another exceptionally long chapter

ROCKET

"Odd how good my english has gotten since dating you," Håkon slips his fingers into mine, both of us on a post-workout emotionally-exhausted walk around Isa's neighborhood.

"Having only one overlapping language between the two of us would do that." I respond. "Your accent is fading, though."

"Oh good," he responds. "I can't stand listening to myself speak english in interviews. It's atrocious compared to the way you and Steph talk."

"Awh," I complain. "I like it."

"You do?" He laughs. "Ever heard me say anything with vowels? It's painful."

"Humongous." I mock, squeezing his hand four times.

He just laughs. "I should've never said that near you."

"It just sounds like you're struggling with the whole thing."

"And you don't?" He bumps his shoulder against mine, feet stopping. "It's just such a clumsy word."

I stop with him. "And?"

"And hold on," he mumbles, pulling out his phone. I watch his eyes go wide. "Oh, fuck." then: "Hi, mom."

He glances at me with unbridled fear and then turns it on speaker.

"Oh, english? Why are you speaking in english?"

"Uhm," he looks over at me and I gape right back.

"Have you not tol-"

"I have!" he hisses in return.

"Then why-"

"I don't know."

"Håkon?" I pause at the odd twinge she puts on his name and he stands up straight again.

"Yeah, hi, how's it going? Why are you calling?"

"Oh, Isa mentioned that your... date-"

"Plus one."

"Sure, plus one, is a teammate of yours?"

He pulls in a breath. "...yes? What about it?"

"Well I just thought that when, god, what's the name you gave me-"

"Milo."

"...Milo? I thought you said... nevermind." she clears her throat. "I was just expecting you to bring a girl, you know, because a plus one is supposed to be a date."

"It's... just a plus one." He responds. I'm watching his body language get weird. "He's Isa's friend too and she was the one that invited him."

"O-oh." She clears her throat. "So when are you home?"

I wince at this and it slips out of his mouth before he can stop it. "I'm back, already."

"And you didn't come visit? Håkon if-"

"I know it's been wild with all of what's going on so Milo and I are staying with Isa to take the load off your shoulders."

"Both of you together? I would think... nevermind."

"Yeah, both of us, I was planning on using the cabin for the nights approaching and after the whole day just to give Isa and Leo breathing room."

"Y-yeah that would be fine, nobody else is expected to need that space."

"Mom is there something going on?" He asks and the response slips out in Swedish. His eyes go wide.

HÅKON

"I just, why would you bring home a boy after all this, I mean, no girls and I know, I know some have approached you, at least-" yeah, they have, all over the place, just like the whole rest of the team. "And now you're bringing home a boy after all that?"

"I don't see the problem." I lie through my teeth, looking over at him, I just wanted today to be as gentle as possible especially after last night. I should hang up and fix it. "Can we not talk about this now?"

"So you admit that-"

"No, Mom. I brought a friend. Would you rather me have brought home a-a I don't know, a hookup or something?"

"I don't know! Sometimes!"

"You'd rather me have a one night stand at my sister's wedding than my best friend just because you're scared I'm gay?"

"Don't say that-"

"Mom that's what you meant, is it not?"

"Well-"

"Okay, then point settled."

"But I just don't see why you couldn't bring home a g-"

"Mom," I stop in my tracks on the path he's leading me down, Rocket's soft green eyes look over to me again, worried and curious. "I have something I need to be doing right now." I say it in english. "Can we speak about this later? It's just-"

"You better hope we're going to be speaking about this later, Håkon, I have serious concerns about the people you're affiliating with, you and Isa."

I give Rocket an apologetic look for the Swedish he can't understand. "Mom."

"Håkon I just don't see-"

"I'll talk to you soon, okay? Maybe I'll drive out in between now and the wedding but I don't want to get in the way of everything being set up for that."

"H-" I hang up.

I didn't want to hang up. I know she's going to absolutely throttle me for that the next time I see her but I absolutely will not let Luna Anne Rex ruin Milo's day. A day that I promised myself was going to be just us so that we can get ourselves stable again after last night. 

"What was that about?" He asks, reaching out for my hand again. I take it.

"She's..." I chew my cheek. "Not too happy about me bringing home a guy after 7 years of not bringing anyone home."

He lets out a little laugh. "Sounds... like an awful conversation to have with your mother, I'll be honest." He squeezes my hand three times. "And, hey, be honest, if you want me to go because I'm going to rack up the tension in your family, I can. I won't take it the wrong way."

I pull in a breath. "What I said in Canada still stands, I don't think I could handle this without you."

He raises his eyebrows.

"It's..." I sling my arm over his shoulders and bring him in for a little side hug. "I just, I need your charisma and your ability to talk to people and I really really really need you to be there for me."

"I know," he responds, leaning over to press a kiss to the hinge of my jaw. "And Isa made me promise I'd get you to cut your hair and shave before the wedding. She complained that you look like it's been months since you've done anything to that mop."

I frown. "You too, bitch."

"Hey!" He elbows me in the side, laughing. "You're just mad I'm more attractive than you."

I give him the side eye, then, softly: "you look like you've spent the last few months in the woods and just had your first post-woods shower."

He grins, crossing his arms at me and walking backward. "No doubt I had a wonderful time in the woods, obviously."

"I would expect nothing less from you, but, do promise to take me next time?"

"Of course," he grabs my hand and pulls me back toward Isa's, just a couple hundred feet. "But seriously, for you, that hair is getting a little untamed."

"I know," I respond. "Learned from the best."

I stop just inside the door, feeling like this would be a spot to put an I love you but I can't seem to get it off my tongue, he's just looking at me.

"Kiss me," I mumble.

"Like what?" He keeps it quiet and for a moment I'm not sure what he's asking, the little flicker in his eyes telling me it's not a joke.

"Like it's the first real kiss after a fight." I decide. His eyes flicker down, then back up and I wait with bated breath as he slips a hand around my jaw. I let my eyes flutter shut but he stops moving, just to let the warmth of his breath brush my cheeks. I close the space, fed up with the separation.

He kisses exactly like he promised, soft, reassuring, heavy with intent to make things right. His mouth is warm and almost longing with its slow movement. I let him break off, tapping his forehead against mine. "My turn," he mumbles. "Kiss me like you do when you first wake up."

I think about it for a moment, then relax all the way down, connecting my mouth with his in a lazy haze, open, loose, gentle. He smiles into my lips, slipping his arms up over my shoulders, threading his long fingers through my longer hair and holding me there, languid and innocent.

"Kiss me like you do when you're really happy." I break off from his lips only to make him come right back, tugging my hair and pressing a firm kiss against my mouth, breaking off smiling before coming back for something softer, hands dancing with the shapes of my body.

He breaks off, smiling. "Kiss me like you do when we get home from a good game." That catches me by surprise but I knot my hand in the stomach of his shirt and pull forward, slamming my mouth into his, rougher than beforehand. My other hand loops around his ribs, pulling him into me.

After a drawn out few moments, I pull back and think of something new. "Kiss me like we're making a gay period film." I mumble, unsure if he's going to get what I'm going for.

"Only you, you big sap," he smiles, forehead against mine. "Don't lie to me, I know Pride and Prejudice is way up there in your netflix most watched."

"Shh," I respond. "That's between me and my account only."

"You, your account, and your boyfriend who thinks it's beyond adorable." His eyes flutter up to mine, then, his fingers down my cheek, thumb brushing across the bottom of my lip. His eyes remain on my mouth, biting his own lip in concentration, brushing the pad of his thumb over my lips. "Still want that kiss?"

"Of course."

He tips my chin down, angling our heads to meet perfectly, his fingertips on my cheekbones. It's definitely an angsty period film kiss, chaste but emotional, somehow. Our mouths stay barely parted but there's something so deeply longingly connected about it. Like old poetry and all that super sappy stuff I won't ever tell him I read occasionally just to feel something.

He breaks off, then, to perfect it, kisses my chin, then my nose, then, in a sweet and soft maneuver, the crease of my eyebrows and then, finally, my hairline, followed by my temple. I practically melt into his arms.

"Look at you," he mumbles, nose in my hair. The three words say all that he needed them to say.

"Kiss me," Milo begins, rocking me back and forth. "Like you just got off a long voyage or something of the sort and you spent the whole time missing me."

I stand up straight, looking at him for a moment. "Trying to send me off to war?"

"Trying to find out what you'd be like in longing."

I reach forward, hand finding his shirt again, then I pull him against me, leaning forward, I kiss him with fervor and almost angry need. I put it together like a little bit of a recipe of emotions, a taste of agony, a splash of lust, a heaping spoonful of adoration, I keep the pepper shaker full of overwhelming need to bury my head between his legs off to the side. I boil it over a pot of longing and then serve it right up with war trauma or whatever and the next he wants.

"Worked?" I check, pulling back.

"Yeah," he's breathless.

I blink at him for a moment, thinking. "Kiss me like we're the ones getting married next week."

That gets a good smile out of him and he puts his hands around my hips, leaning up for a hard kiss, mouth only softening into mine after a few seconds. Innocent enough to do in front of other people but the way that his hands are tugging at me is what perfects it.

He pulls back after a moment, a little unsure. "Yeah?"

"Perfect." I respond.

"Kiss me..." he thinks. "Like you do when you have an awful game you want to forget."

I frown. "Sure?"

"Hell yes."

I wrap my big hands around the sides of his face and his mouth is already open to receive the kiss when we make contact. Milo still lets out a little noise of shock like he normally does, but this time he doesn't need a moment to calibrate. He grabs my belt loops and yanks me forward, backing toward the door to the main room, out of the mudroom. I follow, locked up in his mouth, enjoying the sandpaper of his tongue on mine.

He breaks off, latching onto my neck instead.

"Kiss me like you wanna make me forget english." I mutter, lost in the way he's dragging his tongue up a tendon on my neck.

"Oh?"

"Oh." I grab the waistband on his pants, jeans, and fall backward onto the couch in my sister's living room, my grip on him bringing him with me. He lands on top, lips immediately crushing against mine, open mouthed, messy, and so so so good. Milo's strong hands lock around my wrists, pinning them at my sides and he doesn't let up no matter how I move to break away. It's exhilarating.

"Kiss me like-" his voice is cut off mid sentence by his shirt going up and over his head, stripping. "You wanna test my limits."

I clear my throat, caught up in the way he looks. My finger hooks around the little chain around his neck, pulling him down and locking my mouth on his. His body, soft skin over rough muscle, is so painfully attractive I can't even focus with him right here, half stripped, gorgeous, as normal.

"Kiss me like-" I start, then: "My phone is ringing."

He frowns, tousled and red-faced. "Who is it?"

I pull it forward. "Isa."

"Probably important, she only texts you." He wiggles, moving to get his knees on either side of my ribs, then sits down on my hips. I stifle a gasp.

"Is?" I pick up, watching Milo carefully in his position above me, just in jeans and a belt, his boxers showing above the waistband.

"Hey, Håk," she responds.

"Something wrong?"

"No, why?"

"I dunno, you don't call often." I watch Milo run a hand through his hair and swallow hard, paying attention to the little roll of muscle and the-

"No, I just wanted to know when you were planning on heading out to the cabin, the wedding is in like, what, five days or so? I just wanted to know so I could help mom figure out housing logistics for the people coming in tomorrow. The cabin can only handle a few people so that's being taken up by you and Rocket for now, then the Norway family is planning on staying with either me or our parents, I just need to know if you're gonna be in the house tomorrow so if they wanna drive in early they can."

I clear my throat, reaching my hand out absentmindedly to Milo, running my thumb down his stomach. "We can be out by tonight, if you want?"

"I hate to ask but-"

"Isa, please force people to do what you need them too. You're too nice and it's stressing you out. Milo and I can be gone by tonight if you prefer."

"Oh thank god," she lets out a cathartic laugh. "And can you and him inflate the air mattress for those cousins so they don't have to figure out the instructions by themselves tomorrow? Leo and I are going to be back in that house as of Tuesday morning but we just don't have time to be back to help them."

I nod. "Of course, do you want me to stay to help them or?"

"No, no," she responds. "They're coming in and crashing tomorrow after driving all the way from Bergen, you're good."

"Fantastic," I rub the pad of my thumb over the crease of his abs. "That it?"

"No, one more thing, what are you planning to do after the wedding? I know everything is kinda leading up to Friday but is Milo going to be around all summer? I just wanna know if I should write that down somewhere."

"Uh," I look up at him. "He's planning on-" I switch to English. "When are you planning on heading to the Czech Republic? Like, date."

"Oh," he pulls in a breath. "My plane is technically next Monday. So, Friday wedding, couple of days to relax after that and then I'm out of your hair."

I nod. "Yeah, Monday," Monday? Why didn't I think to ask when he was leaving? That's just over a week from now.

"So, okay, is he gonna come back?"

"Uh," I clear my throat. "I was planning on leaving again in a couple weeks just to get back for training but maybe." then, English. "What are you planning after that?"

"Dunno," he mumbles. "My plan fades to black after getting on the plane for there. I guess it's something I'll figure out after I figure out what's going on with my family."

"Ah," I respond, then, to Isa. "We don't know. Neither of us."

"That's okay, I just wanted to see if you knew. Anyway, I gotta go, don't make a mess of the house."

"We won't."

"Sure sure, bud, love you."

"Love you too." I respond, then listen for her to hang up. When she does, I toss my phone onto the other couch and reach out, running my knuckles down his stomach.

"What are we doing for the rest of the summer?"

I flop my arms backward over my head, stretching out. "Dunno. Figured I'd end up back in Canada training with the summer group there like normal, Ukko is normally there all summer so we can bug him, same goes with Lags and Petyr."

He sighs. "I don't really wanna bug Ukko and Lags for a whole summer. I mean, Steph will be around for some of it, but not all. We could come back here, or, I dunno, if things go well in the Czech Republic maybe you can join me."

"We'll see how everything goes," I mumble. "But you have to promise me, down to the tips of your toes, that you're going to be safe in the Czech Republic. It's been years since you've been there, I can't afford you getting in trouble all alone there."

He smiles, reaching up and setting his fingertips on my elbows, then slowly dragging them down my triceps to the hem of my sleeves. "I promise, but I kinda know what I'm gonna do."

"What are you going to do?" I ask, trying not to squirm at his hands resting a little close to my armpits.

"M'gonna get on the train and head out toward my old town and I'm gonna go find a friend's house first, someone I know that's been there forever, at least this is what I'm thinking of doing, then I'll ask about him. I don't wanna just go head first on it."

I lean forward and nudge my nose to his. "And then you're gonna text me and keep me updated."

"Right, and then I figure it'll unfold like that, maybe he's fine, maybe he's not, maybe Roman is somewhere around there somewhere, maybe I can take the train back to Prague and find him at some university. He's university age, maybe I can go have lunch with him or something."

"That would be amazing, and then you can invite him to come watch some of our games because that'll be a shocker. Your older brother goes missing and comes back a pro hockey player. I'd be out of my mind."

He smiles, falling forward into my arms, head by mine, lips on my shoulder. "I'm excited. Is that bad? Am I gonna get my hopes wrecked?"

"No, it's okay to be excited," I wrap my arms around his bare back, letting my fingertips pull slowly up his spine, watching the way our skin slides so easily together. "You'll be okay, you always are."

"I love you," he mumbles softly into my shoulder.

"I love you too, we should probably pack and get driving, though."

***
things are going places! i'm not sure where but places!

also segway polo exists and i'm in love with it