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He rolled his eyes, but smiled. It looked strange in comparison to the emotionless face he had seen on the ice and the teasing one here; it was a genuinely happy one. Luke almost felt uneasy, since it was something so different; he decided he didn’t like it.

The blond turned to his teammate as soon as he had everything cleared from the benches.

“Be right there, Bee, a Lion’s trying to-,” he looked back at Luke exasperatedly - Is it that much of a burden to look at me?! - “What exactly did you want from me, Cub?” 

There couldn’t have been a pinch less enthusiasm in his voice if he tried. Well, Luke wasn’t really bursting from joy either.

He should get on with it then, there was nothing else holding him here.

“I- Um.. “ 

Oh, this was fantastic, apparently he could embarrass himself more. It was just that damn challenging look in the other boy’s eyes that made Luke actually feel intimidated and he didn’t like it. Clearing his throat, he simply said, “I wanted to ask you a question.” 

The blond actually had the audacity to smirk at him. He fucking smirked.

“He’s a fan, this could take a while.” 

He leaned back and told his teammate, who as a consequence was about to walk out the door again, “I’ll text you.” 

He closed it behind him, leaving the other two in complete silence for a second.

“I’m not a fan of yours!”

Luke cringed at the abruptness of his statement. That came out too whiny for his liking, he somehow felt like he should practice to insult people. This boy just brought out the worst in him for no reason. But now, he couldn’t just leave it at that.

“Frankly, I don’t know why anyone is.”

A spark lit in the eyes in front of him. This bastard wasn’t even phased by the insult, he treated it like a game.

“You came here to tell me that? Cool. Thank you. If you want to ask something, do so now, because I, unlike you, who has nothing else to do other than scrub the dirt off of Tweedle Hot’s shoes, actually have important things to do today.”

And that caught Luke off guard. Not because of the other trying to insult his life, but that the Saint had just called one of his teammates hot. He wondered which one. He kind of wanted to just ask, but he didn’t think that would end well. 

He collected his thoughts. He came here for the sole reason to find out if this Saint was his soulmate. There was no short way to find out if the golden haired boy's tattoo meant him, but there was another way to find out if they were a soul match.

So, instead, he asked something else, something that he had been wondering ever since he’d seen those dark lines on his wrist. What better time to ask than now.

“What’s your name?”

A couple of different emotions crept over the boy's face, I changed from slightly taken aback as if he had been expecting a totally different question to almost smug before it landed on the teasing one he had before.

"You came all the way from you lockerroom, crashing into this one, while my team is still in here, to ask me that?"

Luke felt a bit self conscious and he didn't even understand why. He took a breath.

"Yes, yes, I did." 

It was a valid question, if you didn't know someone's name, you could ask them. It didnt need to be linked to his soulmark. People could ask other people what their name was, that was a normal thing to do. It wasn't like he was supposed to know the other boy's name. They weren't friends.

"You know, I'm actually a bit disappointed. I really thought they taught you some manners here in Gryffindor."

Luke rolled his eyes. Who did this person think he was? The brunette did not have enough time to come up with a comeback though, not before the other boy spoke again.

"See, we've played against each other over 6 games. We've had a face off against each other at least 3 times and yet, you still don't know my name. Honestly, I'm disappointed in you."

Luke didn't show that he actually did feel bad. He remembered most other names in the league especially after their rookie years, but somehow this one he couldn't think of, no matter how hard he tried. Instead he shot back a "Guess you just weren't memorable."

"Ouch," the blond acted offended, even holding a hand to his chest. 

"I'll try my best to change that then."

Luke couldn't believe it. This mediocre acting performance actually made him feel a bit bad. He watched the blond pull out his phone while walking over to the door. Shit.

"Hey," the blond turned again, very slowly. Cool, he's staying for another second, what now, idiot. Why do you want to talk to him anyway, you don't like the Saints. He shook out of his thoughts and came back to his original question, still left unanswered. 

"I have to call you something. You know, when I joke about your team and how we beat you." You certainly sound like you're sorry.

"Well, if you're that desperate to insult me with a name," he put his phone back into his pocket and looked up at Luke, thinking for a moment before continuing, "I'd better give Luke Deveaux a name then. Since he is quite the star and if someone as high up as him asks for your name, you better give him one."

Well, it seemed like the other knew his name. When he saw the surprise on Luke's face, he explained, “'Course I know your name, because unlike me, apparently, you have made quite the impression."

Luke didn't really know what to say to that, but then he seemed to notice that none of this had answered his question and he just needed to know, so he could go back to his locker room. "Can you just give me a name?" 

His words sounded a lot more annoyed than he felt. He felt quite the opposite, this was somehow… exciting.

"Persistent. I like it." 

The blond had walked over to the door, one foot holding it open, body half way out while his eyes were again firmly on Luke's. 

"Call me Saint."

Adele shuffled over looking at the floor. “Um,” she stared before glazing back at her siblings, who nodded at her encouragingly. “So, we decided to make some things for the others. You know, since you’re having that Pride Party tonight? We thought we’d make little gifts for the team.”

Oh, Pascal’s heart was already a puddle. “You-”, he stared, but couldn’t continue. He had questioned a lot if he should have raised his children differently, more open to the rainbow or attractions and genders (or lack thereof) that was out there, but this made him feel like he and Celeste had at least done some things right.

Pascal only realised he hadn’t properly said anything yet when Katie rushed towards him, hugging his hip. “Please don’t be mad. I promise, we’ll clean it all up. Mama said she’d help us!”, the big eyes of his youngest daughter stared up at him, guilty, but hopeful.

“I’m not mad, mon chou.”, picking her up, he turned towards the other three, still standing in front of him. “Not at any of you. This is an incredible idea! The team will love them. Thank you so much, it’s really thoughtful.” Leaning down, he placed a kiss on each of his childrens’ foreheads, including Katie’s before setting her down to get back to the others. Celeste walked through the door the next moment, flowers of all colours in her hand.

“You found our little pride squad then?”she asked, walking past him and into the kitchen, probably to cut off the ends of the stems. “Don’t worry, I’ll help them clean up and we’ll be done before any of your teammates even leave their houses.”

His wife knew him too well. He hated when other people visited them and their house was messy. Of course there had been times where he couldn’t really keep it clean with four toddlers running around, but he still always tried and his family knew that and helped him. It wasn’t really that it bothered him that visitors could see that they were possibly not clean people, it was just the principle. He thought it should that they were prepared and anticipated someone’s visit. He never wanted them to think it was a bad time to visit because he would eventually excuse the mess. He always wanted everyone to feel welcome.

And that’s what tonight would be about. Making his team feel always welcomed and loved and accepted.

Celeste returned back to their dining room without the flowers, kissing Pacal’s cheek and then turning towards their children. “Did you show him what you made already?” they shook their heads but quickly climbed up onto chairs and sorted through the things they had made. “They’re all really cute, I already saw some of them.” Celeste whispered giddily into his ear, as excitement bloomed in his chest and they walked over to look at the crafts.

“Here!” Katie waved a piece of paper in the air and Pascal walked around the table to look at what she had made. SHe beamed up at him as she explained, “This is for Tremzy! And Harzy and Knutty! It’s a card and I drew Lo, Leo and Finn on the front, see!” The man took the card in his hands. There were three stick figures on it, the smallest with brown hair, the next one with bright red hair and the last, taller than the other with yellow hair. In the back there were blue, red and black dots. “Why did you use those colours, ma petite?” He did have an idea, but with the many coloured pens on the table it could have just been a coincidence.

He could see Katie look over to Adele and Marc, before her eyes met his again. “Del and Marc said that those are the colours when you have more than one love and Logan has Finn and Leo, so they said I should use those. They look good together right?” Pascal could see that he wasn’t the only one close to tears after glazing over at Celeste smiling brightly. “Yes, Katie, it looks beautiful. Lo, Leo and Finn will love it! Adele, Marc, thank you for helping your sister. I know that this will mean a lot to Logan.” then as if he couldn’t help but to add, “I’m also very proud of you for looking up pride flag colours. I’m really happy you're informing yourself about these topics. They’re important.”

They all smiled at him. Pascal went over to Louis next. “I made two! This one is a card for Olli and Del and Marc also helped me with colours, so it's black, grey, white and this really nice purple that Katie gave me. It didn’t really match the photo, but I liked it better than the really dark one. Do you think he’ll mind?” The fact that his youngest son actually looked concerned staring down at his work had a tear spilling over. He let out a wet chuckle. “Non, je pense qu’il va l'adorer, c’est parfait. For who is the green one?” Louis pulled it out from under his other one and now Pascal could see it was not just green. There were black, grey, white and purple stripes on it too. “It’s for Reg! See, it’s got these stripes and then I drew this heart above it, cause even though he doesn’t want a boyfriend like Siri, he still gets all the love he needs from me and Siri and you and Re and the rest of the team!” Celeste came over and placed a kiss on his cheek, “He loves you too, mon lapinou. They look amazing.”

He walked over to his older son, he didn’t know if he could be any prouder of them. “ I made one for Kasey, Nat and Alex.” Marc stated as he handed his father one of the cards he had made. There were three heads on it, one with long blond hair and hoop earrings, one with light brown hair to the shoulders and one with dark red hair, freckles filling up more of his face than the light pink his son had used for all their skin tones. Pascal was about to compliment it, when Marc gave him another one. “This one is for Nado and Kuny. I made it full of hearts in pan and bi colours, because you mentioned that once and I really hope it’s right.” before Pascal could even think his next thought a stack of cards was placed in his hands. “And then for some of then we didn’t know, but we didn’t want them to feel left out or asume, so I made some rainbow ones for Pots, Talker, Sergei, Timmers, Cookie, Bluey, Ringer, Volley, Wrangler, Sunny and Foxy.”

Pascal was a bit shaken, not only that his son even remembered everyone of his teammates, without missing a single one, but at him having crafted every single one of them a rainbow card. “They will all love them, I’m sure. They look incredible.”

He saw Adele look down at her cards and moving them slightly out of view. Frowning, he walked over to her, “Did you also make something, ma colombe?” She nodded, pulling out one of her cards and holding it up for him to see. It was beautiful. She had glued blue magazine cut outs on the top of the cards, which got lighter til they reached a white in the middle and to green ones at the bottom. Over it there was a heart which read “Some hockey players marry their PT, get over it” He didn’t know how she had thought of that, but it was true and funny and so Adele, Pascal had no choice but to love it.

“These are all perfect. Thank you so, so much for making them, they’ll all love them I’m sure. We can tell them to all sit down in the living room so you can give them their cards later, sounds good?” They all nodded, seemingly happy with the idea. “Now let’s clean up before they come here and don’t recognize the place, eh?” All of them nodded as they got up, Celeste telling them where to start and how to clean it.

Pascal moved to the kitchen with the tray of now empty glasses Celeste had no doubt gotten them earlier, when he heard something behind him. Once he had carefully placed down everything he turned around to see Adele standing in the kitchen, arms behind her back. He waited for her to speak for only a moment until she did. “So, you saw that we made cards for everyone, because they’re all great and we should let them know we love and support them, right?” Pascal nodded, letting her continue, “But there’s one more card I made,” Pascal had counted before, his children hadn’t forgotten a single one of his teammates, he had no clue what that last card could be for. “because it’s important that they know they’re loved right?” she continued, “that’s a really important part of all of this. So,” she slowly pulled out a card from behind her back, “this one is for exactly that. Just because someone’s not queer or questioning, doesn’t mean they’re not important this month. It’s not the main focus of it, of course, but having allies is a big part of being able to be proud of who they are for some people. I wanted to thank you for that. I could have gotten some homophobic dad like some of my classmates, but I’m really, really glad I got you.”

Sirius propped his head over his husbands' sleeping form to be able to see their alarm clock display 11:00. They were never usually able to sleep that long, not because their bodies wouldn't allow it, Remus had proven he could sleep until the evening if no one woke him up, but rather because of their practice being regularly scheduled in the morning.

Now, however they were in the anticipated off season, which meant time to be as cliche of a couple as Sirius could manage. He knew Remus liked it, the fact that the Lions Captain, who put on a stone face mask every time he was on the ice, was able to let go this much and express himself in ways that only Remus got to see.

"Thinking of the devil," Sirius muttered as his husband turned just enough to place a few sleepy kisses to his shoulder, before snuggling into his neck.

Remus pulled himself closer to the taller man, determined to bury his face further into the crook of Sirius' neck than was physically possible. He continued until he got his husband squirming out of his embrace, cranking his neck to the other side so Remus would be able to reach it.

The brunette looked up, slowly blinking his eyes open, a lazy smile on his lips. He would say that was the best part of his day, but he had things planned.

"It tickled," Sirius gave as an explanation, moving back to hold Remus, placing a kiss on his forehead. Then smiled, adding "Good Morning, mon amour."

Remus took a slow, deep breath before leaning over Sirius, placing a gentle kiss on his lips. "Good morning, baby."

They both settled back down into the pillows and just stayed there, until Sirius turned to his husband. "You want to get up?"

"No." Remus grumbled back, seemingly half asleep again.

Sirius smirked as he combed through golden curls "I have a surprise for you."

That made Remus peek up. Sirius knew he liked surprises, he didn't quite share the feeling, but loved planning them for him. He especially loved seeing the different reactions of his husband.

First came curiosity and adoration, when Sirius first told him about something he was planning.

Afterwards there was just excitement. Remus seemed to get so much energy through the promise of something unknown. Before a reveal, he could, more often than not, be seen jumping or running around, trying to get rid of the energy.

Then, at the reveal, the first reaction is usually Remus freezing in place, sometimes a hand over his mouth. He seemed so overwhelmed because of whatever Sirius did for him.

The black haired had asked if it wasn't making him uncomfortable, as Sirius himself hated being overwhelmed, but Remus had assured him he loved the feeling in those moments.

The last emotion that Sirius got to see on his husband's face whenever he surprised him was pure love. Everytime he showed the other his surprise it was like Remus couldn't believe he got so lucky.

Sirius felt like it was pretty mutual.

Remus was still looking at him, expectantly and curious.

Sirius sat up and got off the bed, extending an arm to his husband. "Come on. I'll show you."

They climbed out of their bed and Sirius went straight for the kitchen, telling Remus he could just take a nice shower in the meantime, while he was preparing something.

He did and once he was done they both got to brushing their teeth next to each other, fooling around too much to be efficient, but neither seemed to mind.

--

Sirius plans turned out to lead them into a car, the back packed with things Remus wasn't allowed to see. But he presumed everything was going well, since Sirius smiled smugly and that only got Remus more excited for whatever his husband had planned.

He was only a bit confused, when Sirius stopped the car in front of a forest. They both climbed out of the car and Remus was hit by the smell of fresh air and cut wood. The air in Gryffindor wasn't bad at all, but still you could smell the difference in a heartbeat. It was also way quieter than at home, he noticed. There were a few cars driving in some distance, but he could actually hear the birds. Other birds than pigeons that is.

While Remus was still staring at the trees towering over them, he heard something being set down behind him and right after felt arms circling his waist. Sirius placed his head on the others shoulder, kissing his cheek. "It's beautiful, eh?"

"It really is. How did you find this place?" Remus asked, turning around.

Sirius' smile turned into one Remus couldn't quite place until he told him dramatically "I was talking about you, mon coeur."

Remus laughed. He loved that side of Sirius. The one that was able to make a remark so sweet, yet with just enough sarcasm to make it funny.

Placing his hands on Remus cheeks, Sirius leaned down to kiss his nose. Which still managed to make Remus flush. He looked down at the ground. Next to Sirius on were the items he'd hidden in the back of the car. There was a backpack on the left and a picnic basket on the right. "We'll have a picnic?" he asked excitedly.

Sirius nodded, sharing Remus' expression "You like them, non? This seemed like the perfect place."

"Yeah," Remus said dreamy "It's perfect. You're perfect." He leaned up to his toes to kiss Sirius. They broke apart rather quickly though, the black haired walking over to get the backpack and basket.

Before Remus was even able to open his mouth to offer his help, Sirius just took his hand with his unoccupied one. "I'm a professional hockey player. I can handle carrying two things at once, but thank you." Placing a final kiss onto Remus' cheek for now, they wandered off into the forest.

After a few turns Remus wasn't actually sure where they were going anymore but his husband seemed to have a clue as he didn't even blink before making turns. After only a couple of minutes of walking into the forest they arrived at a clearing and Remus stopped right there in his tracks, pulling Sirius into an abrupt halt as well.

"Are you okay?" he asked after Remus proceeded to just letting his gaze dart around the clearing.

He let out a slow breath and held Sirius hand tighter. "Yeah, sorry, this just doesn't seem real."

They stood there for another moment before Remus ran off. He felt like a child, but this looked like it was taken straight from a fairy tale. The sun was shining through the trees, colouring the grass and moss beautiful shades of green. There were little footpaths snaking through the trees, Ivy growing up most of them.

"This is incredible!" still running around, he shouted back to Sirius, who was slowly making his way over to a sunbathe spot.

He heard Sirius laugh. It was perfect. Running over to where his husband had put down a way-too-cliche red and white checked picnic blanket, he just crashed into the other, who had tried to reach over to the basket. Sirius didn't seem to mind being tackled onto the ground by the love of his love, placing a burst of kisses all over his face.

"It's beautiful. Don't worry our wedding day will forever be the best day in my life, but this is up there on the list so far."

Sirius had known Remus would like this, of course, that had been the reason for the surprise. However, what he hadn't expected was for the other to love it this much. Seeing so much joy on Remus' face was probably the best thing to happen all week.

Sirius positively beamed "I'm so glad you like it! Took quite some time to find this place, but definitely worth it."

"Definitely," Remus said as he settled back onto Sirius. They just played there for a bit, until the shorter mans stomach growled.

"Ah, yes, food." Sirius adjusted his position, reaching over to the basket.

His husband sat up, making a nice space in front of them for whatever Sirius had brought. Placing the basketball next to him he pulled out item after item and set it in front of them. Once he was done he was done, he looked over at Remus, who seemed confused, yet impressed.

Sirius just smiled and got to explaining "We have some drinks of course: Water, Tea and Coffee; Then of course food, because I know you're hungry and I'm almost done, just wait another minute:" Remus put his head on Sirius shoulder as he continued explaining, "We've got a fruit salad I actually made -i'm pretty proud of that- then some grilled cheese in there so they stay warm, turkey sandwich, with cranberry sauce of course, some cut up vegetables plus dip and of course chocolate cake provided by Celeste, which is as close to on the diet plan as she could manage without it losing the taste."

"Wow," was the first thing Remus said, looking over all the things laying out in front of them. "Most of this is not even close to on our diet plan, but honestly, I couldn't care less. This is absolutely adorable, baby, thank you." There was that look, the one full of love with nothing else at all to distract from it.

"You like it? It's good, nothing missing?" Sirius asked. He was pretty sure Remus liked it, but he needed to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything.

He heard a key in the lock and turned off the TV, standing up just as Natalie and Kasey opened the door. As soon as they set foot over the doorstep Alex had his arms wrapped around their waists, nearly sending the bag in Kasey’s hand to the floor.

Natalie chuckled, “Seems like we got a dog after all,” she said before tilting her head up and placing a kiss on Alex’s cheek. She took the bag from Kasey and wandered off into the direction of their bathroom.

The older boy’s arms had never left Kasey’s waist, holding him tight and littering the blonde’s face with kisses. “You know, I was going to defend you, babe, about the whole dog thing,” Kasey snorted before tilting his head to lock lips with the shorter, “but you’re practically licking my face, so I’m not sure I will.”

Alex had his puppy eyes mastered though, which didn’t necessarily help him in the process of being perceived less like a dog, but definitely played for him when trying to get someone onto his side. He saw that it worked as Kasey nearly melted into a puddle right in front of him, but shaking out of his state a second after.

“Don’t use that against me. I can’t help myself when you look at me like that and you know it.”

Alex’s eyes turned from almost watery-sad - honestly how did he do that?! - to mischievous in a second, tilting his head and asking, “And what are you going to do about it, love?”

Both of them knew Kasey was defenceless against his boyfriend, but still, one could try, so he put on his goalie face and answered, “Believe me, you don’t want to find out.”

With a deadpan expression that made a smile break straight through the taller one’s mask, Alex just chuckled into Kasey’s shoulder. With a fake offended expression, the blonde looked from his boyfriend to Natalie who had just come back into the living room.

She laughed, probably knowing exactly what had happened.

“Imagine being afraid of you, babe.”

Kasey turned back to Alex, the frown still on his lips. Instead of comfort or an apology, the man still snuggled into his shoulder added a smug, “You see?”

Before Kasey had even begun to complain about his ungrateful partners for his effort, or anything like that a spark had lit in Natalie’s eyes. No one had any time to question that either because she just walked forward taking Alex free hand dramatically, “I see only you.”

After a few seconds of hesitance Alex registered what was going on. Their girlfriend was still holding his hand waiting for a reply.

The red head took a breath and let it out with a chuckle, “Oh, Natalie. See only me.” Kasey groaned as Alex detached himself from his boyfriend and walked into the middle of the room where he was being pulled by Natalie. Kasey decided to go to the bathroom, to try out the new things they had bought, but as he heard his girlfriend's soft voice he froze in his tracks.

"Only you, you're the only thing I'll see forever; In my eyes in my words and in everything I do; Nothing else but you; Ever" her singing echoed through their apartment and looking at Alex, the blonde apparently wasn't the only one whose knees got weak upon hearing that.

While Kasey chose to sit down to deal with that problem, blazing up dreamily at his girlfriend, hoping she'd continue, Alex took a different approach.

The gears in his brain could almost be seen clicking into place before, "And there's nothing for me but Natalie-a; Every sight that I see is Natalie-a"

And if Kasey was fine before, able to think for himself, now he wasn't. It was overwhelming in the best way and he never wanted it to stop. He'd heard Nat sing before, even that song since it's one of her favourites, but hearing Alex sing alongside her was an out-of-this-world feeling. Everything about them was perfect. The way their voices sounded together, the way they fit together so perfectly. He had never doubted they weren't meant to be, but this was proof. It had to be. Since the first moment Nat and Kasey had met, she'd been saying how cool it would be to sing this as a duet with someone. She had never expected Kasey to, they both knew he didn't like singing, but he could see the loving spark in her eyes as with every line of the song, she fell more in love with the red head. Who could blame her, honestly.

Alex had never properly sung for them, only hummed songs while cleaning. But right now, he sang with such ease, knowing almost all the lyrics, and it seemed like he didn't even try.

Alex knew no one would judge him for his singing voice and Kasey could hear the feeling of just letting go and singing without thinking about how it sounds just about how it feels in his boyfriend's voice. He loved it more than anything.

Kasey didn't sing, but he liked listening; to get to experience how talented his lovers really are, to feel the music flow through him as he was filled up with love until he could do nothing more but stare. He didn't even realise they had sung through the whole song, with only minor swallowed lyrics on Alex part, until he snapped out of his dream like daze and heard the last note of the song echo through their apartment. They were both smiling at each other and then turned to him, a bit flushed and he couldn't help bit kiss them both hard.

After they broke the kiss he shot Nat a knowing smile, who was still beaming with joy.

"8 out of 10," she suddenly said, turning both heads back in her direction.

"What?", apparently Alex was just as confused as Kasey.

So, she repeated, "8 out of 10. You have an incredible voice babe and your acting was on point, but the lyrics weren't all there, so this begs for a rewatch," she stated, walking over to their couch, popping down and smiling up at her boyfriends expectantly.

“Oh and here comes Luke. Throwing off his gloves and joining his teammates. Maybe with all those uncovered wrists we could actually get a chance to see some soulmate tattoos again. Last one spotted was Kasey Winter’s almost two years ago now, spelling out Natalie, the name of his girlfriend. They still seem to be going strong; I’m happy for them. That incident did however get most of the players to cover their wrists up,” Frank waited for a second before continuing, “How’s the fight? Looks like we got a big one tonight, eh?”

“It is! We’ve got three people from each team fighting at the moment, but the Refs are pulling them apart now. Coach Weasley doesn’t look too happy that his players are risking injuries for fights again. He’s calling a few over now and I do not want to be on the receiving end of Arthur’s wrath, believe me.”

“Same here, Marlene. Huh, that was weird. Did you see that?”

“It was. Loops just had to shake DV so he’d move. He had stared a hole into the ice and didn’t react to the Coach or his teammate. Haven’t seen him do that before. Hopefully, he’ll be fully focused again after the break.”

“I’m hoping it wasn’t a bad hit. The Lions really don’t need another injury right now.”

“Especially after only just getting Finn back from his small wrist injury that didn’t allow him to play the last two games.”

“Yeah. We’ll keep everyone updated of course. I’m sure he’s being checked right now.”

“In the meantime, there were some fantastic plays in there. It would be quite nice for the players to have a good game before some of them get to have a break.”

“Yes, All Star week is next week and we’ll be seeing a few of the Lions there, such as the newly wedded Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, but also last year's MVP Logan Tremblay, of course.”

“I’m excited Frank! We’ll be right back after a quick break for the second period.”

-

Luke was still feeling off after the fight, going through the questions Layla asked him on autopilot. No, he wasn’t hurt, there was neither pain there nor there, yes, he could still remember his address and full name.

Their new PT seemed at a loss. She could see that he was acting very strange and, honestly, she was getting worried about forgetting some usually obvious injuries for his behaviour. There was only so much a human could guess, so she simply asked.

“What happened out there, Deveaux?”

It took a moment for Luke to register he was being addressed, mumbling a “nothing” before continuing to stare at the wall. How stupid did this boy think she was? 

Letting out a sigh, she clarified, “I just need to know if you’re injured or not,” after a second of hesitation Kayla added, “but if there’s something bothering you or just occupying your thoughts, you can always go talk to Heather. She’s helped a few of your teammates too.”

She watched his expression while telling Luke. Some guys were embarrassed of going to therapy. There was no reason to be, of course. No one got shy about having the PT check on them but when it came to mental struggles, they somehow believed they have to handle it all alone. Society and the messed up way of thinking that they teach children, honestly. She was glad they at least had some people on the team who encouraged visiting Heather any time they saw someone struggling. She knew Sirius really did help them a lot by being so open about going to her office at least once a week.

There really was no way to tell how Luke thought about her proposal, he certainly seemed to be thinking, but there was no way to determine what about. Suddenly Luke broke the silence.

“Can I go?”

Since Layla hadn’t found any injuries and she couldn’t really do more than encourage him to visit Heather, she let him leave.

The brunette was out of the room the second after the words had left her mouth.

--

They had won. The locker room was already buzzing, the mandatory playlist echoing into the hallway. After their last game against the Saint’s, which they had lost, the whole team was even more excited about having won. There was even some kind of dance match between Logan and Sirius going on, not that Luke noticed. He had been a bit off for the rest of the game, much to the dismay of Coach Weasley. That got him to spend most of his time on the bench in the last period, but he didn’t mind. For once, hockey was not his main concern, not even during this game.

He had seen it. When number 7 had thrown off his gloves for the fight, there it had been in black cursive. A soulmate tattoo, spelling out “Luke”. Of course "Luke" didn’t necessarily mean Luke as in himself, but there was still a possibility.

A possibility that his soulmate was a Saint. A Saint. He would have been happy with almost anyone, but no, it had to be an ice hockey player. He didn't care about the gender. Luckily he wouldn't even have to hide a relationship between him and a potential boyfriend because of Remus and Sirius. But a Saint? Even in his thoughts, he knew he was whining. The real problem was that they would not only live miles apart and would have practically no time for each other half of the year, but they would be opponents. In ice hockey, the other team is the enemy. He couldn't befriend the enemy and he definitely couldn't date the enemy. Even if he wanted, he'd be blamed for not playing as hard as he could or making exceptions when it came to his hypothetical boyfriend.

So really, dating a Saint was not an option.

Still, his curiosity got the better of him. If this was really his soulmate, no matter how much he didn't want him to be, he had to know.

Standing up, he made his excuses and slipped into the hallway, running along until he got to the other team's locker room.

Great plan, idiot, what will you do now?! You can’t just go in and ask in front of everyone.

Then a group of people stepped out, each looking at Luke as if he had a kick-me sign on his forehead and as if they were considering it. Quite a few had walked past him and when one held open the door for his teammate, Luke could see that there were only three people left in the room. No time better than now, he told himself, gathering some of his Lion courage and walked straight inside.

“The fuck, Lion?!”, one of the players mumbled while he left the room too, shortly followed by the other player that wasn’t the one Luke had been looking for.

He took a deep breath. The tattoo wouldn't refer to him. Of course it wouldn't. Why would it be a Saint, really. Stepping closer to the boy lacing up his shoes, Luke's eyes met a pair of brown ones, looking up through gold curls.

“Why are you here?”, the other asked, narrowing his eyes and standing up to be on eye level with the Lion.

Oh, the charm of rivalry, always straight to the point, no need for formalities.

“Do you want to brag about catching up? Hate to break it to you, but you’re not in the lead and we’ll win the next one anyway.”

Even though his words sounded confident, he leaned back and knocked on the wood of the benches.

“No,” the brunette stated, looking him dead in the eyes. This boy had activated Luke's competitiveness so there was no turning back, “to both. We’ll just win as we did today. Last time was luck and you know it.”

The other raised an eyebrow at him. “The only thing that was luck last time was that you got a goal.”

The nerve this person had. Here he was, coming to actually try to talk to him and possibly get to know him to find out about the tattoo and just got insults in return. Luke was about to shoot something back when the door opened again.

You know the parts in movies, where the couple sleeps next to each other? When one wakes up and looks at the other lovingly, tracing circles onto their skin? The part where the other was already awake, a rough, sleepy voice whispering “Good morning, baby.”? The part where they hold each other tight, exchanging love confessions and sleepy kisses?

That’s what was currently playing in Julian ever racing mind. That’s what he imagined, was happening in his brother’s room right now.  He didn’t want to bother them, breaking into their cute morning routine, for his selfish wish to get to his brother.

He was bouncing on his bed a bit, waiting for sounds that would indicate his brother woke up and had a spare moment for him. Then he heard them. Remus’ door opening and closing, steps on the floor and then the bathroom door.

Julian stepped out of his room. He wanted to surprise his brother with the gift he had made for him. It was always exciting for him to see how Remus would react to his gifts. It was Julian’s favorite part of giving gifts and he didn’t really want to wait any longer. Excitement running through him, he stepped out, into the middle of the hallway, determined to not ruin the bliss his brother and Sirius had probably been in and to wait until they were separated to hug Remus and congratulate him. It was only then he realized, he had no clue if it was Remus left in the bedroom or the one that had went to the bathroom. Checking the bathroom was a no go, as, if it was Sirius in there, he would straight up die from embarrassment. Just walking into his brother’s room was definitely the better option, but first of all, who knew what Sirius could be wearing if it was him, if he was even wearing anything. Jules wasn’t stupid, he had payed attention in biology. And secondly, the conversation, he would have to have with a sleepy Sirius, who might mistake him for his brother worst case, was not a risk he was willing to take.

So he waited again. Walking back into his own room, disappointment slowly seeping into his bones. He had lost his chance until they would go down for breakfast with their parents. He heard the bathroom door after a few moments, footsteps and Remus’ door, before everything went quiet again. Before the were together again.

He knew Sirius liked him. Well, of course there was always the option of him lying, but if so Sirius was a damn good actor. Julian was never the one to expect the worst, Sirius liked him, he was sure, but that didn’t mean he’d be okay with his boyfriend’s little brother bursting their romantic birthday bubble. Jules definitely didn’t want to make Sirius upset. He wasn’t allowed affection and love for so long, the least Julian could do was leave them to themselves on Remus’ birthday.

It was fine. Julian had been excited about his brother’s birthday, of course, he was every year, but he could wait until they were ready for him.

Still, he couldn’t help but think back.

Julian just missed the cuddles. When they were smaller he had always snuck into Remus room on his birthday as soon as he could. The older had slowly blinked his eyes open and had just lifted the covers for Julian to crawl in. That might have been his favorite moments. Feeling Remus hugging him tightly, them both falling asleep again to be woken up by Lyall and Hope a little later with his brother’s cake.

He couldn’t have those anymore. Not now that Sirius was with Remus. Jules was incredibly happy for them, of course, he just missed the moments that were just for the two of them sometimes.

And so he waited patiently, sitting on his bed, turning the gift over and over in his hands, thinking about Remus’ and Sirius’ love and how happy he was that his brother had been lucky enough to find something like that.

Later Julian congratulated Remus with the others. It was less personal than the last birthdays. Remus opened all the gifts he got, thanking everyone for them, telling them over and over again, how that wasn’t necessary. Julian’s gift was still behind Remus. Out of view from the other guests.

His heart dropped a bit, when Remus didn’t even open his gift now. He kind of just wanted to leave. Sit in his room, alone. This didn’t feel like a celebration to him.

They chatted over the birthday cake and Jules waited patiently for them all to slowly leave so he could get back to his room. What had he been expecting? Remus had a boyfriend now, he didn’t need him anymore.

“Hey, Jules. You got a minute?”, he heard from behind him.

Remus had followed him half way up the stairs and when he looked down, he saw his gift in his brother’s hands, holding it carefully. Sirius was talking with Hope and Lyall in the kitchen at the moment.

“Sure.”, he answered. There must have been as little enthusiasm in his voice as he felt and Remus eyes turned worried, but he didn’t say anything, just walked into his room, holding the door open for Julian to slip in behind him.

They both sat down on the bed. “Sorry we couldn’t cuddle today.”, Remus told him and that was not what Julian had been expecting. Before he could answer, his brother continued. “And I’m sorry I didn’t open your gift before. I know, you were probably a bit disappointed, but your gifts are always my favorites. I wanted it to be special. Just us two again. You know?”

Julian didn’t really know what to say. He hadn’t expected his brother to feel the same. He was older, less sensitive. He had a boyfriend he could cuddle with, but apparently he still needed his brother. Julian smiled up at him, eyes shining a bit. If Remus noticed, he didn’t comment on it.

“So let’s open this, yeah?”, his brother asked and the younger could see the excitement blooming in his smile.

Kasey huffed, “Have you seen these? We’re going to a wedding. The best wedding-” he stopped himself, biting his lip for a second before continuing, “the best wedding we’ll be going to for a while, I will not just wear a black suit and be done with it,” Kasey stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Alex had been planning to just wear his blue suit. He had debated about buying a new tie to go with Natalie’s attire, but that would have been all.

“Hey,” as if he knew exactly what was going on, Kasey stepped out of the pile of clothes and up to the redhead, “I know you were planning on wearing your blue suit. It’s a great choice, you look so hot in that damn thing,” the blond looked down at his boyfriend, grinning “But I want to look just as good,” Kasey simply told him, leaning down to peck his cheek.

Alex was about to cut in, complain, that Kasey was the best-looking man on the planet, whether he was wearing a trash bag or sweatpants or gear or a goddamn ball gown- he had to stop himself at that, because Alex’s thoughts would definitely not help Kasey in choosing an outfit. Although he wouldn’t have to wear one at all, which might take a little stress away.

Alex's head snapped up again. During his thoughts his eyes had somehow moved to Kasey’s lips without his control. He remembered the days where people used to think he had a crush on them, just because his in-thoughts brain had decided to make his eyes stare at inappropriate places. Then Alex remembered that wasn’t the case anymore. He actually wanted, what his eyes were implying. Tilting his head up again, he placed a kiss on Kasey’s lips.

Then Alex had to tell him. “You will always look incredible. No matter what.”

The other smiled at that. “Even if I wear a neon green bow tie with a neon pink suit?”

Letting out a bright laugh, Alex told him, “Even if you wear sweatpants to the wedding.”

“I would rather stay at home,” Kasey huffed out, still smiling though. Then he turned back towards the closet, “I was going to ask for your advice, but from what you just said, that will do more harm than good. No offense.”

“Wow,“ the older pretended to be hurt by the comment, laughing too much to make it believable, which got Kasey to join in.

They only noticed their girlfriend had joined them, when Alex felt arms hugging him around his chest. He felt her hum into his back, her cheek pressed to his spine. Alex closed his eyes at the feeling, leaning into it.

Kasey being Kasey, they didn’t stay alone for long. Alex and Nat both got a kiss on the cheek, before they were cuddled by the blond, trying to squish himself as close to his loves as possible.

“Of course he would,” she muttered under her breath, smiling up at her boys. “That’s what today is for.”

After a while, Natalie asked them what they had been laughing about, the question only resulting in more of that, until she had to laugh as well. She still couldn’t believe how she got to have them. Both of them.

“Kasey needs help with his outfit for the wedding,” Alex told her between breaths. She didn’t seem surprised.

Both hockey players looked up in surprise.

“I’m taking you shopping, because you,” she pointed at Kasey, “will not stop whining until we bought you a new something and you” she continued, pointing at Alex this time, “will need another tie, because all blue is a great look, but why live life in one color?”

–

Since Natalie and Kasey had agreed on helping Alex first, they were currently browsing through the tie section of the store. They had already found a few that would either fit with Natalie’s dress or Alex’s hair and some that just looked nice.

After making a few decisions without Alex, the other two let him see the final options they had limited themselves to. A floral one with red and orange flowers that would compliment his hair or a sky blue one that would not only fit with the jumpsuit Natalie had picked out for herself a few weeks ago, but would also make his eyes pop, as Alex’s partners had explained excitedly.

He couldn‘t help but be biased towards the blue one, when he saw both their eyes glint with something. The team knew about them, that they were dating and being each other’s date to the wedding, so he might as well match.

Alex knew he made the right choice, when he told them the blue one. Natalie couldn‘t hide her grin and it lifted the corner’s of Alex‘s mouth automatically.

“A redhead down, a blond to go!” and with that Natalie was already off to another section, where shirts were displayed. Both boyfriends went after her.

A few minutes went by of them just quickly scanning through the options, when they turned around to find no less than seven shirts already piled in Kasey’s arms a face splitting grin on his face.

“Oh babe,” both his partners said at the same time in the exact same voice. It would have been scary if Kasey wasn’t head over heels in love with both of them.

“Can I try them on?” he asked them excitedly, already subtly moving towards the changing rooms. They knew he had golden retriever tendencies, but this time they practically saw a tail wagging behind him.

And how could they ever deny him anything when he had puppy dog eyes to match.

–

It took about sixteen shirts to find one that Kasey loved enough to want to wear it to the wedding.

Alex was sitting on one of the chairs in front of the changing rooms and after Natalie had complained about the professional hockey player taking a seat before her, she was now sitting in his lap, her fingers moving through his red curls as Kasey stepped out again.

“Tada!” he stretched his arms out right before gesturing to his shirt. “I think this might be the one,” he told them, turning around to look at himself in the mirror. Kasey was fully aware that brides usually used that phrase, but he didn’t care. He was allowed this moment. Maybe he would get to hear that sentence from Natalie and Alex soon. Maybe they could have that.

He turned back to his partners, showing off the white floral shirt again.

“You look incredible,” Alex told him, a bit dazed and not looking his boyfriend in the eyes. Kasey looked down, where the redhead’s eyes were fixed, caught on his half open shirt, revealing more of his chest than would probably be considered normal at a wedding.

Natalie didn’t really reply, she just got up, kissing Kasey. No one of the throuple seemed to mind. After breaking the kiss, leaving the goalie blushing, she leaned in whispering into his ear “I’m buying you that right now. You look fantastic.”

Walking back over to Alex, sitting down again, they watched Kasey shake out of his state, smiling to himself and turning around to change back into his normal clothes.

Natalie really did pay for both of their things and put in some earrings she had seen close to the checkout. When she handed over her card to the cashier, she got a snort form behind her. She turned around to look at her boyfriends with a confused expression.

“You’re like our sugar mommy,” Alex told her smiling brightly.

She was fully aware they earned a whole world more than she did, but she liked paying for them every once in a while. She didn’t want them to think she wanted them because of the money. Logically, she knew she never had to pay, but it just felt right sometimes and it was all worth it for their expressions once they got their things.

Finn and him held up easy conversation on their way back to the living room. “Reg!”,when Leo spotted their friend, they couldn’t help the blush that spread onto their cheeks. Yes, of course, he knew about the Cubs’ relationship and had seen them cuddling more often than not, but Leo still felt like it was an intimate moment. It was obvious that Leo tried to move out of Logan’s hug, to sit up on the couch and greet Regulus properly. Their smaller boyfriend had something else in mind. The blond was now sitting upright on the couch with a human koala pressed into their side. Leo didn’t complain.

“Nice flag you got there.”, Regulus noted as a grin split his face, looking from the trans flag the cubs hung up today to his friend, who had a similar expression on their face. 

Leo looked up at him and answered smugly, “Thanks. I know.” They still couldn’t believe Logan and Finn had just accepted them so quickly. It was surreal really, thinking about how much time Leo had debated about what to do if they didn’t. But they had. They did. They hugged Logan tighter and looked up at Finn, who practically threw himself on the couch and onto his lovers in the process.

After leaving them to a moment of affection – because he knows they would want that – Regulus cleared his throat. “Leo. We have to go.  The reservations are made. We can’t be late.”

It was something Leo had noticed. Reg got extremely anxious at the thought of being late. They didn’t know if it had something to do with his and Sirius strict parents, but he really didn’t need to know. Since they didn’t want their friend to get uncomfortable, the blond tried to get up again, with minimal success.

“Guys, you have to let me go.”, Leo whined, “It’s only for one night. I’ll be back tomorrow.” They turned to Logan, who had a pout on his face, clearly not happy thinking about Leo having a sleepover at Sirius’ and Remus’ place.

“But I need you to cuddle me.”, he whined holding his partner tighter.

“Logan,” Leo wiggled around in their boyfriends embrace to be able to look Logan in the eyes, “You have Finn for tonight and I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?” They leaned in closer and added in a quiet voice, “I’ll cuddle with you the whole day. I promise.”

Logan seemed to be debating their offer, only to squeeze their body one last time and then loosen his arms and press a kiss to their nose. “Fine. The whole day.”

They rolled their eyes, but stood up and walked over to Regulus. “Alright. I’ll be back tomorrow. Love you.” Leo turned towards the door and suddenly felt a heavy weight against their back.

“Love you too, Nutter Butter Baby.” Finn said, kissing Leo goodbye.

Logan moving next to them kissing his lover afterwards “Love you. See you tomorrow, Peanut.”

Leo leaned into the kiss, staying tucked into their boyfriends arms for a second, until Regulus fake coughed behind them and they let go.

“Alright Nutter Butter Baby. Can we finally go now?”

Leo turned around, facing their friend with eyes that could kill, but a slight smile on their lips. “Oh, do fuck off.”

The laughter echoed into the staircase as the friends made their ways into town for a round of bowling.

-

“So.”, Regulus asked picking up a bowling ball from its mount and stepped up to them lane. “Do you know what you want to say?” The ball, as it left his hand, went straight for the side and all the way to the end without hitting a single pin.

Leo swapped places with the other, “No.”, they groaned letting their head fall back for a second. “Is it not weird for you that I’m coming out to your brother before you do?” They both watched the ball hit three of the ten pins, “Ha! I’m in the lead!”, Leo celebrated before sitting back down.

“Okay, first of all”, he carefully selected a ball, “No. For me it’ll just be a spur of the moment thing, I won’t plan it and you’re ready now and he’s your captain. Go for it.” Regulus reassured them and rolled the ball down the line hitting three pins aswell, but waiting for one more to fall at their impact. “And Second.” he started again, “I am in the lead now, bitch.”

Leo laughed and rolled their eyes. “We’ll see how long that lasts.”

They played on for three hours, talking about everything that came to mind and being incredibly glad that they were able to change their shoes again. Leo’s had been a tiny bit too small and Regulus would have been able to fit in his wearing seven pairs of socks. 

-

They arrived in front of Sirius’ and Remus’ place later that night, walking inside, toeing off their shoes and being greeted by the smell of fresh cotton and the sight of the couple sitting at the big table in the middle of the living room. There was a monopoly board on the table and Remus grinned up at them both.

“You up for a game?”, Regulus asked Leo as he got a glass of water for both himself and his friend.

A smile spread onto their face, “Only if you’re up for loosing.”

-

After a while, Sirius noticed the persistent bounce in Leo’s leg – a bounce he knew well enough to associate with nerves. The first thought that flashed across his mind involved the current game, but Leo was, in general, a good player. Whenever they played, Leo would put on the ‘goalie face’ – intense, focused, but relaxed. He turned to the younger one to get a further read on them. Leo had furrowed their brow and was rolling their bottom lip between their teeth – another two nervous habits Sirius had picked up on from working with Leo near on every day.

“Everything okay, rookie?”, Sirius asked.

Leo’s head snapped up from where they had stared at the board, lost in thought. They laughed stiffly, becoming more and more nervous by the second. It would be fine. They had done this once, they could do it again. Sirius and Remus would be fine with it. Leo was sure they would. Well, almost sure. “Yeah, yeah. I’m wonderful.”, they answered, voice a bit raspy.

“Nothing you want to get off your chest?”, Sirius prompted further, giving Leo the opportunity to talk, but not forcing them.

Leo knew he could see their leg bouncing. It was even moving the water in their glasses, there was no hiding it. They let out a sigh. Now or never. Although the statement was not completely true, it provided them with enough courage to actually spit out what was burning on their tongue. “Could you maybe, possibly refer to me with they/them pronouns from now on?”, Leo’s voice got smaller closer to the end but they were pretty sure both other man had understood.

“Of course, Knutty.” Sirius told him, as if Leo had just asked him to pass over the salt. “Whatever makes you most comfortable. Do you want me to tell the team or do you want to do it?”

That was not what Leo had been expecting. Looking over to the other, Loops just smiled at him and continued to stare daggers at his boyfriend, who had just cost him half his money.

“No. No that’s fine thank you, I’ll tell them.”, Leo told him, the surprise still evident in their voice. “Your support means the world to me.” they added a disbelieving smile on their lips, looking at the couple on the other side of the table.

“Yeah, no worries, buddy. We’ll be here every step of the way.” Remus told Leo, which almost made their eyes tear up. How did they deserve a team like the Lions.

-

Sirius rolled the dices and landed on one of Regulus’ hotels. “Pay up.”, Reg told him, with a bright grin. It seemed like the younger was going to win.

Sirius just pouted, turning to his boyfriend and started whining. “This is so unfair! I got onto his property five times already.”

Regulus didn’t even look up from where he had been checking what Sirius was due, just simply  told him “Their property. Agender. They/them, thank you.”

Sirius didn’t even hesitate, before starting his sentence again. “I got onto their property five times already. Come on, this is cheating.”

Regulus often seemed like they didn’t care, but they flashed Sirius a grateful smile, receiving a loving one and a wink in return. 

“Love you.”, Sirius mouthed as Remus continued the game.

Finn pulled his hand out from where it had tangled in the blanket, moving it to the sobbing man‘s back. Logan‘s head shot up in an instant, fear seeping into the emerald green eyes, surrounded by red. He snatched back his hands from where they had been holding onto Leo’s and Finn’s arm, wiping his eyes harshly, willing for his tears to stop. He cursed under his breath, voice rough from crying.

“Finn! Finn, shit, sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m sorry.”

After the second word, his eyes had formed new tears to follow the old tracks all over his cheeks. Logan couldn’t help himself from trying to hide his state as he pressed back into the crook of Finn’s shoulder. The brunet was never the one to share his feelings openly, especially in a state this vulnerable. He felt- naked.

Well, he realized he was actually naked and so was Finn, but that was not the point.

Finn’s shoulder shifted under his face and then a warm hand was on his cheek, wiping away the wetness there and moving his head to look up.

Finn saw his boyfriend’s glossy eyes and heard him sniffle. He didn’t want to imagine how long Logan had been crying, how long he didn’t notice one of the loves of his life had been sobbing into the crook of his shoulder. He thought about waking Leo, but he had to know what this was about first.

“Hey,” he gently stroked the others cheek with his thumb, “What’s wrong, baby?”

That must have been the wrong thing to say, as the brunet just started to cry again. Once Logan let go, he couldn’t hold it back anymore, he had to let it out. All of it. Moving down to hide his face again, he just let his tears fall. There was no way he could stop them other than letting them out. He was already dreading the headache he was going to get.

Finn didn’t try to get him to talk. It had no use. It broke his heart a little, seeing Logan cry, but he knew the other had to let it out.

Then, Finn heard the sheets moving over Logan’s hitching breath and quiet sobs. Leo’shand which had been on his stomach before, having falling to rest on top of Logan back, was moving to brush Finn’s skin again. It moved up and down with Logan’s breath, still draped over their boyfriend’s back, but now connected to Finn as well. Like Leo needed to make sure Finn was still there. Like even asleep, the younger couldn’t bear to stop touching Finn.

Leo made a small noise and shifted closer to them. Logan felt it too, of course, but he couldn’t decide if he wanted to move back into the warmth or away from it, as to not wake their sleeping boyfriend.

Logan didn’t have time to decide, because the movement his body was still going through, the sobs still shaking his chest, were apparently enough to wake the younger boy. The brunet felt a warm body pressed against his back now, a hand moving up and down his side soothingly.

A croaked start of a sentence was barely audible, before Leo tried to get as much sleepiness out of his voice as possible, starting to talk again.

“Lo, what’s going on?”

Logan had never been this glad, that Leo hadn’t called him something that would make his heart melt. His heart was already a puddle in the basement, he would have just started crying again. And, Logan decided, he couldn’t just do that. Again. Finn was probably worried sick and Leo would be, if not worried, mainly confused. He owed them an explanation for waking both of his boyfriends up by crying.

“I’m sorry,” he sobbed, “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“Hey,” Leo lifted Logan’s face from Finn’s shoulder once more, “Hey, Logan, look at me,” the blond told him firmly.

“You have nothing to apologize for. Please, never say sorry for crying, yeah?”

The croaked “Okay” was the smallest answer both boyfriends have heard from Logan in a long time. He didn’t seem to be able to continue just yet though. Every time he tried to speak more than a word, the tears still choked him just that little bit more.

Leo just moved closer to them, wrapping his arm securely around his boyfriends. They slowly felt Logan’s breathing even out and his sobs lessen. After a while of just holding the shorter boy, Finn leaned behind him, to get a tissue for Logan’s nose and they all sat up.

“What’s wrong, Logan?”, Finn prompted again. “Why were you crying?”

Logan took a deep breath, feeling Leo’s hand rubbing soothing circles over the expanse of his back to calm him as he started to talk.

“I just- I feel so stupid waking you up because of this,” he let out a short, wet laugh and continued. “Because it’s not actually bad. It’s not bad at all. It’s really, really fucking good and I don’t know how I deserve it.”

Finn knew the other was just working himself up again.

“Baby, breathe.”

He guided Logan’s hand to his chest, so the shorter could feel his heartbeat. It had always calmed Logan to feel someone’s heartbeat, to be allowed to get that close to someone, to feel their life source under his fingertips.

“Okay. I’m fine,” Logan said after he could breathe again. “I’m sorry. I know this is ridiculous. You’ll laugh at me once I tell you.”

He looked at both his boyfriends. They sat, full attention focused on Logan, their caresses not stopping, to tell him they were there.

“I’m so lucky. I can’t believe it sometimes,” he started again, barely able to look the others in their eyes, tears building up again. As if he hadn’t cried enough that night.

“I don’t know how I deserve you two, but I am so glad – so fucking happy – to have you in my life. Not just the fact that you two let me love you, but the fact that you love me back. I don’t understand how it happened, but I’m so happy it did. And you can’t be lying, because I can feel it. I can feel it in everything you do. I can feel that you do it with love and it’s just- It’s just overwhelming sometimes. I love you so damn much.” And fuck, he was crying again. But he wasn’t alone this time. Tears were shining on both Finn’s and Leo’s cheeks now.

Before he knew it, he was pulled into a tight embrace by Leo, Finn practically throwing himself on top of them, like he would have on the ice.

“Sweetheart,” Leo whispered into his curls, “I love you more than I can ever put into words.”

“We love you so, so, so, so, so, so much. To the moon and back,” Finn added, “Actually, that’s not even enough. We love you to the furthest star in the universe and back. I’m still not sure that’s enough.”

Finn smiled brightly at the other two. His two.

“Ooh, okay. Sit down”, Sirius barely hid his smile as he turned around to get the makeup from where he’d put it.

“Okay, baby,” Remus laughed as he sat down. “You’re really excited about this, huh?”

“Yeah, I mean I just think you’ll look hot,” Sirius said. “I mean, you always look hot but-”

“Relax, I know what you meant,” His infectious chuckle continued.

“Okay. Can I start? Are you ready to become even more beautiful?”, Sirius was smiling over both cheeks now as he picked up a brush and some kind of container.

“Stop it,” Remus blushed a little every time Sirius paid him a compliment, even after all this time.

His smile turned into a grin and he was sure Remus knew what he had gotten himself into. “What? I can’t tell my gorgeous, brilliant, wickedly hot boyfriend that he is the light of my life and the best person on earth? Now what’s the fun in that?”, he leaned down and kissed Remus’ cheeks, where his blush had darkened to a deep red.

Remus hid his face in his hands, willing the blush to go away. He stared up into those beautiful blue eyes and suddenly it didn’t matter if he was blushing; it didn’t matter if he was at the bottom of the Mariana Trench or the top of Mount Everest, he would look up into those eyes. Those eyes that looked at him like he was worth something… worth everything.

Sirius’ smile softened, “You’re perfect.”, he paused and just looked at the other for what felt like an eternity, “Okay. Makeup!”

Sirius pulled out the makeup bag that Lily had prepared for him. It was reflective, proclaiming “Find yourself and be that!” Sirius smiled at the wording, knowing that now he had found himself and that he was, in fact, being that.

He got out a sparkly eyeshadow and a big fluffy brush and then stopped looking a bit sheepish, “What do I start with?”

“From the one makeup video I’ve ever watched, I think you start with foundation?” Remus guessed, shrugging.

“Ah. Yes, of course,” he went looking through the bag again mumbling to himself, “Foundation. Yeah, I know what that looks like, I’ll just-”

“Glass bottle.”

“I knew that, but thank you. Foundation.”, he said as he held up the bottle in victory, accompanied with a sponge in the other hand.

“I think you gotta wet the sponge first,” Remus supplied helpfully (?). “I mean, I think.”

“You’re awfully knowledgable for someone who’s only watched one makeup tutorial, huh?” Sirius smirked as he splashed a little foundation onto the back of his hand.

“Maybe I watch the occasional beauty guru,” Remus conceded. “Maybe I watch beauty ASMR videos and if I do, it’s my business and mine alone.” He huffed out, a little embarrassed.

“You are adorable.”, Sirius placed a lingering kiss onto Remus' forehead, “And now, foundation!” The black-haired boy carefully soaked the sponge into the liquid and dabbed it onto his boyfriend's cheeks. “Is this right, Mr. Makeup ASMR?”, he asked Remus in a teasing tone covering his face slowly in the light beige Lily had brought them.

“Yes,” Remus gritted through his teeth playfully.

“Awww, you look like an angry little puppy when you do that,” Sirius cooed whilst continuing his ministrations. “Don’t pout, it’s bad for the makeup.” Remus’ eye twitched in mock-irritation.

Remus sighed once the other was satisfied with his work. “Concealer is next. So please, make these under eye bags disappear.”

Sirius acted annoyed, but he knew Remus could see, he was glad for the instructions. “I love them, though. They’re part of you. You work too hard, that’s what they show.”

“This is makeup. It’s reversible.”, Remus smiled. He had never liked his eyebags, which had always kind of just been there, but it made him warm up to hear Sirius did.

“Fine.” a pout on his lips, the taller man covered the skin under Remus’ eyes with a lighter shade, watching the light purple disappear.

“So pretty, baby,” Sirius said lovingly as he patted the product into his boyfriend’s delicate skin.

“Hey, that’s my line,” Remus reached out to hold Sirius’ left hand, which was resting lightly on his cheek to give him stability when applying the makeup. He gently tugged it away from his own cheek to place a kiss in between his boy’s knuckles. “You’re so soft here. I thought your skin would be rough.” He flipped Sirius’ hand over in his his, analyzing every nook and cranny, crevice and callous.

“Why would my knuckles-” Sirius’ affection for the man before him killed the query on his lips. His eyes fluttered down briefly then, softly, met Remus’. “I like being soft with you.”

“I like all of you, baby. Smooth sides and rough edges,” Remus said, still absently playing with Sirius’ hand.

“Even after all these years, you still always know what to say to me,” Sirius said, staring deeply into Remus’ light amber eyes.

“I still don’t think that’s true,” Remus huffed a quick laugh.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” Sirius pulled away slightly to pick up a small pot of blush.

He used a large fluffy brush to pick up a little bit of the bright pink product and leaned back over to his lover.

“Light, upward strokes,” Sirius spoke softly, intently focused on the application of the blush.

“Huh, never knew you to be one for light strokes,” Remus joked.

Sirius couldn’t help the smile, but chose to wash over the comment, instead applying the pink power onto his boyfriend’s cheeks. “You look so cute! Like you’re blushing.”, he said, once he was done, looking at Remus.

“If that’s what it looks like you might have added too much.”, he laughed, ignoring the actual blush that spread under the makeup across his cheeks. As Sirius just kept staring at him,his face felt hotter. Remus took a deep breath, “Come on. Want to do something with my eyes?”

The black haired shook out of his trans, “Yes, yeah, of course. This is the most important part. You’re going to love it.”

“You promised that for the rest aswell.”

Sirius turned around, the smallest amount of actual hurt on his face mixed with a load of cockyness. “What? You don’t love your look so far?”

“No, I adore it. I look fantastic.” Remus answered, his voice dripping in irony.

The other smiled and then dropped a kiss onto his nose, “You always do.”

“So we’re done?”

“You’re not getting out of this, love,” Sirius came back with a whole palette of colors, ranging from deep purples to sparkly golds. He struggled to open it and after a while wordlessly held it out to Remus.

He smiled, but opened it for his lover and returned it.

Sirius sprinkled a light layer of sparkly gold over Remus’ eyelid. He added a burgundy to the crease, accentuating the shape of his eye with classic Lions colors. He added a couple swipes of mascara.

“I’m not fucking around with eyeliner,” Sirius laughed. “I feel like I could do some real damage with that stuff and I do not want to go to the ER today. Or anyday. No ER for you, my sweetheart.”

Remus joined in with his boyfriend’s laughter. “Yeah. Imagine having to explain that.”

“I accidentally stabbed my love blind with eyeliner,”

“Sounds about right,” Remus chuckled. “That would definitely happen to us.”

Sirius made grabby hands at Remus’ sweater paws and reached out to pull him up and out of the chair he was sitting in, spinning him around slowly to face the mirror.

“I look…” Remus trailed off. Sirius came up behind him and snaked his arms around his waist.

“Pretty. You look so pretty, sweetheart,” Sirius cooed sweetly.

“Yeah,” Remus whispered, vaguely aghast. “I look pretty.”

“Let’s go take some pictures, pretty boy,” Sirius swatted at Remus’ ass playfully. Remus cracked up, tilting over the hips just laughing so hard.

It was past Finn’s bedtime. He shouldn’t be awake, but he just couldn’t sleep. So much had happened, Finn really couldn’t understand why he was still so full of energy.

He sat up. That didn’t help, it somehow made him even less sleepy.

Throwing his legs in the direction of the edge of the bed, he scooted over until he could hop onto the floor of his bedroom. Waddling over to his door, he carefully moved his hand up to the doorknob to try to open it as quietly as possible. If his parents heard him, they would send him straight back to bed and he really didn’t want to just lay on his bed until he could sleep.

Finn had sneaked over the floors of their hallway quite a few times and he knew that the second board after the bathroom door creaked so he tried to step over it carefully.

Then he reached his destination. A big blue door, identical to his own, on which he knocked softly, barely audible.

He opened the door slowly and peaked through to see into his brother’s room.

Alex saw his door opening, red curls peeking out of the side until he saw Finn’s face.

„Why hello, sir Finnigan, to what do I owe the pleasure of your presence at such a late hour?“

It had the desired effect and painted a smile on Finn’s face. He came into the room fully, coming to a stop in front of the older boy, looking up at the nine-year-old until he patted his lap.

Alex picked his brother up and sat up onto his thighs, his arms securely around the younger one’s torso.

„So“, Alex tickled Finn’s side, until he was squirming a bit, but stopped again to talk, “Why are you up?“

„I couldn’t sleep. I have so much energy in me so it just won‘t work.“, Finn told him. He had always been a very energetic kid and this wasn‘t the first time, he had sneaked into Alex’s room for some company. They would usually just cuddle and talk until Finn was asleep, but the older one had another idea for today.

He sat up slowly, holding Finn and repositioning him on his hip for the time being. Alex could feel arms tightening around him.

There were few steps to his bed and when they reached it Alex sat his brother down, standing back up and walking over to his closet to get another blanket for Finn. He took it eagerly and snuggled up against his brother as soon as he sat back down.

“Hey, have I ever told you about the stars?”

Finn picked up his head from where it had been against Alex’s side and looked at his older brother awestruck. “No.”, he breathed, eyes fascinated by what his brother was about to tell him.

Alex got up just enough to open his bedroom window, letting them see outside, but also letting the cold air in.

“Snuggle tight,”, he told Finn and held out his arm, so his smaller brother could make himself comfortable by his side.

“Can you see those white dots in the sky?”, Alex pointed his free hand up into the darkness of the night.

He heard a small, “yeah?”, from his side.

“Those are stars. We can’t see them when we’re at home, since there’s too much light there, but here you can.”

“Whoa, that’s so cool! It’s like someone painted the sky!”, Alex heard his smaller brother whisper.

“Yeah. Do you want to know the story behind them?”

“Ooh, yes please!”, Finn sounded incredibly excited as he pressed his body closer to Alex’s and held his arm, so it wouldn’t let him go. Alex’s arms tightened around his brother and he started tracing small circles on his arm.

“Legend says that they’ve been created by Greek Gods in an effort to lead humans to happiness. The stars have everything already planned out. They know what you’ll be when you grow up, maybe an NHL player like I’ll be once I’m old enough. They’ll know if you’ll marry someone and who. They know everything that happened, happens, and will happen.”

“Whoa,” Finn said again, his mouth hanging open.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. And there are different constellations as well, for really important events. There, for example, is the Leo constellation. For your birthday.”

“I have stars?”

“Everyone has stars, Finni. Sometimes you see them, sometimes you don’t, but they always keep you safe. They protect you.”

Finn looked up into his brother’s face with big eyes, “Like you?”

“Yeah. Like me.”, Alex smiled down at him. He was the perfect little brother. Sure, he was annoying at times, but when it came down to it, he was everything Alex could have ever dreamed for and more.

Finn shifted in his arms, placing his head against Alex’s side and snuggling into him as much as he was able to. Alex held him tight and saw moved the blanket to cover Finn’s whole body. He got a happy hum from his brother in return as they both looked out into the night and at the stars the speckled the sky. Alex could just look at the stars for hours, they were beautiful and full of mysteries. It really was a shame they could only see them in their vacation home, but it was better than never for Alex.

He stared out the window for a while, he didn’t know how long, but he was transfixed on them. A small sound broke him out of it, coming from his side.

Alex had no clue when Finn had closed his eyes or when he’d fallen asleep, but the smaller boy was snoring softly, clutching at Alex’s arm and the blanket.

The older couldn’t help but smile. He tried to move Finn over to his pillow and gently placed his small head on it. After closing the window again, he moved over to where he had been before, a small figure curling up in his bed.

He changed into his PJs quickly and slid under the covers. Draping his arm over Finn’s shoulder, he laid down next to him. Alex chuckled a bit as even sleeping, Finn clutched his hand in his smaller ones. Alex placed a kiss on his brother’s head gently and whispered: