summary: the four times your friend group tried to set you up with logan, and the one time they find out you’ve been dating the entire time
warnings: just pure sappy fluff
a/n: based on this request! i hope you like it :))
john logan masterlist off campus masterlist
the funny thing about keeping your relationship with logan a secret was that neither of you had ever actually decided to.
if someone had asked during those first few weeks, you probably would’ve told them. there wasn’t anything scandalous about it. no reason to hide. nobody in your friend group would’ve cared beyond teasing the two of you for a while before eventually moving on.
the relationship itself had arrived so quietly that, looking back, neither of you could really pinpoint where friendship had ended and something else had begun.
after hockey season, you’d simply started spending more time together. study sessions that always seemed to run too late to justify walking back to your own dorm straight away. dinners that lasted twice as long as either of you intended because conversation came so easily with him. evenings spent wandering across campus without much destination in mind, filling the silence with the sort of conversations that only happened when neither person felt any pressure to keep talking.
somewhere between spring arriving and final exams looming over campus, he’d walked you back to your dorm after one of your study sessions like he always did.
the conversation had drifted off several minutes earlier, leaving only the sound of your footsteps against the pavement and the distant buzz of students enjoying one of the first genuinely warm evenings of the year.
you’d stopped outside your building. he’d looked at you for a moment before kissing you.
it hadn’t been particularly dramatic. there hadn’t been fireworks or declarations or some overwhelming certainty that everything had changed. it had simply felt… right.
afterward, logan had rubbed the back of his neck with the slightest hint of uncertainty before quietly asking if that had been okay. you’d kissed him again instead of answering.
that had been four months ago.
the next morning, you’d still met everyone for breakfast. logan had still sat beside you because he always did. you’d stolen fries from his plate because you always did. he’d walked you back to your dorm after classes because he always did.
the only real difference was that now, when nobody was looking, he’d steal a quick kiss before heading back across campus.
for a while, having something that belonged only to the two of you had been… nice.
your relationship existed outside everyone else’s opinions. there were no questions, no teasing, no constant interruptions every time one of you sat beside the other. it was just yours, tucked quietly into the spaces between lectures and late-night walks and evenings spent curled up together in your dorm.
eventually, though, the novelty faded.
more than once, one of you would look at the other and say, we should probably tell everyone.
the other would agree, but then someone would change the subject, or dinner would arrive, or you’d both forget. the conversation kept being postponed until it somehow became stranger to announce it than not to.
neither of you worried about it, because you assumed everyone would find out eventually. you just hadn’t anticipated it to take so long.
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practice had run longer than anyone wanted.
by the time coach finally called it, the sun had already started dipping behind the campus buildings, painting long shadows across the parking lot outside the arena. everyone was tired in that familiar, satisfying sort of way that followed a good skate. conversation came easier once helmets were off and sticks had been tossed carelessly into the back of trucks, the intensity of practice gradually giving way to the comfortable rhythm the team always seemed to settle into afterward.
logan adjusted the strap of his hockey bag higher on his shoulder as he stepped out of the rink. he’d texted you nearly an hour earlier.
logan: running late don’t wait if you’re hungry
you: too late already ordered enough fries for both of us x
he’d smiled to himself without really thinking about it.
the parking lot had begun emptying by the time he started walking toward campus. several of the guys peeled off in different directions, climbing into cars or heading toward the hockey house, until eventually only garrett remained beside him since they had decided to carpool.
for a while, neither of them spoke. garrett, however, lasted about three more minutes until he felt the need to break the silence, “you know…”
logan glanced over. garrett shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie, looking ahead as though the conversation wasn’t particularly important, “y/n’s cool.”
logan nodded once, “yeah.”
garrett continued walking, “i mean it.”
another nod from logan, “she is.”he wasn’t entirely sure where the conversation was going yet.
people complimented their friends all the time. it didn’t seem especially noteworthy. garrett kept talking anyway, “she actually knows hockey.”
logan thought about the number of times you’d sat through games you hadn’t understood at first, asking quiet questions until the rules gradually began making sense. now you caught missed penalties before half the people around you did. you’d been strangely pleased with yourself the first time that happened. he’d been pleased too, though.
“she’s easy to be around,” garrett said.
logan looked at him, “…she is.”
there wasn’t much point pretending otherwise; you were. conversation with you never felt forced, and silence didn’t either. most evenings, the two of you could spend hours together without either of you feeling the need to constantly fill the space between you. logan had never realised how rare that was until he’d found it.
garrett slowed slightly as they reached the crosswalk outside the arena and looked sideways at logan, “you should ask her out.”
the traffic light changed. logan waited for a car to pass before stepping off the curb, “oh, i already did.”
garrett laughed. not the polite sort of laugh people gave when they weren’t sure whether someone was joking. it was a genuine laugh, “yeah?”
logan frowned faintly, “yeah.”
“good one,” garrett laughed again.
for a second, logan wondered whether he’d said something wrong. then he realised garrett thought he was kidding, but before he could explain, garrett was already talking again, “seriously, though, i think you’d really like her.”
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you discovered hannah’s theory by the middle of the semester over afternoon coffee.
the two of you had escaped campus between lectures, ducking into della’s diner. it had become something of an unspoken tradition over the past year. whenever your schedules lined up, you’d spend an hour there together before heading back to class, talking about everything and absolutely nothing until one of you inevitably glanced at the time and realised you were already running late.
that afternoon was no different. hannah was halfway through describing one of garrett’s increasingly questionable cooking experiments when she paused.
her expression shifted ever so slightly. not dramatically, just enough that you’d learned to recognise she was about to say something she’d clearly been thinking about for a while.
she stirred her coffee absentmindedly before looking up, “can i ask you something?”
her spoon clinked softly against the side of her mug, “have you ever thought about logan?”
thankfully, your coffee was already back on the table, otherwise, you suspected you might’ve dropped it. you blinked as you did your best to keep your expression neutral, “in what way?”
hannah shrugged one shoulder, “in a dating way.”
you hummed thoughtfully, lowering your eyes to your drink before she could read your face too closely, “why are you asking?”
she smiled to herself, “i don’t know.” which, coming from hannah, almost certainly meant she knew exactly why. she tucked one leg beneath herself in the booth before continuing, “i’ve just been watching you two.”
your heart gave the smallest, traitorous little skip. not because you thought she’d figured it out, but because she was far more observant than most people gave her credit for.
you’d spent the last four months being careful. never sitting too close when everyone else was around. never holding hands unless nobody could see. keeping kisses to empty hallways, quiet walks back to your dorm, and the brief moments before one of you inevitably headed home for the night.
you’d convinced yourself nobody had noticed and, for the first time, you wondered if maybe someone had.
hannah rested both hands around her mug, “he always ends up sitting beside you.”
you smiled faintly, “there’s usually a free seat.”
“maybe.” she shrugged, but she looked unconvinced, “but he always notices when you leave the room.”
you hadn’t realised anyone else had noticed that. it happened almost unconsciously; whether you were getting another drink, answering your phone, or stepping away to use the bathroom, his eyes almost always followed you for a second before returning to whatever conversation he’d been having.
he didn’t seem aware he was doing it and neither had you. until now.
hannah continued, counting quietly on her fingers, “he remembers everything you tell him.”
you opened your mouth to answer, but immediately closed it again. she wasn’t wrong.
logan remembered things. all sorts of things. the name of your favourite author after you’d mentioned it once in passing. which professor insisted on surprise quizzes every friday. how you always ordered extra fries but never ate the last one. the way you preferred your coffee. the fact that you hated walking across campus with wet socks after it rained.
he carried little pieces of information about you as though remembering them required no effort at all.
“and,” hannah added, smiling into her coffee now, “he always makes sure someone walks you home after group nights.”
this time, you couldn’t help smiling. not because she was wrong, but because she thought it was someone. she had no idea that, more often than not, the someone was logan himself.
you looked back at her, “you’ve thought about this a lot.”
she laughed softly, “a little.”
“okay.”she grinned, “more than a little.”
you shook your head, laughing under your breath, “so…”
hannah leaned forward just enough to rest her elbows on the table, “i think he likes you.”
you let the silence linger for a second. eventually, you took another sip of your coffee, “you think?”
she nodded immediately, “i’m almost certain.”
you traced absentminded circles around the rim of your mug, “i’ll keep that in mind.”
hannah smiled, clearly satisfied she’d done her part.
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malone’s was busier than it had been when you’d first arrived; conversations overlapping beneath the steady hum of music drifting through the speakers. pool balls cracked together somewhere behind you every few minutes, punctuated by the occasional cheer whenever someone managed an unexpectedly good shot. every booth seemed occupied, and the warm scent of fried food lingered in the air long after the plates had been cleared away.
the eight of you had claimed the same corner booth you always seemed to end up in.
tucker and dean were arguing over something that had happened during practice earlier that afternoon. allie was attempting to convince hannah that dean had, in fact, exaggerated the entire story. garrett kept interrupting to make things objectively less accurate, while beau looked increasingly entertained the longer the argument continued.
logan sat quietly beside you, only contributing every now and then with the sort of dry comment that somehow made everyone laugh harder than the original story had.
the first round of drinks disappeared into a second. someone ordered fries for the table, garrett immediately claiming most of them.
eventually, dean pushed himself upright, “pool.”
nobody seemed particularly invested one way or the other, but everyone followed him toward the tables anyway.
there was a brief discussion about teams. mostly because dean insisted there needed to be strategy involved despite nobody else caring very much who they played with.
he looked around the group for a moment before pointing at you and logan, “you two, you’re together.”
a silent looked passed between the two of you, but neither of you questioned it, “alright.”
dean looked absurdly pleased with himself and you caught the expression immediately. logan, apparently, did not. he’d already reached for one of the cues leaning against the wall, turning it over once in his hands before offering it to you instead, “this one’s straighter.”
you accepted it automatically, “thanks.”
the game started. calling it competitive would’ve been generous. beau insisted dean wasn’t keeping score properly. dean insisted beau simply couldn’t count. garrett somehow managed to sink the cue ball twice within five minutes. allie laughed so hard she almost missed her own turn.
you weren’t especially good at pool. you’d played often enough to understand the rules, but accuracy remained … inconsistent. halfway through the game, you leaned over the table, squinting down the cue as you tried to line up a shot that looked considerably easier in theory than it did in practice.
you adjusted your grip. then adjusted it again, but something still felt wrong.
before you had the chance to rethink it a third time, logan stepped quietly beside you. he didn’t say anything straight away. instead, he looked from the cue to the angle of your arm before gently reaching for your hand, “here.” his voice stayed low enough that only you heard it. his fingers shifted yours slightly higher along the cue, “you’re holding it too tight.”
his hand was warm and steady against yours. he moved your wrist barely half an inch before stepping back again, his attention returning to the table as though nothing particularly noteworthy had happened, “try that.”
you did and suddenly the ball rolled neatly across the felt. two seconds later, it disappeared cleanly into the corner pocket. you stared after it, “huh.”
logan’s mouth lifted at one corner, “better.”
“little bit,” you smiled despite yourself.
across the room, dean noticed the entire interaction. he leaned sideways toward allie, “see?”
allie followed his gaze, “what?”
she looked back toward the two of you. logan was already focused on the table again while you circled around the opposite side, trying to decide which shot came next.
“i think he just helped her,” she knitted her brows as she looked back at the blonde.
“you’ve become weirdly invested in this.”
“i just think they’d be good together,” he shrugged.
she smiled to herself, “they would.”
by the time the game ended, nobody seemed entirely sure who had actually won. dean claimed it had been your team, but beau disagreed loudly, and garrett insisted the score had become irrelevant after someone accidentally knocked two balls off the table.
eventually, everyone gave up trying to work it out.
⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ
chairs scraped against the wooden floor as people stood, conversations overlapped while jackets were pulled on, and someone inevitably realised they’d forgotten to close their tab just as everyone else reached the door. after a few hours, the evening had settled into the comfortable kind of tiredness that came from spending too long laughing with people you genuinely enjoyed being around.
outside, the air had cooled considerably.
the streets were quieter than they’d been when you’d arrived, most of the foot traffic now made up of students wandering back toward campus in small groups. the lights from the bars spilled across the sidewalks, catching against puddles left behind by an afternoon shower and turning them gold.
everyone lingered outside for a minute or two, deciding who was walking where.
dean and allie had parked across the street, garrett and hannah were already arguing over whether they had enough food left at the hockey house to avoid another late-night grocery run, and beau and tucker had somehow wandered into an entirely separate conversation before anyone else had finished saying goodbye.
you slipped your arms into your jacket, only half paying attention.
“i’ve got to head this way,” you said absentmindedly, nodding toward the opposite side of campus, “my dorm’s clear across the other end.”
before anyone could answer, allie looked toward logan who was stood beside you, “logan, can walk you back, right?”
the suggestion landed so naturally that nobody questioned it. logan didn’t hesitate, “yeah.”
you caught the smile dean tried, and failed, to hide. it lasted barely a second before he looked away, but you’d seen it. you knew exactly what he thought had just happened.
allie, on the other hand, looked entirely unconcerned. if she had any ulterior motive, she hid it considerably better than dean ever could. she simply smiled at you, wished you both goodnight, and climbed into the passenger seat of dean’s truck.
one by one, everyone drifted away. before long, only you and logan remained standing beneath the glow of the streetlights outside malone’s, “ready?”
the walk back toward campus began in easy silence. you’d discovered early on that neither of you felt any pressure to speak simply because there was empty space to fill. sometimes one of you started talking after a few minutes. sometimes neither of you did. either way, it never felt awkward.
the sidewalks were damp beneath your feet, carrying the faint scent of rain and warm pavement. somewhere across campus, music drifted lazily through the night air before disappearing again as you turned down a quieter path lined with trees.
logan matched his pace to yours without seeming to think about it. he always walked slightly slower when he was with you. not enough that anyone else would notice, but just enough that you never had to hurry to keep up.
you’d made it halfway across campus before you finally smiled to yourself. logan glanced over, “what?”
you shook your head, “i think everyone’s trying to set us up.”
“garrett, hannah, dean, and now allie,” you gestured vaguely behind you, toward the direction of malone’s, “they’re trying to get us together.”
logan was quiet. you watched him think, his gaze dropping briefly toward the pavement as he replayed the last few weeks in his head. you almost saw the moment everything clicked into place, “oh.”
you smiled, “there it is.”
he looked back at you, “they are trying to set us up.” another few steps passed before he spoke again, “i didn’t notice.”
he rubbed absently at the back of his neck as he chuckled, “i thought garrett was just being friendly.”
you returned the laugh, “he was.”
“huh.”his expression settled somewhere between thoughtful and faintly amused. for another minute, neither of you said anything. then, quietly— “that’s kind of nice.”
you looked at him, “what is?”
“they like you,” his mouth twitched and the smile that appeared was small enough that most people would’ve missed it entirely.
you didn’t, though. you never did.
the path narrowed as you approached your dorm, forcing the two of you a little closer together. your shoulder brushed his once, then again a few steps later.
the building came into view not long afterward, its windows glowing softly against the dark campus.
you stopped near the entrance and for a moment, neither of you spoke. the night had settled comfortably around you, carrying the distant sounds of laughter from somewhere across campus. “thanks,” you said.
logan looked at you, “for what?”
he seemed almost surprised by the question, “always, you know that”
the answer came so simply. as though there had never been another possibility.
something warm settled quietly in your chest. you stepped a little closer, close enough that nobody looking out from the dorm windows would’ve noticed anything unusual. your fingers briefly caught the sleeve of his hoodie, “i know.”
his hands found yours for the smallest moment, hidden between the two of you. he gave them one gentle squeeze before slowly leaning closer to place a soft kiss against your lips, “night.”
you smiled as you breathed out a quiet“night.”
⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ: *⋆.*:･ﾟ .: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆ ⋆*･ﾟ
the hockey house was unusually quiet that evening. someone had left a hockey game playing on the television more out of habit than genuine interest, and dean and garrett were arguing half-heartedly over something that had happened during practice while tucker scrolled aimlessly through his phone.
allie and hannah occupied opposite ends of the couch, comparing notes for a class neither of you had been unfortunate enough to take.
logan had disappeared upstairs twenty minutes earlier to shower after practice.
you’d made yourself comfortable in the corner of the couch with one of your textbooks balanced across your knees, though you’d spent considerably longer reading the same paragraph than actually understanding it.
your attention drifted every few minutes. sometimes toward the television. sometimes toward whatever dean was complaining about now. sometimes… toward the staircase.
you heard footsteps before you looked up and logan appeared a second later, still rubbing a towel absently through his damp hair. he’d changed into gray sweats and a faded briar hoodie, the sleeves pushed halfway up his forearms. his hair was still slightly damp around the edges, curling faintly where it hadn’t quite dried yet.
your eyes lifted from the textbook almost automatically.
the smallest smile appeared the moment he noticed you. he wandered into the living room, only half paying attention to whatever dean was saying.
as he drew closer, you noticed one of the hoodie strings had twisted itself awkwardly beneath the collar.
completely, utterly without thinking—
you held out your hand, “logan.”
he stopped beside the couch, “hm?”
he stepped closer immediately. not because you’d sounded particularly serious. simply because you’d asked.
you reached up, gently tugging the twisted drawstring free before smoothing the collar flat against his chest. the fabric had folded awkwardly beneath the hood, so you fixed that too, “there.”
logan glanced down briefly, “thanks.”
you brushed one last damp strand of hair away from his forehead before letting your hand fall. the movement had become so instinctive over the past few months that neither of you gave it a second thought.
logan certainly didn’t, because he leaned down to press a brief kiss against your forehead before dropping onto the couch beside you. his hand found yours beneath the blanket draped across your lap with the same unconscious ease he’d done it a hundred times before.
it took several more seconds before you realised the room had gone completely silent.
you looked up to find that dean had stopped talking mid-sentence, garrett still held an unopened bag of chips in one hand, hannah was looking between the two of you with an expression that suggested several months’ worth of observations had suddenly rearranged themselves into one very obvious conclusion, allie blinked only once, and beau looked at each face in turn, then at you, then at logan. the corners of his mouth started twitching.
logan followed your gaze around the room, “oh.”
you looked at him, “shit, we forgot.”
dean found his voice first, “what.”
neither of you answered immediately. mostly because there didn’t seem to be much else to say.
you and logan looked at each other before you finally closed your textbook and set it carefully on the coffee table, “we’re dating.”
silence. dean blinked, again, “what.”
“logan and i are dating.”
another pause and garrett frowned, “since when?”
this time, logan answered, “about four months.”
garrett slowly lowered the bag of chips onto the coffee table as though any sudden movement might somehow change what he’d just heard, “four months.”
garrett looked genuinely wounded, “i told you to ask her out.”
“you were already dating.”
garrett stared at him, “why didn’t you tell me?”
logan frowned slightly, considering the question with complete sincerity, “well, you didn’t ask.”
beau made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a cough. dean ignored him completely as he looked between you and logan, “hold on.”he pointed accusingly between the two of you, “the pool game.”
you looked at him, “what about it?”
“i put you two together.”
“because i was trying to set you up,” he voice raised slightly as he spoke, obviously in complete disbelief.
you nodded and dean looked personally offended, “the walk home from malone’s.”he turned toward allie, “you literally asked him to walk her home.”
allie slowly covered her face with one hand, “oh my god.”
you smiled apologetically, “he’d actually been walking me home for months.”
allie let out a quiet groan, “we spent an entire semester trying to get these two together.”
another beat of silence passed. then beau finally gave up trying to hold it in. his laugh echoed through the living room, loud enough that dean shot him an unimpressed look before the sound became contagious.
garrett started laughing next. then tucker. even hannah eventually shook her head, smiling into her coffee, “to be fair,” she said, “i did tell her i thought logan liked her.”
hannah looked at you, “you could’ve said something.”
dean threw both hands into the air, “probably?!”
you couldn’t help but smiling, “it was kind of funny.”
then beau laughed even harder. dean dropped backward onto the couch with the sort of dramatic resignation usually reserved for championship losses, “i cannot believe,” he muttered, rubbing both hands over his face, “i spent four months accidentally rooting for a relationship that already existed.”
logan gave him a sarcastic smile, “hey, thanks.”
dean groaned loud enough for the entire house to hear, which only made everyone laugh harder.
through the middle of it all, unnoticed by everyone except you, logan’s fingers tightened gently around yours beneath the blanket, and when you looked around the room and found everyone still laughing at dean’s expense, you realized there wasn’t any reason to hide it anymore.
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