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rsadelleMaster Post - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3
The ad goes live at noon on Thursday, along with an accompanying press release. They have a game that night, and at noon they're just getting out of morning skate. There's lunch set up in the lounge, and Tyler makes himself get a plate and sit down. He needs to eat, no matter how nervous this is making him.
Ference sits next to him. "Watched it yet?"
Tyler shakes his head.
"Do you want to?"
"I should," Tyler says.
Ference looks at him for a long, long minute, and then he goes and messes around until he gets the ad up on the TV screen across the room.
Tyler takes a deep breath and nods at him, and Ference tells everyone to shut up and lets the ad play.
It starts out with each of them saying their names, and Tyler doesn't look too awkward looking into the camera and saying, "I'm Tyler Seguin." The next part is each of them saying, "I'm gay," except for the two guys who say, "I'm bisexual." And then there's the last part, where they've cut it together so each of them says half of the "If you can play, you can play" tagline, repeated over and over until they've all been on the screen again.
The boys clap for him, and Tyler breathes for the first time since the ad started playing.
Ference catches him in a one-armed hug before he sits down again, and they dig into their lunches.
Tyler doesn't read the press release that goes with the ad until after he gets home, and he can't bring himself to watch the other video, where he talks about being gay. He retweets the You Can Play tweet about the main video, and doesn't even want to think about looking at his replies.
The steady trickle of missed texts he has after he gets home from skate has turned into too many for him to even think about dealing with after he gets up from his nap. He skims through them for things he has to answer - his family, Brownie, Wally - and looks at a couple of others from friends, and then gives it up. There'll be even more after the game, and he can work on replying to people tomorrow.
Once he's back at the rink, he locks his phone away, takes a few deep breaths, and lets go of the whole thing. He has a game to prepare for and play, and that's what matters. The boys don't treat him any differently than they usually do, and by the time they go out for warmups, Tyler has his head in the game.
He's focused on what he's doing, not thinking about the early crowd or what he has to do in the game, just the here and now of drills and skating.
Dougie is the one to nudge him and point him toward the glass. It's like surfacing out of a dream to pay attention again.
In the midst of all the other fans with signs is a guy with a piece of posterboard that says, in slightly crooked capital letters, "TYLER WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?"
Tyler can feel himself turning bright red, and it only gets worse when Dougie's involvement catches the other D-men's notice and they're all laughing at the sign.
Tyler smiles at the fan to acknowledge him, and then turns to get himself in line for his turn to take a shot on Tuukka in goal.
"Going to take him up on it?" Marchy asks after Tyler shoots.
"No," Tyler says with a laugh. "Nice that they're doing that, I guess."
Big Z is also hovering near their conversation, and there's a serious look on his face when he tells Tyler, "Security is watching the signs."
Tyler shrugs. Security always keeps an eye on the signs to make sure nothing too inappropriate for press coverage makes it into pictures or on TV.
Marchy is the one to eye Big Z and Tyler and ask, "Are there problems?"
Big Z shrugs. "Not right now." He pats Tyler's shoulder. "We will not let them make problems for you."
"Uh, thanks," Tyler says. He looks around at the signs lining the glass. There's still only the one directed at him. Maybe he's better off focusing on warmups.
They finish warmups and skate off for the break between then and the start of the game. Tyler's starting, and his name comes out of the loudspeakers as he skates onto the ice. There are a lot of cheers, but he can hear some boos mixed in. If they were away, he would expect them, but this is more booing than he usually gets at a home game.
Well, the slogan is, "If you can play, you can play," so he'll just have to show them he can play.
He looks down the line, and over at the bench, and the boys all look just as determined as he feels.
It's not an easy game. None of them are easy, exactly, but they have to keep working at this one, battling for pucks, avoiding turnovers, relying just as much on physical presence as skill with the puck.
There's a break in play in the second. Tyler's on the bench between shifts at the moment anyway, which means he's in the right place to see the screen when they start playing the ad. Coach is talking to them, but Tyler doesn't catch most of it, waiting for the moment when he shows up on screen. There's a cheer for the part where he says, "I'm Tyler Seguin," and then things get quiet when it cuts to the second part. There's a mix of scattered cheering and booing when he says, "I'm gay," and a little more cheering than booing when he says his part of "If you can play, you can play."
Coach loses all of their attention after that, because it's a long enough break that they play the second video, the one Tyler hasn't watched yet, the one where he talks about being gay. There's a respectful silence when it starts out with him talking about not knowing he was gay and about wanting to be an example for other hockey players that you can be gay and play hockey. The silence turns to laughs when he grins and says, "And I want to be able to go out and date people and not be worried that someone is going to out me."
The video ends with the You Can Play logo on the screen, and Tyler's entire team bangs their sticks against the boards for him. It's too loud for just that, and when he looks, the Flyers are also supporting him, and most of the noise from the crowd is cheering and clapping.
They put Tyler's face on the screen, and he manages to smile instead of the ridiculously stunned expression that was on his face when they turned the camera on him.
Tyler has two shifts to get himself together before he's back out on the ice, and then it's more or less easy to shake off everything else and focus on what he's supposed to be doing.
They're up by two when the period ends, and the mood in the room is upbeat.
"We should start a pool," Krejci says. "How many dates Segs gets out of that pair of ads."
Tyler throws a towel at him. "I don't need ads to get me dates."
"I'm not putting money on it," Dougie says, "but it's probably going to be a lot." And here Tyler thought he was loyal.
Tyler doesn't have a towel to throw at Dougie, so he settles for flipping him off. "Fuck you," he says. "I don't need publicity to get me dates."
"That's how you got girls," Krejci says.
"But not dudes," Marchy says. "Kid's got game with the gay boys." At least someone's on Tyler's side. "This is just going to expand his dating pool to include the ones who want to date a celebrity." Or maybe not.
"Fuck all of you," Tyler says. He's kind of laughing, though, because the chirping is the same kind of shit they give everyone. No one's hassling him because he's gay, or because they disagree with him being out.
They settle down a little into their intermission routines, and Coach comes to give them a talk they all pay attention to.
They dominate in the third period, and win by two, which means they're all still in a good mood and making plans to go out after the game.
But there's media to talk to first, and most of them gather around Tyler. He takes a couple of steps out into the room so there's room for other guys to get to their stalls around him, and then he smiles at everyone and takes questions.
No one asks about the game.
Tyler kind of knew it would be like this, but he didn't realize that every single question was going to be about him being gay.
He tells them he's single, says the same things he said in his video about coming out to be an example to other hockey players, says his family supports him.
"How much contact did you have with the other players in the video?" Naoko asks him.
"None," Tyler says, and everyone looks surprised, "everyone filmed their own parts separately. I didn't even know who else was doing it until I watched the video earlier."
That sets off another flurry of questions about the video that Tyler does his best to answer calmly and carefully. It takes a while, probably longer than any other media scrum he's ever been a part of.
Tyler's the last one out of the showers. A couple of the boys are still hanging around.
"Get a move on," Marchy says. "Everyone else already went to the bar. They didn't want to wait for your slow ass."
Tyler flips him off and gets dressed. He shoves a toque onto his head - it's going to leave his hair kind of a mess when they get to the bar, but they had a late snowstorm yesterday and it's too cold to go without - and says, "You're buying me a beer," to Marchy as they leave.
Marchy says, "You wish," but he does get Tyler's first drink when they get to the bar.
There are always people looking at them when they go out, and more so when there are this many of them at a bar together, but there's something just enough different about it tonight that it has to be about the ad. About Tyler.
He does his best to ignore it and just drink with the boys instead, Krejci and Marchy calling out toasts to every good play they had that evening, and even Dougie calling out a toast to Tuuks' best save.
Their group starts to split up a little after a while. Dougie flirts with some girl at the bar, Katrina shows up and Marchy takes her to the bar to get her a drink and show off that he has a hot girlfriend, a couple of the other boys get up to go hit on girls.
Tyler's still at the table, but he's kind of on an edge now, no one between him and the rest of the bar, and a girl comes up and smiles at him. She's pretty hot, if Tyler were into that.
Tyler smiles back because that's always what he does. "Hi."
"Hi." The girl leans forward so Tyler could see down her shirt if he wanted to. "Want to buy me a drink?"
Tyler probably should have thought about how to deal with this now. Before, he would have just bought her a drink and flirted before getting out of there without her, but now he doesn't have to.
"Uh, I'm gay," he says, "but I'll buy you a drink if you want."
The girl's smile dims. "Figures," she says, and she walks away from the table.
Ference is the first one to start laughing. "I guess not all of Boston knows about you yet."
Tyler finds himself smiling too. It is kind of funny, especially the way the girl left.
"Just wait," Ference says, patting him on the shoulder. "Once everyone knows, it'll be guys trying to pick you up."
Tyler holds up his beer. "I'll drink to that."
No one else tries to pick Tyler up, and he leaves when Ference and Bergy do. It's a little early for him to call it a night, but he's ready to put the day behind him and move on. How long can it take for the world to get used to him being out?
*
Tyler answers questions about himself in every one of his interviews for the next week, both the usual media scrums and a couple of newly scheduled interviews. But after a week of saying the same things over and over again, he gets sick of it and goes to talk to PR.
"Everyone knows," he says when he's sitting down with Jessica from PR. "I don't see why I have to keep talking about it."
"You're one of the first openly gay players in the NHL," Jessica says. "It comes with the territory. But we can talk to reporters about not asking during your regular media scrums, and we'll get You Can Play and the PA involved if you need backup on that. You'll probably have to say, 'Let's stick to talking about the game,' a lot, and you'll need to talk to your agent about interviews that aren't scheduled through us."
Tyler nods. "I can do that." He knows PR isn't magic, and there's only so much they can do. "Thanks."
*
He gets hit on in Boston for the first time three days after his meeting with PR. He's at a bar with Fred and a bunch of his Boston crew. They're two beers in, mostly just shooting the shit and keeping an eye on the crowd.
They send Tyler to the bar for another pitcher - he grumbles about it, but mostly for show - and he pushes his way through the crowd to lean over the bar and order. He orders two pitchers while he's there - it's not like they're not going to drink that much.
There's a guy a few feet away staring at him as he places the order. Tyler does his best to ignore it. He gets stared at a lot in Boston, and he's thinking fan, not potential hookup.
The guy moves while Tyler's waiting for his pitchers, gets around the people between them and crowds in next to Tyler. "You're Tyler Seguin," the guy says.
Tyler kind of smiles at him. "Yeah."
The guy tilts his head up - he's a couple of inches shorter than Tyler - to meet Tyler's eyes, and he smiles slowly. "So you're gay." The guy looks him up and down. "Want to forget whatever you're drinking and fuck?"
That was not what Tyler was expecting. If he were in a gay bar, that kind of blunt offer wouldn't surprise him, but he's not. He's in one of the bars they hang out in all the time, and he thought if anyone were going to hit on him here, they would start with buying him a drink, or asking him to buy them one, like girls do sometimes.
"Uh," Tyler says. The guy's kind of hot, and if Tyler had come out to try to pick up, he might say yes. But he's here to hang out with friends, and he gets the sense the guy is one of the people who just wants to say they hooked up with Tyler Seguin. "Sorry," he tells the guy. "I'm here with friends." He accepts the pitchers and his credit card slip from the bartender and pushes his way through the crowd, toward his friends and away from the guy.
It shouldn't feel weird. Tyler's used to getting hit on because he's famous, and he knows he's going to get some of that from guys. It does feel weird, though. Maybe just because it's the first time, or maybe because he wasn't expecting it at one of the places where he's a regular.
The only open seat at the table when Tyler gets back is one facing away from the bar, which suits Tyler just fine. Now he doesn't have to know if the guy is still watching him.
*
Being out means that Tyler can go out wherever he wants in Boston. It'll probably show up online, but at least it'll just be another story about him partying and not someone outing him without his permission.
He thinks about going alone, but instead he talks Marchy into going with him to be his wingman.
"You don't even need one," Marchy says. "What if I want to have a quiet night in with Katrina?"
"You can bring her if you want," Tyler says. "Come on. I don't know the scene in Boston. Just check it out with me."
"Fine," Marchy says with a sigh. "But the moment you pick up, I'm out of there."
"Deal," Tyler says.
They both ask around and Tyler googles a little bit, and they end up in a place that has more of a club atmosphere. Marchy brought Katrina, so Tyler buys all three of them shots they do at the bar, and then they look around at the place. There are people at the bar, but most of the guys in the place are on the dance floor. Tyler watches for just long enough to get the lay of the land, and then he pushes off of the bar and wades into the crowd.
Tyler doesn't expect to be alone for long, and he's not. He gets some looks from the crowd, and after a minute, a guy comes over to dance with him. The guy isn't bad, pretty good dancer, and cute enough. He barely looks at Tyler's face, though, and when someone else comes up to him, Tyler turns away from him toward the new guy.
Tyler trades dance partners for a little bit, grinning at every new guy because fuck, yes, he loves dancing and the attention feels good, kind of like the roar of the crowd when he scores.
A little while later, he dances with a guy who puts his hands on Tyler's hips and looks straight into his eyes while he pulls him closer until they're grinding together. There are people watching them, and it doesn't matter. He's not going to get in trouble for this now, or at least not any more than he's ever gotten in for partying.
Tyler moves even closer to the guy, so he can feel the guy's dick against his, only their jeans between them. They're both hard, and it's even hotter when the guy leans in close and breathes against Tyler's neck as they move together.
Tyler already has an arm around the guy's waist, and he squeezes his hip to get his attention. "Want to get out of here?"
The guy says, "Yes," right into Tyler's ear and follows it up with pressing a sucking kiss to his jaw.
Tyler pulls away just enough that he can move, and he takes the guy's hand so they don't get separated on their way off the dance floor. He doesn't see Marchy and Katrina on the way out, so he pulls out his phone and texts Marchy as he walks.
By the time they get out of the club, Tyler has a text back that says, Why did you even make me come with you?
Tyler turns his phone off and shoves it into his pocket.
"We can go to my place, but I have roommates," the guy says.
"I have a roommate and a dog," Tyler says, "but they'll stay out of our way."
"Cool," the guy says. "Are we cabbing it?"
"My car's around the corner. I'm Tyler, by the way."
"Travis."
Travis sticks close to Tyler's side as they walk, not quite touching but close enough that Tyler can feel the heat coming off of him in contrast to the cooler air outside.
Travis doesn't even blink at Tyler's car, just slides into the passenger seat and palms his dick through his jeans.
Tyler stares at him, keys forgotten in his hand.
Travis smirks at him. "You want this."
Tyler nods, too stunned by how much he really wants this to say anything.
"So drive," Travis says, "and when we get to your place, you can have whatever you want."
Tyler swallows and starts the car. It's not just that Travis is hot - which he is - it's also that it's been a while since he last got laid, and it's also that it's different now that he doesn't have to hide this from anyone.
He throws glances over at Travis as he drives, and Travis is looking at him every time.
It's almost a miracle that Tyler gets them home without crashing the car. Then there's the walk up to the door, and then he unlocks the door only to have Marshall greet him with as much excitement as if Tyler had been gone for a month rather than just a couple of hours.
"Hi, buddy." Tyler crouches down and rubs behind Marshall's ears. "Were you a good boy for Fred?" He pats Marshall. "I bet you were." He glances behind him, and Travis is leaning against the door looking mostly bored with the proceedings.
Tyler stands up. "Marshall, go lie down." He points toward Marshall's doggie bed, and Marshall whines at him for a second before he goes. Fred isn't anywhere to be seen and Tyler talking to Marshall didn't bring him into the living room, which means either he went out or he's already in his room.
"Uh, sorry," Tyler says to Travis. "Sometimes he thinks he's still a puppy. My room's this way."
Travis pushes off the door hips first, drawing Tyler's attention to the outline of his cock. Tyler drags his eyes up Travis's body to his face.
Travis is smirking at him, and Tyler turns around as he feels his cheeks heat and leads Travis to his room. He turns on the light and closes the door behind them.
"You want this?" Travis rubs his cock.
"Yes," Tyler says. Travis wasn't charmed by Marshall, but that doesn't mean Tyler's stopped wanting to suck his cock. Tyler's mouth waters as Travis unzips his pants.
Travis isn't wearing anything under his jeans, just hair and skin showing through his open fly. He takes his cock out without taking off his pants, and he strokes it a couple of times. "Well? Come and get it."
Tyler swallows and doesn't even look up at Travis's face as he walks forward and goes to his knees. He only looks up after he takes Travis's cock into his mouth, so ready for it he takes Travis a little too deep at first.
"Oh, yeah," Travis says. "You want it."
Tyler makes himself more comfortable around Travis's cock. He does want it, loves the way it feels to slide his tongue up the underside of Travis's cock and watch Travis's thighs tremble.
Travis's hands settle into Tyler's hair, which is fine, good. He likes being touched, and he doesn't mind Travis tilting his head to change the angle, get his cock better centered in Tyler's mouth.
"There you go," Travis says, and he pulls on Tyler's hair. It's not too hard, but it's not that good either.
Tyler could probably pull away and tell Travis not to do that, but Travis pets his hair instead of pulling it when Tyler makes a noise around him.
"Not into that part?" Travis says. "It's all good." He moves one of his hands to Tyler's cheek, thumb tugging at the corner of Tyler's mouth. "Come on, baby."
Tyler looks up and Travis meets his eyes.
"That's it," Travis said. "Fuck, you're good at this. I knew when I saw you on the dance floor that it would be good."
Tyler keeps looking up at Travis as he sucks him, watching Travis watch him back. He slides one hand up Travis's shirt to rest over his stomach, and bobs his head, letting Travis's cock rub against the roof of his mouth and his tongue.
He can taste salt on his tongue even before Travis moans, "Yes, baby. That's it. Gonna make me come. Come on."
Tyler sucks harder, draws back so he can flick his tongue over the head of Travis's cock. There's another rush of fluid, and Tyler bobs his head a couple more times before Travis comes, flooding his mouth. Tyler swallows as much as he can, but some of it drips down his chin.
"Fuck," Travis says, and he goes down on his knees in front of Tyler. "Fuck," he says again, and he leans in to kiss Tyler, lick over his chin. "Baby, that was so hot." He unbuttons Tyler's jeans, draws the zipper down, and reaches into his boxer briefs. "So fucking hot."
He kisses Tyler a lot while he jerks him off, hand moving fast and sure over Tyler's cock. Tyler would probably jerk himself off slower, but he's hard enough from dancing and sucking Travis that the rush toward coming feels good.
"That's it, baby," Travis says. "Come on, give it up for me." He keeps kissing Tyler, and his free hand grabs Tyler's ass, squeezing and kneading, and pushing him into Travis's grip on his cock.
Tyler has Travis's tongue in his mouth when he comes, and all he can do is moan around it and feel his orgasm rock through him.
Travis stops kissing him right about when he takes his hand off his cock, and Tyler looks down to see that he's come all over his shirt, and Travis only makes it worse by wiping his hand off on it.
"That was so hot," Travis says, and then he stands up and tucks himself back into his jeans and ten seconds later, he looks just as put together as he did when he started dancing with Tyler in the club.
"Yeah," Tyler says, belatedly joining the conversation. "Yeah, it was." He gets up off the floor, because he thinks he should.
Travis flashes Tyler a smile and turns toward the door.
Tyler blinks at him for a second before his brain catches up with what's happening. "I'll walk you out."
"I think I can find your front door," Travis says.
Tyler strips off his shirt, buttons up his jeans, and follows Travis out anyway. He has to lock the door behind him, and he can make sure Marshall doesn't bother him.
Travis's eyes run up and down Tyler's chest when he turns as he opens the front door, but he doesn't say anything and he doesn't stay.
Marshall's asleep on his doggie bed, so there's nothing else for Tyler to do but turn off the lights, dump his clothes into his laundry basket, and take a shower. He puts on pajama pants and a t-shirt after his shower, and goes to wake Marshall up.
Marshall whines at him, but Tyler pets him and says, "Come on. Come on, buddy." He feels better climbing into bed with Marshall there, dog breath and all.
*
"I'm not going out with you again," Marchy declares when Tyler gets to practice. "You don't need a wingman. You just flash your abs and your shitty dance moves and guys fall all over themselves to get at you."
"My dance moves are not shitty!"
Marchy does some stupid looking move that's maybe supposed to be his impression of Tyler's dance moves.
"I do not look like that."
"How do you know? You've never seen yourself dance. It's the rest of us who have to look at you."
"Fuck you," Tyler says, but everyone else in the room is laughing and he can't help laughing a little too. "We'll go somewhere else next time. No dancing and I'll rely on you to be my wingman."
"Nope," Marchy says. "You're out and you don't need me to get you laid. You're on your own."
"Ference," Tyler calls, "you've still got my back, right?"
"No," Ference calls back cheerfully. "I've got a wife and kids to spend time with."
Tyler goes to the other side of the room and throws an arm around Dougie's shoulders. "How are your wingman skills?"
"Uh." Dougie's not a rookie anymore, but sometimes he still gets that deer in the headlights look.
"Never mind," Tyler sighs. He goes back to his own stall. "I guess I'll just die alone."
That sends a fresh wave of laughter through the room, and Tyler smirks at the boys before he pulls on the rest of his gear.
*
That still leaves the rest of the Boston crew, but Tyler doesn't really want to ask any of them to be his wingman. There's no real reason he can't - he's pretty sure at least one of them would say yes - but it just doesn't feel right. But then it turns out he doesn't have to because he's out with them, his last chance to really party before the end of the season and playoffs, the next time he meets anyone.
Most of the crew is trying to pick up, and Tyler's egging them on without participating, until Ciara comes back to the table being trailed by a pair of guys. They're both hot, of course, because Ciara doesn't mess around with anything less than that. The one right behind Ciara can't take his eyes off her ass. The one behind him looks like he's trying not to laugh.
Ciara waves at the guys when she gets to the table. "Shaun and Isaac," she says, without bothering to point out which one is which. "My friends," she says, waving at the table and not introducing any of them either.
Ciara slides into a tiny empty part of the booth, and the guy who's practically slavering over her squeezes in next to her, not that she minds, going by the way she looks at him from under her eyelashes. Tyler remembers that look, and he knows what it means for the guy.
The other guy ends up next to Tyler, still looking like he wants to laugh. "Hi," he says. "I'm Isaac."
"Tyler." Tyler shakes Isaac's hand and introduces him to the other guys close enough to talk to him.
Isaac says hi to everyone, but when the conversation starts up again, he leans close to Tyler instead. "So tell me," he says, "is she going to just chew him up and spit him out, or what?"
Tyler laughs. "Maybe," he says. "Ciara's cool, but she can be a little bit of a maneater. Depends on whether or not he can handle it."
Isaac looks across the table. "Fifty-fifty," he says. "Normally I'd give him better chances, but she looks like she knows what she's doing."
"She does," Tyler says.
Isaac arches his eyebrows at Tyler. "You and her?"
"Briefly," Tyler says, "a long time ago. I'm, uh, gay, so, you know, not now."
"So am I," Isaac says, and Tyler wonders if Ciara knew that when she brought Shaun and Isaac over, "but I wouldn't go for her."
Tyler shrugs. "It was a while ago. Uh, before I knew."
"Ah," Isaac says, "you're one of those."
Tyler frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Isaac says. "Just that some people don't have that much self-awareness." He sips his beer. "Now me, I've known since I was old enough to know what gay meant."
"I guess we can't all be as good at it as you," Tyler says.
Isaac laughs. "Nah, you're not doing too bad. You're that Tyler, right? The one who just came out and is a big deal and everything?"
"I don't know about a big deal," Tyler says.
"It is," Isaac says. "Visibility is important."
Tyler nods, because, sure, that's probably true, but he doesn't know what else to say. He's already tired of talking about it.
Isaac sips his beer again and smiles. "So, Tyler, what do you do when you're not dating girls and being a role model for gay kids everywhere?"
Tyler doesn't know about that gay kids everywhere part - hockey players, yeah, but he doesn't think he's a role model for all kids - but the rest of the question is easy to answer. "Hockey, of course," he says, "video games, hanging out with my dog."
"What kind of dog?"
"Chocolate Lab. Marshall. He's a good dog." Tyler knows he's smiling, and that's probably good if Isaac's flirting with him and not just making conversation. Maybe good if he's just making conversation too.
"Nice," Isaac says. "My dog is in Vermont with my parents. Golden Retriever. Sometimes I miss her more than I miss my parents."
Tyler nods. "I spent part of last year overseas. I missed Marshall so much. And he was still just a puppy when I left. My sisters and my dad got to watch him grow up."
"Not the same seeing it in pictures, is it?"
"No."
"You didn't mention a boyfriend in that list of things you do," Isaac says.
"No." Tyler meets Isaac's eyes and holds his gaze.
Isaac's eyes flicker down to Tyler's mouth and back up again. "Tell me," he says, leaning in closer, "what are the chances Ciara picked up Shaun because she was bringing me over here to meet you?"
"Uh." Tyler looks across the table where Ciara's practically in Shaun's lap and Shaun looks like he's in ecstasy. Ciara looks like she's enjoying herself, but she's also been a good friend since they broke up. She could have been trying to help Tyler out too. "Maybe?"
"Hmm." Isaac drains his beer and puts the bottle down on the table. "This isn't a great place to get to know each other. There's a place a couple of blocks away that's open late and has amazing cheesecake."
Tyler looks at the rest of the table, but probably no one's going to mind if he takes off. "Yeah," he says, "let's go."
They stand up, and Isaac says something to Shaun while Tyler says goodbye to the rest of the table and puts up with the raised eyebrows and thinly veiled comments.
They're almost out of the bar when Chase, who was at the bar while Isaac and Tyler were saying goodbye yells, "Get it!" after them.
"Sorry," Tyler says. His cheeks are heating up, but it's dark enough outside, even with the streetlights, that maybe Isaac won't notice. "My friends are dicks."
"Nah," Isaac says. "Well, yes, but nice that they're supportive."
They are that, and Tyler concedes the point and lets Isaac take the lead as they head down the street. Isaac's "couple of blocks" turns out to be more like half a dozen, but they chat a little while they walk, the value of supportive friends and Boston at night.
The place where Isaac holds the door open for Tyler is a coffee shop, open late with dim lighting and comfortable looking couches and chairs in small clusters. It also has a bakery case at the counter, filled with more food than Tyler would have guessed from the outside of the shop. There's the promised cheesecake, and also two other kinds of cake, four kinds of cookies, biscotti, muffins, scones, and a couple of things Tyler can't even name.
Isaac nudges Tyler with an elbow. "Trust me on the cheesecake."
They each order a slice of cheesecake, and Tyler hands over his card to pay for them.
Isaac picks up both of their plates and leads Tyler around a wall that forms one side of the counter area and into a small, empty alcove. There's a small couch against the wall with a coffee table in front of it and a lamp hanging down from the ceiling that gives off just enough light to reach the table and the couch.
"We're lucky," Isaac says, taking one end of the couch. "Usually there are people in this corner."
Tyler sits on the other side of the couch and takes the plate Isaac hands him. It's a small enough couch that there's barely any space between them, and the way the walls surround them keeps them from seeing the rest of the coffee shop.
"People on dates?" Tyler guesses.
"Got it in one," Isaac says. "Try your cheesecake."
Tyler takes a bite, and Isaac was right in suggesting he order it. It's amazing, rich and creamy and not too sweet. "Wow."
Isaac smiles at him. "Now you know you can trust me."
"About cheesecake, at least," Tyler says. He watches Isaac take a bite of his cheesecake. "You know I play hockey. What do you do?"
"Marketing assistant for Anderson and Chase. We're a consulting firm specializing in innovative solutions for emerging companies."
"Huh," Tyler says, because he doesn't know what most of that means.
Isaac grins at him. "Mostly I run focus groups, find out what people think of our clients and their products."
"You've been good at getting me to tell you stuff," Tyler says.
"And I'm plying you with food," Isaac says, pointing his fork at Tyler, "which is a key to a successful focus group."
Tyler grins at him. "I'll come be part of your focus group if you feed me like this."
Isaac laughs. "Focus groups don't usually get anything this good. You're a special case."
Tyler may not know anything about focus groups, but that's the kind of thing he knows what to do with. "You don't bring everyone to have great cheesecake?"
"No," Isaac says. "You seemed worth it."
The lights are dim, but not dim enough to hide the fact that Tyler's blushing. He ducks his head and takes another bite of his cheesecake.
"What do you do when you're not running focus groups?" Tyler asks when he thinks he can look up without his face being quite so red.
"Video games and rock climbing," Isaac says.
"Rock climbing?"
"Yep. You get your thrills playing hockey, I get them climbing."
"Are there a lot of rocks to climb in Boston?"
Isaac chuckles. "Not really. There are a lot of climbing walls. I usually do that a couple of times a week, and there's some good climbing that you can get to for a weekend. You ever been?"
"I've done climbing walls a couple of times," Tyler says, "but not the real thing."
"It's awesome," Isaac says. "You should try it sometime."
Tyler shrugs. "Maybe someday. I can't really do anything that dangerous while I'm playing hockey."
Isaac blinks at him. "Really?"
"Really," Tyler says. "No skiing or snowboarding either."
"Damn," Isaac says.
"I get to play hockey, so," Tyler shrugs again, "it's worth it."
"You think so?"
"Hockey is all I ever wanted to do," Tyler says. "My mom says even when I was, like, three, the only toy I ever wanted was my hockey stick."
Isaac stares at him for a second, and then shakes his head. "Okay, sorry, stopped thinking like a date for a minute there and started thinking about marketing. I bet you're a really good role model for gay kids playing hockey."
"Uh, I guess," Tyler says.
"You don't really like talking about gay politics," Isaac says.
Tyler looks down at his cheesecake like he's going to find an answer there. "I don't really know much about them," he says, and then he takes a bite of his cheesecake.
Isaac hmms and says, "But you came out."
"Yes," Tyler says. He takes another bite of cheesecake so he doesn't have to say anything else. There's not enough of it left for this to work as a strategy for much longer.
Isaac quirks a smile at him. "I'll stop asking," he says. "You're not one of my focus groups I have to get to talk about a specific topic. Tell me something else about yourself. A story."
Tyler watches Isaac eat a bite of cheesecake while he takes a moment to think of something. He has plenty of Marshall stories, so he tells one of those, about him and Marshall and Cassidy. It's a good story, and Isaac laughs in all the right places and is smiling at the end of it. He counters with a story about his dog, and Tyler relaxes into the conversation.
They finish their cheesecake, but it's the kind of place where no one's going to kick them out, so they keep talking. A couple comes around the wall but goes away when they see that Tyler and Isaac have already claimed the couch.
Tyler shifts, tucking one leg under himself on the couch so he can turn toward Isaac while he talks. Isaac's eyes flick over him, and he sets one hand on Tyler's knee for a moment.
They don't even think about leaving until Tyler yawns three times in five minutes. "Sorry," he says. "I guess it's later than I thought."
"You're not really living up to your hard-partying reputation here," Isaac says.
"How much do you know about me?"
"Only a little," Isaac says. "I do have an interest in gay politics. I keep up with who's out around Boston. Do you want to go out again sometime?"
Isaac seems cool, and Tyler probably has to get used to other gay guys knowing something about him, so he says, "Yes," and they exchange phones to put in their numbers.
"Do you need a ride or something?" Tyler asks when they're outside. Another couple moved into their corner as soon as they got up from the couch. "My car's near the bar."
"No," Isaac says. "I live a couple of blocks that way." He points away from the bar. "I'm glad Ciara picked up Shaun."
"Me too."
Isaac steps closer, and Tyler holds his breath for a moment before he remembers that he doesn't have to worry about people seeing him anymore. Isaac says, "Call me," and kisses Tyler's cheek.
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Playoffs are about to start, so I'm gonna be pretty busy, but we can get dinner or something." He turns in toward Isaac and touches his chest. "It'll be a good break."
Isaac looks down at his hand and up at his face. "I'm looking forward to it."
*
It's not just that Tyler's busy with training during playoffs. He's also avoiding distractions from his game and trying to rest up as much as possible. But he's already distracted enough just thinking about Isaac, so he texts him from the road when they're about to have two days off.
Coming home to Boston, he says. Dinner tomorrow night?
That's last minute, Isaac sends back. You're lucky I don't already have plans. Pick me up?
Tyler gets Isaac to text him his address and they agree on a time. Because his focus is on the playoffs, Tyler doesn't spend much time worrying about what to wear. He just puts on one of the outfits he's been wearing a lot recently anyway, jams his phone into his pocket, and tells Fred he's going out.
Isaac kisses Tyler's cheek when he picks him up. Tyler returns the kiss and drives them downtown for dinner.
"Are you always a last-minute planner?" Isaac asks.
"No," Tyler says. "Playoffs are weird." He tells Isaac what playoffs mean, the importance and the schedule and the focus. "But we get breaks." He grins at Isaac. "To rest up and see our friends and whatever. Play with the dog."
"Go on dates," Isaac says.
"Yeah," Tyler says, "totally."
They have a good time over dinner, chatting about themselves and telling stories about Tyler's team and Isaac's job.
The waiter offers them dessert menus.
"I can't," Tyler says, "but you should if you want."
"Not if you can't," Isaac says.
"No, really," Tyler says. "If you want dessert, go for it."
"I have kind of a sweet tooth," Isaac admits after he does order the hot lava cake.
Tyler grins at him. "I would totally have some of that if it weren't playoffs. Just, you know, focus and eating healthy and all that." He does let Isaac talk him into taking a bite, just a tiny taste, of his cake, and it's all the better for not having had anything that sweet in a while.
He gets to taste it again, later, when he takes Isaac home with an apology for not being able to stay out any later, and they make out over the gearshift in the front seat of his car for fifteen minutes before Isaac tears himself away.
"Next time," Isaac says, pressing kisses to the stubble on Tyler's jaw, "maybe we could skip dinner."
Tyler groans, because he's starting to get hard and he's probably going to go home and jerk off before he falls asleep. "Yeah," he says. "I'll call you next time I'm free."
Isaac presses one last biting kiss to Tyler's lips. "I can't wait."
*
Isaac has to wait, because they drop their next game and the series drags out. Tyler could call him, but he doesn't think he can handle the distraction. Only when they've safely won the series and have three days off before the next game does he call.
"I thought you forgot about me," Isaac says.
"Sorry," Tyler says. "Playoffs. It's a weird time."
"I guess," Isaac says. "When do you want to skip dinner?"
Tyler flushes. He thought about making out with Isaac the last time he jerked off. "Uh, whenever. I'm good for the next couple of days."
"Why don't you come over tonight," Isaac says. "I'll make you breakfast tomorrow."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Yeah, that sounds good."
They agree on a time, and Tyler makes sure to have dinner before he goes. He still needs his energy, even if they're skipping dinner as part of their date.
Isaac's place is a tiny studio up three flights of stairs, and Isaac is waiting in the doorway when Tyler gets up those stairs. Isaac smiles when Tyler comes down the hallway toward him, and Tyler smiles back, until he gets to the door and Isaac pulls him inside, kissing him as the door swings closed behind them.
Isaac pulls away after a minute and rubs his hand over Tyler's cheek. "This is quite the facial hair you have going."
"Playoff beard," Tyler says with a shrug.
"Hmm." Isaac rubs his hand down over Tyler's jaw. "Could be interesting."
Tyler flushes with heat and his mouth waters. "Yeah. Want to find out?"
Then Isaac kisses him again, hard and messy, and it's a small studio so it's not very many steps until Isaac is dropping onto the bed and pulling Tyler down with him. They're still dressed, but Tyler tries to do something about that, sitting up to get Isaac out of his shirt and fumbling at the button of his jeans. He's too distracted by Isaac rubbing against him and kissing Isaac, so he stops kissing him and moves down his body instead, rubbing his cheek lightly against Isaac's chest.
Isaac gasps. "That is interesting," he says, sounding strangled.
Tyler smiles into his skin and rubs his cheek down Isaac's stomach until he's right by Isaac's jeans and he can get them open. Isaac lifts his hips so Tyler can pull his jeans and underwear off. Tyler makes him wait for a second before he rubs his cheek against the crease of Isaac's thigh.
Isaac groans, so Tyler does it again on the other side, going around Isaac's cock without touching it.
Isaac grabs at him, fingers weaving through Tyler's hair to grip the back of his head. "Tyler," he says.
Tyler grins up at him for a second before he takes Isaac into his mouth. He likes sucking cock, and he likes that he's getting good at it, which he can tell he is by the way Isaac groans and twists his hands in Tyler's hair. He wants to get off too, but he's pretty into the way Isaac's so into it.
Isaac likes to move, twisting his hips and bringing his knees up to hold Tyler between them, then letting them drop back down to the bed. Tyler lets him do what he wants until it starts to get in the way of his blowjob, and then he holds Isaac's hips down and knees apart. It's easier for him, and Isaac seems to like it too.
Tyler stops thinking too much about what he's doing and just focuses on how it feels, Isaac's cock in his mouth, Isaac's skin under his hands, Isaac's hands in his hair. Isaac's polite enough to warn him when he's about to come. Tyler pulls off of his cock and jerks him off the rest of the way while rubbing his cheek against Isaac's thigh.
Isaac groans and pushes Tyler away from his skin. "Too much," he says.
Tyler moves up the bed to lie next to Isaac. "Good?" he asks. He doesn't bother to contain his smirk; he knows it was good.
"Good," Isaac says. "The beard was nice." He runs his eyes down Tyler's body, which makes Tyler realize he's still wearing everything but his shoes. "I think you get a reward."
Tyler stretches, making his shirt ride up to show some skin between the bottom of it and the waistband of his jeans. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Isaac pushes Tyler onto his back and leans over to kiss him. His hand lands on that strip of skin above Tyler's jeans, and then it creeps up, under his shirt and up his stomach. It stays there, rubbing circles into Tyler's skin while they make out.
Tyler can't stand just that for very long; he's hard, and he wants to get off. "What else do I get as a reward?" He stretches, and rolls his hips, trying to get Isaac's attention.
Isaac huffs out a laugh and gets Tyler's jeans open. He's still too slow getting his hand into them, and Tyler tries to move into his touch.
Isaac laughs a little more. "Hang on," he mutters against Tyler's mouth. He gets both his hands into Tyler's pants, and then he gets Tyler's cock out and puts one hand up Tyler's shirt again while he jerks Tyler off with the other hand.
They make out while Isaac gets him off, long kisses that melt into each other until Tyler makes them shorter because what Isaac is doing with his hands is making it hard to breathe.
It's not a blowjob, but it's good, and Isaac's careful when Tyler comes, so he doesn't get come all over his clothes, just Isaac's hand.
Isaac gets up to clean his hand off, and Tyler stays where he is, sprawled out on the bed. The ceiling is blank and empty, like Tyler's thoughts, and he stares at it until Isaac comes back and Tyler turns his attention to him.
"That was worth skipping dinner for," Isaac says.
"Yeah." Tyler smiles at him, and tugs him close so he can kiss him, lazy and slow in the aftermath of his orgasm.
Isaac makes out with him for a while. "Maybe we should skip dinner again sometime."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Yeah, this was awesome."
Isaac sits up a little and looks him over. "Pretty awesome for me too. I've got you looking like that in my bed."
Tyler looks down at himself. His cock is still out, shirt up and pants down to reveal it, his hair is probably a mess, and he knows what his face looks like after really good sex.
"It's a good look," Isaac says. He leans down and kisses Tyler. "Better that I made you look like that."
Tyler pulls him down and kisses him instead of thinking too much about how he looks. Isaac liking it is good enough.
Eventually, Isaac gets his clothes off and they make out until Tyler falls asleep.
*
Tyler wakes up in the morning to the smell of coffee and bacon. He must make some noise as he sits up, because Isaac turns away from the stove to smile at him across the room. Tyler blinks himself all the way awake and waves at Isaac before stumbling his way into the bathroom. There's a toothbrush still in the package on the counter, so Tyler brushes his teeth while he's in there. The apartment is small enough that he doesn't have to go far once he leaves the bathroom to kiss Isaac.
Isaac kisses him back and then pushes him away. "You want to stay away from the stove if you're going to be naked." He runs his eyes down Tyler's body. "And you should stay naked."
Tyler blushes. "Can I get some coffee?"
"Yes." Isaac gets him a cup out of the cabinet, and Tyler pours himself some from the coffeemaker. Isaac watches him and says, "You should take that back to bed. I was going to bring you breakfast there."
It does nothing to cool the heat of Tyler's blush, but he takes his coffee back to bed. The place is small enough that he doesn't have to give up watching Isaac to do it. He grabs his phone on his way, and he checks his messages and email while he sips his coffee and watches the way Isaac's pajama pants outline the shape of his ass.
He puts the coffee and his phone down when Isaac brings him a plate. "Don't you have to go to work?"
Isaac settles in next to him. "Called in sick." He smirks at Tyler. "Told my boss I was just going to spend the day in bed."
Tyler laughs, but also looks at Isaac. "Yeah?"
"Mmhmm. Eat your breakfast before it gets cold." Isaac turns on the TV, and they watch The Today Show while they eat. It's not very interesting, and pretty perky for first thing in the morning, but at least Tyler will be somewhat informed about the world.
Isaac takes Tyler's plate when he's done, and puts both plates down on the floor on the other side of the bed. Tyler meets Isaac's slow smile with one of his own, and he lets Isaac tug him down under him on the bed.
They just make out for a long time, even though it doesn't take long before they're both hard. Tyler wants more after a while, and he tugs at Isaac's shirt until Isaac sits up far enough to let him pull it all the way off. He goes for Isaac's pants next; no matter how good they look on him, he wants the touch of Isaac's skin instead.
Then it's just skin on skin, and they still make out without doing much else for a while. Isaac is the one to shift against Tyler, slotting their legs together so he can rub his cock against Tyler's hip.
It's good, except then Al Roker's voice breaks Tyler's concentration, and he says, "Wait, wait," and fumbles in the sheets until he finds where Isaac dropped the remote and turns off the TV.
Then it's good again, and Isaac keeps it slow enough that it takes a long time before they both come. Then he rolls to the side and grabs for a tissue to clean them both up.
"How does this measure up to your usual morning?" Isaac curls up next to Tyler and puts his head down on Tyler's chest.
"Pretty good," Tyler says. He runs his hand through Isaac's hair. It's nice, comfortable.
They're quiet for a bit, and then Isaac turns the TV back on, and they zone out watching morning shows and CSI: Miami reruns. They exchange blowjobs later, and Isaac makes them sandwiches for lunch after that.
"I should probably go home," Tyler says after lunch. "Stuff I should do before practice tomorrow."
They're both still naked, and Isaac lies on the bed and watches Tyler get dressed. He gets up to walk Tyler the few feet to the door, and then he kisses him, a deep, thorough kiss with his hands in Tyler's hair, probably leaving it obvious what Tyler's been doing all day.
"Call me when you're free," Isaac says. "We'll skip dinner again."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "maybe next week."
"Can't wait," Isaac says, "although the memories from today will get me through."
Tyler grins at him and goes home. Marshall slobbers all over him when he gets in the door, and even Fred wanders out of wherever he was to see what has Marshall so excited.
"Wow," Fred says. "You got laid."
Tyler blushes, and flips Fred off.
Fred laughs. "Get it if you can. Still the guy you met at the bar?"
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Isaac."
"Oh, Isaac," Fred says, slightly mocking, but not mean. "He make you breakfast this morning?"
"Yes," Tyler admits.
Fred laughs again. "Really? Damn. You have a high class of hookups."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "We don't all hook up with people who can't wait to see us leave in the morning."
"Oh, fuck you," Fred says. "That was one time, and her roommate was coming home."
Tyler shrugs. "I wouldn't make you breakfast either, so."
"You're such a dick," Fred says, laughing again. "You make me breakfast all the time."
"Well, I'm going to stop." Tyler flashes Fred a grin, pats Marshall one last time, and goes to take a shower. Not that he minds smelling like sex and Isaac's bed that much, but he's starting to feel a little grimy.
"No you won't," Fred yells after him. "I'm too good a roommate for you to piss off."
*
"So what's this I hear about you staying over at some guy's place?" Brownie asks when they Skype.
Tyler groans. "Fucking Fred."
Brownie laughs. "Not that I want details, but."
Tyler shrugs. "It was fun. He made me breakfast."
"Well, yeah," Brownie says, "if you stayed over."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "Not everyone is as much of a gentleman as you are."
"This guy sounds like he might be. Tell me about him."
Tyler shrugs again. "He works for a consulting firm. He knows where to get really good cheesecake. He makes good eggs."
Brownie raises his eyebrows at Tyler. "That's it?"
"He's good in bed," Tyler tries. It doesn't make Brownie look at him any less skeptically. "We're having fun," Tyler says with a sigh, "and it's good, but probably not anything more than that."
"Hey," Brownie says, holding his hands up, "I'm not judging. Do whatever you want, man."
Maybe he's not judging, but Tyler kind of is. It's not really fair to Isaac to date if Tyler's probably not in it for anything more than just that.
"I guess I should tell him that it's just fun," Tyler says.
"Probably," Brownie says. "Maybe after playoffs, if getting laid is good for your game."
Tyler laughs. "I could probably get laid anyway."
Brownie rolls his eyes. "Did he pick you up at a gay bar in, like, five seconds?"
"No," Tyler says. "Fred didn't tell you how I met him?"
Brownie shakes his head. "Is it a good story?"
"Ciara found him," Tyler admits. He tells Brownie about it, even though he has to keep waiting for Brownie to stop laughing before he can keep going.
"Only you," Brownie says, "could get a guy because your ex-girlfriend picked him up for you."
"I don't know that's why she hit on his friend. She might have just liked him."
Brownie laughs. "It's Ciara. She totally picked up a guy for you."
She probably did, and it is kind of funny, but Tyler flips Brownie off anyway and asks him how Julie is to change the subject.
*
When they get knocked out of the playoffs, they lose in six, which means they're at home for the loss. It sucks, and it also means it's easy for them to go out and get shitfaced. Well, a bunch of them get shitfaced anyway. Tyler certainly does.
Fred's just a little more sober, and he gets them both into a cab and home for the night, but doesn't stop Tyler from dropping down to the floor to cuddle Marshall.
It means he wakes up hungover, unhappy, and stiff from sleeping on the floor. He drags himself off the floor and into a shower, shaves, and then puts on sunglasses and takes Marshall for a walk.
The sunshine is way too bright for his hangover, but he stops for coffee and doesn't get hassled much, and he's starting to feel more like he might live when he gets home.
There are a million texts on his phone, which he turned off sometime last night, and he sits down to be responsible and at least skim through them. Having everyone he knows tell him it sucks that they didn't win doesn't make him feel any better, and he doesn't respond to most of them.
There's one from Isaac, and Tyler hovers over it for a second before he opens it.
Sorry about your game, it says. Want to skip dinner sometime soon?
He's going to have to end this thing with Isaac, but he doesn't have to do it yet, and he'll be leaving for Toronto soon enough, which will make it easier to stop seeing Isaac.
Yes, he sends back. Tomorrow?
Isaac sends him a time, and Tyler texts back to agree to it.
Tyler stumbles through the rest of the day. Everyone he knows in Boston is probably just as hungover as he is, and no one but Marshall bothers him all day. He goes to bed early and wakes up feeling better. Physically, at least. It's going to take more than a day to feel better about being knocked out of the playoffs.
He's antsy all day, but he makes himself text people back, talk to his mom, and chill out until it's time to go over to Isaac's.
"Hi," Isaac says when he opens the door. "I'm sorry about the end of your season."
Tyler pushes him back and kicks the door shut behind him. "Let's not talk about that."
Isaac looks surprised at first, but he gets with the program pretty quickly, and Tyler keeps pushing until they're naked in bed.
Hooking up with Isaac does take his mind off of the loss, and Tyler's grateful for that when he lies next to Isaac afterward.
Isaac turns toward him and kisses him. "I can make you breakfast again," he says, "but I can't call in sick tomorrow."
"I shouldn't stay," Tyler says. "I have stuff to do tomorrow morning." It's a bit of a stretch - he could have breakfast with Isaac before he has to be at the rink for breakup day - but as good as it was for taking his mind off of things, he doesn't want to stay the night with Isaac.
They make out for a while longer anyway, before Tyler gets up and puts his clothes back on. It's kind of a dick move, but Tyler says, "I'll call you," and lets himself out.
At least Fred isn't home when Tyler gets back, so he doesn't have to listen to any chirping about his booty call.
*
Breakup day goes pretty much how Tyler expects it to. It's not really goodbye to any of the guys, because they all have plans for dinner. It's just goodbye to their season and the rink, which is bad enough even without having to answer questions about how they lost. Still, it's part of his job, and Tyler gets through it and goes home to take Marshall out to the park.
That does more to make him feel better than anything else has, and he's in a good mood when he gets home. Good enough that he rummages through their fridge and cooks himself a snack for the first time since playoffs started.
Dinner with the boys also makes him feel better, and they chirp each other about their summer plans.
"Let me guess," Marchy says, throwing an arm around Tyler's shoulders. "You're going to cut a wide swath through the gay men of Toronto."
Tyler shoves him off. "At least I'll get laid more than you."
There's a chorus of ohs, and Tyler grins at the rest of the table.
"God bless you," Bergy says, "living the single life for all of us."
Tyler feels a tiny twinge at that - he still has to dump Isaac somehow before he can party all summer - but he grins at the table and lets them think what they want about how much of a party his summer is going to be.
*
Tyler said he would call Isaac, and he probably shouldn't be the kind of guy who breaks up with someone, if you can really call it a breakup, via text - Isaac doesn't seem like the vindictive type, but marketing means he probably knows media people, or people who would gossip on Twitter, and that's the kind of thing Tyler doesn't need getting out - so he calls Isaac the afternoon before he's set to leave for Toronto.
"What are you thinking this time?" Isaac asks when he picks up. "Dinner or skip dinner?"
"Uh, actually," Tyler says, "I was calling to tell you I'm leaving tomorrow, headed up to Toronto for the summer."
There's a kind of long silence before Isaac says, flatly, "You're less of a role model than I thought you were."
Tyler winces. "Yeah," he says, "sorry."
"Let me guess," Isaac says, "you're not going to call me when you're back in town."
"No," Tyler says, "probably not."
"At least I got to bang a celebrity out of it," Isaac says, and then he hangs up.
After Tyler takes his phone away from his ear to check that, yes, Isaac really did just hang up on him, he finds Ciara's name and texts her, Don't pick up guys for me.
She sends back, What happened? with a row of question marks that he ignores in favor of taking Marshall for a walk.
*
Toronto doesn't just mean it's summer. It also means Tyler gets to start all over again. He doesn't have to hold on to his season (much; people will still talk to him about it, but more about next year) and he doesn't have to hold on to anything like what happened with Isaac, or any of the other guys he dated or hooked up with all year.
He takes it easy at first, too busy spending time with his family and friends to want to hook up anyway. He refuses Candace's offer to set him up with someone - again - and laughs when Jesse asks what he's going to do for a wingman since Brownie's only coming to Toronto to visit. It's not like Tyler needs help to get laid, and he's not looking to date. That hasn't worked out well for him so far, and it doesn't seem worth it to try in Toronto when he's only there a couple of months out of the year.
"Long distance relationships can work," Brownie says when Tyler tells him that over Skype. "Look at mine."
"Maybe if you find the love of your life," Tyler says with a sigh.
Brownie's face goes all gooey the way it does when he's being lovey dovey about Julie. "Don't give up, dude."
"I'm not giving up," Tyler says. "Just taking a break." He smirks. "And getting laid."
Brownie laughs. "That part you won't have any problem with."
Part 5
The ad goes live at noon on Thursday, along with an accompanying press release. They have a game that night, and at noon they're just getting out of morning skate. There's lunch set up in the lounge, and Tyler makes himself get a plate and sit down. He needs to eat, no matter how nervous this is making him.
Ference sits next to him. "Watched it yet?"
Tyler shakes his head.
"Do you want to?"
"I should," Tyler says.
Ference looks at him for a long, long minute, and then he goes and messes around until he gets the ad up on the TV screen across the room.
Tyler takes a deep breath and nods at him, and Ference tells everyone to shut up and lets the ad play.
It starts out with each of them saying their names, and Tyler doesn't look too awkward looking into the camera and saying, "I'm Tyler Seguin." The next part is each of them saying, "I'm gay," except for the two guys who say, "I'm bisexual." And then there's the last part, where they've cut it together so each of them says half of the "If you can play, you can play" tagline, repeated over and over until they've all been on the screen again.
The boys clap for him, and Tyler breathes for the first time since the ad started playing.
Ference catches him in a one-armed hug before he sits down again, and they dig into their lunches.
Tyler doesn't read the press release that goes with the ad until after he gets home, and he can't bring himself to watch the other video, where he talks about being gay. He retweets the You Can Play tweet about the main video, and doesn't even want to think about looking at his replies.
The steady trickle of missed texts he has after he gets home from skate has turned into too many for him to even think about dealing with after he gets up from his nap. He skims through them for things he has to answer - his family, Brownie, Wally - and looks at a couple of others from friends, and then gives it up. There'll be even more after the game, and he can work on replying to people tomorrow.
Once he's back at the rink, he locks his phone away, takes a few deep breaths, and lets go of the whole thing. He has a game to prepare for and play, and that's what matters. The boys don't treat him any differently than they usually do, and by the time they go out for warmups, Tyler has his head in the game.
He's focused on what he's doing, not thinking about the early crowd or what he has to do in the game, just the here and now of drills and skating.
Dougie is the one to nudge him and point him toward the glass. It's like surfacing out of a dream to pay attention again.
In the midst of all the other fans with signs is a guy with a piece of posterboard that says, in slightly crooked capital letters, "TYLER WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?"
Tyler can feel himself turning bright red, and it only gets worse when Dougie's involvement catches the other D-men's notice and they're all laughing at the sign.
Tyler smiles at the fan to acknowledge him, and then turns to get himself in line for his turn to take a shot on Tuukka in goal.
"Going to take him up on it?" Marchy asks after Tyler shoots.
"No," Tyler says with a laugh. "Nice that they're doing that, I guess."
Big Z is also hovering near their conversation, and there's a serious look on his face when he tells Tyler, "Security is watching the signs."
Tyler shrugs. Security always keeps an eye on the signs to make sure nothing too inappropriate for press coverage makes it into pictures or on TV.
Marchy is the one to eye Big Z and Tyler and ask, "Are there problems?"
Big Z shrugs. "Not right now." He pats Tyler's shoulder. "We will not let them make problems for you."
"Uh, thanks," Tyler says. He looks around at the signs lining the glass. There's still only the one directed at him. Maybe he's better off focusing on warmups.
They finish warmups and skate off for the break between then and the start of the game. Tyler's starting, and his name comes out of the loudspeakers as he skates onto the ice. There are a lot of cheers, but he can hear some boos mixed in. If they were away, he would expect them, but this is more booing than he usually gets at a home game.
Well, the slogan is, "If you can play, you can play," so he'll just have to show them he can play.
He looks down the line, and over at the bench, and the boys all look just as determined as he feels.
It's not an easy game. None of them are easy, exactly, but they have to keep working at this one, battling for pucks, avoiding turnovers, relying just as much on physical presence as skill with the puck.
There's a break in play in the second. Tyler's on the bench between shifts at the moment anyway, which means he's in the right place to see the screen when they start playing the ad. Coach is talking to them, but Tyler doesn't catch most of it, waiting for the moment when he shows up on screen. There's a cheer for the part where he says, "I'm Tyler Seguin," and then things get quiet when it cuts to the second part. There's a mix of scattered cheering and booing when he says, "I'm gay," and a little more cheering than booing when he says his part of "If you can play, you can play."
Coach loses all of their attention after that, because it's a long enough break that they play the second video, the one Tyler hasn't watched yet, the one where he talks about being gay. There's a respectful silence when it starts out with him talking about not knowing he was gay and about wanting to be an example for other hockey players that you can be gay and play hockey. The silence turns to laughs when he grins and says, "And I want to be able to go out and date people and not be worried that someone is going to out me."
The video ends with the You Can Play logo on the screen, and Tyler's entire team bangs their sticks against the boards for him. It's too loud for just that, and when he looks, the Flyers are also supporting him, and most of the noise from the crowd is cheering and clapping.
They put Tyler's face on the screen, and he manages to smile instead of the ridiculously stunned expression that was on his face when they turned the camera on him.
Tyler has two shifts to get himself together before he's back out on the ice, and then it's more or less easy to shake off everything else and focus on what he's supposed to be doing.
They're up by two when the period ends, and the mood in the room is upbeat.
"We should start a pool," Krejci says. "How many dates Segs gets out of that pair of ads."
Tyler throws a towel at him. "I don't need ads to get me dates."
"I'm not putting money on it," Dougie says, "but it's probably going to be a lot." And here Tyler thought he was loyal.
Tyler doesn't have a towel to throw at Dougie, so he settles for flipping him off. "Fuck you," he says. "I don't need publicity to get me dates."
"That's how you got girls," Krejci says.
"But not dudes," Marchy says. "Kid's got game with the gay boys." At least someone's on Tyler's side. "This is just going to expand his dating pool to include the ones who want to date a celebrity." Or maybe not.
"Fuck all of you," Tyler says. He's kind of laughing, though, because the chirping is the same kind of shit they give everyone. No one's hassling him because he's gay, or because they disagree with him being out.
They settle down a little into their intermission routines, and Coach comes to give them a talk they all pay attention to.
They dominate in the third period, and win by two, which means they're all still in a good mood and making plans to go out after the game.
But there's media to talk to first, and most of them gather around Tyler. He takes a couple of steps out into the room so there's room for other guys to get to their stalls around him, and then he smiles at everyone and takes questions.
No one asks about the game.
Tyler kind of knew it would be like this, but he didn't realize that every single question was going to be about him being gay.
He tells them he's single, says the same things he said in his video about coming out to be an example to other hockey players, says his family supports him.
"How much contact did you have with the other players in the video?" Naoko asks him.
"None," Tyler says, and everyone looks surprised, "everyone filmed their own parts separately. I didn't even know who else was doing it until I watched the video earlier."
That sets off another flurry of questions about the video that Tyler does his best to answer calmly and carefully. It takes a while, probably longer than any other media scrum he's ever been a part of.
Tyler's the last one out of the showers. A couple of the boys are still hanging around.
"Get a move on," Marchy says. "Everyone else already went to the bar. They didn't want to wait for your slow ass."
Tyler flips him off and gets dressed. He shoves a toque onto his head - it's going to leave his hair kind of a mess when they get to the bar, but they had a late snowstorm yesterday and it's too cold to go without - and says, "You're buying me a beer," to Marchy as they leave.
Marchy says, "You wish," but he does get Tyler's first drink when they get to the bar.
There are always people looking at them when they go out, and more so when there are this many of them at a bar together, but there's something just enough different about it tonight that it has to be about the ad. About Tyler.
He does his best to ignore it and just drink with the boys instead, Krejci and Marchy calling out toasts to every good play they had that evening, and even Dougie calling out a toast to Tuuks' best save.
Their group starts to split up a little after a while. Dougie flirts with some girl at the bar, Katrina shows up and Marchy takes her to the bar to get her a drink and show off that he has a hot girlfriend, a couple of the other boys get up to go hit on girls.
Tyler's still at the table, but he's kind of on an edge now, no one between him and the rest of the bar, and a girl comes up and smiles at him. She's pretty hot, if Tyler were into that.
Tyler smiles back because that's always what he does. "Hi."
"Hi." The girl leans forward so Tyler could see down her shirt if he wanted to. "Want to buy me a drink?"
Tyler probably should have thought about how to deal with this now. Before, he would have just bought her a drink and flirted before getting out of there without her, but now he doesn't have to.
"Uh, I'm gay," he says, "but I'll buy you a drink if you want."
The girl's smile dims. "Figures," she says, and she walks away from the table.
Ference is the first one to start laughing. "I guess not all of Boston knows about you yet."
Tyler finds himself smiling too. It is kind of funny, especially the way the girl left.
"Just wait," Ference says, patting him on the shoulder. "Once everyone knows, it'll be guys trying to pick you up."
Tyler holds up his beer. "I'll drink to that."
No one else tries to pick Tyler up, and he leaves when Ference and Bergy do. It's a little early for him to call it a night, but he's ready to put the day behind him and move on. How long can it take for the world to get used to him being out?
*
Tyler answers questions about himself in every one of his interviews for the next week, both the usual media scrums and a couple of newly scheduled interviews. But after a week of saying the same things over and over again, he gets sick of it and goes to talk to PR.
"Everyone knows," he says when he's sitting down with Jessica from PR. "I don't see why I have to keep talking about it."
"You're one of the first openly gay players in the NHL," Jessica says. "It comes with the territory. But we can talk to reporters about not asking during your regular media scrums, and we'll get You Can Play and the PA involved if you need backup on that. You'll probably have to say, 'Let's stick to talking about the game,' a lot, and you'll need to talk to your agent about interviews that aren't scheduled through us."
Tyler nods. "I can do that." He knows PR isn't magic, and there's only so much they can do. "Thanks."
*
He gets hit on in Boston for the first time three days after his meeting with PR. He's at a bar with Fred and a bunch of his Boston crew. They're two beers in, mostly just shooting the shit and keeping an eye on the crowd.
They send Tyler to the bar for another pitcher - he grumbles about it, but mostly for show - and he pushes his way through the crowd to lean over the bar and order. He orders two pitchers while he's there - it's not like they're not going to drink that much.
There's a guy a few feet away staring at him as he places the order. Tyler does his best to ignore it. He gets stared at a lot in Boston, and he's thinking fan, not potential hookup.
The guy moves while Tyler's waiting for his pitchers, gets around the people between them and crowds in next to Tyler. "You're Tyler Seguin," the guy says.
Tyler kind of smiles at him. "Yeah."
The guy tilts his head up - he's a couple of inches shorter than Tyler - to meet Tyler's eyes, and he smiles slowly. "So you're gay." The guy looks him up and down. "Want to forget whatever you're drinking and fuck?"
That was not what Tyler was expecting. If he were in a gay bar, that kind of blunt offer wouldn't surprise him, but he's not. He's in one of the bars they hang out in all the time, and he thought if anyone were going to hit on him here, they would start with buying him a drink, or asking him to buy them one, like girls do sometimes.
"Uh," Tyler says. The guy's kind of hot, and if Tyler had come out to try to pick up, he might say yes. But he's here to hang out with friends, and he gets the sense the guy is one of the people who just wants to say they hooked up with Tyler Seguin. "Sorry," he tells the guy. "I'm here with friends." He accepts the pitchers and his credit card slip from the bartender and pushes his way through the crowd, toward his friends and away from the guy.
It shouldn't feel weird. Tyler's used to getting hit on because he's famous, and he knows he's going to get some of that from guys. It does feel weird, though. Maybe just because it's the first time, or maybe because he wasn't expecting it at one of the places where he's a regular.
The only open seat at the table when Tyler gets back is one facing away from the bar, which suits Tyler just fine. Now he doesn't have to know if the guy is still watching him.
*
Being out means that Tyler can go out wherever he wants in Boston. It'll probably show up online, but at least it'll just be another story about him partying and not someone outing him without his permission.
He thinks about going alone, but instead he talks Marchy into going with him to be his wingman.
"You don't even need one," Marchy says. "What if I want to have a quiet night in with Katrina?"
"You can bring her if you want," Tyler says. "Come on. I don't know the scene in Boston. Just check it out with me."
"Fine," Marchy says with a sigh. "But the moment you pick up, I'm out of there."
"Deal," Tyler says.
They both ask around and Tyler googles a little bit, and they end up in a place that has more of a club atmosphere. Marchy brought Katrina, so Tyler buys all three of them shots they do at the bar, and then they look around at the place. There are people at the bar, but most of the guys in the place are on the dance floor. Tyler watches for just long enough to get the lay of the land, and then he pushes off of the bar and wades into the crowd.
Tyler doesn't expect to be alone for long, and he's not. He gets some looks from the crowd, and after a minute, a guy comes over to dance with him. The guy isn't bad, pretty good dancer, and cute enough. He barely looks at Tyler's face, though, and when someone else comes up to him, Tyler turns away from him toward the new guy.
Tyler trades dance partners for a little bit, grinning at every new guy because fuck, yes, he loves dancing and the attention feels good, kind of like the roar of the crowd when he scores.
A little while later, he dances with a guy who puts his hands on Tyler's hips and looks straight into his eyes while he pulls him closer until they're grinding together. There are people watching them, and it doesn't matter. He's not going to get in trouble for this now, or at least not any more than he's ever gotten in for partying.
Tyler moves even closer to the guy, so he can feel the guy's dick against his, only their jeans between them. They're both hard, and it's even hotter when the guy leans in close and breathes against Tyler's neck as they move together.
Tyler already has an arm around the guy's waist, and he squeezes his hip to get his attention. "Want to get out of here?"
The guy says, "Yes," right into Tyler's ear and follows it up with pressing a sucking kiss to his jaw.
Tyler pulls away just enough that he can move, and he takes the guy's hand so they don't get separated on their way off the dance floor. He doesn't see Marchy and Katrina on the way out, so he pulls out his phone and texts Marchy as he walks.
By the time they get out of the club, Tyler has a text back that says, Why did you even make me come with you?
Tyler turns his phone off and shoves it into his pocket.
"We can go to my place, but I have roommates," the guy says.
"I have a roommate and a dog," Tyler says, "but they'll stay out of our way."
"Cool," the guy says. "Are we cabbing it?"
"My car's around the corner. I'm Tyler, by the way."
"Travis."
Travis sticks close to Tyler's side as they walk, not quite touching but close enough that Tyler can feel the heat coming off of him in contrast to the cooler air outside.
Travis doesn't even blink at Tyler's car, just slides into the passenger seat and palms his dick through his jeans.
Tyler stares at him, keys forgotten in his hand.
Travis smirks at him. "You want this."
Tyler nods, too stunned by how much he really wants this to say anything.
"So drive," Travis says, "and when we get to your place, you can have whatever you want."
Tyler swallows and starts the car. It's not just that Travis is hot - which he is - it's also that it's been a while since he last got laid, and it's also that it's different now that he doesn't have to hide this from anyone.
He throws glances over at Travis as he drives, and Travis is looking at him every time.
It's almost a miracle that Tyler gets them home without crashing the car. Then there's the walk up to the door, and then he unlocks the door only to have Marshall greet him with as much excitement as if Tyler had been gone for a month rather than just a couple of hours.
"Hi, buddy." Tyler crouches down and rubs behind Marshall's ears. "Were you a good boy for Fred?" He pats Marshall. "I bet you were." He glances behind him, and Travis is leaning against the door looking mostly bored with the proceedings.
Tyler stands up. "Marshall, go lie down." He points toward Marshall's doggie bed, and Marshall whines at him for a second before he goes. Fred isn't anywhere to be seen and Tyler talking to Marshall didn't bring him into the living room, which means either he went out or he's already in his room.
"Uh, sorry," Tyler says to Travis. "Sometimes he thinks he's still a puppy. My room's this way."
Travis pushes off the door hips first, drawing Tyler's attention to the outline of his cock. Tyler drags his eyes up Travis's body to his face.
Travis is smirking at him, and Tyler turns around as he feels his cheeks heat and leads Travis to his room. He turns on the light and closes the door behind them.
"You want this?" Travis rubs his cock.
"Yes," Tyler says. Travis wasn't charmed by Marshall, but that doesn't mean Tyler's stopped wanting to suck his cock. Tyler's mouth waters as Travis unzips his pants.
Travis isn't wearing anything under his jeans, just hair and skin showing through his open fly. He takes his cock out without taking off his pants, and he strokes it a couple of times. "Well? Come and get it."
Tyler swallows and doesn't even look up at Travis's face as he walks forward and goes to his knees. He only looks up after he takes Travis's cock into his mouth, so ready for it he takes Travis a little too deep at first.
"Oh, yeah," Travis says. "You want it."
Tyler makes himself more comfortable around Travis's cock. He does want it, loves the way it feels to slide his tongue up the underside of Travis's cock and watch Travis's thighs tremble.
Travis's hands settle into Tyler's hair, which is fine, good. He likes being touched, and he doesn't mind Travis tilting his head to change the angle, get his cock better centered in Tyler's mouth.
"There you go," Travis says, and he pulls on Tyler's hair. It's not too hard, but it's not that good either.
Tyler could probably pull away and tell Travis not to do that, but Travis pets his hair instead of pulling it when Tyler makes a noise around him.
"Not into that part?" Travis says. "It's all good." He moves one of his hands to Tyler's cheek, thumb tugging at the corner of Tyler's mouth. "Come on, baby."
Tyler looks up and Travis meets his eyes.
"That's it," Travis said. "Fuck, you're good at this. I knew when I saw you on the dance floor that it would be good."
Tyler keeps looking up at Travis as he sucks him, watching Travis watch him back. He slides one hand up Travis's shirt to rest over his stomach, and bobs his head, letting Travis's cock rub against the roof of his mouth and his tongue.
He can taste salt on his tongue even before Travis moans, "Yes, baby. That's it. Gonna make me come. Come on."
Tyler sucks harder, draws back so he can flick his tongue over the head of Travis's cock. There's another rush of fluid, and Tyler bobs his head a couple more times before Travis comes, flooding his mouth. Tyler swallows as much as he can, but some of it drips down his chin.
"Fuck," Travis says, and he goes down on his knees in front of Tyler. "Fuck," he says again, and he leans in to kiss Tyler, lick over his chin. "Baby, that was so hot." He unbuttons Tyler's jeans, draws the zipper down, and reaches into his boxer briefs. "So fucking hot."
He kisses Tyler a lot while he jerks him off, hand moving fast and sure over Tyler's cock. Tyler would probably jerk himself off slower, but he's hard enough from dancing and sucking Travis that the rush toward coming feels good.
"That's it, baby," Travis says. "Come on, give it up for me." He keeps kissing Tyler, and his free hand grabs Tyler's ass, squeezing and kneading, and pushing him into Travis's grip on his cock.
Tyler has Travis's tongue in his mouth when he comes, and all he can do is moan around it and feel his orgasm rock through him.
Travis stops kissing him right about when he takes his hand off his cock, and Tyler looks down to see that he's come all over his shirt, and Travis only makes it worse by wiping his hand off on it.
"That was so hot," Travis says, and then he stands up and tucks himself back into his jeans and ten seconds later, he looks just as put together as he did when he started dancing with Tyler in the club.
"Yeah," Tyler says, belatedly joining the conversation. "Yeah, it was." He gets up off the floor, because he thinks he should.
Travis flashes Tyler a smile and turns toward the door.
Tyler blinks at him for a second before his brain catches up with what's happening. "I'll walk you out."
"I think I can find your front door," Travis says.
Tyler strips off his shirt, buttons up his jeans, and follows Travis out anyway. He has to lock the door behind him, and he can make sure Marshall doesn't bother him.
Travis's eyes run up and down Tyler's chest when he turns as he opens the front door, but he doesn't say anything and he doesn't stay.
Marshall's asleep on his doggie bed, so there's nothing else for Tyler to do but turn off the lights, dump his clothes into his laundry basket, and take a shower. He puts on pajama pants and a t-shirt after his shower, and goes to wake Marshall up.
Marshall whines at him, but Tyler pets him and says, "Come on. Come on, buddy." He feels better climbing into bed with Marshall there, dog breath and all.
*
"I'm not going out with you again," Marchy declares when Tyler gets to practice. "You don't need a wingman. You just flash your abs and your shitty dance moves and guys fall all over themselves to get at you."
"My dance moves are not shitty!"
Marchy does some stupid looking move that's maybe supposed to be his impression of Tyler's dance moves.
"I do not look like that."
"How do you know? You've never seen yourself dance. It's the rest of us who have to look at you."
"Fuck you," Tyler says, but everyone else in the room is laughing and he can't help laughing a little too. "We'll go somewhere else next time. No dancing and I'll rely on you to be my wingman."
"Nope," Marchy says. "You're out and you don't need me to get you laid. You're on your own."
"Ference," Tyler calls, "you've still got my back, right?"
"No," Ference calls back cheerfully. "I've got a wife and kids to spend time with."
Tyler goes to the other side of the room and throws an arm around Dougie's shoulders. "How are your wingman skills?"
"Uh." Dougie's not a rookie anymore, but sometimes he still gets that deer in the headlights look.
"Never mind," Tyler sighs. He goes back to his own stall. "I guess I'll just die alone."
That sends a fresh wave of laughter through the room, and Tyler smirks at the boys before he pulls on the rest of his gear.
*
That still leaves the rest of the Boston crew, but Tyler doesn't really want to ask any of them to be his wingman. There's no real reason he can't - he's pretty sure at least one of them would say yes - but it just doesn't feel right. But then it turns out he doesn't have to because he's out with them, his last chance to really party before the end of the season and playoffs, the next time he meets anyone.
Most of the crew is trying to pick up, and Tyler's egging them on without participating, until Ciara comes back to the table being trailed by a pair of guys. They're both hot, of course, because Ciara doesn't mess around with anything less than that. The one right behind Ciara can't take his eyes off her ass. The one behind him looks like he's trying not to laugh.
Ciara waves at the guys when she gets to the table. "Shaun and Isaac," she says, without bothering to point out which one is which. "My friends," she says, waving at the table and not introducing any of them either.
Ciara slides into a tiny empty part of the booth, and the guy who's practically slavering over her squeezes in next to her, not that she minds, going by the way she looks at him from under her eyelashes. Tyler remembers that look, and he knows what it means for the guy.
The other guy ends up next to Tyler, still looking like he wants to laugh. "Hi," he says. "I'm Isaac."
"Tyler." Tyler shakes Isaac's hand and introduces him to the other guys close enough to talk to him.
Isaac says hi to everyone, but when the conversation starts up again, he leans close to Tyler instead. "So tell me," he says, "is she going to just chew him up and spit him out, or what?"
Tyler laughs. "Maybe," he says. "Ciara's cool, but she can be a little bit of a maneater. Depends on whether or not he can handle it."
Isaac looks across the table. "Fifty-fifty," he says. "Normally I'd give him better chances, but she looks like she knows what she's doing."
"She does," Tyler says.
Isaac arches his eyebrows at Tyler. "You and her?"
"Briefly," Tyler says, "a long time ago. I'm, uh, gay, so, you know, not now."
"So am I," Isaac says, and Tyler wonders if Ciara knew that when she brought Shaun and Isaac over, "but I wouldn't go for her."
Tyler shrugs. "It was a while ago. Uh, before I knew."
"Ah," Isaac says, "you're one of those."
Tyler frowns. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," Isaac says. "Just that some people don't have that much self-awareness." He sips his beer. "Now me, I've known since I was old enough to know what gay meant."
"I guess we can't all be as good at it as you," Tyler says.
Isaac laughs. "Nah, you're not doing too bad. You're that Tyler, right? The one who just came out and is a big deal and everything?"
"I don't know about a big deal," Tyler says.
"It is," Isaac says. "Visibility is important."
Tyler nods, because, sure, that's probably true, but he doesn't know what else to say. He's already tired of talking about it.
Isaac sips his beer again and smiles. "So, Tyler, what do you do when you're not dating girls and being a role model for gay kids everywhere?"
Tyler doesn't know about that gay kids everywhere part - hockey players, yeah, but he doesn't think he's a role model for all kids - but the rest of the question is easy to answer. "Hockey, of course," he says, "video games, hanging out with my dog."
"What kind of dog?"
"Chocolate Lab. Marshall. He's a good dog." Tyler knows he's smiling, and that's probably good if Isaac's flirting with him and not just making conversation. Maybe good if he's just making conversation too.
"Nice," Isaac says. "My dog is in Vermont with my parents. Golden Retriever. Sometimes I miss her more than I miss my parents."
Tyler nods. "I spent part of last year overseas. I missed Marshall so much. And he was still just a puppy when I left. My sisters and my dad got to watch him grow up."
"Not the same seeing it in pictures, is it?"
"No."
"You didn't mention a boyfriend in that list of things you do," Isaac says.
"No." Tyler meets Isaac's eyes and holds his gaze.
Isaac's eyes flicker down to Tyler's mouth and back up again. "Tell me," he says, leaning in closer, "what are the chances Ciara picked up Shaun because she was bringing me over here to meet you?"
"Uh." Tyler looks across the table where Ciara's practically in Shaun's lap and Shaun looks like he's in ecstasy. Ciara looks like she's enjoying herself, but she's also been a good friend since they broke up. She could have been trying to help Tyler out too. "Maybe?"
"Hmm." Isaac drains his beer and puts the bottle down on the table. "This isn't a great place to get to know each other. There's a place a couple of blocks away that's open late and has amazing cheesecake."
Tyler looks at the rest of the table, but probably no one's going to mind if he takes off. "Yeah," he says, "let's go."
They stand up, and Isaac says something to Shaun while Tyler says goodbye to the rest of the table and puts up with the raised eyebrows and thinly veiled comments.
They're almost out of the bar when Chase, who was at the bar while Isaac and Tyler were saying goodbye yells, "Get it!" after them.
"Sorry," Tyler says. His cheeks are heating up, but it's dark enough outside, even with the streetlights, that maybe Isaac won't notice. "My friends are dicks."
"Nah," Isaac says. "Well, yes, but nice that they're supportive."
They are that, and Tyler concedes the point and lets Isaac take the lead as they head down the street. Isaac's "couple of blocks" turns out to be more like half a dozen, but they chat a little while they walk, the value of supportive friends and Boston at night.
The place where Isaac holds the door open for Tyler is a coffee shop, open late with dim lighting and comfortable looking couches and chairs in small clusters. It also has a bakery case at the counter, filled with more food than Tyler would have guessed from the outside of the shop. There's the promised cheesecake, and also two other kinds of cake, four kinds of cookies, biscotti, muffins, scones, and a couple of things Tyler can't even name.
Isaac nudges Tyler with an elbow. "Trust me on the cheesecake."
They each order a slice of cheesecake, and Tyler hands over his card to pay for them.
Isaac picks up both of their plates and leads Tyler around a wall that forms one side of the counter area and into a small, empty alcove. There's a small couch against the wall with a coffee table in front of it and a lamp hanging down from the ceiling that gives off just enough light to reach the table and the couch.
"We're lucky," Isaac says, taking one end of the couch. "Usually there are people in this corner."
Tyler sits on the other side of the couch and takes the plate Isaac hands him. It's a small enough couch that there's barely any space between them, and the way the walls surround them keeps them from seeing the rest of the coffee shop.
"People on dates?" Tyler guesses.
"Got it in one," Isaac says. "Try your cheesecake."
Tyler takes a bite, and Isaac was right in suggesting he order it. It's amazing, rich and creamy and not too sweet. "Wow."
Isaac smiles at him. "Now you know you can trust me."
"About cheesecake, at least," Tyler says. He watches Isaac take a bite of his cheesecake. "You know I play hockey. What do you do?"
"Marketing assistant for Anderson and Chase. We're a consulting firm specializing in innovative solutions for emerging companies."
"Huh," Tyler says, because he doesn't know what most of that means.
Isaac grins at him. "Mostly I run focus groups, find out what people think of our clients and their products."
"You've been good at getting me to tell you stuff," Tyler says.
"And I'm plying you with food," Isaac says, pointing his fork at Tyler, "which is a key to a successful focus group."
Tyler grins at him. "I'll come be part of your focus group if you feed me like this."
Isaac laughs. "Focus groups don't usually get anything this good. You're a special case."
Tyler may not know anything about focus groups, but that's the kind of thing he knows what to do with. "You don't bring everyone to have great cheesecake?"
"No," Isaac says. "You seemed worth it."
The lights are dim, but not dim enough to hide the fact that Tyler's blushing. He ducks his head and takes another bite of his cheesecake.
"What do you do when you're not running focus groups?" Tyler asks when he thinks he can look up without his face being quite so red.
"Video games and rock climbing," Isaac says.
"Rock climbing?"
"Yep. You get your thrills playing hockey, I get them climbing."
"Are there a lot of rocks to climb in Boston?"
Isaac chuckles. "Not really. There are a lot of climbing walls. I usually do that a couple of times a week, and there's some good climbing that you can get to for a weekend. You ever been?"
"I've done climbing walls a couple of times," Tyler says, "but not the real thing."
"It's awesome," Isaac says. "You should try it sometime."
Tyler shrugs. "Maybe someday. I can't really do anything that dangerous while I'm playing hockey."
Isaac blinks at him. "Really?"
"Really," Tyler says. "No skiing or snowboarding either."
"Damn," Isaac says.
"I get to play hockey, so," Tyler shrugs again, "it's worth it."
"You think so?"
"Hockey is all I ever wanted to do," Tyler says. "My mom says even when I was, like, three, the only toy I ever wanted was my hockey stick."
Isaac stares at him for a second, and then shakes his head. "Okay, sorry, stopped thinking like a date for a minute there and started thinking about marketing. I bet you're a really good role model for gay kids playing hockey."
"Uh, I guess," Tyler says.
"You don't really like talking about gay politics," Isaac says.
Tyler looks down at his cheesecake like he's going to find an answer there. "I don't really know much about them," he says, and then he takes a bite of his cheesecake.
Isaac hmms and says, "But you came out."
"Yes," Tyler says. He takes another bite of cheesecake so he doesn't have to say anything else. There's not enough of it left for this to work as a strategy for much longer.
Isaac quirks a smile at him. "I'll stop asking," he says. "You're not one of my focus groups I have to get to talk about a specific topic. Tell me something else about yourself. A story."
Tyler watches Isaac eat a bite of cheesecake while he takes a moment to think of something. He has plenty of Marshall stories, so he tells one of those, about him and Marshall and Cassidy. It's a good story, and Isaac laughs in all the right places and is smiling at the end of it. He counters with a story about his dog, and Tyler relaxes into the conversation.
They finish their cheesecake, but it's the kind of place where no one's going to kick them out, so they keep talking. A couple comes around the wall but goes away when they see that Tyler and Isaac have already claimed the couch.
Tyler shifts, tucking one leg under himself on the couch so he can turn toward Isaac while he talks. Isaac's eyes flick over him, and he sets one hand on Tyler's knee for a moment.
They don't even think about leaving until Tyler yawns three times in five minutes. "Sorry," he says. "I guess it's later than I thought."
"You're not really living up to your hard-partying reputation here," Isaac says.
"How much do you know about me?"
"Only a little," Isaac says. "I do have an interest in gay politics. I keep up with who's out around Boston. Do you want to go out again sometime?"
Isaac seems cool, and Tyler probably has to get used to other gay guys knowing something about him, so he says, "Yes," and they exchange phones to put in their numbers.
"Do you need a ride or something?" Tyler asks when they're outside. Another couple moved into their corner as soon as they got up from the couch. "My car's near the bar."
"No," Isaac says. "I live a couple of blocks that way." He points away from the bar. "I'm glad Ciara picked up Shaun."
"Me too."
Isaac steps closer, and Tyler holds his breath for a moment before he remembers that he doesn't have to worry about people seeing him anymore. Isaac says, "Call me," and kisses Tyler's cheek.
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Playoffs are about to start, so I'm gonna be pretty busy, but we can get dinner or something." He turns in toward Isaac and touches his chest. "It'll be a good break."
Isaac looks down at his hand and up at his face. "I'm looking forward to it."
*
It's not just that Tyler's busy with training during playoffs. He's also avoiding distractions from his game and trying to rest up as much as possible. But he's already distracted enough just thinking about Isaac, so he texts him from the road when they're about to have two days off.
Coming home to Boston, he says. Dinner tomorrow night?
That's last minute, Isaac sends back. You're lucky I don't already have plans. Pick me up?
Tyler gets Isaac to text him his address and they agree on a time. Because his focus is on the playoffs, Tyler doesn't spend much time worrying about what to wear. He just puts on one of the outfits he's been wearing a lot recently anyway, jams his phone into his pocket, and tells Fred he's going out.
Isaac kisses Tyler's cheek when he picks him up. Tyler returns the kiss and drives them downtown for dinner.
"Are you always a last-minute planner?" Isaac asks.
"No," Tyler says. "Playoffs are weird." He tells Isaac what playoffs mean, the importance and the schedule and the focus. "But we get breaks." He grins at Isaac. "To rest up and see our friends and whatever. Play with the dog."
"Go on dates," Isaac says.
"Yeah," Tyler says, "totally."
They have a good time over dinner, chatting about themselves and telling stories about Tyler's team and Isaac's job.
The waiter offers them dessert menus.
"I can't," Tyler says, "but you should if you want."
"Not if you can't," Isaac says.
"No, really," Tyler says. "If you want dessert, go for it."
"I have kind of a sweet tooth," Isaac admits after he does order the hot lava cake.
Tyler grins at him. "I would totally have some of that if it weren't playoffs. Just, you know, focus and eating healthy and all that." He does let Isaac talk him into taking a bite, just a tiny taste, of his cake, and it's all the better for not having had anything that sweet in a while.
He gets to taste it again, later, when he takes Isaac home with an apology for not being able to stay out any later, and they make out over the gearshift in the front seat of his car for fifteen minutes before Isaac tears himself away.
"Next time," Isaac says, pressing kisses to the stubble on Tyler's jaw, "maybe we could skip dinner."
Tyler groans, because he's starting to get hard and he's probably going to go home and jerk off before he falls asleep. "Yeah," he says. "I'll call you next time I'm free."
Isaac presses one last biting kiss to Tyler's lips. "I can't wait."
*
Isaac has to wait, because they drop their next game and the series drags out. Tyler could call him, but he doesn't think he can handle the distraction. Only when they've safely won the series and have three days off before the next game does he call.
"I thought you forgot about me," Isaac says.
"Sorry," Tyler says. "Playoffs. It's a weird time."
"I guess," Isaac says. "When do you want to skip dinner?"
Tyler flushes. He thought about making out with Isaac the last time he jerked off. "Uh, whenever. I'm good for the next couple of days."
"Why don't you come over tonight," Isaac says. "I'll make you breakfast tomorrow."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Yeah, that sounds good."
They agree on a time, and Tyler makes sure to have dinner before he goes. He still needs his energy, even if they're skipping dinner as part of their date.
Isaac's place is a tiny studio up three flights of stairs, and Isaac is waiting in the doorway when Tyler gets up those stairs. Isaac smiles when Tyler comes down the hallway toward him, and Tyler smiles back, until he gets to the door and Isaac pulls him inside, kissing him as the door swings closed behind them.
Isaac pulls away after a minute and rubs his hand over Tyler's cheek. "This is quite the facial hair you have going."
"Playoff beard," Tyler says with a shrug.
"Hmm." Isaac rubs his hand down over Tyler's jaw. "Could be interesting."
Tyler flushes with heat and his mouth waters. "Yeah. Want to find out?"
Then Isaac kisses him again, hard and messy, and it's a small studio so it's not very many steps until Isaac is dropping onto the bed and pulling Tyler down with him. They're still dressed, but Tyler tries to do something about that, sitting up to get Isaac out of his shirt and fumbling at the button of his jeans. He's too distracted by Isaac rubbing against him and kissing Isaac, so he stops kissing him and moves down his body instead, rubbing his cheek lightly against Isaac's chest.
Isaac gasps. "That is interesting," he says, sounding strangled.
Tyler smiles into his skin and rubs his cheek down Isaac's stomach until he's right by Isaac's jeans and he can get them open. Isaac lifts his hips so Tyler can pull his jeans and underwear off. Tyler makes him wait for a second before he rubs his cheek against the crease of Isaac's thigh.
Isaac groans, so Tyler does it again on the other side, going around Isaac's cock without touching it.
Isaac grabs at him, fingers weaving through Tyler's hair to grip the back of his head. "Tyler," he says.
Tyler grins up at him for a second before he takes Isaac into his mouth. He likes sucking cock, and he likes that he's getting good at it, which he can tell he is by the way Isaac groans and twists his hands in Tyler's hair. He wants to get off too, but he's pretty into the way Isaac's so into it.
Isaac likes to move, twisting his hips and bringing his knees up to hold Tyler between them, then letting them drop back down to the bed. Tyler lets him do what he wants until it starts to get in the way of his blowjob, and then he holds Isaac's hips down and knees apart. It's easier for him, and Isaac seems to like it too.
Tyler stops thinking too much about what he's doing and just focuses on how it feels, Isaac's cock in his mouth, Isaac's skin under his hands, Isaac's hands in his hair. Isaac's polite enough to warn him when he's about to come. Tyler pulls off of his cock and jerks him off the rest of the way while rubbing his cheek against Isaac's thigh.
Isaac groans and pushes Tyler away from his skin. "Too much," he says.
Tyler moves up the bed to lie next to Isaac. "Good?" he asks. He doesn't bother to contain his smirk; he knows it was good.
"Good," Isaac says. "The beard was nice." He runs his eyes down Tyler's body, which makes Tyler realize he's still wearing everything but his shoes. "I think you get a reward."
Tyler stretches, making his shirt ride up to show some skin between the bottom of it and the waistband of his jeans. "Yeah?"
"Yeah." Isaac pushes Tyler onto his back and leans over to kiss him. His hand lands on that strip of skin above Tyler's jeans, and then it creeps up, under his shirt and up his stomach. It stays there, rubbing circles into Tyler's skin while they make out.
Tyler can't stand just that for very long; he's hard, and he wants to get off. "What else do I get as a reward?" He stretches, and rolls his hips, trying to get Isaac's attention.
Isaac huffs out a laugh and gets Tyler's jeans open. He's still too slow getting his hand into them, and Tyler tries to move into his touch.
Isaac laughs a little more. "Hang on," he mutters against Tyler's mouth. He gets both his hands into Tyler's pants, and then he gets Tyler's cock out and puts one hand up Tyler's shirt again while he jerks Tyler off with the other hand.
They make out while Isaac gets him off, long kisses that melt into each other until Tyler makes them shorter because what Isaac is doing with his hands is making it hard to breathe.
It's not a blowjob, but it's good, and Isaac's careful when Tyler comes, so he doesn't get come all over his clothes, just Isaac's hand.
Isaac gets up to clean his hand off, and Tyler stays where he is, sprawled out on the bed. The ceiling is blank and empty, like Tyler's thoughts, and he stares at it until Isaac comes back and Tyler turns his attention to him.
"That was worth skipping dinner for," Isaac says.
"Yeah." Tyler smiles at him, and tugs him close so he can kiss him, lazy and slow in the aftermath of his orgasm.
Isaac makes out with him for a while. "Maybe we should skip dinner again sometime."
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Yeah, this was awesome."
Isaac sits up a little and looks him over. "Pretty awesome for me too. I've got you looking like that in my bed."
Tyler looks down at himself. His cock is still out, shirt up and pants down to reveal it, his hair is probably a mess, and he knows what his face looks like after really good sex.
"It's a good look," Isaac says. He leans down and kisses Tyler. "Better that I made you look like that."
Tyler pulls him down and kisses him instead of thinking too much about how he looks. Isaac liking it is good enough.
Eventually, Isaac gets his clothes off and they make out until Tyler falls asleep.
*
Tyler wakes up in the morning to the smell of coffee and bacon. He must make some noise as he sits up, because Isaac turns away from the stove to smile at him across the room. Tyler blinks himself all the way awake and waves at Isaac before stumbling his way into the bathroom. There's a toothbrush still in the package on the counter, so Tyler brushes his teeth while he's in there. The apartment is small enough that he doesn't have to go far once he leaves the bathroom to kiss Isaac.
Isaac kisses him back and then pushes him away. "You want to stay away from the stove if you're going to be naked." He runs his eyes down Tyler's body. "And you should stay naked."
Tyler blushes. "Can I get some coffee?"
"Yes." Isaac gets him a cup out of the cabinet, and Tyler pours himself some from the coffeemaker. Isaac watches him and says, "You should take that back to bed. I was going to bring you breakfast there."
It does nothing to cool the heat of Tyler's blush, but he takes his coffee back to bed. The place is small enough that he doesn't have to give up watching Isaac to do it. He grabs his phone on his way, and he checks his messages and email while he sips his coffee and watches the way Isaac's pajama pants outline the shape of his ass.
He puts the coffee and his phone down when Isaac brings him a plate. "Don't you have to go to work?"
Isaac settles in next to him. "Called in sick." He smirks at Tyler. "Told my boss I was just going to spend the day in bed."
Tyler laughs, but also looks at Isaac. "Yeah?"
"Mmhmm. Eat your breakfast before it gets cold." Isaac turns on the TV, and they watch The Today Show while they eat. It's not very interesting, and pretty perky for first thing in the morning, but at least Tyler will be somewhat informed about the world.
Isaac takes Tyler's plate when he's done, and puts both plates down on the floor on the other side of the bed. Tyler meets Isaac's slow smile with one of his own, and he lets Isaac tug him down under him on the bed.
They just make out for a long time, even though it doesn't take long before they're both hard. Tyler wants more after a while, and he tugs at Isaac's shirt until Isaac sits up far enough to let him pull it all the way off. He goes for Isaac's pants next; no matter how good they look on him, he wants the touch of Isaac's skin instead.
Then it's just skin on skin, and they still make out without doing much else for a while. Isaac is the one to shift against Tyler, slotting their legs together so he can rub his cock against Tyler's hip.
It's good, except then Al Roker's voice breaks Tyler's concentration, and he says, "Wait, wait," and fumbles in the sheets until he finds where Isaac dropped the remote and turns off the TV.
Then it's good again, and Isaac keeps it slow enough that it takes a long time before they both come. Then he rolls to the side and grabs for a tissue to clean them both up.
"How does this measure up to your usual morning?" Isaac curls up next to Tyler and puts his head down on Tyler's chest.
"Pretty good," Tyler says. He runs his hand through Isaac's hair. It's nice, comfortable.
They're quiet for a bit, and then Isaac turns the TV back on, and they zone out watching morning shows and CSI: Miami reruns. They exchange blowjobs later, and Isaac makes them sandwiches for lunch after that.
"I should probably go home," Tyler says after lunch. "Stuff I should do before practice tomorrow."
They're both still naked, and Isaac lies on the bed and watches Tyler get dressed. He gets up to walk Tyler the few feet to the door, and then he kisses him, a deep, thorough kiss with his hands in Tyler's hair, probably leaving it obvious what Tyler's been doing all day.
"Call me when you're free," Isaac says. "We'll skip dinner again."
"Yeah," Tyler says, "maybe next week."
"Can't wait," Isaac says, "although the memories from today will get me through."
Tyler grins at him and goes home. Marshall slobbers all over him when he gets in the door, and even Fred wanders out of wherever he was to see what has Marshall so excited.
"Wow," Fred says. "You got laid."
Tyler blushes, and flips Fred off.
Fred laughs. "Get it if you can. Still the guy you met at the bar?"
"Yeah," Tyler says. "Isaac."
"Oh, Isaac," Fred says, slightly mocking, but not mean. "He make you breakfast this morning?"
"Yes," Tyler admits.
Fred laughs again. "Really? Damn. You have a high class of hookups."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "We don't all hook up with people who can't wait to see us leave in the morning."
"Oh, fuck you," Fred says. "That was one time, and her roommate was coming home."
Tyler shrugs. "I wouldn't make you breakfast either, so."
"You're such a dick," Fred says, laughing again. "You make me breakfast all the time."
"Well, I'm going to stop." Tyler flashes Fred a grin, pats Marshall one last time, and goes to take a shower. Not that he minds smelling like sex and Isaac's bed that much, but he's starting to feel a little grimy.
"No you won't," Fred yells after him. "I'm too good a roommate for you to piss off."
*
"So what's this I hear about you staying over at some guy's place?" Brownie asks when they Skype.
Tyler groans. "Fucking Fred."
Brownie laughs. "Not that I want details, but."
Tyler shrugs. "It was fun. He made me breakfast."
"Well, yeah," Brownie says, "if you stayed over."
Tyler rolls his eyes. "Not everyone is as much of a gentleman as you are."
"This guy sounds like he might be. Tell me about him."
Tyler shrugs again. "He works for a consulting firm. He knows where to get really good cheesecake. He makes good eggs."
Brownie raises his eyebrows at Tyler. "That's it?"
"He's good in bed," Tyler tries. It doesn't make Brownie look at him any less skeptically. "We're having fun," Tyler says with a sigh, "and it's good, but probably not anything more than that."
"Hey," Brownie says, holding his hands up, "I'm not judging. Do whatever you want, man."
Maybe he's not judging, but Tyler kind of is. It's not really fair to Isaac to date if Tyler's probably not in it for anything more than just that.
"I guess I should tell him that it's just fun," Tyler says.
"Probably," Brownie says. "Maybe after playoffs, if getting laid is good for your game."
Tyler laughs. "I could probably get laid anyway."
Brownie rolls his eyes. "Did he pick you up at a gay bar in, like, five seconds?"
"No," Tyler says. "Fred didn't tell you how I met him?"
Brownie shakes his head. "Is it a good story?"
"Ciara found him," Tyler admits. He tells Brownie about it, even though he has to keep waiting for Brownie to stop laughing before he can keep going.
"Only you," Brownie says, "could get a guy because your ex-girlfriend picked him up for you."
"I don't know that's why she hit on his friend. She might have just liked him."
Brownie laughs. "It's Ciara. She totally picked up a guy for you."
She probably did, and it is kind of funny, but Tyler flips Brownie off anyway and asks him how Julie is to change the subject.
*
When they get knocked out of the playoffs, they lose in six, which means they're at home for the loss. It sucks, and it also means it's easy for them to go out and get shitfaced. Well, a bunch of them get shitfaced anyway. Tyler certainly does.
Fred's just a little more sober, and he gets them both into a cab and home for the night, but doesn't stop Tyler from dropping down to the floor to cuddle Marshall.
It means he wakes up hungover, unhappy, and stiff from sleeping on the floor. He drags himself off the floor and into a shower, shaves, and then puts on sunglasses and takes Marshall for a walk.
The sunshine is way too bright for his hangover, but he stops for coffee and doesn't get hassled much, and he's starting to feel more like he might live when he gets home.
There are a million texts on his phone, which he turned off sometime last night, and he sits down to be responsible and at least skim through them. Having everyone he knows tell him it sucks that they didn't win doesn't make him feel any better, and he doesn't respond to most of them.
There's one from Isaac, and Tyler hovers over it for a second before he opens it.
Sorry about your game, it says. Want to skip dinner sometime soon?
He's going to have to end this thing with Isaac, but he doesn't have to do it yet, and he'll be leaving for Toronto soon enough, which will make it easier to stop seeing Isaac.
Yes, he sends back. Tomorrow?
Isaac sends him a time, and Tyler texts back to agree to it.
Tyler stumbles through the rest of the day. Everyone he knows in Boston is probably just as hungover as he is, and no one but Marshall bothers him all day. He goes to bed early and wakes up feeling better. Physically, at least. It's going to take more than a day to feel better about being knocked out of the playoffs.
He's antsy all day, but he makes himself text people back, talk to his mom, and chill out until it's time to go over to Isaac's.
"Hi," Isaac says when he opens the door. "I'm sorry about the end of your season."
Tyler pushes him back and kicks the door shut behind him. "Let's not talk about that."
Isaac looks surprised at first, but he gets with the program pretty quickly, and Tyler keeps pushing until they're naked in bed.
Hooking up with Isaac does take his mind off of the loss, and Tyler's grateful for that when he lies next to Isaac afterward.
Isaac turns toward him and kisses him. "I can make you breakfast again," he says, "but I can't call in sick tomorrow."
"I shouldn't stay," Tyler says. "I have stuff to do tomorrow morning." It's a bit of a stretch - he could have breakfast with Isaac before he has to be at the rink for breakup day - but as good as it was for taking his mind off of things, he doesn't want to stay the night with Isaac.
They make out for a while longer anyway, before Tyler gets up and puts his clothes back on. It's kind of a dick move, but Tyler says, "I'll call you," and lets himself out.
At least Fred isn't home when Tyler gets back, so he doesn't have to listen to any chirping about his booty call.
*
Breakup day goes pretty much how Tyler expects it to. It's not really goodbye to any of the guys, because they all have plans for dinner. It's just goodbye to their season and the rink, which is bad enough even without having to answer questions about how they lost. Still, it's part of his job, and Tyler gets through it and goes home to take Marshall out to the park.
That does more to make him feel better than anything else has, and he's in a good mood when he gets home. Good enough that he rummages through their fridge and cooks himself a snack for the first time since playoffs started.
Dinner with the boys also makes him feel better, and they chirp each other about their summer plans.
"Let me guess," Marchy says, throwing an arm around Tyler's shoulders. "You're going to cut a wide swath through the gay men of Toronto."
Tyler shoves him off. "At least I'll get laid more than you."
There's a chorus of ohs, and Tyler grins at the rest of the table.
"God bless you," Bergy says, "living the single life for all of us."
Tyler feels a tiny twinge at that - he still has to dump Isaac somehow before he can party all summer - but he grins at the table and lets them think what they want about how much of a party his summer is going to be.
*
Tyler said he would call Isaac, and he probably shouldn't be the kind of guy who breaks up with someone, if you can really call it a breakup, via text - Isaac doesn't seem like the vindictive type, but marketing means he probably knows media people, or people who would gossip on Twitter, and that's the kind of thing Tyler doesn't need getting out - so he calls Isaac the afternoon before he's set to leave for Toronto.
"What are you thinking this time?" Isaac asks when he picks up. "Dinner or skip dinner?"
"Uh, actually," Tyler says, "I was calling to tell you I'm leaving tomorrow, headed up to Toronto for the summer."
There's a kind of long silence before Isaac says, flatly, "You're less of a role model than I thought you were."
Tyler winces. "Yeah," he says, "sorry."
"Let me guess," Isaac says, "you're not going to call me when you're back in town."
"No," Tyler says, "probably not."
"At least I got to bang a celebrity out of it," Isaac says, and then he hangs up.
After Tyler takes his phone away from his ear to check that, yes, Isaac really did just hang up on him, he finds Ciara's name and texts her, Don't pick up guys for me.
She sends back, What happened? with a row of question marks that he ignores in favor of taking Marshall for a walk.
*
Toronto doesn't just mean it's summer. It also means Tyler gets to start all over again. He doesn't have to hold on to his season (much; people will still talk to him about it, but more about next year) and he doesn't have to hold on to anything like what happened with Isaac, or any of the other guys he dated or hooked up with all year.
He takes it easy at first, too busy spending time with his family and friends to want to hook up anyway. He refuses Candace's offer to set him up with someone - again - and laughs when Jesse asks what he's going to do for a wingman since Brownie's only coming to Toronto to visit. It's not like Tyler needs help to get laid, and he's not looking to date. That hasn't worked out well for him so far, and it doesn't seem worth it to try in Toronto when he's only there a couple of months out of the year.
"Long distance relationships can work," Brownie says when Tyler tells him that over Skype. "Look at mine."
"Maybe if you find the love of your life," Tyler says with a sigh.
Brownie's face goes all gooey the way it does when he's being lovey dovey about Julie. "Don't give up, dude."
"I'm not giving up," Tyler says. "Just taking a break." He smirks. "And getting laid."
Brownie laughs. "That part you won't have any problem with."
Part 5