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Chapter Text

LGBTQ+ community for the win

You know them, you love them, you root for them. Our beloved players who have against all odds once made history with their college team by breaking the unbreakable Ravens had shocked everyone once again.

Neil Josten and Andrew Minyard are well known for their rivalry. This season they started to play on the same team and fans knew that it could end in an entertaining disaster. Well, although entertaining, disaster is not something we would describe what happened during the finale between Denver Mountain Lions and Seattle Shadows.

The finale ended six to five Shadows' favor with Minyard’s exceptional block of none other than Kevin Day’s attempt at the goal.

The game was a show worth watching, but not as much as what happened after. Neil Josten had run straight to his team’s goalkeeper's arms and toppled him to the ground. The whole stadium went silent in worry that the rivalry was finally going to end in blood, but it soon erupted into cheers as the crowd realized that the pair wasn’t fighting, but rather kissing.

After the game they refused to answer any questions about their relationship, but after some fans’ deep dives into their social media and public appearances we estimated that the rivalry was always just for show and the love birds had started dating back in college.

Minyard and Josten are joining Jeremy Knox and Jean Moreau in our queer out couples of Exy and we wish them all the best.

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains”, 05.14.2014

Kevin Day does not support the gays

It has been over half a year since we found out about Neil Josten and Andrew Minyard being a couple. They had faced a lot of hate, but the loyal fans had helped them every step of the way. They had received a lot of support from their current and former teammates as well.

But not everyone is as happy and supportive. Kevin Day, our beloved striker and queen of Exy has been spreading hate on his two former and if the rumors are true about Day switching teams to be on the Shadows next season, future teammates.

“I think they should focus more on Exy and less on making out on the court.” The olympic gold medalist had said in an interview for the national sports channel.

The sports world was not always very welcoming to queer people, but it has been going better throughout the years. Is it possible that all the hard work that the queer community has put into being treated seriously in this field will be torn apart by maybe just one, but very influential man?

We hope not, but we shall see.

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains”, 01.17.2015

***

“This is bullshit.” Kevin said, as he listened to Allison reading the article to him.

“I told you a hundred times, Day. You need to watch what you say.” Allison's voice sounded through the speaker in his phone.

“I do. I was trained by PR professionals since I learnt how to talk.” Kevin replied with a huff. “It’s just, these two are infuriating. They could have ended their whole careers with that stunt.”

“You’re just bitter, they beat you in the finale.” Allison replied and even though Kevin couldn’t see her, he could tell that she was smiling.

“No,” Kevin lied, “I’m pissed that they didn’t listen to me and decided to come out.” He added.

“I know what your opinion on being out is, but come on, the times have changed.” Allison said and her voice sounded annoyed. They already had this conversation. “Jeremy and Jean had been out for years and Andrew and Neil are more loved than ever now.” She added.

“Not by everyone.” Kevin said. “There are still psychos out there that will want to hurt them just because they are queer.”

“They can protect themselves.” Allison said firmly.

Kevin sighed and dropped his head in his hands. This was ridiculous. He had just been worried about his friends and a little pissed that all reporters did this past months was ask him about them. He wanted to talk about Exy, not about his fucking teammates.

Well, ex teammates, but hopefully not for long. He was negotiating a deal to sign with the Seatel Shadows. He couldn’t wait to be in the same city as them again. He hated their guts, but he missed them like crazy.

“Jesus,” Allison's voice startled him. He had forgotten he was still on the phone with her. “This Joe guy is really out to get you. He has written like five more articles just about you being homophobic.”

Kevin straightened up and grabbed his phone.

“Wait, Joe?” He said in a higher than usual voice. “Joe, who?”

“Joe Abbott.” Allison said and Kevin went speechless. “He wrote the article I’ve read to you. It looks like he has some personal vendetta against you. Maybe you refused an interview with him or something.”

“Worse,” Kevin whispered through the lump in his throat. “I refused to come out for him.”

There was silence on the other end that seemed to stretch for hours.

“I beg your pardon?” Allison said after regaining her ability to speak. “Come out, as in?”

“As in tell the public that I’m bi and he is my boyfriend.” Kevin replied.

He had never meant to hide that fact per say. Andrew and Neil knew, because they walked in on him one time blowing a guy in a bathroom at Eden’s. They had never said anything to him and he didn’t want to talk about it.

He wanted to tell Allison so many times. Even though they hated each other at the beginning, they grew closer together and he considered her his best friend. She was also bi and Kevin knew that no one would understand better than her, but he just couldn’t bring himself to ever admit it out loud.

Then came Joe. At first he was supposed to be a casual hookup, but then Kevin was tired of being alone. Joe said that he understood why Kevin wanted to keep them a secret and didn’t push.

It all changed when Andrew and Neil kissed on the court after beating Kevin’s team in the finale last season. Joe stopped understanding Kevin’s reasons and nagged him about coming out over and over again.

Finally Kevin had enough and broke things off. That was five months ago and he hasn't heard from him since. He honestly forgot about the man, but it seemed that Joe didn’t forget about him.

“Okay,” Allison said. “So, he is doing it as revenge.”

“Are you mad at me?” Kevin asked.

“Why would I be mad at you?” She asked back.

“Because I didn’t tell you.” He replied and held his breath.

“Kevin, when and to whom you come out is your choice. No one can force you to do that and no one should be mad at you for not doing it.” She said and Kevin felt himself relax. “I’m going to kill that motherfucker.” She said fiercely.

Kevin laughed and shook his head. “No, you’re not.”

***

“What do you mean they don’t want to sign with me anymore?” Kevin asked his manager, angrily.

She had called him at ass o’clock in the morning with the worst news he had ever heard and considering his past that was saying something.

“They are concerned for their players' safety.” She replied calmly.

“What players?” Kevin said still not fully awake.

“Minyard and Josten.” She said and Kevin was out of the bed and on the floor in seconds.

“What?!” He shrieked. “What the fuck does that mean?”

“Considering that they recently came out and you gained yourself a reputation of being homophobic-”

Kevin hung up. This was all fucking ridiculous and it ended now. He went onto his twitter account and without thinking typed out a post and uploaded it.

Hi, there are rumors going around of me being homophobic. I’m not. I’m bi and I think that court should not be used for making out, no matter the people who decide to do it, that’s all.

***

Kevin Day, a nev bi icon or a fraud?

I think we all saw the tweet by now. One might ask if it is not too little too late.

Kevin Day has never indicated being queer in any capacity. Although his recently out former teammates had been spotted during pride parades before there is no evidence of Kevin Day ever attending one.

Fake coming out instead of admitting one’s wrong behavior is a cheap shot at redemption and I for one am not fooled.

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains”, 01.25.2015

***

“Can’t you tell your coach that I’m not a danger to you guys?” Kevin asked desperately on the phone.

“We tried.” Neil replied. “He’s saying that it’s not about us and that you are just bad press.”

“We are trying to come up with a plan on how to make all of this disappear. You coming out has put some people on your side, but that asshole Joe is drugging your name through the mud.” Allison said.

She was sitting on his couch and anxiously biting her nails. She had booked a flight as soon as she saw the tweet and flew in for moral support.

“Okay, what can we do?” Andrew asked through the other end of the line.

Normally Andrew would not care, but this whole thing stopped being about Kevin maybe not joining their team and becoming Kevin maybe not having a team at all next season. Without a team he was dead and even though they didn’t have their deal anymore Andrew still was fiercely protective of him.

“We have to be careful. We can’t have that fucker twisting any of your words.” Ali said, clenching her fists as she mentioned Kevin’s ex. “I’ll prepare statements for you guys, but until I do, no one talks to the press.”

“I think it’s too late for that.” Neil said and Kevin’s heart sunk a little. He could not handle any more bad news. “They got to Aaron.”

“What?” Allison asked with a raised voice. “Where are you reading this?” She said while frantically looking through her phone.

“We’re not reading it.” Andrew said. “Turn on channel six.
***

“I won’t answer your fucking questions, okay? How many times do I have to say it? You’ve got the wrong brother.” Aaron said while trying to get the reporter’s mic out of his face.

“Kevin Day is your former teammate. Would you like to comment on the hate crimes he has committed towards your brother and his partner.” The reporter asked and Aaron stopped dead in his tracks.

“Hate crimes? Are you fucking kidding me?” Aaron asked, annoyed. “A hate crime occurred when someone had smashed my brother’s car after he came out. A hate crime was when Neil got jumped when he was out on his morning run and would probably be beaten to death if he wasn’t as fast as he is.” Aaron kept talking with his voice rising with every word. “A hate crime is what Kevin is probably about to face himself, because of coming out as bi. You are fucking insane for saying that what Kevin said was a hate crime.” Aaron added and grabbed the reporter’s mic from his hand. He didn’t know what came over him, but he felt a surge of protectiveness and he blurted out the next words without thinking. “But, yeah, I would like to comment on what Kevin had said. You see, Kevin has a dry sense of humor and I think no one can blame him for trying to rile up his boyfriend’s brother.”

Aaron gave the mic back to the reporter and walked away as fast as he could.

What the fuck had he just done?

***

“What teh fuck was that?” Kevin asked while still staring at the TV.

Aaron has just implied that they were dating. Aaron, who was very much straight and Kevin had to work very hard to move on form after realizing he might have a little bit of a crush on him in college, has just implied that Kevin was his boyfriend.

“I think Aaron has just solved our problems.” Allison said with a smile.

“Yeah, he is also now hyperventilating on our floor.” Neil said.

***

“Breath.” Andrew said and Aaron tried to follow his order, but couldn’t.

“I don’t know why I did that.” He said breathlessly. “Andrew, what the fuck did I do?”

“You saved Kevin’s ass, that’s what you did.” Allison said.

Wait, Allison? Where the fuck did Alliosn come from?

He must have said it out loud, because Neil approached him while pointing at the phone in his hand.

“This is gold, Aaron. I wouldn’t have come up with a better plan myself.” Allison added.

“Why the fuck did you do that?” Kevin asked through the phone and Aaron felt his heart fall all the way to the pits of his stomach.

“I don’t know.” He whispered.

He really didn’t. He just knew that it was all ridiculous. Kevin was an asshole and an idiot, but he didn’t deserve the hate he was getting. And when the reporter implied that he had committed a hate crime Aaron just lost it.

“I’m sorry.” he added and he heard a quiet laugh at the other line.

“Why the fuck are you sorry? You saved my ass.” Kevin said. “My agent just texted me that the Shadow’s will sign me after all.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Aaron said.

His breathing was back to normal and he felt himself calming down.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll be seeing you around, boyfriend.” Kevin said and Aaron felt his heart start to beat faster again.

“Yeah, see you.” he replied quietly.

“We still need to discuss strategy.“ Allison said seriously.

“Later.” Andrew said while grabbing the phone and hanging up. “You good?” He asked Aaron.

Aaron only managed a nod.

What the fuck did he get himself into?

Chapter Text

“Okay, people. We are gathered here to get our stories straight.” Allison said to the computer.

All the original foxes plus Jeremy and Jean were on the video chat in front of them. Kevin didn’t want to involve so many people in the disaster that caused all of this, but since all of them were already approached to talk about it by the press, they had to all be on the same page.

“We need to establish a timeline.” Allison continued.

“We can say that they were already together in college.” Nicky said from the screen.

“No, that won’t work.” Aaron replied. “Me and Kate broke up two years ago when she moved to another hospital. People at work would know it’s a lie. We can say that we got together shortly after that.”

There were murmurs of agreements, but Kevin saw the side eye Allison was throwing his way. He sighed and gathered his courage to say what needed to be said.

“We can’t. I broke up with the guy who is responsible for this whole fiasco only five months ago.”

There was silence for a few seconds and then everyone started talking all at once. Kevin had no idea what any one of them said, because they were all speaking over each other. Finally they settled down enough for Kevinn to be able to hear what came out of Matt’s mouth.

“Wait, so let me get this straight. This whole Joe Abbott was your boyfriend and he still says that you’re not bi.” Matt said, clearly pissed off on Kevin’s behalf.

“Well, he doesn’t really believe in the whole ‘bi thing’.” He said while doing air quotes.

“What?!” Jeremy exclaimed and looked ready to fight. “So not only is he a liar, but also a biphobe, great.”

“So why did you even date the guy if he didn’t believe in your existence?” Jean asked while trying to calm down his husband.

Kevin rubbed the back of his neck and said almost too quietly for people to hear him. “I kind of didn’t know I was bi when we started.” He saw the shocked faces of everyone on the call and rushed to explain. “I mean, I was kind of lonely and it was supposed to be just a hookup, but then it turned into a regular thing and next thing I knew I was dating the guy. We didn't really discuss labels.”

“Wait,” Jeremy’s voice interrupted him. “You didn’t know you were bi? Even when-” Jean stopped him by putting his hand on Jeremy’s mouth and motioned with his other one for Kevin to continue.

Kevin was glad. He didn’t really want the rest of his family to know about that particular night.

“It was all going great, but then Andrew and Neil came out and he started to nag me about coming out too so I broke things off.” Kevin finished and there was once again an outburst of voices.

He could vaguely hear the words ‘asshole’ and ‘that stupid fucker’ being used, but he couldn’t pin point anything else.

“Okay, people, focus.” Allison brought everyone’s attention back to the task at hand. “I know we are all pissed off at that dick, but we have more pressing matters to attend to.”

“Okay, so you broke up five months ago.” Aaron said and paused for a moment. He looked deep in thought before continuing. “You were in Seattle four months ago. Let’s say that I offered you support after your break up and we got together when you visited. Everyone else can say that we all knew you were bi in college, but never said anything, because we respected the fact that you didn’t want to come out.”

“That will work.” Kevin replied and after everyone else’s agreement they moved on to a casual catch up.

***

“We are here today with a freshly out as a proud bisexual man, our beloved striker Kevin Day.” The reporter said and Kevin felt himself cringe.

He put on his fake smile that was reserved for public appearances and nodded.

“Tell us Kevin, what took you so long?” The reporter asked and Kevin saw Allison rolling her eyes from the back stage.

“You see, Robert. Being out is not as easy as it seems. Sure, the world got better and more accepting, but it’s still tough out there. To be completely honest with you I wasn’t yet ready to come out, but people have forced my hand. I made one stupid comment that was directed at my friends who by no means thought I had malicious intent and it almost cost me my career.”

Robert’s fake smile dropped a little at Kevin’s words, but he completely brushed over them and put the smile back on before speaking next.

“Why didn’t you share the news about your boyfriend at the same time?” He asked and Kevin had to try really hard to not let his anger show.

“My boyfriend was not yet out to his coworkers and I didn’t want him to do that before he was ready. Although we have known each other for ten years, our relationship is fresh. We got together four months ago when I visited Seattle to start negotiations about me possibly playing for them.” Kevin said and saw the reporter’s eyes shine with delight about that new information.

Kevin had been given the green light to share that he would play for the Shadows next season and he was happy that it would take the attention from his new ‘relationship’.

“Are you changing teams?” The reporter asked.

Kevin’s smile was more real than it was at the beginning. “Yeah, I am. I will be playing for the Seattle Shadows next season.”

“If you can’t beat them, join them, huh?” The reporter said and the audience laughed.

“Oh, I still very much intend to beat them this season.” Kevin said with a smirk and felt more at ease now that they were discussing Exy.

***

The Denver Mountain Lions have beaten the Seattle Shadows in the finale this time around. Kevin scored the final goal that put them over by one point. Andrew didn’t look like he cared much about not blocking that goal, but Kevin knew that he was pissed off just a little bit.

Andrew didn’t care about Exy to this day, but there was almost nothing he liked more than annoying Kevin so he knew that Andrew didn’t just let him score, but genualie wasn’t able to block him.

Aaron was in the VIP lodge and was cheering louder than anyone else. He was wearing a Shadows cup, but his Jersey had Kevin Day written on it. Aaron wasn’t very happy about the fact that he was expected to root against his city’s team, but Allison convinced him it would be the best option to keep up their appearances.

They tried to sell their relationship as best as they could. They have tweeted about each other and managed to fish out some old pictures together to post on their social media. But they were yet to make a public appearance together.

They both had a busy schedule and this was the first time they saw each other since their ‘relationship’ started.

After celebrating with his team Kevin made his way to the stands at the same time as Aaron was making his way down. Aaron practically threw himself at Kevin. The striker caught him and picked him up to spin him around with a quiet laugh.

He dropped Aaron back down just as one of the reporters approached them.

“Congratulations on winning the game.” The reporter said and Kevin turned around so he could face him.

He hugged Aaron closer and plastered him against his side before speaking.

“Thank you. It was a good game. Shadows are amazing and I’m glad to be joining them next season.” Kevin said with a smile that he didn’t have to fake even though he was in front of a camera.

“I couldn’t help but notice that you didn’t kiss your boyfriend in celebration, why is that?” Asked the annoying reporter.

Kevin squeezed Aaron a little closer to himself, because he saw the man opening his mouth and whatever Aaron wanted to say was probably not very friendly and would end badly for them.

“I stand by what I said. Court is not for making out with people, no matter who it is.” He said while sending an annoyed look at Andrew and Neil.

His two opponents were kissing like they were trying to eat each other alive. They were not the PDA type and they hated the attention. They lost. Andrew probably didn’t care, but Kevin knew that Neil did. That meant that the only reason they were kissing was to piss Kevin off and they had accomplished their goal.

They must have heard him, because although they didn’t detach themselves from each other they both raised one of their hands and flipped Kevin off.

Kevin only rolled his eyes annoyed and went back to the interview.

***

Kevin didn’t really have time to think about his move to Seattle. Just as the national league season ended, the international season began.

He loved being on the national team. He could spend time with his favorite people who usually were scattered all around the world.

He loved playing with his old teammates again and loved that they could all win together instead of computing against each other.

The summer ended in a blink of an eye and suddenly Kevin was overwhelmed with things that needed to be done.

He had to find an apartment. He had to hire a moving crew. He knew that technically he could hire someone to take care of all of those things for him, but he didn’t want to.

He liked the freedom of doing things for himself. There was a time when everything besides playing Exy was being done for him and he hated that.

“Why don’t you just move in with Aaron?” Allison asked while on the phone with him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Kevin replied while looking at apartments.

He had a flight tomorrow and the moving crew already took all of his stuff so he had to look them up on his phone instead of a computer. He hated the small screen.

“It’s a great idea. It makes your relationship more believable.” Allison insisted.

Truth be told, he agreed with Allison. The problem was that he was scared. The feelings he had been harbering for Aaron started to resurface and he was afraid that they would overflow once they would see each other more often. Add living together to the mix and Kevin wouldn’t stand a chance.

***

“Okay, so I have done some research.” Neil said while holding some kind of binder in his hand.

Next to Aaron his brother groaned and stood up from the couch they were sitting on.

“I can’t with the binder.” He muttered under his breath and left the living room.

“Don’t mind him, he just doesn't appreciate good research.” Neil said while waving his hand dismissively in Andrew’s direction. “Joe Abbott is moving to Seattle.

Aaron choked on the sandwich he was in the middle of eating and started coughing uncontrollable. Neil patted him on the back a couple of times until he got his breathing under control.

“What?” Aaron asked, breathlessly.

“Yeah, he must be crazier than we thought.” Neil said and sat down next to Aaron on the couch. “He will probably try to prove that your relationship is not real so we need to get out the big guns.”

Neil took out his phone and after dialing someone’s number put it on speaker.

“Allison, talk to us.” He said with a serious expression on his face.

“What is it, some kind of military operation?” Aaron asked, amused.

“Yes.” Allison and Neil replied in unison.

“Kevin is on his way. He’s on a plane and should land in two hours. Aaron, you should be there and greet him. I want a passionate reunion, you don’t have the excuse of being on the court, so I expect to see some heavy kissing.”

Aaron swallowed at that. He knew that sooner or later it was bound to happen. He and Kevin have talked about it. They both agreed that to maintain appearance they should not shy away from physical contact while in public.

Still, talking about it and actually doing it were two different things.

“With Joe here, you need to be on top of your game.” Allison continued. “I’m talking about romantic dates, living together, and pictures on socials.”

“Wait, back up.” Aaron interrupted. “Living together? I thought we agreed it was too soon.” He said desperately.

“Joe is going to be on your asses. He has written dozens of articles disregarding your relationship. Tomorrow you and Kev are going to look for some one bedroom apartments and-” Alliosn replied and Aaron’s brain short circuited.

“One bedroom? What do you think the guy is going to look through our windows?” Aaron asked with a laugh.

“Neil.” Allison said and Aaron focused his attention on the red head.

“He might do a steak out near you. If he sees that there are lights every evening in two rooms instead of one he might start digging even more.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?” Aaron asked Neil.

“That’s the point. I’m preparing you guys for every possible scenario.” Neil replied.

“Okay, so we have one bedroom, fine. We can still put two beds there, right?” Aaron said in a weak attempt to keep his sanity.

It was not like sharing a bed with a dude would be the end of the world. He grew out of his stupid homophobic beliefs back in college, he could share a bed with a guy without feeling weird.

The problem was Kevin. For a reason that Aaron didn’t really want to examine too closely he felt differently around Kevin than other men. He was afraid about what he was going to find out about himself if he shared a bed with him every night.

“No can do.” Neil replied with a shake of his head. “What if he breaks in and sees the two beds?”

“This is ridiculous.” Aaron said while throwing his hands in the air. “Andrew, tell your boyfriend he’s being ridiculous.” He yelled, but got no reply.

He was going to share a bed with Kevin Day while pretending to be madly in love ith him for an unforeseeable future, because of some fucking douchebag.

Just fantastic.

Chapter Text

Aaron was losing his mind. They were about to leave for the airport to pick up Kevin and he was shaking with nerves. He felt his stomach turn into knots and he was on the verge of passing out.

“You don’t have to do any of it.” A voice sounded next to him and he almost jumped out of his skin.

He turned around to see that his brother was standing next to him. They were waiting for Neil to finish with his shower and then they would be on their way.

“You don’t have to live with him, you don’t have to share a bed, you don’t have to kiss him or even pretend to date him.” Andrew said firmly. “Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with and if he ever does something that crosses your boundaries I’m going to cut his dick off.” Andrew finished with a voice that would terrify most people, but that made a fond smile appear on Aaron’s face.

It has been years since Neil finally put it into his ‘thick skull’ (Neil’s words) that Andrew genuinely cared about him, but it still melted his heart every time he was reminded of the fact.

“I know,” he said softly, “thank you.”

The problem was not that he wasn’t comfortable with all of it. The problem was that he was afraid that he was going to be too comfortable. He couldn’t tell that to Andrew, not yet at least. He had to first sort it all out in his head.

He still hoped that he was wrong in what he assumed was going on with him. If he said it out loud it would become real. He wasn’t ready for it to become real quite yet.

Neil emerged from the bathroom with still wet hair and grabbed his shoes and keys. They all went into the direction of the parked car and Aaron had to focus really hard to make his hands stop shaking.

***

Kevin hated flying. One might think that he would be used to it. He had to travel with planes his whole life, for various games and banquets, but he still hated it. He felt nauseous and he was too tall to ever find a comfortable position.

Fortunately all of his things were already waiting for him in Seattle and he didn’t have to wait to claim his luggage so he went straight to the exit.

The sight that greeted him was of course dozens of reporters scattered all around the airport. They were already clicking their cameras like crazy and gathered around three people, two of which looked like they were ready to murder all of them.

Those were not the two Kevin was focusing on. All his focus was on Aaron. He looked so out of place and scared of being surrounded by all of those awful, inconsiderate people that Kevin wanted to just pick him up and hide him from the rest of the world so that no one would ever hurt him.

Aaron spotted him and the blinding smile that was sent his way made his heart skip a beat. He didn’t even realize that he was getting closer and closer faster than he should while walking normally and not practically running for his life.

Aaron pushed his way through the ocean of reporters and it made them realize that Kevin had finally arrived. Kevin talked to Allison and knew that Aaron talked to her as well. He knew that they were supposed to cause a scene here. Fake a romantic reunion and be caught by every camera imaginable.

Kevin didn’t need to fake anything. He picked Aaron up and spinned him around just like he did during the final game of the season. He hugged him close to himself and heard a quiet giggle in his ear. He wanted to hear that sound again. He wanted to hear it for the rest of his life.

He put Aaron back on the floor and felt like his heart would jump out of his chest. He knew what needed to be done now. They were supposed to kiss. Aaron looked down at his lips and maybe it was wishful thinking, but Kevin could swear that he saw Aaron’s eyes darken a little.

He leaned down just as Aaron leaned up and for the second that their lips were touching Kevin saw fireworks erupt across the back of his eyelids. Unfortunately he didn’t have a chance to fully taste the lips he’s been subconsciously dreaming about for years, because suddenly they were being dragged away by their friends.

Kevin didn’t know what was going on, until he turned around and noticed that there were reporters and cameramen scattered all around the floor. Some of them must have been too eager to get as close as possible and it created a domino of fallen bodies.

Kevin and Aaron would be a part of that pile if not for Andrew and Neil who grabbed them in time to prevent that from happening.

Kevin’s lips were all tingly and he wondered if Aaron was relieved that he didn’t have to kiss him. He probably was. After all, they didn’t even know for how long they were going to keep up the charade. Aaron was probably dreading all the times he would have to get closer to Kevin then he wanted to.

Kevin hated himself a little for the fact that what Aaron would be hoping to get over with, Kevin would cherish in his heart and memory forever.

***

“Why can’t we just stay at my place?” Aaron asked for a hundredth time.

He hated the whole apartment search. He had a perfectly good apartment within a walking distance to the hospital he worked in and neighbors who weren’t a bother.

“Your place is tiny.” Kevin replied with a sigh.

“Oh, I’m sorry that it is not to the queen’s standards. You’re welcome to sleep in a hotel today.” Aaron replied with a pout.

They were currently sitting in the ‘tiny’ apartment and were searching for something new.

“It’s perfect for one person, but we would kill each other after a week.” Kevin said while drinking his soda.

“We have to get one bedroom either way, according to Josten.” Aaron said with annoyance that was directed fully at the striker who was currently not sitting on his sofa.

“Yeah, that doesn’t mean it has to be small. We can have other rooms. Like a study for you to do your research in.” Kevin said while still scrolling through the offers, not really looking at Aaron.

Aaron felt his eyes water. He wasn’t really open about his studies. Most people didn’t want to hear about them, because they didn't understand. Kevin was always eager to learn something new.

Most people were under the misconception that Kevin only ever talked and thought about Exy. They had no idea how nerdy Kevin actually was about his college major. History was something that Kevin could talk about for hours and unlike stupid stickball Aaron actually enjoyed hearing about it.

Back in college they would sometimes just sit next to each other while studying and share a fun fact about their expertise from time to time. When they graduated any time they wanted to rumble about something they would just call each other and talk for hours.

Their schedules and different time zones prevented them from doing it often, but they still texted each other regularly with their runts.

Aaron felt a smile appear on his face at the thought that now they would be able to talk and talk before bed, or during breakfast. He suddenly didn’t feel so annoyed at the prospect of finding a new place.

“Got it!” Kevin’s yell took him out of his mind. “This one is perfect. It’s literally in the middle of the stadium and the hospital and it looks amazing.” He said and showed the apartment to Aaron. “Should I call them and arrange a meeting?” Kevin asked with hope in his eyes.

Aaron nodded. How could he not when Kevin was looking at him with his beautiful, pleading eyes.

***

The apartment was georges. It had a magnificent view on the nearby park and it was located in a quiet neighborhood. The kitchen was massive and Aaron had no idea who would be cooking there since neither he or Kevin had ever enough time to learn how to do something other than uncomplicated meals.

It had an open space living room with an enormous balcony that could fit a small table and two chairs, so that they could eat outside during a good weather.

The apartment was already furnished and the bed in the bedroom was so massive that Aaron and Kevin wouldn’t even have to try to not brush against each other during the night.

It also had a second room which was now looking like a guest room, but would soon turn into Aaron’s study. Kevin said that he had no need for an additional room just for himself. Aaron quietly thought to himself that they should put an armchair in his study so that Kevin could read a book while Aaron did his research.

They knew that they found what they were looking for the moment they stepped into the apartment, but Aaron was still shocked when he heard Kevin say that they would buy it. He couldn’t find his voice and did so only after Kevin had already signed the papers and they were walking back to the car.

“You want to buy it? I thought we were going to rent it.” Aaron said while getting behind the wheel.

“I signed a contract for three years with the Shadows. I hope to stay here till retirement and even if I don’t you can have it.” Kevin said with a shrug.

Aaron choked on his next breath. “I can have it?” He said breathlessly. “I won’t have the money to pay you back.”

Kevin only shrugged again. “You won’t have to.”

Aaron looked at him so fast that he almost swirled off the road.

“What do you mean I won’t have to? It’s a lot of money, you can’t just buy me an apartment.” Aaron said not really knowing why he was so mad at the striker.

“Why not? I have the money.” Kevin said with that look on his face he always got when someone tried to explain something to him that he absolutely did not agree with.

“You give 80% of your earnings to the Moriyma’s.” Aaron said as he stopped at a red light.

“20% of my paycheck is still enough money, believe me. No one needs the amount of money Exy players are earning.” Kevin said and he sounded a little annoyed.

Aaron knew why. Kevin didn’t know a lot about his mother, but he once told Aaron that she absolutely hated the overpriced sports. She wanted Exy to be a sport of the people. She wanted to build stadions everywhere for underprivileged kids. Her goal was to give kids a chance even if no one else wanted to give them one. The only coach who carried her legacy was Wymack. Tetsuji had poisoned the rest and Kevin hated that with all his heart.

Aaron couldn’t bring himself to be annoyed at Kevin any more. Kevin was staying here for at least three years, they were bound to ‘break up’ before that and hopefully Kevin would manage to stay on the Shadows as long as he wanted.

Aaron would be out of his hair and out of his apartment in no time. They just had to convince the stupid what’s his name that they were really together and then it would all be over.

Aaron felt a pinch of hurt deep in his chest at the thought, but he chose to bury it even deeper.

***

Season has begun with an easy win for the Shadow. It was a home game and they went for a drink with the team to celebrate.

Kevin didn’t want to go to a bar with his team. Not only because he was five years sober, but also because he wanted to curl up in bed and listen to Aaron breathing next to him.

Living with Aaron was amazing. Kevin hated living alone. He craved the closeness that sharing that space with another person created. At first it was a little awkward going to sleep in the same bed, but they quickly realized that it was big enough for them to not even realize they were sleeping next to each other.

Well, at least that's what Kevin thought Aaron realized. Kevin was glad for the distance, but for another reason. If he just as much brushed against Aaron in his sleep he would physically combust. He wouldn’t be able to stop himself from gathering the blonde in his arms and never let him go.

As he was looking across the table at a smiling Aaron who was deep in a conversation with Neil he couldn’t help but smile himself.

Suddenly there was an arm around his shoulders and he turned around to see one of his team’s backliners drunken expression.

“So, Day. What do you say we leave the straights and go have some real fun?” he said with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows.

“I’m taken.” Kevin said with a high pitched voice and tried to get away form his drunk teammate.

Mark’s (Because he was pretty sure that was the name of the backliner) smile dropped immediately and he put his hands in the air.

“O God, no. That is not what I meant.” He replied frantically with a slightly slurred voice. “I was going to invite you and your boyfriend to a local gay club.” He said and Kevin breathed with relief.

“Oh, sure.” Kevin said, feeling all the tension leaving his body.

“Okay,” Mark replied with a grin. “Yo, Josten. I’m taking Day to the Rainbow palace, you and your boy joining?” He asked and Neil after looking at Andrew for a second put his thumbs up.

“Rainbow palace? Isn’t that a little bit on the nose?” Kevin asked with a grimace.

Mark only laughed and got up on wobbly legs from the table.

“Sure, but it’s still a great club.”

Kevin nodded and looked at Aaron. The blonde was wearing a spooked expression and Kevin headed his way.

“You good? We don’t have to go.” Kevin said while putting his hand on Aaron's shoulder.

His pinky was so close to Aaron’s neck that he felt the blonde swallow.

“No, I’m good.” Aaron said after a second with an unsure smile. “Let’s go.”

***

Aaron has never felt so out of place. There were hundreds of people here, all dressed in various sparkly or tight outfits and Aaron’s plain T-Shirt and jeans looked absolutely ridiculous.

Neil and Andrew went straight for the bar and talked with the bartender like they knew him. Aaron knew that they were frequent guests in this club. They invited Aaron along a lot of times, but he never felt like he had a right to invade this space.

He murmured something about going to the bathroom or at least he thought that was what he said and escaped Kevin’s worried glance.

He stumbled into someone on his way and was about to apologize when the man spoke first.

“Look what the cat dragged in. If it isn’t Aaron Minyard, the famous new boyfriend of none other than Kevin Day.” The man said with a mocking tone and Aaron felt his blood boil.

“Who the fuck are you?” He was not at all friendly and straightened his posture.

He suddenly didn’t feel out of place or scared anymore. He felt right in his element.

“Joe Abbott, nice to meet you.” The infuriating man said while reaching out his hand and Aaron’s eyes narrowed.

“Oh, so you’re the one who has been writing shit about my boyfriend.” He said feeling more protective then maybe he should be.

Calling Kevin his boyfriend sent a thrill down his spine. He added that fact to a list of things not to think about.

“I’m just a reporter who’s doing his job.” Joe said, faking innocence.

“O yeah, so tell me reporter: isn’t the fact that Kevin had your dick in his mouth not enough proof to you that he is bi.” Aaron said and felt satisfaction at Joe’s surprised expression. “Don’t act so surprised.” He said and took a step closer. “What, did it make you bitter that he didn't want to come out for you? Did forcing him to come out make you feel better?”

“I wrote that he is a fraud. I didn't lie about that. I know he is gay, you on the other hand look like you have never seen another man's dick in your entire life.” Joe said, looking Aaron up and down.

Aaron felt the feeling of insecurity slowly coming back, but pushed it down.

“You are partly right.” He said. “I mean, I obviously saw another man's dick, you know, locker rooms, hard not to, but I am new at this. Fortunately Kevin is a great teacher.” He continued with a smirk.” So if you don't mind, I'm going to spend some time with my boyfriend instead of wasting my time on you.”

Aaron turned back on his heels and made his way to Kevin. He approached the striker and took him by the arm.

“We need to go have sex in the bathroom” He said with determination and made his way in the direction where he thought the bathrooms were.

“What?” Kevin squeaked, following close behind him.

“Joe is here and he doesn’t believe I’m into dudes. We need to pretend to have sex in the bathroom.” Aaron said not looking back at Kevin.

“Do you want to add sex scandal on top of all my bad press?” Kevin hissed.

“No one will know it’s us, except for him, come on.” Aaron replied.

He saw Joe looking at them and making his way closer.

They finally reached the bathroom and Aaron sent a silent thank you to the person upstairs for the fact that the bathroom was almost empty.

***

“Yeah Kevin just like that.” Aaron practically screamed and Kevin didn’t know what to do with that.”

He had Aaron pressed against a bathroom door with his ex probably eavesdropping on them and Aaron was making the most sinful fake sex noises. Kevin felt himself hardening in his pants and he had to put some distance between them so Aaron wouldn’t notice.

“Come on, baby. Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me. Right there, right fucking there.” Aaron kept saying over and over again and slammed his hand on the wall. “You are so good to me, baby. Come on, let me hear you.” Aaron said while sending a meaningful look over his shoulder.

Right, Kevin was supposed to be an active participant in whatever this was. He took a deep breath. He could do it. If Aaron could do it he couldn’t back down. He was determined to make better sex noises than the other man and was going to succeed or die trying.

“Do you like it, sweetheart?” He asked and felt Aaron go tense for a second. “Do you like it when I fuck you?”

Aaron moaned and Kevin had to bite his lip to not let any sound come out of him until he realized that that was the point. He could make any sound he wanted and Aaron would just think that he was faking it.

He opened his mouth and let a groan out.

“You are so perfect for me. You make me feel so good, no one has ever made me feel so good.” Kevin said and put both of his hands on the wall to bracket Aaron’s head.

“Yeah, you too, Kev.” Aaron whimpered. “So good, fuck, don’t stop. I’m close, so close.”

“Yeah?” Kevin replied breathlessly. “You’re going to come for me? Going to come on my cock like my good boy?”

“Yes!” Aaron screamed and let out a litany of sounds that sounded like he was having the best orgasm of his life.

Kevin let out a couple noises of his own to indicate that he was right there with him and dropped his head on Aaron’s shoulder to sniffle his laugh at the ridiculousness of the situation.

He had to cover Aaron’s mouth with his hand, because the smaller men started to quietly laugh as well. They managed to calm themselves down and walked out the door.

To no one’s surprise, Joe was waiting outside of it.

“Joe, long time no see.” Kevin said, trying to make his voice not shake.

He felt a reassuring hand on the small of his back and relaxed a little.

“Like I said, John.” Aaron said with a shit eating grin on his face. “Great teacher.” He added and took Kevin’s hand in his own, interlocking their fingers.

He led Kevin through the door, not sparing another glance at Joe.

“It’s Joe.” The man said annoyed, but he was ignored.

***

Aaron Minyard queer? I don’t think so

Kevin Day wants us to believe that he has a boyfriend to make himself look good. I for one am not buying it.

I had the displeasure of meeting Aaron and in my humble opinion he is as straight as an arrow.

People need to wake up and realize that we are being played and queerbaited for Day’s own gain and amusement.

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains”, 09.13.2015

“Oh come one, he literally heard us have sex.” Aaron exclaimed after reading the article.

“Well, technically we didn’t have sex.” Kevin said from the kitchen.

“Nah, we made excellent sex noises, an Oscar worthy performance for sure, he’s just jealous.” Aaron said and then he got that look in his eyes that meant he came up with something that Kevin would absolutely hate.

He had that look back in college too any time he planned something that ended up getting Kevin in trouble.

“We have to make him even more jealous. We’re going on a date tomorrow.” Aaron said with determination.

“How is that going to make him stop writing about us?” Kevin said feeling out of breath.

He didn’t know if he could handle going on a fake date with Aaron.

“It won’t. He will write even more insane shit and then people will open their eyes and realize that he is crazy, because there will be so much proof that we are madly in love.” Aaron said and went into his study, presumably to plan the dates.

Kevin was absolutely fucking screwed.

Chapter Text

Kevin woke up to a loud chatter coming from the living room. Aaron was not in bed with him which was weird, because on the rare days they both had free time, Kevin always woke up before the blonde.

Overnight they would somehow always end up curled against each other. Kevin would always let himself stay there for a minute or two and then reluctantly would stand up from their bed.

Aaron was always close behind, maybe ten or twenty minutes after Kevin got up and already made them coffee Aaron would emerge from the bedroom with his hair ruffled from sleep and Kevin fall a little bit more in love every morning from the sight of Aaron's soft smile.

Kevin had no idea if Aaron realized that they cuddled every night, but Kevin didn’t dare ask in fear that it would end if he did. He knew that it would only make things worse for him at the end of the day, but still he couldn’t help, but soak the few things that made Aaron a little bit more his, even if only in his head.

He reluctantly got up from the bed and made his way to the door. The sight that greeted him was something out of his worst nightmares.

It was Neil who had a whole whiteboard in front of him with a calendar covering half of it and he had the look on his face that meant nothing but trouble.

He was in his planing mode and Neil in a planing mode was the most terrifying creature in the world.

The first time he turned into the absolut beast was when he became vice captain back in his second year in college. It turned out that without running for his life and spending every moment planning for the worst and looking over his shoulder, Neil had too much energy left just lying around, waiting to be used for evil.

First he tried to burn it with runs and practice which Kevin was first on board with, but then it turned out to be too dangerous for the idiot’s health so Abby forced him to find something else.

So he decided to put all of his energy into planning the team’s practices. His determination and passion was first admired by all his teammates, but they quickly understood that a monster was created. The only person who could tame him a little bit was Dan, because Niel didn’t want to step on her toes as she was still the first captain of the team, but when Dan was particularly pissed off at one of them she turned the team over to Neil and it was game over for everyone. And then after a year, Dan was gone and Neil had the power to do anything he wanted with them.

It was not that Neil had some unobtainable and ridiculous demands. All the things he did made them ten times better in the long run, it was just when Neil turned that setting on there was no going back and everyone who stood in his path was destroyed with cutting words from Neil or a knife to their throat from Andrew in cases when they took a swing at Neil out of anger.

Over time Neil started to use his power not only for Exy and that was when Kevin started to understand the hate towards this side of the other striker. He used it for helping or rather making the team socialize, he used it for planning trips and from what Kevin could understand form the things written on the white board, he had now chosen to use it to help Aaron plan dates for Kevin and him.

“Josten, what the fuck are you doing in my living room at ass o’clock in the morning.” He asked, annoyed, fully knowing the answer to that question already.

Neil turned to him unbothered only for a second, before returning to his white board.

“Morning to you too, sleeping beauty.” Neil replied.

Kevin sighed and made his way to the kitchen to get himself a cup of coffee.

“On the counter.” Aaron said not really looking at Kevin.

There was in fact a mug filled with coffee for him waiting on the counter just how he liked it and he felt his heart melt. Aaron did that a lot. Made him smile with the smallest of gestures.

Sometimes he would bring him a blanket to the couch without Kevin having to ask, because he saw him shiver. Whenever he went to a store he would buy one sweet thing for Kevin, because he knew that Kevin was not going to ask for it or buy it for himself.

Kevin was so in love with that man it wasn’t even funny. He dreaded the day of their inevitable ‘break up’. He knew that he was torturing himself by not ending it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. If this was the only way he could have Aaron he would take it for as long as Aaron would be willing to continue their little charade.

He went back into the living room and remembered what a bad idea this was. His heart was bound to explode on one of their dates and by the look of the calendar the two manaces in front of him have planned quite a few.

“Why is Neil involved in this?” He asked, stepping closer to Aaron.

Aaron looked at him with a smile that melted all of his annoyance.

“I asked him if they would be interested in a double date and he volunteered to help plan all of the dates, since you will be absolutely no help.” Aaron said with a wink.

Kevin’s legs almost gave out under him, but then the words registered.

“Excuse me? Why do you think I will be no help?” Kevin asked with a hand on his heart.

“You weren’t really that enthusiastic about it yesterday and I don’t want to force you.” Aaron said, looking down at the floor. “You know, we don't have to do it at all, I’m sure Joe will bug off one way or the other.”

“You should have thought of that before you brought that monster to life.” Kevin said while gesturing towards Neil.

“I’m sorry.” Aaron said with a small voice and Kevin felt his heart shutter into a million pieces.

Aaron was doing so much for him and he was being a dick. Granted it was because of his feelings that he needed to keep hidden, but Aaron didn’t know that. The blonde thought that Kevin didn’t care and he had to fix it.

“I’m looking forward to the dates.” Kevin rushed to say, stepping closer to Aaron.

The blonde looked up and Kevin saw a glint of something in his eyes that he couldn’t interpret. Kevin didn’t know if it was wishful thinking, but he could have sworn that Aaron looked at him in the same way Kevin stared at him so often.

No, that was ridiculous and absolutely unpossible.

“Yeah?” Aaron breathed out and took a step closer as well.

From the corner of his eyes Kevin saw Neil roll his eyes and mutter something that Kevin couldn’t quite catch, because all of his focus was on the man in front of him.

“Of course. I love spending time with you.” Kevin said with a smile, his knees weak.

The blush that covered Aaron’s cheeks was so adorable, Kevin had to restrain himself from reaching out and poke the blush with his finger and then do something even more stupid like kissing Aaron senseless.

“I’ll help you plan some of them if you want.” He said and took a step back. “Just not while this monstrosity is here.” He gestured to Neil again and the redhead flipped him off without taking his eyes away from the calendar in front of him. “I’ll leave you to it.” He added and made his way to the front door.

***

Aaron looked at Kevin as the man made his way to the front door. He caught himself doing it more and more. He could spend hours just staring at the dark haired man and even though there was a voice in the back of his head who kept shouting at him the theories on why that was, Aaron shushed him every time and shoved him deep into the darkness of his mind.

He threw himself into planning the dates with Kevin to get his mind off his feelings. The dates were part of the deal. They were public appearances that would make them look like a couple.

It was not like their quiet conversation on the sofa after watching a movie late into the evening. Or like the times they somehow migrated in their sleep and woke up in each other's arms.

Aaron was an early riser, but he couldn’t help to stay in bed for a little longer, because of the strong arms always enveloping him. He would wait for Kevin to wake up and pretend like he was still asleep. Kevin always stayed with him for few minutes before getting up and more times than not Aaron wished he had a courage to just pull Kevin back into their bed and cuddle some more, maybe even-

“So,” A loud voice took him out of his dangerous thoughts. “The first day you both have off in the evening is wednesday.” Neil said with a firm voice.

Aaron knew that he shouldn’t have brought this side of Neil to life. He knew how dangerous this was, but despite Neil being an absolut menace to society more so than usual in this state, that was the Neil that made them finally become friends.

In Aaron’s last year of college, Neil took it upon himself to repair their relationship. He had already made everyone else socialize and his efficient system made it easier to bring the freshman smoothly into the team, so he had nothing left to do.

At least that was what Aaron thought at first. Neil said that it was because of Andrew. Supposedly Andrew’s goal was to get into a team that was closest to where Aaron was going to go to med school. Aaron didn’t want to believe that. Andrew and him had a better relationship than before, but his brother had chosen Neil over him after all, why wouldn’t he do it again?

Neil had to practically drill it into his brain that Andrew actually cared about him and therefore Neil would try to be civil as well.

He was far from civil. He had barged into Aaron’s dorm unannounced time and time again and dragged him to stupid events that he knew Aaron would like and did everything to get to know Aaron better.

Over time it turned out that the redhead wasn’t that bad and that Aaron actually liked talking to him. It also turned out that he was right. No matter where Aaron was going, Andrew was close behind. Finally they both settled down in Seattle and Neil soon joined them.

“Are you even listening to me?” Neil asked, looking at Aaron annoyed. “You asked me to help yet, you pay no attention.” He added while crossing his arms and leveling Aaron with a pointed look.

“Technically I didn’t ask for your help, you volunteered it.” Aaron said and Neil rolled his eyes.

“I can unvolunteer it and leave you with this alone.” Neil gestured to the whiteboard.

Aaron looked at it terrified. Truth be told he had not done many of the planning so far and he was glad for Neil’s help.

“Nah, you won’t. You’re in your element” he said, crossing his fingers that he was right.

“Whatever.” Neil replied and turned back to the whiteboard. “As I was saying before you decided to tune me out, on Wednesday you have a date. I’m thinking about dinner and a movie.”

Aaron grimaced at that. “Isn’t that a little bit of a cliche?” He asked.

“Nothing wrong with cliches.” Neil said dismissively. “Next Sunday we’re going on a double date to that restaurant Andrew likes.”

“Is Andrew on board with that?” Aaron asked, not hiding his skepticism.

Andrew hated dates. Or at least he hated to call them dates. He would take Neil everywhere, from a late night drive to a fancy restaurant, but if anyone called it a date he would be out of there in a second.

“Leave Andrew to me, I have my ways of convincing him.” Neil said with a suggestive raise of his eyebrows.

Aaron faked the need to puke and said with disgust. “Do not tell me about your ways.”

“Careful, your boyfriend is already accused of being homophobic. You don’t want to join him, do you?” Neil teased.

Aaron only rolled his eyes and stepped closer to the whiteboard to see what else the idiot had planned for them.

***

“You need to control your man,” Kevin said with a raised voice as soon as he entered his friend’s house.

“The only place I can control that idiot is in bed.” Andrew said, not looking up from the book he was reading.

He was sitting on an armchair and seemed unbothered by the fact that Kevin had barged in into his apartment unannounced.

“He’s planning dates for me and Aaron,” Kevin said while taking a seat in the second armchair.

“And how is that my problem?” Andrew said still not looking up, but Kevin knew that he was no longer reading.

“He’s planning double dates as well” He said and hoped to get some kind of reaction from Andrew.

The blonde sighed and marked the page he was on, before putting the book on the table in front of him. He then turned his attention on Kevin

“I’ll manage, as long as he is planing dates and staying the fuck away form that stupid binder of his, I don’t give a fuck.” Andrew replied.

Oh, yeah. The famous binder. It was the second thing that came out of the planning monster. There were rumors going around and by rumores Kevin meant that Andrew had once told him while a little bit drunker than usual, that Neil once had a whole binder dedicated to him, but Kevin had never seen it.

After his first year, Neil dedicated the binder to people who might be any kind of danger to him and the people he cared about.

“He still does that?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah, and Joe Abbott is on the top of the list now. You know I can end all of our miseries if you let me.” Andrew said and Kevin knew he meant it.

“You’re not killing my ex.” He said even though he had the tiniest feeling that it would solve every one of his problems.

Well, not every one since he would still be embarrassingly in love with his straight friend that he was currently pretending to be in a relationship with.

“Suit yourself. The offer does not have an expiration date.” Andrew said and went back to his book.

Kevin sat there with him in silence. He didn’t want to go back to his apartment just yet. He needed to clear his head and sitting next to Andrew in a comfortable silence always seemed to do the trick.

Chapter Text

Wednesday came quicker than expected and Kevin was not ready. It wouldn’t be the first time he and Aaron went for a dinner together, just the two of them or not even the first time they would have gone to the movies alone, but it was the first time those two things would be combined.

It was also the first time when Kevin would have to pretend that he is pretending to be head over heels in love with Aaron. It was a tricky thing to manage. He was a good actor, Aaron knew that. He saw him in front of the cameras and knew how quickly Kevin could turn on and off his fake smile and nice attitude. So Kevin had to be careful to let himself look at Aaron like he was the literal sun when it was necessary and scold his face into a neutral expression when no one else was around.

He was doing a terrible job at the second one and he knew that he wouldn’t manage to act anything but smitten this whole evening. But that was the point, he was supposed to convince the public or more so his dickhead of an ex that he and Aaron were a couple.

Dinner went smoothly. It wasn’t any different form when they usually hang out. They loved talking to each other and there were millions of topics they had on their minds. Even though they lived together they still had packed schedules so it was nice to catch up.

The problem came after dinner. They were walking to the cinema that was ten minutes away from the restaurant. They were holding hands and Kevin felt like his heart would jump out of his chest to do somersaults at the contact.

“Kelcy was begging the man to calm down and he was just crying non stop, I’m telling you I saw a couple of the new born babies give him a judging look.” Aaron said and Kevin laughed even though he was too focused on Aaron’s fingers laced with his to be following the story.

Suddenly there was a flash of a camera coming from the distance and Kevin saw a man crouched behind the nearby bushes. He had to suppress the urge to roll his eyes, but he must have done a shity job at it, because Aaron stopped midway through his monologue and looked embarrassed.

“Is my story boring you that much?” He asked and there was a slight blush on his cheeks.

“No, of course not.” Kevin rushed to say. “Don’t look, but there is a man with a camera across the street.” Kevin said while leaning in a little bit down so that only Aaron would hear him.

It gave him a perfect view of Aaron’s throat which allowed him to trace the movement of his adam apple with his eyes as the man swallowed before speaking.

“Well, let’s give him something to photograph then.” Aaron whispered back and raised himself on his tiptoes to get himself closer to Kevin.

Kevin felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart probably skipped a couple beats. He was standing then frozen and wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

When their lips touched for the first time back at the airport he almost died, he didn't know if he would be able to survive more than that.

“I’m going to need a little help here, Kev.” Aaron whispered. “It’s actually annoying how tall you are.” he added with a nervous chuckle.

“It’s not me being tall, it’s more you being incredibly short.” Kevin said with a strained voice.

The annoyed look Aaron sent his way melted his nerves a little bit. This he knew how to do. Bantering with Aaron was second nature by now. He loved bickering with the man and annoying him to no end and being annoyed by him and he just loved him.

He was overwhelmed with the sudden need to be as close to the blonde as humanly possible. It didn’t matter that it wouldn’t be real. It didn’t matter that it was just for show. He would be damned if he passed up the opportunity to kiss the lips he has been dreaming about for so long.

He leaned down to get closer to Aaron since the other man was already as close to him as he could get and took a deep breath before slotting their mouths together.

It was nothing more than two lips gently placed against each other, moving slightly, but not opening to deepen the kiss. Kevin sighed into it and enveloped Aaron by the waist to get him closer. They stood there pressed against each other and trading slow kisses for what felt like hours but was probably only a few seconds.

His imagination must have been playing tricks on him, because he could have sworn he heard a quiet, pleasant sound escape Aaron’s lips and that made him pull away. He needed to get himself under control, because clearly the kiss made him start to lose his mind a little bit.

Aaron looked flushed when they finally took a step away from each other and Kevin knew that he was probably embarrassed by the whole thing. He hated the fact that he was making the other man do any of this.

He smiled at him and knew that it didn’t reach his eyes and he saw Aaron’s face fall a little, but didn’t really know why. He chose to not dwell on it and just took his friend’s hand back into his to keep up the appearance and lead them to the cinema.

***

Photoshop gets you nowhere

Aaron Minyard and Kevin Day want us to believe that they are together so badly they bribed someone to post a half assed photo of them kissing. I don’t know who they want to fool with this, but I for one can recognize photoshop when I see it.

I see more and more people believing in their whole charade and I beg you guys to open your eyes to the truth. Kevin Day is a fraud and if Aaron Minyard is anything other than straight then I am the queen of Egland

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains”, 09.18.2015

“This is fucking ridiculous.” Aaron said after reading the article. “He literally used the word ass in an article, why hasn't he been fired yet?”

“Well to be honest, “Exy entertains” is not a prestigious magazine. It’s mostly just gossip.” Kevin replied, while sitting across from him at their table on the balcony.

They were enjoying a quiet morning together and eating breakfast.

“It’s good that he is getting ridiculous. Wasn’t that your whole plan?” Kevin asked while sipping on his coffee. “You know, make him sound insane so no one believes him?”

“Yeah, it was.” Aaron replied with a shrug.

That was the plan. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much that it was working. For one he felt annoyed that Joe was saying their kiss was fake when it was the number one thing on his mind since it happened. For two he was bothered by being called straight, which was insane since he was in fact straight.

He was also not liking the fact that their arrangement might come to an end once they convinced everyone. He liked living with Kevin. He liked cuddling with him at night even if neither of them had acknowledged the fact. He liked the prospect of more dates.

It wasn’t the fact that he was doing this stuff with Kevin. The other man had nothing to do with it. Aaron just enjoyed having someone to do this stuff with again and it helped that it was with someone he already trusted and enjoyed spending time with. That was all it was, Aaron was sure of that.

***

“We should show the others the drill we came up with.” Neil said and Aaron couldn’t care less.

“It’s not ready yet.” Kevin insisted and he looked annoyed at the other striker.

Aaron and Andrew exchanged a knowing look. Aaron could admit that he sometimes missed playing Exy. Not because he liked the sport, although it kind of grew on him after going to all the games, but because he missed the comradery of it.

Back in college you wouldn't have caught Aaron admitting that he liked socializing with his teammates, but after years of maturing and healing he could admit that all of them were the best thing that ever happened to him.

He missed them all dearly and he blamed one of the junkies in front of him. Neil had a way of bringing people together and it was as endearing as it was absolutely annoying.

But just because he didn’t hate Exy, didn’t mean he wanted to hear about it on his free Sunday.

“Are you really going to talk about Exy?” Aaron directed his question at Kevin, because he knew Neil would only talk about the sport more if he realized it pissed Aaron off. “We’re on a date, not the court.”

Kevin looked at him with widened eyes and a look that Aaron saw directed at him more and more. It was a mix of hope and anxiety and Aaron had no idea what it meant.

The fact that his heart skipped a beat when he referred to this as a date didn’t escape his notice, but as usual he chose to ignore it. After all they were on a date, pretend one, but still a date. He was only referring to it as such in case there was a reporter sitting within an earshot who may then write something awful about them.

Neil’s paranoia must have been rubbing off on him. That was the only logical explanation.

“You’re right.” Kevin replied accompanied by Neil's sound of protest. “I’m sorry.”

Aaron didn’t know how to answer that. He expected some protests from the Exy obsessed idiot. He was sure as hell not expecting an apology. Kevin Day apologizing for speaking about Exy was so out of character even Andrew could not hide his confusion.

Before Aaron could voice out his surprise, Andrew stood up from his chair.

“Day, come smoke with me.” He said and didn’t wait for Kevin to reply.

“I don’t smoke.” Kevin muttered under his breath, but still followed him obediently.

It was always weird to watch how much Kevin still listened to Andrew’s every order. It was unsettling, but Aaron knew that Andrew would never abuse the power he held over the other man. Kevin was safe and that was all that mattered to Aaron.

“You broke him.” Neil said after both Andrew and Kevin were out of earshot.

The words had no venom behind them and Neil didn’t look bothered by the fact. There was a time when every word, no matter how innocent, sounded like an insult between them. Aaron was glad those times were behind them.

“I don’t know what you mean.” He replied, honestly.

Neil sighed and looked at him with a raised eyebrow, clearly annoyed.

“No, I don’t think you do.” He said and leaned a little closer on the table. “I’d spell it out for you, but I think it will be more fun to watch you struggle for a while.” He added with a wink and Aaron couldn’t suppress the urge to roll his eyes.

***

Andrew and Kevin were standing outside of the restaurant. They were keeping a reasonable distance between each other and didn’t exchange a single word. It would be perfect if not for the smoke coming out of Andrew’s cigarette.

“You should quit.” He said, not looking Andrew’s way.

“Exy? Gladly.” Andrew replied with a bored expression.

Kevin sent him an annoyed look. The hands he tucked in his pockets clenched into fists and he wanted to snap at Andrew, but knew it would be no use.

“No.” He said calmly. “The smoking.”

Andrew sent him an unimpressed glance. He was getting soft. Back in the day it would have earned him a casual reach for Andrew’s armbands at least.

He loved those moments. The ones when he noticed how one of the members of his family has changed for the better. When one of them did something that proved that they were healing.

He loved when Neil didn’t jump up at a loud noise, ready to run away. He loved the moment when Alliosn had looked at Seth’s jersey while saying goodbye to the fox hole court after her graduation and there was no more grief in her eyes, only acceptance and love. He loved seeing Nicky proudly parading Erik around without striking jokes to make himself feel more comfortable. He loved seeing Jean being happy in Jeremy’s arms, eyes full of trust and adoration. He held all of those moments close to his chest and cherished every single one of them.

Those were the people who saved him. They were the ones responsible for the fact that he was still here and his life was so much better than he ever imagined it could have been. And none of this would have been possible without the man in front of him. The man who would hate him if he knew who Kevin was in love with.

There was nothing Andrew valued more than the truth. Kevin knew that. He had to tell him, because his feelings were getting out of control. It wasn’t a crush anymore, it was not casual. It was a consuming love that started to suppress anything he ever felt and he had to share it with his friend even if it meant losing him.

“I’m in love with your brother.” Kevin whispered with tightly closed eyes and no breath in his lungs.

“I know.” Andrew replied with a stone cold voice.

“I’m sorry.” Kevin said even more quietly than before.

“Did you do something he didn’t want you to do?” Andrew asked bluntly and Kevin’s eyes flew open.

“What?” He said much louder. “Of course not, I would never.” He said, his voice full of a desperate need for Andrew to believe him.

“Then you have nothing to apologize for.” Andrew replied and threw out his burned cigarette.

He made his way back to the restaurant yet again knowing that Kevin would follow.

He did. He would have followed Andrew anywhere. His steps were much lighter and his chest didn’t carry the same pain and weight it did mere minutes ago.

***

Spot the difference

Andrew Minyard and Neil Josten are the picture perfect couple. The way they look at each other is undeniable proof of their love.

Kevin Day and Aaron Minyard on the other hand look like they would rather be anywhere else than beside the other. The fact that a so-called Dr Minyard is smoking only further proves the point that he is a liar and a hypocrite who should not be trusted.

Joe Abbott for “Exy entertains” 09.23.3015

Kevin was practically laying on the floor laughing, but Aaron was very much not impressed. The pictures that accompanied Joe’s article were ridiculous and absolutely unnecessary.

The one that was described as a cold encounter between Kevin and Aaron was in fact featuring Andrew. There wouldn’t be anything bad about that. Anyone with eyes would recognize that it was Andrew and not him. They might have been twins, but years of different lifestyles and choices made them less identical.

What Aaron absolutely hated was the way the other photo was described. It showed what looked like a fond look on Aaron’s face, but in reality was a very much annoyed one, no matter what all of his friends were saying and a winking Neil who was as always being an asshole.

“Shut up.” Aaron grunted at a still laughing Kevin.

He wanted to be annoyed, but seeing Kevin so happy made his insides do a weird dance and he had to get up to keep up the appearance of being mad at the dark haired man instead of absolutely smitten.

He wasn’t. Smitten that is. He was something, but definitely not smitten. His face liked to play tricks on him and the picture of him and Neil was proof of that. Clearly his expressions were gravely misinterpreted by everyone and it would be better if Aaron locked himself in his study long enough to manage a neutral one.

***

“Really?” Kevin asked while looking down at the blanket in front of him.

“Come on.” Aaron said while taking their food out of the basket. “What do you have against picnics?”

“There are so many insects here.” Kevin mumbled under his breath.

“Are you scared?” Aaron replied, delighted by the new teasing material.

“No.” Kevin huffed, betrayed by the tremble of his voice. “I just don’t like having insects in my food.”

“Some people say it’s healthy.” Aaron replied, knowing that it would send Kevin on a runt.

God, how he loved Kevin’s little runts.

“Yeah, but I don’t think they meant right out of the dirt, Aaron.” Kevin replied annoyed and started to quote some articles.

Aaron only shook his head and lied down on the blanket. He was soon joined by Kevin who was still talking.

“This one looks like a bug.” Aaron interrupted him while pointing out one of the clouds.

“It looks more like a ball.” Kevin said back with an annoying satisfaction in his voice.

“If you wanted to talk about Exy you should have taken Neil on a date.” Aaron replied with no real heat behind his words.

“He was busy.” Kevin teased and got an elbow into his side for his efforts.

He let out a loud sound of pain that was purely showing his acting skills, because Aaron did not do it that hard. He scooted himself closer to Kevin and laced their fingers together.

He loved holding Kevin’s hand. It was big and Aarton felt like his own was drowning in it. It made him feel weirdly safe. Usually they would hold hands while walking. Just a gentle squeeze for a few minutes. Now Aaron could map out all the ridges and bumps of Kevin’s hand that was hardened by whole life of holding a racket.

He got to the place where Kevin’s hand was painted with a scar and felt Kevin tense.

“Is this okay?” He asked, keeping his hand still.

He looked at Kevin and was met with the green eyes already staring at him. His breath caught in his lungs and for a moment he forgot anything else existed beside the two of them.

He saw Kevin’s breath quicken and felt his hand twitching a little so he went to let it go to not make Kevin more uncomfortable. Kevin held tight to his hand with desperation.

“Don’t let go.” Kevin pleaded and Aaron thought that he would have done anything Kevin had asked him to do if he did it in that voice.

“You’re panicking.” Aaron replied and scooted himself even closer to Kevin, not letting go of his hand.

“I don’t like it.” Kevin said after a moment. “The scar. It reminds me of him and of the fact that I almost lost everything.” He added and there were tears gathering in his eyes. “I don’t like what it represents and I don’t like how it looks.” He paused for a second and looked down to not look Aaron in the eyes. “I don’t mind when you touch it, though.” He said it so low, Aaron wouldn’t catch it if he wasn’t staring at the other man’s lips.

“I like what it represents.” Aaron said just as quietly and Kevin looked back up at him. “It represents you finally getting away from him. It should remind you of us, of the foxes and of the fact that you got stronger. You didn’t give up and you fought for yourself and came out on top at the end. That is what it means to me. That is what I think every time I look at it. “

Aaron was tracing the scar with his fingers while speaking. He looked down at it after he was done and thought about what to say next. He felt like he was in a trance. He started to guide both of their hands up and close to his face as if he wanted to inspect the scar further. When he finally had Kevin’s hand in front of his eyes he leaned down a little and put a soft kiss on top of the edge of the scar.

“It’s also not the worst thing to look at.” He whispered and kept trailing kisses on the ridges of the scar. “It looks pretty cool.”

His kisses started to get a little higher. They stopped covering only the scar and were now getting closer to Kevin’s elbow and he had no idea why he was doing any of it. He detached himself from the striker’s arm and looked up. He didn’t realize how close his ministrations got them together.

Kevin’s face was so close to his he could have counted the other man’s long eyelashes. He swallowed while looking down at Kevin’s lips. The same lips that were on his two weeks ago. The ones he tried so hard to not think about. It wasn’t that he wanted to kiss Kevin, he just missed kissing in general.

Right?

He would have kissed anyone. He could have gone to a random club and kissed anyone there. Any girl, that is, because Aaron was definitely straight.

No gay thoughts in this head, no sir. Just girls.

Girls and Kevin.

No. No Kevin.

This whole fake dating thing was just confusing him. That was why he was slowly leaning in even closer. He had to keep up the appearances. The two people that they’ve seen in the thirty minutes that they’ve been here might have been a reporter. Joe could have a camera installed in the trees.

That was the only reason Aaron leaned in the whole way and kissed Kevin with a little too much force. He wanted to taste the other man so badly. He gripped the black hair and felt satisfaction at the little whine it wrung out of Kevin. He had no idea gripping short hair was so intoxicating. He felt Kevin’s hand on his hip and his head started spinning.

He licked Kevin’s lips and was about to slip his tongue into the other man’s mouth at Kevin’s small gasp, but suddenly there was a large weight on both of them.

Aaron had furr in his mouth and Kevin was wheezing from the paw in his stomach.

“I’m so sorry.” A woman said while running to them and grabbing her over excited dog. “There is usually no one here.” She added and walked away with her dog, now on the leash, still wagging his tail.

“She’s right. There is almost no one here.” Kevin said after he finally got control over his breathing. “Why did Josten send us to this pace? What’s the point if no one will photograph us?”

Aaron felt his heart fell a little at Kevin’s words. They were true. This whole thing was pointless if no one saw them, but it still hurt.

“Yeah, I guess.” He said, trying not to show his sadness. “Do you want to go?”

“Nah, I like it here.” Kevin replied. “Let’s just hang out.”

Aaron felt a little bit of enthusiasm return to his body.

Yeah, they should just hang out. They were friends after all. Maybe that was it. Maybe all of those confusing feelings were due to the fact he was scared of losing Kevin after this was done.

But he could relax, even after their ‘break up’ they would remain friends.

Friends.

That was what Aaron wanted from Kevin. Friendship.

Nothing more.

Right?

Chapter Text

“Neil, stop.” Kevin said in the locker room while Neil was explaining the plans he made for their ‘anniversary’. “That is absolutely ridiculous. Would you do all of that for your own date?” He asked and Andrew sent him an unimpressed look.

“Fuck no, Andrew would have hated that.” Neil said and his face fell a little.

“Would you?” Andrew asked while getting closer to them.

Neil jumped up a little as if he didn’t expect Andrew to join the conversation. He looked down at his shoes and furrowed his eyebrows a little.

“Yeah, probably.” He said and Kevin thought it would be the end of it.

They seemed to be on the same page. He was yet again proven that he did not understand anything about the relationship of his two close friends.

“Let’s do it then.” Andrew replied and Neil sent him a disgustingly cute smile.

“You’ll hate it.” Neil said, still smiling.

“I hate you.” Andrew replied and walked away.

Neil’s smile only intensified and Kevin shook his head. He turned back around to his locker and went to change his clothes.

“Okay, but you two have to do something for your anniversary.” Neil said after scolding his expression.

“I’ll think of something.” Kevin replied.

“You?”

“Yes, me. Why are you surprised?” Kevin huffed, offended.

Neil only shrugged and closed his locker. He didn’t even say goodbye before making his way to Andrew.

Kevin could think of a date for him and Aaron. How hard could it be?

***

“I’m screwed.” Kevin said on the phone to Allison.

Kevin had called her in the middle of the night, because he was desperate. How could he think he would be able to organize a date for him and Aaron he didn’t know.

The problem was not that he didn’t have any ideas. The Problem was he had too much and all of them screamed “I love you”.

“How do I make the date look romantic enough for the cameras, but not romantic enough for him to know I’m completely smitten with him?” He whispered into the phone.

Aaron was still sleeping in the next room and Kevin didn’t want to wake him. And he definitely didn’t want Aaron to overhear that he was in love with him.

“You’re overthinking it, Kev.” Allison said through a yawn. “Just plan the date. If it seems too romantic you always have the excuse of faking it. Or you know, you could always just,”

“No.” He interrupted, knowing full well what she was about to suggest.

“Why not?” She said, clearly tired of the conversation.

“Oh, I don’t know Ali. Maybe because he is straight? Or because even if he wasn’t he would have never fallen for me, or,”

“Who would have never fallen for you?” Aaron asked while standing in the doorway of their bedroom.

He rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked like he was ready to pass out from exhaustion.

Kevin’s heart sank to his stomach.

“I’ll have to call you back.” He said and hung up the phone. “What?” He directed his question at Aaron.

“You said he was straight and he would have never fallen for you.” Aaron said with a strained voice. “Are you in love with someone? Is he someone from the team or?” Aaron asked not looking Kevin in the eyes.

Aaron had no idea Kevin was talking about him. Relief was an understatement for what he was feeling right now.

“Doesn’t matter.” He whispered.

“It does to me.” Aaron replied and took a step closer.

He looked worried and Kevin felt guilt raise deep in his chest.

“It’s only a crush, I’ll get over it.” Kevin lied.

Aaron didn’t look convinced, but didn’t say anything else about it.

“Come back to bed.” He said and reached for Kevin with his right hand.

Kevin was helpless when it came to anything Aaron asked of him so he obediently took the hand and followed the blonde back to their bedroom.

Back in the bed Aaron immediately scooted himself closer to Kevin and put his back against Kevin’s chest. Kevin felt like his heart would beat out of his body, but didn’t want to say anything, to not disturb this moment.

He had no idea Aaron realized that they always ended up enveloped in each other's arms. Everything Aaron did was confusing for Kevin, but he didn’t allow himself to dwell on it. He put his arms around the love of his life and fell asleep minutes later.

***

Kevin was in love with someone. Well, not in love, but he had a crush on someone. More specifically on a guy. A guy that was not Aaron.

Those were the thoughts that flooded Aaron’s mind on repeat throughout the whole week. He had no idea why it bothered him so much. It was good. Their little arrangement was bound to come to an end eventually and it would be good for Kevin to date someone else. Date someone for real.

Aaron wondered how quickly this new guy would move in with Kevin. How quickly would Aaron have to give up the place that was his home. He loved living with Kevin, he loved his study, he loved having someone close.

Soon it would be over.

It has been eight months since they revealed their relationship. On Monday it would be a year since they started ‘dating’. That was what they told everyone who asked. Aaron knew it wouldn’t last forever. At the beginning he was hoping for it to come to an end as soon as possible, but now he dreaded the day.

The date for their anniversary that Neil came up with was turned into a date for the red head and Andrew. Aaron had no idea how his brother agreed to this, since the whole date was ridiculous. But he saw how excited Neil was while planning it and he knew that Andrew would have done anything to put a smile on his partner’s face.

After Neil’s freshman year it became obvious that he craved a little bit of normality. He started to watch cheesy movies with the upper classmates, he went shopping with Allison and Nicky and so many more. Some of the things he only did one time, because it turned out they weren’t his cup of tea, but he was willing to try everything just once.

An absurd date must have been on that list for a long time. Aaron was happy for his friend that he finally got to try it. He was also delighted by the prospect that Andrew would absolutely hate it. He loved his brother, but he cherished the moments when Andrew let himself be annoyed. That was one of the reasons why he started to tolerate Neil at first. The striker had the talent to tear down Andrew’s walls and there was nothing Aaron wanted more than to see his brother feel.

So he was happy that the date wasn’t for him and Kevin. He was not happy that Kevin decided to organize the date himself. Aaron liked to have things under control and he was honestly scared of what Kevin would come up with.

***

Monday came far too quickly. Aaron worked till four P.M. and Kevin had practice only in the morning. The blonde was supposed to come back home and get ready for the date that was still a mystery to him.

He was exhausted. He wanted to come back home and not leave till the next day. He had no energy for pretending. He didn’t want to smile for the camera and think about what Joe Abbott would have to say about them.

He knew that none of that was an option. If they weren’t spotted in public during their anniversary the press would have a field day with it.

He opened the front door and was met with an amazing smell coming from the kitchen. He threw his keys on the shelf next to the door and made his way through the living room.

In the kitchen stood Kevin. He was turned with his back to Aaron and listened to a playlist that was definitely not his, because Kevin was known to listen mostly to classical music and the songs were anything but.

He was swaying his hips to “Blank space” by Taylor Swift. One time when Aaron was really drunk he had confessed to Kevin that Taylor Swift was one of his favorite artists and he went on a whole rant about her skills and musical abilities.

“Since when do you know how to cook?” Aaron asked and Kevin turned around with wide eyes.

The surprise on Kevin’s face was quickly turned into a fond expression and he turned back around to the stove.

“We have this big ass kitchen. Someone had to finally use it like it was supposed to be used.” He said and sent Aaron a small wink over his shoulder. “Go freshen up and get changed, our anniversary dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes.”

“Are we staying home?” Aaron couldn’t hide the hope in his voice.

Kevin only hummed in response and Aaron practically ran to the bathroom.

***

Everything in Kevin screamed that this was a bad idea. This was bound to end in Aaron realizing he had feelings for him. The blonde must have already started to wonder who Kevin’s crush was. He looked weird when he first found out about it and Kevin was scared that Aaron felt uncomfortable, because he put two and two together and now knew that Kevin was in love with him.

This dinner would do nothing in betting those allegations, but Kevin couldn’t help it. He wanted to spend time with Aaron one on one and also knew that Aaron wasn’t a fan of going out right after his shift. Kevin wanted them to have fun, just the two of them, without the world telling them what they were to each other.

“Smells good.” Aaron said, walking into the kitchen.

Kevin turned around and his breath caught in his throat. Aaron looked absolutely beautiful. He wasn’t wearing anything fancy, just a buttoned up t-shirt and his nice jeans, but he looked downright sinful.

“Not fair.” Kevin muttered under his breath.

Aaron looked down at himself with a slight blush on his face.

“What?” He asked, looking back at Kevin.

Kevin didn’t feel like he had any breath left in his lungs. God, he was so gone for this man, it was getting ridiculous.

“You look too good for a night at home.” Kevin blurted out against his better wishes.

His mouth stopped collaborating with his brain and instead decided to side with his heart for this conversation, apparently.

Aaron let out a quiet, nervous chuckle at that and took a step closer to Kevin.

“I can change.” He said. “Just don’t make me go outside.” Aaron added looking down.

Kevin took a step closer too and was glad that he had already turned off the stove, because he would rather let the house burn down than look away from the man in front of him.

“Don’t change.” Kevin pleaded and he didn’t know if he meant the clothes or Aaron in general. Probably both.

“Okay,” Aaron breathed out, “then how about you go change to match me,” he said with a smirk, “and I’ll set the table.”

Kevin shook his head.

“No, this date is on me, you are supposed to just sit down and relax.”

Aaron waved his hand dismissively and already started to reach for the plates.

“No can do, babe.” He said and Kevin’s mind was grinded to a halt. “It’s my anniversary too. Go change.”

Babe.

Aaron had just called him babe. Suddenly he lost all ability and desire to argue further and made his way to the bedroom quicker than was necessary. His breath quickened and his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest.

Aaron called him by a pet name. There was no one around and he said it so casually. It felt like it wasn’t just to pretend anymore. Kevin didn't know how much of this his poor heart could take. The blonde was probably just messing around and Kevin was only getting his hopes up.

He quickly changed into something nicer and made his way back to the living room. Aaron was able to not only put the food on the table while he was gone, but also turned it into something way more romantic than Kevin had planned.

There were candles lit on the table and the light was slightly dimmed. There was music playing in the background that Kevin recognized. It was one of his favorites. Aaron was standing in front of the table and making last minute adjustments. When he was satisfied he turned to Kevin and stopped in his tracks.

The look in his eyes was something that Kevin was getting used to ignoring. It looked too much like what Kevin imagined he looked like while staring at Aaron. He knew that it was only wishful thinking, but his body didn’t.

He felt the blush that started to paint his cheeks and he knew that his gaze would tell Aaron everything about what he was feeling if only the blonde was smart enough to look for the answers there.

“There is wine in the kitchen if you want to pour yourself a glass.” Kevin said with a strained voice.

Aaron’s brows furrowed a little.

“You bought wine?” He asked.

“Yeah, for you.” Kevin replied. “It’s not like I drank any of it, I just bought it.” He added, feeling defensive.

“Well, don’t.” Aaron said with a little sharpness to his voice.

“I don’t mind you drinking in front of me.” Kevin said a little softer.

“I know. I don’t mind drinking in front of you eitehr, just not here.” Aaron said with determination. “This is your safe space, Kev. I don’t want that shit in your safe space.”

Kevin’s heart melted at that and he realized that in the months they lived here Aaron had never brought any kind of alcohol into their home. Kevin really didn’t mind. He was used to having drunk people around him. During celebrations after games or at casual hang outs with his friends.

When he first started to get sober, he found it hard. His friends realized that immediately and for a while they stopped drinking in solidarity. After a while it got easier and he told them that he would be okay with seeing them drink again.

After college he was used to living alone and any time someone visited him and slept in his place there was no alcohol involved apart from someone sleeping on his couch drunk. Kevin didn’t realize that it was something established among his friends, but he was very grateful for it.

“Thank you.” He whispered and felt tears streaming down his face. He didn’t even realize he had started crying.

“We will give the wine to Mrs. Thomson, she will be over the moon.” Aaron said while taking Kevin’s hand in his.

“You just want her to bake you your favorite cookies.” Kevin said and squeezed Aaron’s hand in return.

“I plead the fifth.” Aaron replied with a wink.

They sat at the table and Aaron poured them both a soda. They ate quietly, just enjoying each other’s company.

“You know there will be an article tomorrow saying we didn’t celebrate our anniversary?” Aaron asked through a mouthful of pasta.

Kevin looked around and stood up when he saw his phone laying on the armrest of their sofa. He opened his camera and pointed it at Aaron.

“Smile.” He said and Aaron looked up at him confused, but did as requested.

Kevin opened up Instagram and started to type the caption.

“Celebrating one year together with the best boyfriend ever.” He said slowly while typing. He added a couple of hearts at the end and hit the post bottom. “All done.”

Aaron looked at him with a puzzled look and went back to eating his pasta. The rest of the evening they spend by talking about everything and nothing and not for the first time Kevin wished it could have been real.

***

Pathetic celebration

Kevin Day and Aaron Minyard can’t even spend their anniversary right. The two are well known for their pathetic charade and fooling everyone and it seems like they lost their touch.

On Monday-

Aaron’s phone was snatched from his hands while he was reading the article out loud to a half asleep Kevin in the bed.

“Hey!” He exclaimed. “What the hell, man?” He asked and Kevin sent him a pointed look.

“We’re done reading this crap.” Kevin said while propping himself on his elbows. “I don’t give a fuck what that bastard is writing abaout us anymore.”

Aaron swallowed hard and looked at Kevin’s back since the man decided to get up from the bed. He was waiting for the inevitable, for Kevin to say that now they were done, but it never came. Aaron was confused. The whole point was to convince people they were together. Since everyone was pretty much already convinced the only person left was Joe.

It didn’t make any sense for them to continue if Kevin didn’t care about that asshole’s opinion anymore. Maybe Kevin was waiting to be more awake to ‘break up’ with Aaron. Either way he knew that it was bound to come to an end now sooner than later and he felt weirdly scared and disappointed by the fact.

There was also the fact that Kevin had a crush on someone. Maybe he realized he had a shot and thought it would be easier to date him instead. After all, the only reason Joe was after them was because he knew Aaron was straight. If Kevin dated someone for real he would have it much easier.

Chapter Text

Weeks went by and Kevin still didn't mention anything about ending their arrangement. Aaron was beginning to get restless. The fear and anticipation was eating him from the inside. He wanted to ask Kevin about it, but was afraid that it would put that idea into the other’s mind and Aaron was still holding onto the hope that whatever they had would last a little bit longer.

Preferably forever.

Aaron didn’t know why it was so important to him, but it was. The relationship with Kevin, although fake, was the easiest one he has ever been in. He used to love Katelyn, but he always felt like he was drugging her down. She was the light in the darkness and Aaron was afraid that instead of coming with her to the surface, he would eventually bring her down to the bottom.

With Kevin he didn’t have that fear. They understood each other. They had vaguely different traumas, but they both understood how it was to mourn their abuser.

After Riko’s death Kevin was a mess. Everyone wanted him to be happy and basically dance on the other man’s grave. Kevin was miserable. Aaron understood that feeling. Although, when his mother died, he still didn’t grasp the fact that she was his own personal monster. Kevin knew that Riko was his, but still couldn’t help but mourn him.

Riko was of course way more cruel than Aaron’s mother ever was. Nonetheless, Aaron was Kevin’s shoulder to cry on all those years ago.

Now, they both were doing better, but they were still foxes. They would never be fully okay and Aaron appreciated the fact that they were in this together. For how long he didn’t know, but he was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

He made his way to the hospital and entered it without looking away from his phone. He bumped into someone and was about to apologize, but his voice caught in his throat.

“Aaron,” the person in front of him breathed out, “It’s nice to see you again.” She said while tucking away her red hair behind her ear.

“Kate.” That was the only word Aaron managed to utter.

They stood there in silence for a minute, neither of them knowing what to say, but neither daring to walk away. It has been three years since they broke up, which was the last time they spoke to each other.

The first months were torture for Aaron. He missed Katelyn like crazy and wished every day that she would come back to him.

He could have come with her, but he chose her over Andrew once before and he didn’t want to do that again. He needed to be close to his brother and things between them started to get rocky even before she got an offer to work for another hospital.

But now here she was standing before him and he didn’t know how he felt. There were no thoughts left in his head.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, because he couldn’t stand the silence anymore.

She looked down at her shoes and then back up again into his eyes. She gave him a look that would have once upon a time brought him to his knees.

“I’m moving back here.” She said and Aaron’s heart started to beat faster.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, they offered me a job.” She added and looked away. “My girlfriend moved here with me.”

“Girlfriend?” Aaron almost choked on the word.

“Yeah,” she let out a quiet laugh, ”I guess we both realized we’re bi, after breaking up, huh?

“Yeah, I guess so.” He replied, with throat so dry he was surprised any sound came out.

“I wasn’t really surprised. You always looked at him differently.” She said after a pause and Aaron’s brain stopped working altogether.

He felt anger raise deep in his chest and he knew that a slight blush was covering his cheeks.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He said angrier than he intended.

“I didn’t mean to be rude.” She rushed to clarify. “It's just, you always shared a bond.” Kate added slowly, as if she was speaking to a wild animal that could snap at any second.

“I loved you.” Aaron replied determined, because he felt like that needed to be clarified.

He didn’t want Katelyn to think that what they shared meant nothing to him, when it was the very thing that saved him back in college. He wanted to forget about what her words had implied. He didn't want to think about them for too long in fear that they would mess with his mind even more

“I know you did.” Katelyn replied, softly. “The fact that you may have been attracted to him back then doesn’t negate that.”

He only nodded at that. He couldn’t have told her that it wasn’t like that. That he and Kevin were just friends. He trusted her to not reveal the truth, but it wouldn’t be fair to Kevin to let her in on their secret without consulting it with him first.

“It’s nice to have you back.” He said absentmindedly and made his way to the locker room to get change for his shift.

***

Aaron slammed the door to the apartment behind himself and flopped down on the sofa. Kevin was reading a book and glanced at the blonde through his reading glasses.

“Tough shift?” He asked and Aaron mumbled something inaudible into the cushion.

Kevin put his book down and made his way to Aaron’ side. He crouched down in front of the sofa and put his hand in the blonde mop of hair. He felt the other man relaxing instantly and felt satisfaction from the action having the desirable effect.

The feeling didn’t last long.

“Kate’s back.” Aaron mumbled again, but this time Kevin heard him.

He felt himself freeze and his hand stopped massaging Aaaron’s head. It was instead just lying there, paralyzed.

“Oh,” he breathed out with the air that was still left in his lungs.

He didn’t know what else to say. He knew that sooner rather than later their ‘relationship’ would have to come to an end. He didn’t know that it would be because of the literal love of Aaron’s life coming back into their lives. He felt sick to his stomach.

He always liked Katelyn. She was a kind soul and was interested in Exy. She always made Aaron happy and Kevin loved when Aaron was happy, but he couldn’t imagine seeing them together now that he knew how deep his feelings ran for the other man.

Aaron turned around onto his back which made Kevin’s hand fall from his head completely and Kevin mourned the touch. It was probably the last time he was allowed to touch Aaron like that and he wished it had lasted longer. He wished he could have savored it more.

“She has a girlfriend.” Aaron whispered and that made Kevin sit down on the floor.

“Oh,” He said again, like it was the only sound he was capable of making.

“Yeah, she’s back to working at my hospital and her girlfriend came here with her.” Aaron sounded bitter.

He was probably wondering what his life would look like if he went with Katelyn all those years ago.

“She’s bi.” Aaron added and his tone made Kevin a little bit angry and it made him regain his ability to speak.

“Please tell me you weren’t an asshole about it.” He pleaded.

Aaron sat up on the couch so fast Kevin was surprised he didn’t break anything.

“What?” The blonde exclaimed loudly. “Why would I be an asshole about it?”

“Well,” Kevin started, but didn’t get to finish.

“I know I used to be homophobic, but that was years ago.” Aaron interrupted, hurt and anger dripping from every word. “I’m literally publicly dating a man, Kevin. How could you think I would be an asshole to Kate about being bi? Have I ever been an asshole to you about it?”

“No, but,” Kevin tried to interject.

“But what?” Aaron stood up from the couch and started to pace around their living room. “You think I would have done any of this,” he gestured between them, “if I was still like that? Do you think I would have had fake sex with you in a gay club bathroom, you think I would have been in a gay club in the first place?” His voice was rising with every word. “Do you think I would have kissed you, or took you on dates, or slept in the same bed as you while cuddling every night?”

Kevin’s heart started to beat a little faster and he felt a dangerous feeling of hope crawl right into his very being. He pushed it down as far as it could go and stood up from the couch.

“Aaron,” He started, but was interrupted once again.

“Save it, Day.” Aaron spat out and made his way to the door.

“Where are you going?” Kevin yelled after him, but was left with no reply.

***

Aaron didn’t even know why he was so pissed off. He was mad at Katelyn for coming back with a girlfriend, but he was more mad about what she said about him. He was furious that she dared to imply that he was into Kevin even though that was the thing he was trying to convince everyone for almost a year now.

He was mad at Kevin that his first thought was that Aaron was a dick about it. He was even more pissed off at himself that he was kind of a dick about it. Even if not directly then at least in his head.

He couldn’t look at Kevin any more today and he could definitely not share a bed with him after his head almost exploded from all the thoughts about what Katelyn’s words and his own feelings meant.

That’s why he found himself standing in front of a familiar door and rang the bell.

“Aaron,” he was greeted by the cheery voice of Neil.

The red head let him in without asking a single question and Aaron followed him into the apartment.

He went into the living room and was met with the sight of his brother, sitting on an armchair with their two cats curled up in his arms. He made a move to get out his phone, but was met with a stone cold glare.

“Don’t you dare.” Andrew said firmly and a shiver ran down Aaron’s spine.

Technically he knew Andrew wouldn’t do anything to him, but the voice was enough to scare him into not taking an adorable picture.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” He asked instead.

“Trouble in paradise?” Neil asked from the sofa.

Andrew looked up and Aaron knew he was waiting for the answer. His brother was an always worried mother hen, or maybe more accurately a mother bear and was probably waiting to hear if he should go and kill Kevin.

“Katelyn is back.” Aaron said and saw Andrew’s eyes sharpen. “Don’t even think about it, Andrew. I told you we ended our relationship on good terms.” He rushed to clarify and was met with another look that he couldn’t really interpret.

He sat on the sofa next to Neil and took a deep breath before articulating his racing thoughts out loud.

“She has a girlfriend.” He started. “And she’s not surprised about me and Kevin. Apparently we alway “shared a bond”. He continued while adding air quotes to the last words.

Neil let out a quiet laugh beside him and didn’t stop at Aaron’s warning look. Aaron supposed that if one was used to death glares from Andrew then nothing else would manage to work.

“This is not funny, she thinks I’m in love with Kevin.” Aaron practically whined.

“Well, you’ve been saying that to people for like a year, what did you expect?”

“I don’t know, maybe that at least my ex-girlfriend would be surprised.” He said while throwing his hands in the air with frustration. “The only person who thinks I’m straight is that fucking asshole Joe Abbott.” Aaron did not like the look Neil sent his way. “I am straight.” He felt the need to repeat himself.

Neil put his hand in the air in a mock surrender. “I’m not saying you aren’t”

“Maybe not with your mouth, but that look said something else.” Aaron pointed an accusatory finger in the direction of Neil’s eyes. “Do you know I’m straight?” He turned to his brother.

Andrew had the same blank expression that he mustered all those years ago, but there was a slight glitch to his mouth. It was almost like he was fighting an urge to smile.

“Oh my God.” Aaron yelled and stood up from the couch. “I can’t believe you two. I’m going to bed.”

He made his way to the spare bedroom and slammed the door behind himself. He sat down on the bed and had to fight really hard not to scream into the pillow.

He took out his phone and opened up his browser.

He was straight and he was going to prove that to anyone who ever doubted it. Well, not to everyone, because he still planned on having Kevin’s back, but to the people that knew it was all a russ. He was going to make them eat their words.

Am I gay? quiz

He clicked on the first link that popped out and felt his blood run cold after reading the first question.

Have you ever had feelings for the same-gender close friend?

The image of Kevin’s face flushed through his mind. The feeling of Kevin’s lips on his, of Kevin’s arms around him during a cold night.

He closed the browser and threw his phone across the room.

He was straight. All the feelings he had for Kevin were related to friendship. It was maybe a closer friendship than he ever had with a guy before, but it was still only friendship.

He and Ketelyn were friends first.

No, that was a wrong example.

He and, and,

He was searching in his mind for something that would prove his point.

He and Neil were friends. He loved talking to Neil and they always had fun together.

Kevin wasn’t like Neil, though. It was different, but it still didn’t mean it was anything more than friendship.

Just bros being bros.

He stood up from the bed and made his way back to the living room. He sat back down on the sofa and started to move his leg up and down.

“How did you know you were gay?” He asked his brother who was still sitting with a lap full of cats.

“I sucked a dick in juvie and liked it.” Andrew replied, bluntly.

Aaron rolled his eyes at that. Of course his brother wan’s any help, why would he think otherwise. He was about to turn to Neil when Andrew spoke up again.

“I had trouble identifying as gay.” Andrew said quietly. “I thought it would mean that what they did to me was okay, that I was supposed to like it.”

Aaron felt his heart breaking a little bit and felt a surge of anger. He wished he could have killed every single person who ever forced himself on his brother.

“But I am gay. I like men and just because I do doesn't mean I owe anything to any of them.” He said with determination. “I can’t tell you how I knew beside the fact that I just did.” he finished and it still wasn’t the answer Aaron was looking for, but somehow one that left him satisfied.

He loved the fact that Andrew opened up to him. They were doing it more and more over the years, but Aaron was going to cherish every single one of this type of situations for the rest of his life.

“And you?” He turned to Neil, to not make Andrew feel uncomfortable from the attention.

“I’m not gay.” The other man replied. “I’m demi.”

“And how did you know that?” Aaron asked, annoyed, because he knew that Neil was probably going to be difficult about it.

“Nicky read me the definition.” Neil replied right on cue. “You know, we have a lot of queer friends. If you are looking for answers you should give them a call, but honestly you should just talk to Kevin.” He added.

“Why would I talk to Kevin?” Aaron looked away from the piercing gaze Neil was throwing his way.

He didn’t get any reply. Neil just shook his head and muttered something under his breath that sounded like “You’re hopeless.”, but Aaron wasn’t sure.

He went back to the guest room and picked his phone up from the ground. He dailled his cousin’s number and waited for a reply.

“Aaron, to what do I owe the pleasure?” Nicky asked far too excitedly through the phone.

Aaron didn’t feel like chit chatting so he decided to get straight to the point.

“How did you know you were gay?”

He heard the other take a sharp breath and felt anxiety raise deep in his chest.

“Are you having a sexualitie crisis?” Nicky asked and Aaron rolled his eyes.

He should have known it was a bad idea.

“Never mind.” He muttered and was about to hang up.

“No, wait, sorry.” NIcky rushed to say. “I’ll answer your question without any of mine, just don’t hang up, okay?” Aaron only hummed and Nicky must have taken it as good enough of a confirmation, because he started speaking. “I knew pretty early on. I never understood what all the boys in my class were talking about while gushing over girls. I listened to them and nodded along to hide the fact that the feelings they got around women were the feelings I felt around some of them.” Aaron could hear Nicky’s voice getting a little more strained the more he spoke. “For the longest time I tried to push it away, because I thought it made me less of a man, I thought it made me dirty and disgusting and I hated myself for it. It wasn’t until I met my lovely husband that I understood that there was nothing wrong about who I was.” Aaron smiled at the love he could hear from Nicky towards Erik. “There is nothing wrong with me and there is nothing wrong with you.” Nicky whispered.

“I’m straight.” Aaron said weakly.

“That’s okay.” NIcky replied softly. “No matter what, Aaron, It’s all okay.” He said and Aaron had to hang up before he started crying.

The conversation didn’t help at all. It only made him more sad. He hated that his family had to go through so much trouble. They didn’t deserve the suffering and trauma that life threw at them.

He needed answers, but he wouldn’t be able to hear another sob story from the people he loved. He had to go to a safe source that wasn’t as deer to him as the foxes.

“Aaron, Is something wrong with Kevin?” Jeremy Knox asked on the other line and Aaron didn’t expect that to be the first sentence.

“Yhm, no.” He stuttered. “I just have a question for you, actually I have the same question for Jean, so if he’s also there you can put me on speaker.”

He heard some quiet mutters and some moving around and waited patiently for both of them to hear him.

“Okay, Aaron we’re both here, what’s your question?” Jeremy asked.

“This may be too forward and feel free to just hang up on me, I won’t hold it against you, but I was wondering how you guys knew you were gay.”

There was silence on the other end of the line and for a moment he was sure they took him up on the offer of hanging up.

“Well,” Jean broke the silence, “For starters I’m not, I’m bi.” He said and Aaron held his breath.

That was what he was wondering about the most. His brother and his cousin, they never knew how it was to love a woman romantically. They didn’t need to wonder if their feelings for men were different, because it was so obvious that they were.

“It wasn’t hard to know that I like girls. It was something that was expected and I could never deny my feelings on the matter when I saw a beautiful woman walking by.” Jean said and Aaron was waiting for the interesting part to start. “Men on the other hand, were far more difficult.” Jean said with a bitter laugh. “ I don’t know how much you know about my past, but let's just say that your brother and I share a similar experience.” Aaron could hear the tremble in Jean’s voice.

He mentally kicked himself for not seeing it coming. How could he think Jean wouldn’ have a heart wrenching story.

“You don’t have to tell me anything else, I get it.” He said with desperation, because he couldn’t handle another one of this type of conversation today.

“Not all men are monsters. Jeremy is the best thing that happened to me and the guy I was in love with back in the nest is not that bad either.” Jean said a little bit more cheerfully.

“You were in love with Kevin.” Aaron meant to phrase it like a question, but realized that it wasn’t one.

“Yeah, but don’t worry it was a long time ago.”

Aaron wanted to argue that there was no reason why he would worry since he and Kevin were just friends, but decided against it. He didn't have time or energy for that.

“I just knew.” Jeremy said and Aaron rolled his eyes. “I know that it is probably no help at all.” The striker laughed and Aaron couldn’t help but agree. “Did you talk to Kevin about it?”

“No.” Aaron replied firmly.

He was tired of people telling him to talk to Kevin. It was pointless.

“Thanks.” He said and hung up without saying goodbye.

None of this was helping at all. His head was full of questions that were only multiplying with every second. He had one more person he wanted to call.

“What’s up?” Allison's voice sounded through the speaker.

Aaron looked at his phone surprised, thinking for a second that he dialed the wrong number.

“I’m calling Renee.” He said annoyed.

“She’s sleeping, what do you want?”

Aaron wanted to avoid talking to Alliosn since she would definitely be more judgmental than helpful, but thought that he had nothing left to lose.

“How did you know you were bi?”

There was laughter on the other end of the line and Aaron sighed with annoyance.

“Are you going to keep laughing or answer my question?”

Allison laughed some more before calming down and finally speaking.

“Have you seen girls? They’re hot.” Aaron flopped himself back on the bed with a groan. “Have you talked to Kevin about it?”

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” Aaron didn’t even try to hide his frustration.

“Well, maybe you should listen to that everyone? They sound smart.” Ali said before hanging up.

Aaron was left in silence. He was no closer to getting any answers. They all pretty much said that they just knew. Some of them had some bumps along the way, but it seemed to always be in the back of their minds.

It wasn’t like that for Aaron.

He opened the door of the guest room once again and walked into the living room.

“I talked to some people, gathered some data and now I can conclude with a one hundredth percent certainty,” he saw both Neil and Andrew hold their breaths and he smiled before saying his next words, “that I am very much straight.”

He saw his brother's hands tense in his lap and Neil layed down on the sofa dramatically with a groan, but he didn’t care.

He was finally sure of himself and was very happy about his discovery.

Chapter Text

Aaron spent the night at Andrew’s and Neil’s apartment not ready to face Kevin just yet. He got up early after the worst sleep he had in months. He was so used to having another body beside him that he spent the whole night tossing and turning in search of Kevin’s warmth.

When he opened the door to their apartment he almost felt relieved. That was before he noticed the empty bottle of vodka standing on the kitchen counter. He felt his blood run cold and rushed to the bedroom in search of Kevin.

The bed looked like it hadn't been slept in at all the previous night and Aaron started to sweat. He felt his heartbeat quicken and was about to run out the door to find Kevin, before he spotted a mop of dark hair picking above the side of the bed.

He made his way around, his steps careful to not spook the other man. He didn’t know in what state he was going to find Kevin. He was hoping that the bottle he saw in the kitchen was the only one he had consumed, but he had to brace himself for the worst.

He sat down next to Kevin who was motionless. His gaze was fixed on the wall in front of him and his face was red and covered in dried tears.

“Hi, Kev.” He said softly and put his hand on his friend’s thigh and gently squeezed. “How are you feeling?”

“Like shit.” Kevin replied with a hoarse voice.

Aaron wanted to tell him that with the amount of alcohol he drank it was no surprise, but he knew that this was not a time for jokes.

“I didn’t drink it.” Kevin said after a moment of silence. “I bought it.” He added with a hard swallow and a tremble to his voice. “I opened it and thought to myself, “Why the hell not?”, you know? I really wanted to, I really, really did.” He let out a quiet sob and Aaron scooted himself even closer. “And the thing is that it’s been so long, you know?”

“I know, Kevin.” He said while squeezing Kevin’s leg once more. “I know and we are all so proud of you, I’m so proud of you.” He whispered.

Kevin shook his head.

“No, I don’t mean the six years of being sober.” He finally looked Aaron in the eyes and the blonde felt all the air leaving his lungs. “I mean the past months. I used to think about drinking every day. It was getting easier and easier, but there wasn’t a day when I didn’t think about it.” He put his hand on the one Aaron still had over his thigh and intertwined their fingers. “And then I had you by my side and it stopped being every day, it started being every other day and then three times a week and then only when I saw other people drinking, but then yesterday-”

“I’m so sorry.” Aaron said through his own tears.

He didn’t even realize he started crying until this very moment.

“No, don’t be sorry. I’m sorry.” Kevin turned Aaron’s way completely and put his hands on his face wiping away the tears. “I know you’re not homophobic, I know that you were nice to Kate, okay? I know you.”

Aaron surged forward and hugged Kevin as tightly as he could. He wanted to squeeze all of Kevin’s worries away, he wanted to envelop this beautiful, caring, sometimes slightly unhinged man into a bubble of safe warmth and never let him go.

Kevin hugged him back just as tightly and they stayed there in each other’s arms on their bedroom floor for what felt like hours.

“Not that I’m not loving this, but I feel like we both didn’t sleep well today, so how about we move this to our very comfortable bed that is literally behind us? I think our limbs and backs will thank us.” Aaron suggested and almost melted at the quiet chuckle it wrung out of Kevin.

They stood up and were about to lay down before Aaron remembered something.

“Go ahead, I’ll be just a moment.” He said without looking at Kevin.

He walked into their kitchen and took the empty bottle from the counter. He quickly ran downstairs to the dumpster and threw it away so it wouldn’t hunt Kevin when they woke up.

He headed back to the apartment and entered the bedroom. Kevin was laying on his back and almost dozing off already. Aaron thought that his heart could definitely not take the adorable sight in front of him. Without further ado he jumped forward on the bed and landed right on top of Kevin who let out a quiet yelp of protest before relaxing back into the mattress with the familiar weight above him.

“What do you think about a double date with Kate and her girlfriend?” Aaron whispered.

“Whatever you want, baby.” Kevin mumbled clearly already half-asleep.

If Aaron was less exhausted he would have probably spiraled about the fact the pet name made his heart skip a beat, but instead he fell asleep to the lullaby of Kevin’s heartbeat.

***

Kevin woke up with Aaron in his arms and for a moment he forgot what almost happened the previous night. He hated himself for the fact that he almost fell off the wagon. He was doing so well and for so long too, even while thinking about it every day he had never bought any alcohol with the thought of drinking it himself, since his last relapse.

It was all because for a moment there he let himself believe that he was over it. That just because he had Aaron by his side he didn’t have to be hyper focused every day on staying sober.

He felt Aaron waking up and held his breath. He knew what needed to be done. He had to end it, before it got too dangerous. He had to be strong and end the best thing that ever happened to him, because he was scared that if it ended not on his terms it would kill him.

All the rational thoughts went out the window the moment he saw Aaron’s bright smile. The blonde looked at him with something in his eyes that reminded Kevin of love even though he knew it was impossible.

Well maybe not impossible. He knew he was loved by his family, Aaron was a part of that family and he probably did love him as a friend, but any time he looked at him like that his heart skipped a beat and his thoughts were running a hundred miles per minute.

“ ‘morning.” Aaron mumbled into Kevin’s chest and all thoughts about ending this evaporated completely.

He was going to cherish it for however long he could and deal with the consequences later.

“Good morning.” His voice was hoarse, “Are we okay?” He asked.

Aaron propped himself on his elbow and looked at Kevin with his beautiful hazel eyes. The smile he sent him was blinding and if Kevin wasn’t laying down he would have probably fallen to his knees.

“Of course,” Aaron replied and a look of concern crossed his face. “Are you okay?”

“More or less.” He replied, not wanting to lie to Aaron.

Aaron only nodded and got up from the bed. Kevin was already mourning the loss of his warmth.

“Aaron,” He whispered and the blonde turned around halfway to the door. “Are we still doing this?”

“Doing what?” Kevin could swear he heard fear in the other’s voice.

“Fake dating.” The first word sounded bitter on his tongue.

“Do you not want to?” Aaron sat on the bed close to Kevin’s legs and grabbed him by the ankle.

He looked like he wasn’t even thinking about the gesture. Like it was natural to him to just grab whatever part of Kevin’s body was the closest.

“Or maybe you want to finally ask that guy you have a crush on a date?” He added with something in his voice Kevin wasn’t able to interpret.

For a moment he was confused and then he remembered the conversation with Allison that Aaron caught the end of and he almost laughed at the prospect that Aaron still thought Keviin had a crush on a random guy, when all he ever wanted was sitting right in front of him.

“No, I don’t have a crush on anyone.” It wasn’t a lie, the things he felt for Aaron could not be described as a crush. There were no words that could accurately represent the longing in Kevin’s heart.

“Do you want to try and win Katelyn back?” He asked in return, while holding his breath.

Aaron shook his head with a laugh.

“God, no.” He said with a squeeze to Kevin’s calf. “She is happy with her girlfriend and I don’t want to ruin it for her, besides I think we were better off as friends. That’s why I want to go on a double date. I miss her.”

“Okay, we can do that.” Kevin replied, because he would have given Aaron everything he ever wanted.

The smile that was sent his way was worth every pain it was about to cause him soon. For now Kevin would let himself live in the fantasy for a little while longer.

***

The next day Aaron walked into the hospital a little bit lighter. He was still worried about Kevin, but he wanted to believe that the striker had everything under control.

He saw Katelyn across the hall and did a little awkward jog in her direction while calling her name.

“Kate, Hi!” He said way too enthusiastically.

She smiled and stopped in her tracks.

“Hello,” She did a little awkward wave and Aaron was glad he wasn't the only one acting like an idiot.

“I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” She asked surprised. “For what? I should be the one apologizing.”

“No, absolutely not. You took me off gourd and I should have welcomed you back better.”

“I just showed up at your place of work-”

“Our place of work.”

“Without giving you heads up and we haven’t talked for three years, because I moved out and now I showed up with a girlfriend-”

“Well I have a boyfriend so-”

“Yeah and I was completely inappropriate about it-”

“No, no you weren’t, I was-”

“You weren’t.”

They both stopped talking, because there was too much overlap of their word-vomits. They stood there for a second and promptly bursted out laughing at the same time. People were staring at them, but neither one of them cared about that.

God, how Aaron had missed her. It was always so easy to just laugh with her and talk about anything.

At least until the end. The last months of their relationship were terrible. He wished they could forget all about it and start from the beginning.

“Okay,” Kate started after both of them calmed down a little., “how about we agree that neither of us has anything to apologize for, huh?”

“Yeah, that works.” Aaron replied with a smile. “I actually chased you to ask if you were interested in a double date?”

She sent him a shy smile and looked down at her shoes.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” She asked, not looking him in the eyes.

“We were miserable together at the end.” He said and she looked at him with widened eyes. “Neither of us wanted to admit it and it broke us. I think you moving out was the only thing that gave us the courage to end it. I’m happy that you found someone who makes you happy and I would love to meet her.” He paused and took a deep breath. “I miss my best friend.”

She was looking at him with tears in her eyes and nodded slightly.

“I miss mine too.” She whispered and Aaron had to excuse himself soon, because he refused to cry in the middle of a hospital he worked in.

He cleared his throat and looked down.

“Great, then we can decide on the details later, I’m already late for my shift.” He wasn’t, he was actually twenty minutes early, but he desperately needed the excuse.

“Yeah, see you.” Kate replied in a rush and walked away.

***

The double date was harder to put together than Aaron originally thought. Between the schedules of two doctors, one professional Exy player and apparently a firefighter, it was damn near impossible to find a day that worked for everyone.

They finally settled on a Sunday three weeks after their initial conversation and Aaron was kind of freaking out. He and Katelyn started to talk a lot at work and it was so easy to fall back into a friendship with her.

He was freaking out about meeting the girlfriend. He didn’t know what awful things Katelyn might have told her about Aaron when they first met. After their break up they were both very much pissed off at one another, even though Aaron insisted that they ended up on good terms.

He knew that if he said otherwise Andrew would do something stupid like fly over to Katelyn’s new apartment and stab her.

“You’re thinking too loudly.” Andrew said from the spot next to Aaron’s on a couch.

They were watching some stupid baking show that Andrew seemed to be a fan of and Aaron only tolerated, to spend time with his brother.

“She’s a firefighter Andrew, a real fucking firefighter.” He said and saw Andrew pausing the show in a sign that he was listening. “She could probably beat me up without breaking a sweat.”

“Do you want to borrow my knives?” Andrew asked casually, as if he was asking about the weather and not offering him a weapon.

Aaron’s first instinct was to refuse, but he paused to consider his options. Maybe it would be good to have some reassurance. If she attacked him, he had no chance of defending himself, but with some knives-

No, that was stupid. She was a civilized person, why would she want to do anything to him.

“No,” He said firmly, “your knives are not a solution to every problem, Andrew.”

Andrew only shrugged, not bothered at all by the comment.

“Me and Neil could go to the same restaurant and keep an eye on you.”

“Oh, and you think my carbon copy two tables over would not raise any suspicion? Or are you going to take a page out of your boyfriend’s book and disguise yourself with cheap contacts and hair dye?” Aaron mocked.

“Not my boyfriend.” Andrew replied, bored.

“Are you seriously still on that?” Aaron asked in disbelief.

He would have thought that after all these years Andrew would be able to admit what Neil meant to him, clearly he was wrong.

Andrew only shrugged and went to unpause the TV. The rest of the evening they spent in silence. Switching between shows from ones that Andrew enjoyed to the ones Aaron did.

That was their routine. Once in every couple of weeks they would meet up to just sit together and watch something or play video games. They started it back in college and it was their way of bonding.

Aaron cherished every moment they spent together and he liked to believe that Andrew did as well.

***

Kevin and Neil were out on the court. They knew that the twins needed their brotherly-hang out and didn’t want to disturb the bonding.

They just finished with all the drills and went back to the locker room to change. Neil took out his phone from his bag and started scrolling through it.

“Jesus, Joe is getting more ridiculous with every article.” Neil said and Kevin tensed at the mention of his ex-boyfriend.

With all the other things that were going on recently he had completely forgotten about his existence.

“I stopped reading them.” He said and saw Neil pause.

The redhead looked at him with a tilted head and confusion.

“I don’t care about what he has to say anymore.” Kevin clarified.

“Why keep the charade then?” Neil asked and Kevin felt blush creeping up his face.

He knew that Neil probably suspected the reason. Andrew knew and even though Kevin was sure that the blonde wouldn’t tell Neil without explicit permission he was still kind of going on the assumption that Neil knew.

“You know why.” He whispered, not looking the other striker in the eyes.

“Does he?” Neil asked.

Kevin clenched his fist and chose to ignore that question. He didn’t want to explain himself to Neil. He knew that maybe he was not being fair to Aaron by not giving him all the information, but he was pretty sure Aaron didn't want their arrangement to end as well.

He was pretty sure Aaron felt safe in their ‘relationship’ and was using Kevin as a placeholder for when he was ready to move on to someone else. Someone who he could really fall in love with.

Kevin knew that it was going to break his heart when it finally happened, but he chose to not think about it. He refused to let Neil get in his head.

He slammed his locker shut and went out the door without sparing Neil another look. He knew he was being unfair and he should not treat his friend like that, but he couldn't help himself.

***

Sunday came way too quickly. Kevin was nervous. He was getting ready for the double date and was already sweating through his clothes. He was scared of seeing Katelyn and Aaron interact. Aaron kept insisting that he had no feelings for her anymore and he was happy being friends, but Kevin wasn’t so sure about that.

“Come on, Kev. We will be late.” Aaron said for the tenth time.

He was all over the place the whole day and that only fueled Kevin’s suspicions. He fixed his tie and checked his hair in the mirror for the last time. After taking a deep breath he turned around and was met with Aaron looking better than he has ever seen him.

To be honest every time Kevin saw the man he thought that he looked better and better, but right now it was not an exaggeration. He swallowed hard and tried to not show how sad it made him feel that Aaron dressed up like that for his ex-girlfriend and grabbed the keys to his car.

“Let’s go, then.” He said. “Before you jump out of your skin.” He mumbled under his breath.

***

They entered the restaurant and Aaron had to slide his hands on his pants to wipe up the sweat gathering there. He was no longer nervous about Kate’s girlfriend killing him, but he was very much concerned about the possibility of her not liking him.

What if she would stop Katelyn from ever talking to him if he didn't make a good impression. He just got her back, he couldn’t bear to lose her again.

Kevin was as tense as him and Aaron had no idea why. Kevin never really cared if people found him likable. He could smile for a camera, but other than that he didn’t mind being an asshole. Aaron couldn’t think of a reason why he would start caring now.

The girls were already sitting at the table and Aaron had to admit that Katelyn’s girlfriend was gorgeous.

“Aaron, Hi.” Kate said while waving him to their table. “This is Anny.” She introduced the other woman.

“I heard so much about you.” Anny reached a hand to Aaron and he took it.

She had a strong grip, but somehow he could tell that it wasn’t supposed to intimidate him.

“Only good things I hope.” He laughed. “This is my boyfriend Kevin.”

Kevin put one of his best fake smiles and Aaron wanted to laugh at the fact that he was wasting it on the girls.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Kevin first shook Anny’s hand and then turned to Katelyn with a nervous smile. “Katelyn, long time no see.” He said before cringing a little.

Kate laughed nervously and reached to hug Kevin.

“Too long.” She replied, looking at Aaron.

“Okay,” Aaron clapped his hands to stop them from getting into an awkward silence. “Let’s eat.”

***

“Do you remember that girl with her finger stuck in a keyhole?” Katelyn said with a laugh and Aaron almost fell off the chair.

“They had to move her with the door.” He said through his own laughter. “I’m still not sure how they fit it into the ambulance.”

“Wait, they moved her with the whole door?” Anny asked, through her own laugh.

Kevin was sitting there and smiling into his glass of soda. The stories weren’t so funny to the people who didn’t live them, but Anny seemed like a person who was easily amused. Or maybe it was just the fact that her girlfriend was laughing and that was enough for her.

It was kind of adorable. The way they looked at each other. It was clear that they were in love and very happy about it. It also served as a final proof to Kevin that Aaron was truly over Katelyn. He looked at her with affection as well, but the looks couldn’t be more different.

Kevin remembered how Aaron used to gaze longly at Katelyn back in college and this wasn’t anything like that.

Without even thinking about it he completely tunned out of the conversation. Suddenly there were three pairs of eyes looking at him and he had no idea what the question was.

“Sorry, what?” He asked and they all shared a small laugh like they knew about a joke he wasn’t a part of.

“Anny is an Exy fan,” that got Kevin’s attention. “She was wondering what it was like to play pro.” Katelyn said and Aaron looked at him with a fond smile and a look that told Kevin that Aaron was very aware that a beast was about to be unleashed.

“Really?” He turned excitedly to Anny.

“Yeah, I actually played in college, but didn’t go pro.” She replied.

“Why not?” He asked with disbelief and could see Aaron rolling his eyes.

Anny shrugged at that.

“I wasn’t that good. I like where I ended up, but I still love watching the games.”

“I can get you a season ticket if you want.” He saw her eyes light up. “What team did you play for?”

“The Trojans.”

“Really, do you know Jeremy?” He asked with interest.

“Yeah, I was two years ahead of him.”

“I’m surprised Kevin didn’t recognize you, he is like the biggest Trojans fan.” Aaron teased and Kevin realized that it was in fact very weird he didn’t recognize Anny.

“My last name is Pearson.” She seemed nervous.

That rang a bell, but he only knew one Pearson.

“Is Dylan your brother?” He asked and saw Anny sending a nervous glance at Katelyn's direction.

Katelyn grabbed her hand and squeezed in encouragement or comfort, Kevin didn’t know.

“No,” Anny replied and Aaron let out a quiet sound that sounded like understanding, but Kevin was still lost. “That’s what my name used to be.”

“Oh,” it all clicked into place and Kevin felt a little stupid for making her uncomfortable like that. “What are you talking about, not good enough. You were one of the best dealers back in your day.”

The smile she sent him told him that at least once in his life he said the right thing. It was easy. If he could make everyone comfortable by talking about Exy, he would have been the best shoulder to cry on in the world.

After that he fell into an easy conversation with Anny about Exy while Aaron and Katelyn kept exchanging funny memories from their past.

He was very happy about the turn of events and couldn't wait to hang out with them again.

Chapter Text

Aaron hated official events. He hated them back in college when he had to go on all the Exy-realted balls, he hated them when it was organized for the hospital he worked in and he especially hated them when it was some charity event Kevin was required to go to. So far he has managed to avoid every single one of those. He always had work as an excuse, but not this time.

As he was finishing up tying his tie, he cursed himself for ever opening his mouth at that memorable interview he did a year ago. He should have just let Kevin deal with it on his own and he could live happily without ever putting on a suit again.

He could also live happily without the knowledge of what Kevin in a suit did to his insides. He felt like his lungs stopped working completely and his mouth was probably lying on the floor.

He has seen Kevin in a suit before, but not like that. Kevin was wearing pants that hugged his legs, his very long, sinful legs, in all the right places. Aaron felt short of fainting and he couldn’t believe his thoughts.

Kevin looked like sex on legs and Aaron was very much panicking. Just a couple weeks ago he went over a whole sexuality crisis and got out of it with a certainty that he was very much straight.

The sight of Kevin flipped his whole view on the matter upside down. He wanted to drag Kevin into a kiss, not because he was just a convenient person around, but because he was the most beautiful human Aaron has ever seen.

Aaron wanted to drop to his knees and do things to Kevin that he never knew were even in the realm of a possibility for him.

He had to face the facts.

He was attracted to Kevin. He wanted to kiss him and touch him in a very not platonic manner. He wanted Kevin to never be with anyone else ever again, he wanted to keep waking up next to him, in his arms with his stupid smile that melted Aaron’s brain.

He wanted them to grow old together and to never let each other go, and maybe raise some children together that would share Kevin’s obsession with Exy, because even though the striker was a terrible teacher, Aaron knew that he would have patience with their children and-

Oh.

Oh.

Oh, no. Oh God. He was in love with Kevin. How the fuck had he not seen it before. It was so obvious and everyone beside him knew that.

He hoped Kevin didn’t know, if he did he would have probably run the other direction. That wasn’t what they agreed on, love wasn’t a part of their deal.

Aaron was terrible at hiding his feelings, once he was aware of them. It would be only a matter of time before Kevin would realize that he had unwanted feelings directed his way. He would end it faster than Aaron would be able to apologize for them.

They were on their way to the charity event. An event during which Aaron was supposed to act like he was madly in love with Kevin. It was a thing that he got pretty good at, but what if he actually never had to pretend. He was never a good actor, yet he managed to convince everyone, apart from the asshole, that he and Kevin were together.

How long had he had feelings for the other man without realizing? How stupid has he been all this time?

Katelyn wasn’t surprised, she said that they shared a bond in college. Was Aaron already into Kevin back then? Could he have known this whole time that he was attracted to man?

Was he attracted to man, or was it just Kevin?

His mind was going a million miles per hour and he started to have difficulty breathing. Next to him, Kevin grabbed his leg, while driving the car, in a calming gesture, but it only served as fuel for more spiral.

What if that hand went higher?

“You good?” Kevin asked next to him so softly Aaron melted into the backseat.

He managed a nod and nothing else. He was scared that if he opened his mouth a love confession would come out of it and he couldn’t do that to them. Kevinn didn't look like he believed him, but thankfully did not press the matter further.

They arrived at their destination and walked out the car, giving the keys to the guy standing in front of the door to park it for them.

They walked hand in hand and Aaron wondered if Kevin felt how sweaty his palms were. He was hoping that Kevin would interpret his behavior as jitters because of so many people and not question him about it.

They walked in and Kevin did a few introductions, but Aaron could not take in anything happening around him that wasn’t Kevin’s hand in his.

Kevin’s left hand.

The man trusted him with his most prized possession that was hurt so badly once before. Aaron wanted to sit down right there and then and just start bowling from how much he loved the other.

There was suddenly a hand on his chin and he stopped breathing for the few seconds it took Kevin to lean down and kiss him softly.

The kiss was chaste and sweet and Aaron knew that it was impossible for this to be the best kiss of his life, but it was. He was being kissed by the literal God and he felt his knees buckle a little.

Kevin had to grab him by the waist so he wouldn’t fall to the floor. He leaned back a little from Aaron and looked at him with a frown.

“There was a camera there.” Kevin pointed his head in the direction of a reporter.

At least that's what Aaron thought he was showing him, because he wasn’t able to actually look that way, since that would require looking away from Kevin’s beautiful, green eyes.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Kevin had a concerned look on his face.

“I don’t want to ruin your night.” Aaron replied, barely managing to get the tremble in his voice under control.

“I don’t care. If you’re not feeling good, we can go.” Kevin said and after Aaron’s small nod, he led them to the exit.

***

For the last few days Aaron was not acting like himself and Kevin was starting to get worried. They usually well put together man was tripping over himself any time he saw Kevin and could barely string together a single coherent sentence.

Kevin was scared that the other man finally figured out that Kevin was in love with him and now felt uncomfortable. He probably tried to find a nice way to let Kevin down easily and not hurt his feelings.

Kevin could not think about any of that right now. He had a game to play and they were already a half in. It was the last time before the death matches. The shadow’s had already secured their places in the future games, but Kevin was not about to ease up his game, because of that irrelevant fact.

He had to keep a one track mind about this and the thoughts of his fake boyfriend were definitely not helping his game.

He went out back on the court and without even realizing it let his eyes wander to the place where Aaron usually sat. There was no sight of Minyard there, which Kevin knew would be the case since the blonde had to work. He was going to join them in the Rainbow Palace later for some celebration. Kevin didn’t like the fact that there was a celebration already planned since they didn’t know if they would win, but he wasn’t about to argue with Mark on that subject.

“Day,” Neil said next to him, snapping him out of his daze, “focus.”

Kevin nodded and threw himself into the frill of the game.

At the end they won ten to five, but Kevin wasn’t thinking about that. He was once again looking at the direction he would usually see Aaron in and there he was.

He must have finished up his shift early and came to catch the last minutes of the game. Kevin couldn’t hide the content smile on his face. There were people all around him, cheering him on and he only had eyes for one person.

***

The Rainbow Palace was not a place Aaron was really a fan of. It was too loud with too many people around. Back in his youth, he enjoyed going to Eden’s very much, but these days he would rather stay curled up on the couch with a good book and Kevin by his side.

He was getting old.

He especially didn’t like the fact that this club was frequented by his enemy number one. Man he hated with his whole being and that he would very much punch in the face if not for Kevin asking him nicely not to.

The very man who was sitting in one of the booths and looking at him with a smirk on his face that Aaron took as a personal challenge.

He was on his way from the bathroom and slowly, to not seem desperate, but surely approached the booth Kevin was currently sitting in.

He grabbed Kevin by the collar of his shirt and hoisted him up a little while leaning down himself. He didn’t kiss him, but to the outside perspective it would have looked like he did.

“Come dance with me.” He whispered into the non existent space between them.

“What?” Kevin said while choking on his saliva a little.

“Your prick of an ex doesn’t believe we’re together, come prove him wrong.” Aaron said with a desperation in his voice.

The whole Joe thing was only part of the reason why he wanted Kevin on the dance floor. He didn’t even really talk to the guy, but it was a safe bet that he still didn’t believe them. Honestly, it served more as an excuse to something Aaron has been thinking about the second he stepped into this club.

Scratch that, it was something he had been thinking about since he saw Kevin in the suit during the charity ball. He wanted to drop to his knees then and there, but he had convinced himself that Kevin wouldn’t want that. After seeing the way Kevin looked at him after a won Exy game, when his eyes were on Aaron and Aaron alone even though he was on his precious court, he realized that maybe he had more of a chance then he originally thought.

“Joe?” Kevin squicked and started to look around.

Aaron grabbed him by his chin and turned his head so that the only thing Kevin saw was him. He didn’t want to share Kevin’s attention with anyone else.

“No, look at me.” He said and he saw Kevin’s eyes widen. “Come dance with me.” He said again and it sounded suspiciously like a whine.

He saw Kevin swallow and his Adam’s apple bobbed with the movement. Aaron wanted to take a bite of it. He wanted to lick Kevin’s throat from bottom to top and bite his jaw for a good measure.

He felt Kevin nod and the dark haired man started to get up. Aaron grabbed him by the wrist and practically dragged him on the dance floor.

It wouldn’t be the first time they danced together. Back in college they used to do it all the time at Edan’s. After Kevin stopped drinking he didn’t like to stay at the table so he joined them on the dance floor.

This wasn’t anything like back in college. Back then they kept their respectful distance and after a song or two of dancing next to each other they would let themselves be swept away by random people.

Now Aaron wrapped his arms around Kevin’s neck immediately and put their bodies flush together. He thought to himself that if any person here would try to even brush against Kevin he would punch them in the face.

Kevin seemed tense and for a moment Aaron shook himself out of his daze and stopped moving.

“Is this okay?” He asked with a small voice.

It had just occurred to him that he might have made Kevin uncomfortable and that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Yeah,” Kevin said breathlessly, “I just, are you sure about this?” Kevin asked.

His hands were still hovering above Aaron’s hips as if he was unsure if he was allowed to touch. Aaron grabbed his hands and put them on his waist. Kevin squeezed a little and Aaron had to suppress a moan.

“Yeah, Kev. I’m sure.” He said and pulled Kevin’s head down a little. He put his mouth to Kevin’s ear and whispered. “Let’s give that asshole a show.” He said and he felt Kevin shiver.

After that there was no holding back from either of them. At some point Kevin had turned Aaron around and grabbed him roughly by the hips. They began to grind against each other slowly and Aaron could feel Kevin’s erection through the man’s tight jeans.

For a moment he let himself be lost in the movement. He forgot that they were only doing it to get the prick to fuck off, he forgot that they weren’t even together in the first place. He forgot that technically he still wasn’t sure if Kevin felt the same way.

With every kiss that Kevin has planted on his neck he felt himself drift farther and farther into the fantasy. He opened his eyes at one of a particularly hard thrust of Kevin’s hips paired with a bite to his collarbone and saw Joe looking at them.

He didn’t want to see that man. He hated that Abbott was the only reason they were doing this. He spooned around to face Kevin again and immediately got lost in the once green eyes that now were so dark that Aaron almost didn’t recognize them.

He surged forward and claimed Kevin’s lips in a desperate kiss. It was far from the first time he had kissed the striker, but the kisses were always chaste. They were just so someone could catch them on camera or a small peck during the charity event.

This was far from chaste. They kissed like they were the only people in the room. At some point Kevin had picked Aaron up to not cram his neck and somehow they found themselves on the edge of the dance floor. Kevin had Aaron pinned against a wall and was absolutely devouring his mouth.

Aaron desperately grabbed at Kevin’s hair and was pulling it so hard he was afraid of ripping it out. He would have stopped if it didn’t sprung all those beautiful noises out of Kevin.

Kevin had stopped kissing his mouth and Aaron wanted to cry at the loss, but was quickly rewarded with Kevin’s kisses covering every inch of his neck. He was pretty sure that Kevin was leaving marks and groaned at the thought. He wanted to be marked up by the man.

He leaned his head against the wall and turned it a little to the left to give Kevin more access. He made a mistake of opening his eyes for a second and saw Joe lurking close to them.

This whole thing between them may have started as a way to convince Joe that they were really together, but Aaron didn’t want that any more. This was supposed to be for them, no one else.

He gently pushed Kevin’s head away, but almost forgot why at Kevin’s quiet whine of protest.

“Take me home.” Aaron whispered into Kevin’s ear and gently took the man’s earlobe in his mouth to suck on it.

Kevin’s hips hitched forward and Aaron moaned at the contact.

“Why?” Kevin asked breathlessly and rocked his hips a little bit more.

Aaron had to focus really hard on what he wanted to say, because Kevin had him feeling crazy with lust.

“Joe is looking.” Aaron replied while squeezing Kevin’s middle with his legs.

“Isn’t that the point?” Kevin asked into Aaron’s neck.

Aaron shook his head. Maybe in other circumstances he would have let his insecurities and fears win right now, but not this time. Right now he felt drunk and not because of the alcohol since he didn’t drink any to not trigger Kevin in any way, but because of the addictive kisses of the other man, so he said the words that he wanted to, almost from the beginning of this whole charade, even if he just realized it a couple weeks ago.

“I don’t want it to be the point.” He confessed quietly.

Kevin’s head shot up from his shoulder and he looked at Aaron with hope in his eyes.

“You don’t?” Kevin said and his voice was dripping with emotion.

Aaron shook his head and kissed Kevin on the nose. “No, I want you to take me home, because you want to take me home and not because we are trying to convince someone that we are together.” He said and took a deep breath before saying the next words. “Do you?” He asked even though he already knew the answer. “Want to take me home, that is?”

Kevin laughed at that and hoisted Aaron up even higher in his arms to put his head on the blonde’s chest.

“You have no idea how much I want to do that.” Kevin said into Aaron’s T-shirt.

He hugged Aaron a little bit closer to himself for a second and then deposited him back on the floor. Aaron felt like his legs stopped working and was glad that Kevin didn’t pull away from him completely.

“Let’s go home.” Kevin said and Aaron had never been happier.

Chapter Text

The whole way back to their apartment was literal torture for Aaron. Now that he knew that he was attracted to Kevin and that Kevin wanted him back it was very hard to keep his hands to himself. The fact that Kevinn looked amazing while driving combined with the fact he was already horny from the dancing and making out in the club was not helping the matter.

But Aaron had to refrain himself from what he wanted, because when he put his hand on Kevin’s thigh at the beginning of the drive, the other man almost sent them into an accident. So Aaron was trying to be good and patient, but the anticipation brewing in his whole body was getting overwhelming.

They finally arrived at their destination and practically ran to the front door of their building. If not for the fact that they had company in the elevator they would probably be already back to making out like teenagers.

In front of their front door Aaron was frantically trying to open it, but Kevin was making it impossible. The striker plastered himself against Aaron’s back and put his hands on the blonde’s hips. He wasn’t doing anything more, but the contact of the other’s body alone was enough for Aaron’s brain to stop working completely.

Once inside neither one of them could wait anymore and Aaron found himself practically slammed against the front door with a gentle hand on the back of his head to soften the blow and Kevin’s eager mouth against his.

Aaron had no idea that the ease Kevin was able to manhandle him with would be such a turn on for him, but yet here they were. Their height difference always bothered Aaron to no end, but now he felt himself further hardening in his pants from the mare thought of Kevin being so much bigger than him.

“Pick me up again.” He whined into the other’s lips.

He had no intention to voice his desires out loud, but his brain was in scrumbles and it refused to cooperate with his mouth so he just blurted it out. He had half a mind to be embarrassed, but that feeling was thrown out the window and replaced by a burning need the second Kevin complied with his request.

Kevin picked him up and instead of keeping him pressed into the front door started to make his way to their bedroom. Aaron felt like he was about to vibrate out of his body and put his hands in the dark hair in front of him to keep himself grounded.

He was thrown onto the bed and moaned from the feeling, but it quickly turned into a whine of displeasure when the weight of Kevin didn’t immediately follow. He was about to voice his disappointment further, but his voice caught in his throat at the sight in front of him.

Kevin was slowly unbuttoning his shirt. HIs jacket was already on the floor and Aaron hated the fact that he missed that. He didn’t want to miss anything more and suddenly felt jealousy rise deep in his chest that he wasn’t the one undressing Kevin.

“Stop.” He said firmly and Kevin stopped in his tracks.

There was a small furrow to his brow and Aaron knew that the other man probably started panicking so he surged into action immediately to not worry him further.

He got up on his knees and took Kevin by the sleeve of his still on, but now fully unbuttoned shirt and pulled him closer. He put his hands on Kevin’s lower stomach and felt the muscles there tensing and relaxing under his gentle touches. He made his way higher and higher, appreciating every inch of Kevin’s mouthwatering chest.

When he reached his shoulders he took the collar of the shirt in a tight grip and started to slide the infuriating material down Kevin’s arms. Kevin was looking at him with his dark eyes and something that looked like wonder. Aaron pulled him down into a slow kiss and tried to conway every feeling he had for the other man with it. He gently bit Kevin’s bottom lip and took advantage of the gasp that it wringed out of the other. He deepened the kiss and started to trace his hands lower, back to Kevin’s stomach, until he reached the waistband of his pants.

“Can I?” He whispered into the space between their lips and got a small nod in return.

Aaron unbuttoned Kevin’s tight jeans and started to pull the fly down, painfully slowly. As much as he wanted to get his hands on Kevin faster, he was very much enjoying the way the slow pace was making Kevin putty in his hands.

He slowly took Kevin’s pants off with the help of the other man and was about to take care of his boxers when the other’s hands stopped him. He looked back up to see if maybe Kevin changed his mind, but he was met with only hunger in his gaze.

“Why am I half naked and you are still fully clothed?” Kevin asked and Aaron looked down at himself.

He didn’t even realize that was the case. He quickly started to change that fact and was left with only boxers in record time. During his actions he ended up sitting on the bed with Kevin’s crotch right in front of his eyes. He felt his mouth water at the sight of the impressive tent in the other’s boxers and without thinking about it surged forward to mouth at the bulge.

Kevin hands in his hair and the sounds that he kept making only encouraged him to double down on his efforts. He brought his hand up and put his fingers below the waistband and started to pull the offensive piece of clothing down while maintaining eye contact with Kevin the whole time.

Once the boxers were down he didn’t waste any more time and licked Kevin’s dick from the base to the top with one slow slide of his tongue. In the back of his head he thought that maybe he should have been more freaked out at his first encounter with another man's cock so close to his face, but he was thinking about tasting Kevin since the charity event, so he was not keen on wasting any more time.

He was about to put the head of Kevin’s dick in his mouth when Kevin pulled him up by his hair into a searing kiss. Kevin grabbed the remaining piece of clothing on Aaron’s body and practically ripped it off of him while pushing him down on the bed and finally covering the blonde with his weight.

He kissed him so thoroughly that Aaron was surprised he was still conscious. He gave up any sense of power and surrendered himself completely to Kevin. He was happy to be at the other man’s mercy and let him do anything he wanted to him.

Kevin seemed to have other ideas, because between all the kisses he was currently scattering over Aaron’s face and neck he whispered. “What do you want?”

Aaron would very much like to answer that question, but between the grinding of their hips and the hickey Kevin was now sucking into his collarbone he wasn’t able to form any coherent sentence.

Kevin must have put that together, because to Aaron’s displeasure he pulled away with one last, soft peck to Aaron’s lips.

“Baby,” Kevin whispered and Aaron melted further into the mattress, “Tell me what you want.”

Aaron took a deep breath to gather his thoughts and to get his breathing under control. He knew what he wanted and was pretty sure Kevin would be more than happy to give it to him, but voicing his desires out loud was never his strong suit.

He pulled Kevin’s head down a little and put his lips against the other’s ear to not look him in the eyes.

“I want you to fuck me.” He felt Kevin shudder and instead of the usual embarrassment his chest was filled with satisfaction.

“Are you sure?” Kevin asked with a strained voice. “You might not like it.”

Aaron rolled his eyes and replied without thinking. “I know I do, I’ve done this before.”

Kevin shot up his head, that was seconds ago resting on Aaron’s shoulder, with shock in his eyes.

“You had sex with a man?” His voice sounded ten times higher than usual.

“No, but I’ve been pegged. Kate wanted to try and after finally coming to the realization that it wouldn’t make me gay I agreed and I liked it. I was right, it didn’t make me gay. I am bi, though. Not that a straight man can’t enjoy that, I’m just saying I don’t belong to that group.” Aaron said in one breath.

“You’re bi?” Kevin was trying to sit, but Aaron’s legs squeezing around his middle didn’t let him go far.

Aaron felt as if he would start crying if Kevin was not in close contact with him.

“Yeah, isn’t that obvious?” He sounded defensive, but it was only a mechanism against his fears and anxiety coming back in full force.

“No, I thought this was some sort of experiment.” Kevin’s eyes were on everything in the room except Aaron’s.

“What? No. Why would you think that?” He asked with disbelief.

How could Kevin, the man that he adored and wanted to love and cherish forever, could ever think he was only an experiment.

“Why would I think you were bi?” The other whispered and Aaron started to hear the sadness in his voice.

“I kissed you.” He knew he sounded the same.

He thought they were finally on the same page and now it turned out Kvin was misunderstanding his intentions massively this whole time.

“We’ve been kissing for a year.”

“Not like that.” Aaron said with a pleading voice, he needed Kevin to understand. “ And I’m about to have sex with you.”

There was no answer to that. Kevin stopped trying to get away and instead buried his face in Aaron’s neck. Aaron felt his skiing gettin wet and only now realized Kevin was quietly sobbing.

“Kev, baby look at me.” He grabbed Kevin by his beautiful face and lifted it so Kevin would meet his pleading gaze. “I’m sorry.” he whispered and hoped that Kevin could recognize the love in his eyes and voice.

“What are you sorry for?” Kevin barely managed to choke out through his tears.

Aaron felt tears gathering in his own eyes. He let them fall, but didn’t let them make his voice tremble. He needed Kevin to understand that he was sure about what he was about to confess.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to realize I’m absolutely fucking head over heels embarsingly in love with you.” He whispered between kisses he was planting on Kevin’s whole face.

“What?” Kevin choked out and pulled his face away from Aaron’s exploring lips to look him in the eyes.

“I'm in-” Aaron started, but didn't finish.

He was once again pressed into the mattress with the full force of Kevin's whole weight. This kiss was so full of love and determination Aaron thought to himself that it was so far his favorite one they shared. It didn't last long, because they were both smiling too much for it to continue.

“I love you too. So much. You have no idea. For so long.” Kevin said and it only made Aaron’s smile grow.

He pulled Kevin into another kiss and enveloped him with both his legs and arms to make sure that Kevin was not going anywhere any time soon.

“Are you going to fuck me now?” He asked between kisses and felt more than heard the answering groan of the other man.

“Whatever you want, my love.” Kevin replied and did just that.

***

The next morning Kevin woke up to the sun poking out of the blinds and the love of his life splattered all across his chest. He could not believe the events that happened yesterday. If not for the fact that they were both still fully naked he would have thought that it was just a dream.

It wouldn’t be the first one, but nothing ever came even close to the reality. Kevin couldn’t
believe that his feelings were actually reciprocated. Aaron loved him back, the other man
was in love with him and he was now laying in his arms, in their bed, which was nothing unusual except for the fact that last night they had the best sex of Kevin’s life.

Kevin had a fair share of partners in his life, almost all of them were good in bed, but Kevin was not prepared for what it was like when he was doping it with the person he loved. It was so much more intense and Kevin felt like his body was going to float away when they finally reached their climax.

Hu hugged the other man closer to himself when he felt him waking up and was met with his favorite smile directed right at him.

“Good morning, sweetheart.” Aaron mumbled while stretching his limbs and immediately after hugging closer to Kevin.

“Good morning.” Kevin trailed his hands down and up Aaron’ back.

Aaron hummed in pleasure and started doing the same to Kevin’s chest. He started to trace his hands lower and lower until he was tracing his fingers through Kevin’s pubic hair.

“Isn’t that hand getting a little too low, baby?” Kevin asked through a moan.

“Yours is not low enough.” Aaron pressed his words into Kevin’s chest.

Kevin laughed at the impatience of his-

He grabbed Aaron’s hand to stop him from reaching for his cock.

“What are we?” He asked and saw confusion written all over the blonde’s face. “ To each other, I mean.”

Aaron smiled and shook his head a little.

“I thought we established that yesterday.” He said with a slight blush to his cheeks. “But since you need me to spell it out for you, so be it.” Aaron pushed at Kevin’s shoulder so he would be completely laid down and climbed onto his legs to straddle him. “I love you.” He reached back with his hand and waited for Kevin's nod before grabbing his cock. “You love me.” He put the head of Kevin's dick against his, still open from the previous night, hole. “You’re the love of my life.” Aaron sank down onto Kevin with an excruciatingly slow pace and Kevin didn’t know if he moaned from the feel of the other’s heat or his words. “But if you need a term to call me, just call me your boyfriend. For real this time.” Aaron started to move up and down and Kevin’s mind was blank.

All the insecurities and fears completely evaporated and all that was left was the man in front of him.

They both groaned at the sound of the phone on their night stand and Kevin was about to reach for it to throw it away, but Aaron was faster. He grabbed the phone that Kevin now realized was his and was about to disconnect the call, but suddenly paused with a smirk.

“It’s Joe.” Aaron said and put the phone to his ear after answering it.

Kevin wanted to ask him what the hell he was doing, but Aaron chose that moment to start riding him in earnest.

“Hello, Joe. Kevin is a little bit occupied right now.” He said, not hiding his moans.

Whatever Joe said on the other line must have been shocking, because Aaron stopped in his tracks with his eyes widening. He got up from Kevin and sat down next to him on the bed with fear in his eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re on about, asshole.” Aaron spat out and put the phone down on the bed with too much force.

“We have a problem.” Aaron turned around to Kevin and the look in his eyes was more serious than Kevin ever saw him.

“Joe wrote an article about you giving all your money to “suspicious” organizations.”

Kevin’s heart sunk into his stomach and he felt panic raising in his chest. The gentle hand in his leg was helping a little, but it wasn’t able to stop his frantic breathing.

***

Aaron tried to calm Kevin down, but was himself completely in shambles. He had no idea what to do. He tried to steer clear from all the mafia drama and his friends' dangerous deals. He should have known it would come to bite them in the ass sooner or later.

He picked up the phone still lying in front of him on the bed and hit the call button.

“Neil, we have a problem.” He said with a tremble to his voice.

“Are you guys in trubbel for fucking in public or something, you gave quiet a show in the club yesterday, it was pretty disgusting.” Neil was way too cheerful for what Aaron was about to tell him.

He hated that he was about to ruin his good mood.

“Don’t tell me you still think you are straight after that, because I don't think I would be able to take that level of idiocy.” Neil kept talking.

“No, I’m bi.” Aaron said to stop Neil from saying anything else. “ Joe is writing an article about Kevin’s choices regarding his donations, he called us to gloat about it and said that he will post the article tomorrow if we don’t tell the public our relationship is fake.” He said in one breath and didn’t wait for Neil’s reply. “How funny is that, huh?” He continued with a bitter laugh. “I finally get my act together and stop pretending that I’m not completely in love with the most perfect man on this whole planet and that fucking asshole decides to throw a temper tantrum.” Aaron felt tears streaming down his face and it was Kevin’s turn to grab him by the leg and squeeze in reassurance.

“Don’t do anything.” Neil finally replied. “The article will do as much damage as you guys saying you were faking it. Call Jean to warn him about what is going on and leave Joe to me.”

“What are you going to do?” Aaron asked, not really sure if he wanted to know the answer.

“The less you know, the better.” Neil said with a stone cold voice that Aaron rarely heard from him and hung up.

Chapter Text

Neil Josten would like to state for the record that he was not a violent man. Everyone who has met him knew that he was way better at starting fights than finishing them.

Andrew, Renee and Matt had all tried to teach him how to fight properly, but he didn’t see the point. He was fast, he could outrun his attacker if the need came and for the rest he was happy to be put behind Andrew and let his partner protect him.

So he was not a violent man when it came to his own safety, but that went out the window the second someone hurt or threatened his family. He had a list of people who he very much would like to deal with in a non friendly manner and Joe Abbott was at the top of that list. He has beaten the guy, who had commented on Andrew’s intake of ice cream during one of their vacations, for the first place.

So maybe Neil didn't have actual evil people on the list, sue him. The people who were actually dangerous were already dealt with and Neil Josten had led a peaceful life that he was very much enjoying.

“So what do we do?” Andrew had asked him after Neil told him what was going on. “Should I go get my knives?”

Neil shook his head. “No, not yet.” He said and paused to gather his thoughts. “We can’t just threaten the guy. We don’t know what his plan is. Maybe he has someone who will upload the article if he doesn’t contact him or something.”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little too paranoid?” Andrew asked.

“We can’t risk it, Andrew. It doesn’t matter if he has any type of proof of his claims. All he has to do is post it and people on the internet will do the rest for him. If it gets tied to the Moriyama's in any way, shape or form we are all screwed.” Neil said, feeling his heartbeat raising.

Andrew nodded with a blank expression, but Neil knew that he was worried too.

“I need to get my binder.” Neil said and walked in the direction of their bedroom.

Andrew trailed after him with a groan. “Not the binder.”

“Yes, the binder.” Neil exclaimed while doing a deep dive into the wardrobe to fish out his most priceless possession. “It’s going to help us.”

“Yes, because the name of his first pet is going to be so helpful in this situation.” Andrew said with an eyeroll. Well, Neil couldn’t really see his eyes, but he was sure they were being rolled.

“It’s useful in password guessing and you know it.” Neil stood back up with the binder in his hands.

It held research about all the people he considered his enemy. It was useful information that could come in handy in situations such as this.

“It helped us back when we were coming up with how to organize Kevin and Aaron’s relationship, remember? Like the bed thing for example.” Neil said proudly.

“You were serious about that?” Andrew could not hide his disbelief. “I thought you were trying to recreate the whole ‘there was only one bed’ trope to get these idiots together.”

“Well, that was part of it, but I genuinely believe that Joe could have watched their windows.” Neil said and then something else occurred to him. “I honestly can't believe it has taken them this long to get their shit together.”

Andrew only shrugged at that. He was no help in the whole scheme of getting the idiots together. He shut down Neil every time he even mentioned it.

It didn’t really matter now. All that mattered was bringin Joe fucking Abbott down. Neil opened his binder and looked through the information that he had gathered there.

“You are ridiculous.” Andrew said next to him.

“Yet you still like me.” Neil said with a grin, not looking up from the binder.

“I hate you.” Andrew replied with no heat behind his words.

Neil looked up smiling even wider. “That doesn’t mean you wouldn’t blow me.” He said and saw Andrew’s eyes darken.

“Yes,” Andrew replied and it made Neil forget what he was doing for a second. “I can do it right now.” Andrew added and took a couple steps closer to Neil.

He wanted to reach up and take Andrew’s face in his hands to kiss the blonde, but he forgot that he was holding something and the loud bang of it hitting the ground took him out of the trance Andrew put him in.

The binder.

“You fucker, you are trying to distract me.” He raised an accusatory finger at Andrew before picking up his binder from the floor.

Andrew threw his hands in the air and turned around on his heels to walk out the bedroom.

“I give up.” He muttered under his breath.

***

Neil was not very good at planning his next steps if they weren’t related to running for his life. His freshman year he had been lucky enough to make things up as he went after his father was finally not a problem.

Right now he was struggling. There were million ideas floating through his brain on how to deal with Abbott and none of them were good enough. He felt the familiar itch underneath his skin and paced the living room even though all he wanted to do was run for his life.

Andrew was sitting on the counter in their kitchen and quietly observing Neil’s internal struggle.

Neil stopped in his tracks and then took a couple steps forward to position himself in front of Andrew. He looked the blonde in the eyes and took a deep breath.

“Kevin is in danger,” he saw Anderw’s eyes slightly narrowing, “Your brother is in danger, hell every single one of the foxes are in danger.” Neil continued and took one step closer to close the space between them without touching the other man. “I’m in danger.” He whispered and averted his gaze. “And I want to run,” he shook his head, “No, that’s not true. I don’t want to run, but in the fight or flight scenarios you know what my first choice usually is, but I want to stay. You once asked me to stay and I want to stay, Drew, I want to stay so bad and-”

The familiar touch to the back of his neck made him stop rumbling and he was able to catch his breath. He didn’t even realize his lungs stopped cooperating with him for a second there.

Andrew used the hand he had on his neck to pull him closer and touched their foreheads together.

“Relax, rabbit.” He whispered and Neil felt himself doing just that. His body was always more keen on listening to Andrew than himself. “I got you.”

Those words had Neil collapsing into the other’s arms with a whimper. He tried to be strong for his friends. He didn’t want Aaron and Kevin to know that he was as freaked out as they were, but with Andrew he could let himself go, let himself be held and protected.

“He has a house on the coast, right?” Andrew said after a while and Neil had trouble following what was going on. “Joe.” Andrew clarified and Neil couldn’t help the smile appearing on his face.

“You read the binder?” He asked with too much glee in his voice for how shitty he still felt.

“I skimmed it.” Andrew confessed and pushed Neil’s face away when his smile only brightened. “How is he affording the house?” Andrew asked and the geers in Neil’s head started to work again. “He doesn’t have wealthy parents and I doubt his job as a “journalist” is paying him much.”

“You are brilliant, you know that?” Neil grimed at the wonderful man in front of him and practically run to his laptop.

***

Andrew never thought his life would be as peaceful as it turned out to be. He had a stable job that paid him more in a year than he could ever spend in his lifetime, he had an apartment, two cats, good relationship with his brother, a bunch of people who he actually considered family and most important and shocking of all, ha had Neil.

The junkie ripped his way through his walls and into his heart and took permanent residency there. Andrew thought about kicking him out once or twice, but the idiot had a grip on him so hard that forcing him away would actually require a cut to his chest, so Andrew decided to let him stay by his side, preferably forever.

He might have not expected this quiet life, but he learnt to cherish it. Neil might have thought that Andrew was not freaking out about the current situation, because even though the redhead mastered the art of reading Andrew like an open book throughout the years, he was now too freaked out to use his skills, but Andrew was definitely not calm.

Far from it, he was fucking furious.

Against all odds he had manage to built a life for himself and he would be damned if he let one fucking asshole ruin that for him. His deals with the people he cared about might have been long gone and instead replaced by a genuine belief that someone would want to stick around by his side even if he was of no use to them, but that didn’t mean his protective side went away forever.

It was always at the back of his head, always ready. It might have been asleep for a long while, but now it was buzzing with the need to take the wheel and be used to its full advantage.

But this was not just about his family. This was about him. He was furious that Joe Abbott was trying to take this away from him.

Andrew knew that he would do anything to make Joe regret writing the first article. He was going to make him regret ever hurting Kevin or threatening his brother. Joe had no idea what he had gotten himself into, and Andrew was more than happy to show him.

***

Neil thought his eyes would fall out of his head if he stared at the screen for one second longer. He had already done a thorough search on Joe, back when he started to be a problem, but he was hoping that somehow he missed something.

He groaned in frustration and closed the laptop with a little too much force. He knew that there had to be something there about where Joe was getting the money from. He bought himself a house not long after Kevin broke things off with him, so calling the other striker would probably be no help and Neil didn’t want to get Kevin involved in this.

His friend was always terrible under pressure and Neil was scared what it might do to his sobriety. He was hoping that Aaron would manage to keep him from falling off the wagon, but the blonde didn’t seem fine on the phone either. Neil needed to fix this for them as soon as possible.

He just had to think.

“Talk to me.” Andrew sat down next to him on the couch. “You think you missed something, so talk me through it and maybe it will come to you.”

Neil leaned against the back of the couch and covered his face with his shaking hands. The light in the room started to get too bright for him and he needed to focus.

“Okay, so Joe; a poor, gay kid from El Paso, Texas. Dead father, mother with a drinking problem that he doesn’t keep in contact with. Exceptionally smart for how dumb he is, gets a scholarship and goes to college in Denver. Somehow establishes himself as “a journalist” and manages to get a living out of writing lousy articles about Exy.”

“Not enough to buy a house.” Andrew interrupted and scooted a little closer to Neil on the sofa.

Neil shook his head. “No, definitely not enough to buy a house.”

“Keep talking.”

“Meets a very famous Exy player, dates him, gets broken up with and suddenly boom, he has a house.” Neil lifted his hands up in a show of fake explosion.

“You missed a couple steps there, rabbit.” Andrew ran his hand through the messy hair scattered all around the back of the couch.

Neil sighed and put his hand against his face again and leaned closer to the soothing touch.

“I don’t know what those steps are.” He whined.

He was starting to get restless and he felt the burning need in his legs to get up and go for a run. He was scared that if he did, he wouldn’t be coming back.

“Think.” Andrew’s firm command brought him back from the edge of his spiral. “Could he have stolen the money from Kevin?” Neil was aware that Andrew already knew the answer to that, but it was probably more of a way to make him go through his steps again and see if he missed anything than a genuine question.

“No, Kevin is very thorough with his spendings. He is a control freak, who knows what's going on with his things at all times.”

“Good,” Andrew praised and Neil felt his muscles loosen a little bit further. “Does he know anyone wealthy?”

“There is no indication of it.” Neil sighed, they were getting absolutely nowhere.

“Could he have met anyone wealthy in passing?” Andrew drilled further. “Between breaking up with Kevin and buying a house, where was he?”

“Mostly in Denver. He took one trip to-”

“New York.” Andrew’s hand disappeared from his hair so suddenly he almost let out an embarrassing sound in protest. “He was in New York in September.” Andrew’s usually blank tone was now mixed with a sort of excitement and determination that Neil wasn’t used to.

“Yhm, yeah he was.” Neil replied slowly, not being sure what was going on.

“Brandon Jones, he has like thousands of different companies, but among them he is also the owner of that stupid Exy magazine.”

“The homophobic and sexist one?” Neil asked and the geers in his head started to turn.

“Yes, he was in New York for some charity event. Right after that they posted an Article with a picture of that backliner, from the Denver’s team, kissing another woman.” Andrew picked up the laptop that was lying on the floor and started to search something up. “Look.” He pointed the screen in Neil’s direction.

Another queer in the sport of the kings

Exy is a sport that should not allow women to play, yet here we are. I don’t think, I’m the only one who thinks that we should at least draw the line at this abomination of our lovely mother nature-

“Jesus, I don’t even want to read this whole thing through. This is absolutely disgusting.” Neil grimaced, while looking away from the screen.”

“I know, but look.” Andrew scrolled down to the end of the article.

J.A. for “Exy news”, 10.02.2014

Neil stared at the screen without a word. He didn’t know if he should be happy that they possibly found a blackmail material on the dickhead or absolutely disgusted at how two faced one person could be.

“That’s not all. There are other ones written under the same name and none of them are in any way less unhinged and revolting.” Andrew slapped the laptop shut and looked at Neil with something as close to a smile as he allowed himself to portray.

Neil looked back and his smile was definitely visible from the kilometer away. He knew that his expression belonged more to his father than to him, but Joe decided to play with fire so he shouldn’t be surprised that he was going to get burnt .

***

Joe used to be passionate about his job. He liked Exy and thought that if someone earned so much money the public was entitled to have an inside on their personal life. Most of them probably got more in a year than he would ever see in a lifetime.

It was only fair that they would entertain the masses in return. That was Joe’s job, to entertain or more accurately find the information that would. He didn’t like working for Brandon, but he felt like he deserved a comfortable life after everything he had to endure from his parents and people in general.

He learnt a long time ago to only care for himself, because if he wouldn’t no one else would.

Nowadays his job seemed more like a chore. He wrote nasty articles about Kevin and Aaron, but it started to get repetitive and it looked like they stopped caring a while ago.

He hated that. He wanted them to suffer. When he caught the trial of Kevin’s weird donations he felt excitement he hadn’t felt in what felt like eternity. The tremble in Aaron’s voice when he tried to deny the accusation was like music to his ears.

He felt giddy and knew that he finally won. Either he would ruin Kevin’s life by posting the article or the striker would ruin it himself while admitting his lies to his fans. It was a win-win for Joe and he couldn’t be happier.

He walked through his front door into his home on cloud nine and then almost jumped out of his skin when he saw two people casually hanging out in his living room.

Andrew Minyard, the greatest goalkeeper that ever graced the world of Exy was looking through the books on his shelf and tossing them down on the floor. It reminded Joe of a cat that acted difficult just because he wanted to and could.

Neil Josten, who was Joe’s favorite player and who he begged to be introduced to a million times to an uncooperative Kevin, was sitting on his coffee table and looking at his boyfriend with a soft expression.

The expression changed into a death stare that made goosebumps appear on Joe’s skin, as soon as the red head spotted him. The smile on his face was the most terrifying sight Joe has ever encountered and it was immediately topped a second after when Andrew turned to him with a blank expression that was cutting right through to his very soul.

“What-” he had to clear his throat. His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest, but he was hoping the fear wasn’t visible on his face, “What the fuck are you doing in my house?”

The other two men looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation. Joe tucked his hands into the pocket of his short’s, so the intruders wouldn’t see how much he was shaking.

“Well,” Josten started after a long moment, “we heard you have some misinformation you would like to share and we thought it was for the best to clear all that up in person.” The smile didn’t waver one beat and Joe felt the sweat that was running down his back soak through his shirt.

“How did you get in here?” He knew his voice was shaky as hell, but he still tried to keep a brave facade.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Is it supposed to be hard?” Neil stood up from the table and made a step forward.

Joe automatically moved backward and regretted his choice when he saw satisfaction on the other’s face.

“You’re not going to scare me, I already told Aaron the options they have.”

“You did.” Neil nodded. “But you see, you are not the only one with leverage here.”

Joe’s heartbeat must have been heard from a mile away from how fast it was going. He didn’t know what sort of leverage Neil was talking about, but he was starting to fear for his life. He knew what sort of people the formal foxes were. David Wymack was well known for giving chances to very dangerous and misguided people. Joe knew that neither one of the players in front of him would miss sleep over ending his life.

“You have a nice house,” Neil continued and Joe let out a breath of relief.

They actually had something on him. It was unfortunate, but at least violence wasn't their first choice. That gave him a moment longer to come up with a plan.

“One could wonder how you are affording it.”

“Cut to the chase already, Josten.” He snarled back, gaining confidence from the illusion of safety.

“Fair enough, You don’t talk about Kevin or Aaron in your articles or in anything for that matter, ever again and we keep our mouth shut about you writing for a homophobic magazine, despite your famous fight for the LGBTQ+ community.”

It wasn’t ideal. Joe very much still wanted revenge. He needed to see Kevin suffer, but he knew that his career would be over once other people found out about his double life. He needed to think.

“Fine,” he replied and reached his hand in Neil’s direction to shake on the deal.

It would hopefully make the other let down his gourd which would give Joe enough of a momentum to reach for the scissors that were laying on a shelf next to him and go from there.

He saw Josten reach out his hand and it felt like slow motion. He took it and was already hauling Neil forward to slam him against the wall while grabbing the weapon, but he was suddenly thrown down on the ground with another body on top of him and a sharp pain to his neck.

He completely forgot that Andrew was still there. Now the blonde was hovering above him with a knife already digging into his skin and a murderous expression on his face that made Joe’s blood run cold.

“I’m sorry.” He gasped.

His lungs were threatening to run out of breath from the way Andrew was digging one knee into his chest. He looked to the side and saw Neil standing there completely unphased.

“We have a deal, I won’t post about them anymore, just ple-” He didn’t finish, because there was suddenly a burning pain to his skull.

Neil had an iron grip on his hair and Joe wasn't able to move his head. It made his neck even more exposed to the knife still at his throat.

“Don’t say that word.” Neil gritted through his teeth and pulled at his hair impossibly harder. “Here’s what we are going to do.” Neil leaned a little bit down to look him straight in the eyes. Joe thought to himself that he was sure to have nightmares featuring this particular shade of blue if he lived long enough to fall asleep again. “You are going to write one last article about Aaron and Kevin and it will be the nicest piece of writing you ever did. You are going to act like the sun is shooting out of their asses and there are rainbows flying above their heads at all times. You are going to admit that you were wrong and that Kevin is most definitely bi, not gay, you biphobic asshole, okay? You are going to write that they are in love and you were the stupidest and most oblivious being on this whole fucking planet an than you will shut up for the rest of your life. If I see your name anywhere ever again we are going to have a problem. Do we have a deal?”

Joe nodded, because he felt like he had lost all ability to speak.

“Good, now I’m not going to shake your hand, because you clearly can not be trusted with that. In a second Andrew will let you go, but first he is going to tell you what exactly is waiting for you if you break your promise.”

Joe looked back at Andrew's blank expression and held his breath in anticipation.

“You are very easy to find, Abbott. I’m not going to share all the details to not ruin the surprise if the need comes, but you should know that although I prefer to deal with the people who hurt my family quickly and without a fuss, I’m going to take my time with you, if you ever decide to cross me again.” Joe nodded with a whimper and let out a breath of relief when the knife was taken away from his body.

“Glad we are in agreement then. I hope to never see you again, for both of our sakes.” Neil said as a way of goodbye and walked out the door.

Chapter Text

Aaron felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin if he had to wait any longer for news from Neil. He hated the fact that he couldn’t do anything and that he had to give up control of the situation. He wanted so badly to fix this for Kevin, but he knew that he would have probably made only bigger of a mess.

Kevin was freaking out the whole two days since the phone call and Aaron had no idea how to make this any easier for him. He tried to distract Kevin, but nothing seemed to work. The fact that Aaron wasn’t doing any better did not help his case.

He was currently standing in their kitchen and pretending to make dinner when Kevin walked in with the same pained expression on his face.

“I’m sorry.” Kevin was not looking at him and for a second Aaron wasn’t even sure that the words were coming out of the other man’s mouth.

“Sorry?” He asked, confused. “What do you have to be sorry about?”

“I should have never gotten you involved in this mess.”

Aaron’s heart clenched at the sound of Kevin’s voice. He sounded so vulnerable and miserable. Aaron had half a mind to call Neil to stop whatever he was doing and let Aaron just deal with Joe himself.

He didn’t, because he had far more pressing matters to take care of than that asshole. He took a step forward to Kevin and sat him down on a chair so he could hover above him. He took the most beautiful face he had ever seen in his entire life into his gentle hands and looked at the eyes that made his knees weak on a daily basis.

“Sweathert, you have nothing to apologize for.” He saw Kevin’s mouth beginning to open so he pressed a quick kiss to his lips to shut him up and continued. “You didn’t get me involved in anything, I got myself involved.” He brushed the strand of hair that started to fall down on Kevin’s forehead and sent the other man a look that he would probably be embarrassed about, but now didn’t care about in the slightest. “Getting involved in your mess was the best decision of my life.”

Kevin closed his eyes and Aaron had only a second to mourn the mesmerizing green when his ears were greeted with a quiet whimper that melted his insides.

Kevin grabbed him by the hips and with one swift motion stood up from the chair and spun them around. He deposited Aaron on the counter with no effort at all and Aaron had to suppress a moan.

The recent mood was not exactly sex friendly and even though Aaron was haunted with worry he couldn’t deny the fact that he was down bad for Kevin and wanted to absolutely devour him. He almost proposed the idea as a distraction, but was scared that it would only make things worse.

Now with Kevin positioned between his spreaded legs and with face buried in his neck he had no idea how much strength for holding back he had left in him.

“I’m scared.” The striker mumbled into his skin and Aaron ran a soothing hand through his hair.

“I know, but Neil and Andrew got this.” He didn’t know who he was trying to reassure more; Kevin or himself, probably both.

“Do you-,” Kevin took a deep breath and lifted his face to look at Aaron, “do you think they will succeed?”

“They kept all of us safe this far.” Aaron’s voice was weak, but he desperately wanted to believe what he was saying.

Kevin nodded, but Aaron could still see the fear in his eyes. He knew that Kevin did not feel reassured at all and hated the fact that he was useless.

“What can I do?” He could hear the desperation in his own voice, but didn’t care.

Kevin got impossibly closer to him and stopped mere inches from Aaron’s parted lips. He felt his heart starting to beat faster and when the other man's hands started to run up his thighs, slowly, but with purpose he felt a shiver run down his spine.

“Distract me?” Kevin practically breathed into Aaron’s mouth and it was like a damn broke.

Aaron surged forward and claimed Kevin’s lips in a desperate kiss. The longing he felt for the other only intensified and suddenly he felt like he couldn’t get close enough. He enveloped Kevin with all of his limbs and tried to mold them together.

Kevin's grip on his thighs tightened and they continued their journey up. He circled Aaron’s waist and slowly ran his hands lower until he managed to lift Aaron up a little and grabbed a handful of his ass.

Aaron moaned into the kiss and the opportunity was immediately taken by Kevin’s eager tongue. They kissed for what felt like hours and Aaron knew that he was going to cum in his pants if they didn't slow down.

He tried to say as much to Kevin, but the man squeezed him even harder and started to grind them together in desperation that made Aaron ten times more turned on than he already was.

Fuck it, if he was about to come in his pants like a fucking teenager, because his incredibly hot boyfriend was dry humping him on their kitchen counter, no one had to know. He was sure that anyone who had ever had the privilege of having sex with Kevin would understand.

Oh.

He did not like that idea one bit. He tightened his grip on Kevin’s hair and pulled him off of him. The striker looked at him with hooded eyes and a whine of protest that made Aaron almost forget what he wanted to say.

“Tell me you’re mine.” He didn’t know if the answering moan from Kevin was due to his hair being pulled or Aaron’s possessive voice.

“I’m yours, Jesus, Aaron, of course I’m yours.” The desperation and complete devotion in his voice made Aaron pull him back into a passionate kiss with double the force.

“Yes you are.” He whispered between kisses. “You are mine.” He started to trail them down and sucked a bruising kiss high on Kevin’s neck.

He knew that it would fade away the next time Kevin would have to show up in public and he craved letting everyone know that Kevin was his and no one else’s until then.

“I love you so much. I’ve been yours for so long, I-” Kevin was a rumbling mess above him.

“I love you too, I’m yours too.” Aaron replied after he was done with the hickey, because he needed Kevin to know that this was not one sided.

The fact that at one point Kevin thought that this was only an experiment for him still hurt.

“You are so hot, Kev. I want you so bad.” By this point they stopped kissing and were only breathing and mumbling into each other’s mouths while desperately grinding together. “I love you, your body, your soul, your brain, even your stupid obsession with Exy, I love all of you, so much, you have no idea.” Aaron knew he was going to regret some of his confessions later, but right now all he cared about was chasing his orgasm.

“Oh, believe me, I have some idea. You drive me crazy.” Kevin’s voice was almost unrecognizable from how low and raspy it had gotten.

Aaron knew that it was going to end in a second and he couldn’t wait to see Kevin fall apart.

“Are you going to cum for me?” Kevin nodded and quickened his pace. “Come on, baby. I want us to cum together, can you get us there, huh?” He leaned closer and whispered the next words into Kevin’s ear after gently biting on it. “Are you going to be good for me and cum?”

That did it. Kevin’s thrust lost its rhythm and Aaron could see the exact moment he fell off the edge by the look on his face and that sight made Aaron follow right behind him.

For a moment they were standing there, just breathing each other’s air and evening their breath. The sound of Aaron’s cell phone made them jump apart and they both practically ran to the phone when they saw Neil contact popping out.

“Neil,” Aaron greeted breathlessly, both from his recent orgasm and the fear that still lingered in the back of his head.

“It’s handled.” Neil replied and Aaron felt every muscle in his body relax at the same time.

If not for the body standing behind him, he would have probably fallen over.

“Are you sure?” Kevin’s voice still sounded uneven.

“Positive, Joe will write one more article about you two to improve your image and then he is taking an early retirement.”

“What did you do?” Aaron asked, not really feeling in the mood to hide a body.

“I’m just very persuasive.” Neil replied.

Aaron wanted to know more, but Kevin grabbed the phone from him.

“Thank you, Neil.”

“My pleasure.”

After that Kevin hung up and picked up Aaron into his arms to spin him around. The sound of his laugh melted all the remaining worries that were left in Aaron’s body and the only feeling that was left was an absolut and endless joy.

***

“Don’t you think it’s a little too late to plan a spring break vacation, Ali?” Kevin asked his friend after picking up her call at two in the morning.

“It’s never too late to plan a vacation, Day.” The determination in her voice made him realize that he had already lost whatever fight he was going to put up. “Come on, Kev. You need to relax and it’s been so long since we were all together in one place.”

Kevin sighed and looked up to see his very tired boyfriend walk onto the balcony he was currently hiding on to avoid waking him up.

“I don’t think Aaron will be able to get out of his job at such a short notice.”

Aaron tilted his head in confusion and Kevin thought to himself that it was the most adorable sight in the whole world.

“Allison?” The blonde whispered and Kevin nodded, completely ignoring what the woman was telling him on the other end of the line. “Put her on speaker.”

“When do you want to live?” Aaron asked with his voice still raspy from sleep.

“Today.”

“Make it tomorrow.”

“See, Kevin? Someone sees my vision.” Allison said with satisfaction dripping from every word.”

“Are you sure about this?” Kevin whispered so only Aaron could hear him.

He knew that if Ali heard the softness in his voice she would have teased him relentlessly about it.

“Yeah, we need this, Kev.” The small smile on Aaron’s face was enough to convince Kevin to do absolutely anything.

***

When they arrived in the beautiful cabin Allison rented they were greeted with hugs. Aaron had no idea how much he missed having them all together until this very moment. He regretted the days when they were still in college and he was reluctant to hang out with his team. Now he would have done anything to see all of them every day.

“You guys have one bedroom for the two of you.” Allison said after already dropping Andrew and Neil at their room. “I assumed it wouldn’t be a problem since you guys share the bed on a daily basis due to your “relationship”.”

The air quotes made Aaron angry, but he knew he couldn’t be mad since she didn’t know. He was about to change that. He started to reach for Kevin’s hand.

“Well,” His attempt at correcting Alliosn was interrupted by the man standing next to him.

“Yeah, we are used to faking it, it won’t be a problem.” Kevin said and Aaron’s heart dropped into his stomach.

He retreated his hand so Allison wouldn’t catch a glimpse of it and went into their room without a word.

He had no idea why Kevin would want to hide their relationship. He said he loved him and that he was happy. They established the fact that they were boyfriends now and that it was real.

Maybe Kevin was ashamed of dating him? He was pretty stupid about this whole thing. He was oblivious and didn’t realize he wasn’t straight till a few weeks ago, but still Aaron thought that Kevin didn’t care about that.

He wanted to clear the air, but was scared for the answer. What if Kevin regretted dating him for real? What if he wanted to go back to it being fake.

Aaron couldn’t handle that, not here. Not during their family vacation. He would have to brooch the subject when they were back, so that no one would see him cry when Kevin inevitably broke up with him.

***

Kevin was a terrible liar. The only sort of lying he was good at was when he was smiling for the camera and even then he didn't really have to force a smile since he was mostly talking about Exy.

When the whole thing with Aaron started, he was scared that he was going to blow their cover. But acting like he was in love with Aaron was no hardship at all since he was actually in love.

Acting like he wasn’t, now, was an absolut torture. He wanted so badly to envelop Aaron in his arms and kiss him in front of everyone and announce to everyone and their mother that Aaron Minyard was his boyfriend for real this time and that they were in love.

But he couldn’t. The choice to come out was taken away from him and he was not about to take it away from Aaron. It was still fresh for the blonde and Kevin was willing to wait for however long was necessary.

***

Aaron was sitting on the porch and contemplating his entire existence. Kevin was walking on eggshells around him, but somehow still looked like a bull in a china shop. It was getting ridiculous, the lengths the other man was going through just so no one would know they were together.

“What is going on with you two?” Andrew sat next to him and to his displeasure lit up a cigarette. “I thought you had finally figured out your shit.”

“We did.” Aaron replied, not really looking at his brother

Andrew took a drug and blew it out into the direction farthest from Aaron’s face. Aaron must have looked pretty pathetic if he deserved that sort of treatment.

“I get it.” Andrew ‘s voice held more softness than usual. “Coming out can be hard.”

“I’m already out.” Aaron tried to remind him, but Andrew only shook his head.

“You are fake out, there is a difference.”

“Yeah, but the out I am would be the only out that would freak me out.” Aaron turned to look at Andrew. “This is our family, besides I already called some of them with my sexuality crisis.”

“The one that ended with you thinking you are straight.” Andrew teased and Aaron felt a blush crippin up on his cheeks.

“Shut up,” He punched Andrew’s arm, playfully, “not my brightest moment, I admit.”

Andrew shrugged and took another drug of his cigarette.

“Not your worst.” This time the smoke was blown directly into his face.

***

They were sitting at dinner and Kevin was proud of himself for not grabbing Aaron’s hand even once. He considered maybe grabbing his thigh or knee since it wouldn’t be visible, but decided not to risk it.

He loved his family and was thrilled that they were all back together in one place, but he was counting the days to get back home. He would kiss Aaron and not let him out of the bed for an entire day if not longer.

Aaron was fidgety beside him and Kevin wanted to desperately sooth the wrinkle between his brows with his thumb, but that would turn too many alarm bells in the heads of people surrounding them.

He was in the middle of staring at Aaron in what he hoped was a very platonic looking way when Andrew slammed his hands down on the table and startled everyone into silence.

“Okay, that's it. What the fuck are you guys doing?” He asked with his usual calm voice, but there was an unfamiliar tremble to it.

“Andrew,” Kevin had no idea what got the blonde so pent up, but he knew it wasn’t going to end pretty.

“No, I don’t get why you are trying to hide a relationship with my brother.”

Kevin saw red. He knew that Nei and Andrew already knew about them, but he would have never thought that either one of them would try to out Aaron.

They were assholes, but not that sort of assholes.

“You need to stop talking right now.” He was surprised by the strength in his own tone.

“Or what?” Andrew’s stone cold voice would usually make him retreat, but not this time. Not when he was determined to defend the man he loved. “Because if you are not serious about him, you better tell him or I will slit your throat for breaking his heart.”

Kevin was taken aback by that. Him, not serious about Aaron? How could Andrew think that?

“And I will help him,” Neil chimed in, “cause I can not handle you guys pretending to pretend to date.”

“Outing is an asshole move, Guys. Even for you two.” He spitted out.

He considered these two his closest friends and he hated the fact that they made him feel so disappointed.

“Wait, what? Kev, you do realize you are already out, right?” Aaron’s voice made him turn around to the blonde and now he was even more confused.

“I meant you.” He said slowly.

“Is that why you were acting so weird yesterday?”

“I wanted you to come out on your own terms.” Kevin’s voice was filled with sadness.

“I thought you were ashamed of being with me.”

Wait, what? He must have missed a few chapters, because nothing made any sense to him.

“Ashamed? Why the fuck would I be ashamed?” His voice was higher than usual, but he didn’t care.

“I don’t know,” Aaron was not looking at him, “I just couldn’t come up with another explanation why you wouldn’t want our friends to know about us.”

The blonde started playing with his fingers and Kevin’s heart broke at the wordsa that came out of his boyfriend's mouth.

“Of course I want them to know.” He took Aaron’s hands and almost stopped breathing, because those beautiful hazel eyes were suddenly staring into his very soul. “I want everyone to know.”

“That’s good.” Aaron’s smile was almost blinding. “And Andrew didn’t out me, I told him I don’t care who knows. I want everyone to know I’m with you too.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Oooooooooo.” Nicky’s voice broke the moment and Kevin remembered that they weren’t alone.

“Shut up Nicky.” Aaron probably tried to be firm, but it was completely useless from how wide he was still smiling.

“I knew this was coming, since your phone call and I’m so fucking happy for you.” Nicky got up from the chair and hugged a reluctant Aaron from behind while roughing up his hair.

“What phone call?” Kevin asked, because he had yet again no idea what was going on.

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” Neil said with so much glee in his voice, Kevin was a little scared.

“Neil, don’t you dare.” This time there was no smile on Aaron’s face and his voice was a little bit terrifying, but clearly not to Neil who chose to ignore him.

“Aaron had a very big sexuality crisis.”

Kevin laughed quietly which earned him an elbow to his side

“Realy?” He could not hide his amusement.

“Okay, it was all Kate’s fault.” Aaron chimed in, before Neil could say anything else. “She kept saying that she was not surprised about me being bi, since you and I “always shared a bond” or whatever.” Laughs erupted around the whole tabela and an adorable blush started to cover Aaron’s whole face. “Why are you guys laughing? She thought I was attracted to Kevin.”

“You are literally holding his hand right now.” Matt pointed out, still laughing quietly.

“Well, I am obviously attracted to him now,” Aaron’s voice sounded more like a whine than anything else, “but not back in college.” There were only more laughs and suddenly Aaron looked terrified. “Was I attracted to him back then?!” His voice was so high it almost hurt Kevin’s ears.

“If it helps, I was definitely attracted to you.” He said with a cough, trying to hide his smile. “But don’t change the subject. I want to know all about this crisis of yours.”

“I came back home and you accused me of being homophobic,” Kevin opened his mouth, wanting to apologize, but he was interrupted, “don’t apologize, we are way past it. I went to those two’s house,” he gestured to Andrew and Neil sitting across the table from them, “and they weren’t at all surprised that Kate wasn’t surprised so it pissed me off and I might have started to call all of our friends to ask them how they knew they weren’t straight.”

“And that’s how you realized?” Kevin asked and Neil almost fell out of his chair.

“Neil,” Aaron’s voice was full of warning, but it was yet again ignored.

“No, that idiot walked out of our spare bedroom and told us that he ran a thorough analysis or some shit and he is one hundred percent straight.” Neil’s words were almost inaudible due to his laughter.

Kevin shook his hand and didn’t know if he should be more shocked or amused.

“So when the fuck did you realize?” He turned back to Aaron, whose face was now resembling a tomato.

“You look very good in a suit.” Aaron said is so lowly, Kevin almost didn't hear him

“The charity event?” He asked with disbelief. “Is that why you were acting so weird?”

It all started to make sense in his head and he couldn’t believe he missed the signs.

“I kept thinking about sucking your dick.” Aaron said, boldly and Kevin choked on nothing.

“Too much information.” Dan said and it startled Kevin.

Yet again he has forgotten that he was surrounded by other people.

“Oh, come on, It was just beginning to get good.” Allison said while eating her fires like she would do with popcorn at a good movie.

Kevin only shook his head and went back to eating his dinner. He was happy that now everyone knew and Aaron wanted them to know. He was ready to wait his whole life for Aaron to come out and he would spend every minute happy, but he couldn’t deny the fact that he preferred this scenario.

He was in love with Aaron and Aaron was in love with him. They were dating, for real this time and everyone knew that.

Chapter Text

The rest of the season went by quickly. Aaron had no idea when the time went. All he knew was that he was incredibly happy that he and Kevin finally stopped dancing around the feelings they had for each other and got their shit together.

They couldn’t keep their hands off each other and kept going on incredible dates that weren’t just to catch the media’s attention. They stayed up late at night to have deep talks between the rounds of the best sex Aaron had in his entire life and during the quiet days they would stay curled up and cuddled on the sofa to watch some silly movies that ended up just being a background to their make out sessions.

He knew that it was probably the honeymoon phase, but decided to not worry about the future. He had a tendency of overthinking things and therefore making them more complicated than they needed to be and he thought that they went through enough complications already.

Life was good. He was dating a man he loved, there was no sight of Joe anywhere and Aaron felt at peace.

The final match of the season was between Seattle Shadows and LA Angels. Aaron could tell that Kevin was equally anxious and excited to see Jeremy and Jean.

They want neck to neck from the beginning of the game. Aaron could see that both teams were exhausted from the intensity. It wasn’t brutal. A lot of teams decided to take the Trojans approach to playing Exy, since it reduced the injuries and made it a more enjoyable experience for most people involved.

That decision was , of course, met with a lot of backlash from some of the fans, but in Aaron’s humble opinion, Exy was better off without those kinds of assholes anyway.

The match was nearing the end and the score was five to five for at least the past fifteen minutes. Andrew was blocking every goal sent his way, despite Jeremy’s relentless tries. Kevin and Neil looked like they were fighting for their lives, just to move past Jean, who was determined to net let them anywhere near his goalkeeper.

There were thirty seconds left on the clock and Aaron held his breath, waiting for the final whistle. He knew that playing overtime would be painful for the players currently on the court and that they would be changed for the subs. Kevin hated not finishing a game on the line up and would be frustrated, but he looked on the verge of passing out, so Aaron was glad it would be over soon.

Kevin looked absolutely mesmerizing while playing Exy, a fact that infuriated Aaron to no end. He had to admit that watching Kevin play turned him on and that resulted in relentless teasing from his boyfriend.

He was so focused on watching the striker that he didn’t notice the ball being snatched from the Shadow’s dealer’s racket by Jean. The black liner did a quick pass to Jeremy and the striker used his ten steps to get as close to the goal as possible. The seconds on the clock were going down and down while Jeremy was preparing to take the shot.

Andrew’s stance was shakier than usual and Aaron knew that he must have missed something, because his brother looked distracted.

Jeremy took the shot on the goal when the timer on the board was showing two seconds left and as it hit zero the goal lit up in bright red. There were cheers erupting from all over the stadium, but Aaron saw everything in slow motion.

He saw Andrew’s posture change a little and he knew that Andrew didn’t care about the score, but he did care about a certain junky that was already jogging his way with less enthusiasm than he usually had after a game.

Aaron’s eyes didn’t stay on the pair for long, because it slowly turned Kevin’s way. He saw the man standing there, motionless. Next to him was Jean who had a handful of his golden-retriever husband hanging off him.

Kevin didn’t look like he had noticed them. He took off his helmet and sat on the ground with a blank expression. Aaron’s heart broke a little and he quickly made his way off the stands. The VIP section he was sitting in allowed him quick access to the court and he made his way to his boyfriend who looked like a kicked puppy.

When Kevin noticed him he lifted up his head and sent Aaron a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Aaron took the striker’s face in his hands and tilted Kevin’s head even higher. He then proceeded to lean down and gently kissed Kevin on the forehead.

He got a quiet chuckle as a reward for his efforts and got practically dragged down onto Kevin’s lap.

“You missed.” Kevin whispered and made a move to kiss Aaron on the lips, but a gentle hand to the chest stopped him.

“I recall someone being very opinionated about not making out on the court.” Aaron smirked and stood up from Kevin’s lap.

Kevin put his face in his hands and groaned with frustration while flopping himself down onto his back.

***

They were sitting in the bar, not really thinking about the lost game as much as just having a good time. The opposing team came along and he and Kevin were currently sitting in a booth with Jeremy and Jean.

“So, when did you guys have a thresome with my boyfriend?” Aaron asked and there were several choked out sounds around him.

Kevin and Jean were both fighting for their lives. Jeremy was the only one who only chuckled quietly and patted his husband on the back.

“How-” Kevin started to ask through desperate coughs.

“Oh, come on. Your crush on Jeremy could have been seen from a mile away back in college.” Kevin’s blush was absolutely adorable. “And besides, don’t think I didn’t catch your little slip up during the video call, back when we were all getting our stories straight.” He pointed at Jeremy.

“How could I have known that he didn’t know he was bi. I thought it was common knowledge among his friends and he just didn’t want to come out publicly, I had no idea he was this much of an idiot.” Jeremy raised his hands in mock surrender.

“You underestimate his stupidity, then. I was well aware of the fact that he was in fact such an idiot.” Jean supplied while nursing his drink.

A small blush still covered his cheeks and Aaron knew that he would rather change the subject. Well, too bad, because he was very much invested.

“So?” He directed his words and Jeremy, because he knew he was the easiest target to get his answers from. “When was it?”

Jeremy leaned in on the table and put his chin on his hands that were resting on top of it. The smirk that he sent Aaron’s way could only mean trouble and he realized that he was about to have the tables turned on him.

“I’ll do you one better, when did you two start finally dating for real?”

“March.” Aaron replied casually. “Don’t change the subject.”

“Last olympics.”

Aaron hummed at that and saw Kevin playing with the lace of his hoodie. He was clearly nervous, probably fearing Aaron’s reaction. Jean looked even worse and he suddenly stood up without a word.

“Is he okay?” Aaron asked, startled by the sudden departure of the back liner.

“Kev, I think you should go after him.” Jeremy said, ignoring Aaron’s question.

“What? Why? He’s your husband.”

“Well, this was not about me, so I think you two should talk.”

Kevin opened his mouth to probably disagree, but Aaron’s hand on his knee stopped him in his tracks.

“You should go.”

Kevin looked at him with bewilderment.

“Kev,” Aaron’s voice was gentle. “Go.”

Kevin only nodded and made his way to the direction Jean disappeared in.

To say that Aaron was anxious was an understatement. He had no idea what happened here. He was hoping for some easy banter after bringing up the subject, but now was left fearing for his relationship.

“Hey,” Jeremy’s voice sounded through the ringing in his ears. “They just have to go through some unfinished business, okay? They have a lot of history that they left stuck deep inside of both of their brains for way too long and it’s about damn time they address it.” Jeremy’ voice was calm and it only made Aaron angry.

How was Jeremy not freaking out right now? Aaron was in shambles. The fact that Kevin and Jean shared a lot of history that now would be addressed did not help his nerves at all. He couldn’t lose Kevin, he was finally starting to be happy, he couldn’t lose that.

“How are you not worried about this?” He asked with a small voice.

Jeremy chuckled and Aaron’s confusion and anger only grew.

“Aaron, I’m not worried and you shouldn’t be either. Kevin is crazy about you. Whatever they once had is in the past, they just need to talk about it, because I know how much they both need each other and this tension hovering above them has prevented them from being friends.” Jeremy’s voice was sure and it made Aaron doubt a little bit less. “Friends, Aaron. Do you understand? Maybe there was a time when they could have been more, but that time is long gone, okay? You have nothing to worry about.”

Aaron only nodded, not really sure if he believed the other man. He hoped that what Jeremy was saying was true, but still couldn’t shake his fear that it was total bullshit, that Jeremy, who was always the biggest optimist in the room, chose to believe in, instead of facing the facts.

***
When Kevin walked out the bar he saw Jean leaning on the brick wall beside it, with his head tilted backwards. He was breathing heavily and his eyes were tightly shut. Fortunately, his hand wasn’t anywhere near his throat so Kevin wasn’t that much worried.

He made his way to the other man and stood close to him, but not close enough to make Jean feel trapped. He rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand and tried to come up with something to say.

Truth be told, he had no idea what he was doing. He and Jean never managed to have a normal relationship. Nest was a mess and after that Jena took a long time to even manage to meet Kevin face to face without having a panic attack.

After that, they were able to hold up a casual conversation, but usually they were accompanied by someone. Even their sexual encounter was mostly them focusing on Jeremy than on each other.

Kevin had no idea what he was doing back then and why. It was stupid, but also one of the best sex he has ever had. After he finally got to terms with the fact he was bi, he had admitted to himself that he was definitely attracted to Jeremy. Feelings regarding Jean were far more difficult.

Jean might have been the first person Kevin ever loved, ever been in love with and it hurt like hell. It hurt that they weren’t able to look at each other and it hurt that Kevin never got to explore that part of himself with the other man.

He knew that it wouldn’t have worked out, They weren’t meant to be. Jean had Jeremy and Kevin had Aaron and even though the latter was very new, Kevin felt in his guts that it was forever. Aaron was it for him and Jeremy was most definitely it for Jean.

“Are you going to just stand there like a moron?” Jean was now looking at him.

Kevin lost the track of time and he had no idea Jean was done with his freak out enough to spot him.

“Jeremy sent me here.”

Jean sighed at that and tilted his head back to the wall with a quiet thud that must have hurt a little.

“Of course he did.” He muttered.

“He thinks we should talk.” There was no response, so Kevin took a deep breath and decided to be brave. “I think we should talk.”

Jean looked at him with surprise and took a step away from the wall.

“Yeah, I guess we should.” Kevin nodded at that, so Jean continued. “I was in love with you back in the nest. I didn’t realize it recently, I didn’t push it down when it was happening, I knew it. It kept me alive. I was in love with you and you were by my side, even if not in the way I wanted, you were there.” There was a small pause and the next words were spoken quieter. “But then you weren’t.” Kevin could feel his heart breaking at the hurt in Jean’s voice. “You left and I stayed. I still loved you and you weren’t there anymore and I felt like I was dying. I wanted to, so badly, but I made you the stupid promise and-”

“I’m so glad you made me that promise.” Kevin interrupted.

Jean chuckled at that quietly and shook his head.

“Yeah, me too.” His voice was still sad, but there was a glint of something warmer in it too.

“I’m sorry I left you, Jean. You have no idea how guilty I feel about it.”

Jean waved him off and took a step closer.

“No, don’t apologize. You did what you had to do to survive, I get it.” He then proceeded to close the space between them and enveloped Kevin into a tight hug. “I still love you, not the same way I did back then, but I still love you.”

Kevin’s whole body relaxed at that and he clinged to Jean desperately. He had no idea how much he craved to be so close to Jean again. He felt tears streaming down his cheeks and wanted to be embarrassed, but by the feel of his wet T-Shirt, Jean wasn’t doing any better.

“I love you too.” He whispered back.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours. A loud bang of the bar door made them jump apart with a quiet laugh.

“So?” Kevin felt the awkwardness return to his whole body. “We’re good?”

Jean smiled and patted Kevin’s shoulder with a small, but genuine smile.

“Yeah, man. We’re good”

***

On the way home, Aaron was being awfully quiet. Kevin tried to blame it on the fact that he might have been tired, but deep down he knew that it wasn’t it. So when they finally reached their destination he stopped Aaron, who wanted to go straight for the bathroom and sat them down on the sofa.

“Okay, spill.” He demanded and was met only with silence. “You were quiet ever since that talk with Jean and Jeremy. Are you mad at me that I had sex with them , because for your full information it was four years ago.” Kevin knew that he sounded nervous, but hoped that it was only due to his overthinking and none of the scenarios currently floating through his brain were about to come true.

There was still no response from the man sitting in front of him and Kevin started to really freak out.

“Aaron, baby, please say something. I’m about to lose my mind here.” He pleaded.

Aaron’s hand was hanging low and Kevin thought to himself that this was it, this was going to be the end of them. Aaron was probably figuring out how to let him down easy and break things off without hurting him. Too bad Aaron didn’t know that it was impossible. They might have been officially together only for two months, but Kevin thought of him as his person practically since they moved in together which was months ago and he knew that he was not going to pick himself up after this break up.

He would probably get back to drinking and either die, because of alcohol poisoning or doing something stupid while drunk. Or maybe he would do something to get himself kicked out of the team and then would be killed by the mafia. There were many options for this to go wrong and Kevin hated the fact that every single one of them would make Aaron feel guilty.

The blonde would for sure find a way to blame himself for Kevin’s death, which would result in him being depressed and maybe killing himself and they would both be dead and all because Kevin fell in love with a man he didn’t deserve.

When Aaron finally lifted up his head to look Kevin in the eyes all thoughts left his brain. Aaron was looking at him with tears in his eyes and Kevin had no idea that breaking things off with him would cause Aaron so much pain.

“It’s okay, I understand.” He rushed to asure Aaron.

It was not a lie. Kevin understood why the other man would want to break up with him. He had to make it easier for Aaron, he owned him that much.

“You can have the apartment and I will find something else.”

Aaron’s tears only intensified and Kevin had no idea why.

“Or not, I mean, we can still live here together, I can sleep on the sofa.” Aaron let out a quiet sob at that. “Or just stay in bed?” Kevin had no clue what Aaron needed to hear right now. “It’s big enough for-”

“Are you breaking up with me?” Aaron managed to choke out between sobs and Kevin’s mind short circuited.

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, but there was no sound coming out of it.

He saw Aaron taking a deep breath and quickly wiping off his tears.

“Fine, I can move out.” The voice sounded more like Andrew than Aaron from how emotionless it suddenly got, but still held a little tremble to it. “I will sleep at Andrew’s tonight.”

Aaron got up from the couch and made his way to the door. Kevin expected that outcome, he was just confused about the journey.

“Just-” Aaron turned around with his hand still touching the doorknob. “Will you try to get together with them?”

“What?” The confusion won with his sudden inability to form words, but he only managed to utter that one word.

“You know, Jeremy and Jean. Or is it only Jean you’re in love with? Because I should tell you that Knox is quite confident that Jean wouldn’t leave him so you should consider that.”

Aaron thought Kevin was in love with Jean. All the puzzle pieces suddenly got into place and Kevin let out an uncontrollable laughter.

It must have been the wrong thing to do judging by the sound of the door opening. Kevin was out of his seat and slamming the door shut in seconds. Aaron was turned with his back to him and he was still holding on to the doorknob, trying to open the door with no success.

“Let me out.” Aaron whispered, pleadingly.

“I’m not breaking up with you.” Kevin whispered back and saw Aaron’s shoulder tense. “I thought you were breaking up with me.”

“What?” There was defeat in Aaron’ voice, but Kevin could also distinguish something that sounded like hope.

“You were acting weird and my head took a wild walk into a completely wrong direction. Seems like yours did too.” He took his hands from the door, trusting that Aaron would not try to escape. He put them around his boyfriend’s waist and hugged him close to himself. “I’m not in love with Jean, I was once, but that’s in the past.” He felt Aaron melting into his chest with every word. “We talked and we sorted our shit out, I still love him and he still loves me.” Aaron’s body tensed all over again. “But,” he emphasized the word with a squeeze to Aaron’s middle. “We are not in love with each other. He has an incredible husband and I am currently holding the man of my dreams in my arms and I can’t imagine being anywhere else than here with the person that I’m embarrassingly,” he planted a small kiss to the top of Aaron’s head, “irreversibly” he put another behind the blonde’s ear, “in love wi-”

He was about to put a kiss on Aaron's neck, but the other man spun around in his arms and planted a kiss right on his lips. There was a desperation behind it that matched the desire and love burning deep in Kevin’s chest.

He picked Aaron up and walked to the sofa to sit on it with a lapful of the most beautiful man alive that Kevin still had a privilege to call his boyfriend.

“I love you too.” Aaron panted between kisses and they had to break away from how much they both started to smile.

They ended up with their foreheads pressed against each other.

“No more spiraling.” Aaron said after a moment of just staring into each other’s eyes. “From now on if one of us is freaking out about something, we will talk about it.”

“Deal.”

Kevin surged forward to connect their lips in yet another kiss. There was not much talking after that.

Chapter Text

Aaron hated Exy. It was a stupid sport and people who played it professionally were even more stupid. If the regular season with all the away games was a torture then Aaron had no idea what to call the international season.

Kevin was constantly away at some tournaments in other countries, most of the time even other continents and Aaron had to stay and be apart from him. It was unbearable and for the first time in his life Aaron wished he still played Exy, just to be near his boyfriend.

“Will you quit moping?” Ketelyn asked him after yet another pained sigh he let out. “Aren’t you seeing him at the Olympic finals?”

“It’s a month away and even after that the season is still not over.” Aaron groaned in frustration.

Taking a time off on a date when the finale was supposed to take place, without even knowing if the US team would qualify to the finale was promptious of him, but he knew that there was no better team out there.

“I get it, but in like two months you will have Kevin all to yourself for two whole weeks during your vacation.” She reminded him.

That was true. Between the end of the international season and the regular one Kevin had a two week break, which they would be using in an all-inclusive hotel, with no plans except for full relaxation and enough sex to make their dicks fall off.

“I guess.” He mumbled under his breath, still not ready to stop complaining.

“Exactly, so shut your mouth, do your job and then after our shift we can go get shit faced in the bar across the street.”

Aaron only nodded, knowing that Katelyn just wanted to get through this tiring shift as soon as possible and decided to spare her, at least until the bar.

***

“And he is so beautiful, have you ever seen his face, like really seen his face, you know?” Aaron was almost falling off the chair while speaking to Anny and Kate in the bar, but he didn’t care. “His eyes, they are so green. Except when he gets turned on, they get so dark and I know that I’m gonna have the best sex of my life every single fucking time. Oh sorry Kate.” He added, just remembering that he wasn’t only talking to his friend, but also to his ex-girlfriend.

She only let out a quiet laugh and patted him on the shoulder.

“No problem, I’m also having the best sex of my life with my girlfriend here, so nothing to worry about.” She replied.

It made Aaron want to cry. They were both here, together and so clearly in love. It was infuriating. He wanted to fly to Kevin and drag him back here and never let him go.

“Oh, Aaron.” Anny said and brought him into a hug.

He didn’t even realize he had started crying.

“I love him so much.” He cried into her shoulder as she rocked him back and forth. “We are in the honeymoon phase, we shouldn’t be apart during our honeymoon phase.”

“I think the honeymoon phase lasts for like four months tops, and besides, weren’t you literally apart for your real honeymoon phase?” Kate asked after joining in on their hug.

“What are you talking about?” The alcohol running through his veins made his mind a little fuzzy. “Me and Kev have been dating since March.”

He regretted his words immediately when they left his mouth. Anny stopped her rocking motion dn Kate detached herself from him to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

“O shit.” He exclaimed. “You can’t tell anyone I said that.”

There was panic rising in his chest. If he was sober he would probably know that Kate and Anny would never rat him out to the press, but his paranoia always activated while he was drunk and he was spiraling.

“Hey, Aaron, relax. We’re not telling anybody, anything, just-” Kate paused and looked at Anny for support.

“Just maybe, explain?” The other woman said.

Aaron took a deep breath and tried to calm his heart down to a slower pace. He wanted to come clean to Kate for a while now, but never had the courage.

“We were faking it, so that people would believe that Kev is bi.” He said in a hushed voice so no one would overhear them.

“So he was lying about being bi?” Anny’s voice sounded angry.

“No, no. I was.” Aaron rushed to clarify. “I mean, I guess I wasn't, since I am bi, but I didn’t know that. The guy who was writing those articles, Joe, was Kevin’s ex, who was biphobic by the way and he wanted revenge since Kevin wouldn’t come out for him.”

“What an asshole.” Aaron wasn’t sure which one of the girls said it, since his vision was blurry at best and he felt on the verge of passing out.

“Yeah, so I kind of blurted out that were dating, even though we weren’t and no one really asked me to do that, but I did it anyway and somewhere along the way, I realized that I’m in love with him and now he is miles away from me and all I wanna do is just have him close.”

The arms which were previously embracing him came back and he melted into the tight hug. He heard the girls whispering something more to him, but his consciousness was getting away from him.

Next thing he knew he was laying on the sofa that was definitely not his and lunching out of it to get to the toilet and puke his guts out.

He couldn't wait to be reunited with Kevin, because he was definitely not going to drown out his sorrows in alcohol again and he was in desperate need of another outlet, but just couldn't come up with one.

***

Kevin loved Exy, it was his whole life. He had no idea how to live without it. It was all he ever knew.

But as time went by with only texts, phone and video calls with Aaron, he couldn’t help, but despise the sport. It was keeping him away from something far more important and he freaked out the first time it occurred to him.

Aaron was more important than Exy. If the blonde asked him to quit, he would. Of course his boyfriend would never do that, since it would end up with Kevin dead, but it was the principal of it that mattered.

After his initial freak out he felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He had something, or rather someone to live for, after this. He had a future that didn’t revolve around something that became his prison.

He still loved Exy. It was not always kind to him, but it was the thing that kept him close to his mother, it was the thing that his father showed him how to love in a different, much kinder way. It was the reason for him having a family and it was the reason he met the love of his life.

He could be forever grateful to Exy, but he was glad it was not the only thing for him. It was a comforting thought as much as it was a terrifying one.

It meant that he had something to lose. He almost died when Riko broke his hand and in doing so took Exy from him. He couldn’t imagine what losing his family and especially Aaron would feel like.

He hoped that he would never have to find out.

***

Kevin was almost jumping around the court and not for the reason that the US team had the chance to defend their gold medal at the Olympics. He was excited, because he knew that Aaron was in the stands cheering him on.

It’s been over a month since they last saw each other and the digital meetings were not enough. Kevin had to try really hard to focus on the warm up before the game instead of just running straight to Aaron and never letting him go.

They were playing against Poland and he managed to get his head in the game as soon as the first whistle was blown. Their opponent clearly deserved to be here, but Kevin was determined to prove that he and his team deserved it more.

The tension was getting higher and higher the longer the game lasted. For every point the USA managed to score Poland was right behind them. The first half ended with a tie four to four and new players coming in.

Kevin didn’t like sitting on the bench. He felt out of control. He missed the days when he played the whole game, because the Foxes were short-staffed. He knew that it was irresponsible and that he could not keep that up, but he craved to be on the court however long he could.

He needed to be out there, because it infuriated him that no one got the sport the same way he did. He tried to be nicer and more considerate, but sometimes he was still an asshole about it. He needed them to give it their all and he knew that no one, except maybe Neil, would ever meet his impossible expectations.

He was let out back on the court with fifteen minutes remaining and two goals behind. Neil was with him and he was glad for it. There was no one who understood each other better on the court than them. They had years of practice and shared experience to back up their bond.

After only thirty seconds on the court Kevin managed to score after an outstanding pass from his fellow striker. It has been a while since Neil did something on the court that didn’t meet Kevin’s approval. He was proud of his friend, because of how far he had come.

Next minutes were full of painful tries back and forth to reach the goal. The other team tried to score over and over again, but Niel had to promise Andrew something worth shutting down the goal for, because his stance was impenetrable.

With one minute remaining on the board, the opponent’s backliner fouled Neil and the striker scored the penalty shot, bringing them to a tie. Kevin’s adrenaline was riding high and he knew that everything could happen if they went into overtime.

He had to finish it right here and right now or the other team would be able to pick themselves back up. There were thirty seconds left of the second half and the ball was near Andrew’s goal.

Usually Andrew would send a fast ball all across the court to Neil since the redhead was faster, but the blonde must have seen something in Kevin that screamed determination and there was a look of understanding between them.

Kevin threw himself into a run, before the striker of the other team even attempted to score. It gave him a couple of seconds of advantage and when Andrew’s heavy racket blocked the shot, he sent it all the way to the opposite wall and it went straight to Kevin’s waiting racket after bouncing.

Kevin heard only silence. All that mattered was him and the goal. He knew he had approximately five seconds left on the clock. He took four steps to get himself closer to the goal and the ball left his net a second before the buzzer announced the end of the game.

Kevin watched the ball making its way in the direction of the goal in slow motion. The goalkeeper threw himself in the same direction as the ball was going, but wasn’t fast enough. The goal blinked red and cheers erupted all over the stadium.

Kevin might have been dead focused on the game while making that shot, but the second he came back to himself, there was only one thing he wanted to do.

Aaron was already opening the plexiglass door to the court and patiently waiting for Kevin to approach him, probably giving him space to celebrate with his team, but that was the farthest thing from Kevin’s mind.

He just won the Olympic Gold medal for the second time in a row. And he would be damned if he didn’t kiss his boyfriend about it. His legs, which were mere seconds ago made of cotton, suddenly got a second wind and he ran to Aaron with lighting speed.

He picked the blonde up, but instead of giving him the usual twirl and putting him back down, he brought him into a bruising kiss. There was a sound of surprise from the other man, but he quickly got with the program and kissed back just as passionately.

The kiss lasted forever, and yet Kevin still craved more. He never wanted to be apart from Aaron again and pushed away the fact that the international season was not over yet and that he would have a month left of this torture.

For now he was content to kiss his boyfriend senseless. He would be still doing that if not for an annoying reporter who cleared their throat behind them.

Kevin reluctantly put Aaron down and turned around with a fake smile on his face.

“Kevin, I was going to ask you how it feels to win a Gold medal again, but I feel like there are far more pressing matters to attend to.” The reporter said and Kevin had to try really hard to not roll his eyes. “Since when are you condoming kissing on the court?”

Kevin knew it was coming, but he didn’t care. He didn’t even look at the reporter while answering. He only had eyes for Aaron.

“I’m just a man and I can admit when I’m wrong. Court is a very good place for making out”

He took Aaron by the hand and enveloped their fingers together, ignoring any more questions from the countless reporters coming his way. He pushed himself through the crowd of people and without even getting changed he made his way to the back door.

“Please, tell me you are already checked into your hotel room.” The desperation in his voice was something he would be embarrassed about later.

All he cared about right now, was getting some alone time with his boyfriend and forgetting that anything else existed.

***

Aaron jumped into Kevin’s arms as soon as they entered their hotel room. Kevin almost fell down to the floor from surprise, but managed to straighten his posture and pinned Aaron against the nearest wall.

“Eager, are we?” He teased, detaching himself from his boyfriend's mouth.

“Yeah,” Aaron panted between the kisses he was currently planting on every inch of Kevin’s neck. “I’m looking forward to being fucked by an Olympic gold medalist.”

Kevin’s hips hitched at that and he had to hide his groan in Aaron’s shoulder.

“You were already being fucked by an Olympic gold medalist, I just have two now.” Kevin teased while grinding his hips into Aaron’s

Aaron let out a quiet chuckle at that and pulled gently at Kevin’s hair to get him to eye level.

“Is it bad that it turns me on when you brag?”

Kevin’s laugh was almost choked out of him. Until Aaron he had no idea sex could be so much fun and laced with easy banter and laughter.

“So? What do you say, Day?” Aaron’s legs squeezed his middle a little. “Is a two times Olympic gold medalist gonna fuck me tonight?”

Kevin wanted to agree, but suddenly another idea popped into his brain. It was something that he was thinking about for a long time now, probably longer than he and Aaron were together, or maybe even longer than he came to terms with the fact he was bi.

“No,” He saw a flush of anxiety appear in Aaron’s eyes and quickly closed the distance between them and put his lips against the other man’s ear. “I was hoping that maybe you could fuck me tonight.”

He stayed pressed against Aaron’s ear, afraid of what he was going to see in the other’s face. He heard a quiet hitch in Aaron’s voice and the involuntary hitch of the other’s hips made him believe that maybe he had nothing to worry about.

“Is that what you want?” Aaron’ voice was horse and filled with desire.

“Yeah,” Kevin put Aaron down on the ground and started to make his way backwards in the direction of the bed while scattering his clothes all over the floor. “That’s what I need.”

Aaron stood there still plastered to the wall and watched Kevin with hunger in his eyes. Kevin layed down on the bed with only his boxers remaining and was glad that he was already in a horizontal position when Aaron decided to start stripping out of his own clothes.

***

To say that Aaron never thought about fucking Kevin would be a lie. He loved being fucked by the other man and would be content if they would only do it that way for teh rest of their lives, but he was curious. He obviously fucked people, well to be more precise girls, before. He had never tried anal with them, since Kate wasn’t into it and he had never gone far enough to approach the subject with any other girls he was dating in hopes to get over his ex.

He also thought that Kevin would not be interested in it. Kevin loved picking him up and throwing him around, and Aaron absolutely loved every second of it. Learning that he enjoyed being manhandled was a revelation he was very much glad for.

He knew that he had a stereotypical way of thinking when it came to queerness. He was smaller than Kevin so in his head he was immediately the bottom. Right now as he was looking at Kevin all spread in front of him and blissed out from having his ass fingered he realized he couldn’t have been more wrong.

Kevin was made for this and Aaron was determined to give him the best orgasm of his life.

“Come on, love. I’m ready.” Kevin wined and made a move to turn around.

Aaron hands flew to his thighs to stop him. He spread his legs and fit himself between them with an expression that must have made him look like a fool from how fond it was.

“I want to see you.” He whispered into Kevin’s lips.

“Okay,” Kevin breathed out.

When Aaron finally sinked himself into Kevin they both let out a matching moan. Aaron slotted their lips together as he set out a slow pace. Moments ago he was desprate for Kevin, he though that they would end up fucking against a wall and cum in thirty seconds, without even taking their clothes off.

Now he wanted to make it last. He wanted to make love to Kevin and show him how he deserved to be worshiped and cherished for hours. Kevin seemed to agree, because he didn’t try to speed things up. He looked content just griping Aaron’s shoulders and let him set the pace.

They fucked for what felt like hours, whisperign sweat nothing to each other between slow, deep kisses and heavy breaths. When they reached their orgasms, Aaronn collapsed on Kevin and the man enveloped him in a hug that was more intimate than anything they have ever done. Aaron was still inside of him, soft and a little oversensitive but neither of them cared.

Aaron loved that they could be so close to each other and he felt tears stain his cheeks without knowing the reason for them.

“Hey,” Kevin picked his face up and started to wipe away the tears, “what’s wrong?”

Aaron shook his head and planted a gentle, barely there kiss on Kevin’s lips.

“Nothing, I think it’s just the fact that words can’t express how much I love you and my body needs another outlet of those emotions.” Aaron whispered, looking straight into his love’s eyes, that had tears gathering in them as well.

“You’re such a sap.” Kevin muttered through a quiet sob. “I love you too. I don’t know how I will survive the next-”

Aaron closed the distance between them and brought Kevin into a kiss.

“Shh, let’s not think about that right now, okay baby?” He whispered and saw Kevin nodding slightly.

Aaron could see that he didn’t manage to distract Kevin completely and he needed to. If they started to talk about the fact that the next month they would have to spend apart as well, he would not be able to pick himself back up and he still had plans for tonight.

He pulled himself out of Kevin despite the other man's quiet protest and brought his lips to Kevin’s ear.

“As much as I loved fucking you, sweatherat, I would still very much liked to be fucked by a Gold medalist.”

Next thing he knew he was being flipped onto his back with Kevin hovering above him.

“I told you that you already were being fucked by a Gold medalist.” Kevin’s voice was deep and it sent shivers down Aaron’s spine.

“Maybe I just need a reminder.” He teased and saw Kevin’s eyes darkening.

“Oh, I will give you one that will never make you forget.”

Aaron couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

3 years later

They were sitting on the living room sofa, cuddled up together and watching some trashy reality-show when Kevin got a text from Allison to turn on the news.

He grabbed the remote without thinking and was accompanied with Aaron’s quiet protest. The blonde claimed that he hated the stupidly unrealistic shows, but Kevin knew that he secretly loved the drama.

“Ali says to turn on the news.” Kevin tried to buy his boyfriend’s forgiveness with a quick kiss to his temple.

“Yes folks, you heard it correctly, our favorite Exy power couple is married.” The voice of a reporter sounded through the TV speakers.

“Are they just now finding out that Jeremy and Jean are married?” Aaron asked amused with a smile on his face.

“To the people who are just now tuning in, let’s roll the clip again.” The reporter said.

Aaron’s smile dropped immediately, when he saw that the people on the video were not Jeremy and Jean, but rather Neil with his shit eating grin that was reserved for the times he wanted to cause trouble and seemed to be present around reporters more times than not .

“Neil, it’s been five years since you and Andrew confirmed your relationship and according to fans’ research you've been dating ever since your freshman year in collage, what’s stopping you from tying the knot?”

Neil turned to the camera with a raised eyebrow and a glint in his eyes that Kevin knew all too well.

“We’re already married.”

“What?” Aaron's loud voice washed out whatever else was said on the TV. “They’re married? Since when?!”

Kevin was sitting there quietly, hoping that he wouldn’t be directly asked that question. The thing about that marriage was that it had nothing to do with marriage. Andrew got pissed off one too many times that he couldn’t visit Neil in a hospital without threatening someone with a knife and that combined with the tax benefits had them sold on the idea.

They called Kevin in the middle of the night to fly to Seattle so he could be their witness. Kevin had no idea why they didn’t ask Aaron, since he was living in the same city as them, but decided not to ask. He had no problem with them getting married as long as they didn't come out and ruin their careers.

Well, that was his thinking back then, and as he was looking at his outraged boyfriend, who always looked adorable while angry, he couldn’t believe he was once upon a time such an idiot.

“You don’t seem surprised.” Aaron pointed an accusatory finger at him and Kevin swallowed out of nerves. “Why aren’t you surprised?”

Kevin knew that he was a terrible liar and also didn't want to ever lie to Aaron so he braced himself for his boyfriend’s anger.

“I might have been the witness?”

The expression on Aaron’s face turned from angry to sad and Kevin's heart broke. He was prepared to be yelled at, not to see the miserable expression on the other man's face.

“We weren’t dating yet, it was back in 2012 and I honestly forgot that they were married, I’m sorry for not telling you.” He rushed to clarify, in hopes that it would make Aaron feel better.

Aaron sat back down on the couch and turned off the TV that was still showing Neil’s interview over and over again.

“I’m not mad at you.” He said with defeat in his voice. “It’s just, Why wouldn’t he tell me?”

Of course. This wasn't about Kevin. This was about Andrew. Aaron always felt insecure in his relationship with his brother. He was always so happy after he and Adnrew hit some kind of milestone and he must have been so disappointed that Andrew didn’t confide in him with this.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it.” Kevin scooted closer to him on the sofa so he could bring Aaron into his arms. “Maybe call him?”

“Yeah, I think I will.” Aaron replied and picked up his phone from the armrest.

He dialed Andrew’s number and put it on speaker. Kevin wasn’t sure if he wanted to be a part of this conversation, but didn’t really have a choice to make up his mind, because Andrew was already picking up.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Aaron went straight to the point.

There was some shuffling on the other end of the line, followed by silence and Kevin thought that Andrew hung up on his brother, but after a minute he finally spoke.

“I told you he is not my boyfriend, not my fault you didn’t figure it out.” The response was cold, but there was also a hint of teasing in his voice.

Aaron suddenly burst out laughing and Kevin was so surprised he almost fell off the couch. He probably would, if not for the weight still leaning against him.

“Oh my God, and here I thought you were still denying what he meant to you and all this time you were telling me he meant more.”

Andrew didn’t dignify that with a response and hung up. Aaron didn’t seem bothered by that fact. There was a smile painted on his face and Kevin realized that he would never understand the relationship between the twins, no matter how hard he tried to.

“You okay?” He asked just to be sure.

Aaron turned around in his arms and kissed him softly on the lips.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” He replied and without another word picked up the remote again and turned the atrocious reality show back on.

He made himself comfortable in Kevin’s arms and that was all Kevin needed.

***

Kevin was caught by a reporter on his way to the grocery store and had to try really hard to remain civil. Years of his PR training were overshadowed by the fact he had people around him who loved him for who he was, which made it harder and harder to pull off the fake smile he was once so accustomed to.

He decided to not risk his chances in case he said something incredibly stupid that would land him in trouble again and bolted for the store.

Over the next few days he had mastered avoiding the press. He didn’t go out in case it was strictly necessary and when he did he made sure to be less recognizable.

Aaron found it ridiculous, but Kevin refused to be laughed at.

Of course, he couldn’t avoid the sharks forever. He let his guard down after the game, too excited to yap about Exy to watch out for a potential trap.

“So, Kevin. Care to comment on your teammates’ news?” One of the reporters shoved a mic right into his face.

From the corner of his eyes he could see Neil having the time of his life, while watching Kevin suffer.

“What news?” Kevin hoped that if he acted stupid and oblivious they would leave him alone.

He was, of course, not that lucky.

“About them being married.” Kevin must have made some kind of face, because the reporter didn’t let him say anything, before speaking again. “You don’t seem surprised.”

Kevin sighed with frustration and ran his hand through his hair. He send one last look to Andrew and Neil, hoping that they would rescue him from this torture. They looked content, just observing the fiasco, so he turned back to the reporter.

“I was the witness,” there were gasps of surprise and millions of cameras flashing right in his eyes. Kevin thought that he shouldn’t be held accountable for his next words. “It’s not like it is a real marriage anyway, can we move on to Exy now?”

***

Kevin Day doesn’t believe in marriage equality

Kevin Day is the best example of being gay and homophobic at the same time. We all moved on from his hateful comments regarding his teammates from years ago, but the Sadow’s striker seems to never have enough.

Marriage equality is something that our community had to fight really hard for and hearing Kevin Day, someone who is thought of as a gay icon among fans of sports, claim that marriage between two men is not real is very hurtful and disrespectful and I for one am not surprised.

Anonym for “Exy entertains”, 04.18.2019

“For fuck’s sake, this is ridiculous.” Kevin threw his phone across the room, even though Alliosn was still on the line.

“I told you to mind your words.” She said with an infuriating laugh.

Kevin did mind his words. For so long he had minded his words and yet again Neil and Adrew made him lose all control of his brain to mouth filter. He wanted to strangle them and thank them all at once.

It was freeing to be as pissed off as they sometimes made him feel. He was raised to be a robot, an Exy maschine with no regard for anything else. The fact that they had the ability to press his buttons so much was comforting. Especially because it wasn’t about Exy. They were the first people who made him care so much about something other than Exy and it felt good.

What didn’t feel good was being yet again accused of homophobia by the press for something that was just a stupid misunderstanding.

“I meant as they did it for the tax benefits.” He tried to defend himself to his friend.

“I know that, but the press doesn’t. But don’t worry, your boy is already on it, yet again.” There was amusement in her voice and at his hum of confusion she continued. “Aaron is being interviewed as we speak, I wonder how he’s going to fix this for you this time around.

***

Aaron walked out of the hospital with his head hanging low. All day he was berated by the questions about his boyfriend being a gay homophobe. He was tired of reminding people that Kevin was in fact bi and that he was definitely not homophobic.

He saw the reporters a moment too late and was ambushed by them, before he could escape to his car.

“Dr Minyard, are you sharing your boyfriend’s opinion on marriage equality? Is that why you didn't tie the knot yet?” The reporter showed the mic so close to his face he almost had his nose broken.

He wanted to punch that stupid smirk out of the men’s face and tell him what he really thought about all the people sticking their noses where they didn’t belong.

He knew, though, that it would only make matters worse. He opened his mouth without knowing what would come out of it.

“I told you before that Kevin has a dry sense of humor. He’s just trying to rile up his fiance’s brother.” He said and took advantage of the reporter’s surprise to get into his car.

He drove off with wide eyes and what he was sure was a stupidly big smile on his face. He just implied that Kevin and him were engaged. Kevin and him were very much not engaged. He felt nerves and excitement crawl all over his body and made his way home.

He hoped that he didn’t just fuck up the best relationship of his life.

***

Kevin was sitting on the sofa with the TV already turned off and with his jaw lying on the floor.

Aaron had just implied that they were engaged. They weren’t, even though Kevin very much wanted to be. He was waiting for the right moment and the right moment was just snatched away right from under his nose.

He heard the front door open and close and light steps approached him on the sofa. He didn’t turn around, knowing full well who just entered their home.

He stood up on shaking legs and walked around the couch. He didn't know if he wanted to bolt out the window or ran straight to Aaron and kiss him senseless, so he settled on staying a couple feet away from the other man and propped himself against the back of the couch.

“Fiance?” He asked with wonder in his eyes and voice.

“Yeah,” Aaron’s voice was full of uncertainty, but there was a flush of something dangerous in his eyes while he was settling on what to say next, “you know. Someone had to save the Day.” He added with a smirk and an over theatrical wink.

Kevin rolled his eyes at the ridiculous pan and took a step closer to his boyfriend. Trust Aaron to make it all a little easier, just by making a stupid joke.

“You know, you will have to fake marry me now, right?” He asked in a teasing voice.

His heart skipped a beat at his own words and he hoped that the fact that he was shaking was not visible to the outside world. He thought that Aaron would tease him back, but instead the blonde headed in the direction of the bedroom and emerged from it with something in his hands.

Something very small, that Kevin would recognize anywhere. He was under the assumption that he had hidden the object very well, but he was clearly mistaken.

“How about you finally use this,” Aaron threw the small box that was previously resting in the button of one of Kevin’s drawers for weeks, “and marry me for real.”

Kevin caught the box and looked at it like it had personally offended him, or worse like it had offended Exy. He grimaced and looked at Aaron.

“I was waiting for the right moment.” He said, annoyed that it wouldn’t be a surprise.

He had so many plans for the proposal, but none of them seemed good enough for Aaron. He wanted Aaron to be wooed and surprised in the best possible way. He wanted to show Aaron how much he loved and cherished him and now all the plans went to shit.

Aaron rolled his eyes and closed the space between them. Kevin was again sitting on the back of the couch, since he took a step backwards when Aaron went to the bedroom, so the blonde positioned himself between Kevin’s legs and took his face in his always so gentle hands.

“Every moment is the right one with you.” He said in a disgustingly sweet voice and Kevin was glad that he was partially sitting down, because otherwise he would fall to the ground.

Trust Aaron to say the sappiest thing and stop Kevin’s quiet spiral.

He grabbed Aaron by the hips and spun them around so that his still, but not for long, boyfriend was the one against the couch. He fell on one knee and looked up at the love of his life. He opened the box to reveal the ring and took a deep breath.

He had thousands of speeches prepared, but all of them were thrown into the bin. No words were enough for how he felt, but he had to try anyway.

“Aaron, my love,” he started and he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to finish, because tears were already gathering in his eyes, “We have started all of this a little bit unconventional.”

Aaron snorted above him and muttered under his breath. “That’s an understatement.”

“I wouldn't have it any other way.” Kevin said and smiled up at the man of his dreams. “I would have taken whatever road, no matter how hard if I knew that a life with you would be waiting at the end of it for me. I love you with all that I got, I-,” He was about to say something that would send the past-him into an aneurysm, but something that he knew was true for longer than he was willing to admit it. “I love you more than Exy.”

Aaron gasped and then immediately started laughing. “Only you would bring up Exy while proposing.”

“I said I love you more than it, don’t laugh.” Kevin exclaimed, even though Aaron’s laugh was like music to his ears. “It’s like the highest of compliments.” He added, with a fake pout.

“I know, baby. Thank you. There is nothing I love more than you too.” Aaron grabbed Kevin’s chin so that he would look at him.

Kevin almost lost all ability to speak, because of the beauty of Aaron’s hazel eyes that were staring right into his soul.

“Will you marry me?” He choked out.

Aaron’s expression that was full of love took him over the edge of crying and there were tears streaming down his face.

Aaron wasn’t doing any better.

“Of course.” His now fiance said and leaned down to place a chaste kiss on his lips. “After all, I already told the press, no going back now.” The blonde teased.

Kevin rolled his eyes again, but still brought his fiance into a searing kiss. He held him close and swore to himself to never let him go.

Who would have thought that a couple of stupid and misunderstood comments would lead to the best thing that has ever happened to him.

He hoped that no matter what the world would decide to throw their way in the future and no matter how still not fully healed they both were, they would get through all of this together. Kevin knew that he was going to make thousands of mistakes and that the more comfortable he would become the more rude, not thought through comments he was going to make, but he also knew with a one hundred percent certainty that he would have his soon to husband there by his side, always ready to Save the Day.