a trick with two tongues

noah has never really considered any romantic interest being jealous of reagan. firstly, he’s gay. no flexibility there, he’s only ever been interested in men. but there’s also a very clear dynamic at play between them when all the walls and the pretenses come down. he’d show up for her through anything, she’d do the same for him. that’s how they ended up like this in the first place. silvan shifts closer, settling against him, and noah blushes with every gentle trace of his fingerprints. he notices, almost immediately, the way everything shifts. suddenly it’s not all warm and gentle and comfortable. suddenly silvan’s breath is a little sharper, it feels like confrontation. “oh?” a beat, “you think i make a convincing straight man?” he asks, “i wouldn’t even know where to start.”

he was a married man. that was something teagan never thought would happen to him because he never thought he deserved that — forever with someone who really loved him for who he was. he spent his entire life feeling as if he didn't deserve to be happy; feeling as if he was never supposed to be wanted this way by anyone. then came charles. and now all teagan wanted was to have them all to himself, away from the watchful eyes of their wedding party. sure, teagan loved parties. loved celebrating with the people he cared about but the only person he wanted to really celebrate with in this moment was his husband — his and no one else's. his fingers tightened their hold on charles' hand as he pulled them through the crowd — a wide grin plastered all over teagan's face. god, his cheeks hurt from smiling this much. "a little." noise got to teagan sometimes, even if it was good like this party was, and sometimes he had to step away. once they were away from everyone and the party was behind them both, he melted into charles' hold. this was where he was meant to be, there wasn't a single doubt in his mind about that. not now, not ever. "i think that was already a given. if you didn't already know i was selfish with you, we might have a problem." teagan signed happily into the kiss he was given, letting his arms wrap themselves around his husband's body, feeling more relaxed than he'd had in a long fucking time. a lifetime of this sounded pretty fucking good to him and that's all that mattered now. "we can in a little while," teagan chased another kiss, finding it hard to just stop at one. "right now i just...i want this with you." reaching up, teagan's fingers brushed some of charles' hair away from their face, letting his touch linger for a few moments while he admired just how..perfect they were. all teagan wanted to do was savor these moments with the person he loved and now they had a lifetime to do it. "so, you just wanna stay in the hallway and make out? romantic." he teased, letting his hand rest against charles' cheek, the pad of his thumb dancing across their skin. god, teagan fucking felt like he was floating on cloud 9 and he knew he never wanted to come down. "how do you want to start forever, hm?"

noah notices the way his smile tips wider, pulling at the edges of his lips. he wants to say something, to tell him that he thinks he's cute – OR SOMETHING. but it's not like noah can say that. he doesn't want anyone to see him hitting on a guy in a coffee shop. there's a lot reagan hanging off of him can fix, but obviously hitting on someone in a coffee shop in broad daylight doesn't feel like one of them. "oh, yeah." he laughs, "it was all them. real mouthful, not sure how they fit it on the birth certificate." another laugh pulls through him, "yeah, so does my brother, and he still doesn't seem to get it." a beat, "which maybe wouldn't feel as crazy if i didn't spent the majority of my time in an ice rink. like – hey man– sorry it's COLD in here?"

out of all the people caleb expected to see at his doorstep right now, cedar wasn't on his list. hell, he wasn't expecting to hear or see her again at all since she blocked him and he backed off trying to talk to her again. he wasn't going to put himself somewhere he wasn't wanted. but now here she was and caleb didn't know what the fuck to do with himself — it was as if he was practically frozen in place. his brows furrowed when she started to speak but then stopped herself. what could she possibly say right now? caleb's teeth are biting softly on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from either saying something he know he doesn't mean or shutting the door and pretending this was all some sort of fucked up dream. "what, cedar?" there's a small bite in his tone but he doesn't mean for there to be, but he can't help himself. just like he couldn't help himself when he got involved with cedar in the first place. but the look on his face softened when he noticed she wasn't okay and the sound of her voice just further confirmed what he was thinking and then he noticed the tears start to form. god, it was taking a lot not to just reach out and pull her into his arms, make her feel safe and try to ease whatever she had going on. "hey, hey..hey. what happened?" that's when he realized his hands were holding her arms, not even remembering reaching out to touch her. he only thought about it, didn't he? i just need you — the only words he ever wanted to hear from cedar. words he craved more than he'd like to admit. "come here," his voice was soft when he pulled her into his arms, holding her as if she were going to disappear any second now and part of him was worried she would. without another sound, caleb pulled her into his apartment without letting her go. "i'm here, okay? just...i've got you. it's okay."

hot stranger in his sweatshirt, okay, noah's heart is flipping just a LITTLE. keep it together, vanek. "nah, no judgement from me." he laughs, "'m always catchin' strays about the way i like my coffee." he holds his cup up, as if to explain it. it's the dead of summer, and he's drinking hot coffee. in an instant, noah's ordering the drink, and sliding his change in the tip jar. the barista asks for a name for the order, and noah looks at the stranger expectantly. "you gonna tell me your name, or should i just put it under noah: the idiot who can't watch where the fuck he's going."

"sure." noah shrugs, smile pulling across his face even if it's too tight at the edges. he catches the way that the stranger scratches at the back of his neck, the same kind of posture that noah wears when he doesn't know what to do. he says he doesn't think noah's clothes would fit him, and noah lets out a soft laugh. "i tend to size up in sweatshirts." he chuckles, digging into his bag for a second. he shouldn't do it – part of him knows that. if he offers something to a stranger, they'll probably take it. but he also can't stop the way that his brain supplies the image of this stranger with his name on his back. maybe that's why he holds a sweatshirt out, despite himself. "what's your coffee order?"

noah should really fucking pay attention. and like, fuck, he definitely wants to start barking about how this isn’t his fault actually, because usually blame comes with consequences, but it so IS. and he’s hot, which does nothing to ease the hockey player’s already frayed nerves. in case he forgot, closet, population one! “let me at least get you another one.” he’s so fucking tired. “hardly think you got out to get half a shot of espresso and a stained shirt. and unless you wanna be decked out in fuckin’ blackhawks gear, i can only solve one of the problems i caused.”

noah like totally should have known better than to not pay attention to where he was walking. he hasn't settled back into his stall yet, so he's got a massive ccm bag tossed over his shoulder on his way home from the rink. which is probably why he walked straight into someone while waiting for his coffee. or at least, walked his bag into someone. talk about fucking no spatial awareness. "hey man– sorry about that." god, he sounds ROUGH. whatever. it's early. he'll go back to bed later. god, he hopes he didn't make them spill their coffee while he wasn't looking.