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rsadelleMaster Post - Part 1 - Part 2
It's not terrible advice. He can't hook up when they go to Toronto because he's spending time with his family, but he goes out in Montreal and goes home with a guy who speaks mostly French but doesn't seem to care that Tyler doesn't, or that Tyler can't stay the night.
Tyler takes a cab back to the hotel, and it is a distraction, a good one, and it had definitely been too long since he last got laid.
It doesn't really solve his problem, though. Most of the time, he's hanging with the boys when they're on the road, and kind of more now that he has his own room, all of them making an effort to bond now that they don't have the necessity of shared rooms.
That leaves Boston, and if he's going to go out in Boston, he needs to have a plan. Or something. Also, it would be great if Marchy stopped trying to wingman for him with girls. And that sounds like he's made a decision.
*
Tyler cooks when Marchy comes over for dinner. It's a good outlet for his nervous energy, and it gives Marchy something to chirp him about, even though Tyler is a perfectly good, if basic, cook.
Fred eats with them, and hangs out to make fun of Marchy's video game skills, but then he goes to his room to work on his homework, and Tyler and Marchy give up on the Xbox in favor of America's Next Top Model and lazy conversation.
Neither one of them is really watching Tyra talk about modeling, so Tyler mutes it and turns to Marchy and takes a deep breath. "I want to tell you something," he says, and practice really, really doesn't make this any easier, because his palms are sweaty and his heart is pounding and his cheeks are probably turning bright red.
Marchy seems to get that this is serious, because he sits up and says, "Okay."
Tyler rubs his hands against his jeans. "I'm gay."
Marchy says, "Uh."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "It's not, like, a big deal, well, it kind of is, but it's not like- I just wanted you to know and, like, I don't really need you to wingman for me with girls."
"You dick." Marchy reaches over and hits Tyler's shoulder. "We've been friends for, like, three years, and you never told me that?"
"Ow." Tyler rubs his shoulder. "I didn't know, okay? Not until, like, last year."
"Last year?" Marchy hits him again.
"Ow! Knock it off!"
"You knock it off. You didn't tell me."
"I didn't tell anyone," Tyler says. "Not until, like, the beginning of the summer."
"That's months," Marchy says. "I thought we were friends. And you just let me wingman for you anyway."
"That's why I'm telling you," Tyler says. "I don't need you to do that." He pauses. "Unless you want to help me meet guys."
"I don't want to help you meet anyone." Marchy hits him a third time. "You don't just keep this kind of shit from your friends." He narrows his eyes at Tyler. "And what do you mean that's why you're telling me? You should be telling me because we're friends."
"I am." Tyler scoots out of Marchy's range so he doesn't get hit again. "If you weren't my buddy, I wouldn't trust you not to tell anyone else."
Marchy slumps against the couch. "You're a shitty friend." He sighs. "Okay, tell me who else knows, so I know who to keep my mouth shut around."
"Fred, Brownie, Blacker, my family," Tyler lists off. "And, uh, a couple of guys I hooked up with. But I don't think most of them knew who I was."
Marchy stares at him and shakes his head. "Maybe you should be sure of that if you don't want to people to find out."
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "No one's said anything, and the two guys I dated wouldn't."
"Okay, so," Marchy says with a sigh, "if you want me to wingman for you, what's your type?"
Tyler pulls out his phone. "I have a couple of pictures." He laughs at the look on Marchy's face. "Of the guys I dated. Just selfies, like the kind of thing anyone would take." He scrolls through until he finds some of his pictures with Zack. "Don't worry. You're not going to see any dick you don't want to."
Marchy takes his phone and flips through a couple of pictures.
"Zack," Tyler explains. "We went out this summer." He takes his phone back and scrolls back farther, then hands it back to Marchy. "Noah. From last year. In Biel."
"Last year," Marchy mutters. "These guys aren't anything alike, and I don't even know where you're going to meet gay dudes in Boston. Unless, like, you want to go to gay bars."
Tyler takes his phone back and flops back against the arm of the couch. "I don't know if it's a good idea in Boston." He rolls his head to look at Marchy. "I went out in Montreal."
Marchy groans. "Don't tell me you hooked up with a Habs fan."
"No," Tyler says. "I don't think he knew anything about hockey."
"Everyone in Canada knows something about hockey," Marchy says. "You're an idiot."
"I'm not an idiot! I went out in Toronto all summer. Well, until I met Zack."
"You're still an idiot," Marchy says. "Can I tell Katrina? She might know some people."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "if you think she won't tell other people."
"No," Marchy says. "She'll be discreet. It might not help you get laid."
Tyler shrugs. "As long as you stop pushing girls my way, it'll be better." He grimaces. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"Yeah, you better be sorry." Marchy hits his arm, but this time it's more affectionate than painful. "You're a terrible friend, but I'm still going to help you get laid."
Tyler grins at him and holds out his hand for a fist bump. "Awesome."
*
No luck, Marchy texts him a few days later. K says most gay dudes she knows are taken and she's not introducing you to the other ones.
Tyler texts back to tell Marchy just what a terrible friend he is, and also to reject Marchy's follow-up offer to go to a gay bar with him; he still gets recognized too much in Boston to risk gay bars.
Next week? Marchy texts back after a while. No one will know you in Tampa.
Tyler pulls up their schedule, and yeah, they will have a free night in Tampa. You sure you want to? he sends.
Y, Marchy sends back. Want to see what your game is like.
Fuck you, Tyler sends. My game is great.
Marchy doesn't reply to that, which either means he's busy laughing at Tyler or he's accepting Tyler's word for it.
Tyler screencaps the last part of the conversation and sends it to Brownie. Tell him my game is good.
It's the kind of thing he has to see for himself, Brownie sends back after a while. Guess telling him went well?
Y, Tyler sends. He was mad I didn't tell him earlier, but mostly cool.
Brownie sends him a thumbs-up emoji and, Hope it gets you laid.
I'll tell you all about it after.
Brownie sends, Please don't. I already know too much.
*
Tyler trusts Marchy to wingman for him, but he really doesn't trust him to pick a place to go, so he's the one who googles for gay bars in Tampa and gives their cab driver an address. Tyler doesn't know exactly what Marchy told the other guys, but no one else tried to invite themselves along, which is for the best.
The bar is loud, and there are more women than Tyler's used to seeing in a gay bar. Marchy dives through the crowd like he would in any other bar and makes Tyler pay for their drinks.
"It's to make up for all those years I had to buy your drinks," Marchy says. He grins at the bartender, a ripped, shirtless dude who winks at both of them, and then does a shot.
Tyler laughs and tosses back his shot before picking up his beer.
"Now," Marchy says, leaning back on the bar and looking out over the crowd. "What's your type? Aside from the bartender."
Tyler chokes a little on his beer. "I wasn't-
"I saw the way you were looking," Marchy says, "but he's working, so let's find you someone who's not busy."
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "I don't actually need a wingman."
"Suit yourself," Marchy says with a shrug. He pushes off the bar and walks away from Tyler, looking back to smirk at him before he totally disappears into the crowd.
Tyler shakes his head and takes a moment to get the lay of the land before he goes to talk to a guy at the other end of the bar.
It's barely ten minutes later - the guy Tyler went over to talk to was with someone, but there's another guy at the bar he's been chatting with - that Marchy comes up to him with his arm around a stacked blonde who has her hand wrapped around the wrist of what has to be the hottest guy in the place.
"This is Tyler," Marchy says. "This is Kelly and Jake."
"Hi!" Kelly waves at him with a bright smile.
Jake very obviously checks Tyler out, and then steps closer to him, out of Kelly's hold and nudging the guy Tyler was talking to out of the way. "Your friend says you like to dance."
Tyler grins at him, gives an apologetic shrug to the other guy, and puts his beer bottle down on the bar. "I love to dance."
Jake likes to dance the same way Tyler likes to dance, in the middle of the dance floor with lots of grinding. There are plenty of hot guys in the place, but Tyler and Jake are definitely the hottest couple on the dance floor, and that's even before Jake backs off a tiny bit and strips off his shirt.
There are a couple of catcalls from around them, and a couple more when Tyler follows Jake's lead and pulls off his shirt.
The dancing is even better that way, when there's a lot of skin for Tyler to rub up against. Jake must think so too, because he puts his hands on Tyler's hips and pulls him closer. There's barely any space between them, and Jake turns around to grind his ass into Tyler's hips. Tyler's half hard, and that only makes him harder.
They keep dancing like that for a little longer, and there's a pleased smirk on Jake's face when he turns around. Tyler knows what's going to happen even before Jake leans in and says, "Want to get out of here?"
"Yes." Tyler lets Jake grab his wrist and drag him through the crowd. He mostly ignores the looks from the crowd around them, and doesn't think about Marchy and Kelly until they're outside on the sidewalk. "What about your friend?"
"Just need to text her." Jake lets go of Tyler's wrist and pulls out his phone. "What about yours?"
"Same." Tyler pulls out his phone and texts Marchy, Leaving. See you tomorrow.
Marchy texts back right away: Get some.
Tyler locks his phone and slips it into his pocket.
"Cool?" Jake asks.
"Yep, we're good."
"Sweet. My place is this way." Jake jerks his head down the street. "We can walk it."
Tyler gestures at him to lead the way. It's plenty warm out, so he doesn't bother putting his shirt back on, and Jake doesn't either.
Jake lets them into a door in a row of identical looking places and takes him up the stairs to the second floor. Tyler watches his ass the whole way up the stairs, and doesn't bother to hide what he's been doing when Jake opens the door to his apartment and turns around to gesture Tyler in.
"Like what you see?"
Tyler lets his gaze roam over Jake's body, jeans riding low to show off his hip bones, abs of someone who works out, strong jaw. "Yes."
Jake locks the door behind them. "Does that mean I get to kiss you now?"
"Yes," Tyler says. He takes a step forward at the same time Jake does, and they meet in the middle. Jake's good at kissing, and he walks them through the apartment as they make out. They're in a bedroom before Tyler knows it, and Tyler just smirks at Jake and pops the button on his jeans.
Jake drops down to sit on the bed. "All right," he says. "Show me what you've got."
Tyler draws his zipper down slowly before pushing his jeans down and stepping closer to Jake when he steps out of them.
"Nice," Jake says. He waves his hand at Tyler. "Keep going."
Tyler pushes his boxer briefs down, and the step he takes out of them brings him right up to Jake, who spreads his legs apart to make room for Tyler to stand between his knees.
"Like what you see?" Tyler asks.
Jake grins up at him before he says, "Yes." He doesn't waste any more time before he leans forward and presses a kiss to Tyler's stomach. He licks his way down Tyler's abs to his hips, too firm to tickle and not coming close enough to his cock.
"Please," Tyler says, and Jake grins at him again before he just licks Tyler's cock. It's just enough to be a tease, and Jake keeps going, licking tiny stripes of wet up the shaft, over the head a couple of times, nowhere close to how much Tyler wants.
"Like that?" Jake asks.
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Fuck, yeah, just, more, please."
Jake goes back to licking him, longer stripes this time, and after every few he takes Tyler's cock between his lips and sucks. Those times get closer and closer together, until he's not doing the licking thing anymore, just sucking and licking with Tyler's cock in his mouth.
Jake's the kind of hot where he looks really good with his lips stretched around Tyler, and he seems to like it, has one hand in his lap probably rubbing over his cock. Tyler wants to enjoy this for as long as he can, but he also doesn't want Jake to come before Tyler gets a chance to suck his cock.
He stops trying to hold back, lets himself just feel how good it is to get his cock sucked, and he barely manages to gasp out a warning.
Jake pulls back and jerks Tyler off the rest of the way. Tyler manages not to let his knees buckle, but he feels a little unsteady after he comes.
Jake pats his hip with his clean hand and gets up. Tyler collapses down to sit on the edge of the bed where Jake was. There's the sound of water running and a light on in what has to be, by the tile on the floor, the bathroom, and then the light goes out and Jake comes back.
Tyler leans back on his hands and looks Jake over, flushed cheeks, bare chest, cock showing hard through his jeans. "All right," he says with a grin. "Show me what you've got."
Jake's better at undressing for an audience than Tyler is. He goes slower, makes it more seductive somehow, and Tyler's mouth is watering by the time Jake steps out of his underwear and between Tyler's legs.
"Like what you see?" Jake asks
"Yeah." Tyler's voice comes out rough, and he leans forward to get his mouth on Jake's cock. He doesn't use anything like the finesse Jake showed, just sucks sloppy and messy and keeps flicking his gaze up to make sure it's doing it for Jake.
"Oh, fuck," Jake says when Tyler rubs his tongue along Jake's cock as he slides it in and out of his mouth a little. "Yeah, just like that."
Tyler keeps it up, and he's starting to get a little turned on again from how much Jake likes it. He rubs absently at his cock, even though he's probably not going to get it up again before Jake comes.
"Fuck," Jake says. "Fuck, I'm going to." He's looking at Tyler, not just at his face, but the rest of him, so Tyler leans back a little when he lets Jake's cock slide out of his mouth and takes him in hand. Tyler jerks him off the rest of the way - it doesn't take long - and he holds Jake's cock so he comes on Tyler's chest.
Jake groans and stares at him for a minute before he flops down onto his back on the bed next to Tyler. "I've met a lot of hot guys," he says after a bit, "but you're the hottest one I've ever come on."
"Uh, thanks," Tyler says, because he guesses that's meant to be a compliment.
"No, no," Jake says, "thank you. Fuck, I wish we could do this again sometime."
"Sorry," Tyler shrugs. "I'm from out of town. Just here tonight."
"Thank God you walked into the club," Jake says. "And that your friend found my friend."
Tyler tips back to lie down next to him. "I think my friend found you. He was mostly there to be my wingman."
"He did good," Jake says.
Tyler grins at him. "He really did." He leans over and kisses Jake. Jake keeps kissing him and pulls him closer despite the drying come all over Tyler's chest.
"God, you're a mess," Jake says. He drags a hand over Tyler's chest, down to his abs, making even more of a mess. "You want a shower?"
Tyler looks down at himself. "Uh, yeah, that'd probably be good."
"That way," Jake says, waving at the bathroom. "I'll come join you in a minute."
Jake does join him after a minute. It's a tight fit for the two of them, and neither one of them gets hard enough to come again, but they make out and Jake runs his hands all over Tyler's body, so it's pretty good, and Tyler can always jerk off to it later.
Tyler checks the time on his phone when he gets out of the shower, and it's getting pretty late so he gets dressed and tells Jake, "This was great, but I should probably go."
Jake doesn't bother getting dressed, just walks Tyler to the door in his towel and kisses him at the door.
"Thanks for a great time," Tyler says.
"It was definitely my pleasure," Jake says, and Tyler's smiling as he makes his way back toward the club.
There's a text from Marchy saying he already went back to the hotel, so Tyler snags a cab someone's getting out of and heads back alone.
He does end up jerking off before he goes to sleep, and he sleeps great.
When he meets the rest of the guys for breakfast in the morning, Marchy grins and high-fives him, which gets them both a lot of wolf whistles from everyone paying attention to them.
*
Having Marchy on his side means Tyler gets laid on the road a lot more. It's easier for the two of them to go out than it is for Tyler to go alone, although they still don't always manage it. Some of the other guys invite themselves along about half the time, and those times Marchy shrugs at him and they go to a regular bar or club instead.
Tyler gets laid once on one of those outings, at a club busy enough that he can leave with a guy who keeps watching him from across the bar without anyone else noticing. Mostly, though, he sticks with the boys and flirts with a couple of girls when they expect him to.
It's too good to last, and he's not really surprised when Ference corners him at team breakfast one morning and says, "You haven't been picking up when we go out. I know you're not getting too old for it yet."
Tyler's literally cornered, at a table in the corner of the room far enough away from everyone else that if they keep their voices down they probably won't be overheard. Tyler's thought about it a little, telling the rest of them, but he doesn't want to rush anything, and having Marchy know has mostly been enough for him. But maybe it'll be easier to have more people he doesn't have to be so careful around. He knows Ference will be cool, and he has friends who aren't on the team, so maybe he knows people he can hook Tyler up with.
Tyler takes a bite of eggs to give himself another minute to think about it while Ference just lets the silence settle.
"If I tell you," Tyler says, "you can't tell anyone else."
Ference's eyebrows go up. "Okay," he says. "I won't."
Tyler looks down so he doesn't have to see Ference's face when he says, "I'm gay."
"Wow," Ference says after a moment. "That wasn't even on my list of possibilities. Thank you for trusting me."
Tyler shrugs and looks up when he reaches for his orange juice. Ference doesn't seem particularly upset about it.
"Is that why you and Marchy go out without everyone else sometimes?"
"Uh, yeah," Tyler says. "He's a good wingman."
"Good, I guess," Ference says. "Are you being, you know, careful, if you don't want people to know?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "I went out in Toronto, but not in Boston, and Marchy and I have only been going out on road trips."
Ference stares at him. "How is Toronto better than Boston?"
"People know me in Boston," Tyler says. "No one really cared in Toronto. Plus," he adds, "I was dating a guy for a couple of months over the summer, so I wasn't really trying to pick up."
Ference keeps staring at him. "You dated? I didn't think you were into that kind of steady thing."
Tyler shrugs. "I like hooking up," he says. "I love hooking up. But, yeah, dating's pretty cool. I dated a guy in Biel too."
"It's like I don't even know you." Ference shakes his head and digs into his breakfast instead of continuing to stare at Tyler. "It figures that you'd turn out to be a romantic," he says after a couple of minutes.
"I guess," Tyler says. "Not really a chance for that right now."
"Buck up," Ference says. "The more people who know, the more people who can help you meet guys."
Tyler grins at him. "That's what I'm counting on."
*
Tyler tells Marchy that he told Ference, and the three of them go out on the road sometimes. Sometimes that works to Tyler's benefit, and sometimes it just ends with the two of them chirping him about both his taste and his game, and Tyler's impulse to defend himself interferes with his other goal of trying to get laid. It's fun anyway, if a different kind of fun.
The three of them also attract a different group of guys than Tyler and Marchy did alone. Hipsters seem to sense their kinship with Ference, and Tyler sometimes finds him deep in conversation with guys in environmentally-themed t-shirts who aren't particularly impressed when Ference tries to introduce them to Tyler.
It makes Tyler slightly skeptical when Ference nudges him after practice one day and says, "I met this guy. He's about your age, gay, single."
"Where'd you meet him?" Tyler asks. "Is he another one of your green hipsters?"
"There's nothing wrong with being green," Ference says, "or a hipster. And I met him at a birthday party. His niece is one of Stella's friends. He's nice, good with kids, good-looking. I'll give him your number if you want."
That is part of why Tyler started coming out to people on his team, so he says, "Yeah, okay."
"Marchy's not the only one who can be a successful wingman for you," Ference says. "His name's Greg, and I think you'll like him."
"Thanks," Tyler says, meaning it sincerely.
*
Tyler gets a call from an unknown number a couple of days later, and he's not busy so he picks it up.
"Hi," a voice he doesn't recognize says, "is this Tyler?"
"Yes."
"Hi, Tyler," the guy says, and he's a lot warmer this time. "This is Greg. I met your friend Andrew last week, and he said I should call you and see if you wanted to go out sometime."
"Oh, hi," Tyler says, smiling into the phone. "Yeah, he said he was going to give you my number."
"Is that a yes on going out?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "Definitely."
They arrange to meet for drinks the next day, and Greg says, "I'll text you a picture so you can find me."
Greg texts the picture a couple of minutes after they hang up. The picture shows a dark-haired guy with a loosened tie and a smile. I don't always wear a tie, Greg's note with it says, but I'll be coming from work.
Tyler sends back, I guess I'd better dress nicely too.
He takes his phone downstairs to where Fred's lounging on the couch and holds it up to him.
"Why am I looking at some stockbroker asshole?"
"I'm going on a date with him tomorrow," Tyler says.
"Maybe he won't be an asshole," Fred says. He looks up and shrugs. "Okay? Is this so I can describe him to the police if he murders you gruesomely?"
"You watch too much TV," Tyler says. "Ference knows him. Sort of. What do you think?"
Fred shrugs. "I don't know, dude. Everyone looks like an asshole in a tie like that."
Tyler turns the phone around to look at Greg's picture. "I own a tie like that."
Fred grins at him. "Exactly."
Tyler flips him off.
*
Tyler's just barely on time to meet Greg. The bar's picking up with the after work crowd, and he has to look through a bunch of people before he spots Greg at the bar.
"Greg?" He smiles as Greg turns to look at him. "Hi, I'm Tyler."
Greg smiles at him, and it's subtle, but Tyler can see Greg checking him out. "Hi, Tyler. Nice to actually meet you. Can I get you a drink?"
"Sure."
Greg turns toward the bar to get the bartender's attention, which takes a minute.
The bartender smiles at Greg, and wider at Tyler. "What can I get you?"
Greg orders a beer, and Tyler smiles and asks for the same. The bartender hands them a pair of bottles and says, "On the house," with a smile for Tyler when Greg tries to pay for them.
Greg looks at Tyler and raises his eyebrows. "Table?"
Tyler looks around at the number of people at the bar; they'll be able to talk at a table. "Yeah."
Greg leads him across the room to an empty table, and they settle in on either side of it.
"So," Greg says, "tell me why your smile gets us free drinks. Not that it's not a great smile."
Tyler flashes a smile at him. "I play hockey, with Ference. Andrew."
"Hockey," Greg says. "Huh."
"He didn't tell you that?"
"Have you ever been to a five-year-old's birthday party?" Greg asks.
"Uh, no."
"There's not that much grown-up conversation," Greg says. "Mostly people talked about their kids and how terrible traffic is." He shrugs. "I really only talked to Andrew for a couple of minutes. I spent most of the time playing with the kids and carrying things to and from the kitchen when my sister told me to."
"He said you were good with kids," Tyler says.
"He said you were good-looking," Greg says. "I think he undersold it."
Tyler blushes, and Greg just smiles at him a little more.
"He also said to be discreet," Greg says. "I guess now I know why."
"Yeah," Tyler says, and he sips at his beer so he doesn't really have to talk about that much. "What do you do?"
"Corporate drone," Greg says. "Accounting, very boring from the outside, but I like it."
"That does sound boring from the outside," Tyler says with a grin.
Greg laughs. "I won't bore you with the details, but it's much more interesting from the inside."
Tyler can't help making a face, and Greg just laughs at him again.
"So," Tyler says, "kids and accounting. What else are you into?"
Greg sips his beer slowly while he unmistakably checks Tyler out. "Good-looking guys."
It brings the blush back to Tyler's cheeks. "Me too," he says, looking at Greg from under his eyelashes for a second.
"Glad we're on the same page," Greg says. He drinks from his beer and they look at each other in silence for a moment. "You don't sound like a Boston native."
"You either," Tyler says. "I only came here when I got drafted."
"Wow," Greg says, "that really makes my following my sister across the country so I wouldn't miss out on my nieces and nephews growing up sound way less dramatic."
"I guess," Tyler says with a laugh. "Did you really do that?"
Greg nods. "We're from Chicago. I was in college there when Jason got a job and they moved here. I love the kids, and I didn't want them to never see their Uncle Greg, plus I was coming off a really bad breakup, so when I graduated, I only applied to jobs here. Mom and Dad still live in Chicago, but they're talking about moving here too in another year or two."
"Sounds like you're pretty close with your family," Tyler says.
"Oh, yeah. Stephanie's five years older, so we didn't have some of that sibling rivalry stuff my friends always had when they were close in age to their siblings, and neither of us went away to college, so we stayed pretty close. How about you?"
"Two sisters and two almost stepsisters," Tyler says. "They're all in Toronto, but I've been away from home since I was sixteen, so we're pretty used to not seeing each other for most of the year."
"Sixteen? Wow."
Tyler shrugs. "That's how hockey works. I got drafted into the OHL, junior hockey, and lived in Michigan for two years."
"So you probably didn't mind coming to Boston."
"No. It's closer, so I see my family more, and we play the Leafs, so I get up there for games and they can come see me play without having to come down here."
"Are you close to them?" Greg asks.
"Pretty close," Tyler says. "We text and Skype a lot, and I spend the summers in Toronto, so I see them a lot then."
"Huh," Greg says, then, "Four sisters, what's that like?"
Tyler grins. "My mom just got engaged last year, so I really only grew up with two of them. They're both younger."
"Really?" Greg asks. He eyes Tyler for a second. "You don't really strike me as an oldest child."
Tyler doesn't really know what to say to that, so it takes a moment before he says, "I've pretty much always been the youngest guy on my team."
"Maybe that's it," Greg says. "Or maybe I just don't know you well enough yet." He smiles at Tyler and tips back the rest of his beer. "Maybe I could keep getting to know you over dinner?"
Tyler smiles back. "There's a sushi place around the corner that's good."
They chat over platters of sushi, and if it's not the best time Tyler's ever had, it's at least good, and Greg doesn't know anything about hockey, so they talk movies and baseball instead.
Tyler tries to pay for dinner, but Greg bats his hand away and says, "I asked you out. I'll get it." He smiles at Tyler. "You can buy next time."
Tyler smiles back at him and says, "I drove. I can give you a ride home, if you want."
Greg says, "That'd be great," and they walk the two blocks to the garage where Tyler left his car. If it were nicer out, Tyler would try to make it a more leisurely walk, but it's cold enough that they walk purposefully instead.
Greg laughs when he sees the Maserati. "Is that really what you drive around town, or are you trying to impress me?"
Tyler flashes a grin at him. "A little bit of both."
"I'm impressed." Greg runs one gloved hand along the curve of the roof.
Tyler follows Greg's directions to his place. Greg lives on what appears to be a quiet street, lined with cars, and Tyler idles in front of the building Greg points out. There are street lights, but also trees throwing shadows, enough that Tyler doesn't try to stop Greg when he leans over and kisses Tyler's cheek.
"Let's do this again," Greg says.
"Definitely," Tyler says. "My schedule can be kind of weird, but I'll call you."
Greg smiles and says, "I can't wait," before he gets out of the car.
Tyler goes home, and barely gets in the door before Fred steps out of the living room, Marshall on his heels, and asks, "How was the date?"
"He's not an asshole," Tyler says, "so you were wrong."
*
Tyler waits a couple of days before he calls Greg. They go to dinner and a movie this time, and they go to a bar after and spend an hour talking about the movie and hanging out until Greg says, "I really hate to end our evening, but I have to work tomorrow," and Tyler drives him home.
They go on a road trip after that, and Tyler and Greg text back and forth.
Ference sidles up to Tyler when he's looking down at his phone writing back to Greg. "Was I right or was I right?"
Tyler almost hates to give him props for anything, but he says, "He's nice."
"You like him," Ference says.
"We've only been on two dates."
"And sent how many texts?"
Tyler shoves his phone in his pocket so Ference can't see what's on his screen. "Enough."
"I just want you to be happy," Ference says, and it's half mocking and half sincere.
"Yeah, yeah," Tyler says, but he smiles at Ference, because it was really nice of him to set Tyler up with Greg.
*
Tyler and Marchy slip away from the rest of the guys one night and go out to a gay bar. Tyler told Marchy he'd been on a couple of dates with a guy, but he's not sure he and Greg are dating exactly.
It's fun, Marchy playing wingman with less intensity than usual, and Tyler dances with a couple of guys until he's sweaty and tired. He doesn't hook up, though, just has a good time and leaves with Marchy before it gets too late.
He texts Greg on the way back to Boston, and makes plans to meet him for dinner.
"Third date," Fred says, being a pest while Tyler's trying to decide what to wear. "You going to let him get into your pants?"
Tyler flips him off. "I'm not going to tell you if I do."
They go out to dinner again, and linger over dessert, Tyler exchanging stories about Marshall's escapades for stories about Greg's nieces and nephews. Tyler drives Greg home, and his street is quiet, shadowed where Tyler stops to drop him off. Greg leans across the car to kiss Tyler, and it's nice, but Greg doesn't invite him in and Tyler doesn't push it.
Fred's in the living room when Tyler gets home, in just his boxer briefs, socks, and a bathrobe, paper spread all over the coffee table, guitar on his lap, and Marshall lying on the floor watching him.
Tyler goes over to pet Marshall, and Fred doesn't say anything until he finishes whatever it is he's playing. It's new, Tyler thinks, or at least he hasn't heard it before.
"You're home pretty early," Fred says.
Tyler shrugs, and rubs behind Marshall's ears. Fred starts in on playing something instead of saying anything to him, and Tyler pats Marshall one more time and goes upstairs to his room. He hits up Brownie to see if he's around, and pulls out his laptop to open Skype when Brownie hits him back.
"What's up?" Brownie asks.
"Can't I just want to see you?"
Brownie grins at him. "You can, but you have that look on your face like you want to talk."
Tyler sighs. "Ference set me up with this guy and I've been on three dates with him, and I just don't know."
Brownie blinks. "Did you hook up with him?"
"No."
"Would you like him better if you did?"
"I don't know!" Tyler sighs. "He's nice and pretty hot and he loves his nieces and nephews, like he moved to Boston from Chicago so he could be there while they grow up, but."
"But what?" Brownie asks. "He sounds great."
"He is." Tyler rubs his hand over his eyes. "He's just not-" Tyler sighs. "I wouldn't write him letters every day for a year. Is that dumb?"
"I would write Julie letters every day until the end of time," Brownie says. "I'm not going to be the guy to tell you not to hold out for that."
Brownie is a much better person to talk to about this than Fred would have been. "I guess I'm breaking up with him," Tyler says. "Or whatever. I don't know if we were really dating if it was only three dates."
"Close enough," Brownie says. "Sorry, dude."
Tyler sighs and makes a face at him.
"Someday," Brownie says, "you'll meet some guy you would write letters to every day for a year."
"Until then I guess I'll just hook up with hot guys out of town," Tyler says.
"Yeah, your life is so hard."
*
Tyler meets Greg for drinks at a quiet bar where he knows they'll be able to get a table and talk without anyone overhearing them. They chat for a few minutes before Greg puts his drink down and says, "Okay, out with it, whatever it is you want to say."
Tyler puts his beer down. "Is it that obvious?"
"People in space could tell you want to say something."
Tyler tears at the edge of the label on his beer bottle, then makes himself look up at Greg. "I don't think this is working out," he says. "You're really great, and I'm glad I met you, it's just not going to work for me."
"Oh," Greg says. "I was hoping it would work out." He shakes his head. "I probably should have known when I didn't invite you in, huh?"
"Maybe," Tyler says, his stomach tight with tension. He hates this. "I'm sorry. You really are great, and I'm sure you're going to find some guy who's perfect for you."
"You're just not going to be it," Greg says with a sigh.
"No," Tyler says. "Sorry."
Greg picks up his drink and puts it down again. "I'm going to take off," he says. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."
Tyler nods and watches him go. He wants to tell Greg they could be friends, because he thinks that could be good, but he doesn't think Greg would appreciate it.
He drinks half his beer before he decides he doesn't really want to be there anymore either and goes home to his dog.
*
Tyler waits until the end of practice the next day, after they've come off the ice, when everyone's headed out, to pull Ference aside.
"What's up?" Ference asks.
"Um," Tyler says. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not dating Greg anymore."
Ference looks at him, and he could chirp Tyler for it, but instead he says, "Okay," and squeezes Tyler's arm. "Sorry it didn't work out."
Tyler lets out a sigh. "Yeah, me too. Thanks for setting me up. I did like him." He shrugs. "He's just not right for me."
"When you know, you know," Ference says. "You gave it a shot."
"I did," Tyler says. He grins at Ference, mostly sincerely. "You can still set me up with people."
Ference pats his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind." He grins at Tyler. "But next time it's going to be a green hipster."
Tyler laughs and says, "If you find me one, I'll give it a shot."
*
Ference does push one of the green hipsters at Tyler the next time he goes out with Tyler and Marchy on the road. Tyler gets the sense that they guy wouldn't think much of him if he were looking for someone to date, but Tyler slips it into the conversation that he's only in town for the night, and the guy takes him home. The sex is good, and Tyler goes back to the hotel at least feeling good about his ability to get laid.
"So?" Ference asks at breakfast.
Tyler makes sure no one is paying attention to them before he says, "He was good in bed, but he wouldn't have dated me."
Ference hmmms and says, "Well, you knew you probably weren't going to find your true love at a bar in Ottawa, right?"
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Maybe I should just risk it in Boston."
"What are you risking in Boston?" Marchy asks, taking the seat on the other side of Tyler.
"Going out," Tyler says. "Maybe."
"You'll get recognized for sure," Marchy says.
"I know," Tyler says. It's why he hasn't done it before, and why he probably won't now. He dredges up a smile. "If you two would just introduce me to people."
"I tried it," Ference says. He tips his chin in Marchy's direction. "Your turn."
"I don't know where you think I'm going to meet anyone who would date Segs," Marchy says.
"That's your problem," Ference says.
Tyler eats his eggs and lets them bicker about it.
*
Tyler doesn't go to gay bars in Boston. He sticks to going out on the road, and since no one introduces him to anyone, he doesn't date so much as get laid out of town. It's not like he has a problem with getting laid, but he finds he kind of misses dating, which is weird since he hasn't actually done that much of it.
"It's because you think you like to party but you're actually a romantic," Brownie tells him over Skype, accompanied by a roll of his eyes.
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "I love to party."
"Okay, fine," Brownie says. "Then you want to party with someone who's also going to hold your hand in a movie theater. No use denying your nature, dude."
That is actually kind of true. "It doesn't matter anyway," Tyler says, "since I'm not meeting anyone."
"Your life is not that much of a tragedy," Brownie says, which is not the sympathy Tyler was hoping for. "If you really want to go out, go out. Just be prepared for the consequences."
"Easy for you to say," Tyler mutters. "You don't have to worry about it. And you have Julie."
"I do have Julie," Brownie says with a self-satisfied smile. "You'll find somebody."
It doesn't make Tyler feel that much better, but Brownie means well. And there's always summer.
*
Big Z has a few words for them at the end of a team meeting the last week of February, and then he nods at Ference who comes up to the front of the room with him.
"I'm going to forward you all an email from Patrick Burke," Ference says. "He has a couple of players interested in coming out publicly as part of the You Can Play stuff, and he's letting everyone know about it in case anyone else wants to be part of it."
Ference is looking at everyone as he talks, but Tyler can feel his cheeks heating up.
"No pressure," Ference says. "This is a personal decision that anyone who's gay or bi has to make for themselves. But if anyone wants to, this team is behind you all the way. And anyone who isn't will have to answer to us."
Ference isn't particularly threatening, but Big Z crosses his arms over his chest behind him.
There's a ripple of stifled laughter, and Ference turns to look behind him and grins at Big Z.
"Anyway, if anyone wants to be part of it, you can email Burkie, or one of us can introduce you. And if not, that's cool too." Ference sits down, and so does Big Z, and Coach reminds them about skate time tomorrow, and then dismisses them.
Tyler gets the email later, and a second one from Ference that's just to him.
Tyler closes his laptop and takes Marshall to the park instead of sitting there thinking about it.
*
Tyler sleeps on it and Skypes Brownie the next day to talk about it.
"You wouldn't have to worry about going out in Boston," Brownie says.
Tyler slumps down into the couch. "I know. I could hook up or date or whatever. Meet guys I could actually see more than once."
"Okay, so," Brownie says. "That's the upside."
Tyler tips his head back to look at the ceiling. "I don't want people to hate me. Or, like, get traded."
"Downsides," Brownie says. "Dude, I don't know why you're talking to me about this. It's not my choice."
Tyler sighs heavily. "I want advice," he says.
"I don't know," Brownie says. "I guess it depends on how much you want to go out to gay bars in Boston. Or, like, how much you want to go out anywhere without someone outing you. You should call Wally."
Tyler makes a face. He knows he should call Wally, but he's just going to get chewed out for not telling him earlier so he could be on top of things. "He's going to be in town next week."
"And you're going to put it off until then," Brownie says.
"Better if I think about it, right?" Tyler says.
"I guess," Brownie says doubtfully. "Hey, you know I've got your back no matter what you do, right?"
Tyler smiles at him. "Yeah, dude, I know."
*
The first thing Marchy says the next time he and Tyler are in the same place without anyone else around is, "Are you going to do it?"
Tyler doesn't need to ask to know what he's talking about. "I don't know," he says.
"You wouldn't have to leave the state to get laid," Marchy says.
Tyler grins at him. "That's the best reason to do it."
"You probably shouldn't say that if you do," Marchy says. "They're going to want to hear about you being a role model or being true to yourself or some shit like that."
Tyler groans. "If I do it, they're going to make me talk about it."
"You're just figuring that out?"
"Shut up," Tyler says. "I'm still stuck on whether or not I want people to know."
"If they know," Marchy says, "you're going to have to talk about it, probably a lot."
Well, that's another downside to think about.
*
"I cannot believe," Wally says when Tyler tells him, the second day he's in town, "that you didn't tell me this earlier. Jesus, Tyler, you're supposed to tell me these kinds of things so I know what to do if it gets leaked."
"I know," Tyler says.
"And you went out? To gay bars?" He barely waits for Tyler's nod before he keeps going. "You know every cell phone has a camera these days. I can't believe you did that. You're so lucky no one's outed you yet."
"I know," Tyler says. "I know all of that, and if I did this thing You Can Play is doing, I would be out and I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore."
Wally sighs. "You're enough of a star that you might be a hockey player who's gay, but if you do it, you need to be prepared for people to think you're gay first and a hockey player second. Every interview you do is going to ask about it."
Tyler nods. He gets that part now. "That's why I'm talking to you. What do you think I should do?"
Wally's silent for a minute. "Have you thought about endorsements?"
Tyler blinks. "No."
"You'll probably keep Bauer, maybe Under Armour, but there's a chance you'll lose Dunkin' or one of the other ones."
"Are you saying I shouldn't do it?" Tyler asks after a moment.
"No," Wally says. "I'm saying you need to think about the fucked up reality you're stepping into if you do."
That's a grimmer assessment of it than anyone else has given him.
"Look," Wally says, "it's ultimately up to you. If you do it, we'll do what we can to keep your endorsements and, I don't know, maybe there are other ones we can get for you, but you need to really think about it. And you need to tell me shit so I can be prepared for it."
Tyler winces. "That's it, I promise."
Wally looks at him sharply, but that really is it, so Tyler can meet his eyes without flinching.
*
They're not going to be in Toronto for a while, so Tyler does the next best thing to visiting his mom and Skypes her. He lays out the entire situation for her, and she listens without interrupting because she's his mom and she's awesome.
"I don't know what to do," he says at the end of it.
"Oh, honey," Mom says. "Part of being an adult is making hard choices. You've been sheltered from a lot of that by your career, but everyone has to make tough choices sometimes. This is one of yours."
Tyler blinks away tears - whatever, it's his mom, and she's talking about him being an adult - and says, "I wish it were easier."
"I do too," Mom says. "You have no idea how much I wish that for you. But neither of your choices are all that easy. All you can ever do is your best, and know that your family is going to love you no matter what."
Tyler rubs tears out of his eyes and gets Mom to talk to him about something else for a while. He still doesn't know what he's going to do, but it's better to know that Mom's behind him no matter what.
*
It takes him another week to do it, but Tyler sits down on a free afternoon and calls Patrick Burke. He could email, but he doesn't really want to put anything in writing. Not that he thinks Burke would do anything with it or anything like that. He's just being careful. Belatedly, sure, but still. Careful.
Burke answers his phone with a cool, "This is Patrick Burke."
"Um, hi," Tyler says. "This is Tyler Seguin."
"Hi, Tyler," Burke says. "What can I do for you?"
Tyler takes a deep breath. "I got your email, or Ference and Big Z forwarded it, about players coming out."
"Yes," Burke says, and it's cautious.
"I'm gay," Tyler says.
There's a bare second of silence before Burke asks, "Do you want to come out?" and it's still cautious, but there's something else there, like banked excitement.
"I don't know," Tyler says. "Maybe. I want to know about what you're doing before I decide for sure."
"First of all," Burke says, and this time he sounds confident and sure, "I want to promise you this conversation is completely confidential. Neither You Can Play as an organization nor I as an individual are in the business of outing people who don't want to be out. I've had similar confidential conversations with other players interested in coming out, and I would no more tell them I've talked to you than I will tell you who they are."
Tyler breathes a little easier at that.
"The players who've approached us," Burke goes on, "are in agreement that this will be easier if it's not just one person, and that's how we're planning to do this. You Can Play has been based around video PSAs, and we'd like to continue with that. What we want to do is have everyone film a short segment where they come out, and we'll put them together into a video with an accompanying press release. For anyone who's comfortable with it, we'll do additional videos where you can talk about it, or you can come out and we'll work with you and your team to make sure you don't have to talk about it any more than that. Our crew will all have signed NDAs, and you'll be able to change your mind up until forty-eight hours before the video goes live."
It's a lot of information to take in all at once. "Wow," Tyler says.
Burke chuckles a little. "I know, it can be overwhelming, but we want to make sure that anyone who does this can do it on their own terms and that you're sure this is what you want."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "I want to be sure too. Can I think about it and get back to you?"
"Absolutely," Burke says. "We've already started shooting segments, and we're looking at releasing the video just before the end of the season. We're guessing the playoffs will be the bigger story, and that should minimize the media intrusion, and by the time next season starts, it'll just be a part of reality."
That gives Tyler a little bit of time to make sure he really wants to do this. "Okay," he says. "I'll think about it, and get back to you soon."
"Okay," Burke says. "Whatever you decide is your decision, but know that we'd be glad to have you be part of this."
"Thanks," Tyler says, and then they say goodbye and he hangs up with shaking hands.
*
The first person he tells about his decision is Fred, because Fred comes home from class while Tyler's sitting on the couch, mindlessly petting Marshall in the silence while he looks down at his phone, scrolling through his contacts over and over again trying to decide who he should call.
"What are you doing sitting around in the dark?" Fred goes around the room turning on lamps.
"It's not dark," Tyler says, even though it's gotten a lot darker than he realized.
"Not now." Fred crouches down in front of the couch and tussles with Marshall for a minute. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to come out," Tyler says.
"Whoa," Fred says. "Like, to everyone?"
"Yes." Tyler puts his phone down so he can use both hands to rub behind Marshall's ears. Marshall is so uncomplicated. "You Can Play is doing a thing, a bunch of players coming out. I'm going to do it."
"Wow," Fred says. "Every gay dude in Boston is going to want to get into your pants. Not that they don't already."
Tyler laughs and throws a pillow at him.
"No, really," Fred says. "You're going to get so laid."
"That's the idea," Tyler admits.
Fred cracks up. "Dude, this is the farthest anyone has ever gone to get laid."
"Shut up." Tyler throws another pillow at him. "I can get laid. This is so I can get laid without worrying about getting outed."
Fred gathers both the pillows and stacks them on his lap. "Huh. I guess that's a good idea."
"Yep." Tyler looks down at Marshall and watches Fred out of the corner of his eye. "It might make things harder when we party."
Fred shrugs. "You're already a distraction. We're all used to it." He rests his elbows on his short stack of pillows. "You might want to tell the rest of the crew first."
Tyler stops petting Marshall and flops back against the couch. "There are so many people I have to tell first. It would be easier if I could just do it once."
*
He can't do it once. He calls Burke first, Wally second, and then Mom, Dad, his sisters, Brownie, Marchy, and Ference. Dad is the only one who isn't sure it's such a great idea, but it's more of a feeling Tyler gets from the conversation and not something he says out loud. What he says out loud is, "If this is what you want, I'll support you," which isn't him telling Tyler not to do it.
Then there are the other people he has to tell.
The Boston crew is easiest, in some ways. Tyler and Fred have everyone over for pizza and video games, and while everyone is silently biting into their first bites of pizza, Tyler clears his throat to get their attention.
"This isn't just about pizza," he says, his own first slice sitting untouched on the plate on his lap. There's no way he's going to be able to eat until he does this. "Um, I'm gay, and I'm going to come out, like, publicly."
Brian chokes on his pizza and has to be patted on the back.
"You?" Chase says. "But you and all those girls."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "I haven't hooked up with any of them in like a year. And I, uh, didn't really know about myself before that, so."
"I can't believe I ever dated you," Ciara says. "You are seriously the dumbest person I know."
"I am not!" Tyler looks around for help, and doesn't get any.
"Sorry," Fred says with a shrug. "You are kind of dumb."
"How do you just not know that about yourself?" Brian asks.
"I don't know," Tyler says. "I just didn't."
"When he had a chance with girls like me," Ciara says, "why would he even think of anything else?"
Tyler laughs with everyone else, and he manages to eat a couple of slices of pizza around everyone's questions about dating and how he's going to come out and who already knows.
Tyler catches up to Ciara later and says, "You know it wasn't anything about you, right?"
"Oh, baby," she says, "of course I do." She hugs him. "And if these," she gestures at her boobs, "couldn't make you like girls, nothing can."
Tyler's pretty sure Ciara wouldn't have been it for him even if he were into girls, although she's a good friend now, but he laughs instead of telling her that.
*
Wally goes with him to a closed-door meeting with management and coaches that's probably the most uncomfortable meeting Tyler's ever been in. Some of them are totally cool, some of them not so much, but no one tells him he can't do it.
After that, walking into a team meeting to tell the boys is easy in comparison. He knows Marchy, Ference, and Big Z, at least, have his back.
Coach lets him have the floor, and Tyler stays in his chair because he's nervous enough that he's not sure his legs will hold him if he tries to stand up in front of the room. "Yeah," he says, "that email Ference and Z sent us, from Patrick Burke." He takes a deep breath. "I'm gay, and I'm going to come out with the other players who want to."
"You?" Krejci says with a laugh.
Tyler shrugs and nods. "Me. And I'm not dating anyone, so if, uh, you know anyone and you want to play matchmaker." He spreads his hands. "I'm up for that."
Coach calls them back together for the rest of their meeting, and PR steps in to say that the NHL's official position is that they support all players but no one has to talk about it if they don't want to, and Tyler's heart doesn't stop beating too fast until after the meeting when a handful of guys come up to say they support him.
Dougie's one of the last ones, and he looks at Tyler for a long minute.
"What?" Tyler hunches his shoulders.
Dougie blinks and shakes his head. "Of course I'm cool with it. Is that why you and Marchy were always sneaking off on road trips?"
Tyler gapes at him. "You knew about that?"
Dougie rolls his eyes. "You aren't that sneaky."
Tyler shakes his head, trying to wrap his mind around Dougie actually knowing they were doing something, and not saying or asking anything about it. "Yeah," he finally says. "Couldn't risk going out in Boston, so we went out on the road."
"Makes sense," Dougie says. "Guess you'll get to go out in Boston now."
Tyler grins at him. "That's the plan."
*
Things move kind of fast after that. Tyler mostly concentrates on his game, but he also has to sit down with the film crew for You Can Play. Burke actually comes with them, and he smiles pretty much the whole time.
There are lines Tyler has to say to fit into the plan of their video. That part goes pretty quickly, just three sentences - they do second and third takes so they can choose the best one - and then they can move on. Tyler already agreed to do a segment talking about himself, and that one's the hard part.
"Relax," Burke says. "This is about you. We'll make you look good, but the base of it is whatever you want to say."
Tyler doesn't necessarily want to say anything, but he knows what he's getting into with this, and if he's going to be out, he feels like he should do something with it other than just go to gay bars.
"Just talk to the camera," Burke says. "Like it's someone you know."
It's stupid advice, because it's not someone Tyler knows, and what he actually told the people he knows won't play well for the cameras. Tyler may only be twenty-two, but he's been representing his team in front of cameras for four years; he knows what kinds of things to say.
They point to him when the camera's on, and Tyler takes a deep breath and starts talking. "My friends all make fun of me for being just a dumb hockey player because I didn't know I was gay until recently, but I was a hockey player, and all my life hockey players only dated girls." He shrugs. "I never thought about doing anything else. That's not the way it has to be, and if you're a gay player, you're not the only one."
Tyler says a lot of other stuff too. They ask him questions and get him to talk about it a little bit, but the rest of it mostly passes in a blur, until they tell him they're done.
Burke shakes his hand before he leaves. "Thank you so much," he says. "It's great that you're doing this." His smile dims a little, and he says, "And remember, if you change your mind, we'll pull you from the ad."
"Thanks," Tyler says. He's pretty sure he's not going to chicken out now, but it's nice to know he has the option.
*
The season grinds on after that, game after practice after charity event. Tyler hooks up with a guy Marchy finds for him in a bar in New York and ducks out of a gay bar in Chicago where he gets too many looks to be comfortable. He goes on a date with a guy Krejci knows who turns out to still be hung up on his ex and makes Krejci make it up to him with dinner out with some of the boys.
Two days before the ad is scheduled to go public, Tyler stares down at Burke's name on his phone for so long Marshall comes over and noses at his hands to see what he's doing.
Tyler rubs behind his ears. "Nothing interesting, buddy. You want to go for a walk? Yeah, I bet you do." He leaves his phone at home and takes Marshall for a long walk around the neighborhood, letting Marshall decide where he wants to go.
Fred's in the living room with a couple of books around him - he's winding down toward finals, which means a lot of studying all over the apartment - when Tyler and Marshall get home. Fred grins and pets Marshall when he rushes over to him, tail wagging.
Tyler picks up his phone and skims through the messages he's missed. He still has an hour left before the forty-eight-hour deadline. "Want to go get lunch?" he asks Fred. "I'm buying."
"Hell yes you're buying," Fred says. "Right now?"
"Yes." Tyler shoves his phone into his pocket. "Wherever you want to go."
"Anywhere I want to go?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "Anywhere. Let's go."
Fred looks at him suspiciously and gets his shoes and makes Tyler buy him steak. The distraction is more than worth the cost, even when Fred insists on ordering dessert too. They sit there talking even after that, and by the time Fred makes them leave because he has class, it's well past the deadline, and Tyler's going to be out to the whole world in less than two days.
Part 4
It's not terrible advice. He can't hook up when they go to Toronto because he's spending time with his family, but he goes out in Montreal and goes home with a guy who speaks mostly French but doesn't seem to care that Tyler doesn't, or that Tyler can't stay the night.
Tyler takes a cab back to the hotel, and it is a distraction, a good one, and it had definitely been too long since he last got laid.
It doesn't really solve his problem, though. Most of the time, he's hanging with the boys when they're on the road, and kind of more now that he has his own room, all of them making an effort to bond now that they don't have the necessity of shared rooms.
That leaves Boston, and if he's going to go out in Boston, he needs to have a plan. Or something. Also, it would be great if Marchy stopped trying to wingman for him with girls. And that sounds like he's made a decision.
*
Tyler cooks when Marchy comes over for dinner. It's a good outlet for his nervous energy, and it gives Marchy something to chirp him about, even though Tyler is a perfectly good, if basic, cook.
Fred eats with them, and hangs out to make fun of Marchy's video game skills, but then he goes to his room to work on his homework, and Tyler and Marchy give up on the Xbox in favor of America's Next Top Model and lazy conversation.
Neither one of them is really watching Tyra talk about modeling, so Tyler mutes it and turns to Marchy and takes a deep breath. "I want to tell you something," he says, and practice really, really doesn't make this any easier, because his palms are sweaty and his heart is pounding and his cheeks are probably turning bright red.
Marchy seems to get that this is serious, because he sits up and says, "Okay."
Tyler rubs his hands against his jeans. "I'm gay."
Marchy says, "Uh."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "It's not, like, a big deal, well, it kind of is, but it's not like- I just wanted you to know and, like, I don't really need you to wingman for me with girls."
"You dick." Marchy reaches over and hits Tyler's shoulder. "We've been friends for, like, three years, and you never told me that?"
"Ow." Tyler rubs his shoulder. "I didn't know, okay? Not until, like, last year."
"Last year?" Marchy hits him again.
"Ow! Knock it off!"
"You knock it off. You didn't tell me."
"I didn't tell anyone," Tyler says. "Not until, like, the beginning of the summer."
"That's months," Marchy says. "I thought we were friends. And you just let me wingman for you anyway."
"That's why I'm telling you," Tyler says. "I don't need you to do that." He pauses. "Unless you want to help me meet guys."
"I don't want to help you meet anyone." Marchy hits him a third time. "You don't just keep this kind of shit from your friends." He narrows his eyes at Tyler. "And what do you mean that's why you're telling me? You should be telling me because we're friends."
"I am." Tyler scoots out of Marchy's range so he doesn't get hit again. "If you weren't my buddy, I wouldn't trust you not to tell anyone else."
Marchy slumps against the couch. "You're a shitty friend." He sighs. "Okay, tell me who else knows, so I know who to keep my mouth shut around."
"Fred, Brownie, Blacker, my family," Tyler lists off. "And, uh, a couple of guys I hooked up with. But I don't think most of them knew who I was."
Marchy stares at him and shakes his head. "Maybe you should be sure of that if you don't want to people to find out."
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "No one's said anything, and the two guys I dated wouldn't."
"Okay, so," Marchy says with a sigh, "if you want me to wingman for you, what's your type?"
Tyler pulls out his phone. "I have a couple of pictures." He laughs at the look on Marchy's face. "Of the guys I dated. Just selfies, like the kind of thing anyone would take." He scrolls through until he finds some of his pictures with Zack. "Don't worry. You're not going to see any dick you don't want to."
Marchy takes his phone and flips through a couple of pictures.
"Zack," Tyler explains. "We went out this summer." He takes his phone back and scrolls back farther, then hands it back to Marchy. "Noah. From last year. In Biel."
"Last year," Marchy mutters. "These guys aren't anything alike, and I don't even know where you're going to meet gay dudes in Boston. Unless, like, you want to go to gay bars."
Tyler takes his phone back and flops back against the arm of the couch. "I don't know if it's a good idea in Boston." He rolls his head to look at Marchy. "I went out in Montreal."
Marchy groans. "Don't tell me you hooked up with a Habs fan."
"No," Tyler says. "I don't think he knew anything about hockey."
"Everyone in Canada knows something about hockey," Marchy says. "You're an idiot."
"I'm not an idiot! I went out in Toronto all summer. Well, until I met Zack."
"You're still an idiot," Marchy says. "Can I tell Katrina? She might know some people."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "if you think she won't tell other people."
"No," Marchy says. "She'll be discreet. It might not help you get laid."
Tyler shrugs. "As long as you stop pushing girls my way, it'll be better." He grimaces. "Sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"Yeah, you better be sorry." Marchy hits his arm, but this time it's more affectionate than painful. "You're a terrible friend, but I'm still going to help you get laid."
Tyler grins at him and holds out his hand for a fist bump. "Awesome."
*
No luck, Marchy texts him a few days later. K says most gay dudes she knows are taken and she's not introducing you to the other ones.
Tyler texts back to tell Marchy just what a terrible friend he is, and also to reject Marchy's follow-up offer to go to a gay bar with him; he still gets recognized too much in Boston to risk gay bars.
Next week? Marchy texts back after a while. No one will know you in Tampa.
Tyler pulls up their schedule, and yeah, they will have a free night in Tampa. You sure you want to? he sends.
Y, Marchy sends back. Want to see what your game is like.
Fuck you, Tyler sends. My game is great.
Marchy doesn't reply to that, which either means he's busy laughing at Tyler or he's accepting Tyler's word for it.
Tyler screencaps the last part of the conversation and sends it to Brownie. Tell him my game is good.
It's the kind of thing he has to see for himself, Brownie sends back after a while. Guess telling him went well?
Y, Tyler sends. He was mad I didn't tell him earlier, but mostly cool.
Brownie sends him a thumbs-up emoji and, Hope it gets you laid.
I'll tell you all about it after.
Brownie sends, Please don't. I already know too much.
*
Tyler trusts Marchy to wingman for him, but he really doesn't trust him to pick a place to go, so he's the one who googles for gay bars in Tampa and gives their cab driver an address. Tyler doesn't know exactly what Marchy told the other guys, but no one else tried to invite themselves along, which is for the best.
The bar is loud, and there are more women than Tyler's used to seeing in a gay bar. Marchy dives through the crowd like he would in any other bar and makes Tyler pay for their drinks.
"It's to make up for all those years I had to buy your drinks," Marchy says. He grins at the bartender, a ripped, shirtless dude who winks at both of them, and then does a shot.
Tyler laughs and tosses back his shot before picking up his beer.
"Now," Marchy says, leaning back on the bar and looking out over the crowd. "What's your type? Aside from the bartender."
Tyler chokes a little on his beer. "I wasn't-
"I saw the way you were looking," Marchy says, "but he's working, so let's find you someone who's not busy."
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "I don't actually need a wingman."
"Suit yourself," Marchy says with a shrug. He pushes off the bar and walks away from Tyler, looking back to smirk at him before he totally disappears into the crowd.
Tyler shakes his head and takes a moment to get the lay of the land before he goes to talk to a guy at the other end of the bar.
It's barely ten minutes later - the guy Tyler went over to talk to was with someone, but there's another guy at the bar he's been chatting with - that Marchy comes up to him with his arm around a stacked blonde who has her hand wrapped around the wrist of what has to be the hottest guy in the place.
"This is Tyler," Marchy says. "This is Kelly and Jake."
"Hi!" Kelly waves at him with a bright smile.
Jake very obviously checks Tyler out, and then steps closer to him, out of Kelly's hold and nudging the guy Tyler was talking to out of the way. "Your friend says you like to dance."
Tyler grins at him, gives an apologetic shrug to the other guy, and puts his beer bottle down on the bar. "I love to dance."
Jake likes to dance the same way Tyler likes to dance, in the middle of the dance floor with lots of grinding. There are plenty of hot guys in the place, but Tyler and Jake are definitely the hottest couple on the dance floor, and that's even before Jake backs off a tiny bit and strips off his shirt.
There are a couple of catcalls from around them, and a couple more when Tyler follows Jake's lead and pulls off his shirt.
The dancing is even better that way, when there's a lot of skin for Tyler to rub up against. Jake must think so too, because he puts his hands on Tyler's hips and pulls him closer. There's barely any space between them, and Jake turns around to grind his ass into Tyler's hips. Tyler's half hard, and that only makes him harder.
They keep dancing like that for a little longer, and there's a pleased smirk on Jake's face when he turns around. Tyler knows what's going to happen even before Jake leans in and says, "Want to get out of here?"
"Yes." Tyler lets Jake grab his wrist and drag him through the crowd. He mostly ignores the looks from the crowd around them, and doesn't think about Marchy and Kelly until they're outside on the sidewalk. "What about your friend?"
"Just need to text her." Jake lets go of Tyler's wrist and pulls out his phone. "What about yours?"
"Same." Tyler pulls out his phone and texts Marchy, Leaving. See you tomorrow.
Marchy texts back right away: Get some.
Tyler locks his phone and slips it into his pocket.
"Cool?" Jake asks.
"Yep, we're good."
"Sweet. My place is this way." Jake jerks his head down the street. "We can walk it."
Tyler gestures at him to lead the way. It's plenty warm out, so he doesn't bother putting his shirt back on, and Jake doesn't either.
Jake lets them into a door in a row of identical looking places and takes him up the stairs to the second floor. Tyler watches his ass the whole way up the stairs, and doesn't bother to hide what he's been doing when Jake opens the door to his apartment and turns around to gesture Tyler in.
"Like what you see?"
Tyler lets his gaze roam over Jake's body, jeans riding low to show off his hip bones, abs of someone who works out, strong jaw. "Yes."
Jake locks the door behind them. "Does that mean I get to kiss you now?"
"Yes," Tyler says. He takes a step forward at the same time Jake does, and they meet in the middle. Jake's good at kissing, and he walks them through the apartment as they make out. They're in a bedroom before Tyler knows it, and Tyler just smirks at Jake and pops the button on his jeans.
Jake drops down to sit on the bed. "All right," he says. "Show me what you've got."
Tyler draws his zipper down slowly before pushing his jeans down and stepping closer to Jake when he steps out of them.
"Nice," Jake says. He waves his hand at Tyler. "Keep going."
Tyler pushes his boxer briefs down, and the step he takes out of them brings him right up to Jake, who spreads his legs apart to make room for Tyler to stand between his knees.
"Like what you see?" Tyler asks.
Jake grins up at him before he says, "Yes." He doesn't waste any more time before he leans forward and presses a kiss to Tyler's stomach. He licks his way down Tyler's abs to his hips, too firm to tickle and not coming close enough to his cock.
"Please," Tyler says, and Jake grins at him again before he just licks Tyler's cock. It's just enough to be a tease, and Jake keeps going, licking tiny stripes of wet up the shaft, over the head a couple of times, nowhere close to how much Tyler wants.
"Like that?" Jake asks.
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Fuck, yeah, just, more, please."
Jake goes back to licking him, longer stripes this time, and after every few he takes Tyler's cock between his lips and sucks. Those times get closer and closer together, until he's not doing the licking thing anymore, just sucking and licking with Tyler's cock in his mouth.
Jake's the kind of hot where he looks really good with his lips stretched around Tyler, and he seems to like it, has one hand in his lap probably rubbing over his cock. Tyler wants to enjoy this for as long as he can, but he also doesn't want Jake to come before Tyler gets a chance to suck his cock.
He stops trying to hold back, lets himself just feel how good it is to get his cock sucked, and he barely manages to gasp out a warning.
Jake pulls back and jerks Tyler off the rest of the way. Tyler manages not to let his knees buckle, but he feels a little unsteady after he comes.
Jake pats his hip with his clean hand and gets up. Tyler collapses down to sit on the edge of the bed where Jake was. There's the sound of water running and a light on in what has to be, by the tile on the floor, the bathroom, and then the light goes out and Jake comes back.
Tyler leans back on his hands and looks Jake over, flushed cheeks, bare chest, cock showing hard through his jeans. "All right," he says with a grin. "Show me what you've got."
Jake's better at undressing for an audience than Tyler is. He goes slower, makes it more seductive somehow, and Tyler's mouth is watering by the time Jake steps out of his underwear and between Tyler's legs.
"Like what you see?" Jake asks
"Yeah." Tyler's voice comes out rough, and he leans forward to get his mouth on Jake's cock. He doesn't use anything like the finesse Jake showed, just sucks sloppy and messy and keeps flicking his gaze up to make sure it's doing it for Jake.
"Oh, fuck," Jake says when Tyler rubs his tongue along Jake's cock as he slides it in and out of his mouth a little. "Yeah, just like that."
Tyler keeps it up, and he's starting to get a little turned on again from how much Jake likes it. He rubs absently at his cock, even though he's probably not going to get it up again before Jake comes.
"Fuck," Jake says. "Fuck, I'm going to." He's looking at Tyler, not just at his face, but the rest of him, so Tyler leans back a little when he lets Jake's cock slide out of his mouth and takes him in hand. Tyler jerks him off the rest of the way - it doesn't take long - and he holds Jake's cock so he comes on Tyler's chest.
Jake groans and stares at him for a minute before he flops down onto his back on the bed next to Tyler. "I've met a lot of hot guys," he says after a bit, "but you're the hottest one I've ever come on."
"Uh, thanks," Tyler says, because he guesses that's meant to be a compliment.
"No, no," Jake says, "thank you. Fuck, I wish we could do this again sometime."
"Sorry," Tyler shrugs. "I'm from out of town. Just here tonight."
"Thank God you walked into the club," Jake says. "And that your friend found my friend."
Tyler tips back to lie down next to him. "I think my friend found you. He was mostly there to be my wingman."
"He did good," Jake says.
Tyler grins at him. "He really did." He leans over and kisses Jake. Jake keeps kissing him and pulls him closer despite the drying come all over Tyler's chest.
"God, you're a mess," Jake says. He drags a hand over Tyler's chest, down to his abs, making even more of a mess. "You want a shower?"
Tyler looks down at himself. "Uh, yeah, that'd probably be good."
"That way," Jake says, waving at the bathroom. "I'll come join you in a minute."
Jake does join him after a minute. It's a tight fit for the two of them, and neither one of them gets hard enough to come again, but they make out and Jake runs his hands all over Tyler's body, so it's pretty good, and Tyler can always jerk off to it later.
Tyler checks the time on his phone when he gets out of the shower, and it's getting pretty late so he gets dressed and tells Jake, "This was great, but I should probably go."
Jake doesn't bother getting dressed, just walks Tyler to the door in his towel and kisses him at the door.
"Thanks for a great time," Tyler says.
"It was definitely my pleasure," Jake says, and Tyler's smiling as he makes his way back toward the club.
There's a text from Marchy saying he already went back to the hotel, so Tyler snags a cab someone's getting out of and heads back alone.
He does end up jerking off before he goes to sleep, and he sleeps great.
When he meets the rest of the guys for breakfast in the morning, Marchy grins and high-fives him, which gets them both a lot of wolf whistles from everyone paying attention to them.
*
Having Marchy on his side means Tyler gets laid on the road a lot more. It's easier for the two of them to go out than it is for Tyler to go alone, although they still don't always manage it. Some of the other guys invite themselves along about half the time, and those times Marchy shrugs at him and they go to a regular bar or club instead.
Tyler gets laid once on one of those outings, at a club busy enough that he can leave with a guy who keeps watching him from across the bar without anyone else noticing. Mostly, though, he sticks with the boys and flirts with a couple of girls when they expect him to.
It's too good to last, and he's not really surprised when Ference corners him at team breakfast one morning and says, "You haven't been picking up when we go out. I know you're not getting too old for it yet."
Tyler's literally cornered, at a table in the corner of the room far enough away from everyone else that if they keep their voices down they probably won't be overheard. Tyler's thought about it a little, telling the rest of them, but he doesn't want to rush anything, and having Marchy know has mostly been enough for him. But maybe it'll be easier to have more people he doesn't have to be so careful around. He knows Ference will be cool, and he has friends who aren't on the team, so maybe he knows people he can hook Tyler up with.
Tyler takes a bite of eggs to give himself another minute to think about it while Ference just lets the silence settle.
"If I tell you," Tyler says, "you can't tell anyone else."
Ference's eyebrows go up. "Okay," he says. "I won't."
Tyler looks down so he doesn't have to see Ference's face when he says, "I'm gay."
"Wow," Ference says after a moment. "That wasn't even on my list of possibilities. Thank you for trusting me."
Tyler shrugs and looks up when he reaches for his orange juice. Ference doesn't seem particularly upset about it.
"Is that why you and Marchy go out without everyone else sometimes?"
"Uh, yeah," Tyler says. "He's a good wingman."
"Good, I guess," Ference says. "Are you being, you know, careful, if you don't want people to know?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "I went out in Toronto, but not in Boston, and Marchy and I have only been going out on road trips."
Ference stares at him. "How is Toronto better than Boston?"
"People know me in Boston," Tyler says. "No one really cared in Toronto. Plus," he adds, "I was dating a guy for a couple of months over the summer, so I wasn't really trying to pick up."
Ference keeps staring at him. "You dated? I didn't think you were into that kind of steady thing."
Tyler shrugs. "I like hooking up," he says. "I love hooking up. But, yeah, dating's pretty cool. I dated a guy in Biel too."
"It's like I don't even know you." Ference shakes his head and digs into his breakfast instead of continuing to stare at Tyler. "It figures that you'd turn out to be a romantic," he says after a couple of minutes.
"I guess," Tyler says. "Not really a chance for that right now."
"Buck up," Ference says. "The more people who know, the more people who can help you meet guys."
Tyler grins at him. "That's what I'm counting on."
*
Tyler tells Marchy that he told Ference, and the three of them go out on the road sometimes. Sometimes that works to Tyler's benefit, and sometimes it just ends with the two of them chirping him about both his taste and his game, and Tyler's impulse to defend himself interferes with his other goal of trying to get laid. It's fun anyway, if a different kind of fun.
The three of them also attract a different group of guys than Tyler and Marchy did alone. Hipsters seem to sense their kinship with Ference, and Tyler sometimes finds him deep in conversation with guys in environmentally-themed t-shirts who aren't particularly impressed when Ference tries to introduce them to Tyler.
It makes Tyler slightly skeptical when Ference nudges him after practice one day and says, "I met this guy. He's about your age, gay, single."
"Where'd you meet him?" Tyler asks. "Is he another one of your green hipsters?"
"There's nothing wrong with being green," Ference says, "or a hipster. And I met him at a birthday party. His niece is one of Stella's friends. He's nice, good with kids, good-looking. I'll give him your number if you want."
That is part of why Tyler started coming out to people on his team, so he says, "Yeah, okay."
"Marchy's not the only one who can be a successful wingman for you," Ference says. "His name's Greg, and I think you'll like him."
"Thanks," Tyler says, meaning it sincerely.
*
Tyler gets a call from an unknown number a couple of days later, and he's not busy so he picks it up.
"Hi," a voice he doesn't recognize says, "is this Tyler?"
"Yes."
"Hi, Tyler," the guy says, and he's a lot warmer this time. "This is Greg. I met your friend Andrew last week, and he said I should call you and see if you wanted to go out sometime."
"Oh, hi," Tyler says, smiling into the phone. "Yeah, he said he was going to give you my number."
"Is that a yes on going out?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "Definitely."
They arrange to meet for drinks the next day, and Greg says, "I'll text you a picture so you can find me."
Greg texts the picture a couple of minutes after they hang up. The picture shows a dark-haired guy with a loosened tie and a smile. I don't always wear a tie, Greg's note with it says, but I'll be coming from work.
Tyler sends back, I guess I'd better dress nicely too.
He takes his phone downstairs to where Fred's lounging on the couch and holds it up to him.
"Why am I looking at some stockbroker asshole?"
"I'm going on a date with him tomorrow," Tyler says.
"Maybe he won't be an asshole," Fred says. He looks up and shrugs. "Okay? Is this so I can describe him to the police if he murders you gruesomely?"
"You watch too much TV," Tyler says. "Ference knows him. Sort of. What do you think?"
Fred shrugs. "I don't know, dude. Everyone looks like an asshole in a tie like that."
Tyler turns the phone around to look at Greg's picture. "I own a tie like that."
Fred grins at him. "Exactly."
Tyler flips him off.
*
Tyler's just barely on time to meet Greg. The bar's picking up with the after work crowd, and he has to look through a bunch of people before he spots Greg at the bar.
"Greg?" He smiles as Greg turns to look at him. "Hi, I'm Tyler."
Greg smiles at him, and it's subtle, but Tyler can see Greg checking him out. "Hi, Tyler. Nice to actually meet you. Can I get you a drink?"
"Sure."
Greg turns toward the bar to get the bartender's attention, which takes a minute.
The bartender smiles at Greg, and wider at Tyler. "What can I get you?"
Greg orders a beer, and Tyler smiles and asks for the same. The bartender hands them a pair of bottles and says, "On the house," with a smile for Tyler when Greg tries to pay for them.
Greg looks at Tyler and raises his eyebrows. "Table?"
Tyler looks around at the number of people at the bar; they'll be able to talk at a table. "Yeah."
Greg leads him across the room to an empty table, and they settle in on either side of it.
"So," Greg says, "tell me why your smile gets us free drinks. Not that it's not a great smile."
Tyler flashes a smile at him. "I play hockey, with Ference. Andrew."
"Hockey," Greg says. "Huh."
"He didn't tell you that?"
"Have you ever been to a five-year-old's birthday party?" Greg asks.
"Uh, no."
"There's not that much grown-up conversation," Greg says. "Mostly people talked about their kids and how terrible traffic is." He shrugs. "I really only talked to Andrew for a couple of minutes. I spent most of the time playing with the kids and carrying things to and from the kitchen when my sister told me to."
"He said you were good with kids," Tyler says.
"He said you were good-looking," Greg says. "I think he undersold it."
Tyler blushes, and Greg just smiles at him a little more.
"He also said to be discreet," Greg says. "I guess now I know why."
"Yeah," Tyler says, and he sips at his beer so he doesn't really have to talk about that much. "What do you do?"
"Corporate drone," Greg says. "Accounting, very boring from the outside, but I like it."
"That does sound boring from the outside," Tyler says with a grin.
Greg laughs. "I won't bore you with the details, but it's much more interesting from the inside."
Tyler can't help making a face, and Greg just laughs at him again.
"So," Tyler says, "kids and accounting. What else are you into?"
Greg sips his beer slowly while he unmistakably checks Tyler out. "Good-looking guys."
It brings the blush back to Tyler's cheeks. "Me too," he says, looking at Greg from under his eyelashes for a second.
"Glad we're on the same page," Greg says. He drinks from his beer and they look at each other in silence for a moment. "You don't sound like a Boston native."
"You either," Tyler says. "I only came here when I got drafted."
"Wow," Greg says, "that really makes my following my sister across the country so I wouldn't miss out on my nieces and nephews growing up sound way less dramatic."
"I guess," Tyler says with a laugh. "Did you really do that?"
Greg nods. "We're from Chicago. I was in college there when Jason got a job and they moved here. I love the kids, and I didn't want them to never see their Uncle Greg, plus I was coming off a really bad breakup, so when I graduated, I only applied to jobs here. Mom and Dad still live in Chicago, but they're talking about moving here too in another year or two."
"Sounds like you're pretty close with your family," Tyler says.
"Oh, yeah. Stephanie's five years older, so we didn't have some of that sibling rivalry stuff my friends always had when they were close in age to their siblings, and neither of us went away to college, so we stayed pretty close. How about you?"
"Two sisters and two almost stepsisters," Tyler says. "They're all in Toronto, but I've been away from home since I was sixteen, so we're pretty used to not seeing each other for most of the year."
"Sixteen? Wow."
Tyler shrugs. "That's how hockey works. I got drafted into the OHL, junior hockey, and lived in Michigan for two years."
"So you probably didn't mind coming to Boston."
"No. It's closer, so I see my family more, and we play the Leafs, so I get up there for games and they can come see me play without having to come down here."
"Are you close to them?" Greg asks.
"Pretty close," Tyler says. "We text and Skype a lot, and I spend the summers in Toronto, so I see them a lot then."
"Huh," Greg says, then, "Four sisters, what's that like?"
Tyler grins. "My mom just got engaged last year, so I really only grew up with two of them. They're both younger."
"Really?" Greg asks. He eyes Tyler for a second. "You don't really strike me as an oldest child."
Tyler doesn't really know what to say to that, so it takes a moment before he says, "I've pretty much always been the youngest guy on my team."
"Maybe that's it," Greg says. "Or maybe I just don't know you well enough yet." He smiles at Tyler and tips back the rest of his beer. "Maybe I could keep getting to know you over dinner?"
Tyler smiles back. "There's a sushi place around the corner that's good."
They chat over platters of sushi, and if it's not the best time Tyler's ever had, it's at least good, and Greg doesn't know anything about hockey, so they talk movies and baseball instead.
Tyler tries to pay for dinner, but Greg bats his hand away and says, "I asked you out. I'll get it." He smiles at Tyler. "You can buy next time."
Tyler smiles back at him and says, "I drove. I can give you a ride home, if you want."
Greg says, "That'd be great," and they walk the two blocks to the garage where Tyler left his car. If it were nicer out, Tyler would try to make it a more leisurely walk, but it's cold enough that they walk purposefully instead.
Greg laughs when he sees the Maserati. "Is that really what you drive around town, or are you trying to impress me?"
Tyler flashes a grin at him. "A little bit of both."
"I'm impressed." Greg runs one gloved hand along the curve of the roof.
Tyler follows Greg's directions to his place. Greg lives on what appears to be a quiet street, lined with cars, and Tyler idles in front of the building Greg points out. There are street lights, but also trees throwing shadows, enough that Tyler doesn't try to stop Greg when he leans over and kisses Tyler's cheek.
"Let's do this again," Greg says.
"Definitely," Tyler says. "My schedule can be kind of weird, but I'll call you."
Greg smiles and says, "I can't wait," before he gets out of the car.
Tyler goes home, and barely gets in the door before Fred steps out of the living room, Marshall on his heels, and asks, "How was the date?"
"He's not an asshole," Tyler says, "so you were wrong."
*
Tyler waits a couple of days before he calls Greg. They go to dinner and a movie this time, and they go to a bar after and spend an hour talking about the movie and hanging out until Greg says, "I really hate to end our evening, but I have to work tomorrow," and Tyler drives him home.
They go on a road trip after that, and Tyler and Greg text back and forth.
Ference sidles up to Tyler when he's looking down at his phone writing back to Greg. "Was I right or was I right?"
Tyler almost hates to give him props for anything, but he says, "He's nice."
"You like him," Ference says.
"We've only been on two dates."
"And sent how many texts?"
Tyler shoves his phone in his pocket so Ference can't see what's on his screen. "Enough."
"I just want you to be happy," Ference says, and it's half mocking and half sincere.
"Yeah, yeah," Tyler says, but he smiles at Ference, because it was really nice of him to set Tyler up with Greg.
*
Tyler and Marchy slip away from the rest of the guys one night and go out to a gay bar. Tyler told Marchy he'd been on a couple of dates with a guy, but he's not sure he and Greg are dating exactly.
It's fun, Marchy playing wingman with less intensity than usual, and Tyler dances with a couple of guys until he's sweaty and tired. He doesn't hook up, though, just has a good time and leaves with Marchy before it gets too late.
He texts Greg on the way back to Boston, and makes plans to meet him for dinner.
"Third date," Fred says, being a pest while Tyler's trying to decide what to wear. "You going to let him get into your pants?"
Tyler flips him off. "I'm not going to tell you if I do."
They go out to dinner again, and linger over dessert, Tyler exchanging stories about Marshall's escapades for stories about Greg's nieces and nephews. Tyler drives Greg home, and his street is quiet, shadowed where Tyler stops to drop him off. Greg leans across the car to kiss Tyler, and it's nice, but Greg doesn't invite him in and Tyler doesn't push it.
Fred's in the living room when Tyler gets home, in just his boxer briefs, socks, and a bathrobe, paper spread all over the coffee table, guitar on his lap, and Marshall lying on the floor watching him.
Tyler goes over to pet Marshall, and Fred doesn't say anything until he finishes whatever it is he's playing. It's new, Tyler thinks, or at least he hasn't heard it before.
"You're home pretty early," Fred says.
Tyler shrugs, and rubs behind Marshall's ears. Fred starts in on playing something instead of saying anything to him, and Tyler pats Marshall one more time and goes upstairs to his room. He hits up Brownie to see if he's around, and pulls out his laptop to open Skype when Brownie hits him back.
"What's up?" Brownie asks.
"Can't I just want to see you?"
Brownie grins at him. "You can, but you have that look on your face like you want to talk."
Tyler sighs. "Ference set me up with this guy and I've been on three dates with him, and I just don't know."
Brownie blinks. "Did you hook up with him?"
"No."
"Would you like him better if you did?"
"I don't know!" Tyler sighs. "He's nice and pretty hot and he loves his nieces and nephews, like he moved to Boston from Chicago so he could be there while they grow up, but."
"But what?" Brownie asks. "He sounds great."
"He is." Tyler rubs his hand over his eyes. "He's just not-" Tyler sighs. "I wouldn't write him letters every day for a year. Is that dumb?"
"I would write Julie letters every day until the end of time," Brownie says. "I'm not going to be the guy to tell you not to hold out for that."
Brownie is a much better person to talk to about this than Fred would have been. "I guess I'm breaking up with him," Tyler says. "Or whatever. I don't know if we were really dating if it was only three dates."
"Close enough," Brownie says. "Sorry, dude."
Tyler sighs and makes a face at him.
"Someday," Brownie says, "you'll meet some guy you would write letters to every day for a year."
"Until then I guess I'll just hook up with hot guys out of town," Tyler says.
"Yeah, your life is so hard."
*
Tyler meets Greg for drinks at a quiet bar where he knows they'll be able to get a table and talk without anyone overhearing them. They chat for a few minutes before Greg puts his drink down and says, "Okay, out with it, whatever it is you want to say."
Tyler puts his beer down. "Is it that obvious?"
"People in space could tell you want to say something."
Tyler tears at the edge of the label on his beer bottle, then makes himself look up at Greg. "I don't think this is working out," he says. "You're really great, and I'm glad I met you, it's just not going to work for me."
"Oh," Greg says. "I was hoping it would work out." He shakes his head. "I probably should have known when I didn't invite you in, huh?"
"Maybe," Tyler says, his stomach tight with tension. He hates this. "I'm sorry. You really are great, and I'm sure you're going to find some guy who's perfect for you."
"You're just not going to be it," Greg says with a sigh.
"No," Tyler says. "Sorry."
Greg picks up his drink and puts it down again. "I'm going to take off," he says. "Maybe I'll see you around sometime."
Tyler nods and watches him go. He wants to tell Greg they could be friends, because he thinks that could be good, but he doesn't think Greg would appreciate it.
He drinks half his beer before he decides he doesn't really want to be there anymore either and goes home to his dog.
*
Tyler waits until the end of practice the next day, after they've come off the ice, when everyone's headed out, to pull Ference aside.
"What's up?" Ference asks.
"Um," Tyler says. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not dating Greg anymore."
Ference looks at him, and he could chirp Tyler for it, but instead he says, "Okay," and squeezes Tyler's arm. "Sorry it didn't work out."
Tyler lets out a sigh. "Yeah, me too. Thanks for setting me up. I did like him." He shrugs. "He's just not right for me."
"When you know, you know," Ference says. "You gave it a shot."
"I did," Tyler says. He grins at Ference, mostly sincerely. "You can still set me up with people."
Ference pats his shoulder. "I'll keep that in mind." He grins at Tyler. "But next time it's going to be a green hipster."
Tyler laughs and says, "If you find me one, I'll give it a shot."
*
Ference does push one of the green hipsters at Tyler the next time he goes out with Tyler and Marchy on the road. Tyler gets the sense that they guy wouldn't think much of him if he were looking for someone to date, but Tyler slips it into the conversation that he's only in town for the night, and the guy takes him home. The sex is good, and Tyler goes back to the hotel at least feeling good about his ability to get laid.
"So?" Ference asks at breakfast.
Tyler makes sure no one is paying attention to them before he says, "He was good in bed, but he wouldn't have dated me."
Ference hmmms and says, "Well, you knew you probably weren't going to find your true love at a bar in Ottawa, right?"
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Maybe I should just risk it in Boston."
"What are you risking in Boston?" Marchy asks, taking the seat on the other side of Tyler.
"Going out," Tyler says. "Maybe."
"You'll get recognized for sure," Marchy says.
"I know," Tyler says. It's why he hasn't done it before, and why he probably won't now. He dredges up a smile. "If you two would just introduce me to people."
"I tried it," Ference says. He tips his chin in Marchy's direction. "Your turn."
"I don't know where you think I'm going to meet anyone who would date Segs," Marchy says.
"That's your problem," Ference says.
Tyler eats his eggs and lets them bicker about it.
*
Tyler doesn't go to gay bars in Boston. He sticks to going out on the road, and since no one introduces him to anyone, he doesn't date so much as get laid out of town. It's not like he has a problem with getting laid, but he finds he kind of misses dating, which is weird since he hasn't actually done that much of it.
"It's because you think you like to party but you're actually a romantic," Brownie tells him over Skype, accompanied by a roll of his eyes.
"Fuck you," Tyler says. "I love to party."
"Okay, fine," Brownie says. "Then you want to party with someone who's also going to hold your hand in a movie theater. No use denying your nature, dude."
That is actually kind of true. "It doesn't matter anyway," Tyler says, "since I'm not meeting anyone."
"Your life is not that much of a tragedy," Brownie says, which is not the sympathy Tyler was hoping for. "If you really want to go out, go out. Just be prepared for the consequences."
"Easy for you to say," Tyler mutters. "You don't have to worry about it. And you have Julie."
"I do have Julie," Brownie says with a self-satisfied smile. "You'll find somebody."
It doesn't make Tyler feel that much better, but Brownie means well. And there's always summer.
*
Big Z has a few words for them at the end of a team meeting the last week of February, and then he nods at Ference who comes up to the front of the room with him.
"I'm going to forward you all an email from Patrick Burke," Ference says. "He has a couple of players interested in coming out publicly as part of the You Can Play stuff, and he's letting everyone know about it in case anyone else wants to be part of it."
Ference is looking at everyone as he talks, but Tyler can feel his cheeks heating up.
"No pressure," Ference says. "This is a personal decision that anyone who's gay or bi has to make for themselves. But if anyone wants to, this team is behind you all the way. And anyone who isn't will have to answer to us."
Ference isn't particularly threatening, but Big Z crosses his arms over his chest behind him.
There's a ripple of stifled laughter, and Ference turns to look behind him and grins at Big Z.
"Anyway, if anyone wants to be part of it, you can email Burkie, or one of us can introduce you. And if not, that's cool too." Ference sits down, and so does Big Z, and Coach reminds them about skate time tomorrow, and then dismisses them.
Tyler gets the email later, and a second one from Ference that's just to him.
You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't want to be out, don't be. If you do, this might be a good way to do it.
Tyler closes his laptop and takes Marshall to the park instead of sitting there thinking about it.
*
Tyler sleeps on it and Skypes Brownie the next day to talk about it.
"You wouldn't have to worry about going out in Boston," Brownie says.
Tyler slumps down into the couch. "I know. I could hook up or date or whatever. Meet guys I could actually see more than once."
"Okay, so," Brownie says. "That's the upside."
Tyler tips his head back to look at the ceiling. "I don't want people to hate me. Or, like, get traded."
"Downsides," Brownie says. "Dude, I don't know why you're talking to me about this. It's not my choice."
Tyler sighs heavily. "I want advice," he says.
"I don't know," Brownie says. "I guess it depends on how much you want to go out to gay bars in Boston. Or, like, how much you want to go out anywhere without someone outing you. You should call Wally."
Tyler makes a face. He knows he should call Wally, but he's just going to get chewed out for not telling him earlier so he could be on top of things. "He's going to be in town next week."
"And you're going to put it off until then," Brownie says.
"Better if I think about it, right?" Tyler says.
"I guess," Brownie says doubtfully. "Hey, you know I've got your back no matter what you do, right?"
Tyler smiles at him. "Yeah, dude, I know."
*
The first thing Marchy says the next time he and Tyler are in the same place without anyone else around is, "Are you going to do it?"
Tyler doesn't need to ask to know what he's talking about. "I don't know," he says.
"You wouldn't have to leave the state to get laid," Marchy says.
Tyler grins at him. "That's the best reason to do it."
"You probably shouldn't say that if you do," Marchy says. "They're going to want to hear about you being a role model or being true to yourself or some shit like that."
Tyler groans. "If I do it, they're going to make me talk about it."
"You're just figuring that out?"
"Shut up," Tyler says. "I'm still stuck on whether or not I want people to know."
"If they know," Marchy says, "you're going to have to talk about it, probably a lot."
Well, that's another downside to think about.
*
"I cannot believe," Wally says when Tyler tells him, the second day he's in town, "that you didn't tell me this earlier. Jesus, Tyler, you're supposed to tell me these kinds of things so I know what to do if it gets leaked."
"I know," Tyler says.
"And you went out? To gay bars?" He barely waits for Tyler's nod before he keeps going. "You know every cell phone has a camera these days. I can't believe you did that. You're so lucky no one's outed you yet."
"I know," Tyler says. "I know all of that, and if I did this thing You Can Play is doing, I would be out and I wouldn't have to worry about that anymore."
Wally sighs. "You're enough of a star that you might be a hockey player who's gay, but if you do it, you need to be prepared for people to think you're gay first and a hockey player second. Every interview you do is going to ask about it."
Tyler nods. He gets that part now. "That's why I'm talking to you. What do you think I should do?"
Wally's silent for a minute. "Have you thought about endorsements?"
Tyler blinks. "No."
"You'll probably keep Bauer, maybe Under Armour, but there's a chance you'll lose Dunkin' or one of the other ones."
"Are you saying I shouldn't do it?" Tyler asks after a moment.
"No," Wally says. "I'm saying you need to think about the fucked up reality you're stepping into if you do."
That's a grimmer assessment of it than anyone else has given him.
"Look," Wally says, "it's ultimately up to you. If you do it, we'll do what we can to keep your endorsements and, I don't know, maybe there are other ones we can get for you, but you need to really think about it. And you need to tell me shit so I can be prepared for it."
Tyler winces. "That's it, I promise."
Wally looks at him sharply, but that really is it, so Tyler can meet his eyes without flinching.
*
They're not going to be in Toronto for a while, so Tyler does the next best thing to visiting his mom and Skypes her. He lays out the entire situation for her, and she listens without interrupting because she's his mom and she's awesome.
"I don't know what to do," he says at the end of it.
"Oh, honey," Mom says. "Part of being an adult is making hard choices. You've been sheltered from a lot of that by your career, but everyone has to make tough choices sometimes. This is one of yours."
Tyler blinks away tears - whatever, it's his mom, and she's talking about him being an adult - and says, "I wish it were easier."
"I do too," Mom says. "You have no idea how much I wish that for you. But neither of your choices are all that easy. All you can ever do is your best, and know that your family is going to love you no matter what."
Tyler rubs tears out of his eyes and gets Mom to talk to him about something else for a while. He still doesn't know what he's going to do, but it's better to know that Mom's behind him no matter what.
*
It takes him another week to do it, but Tyler sits down on a free afternoon and calls Patrick Burke. He could email, but he doesn't really want to put anything in writing. Not that he thinks Burke would do anything with it or anything like that. He's just being careful. Belatedly, sure, but still. Careful.
Burke answers his phone with a cool, "This is Patrick Burke."
"Um, hi," Tyler says. "This is Tyler Seguin."
"Hi, Tyler," Burke says. "What can I do for you?"
Tyler takes a deep breath. "I got your email, or Ference and Big Z forwarded it, about players coming out."
"Yes," Burke says, and it's cautious.
"I'm gay," Tyler says.
There's a bare second of silence before Burke asks, "Do you want to come out?" and it's still cautious, but there's something else there, like banked excitement.
"I don't know," Tyler says. "Maybe. I want to know about what you're doing before I decide for sure."
"First of all," Burke says, and this time he sounds confident and sure, "I want to promise you this conversation is completely confidential. Neither You Can Play as an organization nor I as an individual are in the business of outing people who don't want to be out. I've had similar confidential conversations with other players interested in coming out, and I would no more tell them I've talked to you than I will tell you who they are."
Tyler breathes a little easier at that.
"The players who've approached us," Burke goes on, "are in agreement that this will be easier if it's not just one person, and that's how we're planning to do this. You Can Play has been based around video PSAs, and we'd like to continue with that. What we want to do is have everyone film a short segment where they come out, and we'll put them together into a video with an accompanying press release. For anyone who's comfortable with it, we'll do additional videos where you can talk about it, or you can come out and we'll work with you and your team to make sure you don't have to talk about it any more than that. Our crew will all have signed NDAs, and you'll be able to change your mind up until forty-eight hours before the video goes live."
It's a lot of information to take in all at once. "Wow," Tyler says.
Burke chuckles a little. "I know, it can be overwhelming, but we want to make sure that anyone who does this can do it on their own terms and that you're sure this is what you want."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "I want to be sure too. Can I think about it and get back to you?"
"Absolutely," Burke says. "We've already started shooting segments, and we're looking at releasing the video just before the end of the season. We're guessing the playoffs will be the bigger story, and that should minimize the media intrusion, and by the time next season starts, it'll just be a part of reality."
That gives Tyler a little bit of time to make sure he really wants to do this. "Okay," he says. "I'll think about it, and get back to you soon."
"Okay," Burke says. "Whatever you decide is your decision, but know that we'd be glad to have you be part of this."
"Thanks," Tyler says, and then they say goodbye and he hangs up with shaking hands.
*
The first person he tells about his decision is Fred, because Fred comes home from class while Tyler's sitting on the couch, mindlessly petting Marshall in the silence while he looks down at his phone, scrolling through his contacts over and over again trying to decide who he should call.
"What are you doing sitting around in the dark?" Fred goes around the room turning on lamps.
"It's not dark," Tyler says, even though it's gotten a lot darker than he realized.
"Not now." Fred crouches down in front of the couch and tussles with Marshall for a minute. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to come out," Tyler says.
"Whoa," Fred says. "Like, to everyone?"
"Yes." Tyler puts his phone down so he can use both hands to rub behind Marshall's ears. Marshall is so uncomplicated. "You Can Play is doing a thing, a bunch of players coming out. I'm going to do it."
"Wow," Fred says. "Every gay dude in Boston is going to want to get into your pants. Not that they don't already."
Tyler laughs and throws a pillow at him.
"No, really," Fred says. "You're going to get so laid."
"That's the idea," Tyler admits.
Fred cracks up. "Dude, this is the farthest anyone has ever gone to get laid."
"Shut up." Tyler throws another pillow at him. "I can get laid. This is so I can get laid without worrying about getting outed."
Fred gathers both the pillows and stacks them on his lap. "Huh. I guess that's a good idea."
"Yep." Tyler looks down at Marshall and watches Fred out of the corner of his eye. "It might make things harder when we party."
Fred shrugs. "You're already a distraction. We're all used to it." He rests his elbows on his short stack of pillows. "You might want to tell the rest of the crew first."
Tyler stops petting Marshall and flops back against the couch. "There are so many people I have to tell first. It would be easier if I could just do it once."
*
He can't do it once. He calls Burke first, Wally second, and then Mom, Dad, his sisters, Brownie, Marchy, and Ference. Dad is the only one who isn't sure it's such a great idea, but it's more of a feeling Tyler gets from the conversation and not something he says out loud. What he says out loud is, "If this is what you want, I'll support you," which isn't him telling Tyler not to do it.
Then there are the other people he has to tell.
The Boston crew is easiest, in some ways. Tyler and Fred have everyone over for pizza and video games, and while everyone is silently biting into their first bites of pizza, Tyler clears his throat to get their attention.
"This isn't just about pizza," he says, his own first slice sitting untouched on the plate on his lap. There's no way he's going to be able to eat until he does this. "Um, I'm gay, and I'm going to come out, like, publicly."
Brian chokes on his pizza and has to be patted on the back.
"You?" Chase says. "But you and all those girls."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "I haven't hooked up with any of them in like a year. And I, uh, didn't really know about myself before that, so."
"I can't believe I ever dated you," Ciara says. "You are seriously the dumbest person I know."
"I am not!" Tyler looks around for help, and doesn't get any.
"Sorry," Fred says with a shrug. "You are kind of dumb."
"How do you just not know that about yourself?" Brian asks.
"I don't know," Tyler says. "I just didn't."
"When he had a chance with girls like me," Ciara says, "why would he even think of anything else?"
Tyler laughs with everyone else, and he manages to eat a couple of slices of pizza around everyone's questions about dating and how he's going to come out and who already knows.
Tyler catches up to Ciara later and says, "You know it wasn't anything about you, right?"
"Oh, baby," she says, "of course I do." She hugs him. "And if these," she gestures at her boobs, "couldn't make you like girls, nothing can."
Tyler's pretty sure Ciara wouldn't have been it for him even if he were into girls, although she's a good friend now, but he laughs instead of telling her that.
*
Wally goes with him to a closed-door meeting with management and coaches that's probably the most uncomfortable meeting Tyler's ever been in. Some of them are totally cool, some of them not so much, but no one tells him he can't do it.
After that, walking into a team meeting to tell the boys is easy in comparison. He knows Marchy, Ference, and Big Z, at least, have his back.
Coach lets him have the floor, and Tyler stays in his chair because he's nervous enough that he's not sure his legs will hold him if he tries to stand up in front of the room. "Yeah," he says, "that email Ference and Z sent us, from Patrick Burke." He takes a deep breath. "I'm gay, and I'm going to come out with the other players who want to."
"You?" Krejci says with a laugh.
Tyler shrugs and nods. "Me. And I'm not dating anyone, so if, uh, you know anyone and you want to play matchmaker." He spreads his hands. "I'm up for that."
Coach calls them back together for the rest of their meeting, and PR steps in to say that the NHL's official position is that they support all players but no one has to talk about it if they don't want to, and Tyler's heart doesn't stop beating too fast until after the meeting when a handful of guys come up to say they support him.
Dougie's one of the last ones, and he looks at Tyler for a long minute.
"What?" Tyler hunches his shoulders.
Dougie blinks and shakes his head. "Of course I'm cool with it. Is that why you and Marchy were always sneaking off on road trips?"
Tyler gapes at him. "You knew about that?"
Dougie rolls his eyes. "You aren't that sneaky."
Tyler shakes his head, trying to wrap his mind around Dougie actually knowing they were doing something, and not saying or asking anything about it. "Yeah," he finally says. "Couldn't risk going out in Boston, so we went out on the road."
"Makes sense," Dougie says. "Guess you'll get to go out in Boston now."
Tyler grins at him. "That's the plan."
*
Things move kind of fast after that. Tyler mostly concentrates on his game, but he also has to sit down with the film crew for You Can Play. Burke actually comes with them, and he smiles pretty much the whole time.
There are lines Tyler has to say to fit into the plan of their video. That part goes pretty quickly, just three sentences - they do second and third takes so they can choose the best one - and then they can move on. Tyler already agreed to do a segment talking about himself, and that one's the hard part.
"Relax," Burke says. "This is about you. We'll make you look good, but the base of it is whatever you want to say."
Tyler doesn't necessarily want to say anything, but he knows what he's getting into with this, and if he's going to be out, he feels like he should do something with it other than just go to gay bars.
"Just talk to the camera," Burke says. "Like it's someone you know."
It's stupid advice, because it's not someone Tyler knows, and what he actually told the people he knows won't play well for the cameras. Tyler may only be twenty-two, but he's been representing his team in front of cameras for four years; he knows what kinds of things to say.
They point to him when the camera's on, and Tyler takes a deep breath and starts talking. "My friends all make fun of me for being just a dumb hockey player because I didn't know I was gay until recently, but I was a hockey player, and all my life hockey players only dated girls." He shrugs. "I never thought about doing anything else. That's not the way it has to be, and if you're a gay player, you're not the only one."
Tyler says a lot of other stuff too. They ask him questions and get him to talk about it a little bit, but the rest of it mostly passes in a blur, until they tell him they're done.
Burke shakes his hand before he leaves. "Thank you so much," he says. "It's great that you're doing this." His smile dims a little, and he says, "And remember, if you change your mind, we'll pull you from the ad."
"Thanks," Tyler says. He's pretty sure he's not going to chicken out now, but it's nice to know he has the option.
*
The season grinds on after that, game after practice after charity event. Tyler hooks up with a guy Marchy finds for him in a bar in New York and ducks out of a gay bar in Chicago where he gets too many looks to be comfortable. He goes on a date with a guy Krejci knows who turns out to still be hung up on his ex and makes Krejci make it up to him with dinner out with some of the boys.
Two days before the ad is scheduled to go public, Tyler stares down at Burke's name on his phone for so long Marshall comes over and noses at his hands to see what he's doing.
Tyler rubs behind his ears. "Nothing interesting, buddy. You want to go for a walk? Yeah, I bet you do." He leaves his phone at home and takes Marshall for a long walk around the neighborhood, letting Marshall decide where he wants to go.
Fred's in the living room with a couple of books around him - he's winding down toward finals, which means a lot of studying all over the apartment - when Tyler and Marshall get home. Fred grins and pets Marshall when he rushes over to him, tail wagging.
Tyler picks up his phone and skims through the messages he's missed. He still has an hour left before the forty-eight-hour deadline. "Want to go get lunch?" he asks Fred. "I'm buying."
"Hell yes you're buying," Fred says. "Right now?"
"Yes." Tyler shoves his phone into his pocket. "Wherever you want to go."
"Anywhere I want to go?"
"Yes," Tyler says. "Anywhere. Let's go."
Fred looks at him suspiciously and gets his shoes and makes Tyler buy him steak. The distraction is more than worth the cost, even when Fred insists on ordering dessert too. They sit there talking even after that, and by the time Fred makes them leave because he has class, it's well past the deadline, and Tyler's going to be out to the whole world in less than two days.
Part 4