs on his backpack and leads them out of the room. He locks the door behind him, and they head down the stairs.
They stop in the lobby, Danny and Claude standing to the side while Caleb turns in his key. There are enough adults wandering in and out that they aren't very noticeable, particularly when everyone around them is too busy with moving to pay much attention to anyone who isn't in their way.
Claude nudges Danny with an elbow. "Is this what it's going to be like when we take Cameron to college?"
Danny follows his gaze to a clearly stressed out and exhausted family hauling boxes through the lobby. "Maybe. I didn't do this with Caelan. I was already in school, and he moved into an apartment."
Claude hmms. "Still before training camp. I can go with Cameron when he moves in."
Danny leans his shoulder against Claude instead of kissing him in the middle of Caleb's dorm's lobby. He knows they're serious, but Cameron still has two more years of high school left, which means Claude's talking about a future farther away than anything they've really talked about so far.
Claude puts an arm around his shoulders. In casual clothes and hanging around, they're nearly indistinguishable from the parents wandering in and out. Even the fact that they're both men is barely garnering them a second glance.
"I love you," Danny says quietly.
Claude's face lights up. Maybe Danny should say the words more often. "Me too," he says, just as quietly.
"If you're done," Caleb says, "I'm ready to go." There's something just short of a smirk on his face.
Claude's arm slides off of Danny's shoulders slowly. "Let's go haul your stuff around again."
The drive home is nice, idle chit chat and Danny letting Claude control the radio, Caleb an easy presence in the back seat. It's a taste of what it's going to be like in the fall, driving himself and Caleb back and forth across the river.
It takes them less time to unload the car than it did to load it, no one else they have to maneuver around and fewer stairs up to the second floor, and pretty soon they have Caleb's boxes stacked in a corner of his room.
"I put sheets on the bed," Danny says, waving at it. "If you hate the furniture, we can change it."
"Don't be shy," Claude says, "I made him buy me new furniture the first time I moved in."
"I think it'll be fine," Caleb says.
"Do you want help unpacking?" Danny asks.
"No," Caleb says. "I can get it."
Danny nods. "Okay. Well, don't feel like you have to hide out up here. This is your home too. The cleaning ladies come on Wednesday, but pick up after yourself or keep your door closed. No parties when Cameron has school the next day. If you bring someone home," Danny starts, and then rethinks how he's going to finish that sentence; he can't very well tell Caleb to keep it to his room when he has no intention of doing that with Claude. "Use your judgement," he finally decides on, pointedly ignoring Claude's snickers, "about what's appropriate to do where."
Caleb actually laughs. "Are you going to follow that rule too?"
Danny says, "Yes," and Claude says, "No."
"Yes," Danny says more firmly. "We will."
Caleb doesn't look like he believes it, but he nods and they leave him to his unpacking.
"You don't really mean that, right?" Claude asks as they go down the stairs. "I really want to have sex in the kitchen again someday."
Danny wants that too. He turns and kisses Claude, having to lean up more than usual with Claude on the stairs above him. "He and Cameron won't be here all the time."
Claude brightens up. "Really?"
"Really."
Claude leans down and kisses him again. "Want to go make out on the couch?"
Danny grins at him. "Yes." Cameron won't be home from school until later and Caleb will probably be a while unpacking.
They both end up half hard, but they don't do anything more than make out, Danny stretched out under Claude on the couch. By the time Caleb comes downstairs, they're sitting up, leaning against each other watching a forgettable action movie Claude found when he started flipping channels.
"Is this the kind of excitement I can expect living here?" Caleb asks.
"Yep," Claude says cheerfully. He gestures at the other end of the couch. "You can watch with us if you want."
Caleb sends a skeptical look at the movie, but sits down anyway.
"I'm glad you're here," Danny says. He can't fix everything for Caleb, but maybe this will be enough, a house full of love and people he can lean on while he gets through college.
"We're glad you're here," Claude corrects. And that's even better, the two of them a solid team and offering what support they can to Caleb as much as they do for the boys.
Caleb nods solemnly. "Me too."
Carson is bound to be busier than any of the rest of them, so Danny texts him to ask him to call when he has time to talk. That doesn't turn out to be for another day, and then Carson is full of news and stories about his life.
Danny tells some of his own stories too before he gets to the reason he originally wanted Carson to call.
"Caleb doesn't have a place to live this summer. I want to invite him to live here, if that's okay with everyone."
"When don't you have someone else living there?" Carson asks. Danny can almost see him rolling his eyes. "Yeah, that's cool. Is he going to want to hang out with us and stuff?"
"I don't know," Danny says. "He's going to be working, but he'll probably spend some time hanging out when he's not at work."
"Cool," Carson says. "Tell him he should brush up on his video game skills."
Danny laughs. "I'll do that."
*
Once everyone else in his house has agreed to it, Danny invites Caleb over for dinner. He makes it a Friday afternoon when Claude and Cameron will be around and he and Caleb won't have homework to get in the way.
"Claude's going to pick you up," Danny says to Caleb on their way out of class, after they've separated from Sarah and Hunter outside the building. "He'll be in the city anyway."
"Okay," Caleb says. He grins at Danny. "It'll be good to get to know your boyfriend on his own."
Danny laughs and says, "I'll see you tonight."
Cameron helps make dinner, and they're about halfway done when Claude gets home with Caleb.
Claude comes through to the kitchen first, and Danny turns to kiss him hello before he says hi to Caleb. There's a world of expression on Caleb's face, and Danny's probably going to be hearing about this from his whole study group later. He's too happy to have Claude, Cameron, and Caleb all here to be very bothered about it.
"Can I help?" Caleb asks.
"We've got it," Danny says. He nudges Claude, who hasn't moved out of his space. "Will you set the table?"
"Yep." Claude kisses his cheek and gets plates out.
"Cute," Caleb says.
"Don't encourage them," Cameron says. "They're all kissy all the time now. They're worse than Caelan and Alexis."
Danny laughs and leans up to very obviously kiss Claude when he comes back to the kitchen. Claude grins and kisses him back.
"No one's as bad as Caelan and Alexis," Claude says cheerfully. "Especially not that first year." He elbows Cameron. "See if we're nice about it when you have a girlfriend."
Cameron turns bright red and elbows Claude back. "Shut up," he mutters.
Despite the chirping, they get dinner on the table without incident, and everyone quiets down while they eat.
"This is good," Caleb says. "Your cooking lessons worked."
"I can still only make the things Mitchell taught us," Danny admits, "but that's better than before."
Caleb laughs. "Well, you've got this one down. You and Cameron."
All four of them are smiling, and that makes it seem like a good idea to bring up Caleb's living situation.
"I didn't just want to show off my cooking," Danny says. "I know you're looking for somewhere to live during the summer. We have an extra room, and we'd love to have you move in with us."
Caleb's jaw drops and he just stares at Danny.
"Transportation might be an issue," Danny says, "but we can work it out. You can take the car or one of us will drive you into the city for work. If you want to stay during the school year too, we're taking most of the same classes, and Claude's in and out of Philly all the time."
"Danny," Caleb says. "That's not- You don't have to do that."
"I know," Danny says. He also knows he's treading on iffy ground here, trying to make this better for Caleb without making it hard for him or reminding him of how much his family isn't doing for him. "But I want to. You're my friend, and we have the space."
"If you don't say yes," Claude says mildly, "he's going to keep asking until you do. That's how I ended up living here the first time."
It's probably not as helpful as Cameron saying, "The last two years are the only time in forever that we haven't had someone else living here."
"It's your choice," Danny says, "but we'd really like it if you moved in with us."
Caleb looks suddenly a lot younger and more vulnerable. "What about your other kids?"
"They already agreed to it," Danny says. He smiles, trying to put Caleb at ease, trying to make him believe this is something he should do. "Caelan's going to let you have his room so you don't have to be next door to Claude and me."
Caleb laughs a little, but his eyes are damp. "Are you sure?"
"Yes," Danny says. "We're all sure."
Caleb nods. "You have to let me contribute. Pay rent or do chores or something."
"Okay," Danny says, careful not to push too hard. "We'll work something out."
"Okay," Caleb says. "Yes, thank you. I can't believe you're willing to do this."
Claude laughs. "I knew as soon as he made friends with all of you that one of you was going to end up moving in here. I didn't think it would take this long."
Danny tries to frown at him, but he's too relieved for that. "I wasn't planning on it."
"No," Claude says. His eyes are warm where he's smiling across the table at Danny, "but I knew you couldn't resist." He turns a grin on Caleb. "Congratulations. You're the latest in a series of rookies Danny's put in the guest room."
Danny knows he's pushing a little, but he says, "Welcome to the family," anyway.
Caleb ducks his head and says, "Thank you," and then Cameron starts telling him stories about Caelan and Carson.
Claude and Cameron stay home when Danny drives Caleb back to his dorm.
Caleb's quiet for most of the drive. "Are you really sure you want me to live with you?" he asks when they're over the river and just driving into Philly.
"Yes," Danny says. He glances over but can't see much of Caleb's expression in the dark. He decides to be blunt anyway. "We're not like your parents. I've thought about this a lot. You need a place to live, and this is something I can do for you."
"I wish my parents were more like you," Caleb says, so soft Danny barely hears it.
Danny reaches across and squeezes his shoulder. "I'm your friend, not your dad, but if you ever want to talk or grown-up advice, I'm here."
Caleb doesn't do more than nod, but when Danny parks and gets out of the car with him, he hugs Danny tightly for a long time.
"It'll be okay," Danny says, even though it might not be true of Caleb's relationship with his parents. He pretends not to see Caleb wipe his eyes when he steps back.
The house is softly lit when Danny gets home, porch light left on for him and Claude in the living room watching TV. Claude looks up and smiles at Danny. It's just as welcoming as the house, and Danny crosses the room to sit next to him on the couch.
Claude leans in and kisses him softly. "You can't make everything better for him."
Danny sighs and leans into Claude. "I know." It's a parenting lesson he already knows that's all that much harder when the part he can't fix is the part that shouldn't need fixing.
"Cheer up," Claude says. "He'll be living here pretty soon, and then you can make almost everything better."
Danny smiles at him. "Is that how it worked when you moved in here?"
"Yep. Both times. I got lessons on how to be a good hockey player the first time and a lot of sex the second."
Danny laughs. "Was that a hint?"
"I wouldn't say no," Claude says. "But if you just want to cuddle or go check on Cameron, it can wait."
He does want to go check on Cameron. He doesn't have the words to tell Claude what it means that he knew that, so he leans in and kisses him instead, then pats his thigh and goes upstairs.
He knocks and waits for Cameron to invite him in. Cameron's on his bed with his laptop, which he closes when Danny goes over to sit next to him. Danny puts his arm around Cameron and pulls him in close.
"I love you." He kisses the top of Cameron's head.
Cameron gives him a strange look, but hugs him in return. "I love you too."
Danny sighs. "I just wanted to make sure you know that. Your mom and I will love you no matter what."
"Yeah, Dad, I know."
Danny kisses the top of his head again. "Okay. As long as you know that." He squeezes Cameron close before letting go and leaving him to whatever he was doing before.
Claude barely looks away from what he's watching when Danny rejoins him, but he does make space for Danny, and they cuddle close together.
"Everything okay?" Claude asks when the show goes to commercial.
"Yes." Danny kisses him for a long minute. "Do you care about this, or do you want to go upstairs so I can blow you?"
Claude kisses him back with more force. "The DVR's recording it." He fumbles at the remote to turn off the TV. "What are you waiting for?"
Danny grins at him and pulls him up the stairs.
*
Sarah drops into a chair at their usual table in Huntsman. "Are you still looking for an apartment?" she asks Caleb. "I might have a line on something."
"Uh, no," Caleb says, and it's hesitant enough that Sarah looks up from her phone.
"What happened?"
Caleb looks at Danny, who gestures at him to go ahead. They're all going to know soon enough anyway.
"I'm moving in with Danny and Claude."
Sarah stares at Caleb, then at Danny. "Huh. I thought you'd want to get rid of kids now that you're living together, not add them."
"We've both had people living with us for years," Danny says mildly. "We're used to it."
Sarah says, "Huh," again, then grins at Caleb. "You're going to witness a lot of hot dad action."
Danny decides not to interpret the look on Caleb's face.
Hunter makes a disgusted noise. "I don't want to be picturing that."
"Can we please not talk about my sex life?" Danny asks. It's probably not going to work, but it's worth a try.
Caleb looks at all three of them, and then says, "One of his kids is swapping rooms so I don't have to be next door to the newlyweds."
There's half a second of silence, and then Sarah laughs and Hunter groans.
"Don't tell us that," Hunter says. "Now I'm going to think about it."
Danny manages to keep a straight face while he says, "You should be glad to know you can have an active sex life even when you're out of your twenties."
Caleb grins at him, Sarah laughs outright, and Hunter puts his head in his hands.
"Don't ever give me sex advice," he says.
Danny can see the smile Hunter isn't quite successful in hiding and agrees to that.
*
The Flyers win one and then drop two in the first round of the playoffs. The loss is at home, and Danny watches it on his couch with reading he does during intermissions. He's still slowly working his way through it when Claude gets home, but he closes his book when he hears the front door open and close.
Claude shrugs off his suit jacket when he comes into the living room and drapes it over the back of the couch before he lies down, head in Danny's lap.
"Two losses," Claude says.
"One win." Danny runs his hand through Claude's hair.
Claude turns so his face is pressed against Danny's stomach. "Does being captain after a loss get easier?"
"This is your fifth year," Danny says. "Is it easier?"
"No," Claude says. He sighs. "Yes. I know what to say now."
"You don't carry the team on your own," Danny says. He rubs over Claude's shoulders, and then tilts Claude's head up so he can loosen his tie and unbutton his top two buttons.
"It still feels like it. Like it's my responsibility."
"Some of it," Danny says, "but it's not just you." He slides his hand inside Claude's shirt and rubs over his collarbone and the top of his chest. "You can lean on your As."
"Hartsy's been good about it this series." Claude sighs. "I hate losing."
"I know you do." Danny keeps his hand against the skin of Claude's chest and runs his other hand through Claude's hair, over and over again. He misses playing, but he doesn't miss how it feels to lose. It's bad enough when it's Claude's loss. He likes being able to do this, though, make it better for Claude in some small way, be there while the tension seeps out of Claude's body.
Claude eventually sighs and nuzzles into Danny's stomach. "I like coming home to you. That makes it easier."
"I like that too." Danny rubs his fingers against Claude's scalp. It's maybe not the right time for it, but he says it anyway. "I love you."
Claude twists to look at him, and his whole face lightens into a smile. Danny smiles down at him, helpless to do anything else, and he leans down while Claude leans up. It's an awkward angle for kissing, Danny bent halfway over and Claude pulling himself up with his arm around Danny's shoulders, but they manage it.
"I love you too," Claude says.
Danny thought that was true, by now at least, but he still likes hearing it from Claude. He kisses Claude again. "Can you sleep, or do you want to go upstairs and I'll wear you out with a blowjob?"
"I might be able to sleep," Claude says, "but I'm not going to turn that down." He levers himself up to sitting, then standing, and then leans over to kiss Danny before he can get up. "I love you," he murmurs. Then his face splits into a grin. "And not just because you're offering to blow me."
Danny laughs and gets up. "Go. I'll be there in a minute." He makes sure the door is locked and the dogs are content before he picks up the suit jacket Claude left behind and goes upstairs.
Claude is already down to just his pants, which he takes off while Danny watches. Danny tosses his jacket at him; Claude catches it and hangs it up with his pants. Then he's in just his boxer briefs, cotton stretched tight over the bulge of his cock.
Danny keeps his eyes on Claude while he strips and lets his clothes fall to the floor. Usually he wouldn't leave this much of a mess, but it doesn't seem worth breaking the moment to put his clothes in the hamper.
Unlike Claude, Danny strips all the way naked, freeing his hardening cock from the confines of cloth. Then he crosses the room to Claude and strokes his hands up Claude's chest and over his shoulders.
Claude smiles at him, shoulders loosening under Danny's hands. "You promised me a blowjob."
Danny laughs and kisses him. "I did." He lets go of Claude's shoulders and hooks his fingers into the waistband of Claude's boxer briefs. He glances up at Claude and slides to his knees as he pulls Claude's underwear off. He takes his time about it, stroking down Claude's legs as he goes and finally letting Claude step out of the cloth. Danny leans in then, just rubbing his lips over Claude's cock.
Claude lets out a gasp, and then he grabs at Danny's shoulder. "I can't do this standing," he says. "Really not if you're going to wear me out."
Danny presses a kiss to the head of Claude's cock, making Claude thrust toward him just a little. Then he stands up and pushes Claude toward the bed. "You're going to be too worn out to move," he promises. He grabs the lube while he's up, and takes it with him when he stretches out between Claude's legs. He goes slow, licking and teasing for a while. He half expects Claude to hurry him along, but Claude seems as happy as he is to go slow right now.
Danny opens the lube when he takes the head of Claude's cock into his mouth. He's going slow anyway, so it's not that hard to concentrate on sucking Claude while he pours lube onto his fingers.
Claude moans when Danny pushes a finger into him.
Danny keeps going slow, sucking soft and careful and not giving Claude a second finger until he's practically begging for it. He crooks his fingers, drawing moans out of Claude.
Claude's knees come up as he spreads his legs more, making it easier for Danny to thrust his fingers into him, and his hand settles on the back of Danny's head. "Danny," he says, "please, fuck, please."
Danny changes his strategy, the time for going slow over. He sucks hard on the head of Claude's cock, presses his fingers into Claude, and uses everything he knows about what Claude likes to make him come as quickly as possible.
Claude comes with a cry, and Danny swallows around him, keeping his cock in his mouth until Claude weakly pushes him away. Danny draws his fingers out of Claude slowly and sits up to look at Claude lying sated and still on the bed.
"I'll jerk you off if you come here," Claude mumbles. It brings Danny's attention to how hard he is. He's going to come so fast that jerking him off isn't going to disturb Claude's calm.
Danny shuffles up the bed on his knees. He picks up Claude's hand and wraps it around his cock so Claude doesn't even have to open his eyes.
Claude's always been good with concrete, performance-based tasks, and this is no exception. Even splayed out and exhausted, he jerks Danny off with a quick, even rhythm.
It's too good to last, and Danny comes over Claude's stomach a bare minute later.
"You're cleaning that up," Claude says even before Danny has caught his breath.
"Yeah," Danny says. He bends over to kiss Claude while he gets enough feeling back in his legs that he can stand up without falling over.
He washes his hands in the bathroom and gets a washcloth to clean Claude up with. Claude murmurs something indistinct when Danny touches him, but doesn't do anything to help, or even get himself under the covers when Danny's done.
Danny leaves him there while he returns the washcloth to the bathroom. He turns off the lights and muscles Claude under the covers in the dark. He finds Claude's mouth and kisses him.
"Exhausted enough to sleep?"
"Already asleep," Claude mumbles. Then, clearer, he says, "Love you."
Danny smiles even though Claude can't see it. "Love you too."
*
Danny's finals arrive in a rush. There are two reading days before they start, and he spends both of them on campus, attending review sessions and studying in Huntsman with Sarah, Hunter, and Caleb. Danny makes sure they take breaks for lunch and buys them afternoon snacks, trying to stave off the worst of their crankiness. They're all stressed out, but Danny has years of important, busy spring schedules to draw on, and he knows things will only be worse if they don't take care of themselves.
"Why did we take OPIM, stats, and BEPP all in the same semester?" Hunter asks during one of their short snack breaks. "That was a terrible idea."
"You're acing BEPP," Sarah says. "Stop complaining."
"And you're acing OPIM," Caleb says. "It's the two of us," he gestures between himself and Danny, "who have to worry about everything."
"Plus our other classes," Danny says, although he feels relatively confident about his business ethics class and is only really worried about bio.
"You don't get to talk," Sarah says, pointing at Danny. "You have the supportive boyfriend to fall back on."
"It's playoffs," Danny says. "He's not around much, and when he is, he's sleeping a lot."
"I'll bet you get laid though," Hunter grumbles.
"Not as much as you'd think," Danny admits. "We're both busy."
"What good are you if we can't even live vicariously through you?" Sarah asks.
Danny shrugs. "It's not as much fun for me either," he says. "My life right now is all take-out containers, naps, and homework."
"What happened to all that stuff you learned to cook?" Caleb asks.
"Easier to get take-out," Danny says. "Especially when it's just the two of us. Cameron cooks sometimes when he's with us."
"Nobody cooks for us," Hunter says. The rest of them look at him, and he says, "You know what I mean."
"Let's get through finals," Danny says, "and we'll cook for all of you before you start leaving for the summer."
"You don't have to do that," Sarah says.
"We should do something to celebrate the end of the year anyway," Danny says. "It'll be fun."
"How good is your cooking?" Hunter asks.
Danny laughs. "We're much better. We've been well-trained."
"He can manage it," Caleb says. "I'll bring dessert. Pie or something."
Hunter looks at him skeptically. "Can you cook?"
"He brought pie for Christmas," Danny says. "It was very good."
Sarah points her pen at Hunter. "That means we have to come up with something to contribute too."
Hunter makes a face at her. "They offered to do stuff. That doesn't mean we have to."
"Don't be a dick," Sarah says. "We'll come up with something." She looks at the mess of books and notebooks spread out over the table. "It might be something rushed after finals, but it'll be something."
Hunter heaves a sigh, but Danny can see the look in his eyes that means he's starting to think about it.
*
Danny's stats final lands on the very last day of finals. The final is in the morning, and Sarah and Hunter are both leaving the next day, so they plan to have dinner at Danny's. They all stay to the very end of the two hours working their way through the test and double-checking answers, and they gather together outside the classroom.
They just look at each other for a long minute, all of them still in a test-taking daze, until Hunter says, "That's the end of the year."
Sarah flashes him a grin. "We survived it."
"Maybe," Caleb says. "We haven't gotten our grades back yet."
"We kicked ass," Hunter says.
"We did," Danny says.
"Hell yes we did," Sarah says. She stretches and heaves a sigh. "And now I have to go pack since I haven't done any of it."
"Me too," Hunter says. They share a grimace.
"I'm halfway packed," Caleb says, "but I still need to make dessert."
"Claude's going to be in the city this afternoon," Danny says, "so he's going to pick you up for dinner."
"Well," Sarah says, "that gives us a deadline. We'll be ready."
They exchange one last smile of shared relief at being done for the semester and then go their separate ways.
Danny stops at the grocery store on his way home. He could have done it earlier, but he's been so absorbed in studying for finals that he didn't want to shift his focus.
It's strange to walk into the house and know that he doesn't have anything he needs to do other than make dinner. It's even stranger than the end of the first semester. Then, he still had things to do for Christmas for Claude and for the boys, and it was only a few weeks without classes. Now, he has a whole summer stretching in front of him. Well, mostly. Claude still has playoffs, and then they'll have the whole summer free.
After he puts the groceries away, Danny goes upstairs for a nap. It's not that he hasn't been sleeping, but it's one thing to sleep and another thing to sleep knowing the semester is over and there's nowhere he has to be until it's time to pick Cameron up from school. He even wakes up before his alarm is set to go off, and he has time to take the dogs for a walk before he picks Cameron up and then starts in on dinner.
He's in the kitchen when everyone else gets there. All four of them come in together, Claude trailing behind the others.
"Wow," Sarah says as she comes over to give him a one-armed hug. "You really do cook."
"I really do," Danny says with a laugh. He nods at the bag she's carrying. "What's that?"
Sarah pulls it away from him. "That," she says, "is for after dinner." She tucks it away in a corner of the kitchen, which makes room for Danny to accept Hunter's half hug while Caleb puts whatever he brought in the fridge.
"I brought pie," Caleb says when it's his turn to hug Danny. "Something different from what we had for Christmas."
"Yum." Danny hugs him close, and then lets him go around the counter while Danny kisses Claude.
"Can I help with anything?" Claude asks.
Danny puts him in charge of the salad and gives Sarah and Hunter plates to set the table. He also gets down wine glasses for all of them.
"Contributing to the delinquency of minors?" Claude asks.
"A glass of wine isn't going to hurt them," Danny says. "And they're college students. I'm sure they've had more to drink than that."
Claude laughs and kisses his cheek. "What are we drinking?"
"The wine from the fundraiser."
Danny lets Claude take care of the wine since he now understands how the wine fridge is organized, and he puts everything else into bowls and platters to go on the table.
"Cameron," he calls up the stairs, "dinner's ready."
Cameron comes down the stairs a couple of minute laters, and they all sit down around the table.
Danny picks up his wine glass. "To the end of our first year."
They toast around the table and sip at their wine, then pass platters and bowls around. Everything is quiet for a couple of minutes while everyone digs into their food.
Hunter is the first one to break the silence. "You really did learn to cook."
Danny chuckles. "I told you we were learning."
"It's good," Sarah says. "Congratulations on mastering one of the domestic arts."
"I don't know that I've mastered it," Danny says. "I can only cook a few things reliably."
"He hasn't burned anything in months," Claude says.
It makes all of the kids laugh, and now that they've settled into their dinner, they talk while they eat, about cooking and school and summer plans. It's fun, and even more so because Danny and his study group are relaxed without the tension of homework or finals looming over them. Claude still has playoffs, but he seems to have taken the evening off from worrying about them, and if Cameron has homework over the weekend, he doesn't seem too bothered by it.
Everyone helps clear the table after dinner, and Caleb takes over the kitchen to make whipped cream - "I could have bought ice cream or the stuff in a can, but this is such a treat" - and serve slices of the pie he made. The whipped cream is a treat, and Danny catches Claude eyeing the bowl longingly even after he's eaten his one slice of pie.
"I won't tell if you have another piece," Danny says.
Claude makes a face at him, and at everyone else when they laugh at him, but he gets himself another small slice of pie with a larger than necessary dollop of whipped cream. The rest of them take small second slices too, and only after they've eaten those do they put the leftover pie and whipped cream in the fridge.
"Now it's time for our contributions to the party," Sarah says. She gets the bag from the corner of the kitchen. "I brought a game, and Hunter brought the party music." She takes an iPod out of the bag first and gives it to Hunter. While he plugs it into the speakers and starts it playing, Sarah pulls out a large red box and sets it down in the middle of the table.
"Yes!" Cameron says. "Apples to Apples is awesome."
Sarah beams at him. "Yes, it is."
Danny, Claude, and Hunter haven't played before, so Sarah explains the rules while Cameron shuffles and deals the cards. It doesn't take long before they're all laughing over card pairings and Claude's protests that he's at a disadvantage since English isn't his first language.
"It's not hurting me," Danny says. He's not winning, but he's not doing as badly as Claude.
"You're in school," Claude says. "You have to use English all the time."
"You do press," Danny shoots back. "So do you."
Claude heaves a sigh that's at least half feigned and seems to renew his efforts to do better, which only leads to more laughter at some of the word pairings that result.
They play a couple of games before Hunter's playlist runs out, and at the end of that game, the quiet makes it seem like a natural end to the party.
Sarah packs up Apples to Apples, Hunter retrieves his iPod from the dock, and Danny puts pieces of pie on plastic plates for her and Hunter. Cameron and Claude hug Caleb, Hunter, and Sarah, and then stay home to let Danny drive them back himself.
Danny parks and gets out of the car when they get back to campus. They all look at each other for a second, and then Sarah says, "Group hug," and they fall into a laughing tangle of arms.
They do individual hugs, too. Sarah holds on tight when she hugs Danny and says, "I'm really glad I met you."
"Me too," Danny says. "Have a really good summer."
"I will." Sarah laughs. "And I'm going to text you, like, all the time."
Danny grins at her. "Good."
Hunter's hug starts out as more of a clap on the back, but when Danny gives him a real hug, he returns it.
"Have a good summer," Danny says.
"You know it," Hunter says. "And, hey, I'll text you if I get down here for something."
"Do that," Danny says. "We'll hang out or go to a Phillies game or something."
Hunter grins at him and steps back.
Danny gives Caleb a quick hug. "We'll pick you up in the morning."
The four of them stand there for another moment before Hunter, predictably, is the one to break it up. Danny watches them walk away with the same kind of bittersweet swell in his chest as the end of a hockey season. They did well, and he made close friends, and even though he knows he'll see them again soon enough, he'll miss them.
Danny goes home to the rest of his family, Cameron and Claude sprawled out on the couch watching TV. Danny takes the space right next to Claude and kisses him for long enough that Cameron makes a disgusted noise. Danny and Claude break apart with a laugh, and Danny settles himself against Claude's shoulder.
Claude puts his arm around Danny and kisses his temple. "It's a good family you're building."
Danny smiles at him, and at Cameron. "We're building."
*
The staggering of people's last days of finals means campus isn't quite overwhelmed with people moving out when Danny and Claude show up to pick up Caleb. They still have to drive around a little before they find a parking space close enough that it's not going to be a terrible hassle.
With so many people moving in and out, the dorm doors are propped open, and they can go right in and up to Caleb's floor. Caleb's door is open, and Danny taps on it before they walk in.
Caleb looks up from where he's sitting on one of the beds and smiles at them as he closes his laptop and sets it aside. "Hi."
"Hi." Danny goes all the way into the room and hugs him, with Claude right behind him. "Ready to do this?"
"Yep." Caleb gestures at a small stack of boxes and a couple of suitcases. "There isn't that much to move."
"You've got two hockey players to help you," Claude says. "This shouldn't take too long."
It's just enough stuff that even with Danny and Claude carrying heavier boxes, it takes them two trips to get the bulk of it down to the car, and they come back up for Caleb's last suitcase and his backpack.
Between the three of them, they do a last sweep of the closet and dressers to make sure Caleb isn't leaving anything behind.
"Ready to go?" Danny asks.
Caleb looks around the room, white walls and bare mattresses. "Yes." He shrugs on his backpack and leads them out of the room. He locks the door behind him, and they head down the stairs.
They stop in the lobby, Danny and Claude standing to the side while Caleb turns in his key. There are enough adults wandering in and out that they aren't very noticeable, particularly when everyone around them is too busy with moving to pay much attention to anyone who isn't in their way.
Claude nudges Danny with an elbow. "Is this what it's going to be like when we take Cameron to college?"
Danny follows his gaze to a clearly stressed out and exhausted family hauling boxes through the lobby. "Maybe. I didn't do this with Caelan. I was already in school, and he moved into an apartment."
Claude hmms. "Still before training camp. I can go with Cameron when he moves in."
Danny leans his shoulder against Claude instead of kissing him in the middle of Caleb's dorm's lobby. He knows they're serious, but Cameron still has two more years of high school left, which means Claude's talking about a future farther away than anything they've really talked about so far.
Claude puts an arm around his shoulders. In casual clothes and hanging around, they're nearly indistinguishable from the parents wandering in and out. Even the fact that they're both men is barely garnering them a second glance.
"I love you," Danny says quietly.
Claude's face lights up. Maybe Danny should say the words more often. "Me too," he says, just as quietly.
"If you're done," Caleb says, "I'm ready to go." There's something just short of a smirk on his face.
Claude's arm slides off of Danny's shoulders slowly. "Let's go haul your stuff around again."
The drive home is nice, idle chit chat and Danny letting Claude control the radio, Caleb an easy presence in the back seat. It's a taste of what it's going to be like in the fall, driving himself and Caleb back and forth across the river.
It takes them less time to unload the car than it did to load it, no one else they have to maneuver around and fewer stairs up to the second floor, and pretty soon they have Caleb's boxes stacked in a corner of his room.
"I put sheets on the bed," Danny says, waving at it. "If you hate the furniture, we can change it."
"Don't be shy," Claude says, "I made him buy me new furniture the first time I moved in."
"I think it'll be fine," Caleb says.
"Do you want help unpacking?" Danny asks.
"No," Caleb says. "I can get it."
Danny nods. "Okay. Well, don't feel like you have to hide out up here. This is your home too. The cleaning ladies come on Wednesday, but pick up after yourself or keep your door closed. No parties when Cameron has school the next day. If you bring someone home," Danny starts, and then rethinks how he's going to finish that sentence; he can't very well tell Caleb to keep it to his room when he has no intention of doing that with Claude. "Use your judgement," he finally decides on, pointedly ignoring Claude's snickers, "about what's appropriate to do where."
Caleb actually laughs. "Are you going to follow that rule too?"
Danny says, "Yes," and Claude says, "No."
"Yes," Danny says more firmly. "We will."
Caleb doesn't look like he believes it, but he nods and they leave him to his unpacking.
"You don't really mean that, right?" Claude asks as they go down the stairs. "I really want to have sex in the kitchen again someday."
Danny wants that too. He turns and kisses Claude, having to lean up more than usual with Claude on the stairs above him. "He and Cameron won't be here all the time."
Claude brightens up. "Really?"
"Really."
Claude leans down and kisses him again. "Want to go make out on the couch?"
Danny grins at him. "Yes." Cameron won't be home from school until later and Caleb will probably be a while unpacking.
They both end up half hard, but they don't do anything more than make out, Danny stretched out under Claude on the couch. By the time Caleb comes downstairs, they're sitting up, leaning against each other watching a forgettable action movie Claude found when he started flipping channels.
"Is this the kind of excitement I can expect living here?" Caleb asks.
"Yep," Claude says cheerfully. He gestures at the other end of the couch. "You can watch with us if you want."
Caleb sends a skeptical look at the movie, but sits down anyway.
"I'm glad you're here," Danny says. He can't fix everything for Caleb, but maybe this will be enough, a house full of love and people he can lean on while he gets through college.
"We're glad you're here," Claude corrects. And that's even better, the two of them a solid team and offering what support they can to Caleb as much as they do for the boys.
Caleb nods solemnly. "Me too."