Archive of Our Own

It was early February 2022, and Marlow was at All-Star in New York, not that he had been invited to play this year. He was there because, well, because he hadn’t wanted to miss Seb and Hammer talking to Hunter.

Seb was unusually fired up about wanting to speak to Hunter and had no tact whatsoever, which meant he could be relied upon for the best entertainment. Seb was there because he was their Bears rep at the All-Star weekend this year and had been playing better than ever before, so obviously, Hammer had come along, which meant Marlow could come too without feeling like an odd man out.

Carmy was off in Ibiza with his new girlfriend, who hadn’t yet told him he didn’t have enough whimsy, but it usually played out the same way every time, even if it wasn’t in those exact words. To be fair, the man was a bit stuck up and refused to make any changes to his extremely rigid schedule or give gifts that weren’t gift cards, which was a valid reason to break up, in Marlow’s opinion.

Connors, on the other hand, had been guilt-tripped by his mother into visiting home for the bye week, which sucked for him, but was great for the Bears boys because Connors’ dad always sent him back with lots of candles he made himself, and they smelled fucking awesome. Everyone on the team bought candles from Connors’ dad. Marlow always kept a few extra around for emergency presents, because nothing made a gift look more thoughtful than something that smelled like a cedar forest hike or salted caramel bourbon or whatever the hell Connors’ dad had invented that month.

Not that either of them made any actual contribution to the gossip pipeline, other than actually listening to Marlow. Marlow could get people comfortable enough to tell him things directly, and he considered it a skill, honestly. Roz had been the best at gossip with Marlow, other than during the Rose Landry era, and Marlow thought it was justified now that he knew why, but he’d had to make do with Connors back then, and it had sucked, and it sucked more when Roz moved to Ottawa, until Marlow had made friends with Arya St.Simon. He’d known Arya before, but he hadn’t really talked to her until he’d needed someone to talk to, and he totally should have started talking to her way before.

Arya had also come with Marlow, but without Viggy. She was still pissed at Viggy for not inviting her the last time they’d met Hollander in Boston, and had declared she would be hanging out with Marlow the entire weekend instead, which made Marlow giddy with how much gossip they could collect between the two of them. They had already uncovered the Vancouver three girlfriend scandal earlier that afternoon, where three players had been dating the same woman for three months without realising it. Three months! How stupid could those boneheads be?

Marlow had heard it from one of the three players, and Arya had heard it from the PR team, who’d stopped the woman from offering a tell all comparision by giving her a rather large payout, and though they didn’t have the details of that yet, Marlow couldn’t wait to tell Roz.

Roz and Hollzy, which was what they’d taken to calling Hollander, were obviously also at All Star, but they always were, and Marlow was looking forward to Hollzy’s slow descent into a snuggle bug again. The last time they’d seen him in Boston, the dude had started the night very stiff and scandalised, but by the end of it, he had been wiggling into Roz’s lap and pushing his nose into Roz’s neck like he wasn’t a two-hundred-pound, almost six-foot hockey player. Mostly, though, Marlow wanted to see Hunter’s reaction to Roz and Hollzy’s antics. Hunter had been at the wedding, of course, but he hadn’t stayed to watch the drunk portion of the night, so Marlow was really looking forward to his eyes popping out of his head.

𓅢 𓅢 𓅢

Marlow was with Seb and Hammer at a New York gay bar called Kingfisher that Bennett and Hunter had bought for their boy toys, but Marlow had obviously warned the rest of them not to say those exact words after finding out the Admirals didn’t take well to it, and Hunter might actually be fucking someone closer to his own age.

“How old are you, Kip?” Hammer asked Hunter’s boyfriend, taking the words right out of Marlow’s head. 

Was Hammer supposed to say hi before asking that? "Say hi first, Hammer!"

“Uh, hi, I guess,” Hammer started again as Kip gaped at him, “We know Bennett is cradle robbing, so we were wondering if Hunter was too.”

Kyle, who had brought them drinks, laughed with the group as an indignant squeak came from Bennett’s side of the table. “Fuck off, Hammer.”

Hunter, meanwhile, glared at Roz like Roz had somehow orchestrated this when Kip answered. “Just turned thirty, no cradle robbing here.” What did Roz have to do with Hammer asking Kip a question?

“Eh,” Seb said thoughtfully beside him, clearly following Hammer’s train of thought. “Hunter’s thirty-three, isn’t he?”

“Exactly, old man!” Roz announced. He had one arm slung around Hollzy’s shoulders and was sitting uncomfortably close to the man in a way that looked suspiciously like Hollzy had been slowly sliding closer without realising it.

Marlow nodded in agreement. “But not as bad as Bennett, no.”

“Kyle is too young and too hot for Bennett,” Roz continued confidently, and Kyle blew him a kiss before walking back to the bar. “Also, Kip is too cool for dinosaur Hunter but Kip won’t listen when I say I will find him a younger hockey player.”

Kip rolled his eyes. “You don’t really know any single gay hockey players, Ilya.”

Sebbin and Hammer laughed at Hunter’s poor, naive young boyfriend. “You think your boyfriend is the only gay hockey player when you’re sitting at this table?”

“You’re lucky you’re cute and can kiss great on TV,” Hammer added, “there are way more queer hockey players than you think. They’re just not all stupid enough to kiss on TV.”

Roz lifted his drink. “Some of them are stupid enough to tell me.”

“No one tells you anything,” Bennett groaned, “You’re like that dog who sniffs out the gay in people.” He abruptly got up and walked after his boyfriend, unwilling to get involved. Marlow didn’t understand people who didn’t want to get involved. Why would they not want to?

Kip frowned and interrupted before that argument could continue. “I meant openly gay?”

“Hollander was openly gay for like three years. Not single, of course,” Roz raised his drink and clarified. Hollzy rolled his eyes but leaned into the blond anyway as he continued, “But Pricy was single and gay the whole time he was playing.”

“Barrett was with that asshole Dela Cruz for like two years,” Marlow said, because clearly they needed more examples, “I wonder what he saw in that fucker, other than him being good looking, and he cheated on Barrett too! Harris is so much better.” Roz high-fived Marlow for that because Harris was awesome, and loved telling Marlow about the Centaurs, which is how he knew about Dela Cruz, and how Chouniard was currently grovelling to his wife for giving their kids sugar before a road trip and leaving her alone with them.

Carter Vaughn, who was Hunter’s best friend, crossed his arms and tried valiantly to defend Hunter, clearly tired of the implication that the whole league was secretly gay and hooking up.

“Scott won the Cup while being gay,” Vaughn said. “I’d say that puts him a little above the others in terms of what it took, not to mention he’s older. Sorry, Scott!” Poor man still seemed to think the league was mostly straight, which was honestly impressive considering the amount of evidence sitting at this table.

Every current and former Raider at the table snorted in unison, which really should have told Vaughn something. “Seb and Hammer are older and have fucked more dudes than Hunter’s dreamed of, and won the cup just fine. Not to mention Hollzy, who has the most Cups here and won one after coming out.”

Marlow hadn’t planned on mentioning it, but he needed to defend his boys just as much as Vaughn. Seb was already nodding in agreement with Marlow.

“And me,” offered Roz, when Marlow forgot to mention him, lifting a hand like he’d been grievously overlooked, “I was also fucking Hollander when we won.” Oh yeah, Montreal Jane had already been happening. Marlow wondered if he should have poked his nose into that a little more at the time. Not that there was any point in having regrets now when they were married and climbing all over each other like teenagers.

“You were?” asked Hunter, looking confused. Hadn’t Hunter asked them any questions since they came out?

“He wasn’t during the Cup run,” Hollzy said dryly, smirking at his husband. “He ghosted me during the playoffs.”

“I apologised for that,” Roz pouted immediately. “You cannot keep bringing this up forever.”

Hollzy only raised his eyebrows at Roz. “You mean like you stopped mentioning you won MVP that year?”

Roz opened his mouth, about to argue that this was a completely different situation, when Hollzy leaned closer to Roz with the focused expression he usually reserved for face-offs. Marlow thought it was a bit too close for an argument as they whisper shouted, but what did he know?

“You know,” Vaughn said, cutting through the couple’s bickering, “it’s not like you’ve mentioned any player who’s not publicly out and in a relationship now.”

“Oh my god,” Marlow said, covering his face with one hand, “you sweet summer child.” Oh no, what if Vaughn was not born in the summer? Marlow had said it because his sister always did, and Marlow’s birthday was actually in the summer, but Vaughn didn’t look offended, so Marlow figured it was okay.

“Why would we out anybody?” Hammer stared at Vaughn, “It’s not like Kip is actually looking for a single gay player.”

Hunter pointed at Marlow. “Marlow outed you.” What? Marlow hadn’t outed anybody. Seb and Hammer had told the Bears it wasn’t a secret anymore, not that it had even been within the team, but since they were retiring this year, they said they didn’t really care who knew. The retirement was a secret, though, so Marlow kept his mouth shut about that.

“No, he didn’t,” Hammer said then, and Marlow sighed in relief, “it’s not a secret we fuck sometimes.”

“Yeah, Hunter,” added Roz, because he was a shit stirrer and had apparently finished his whispered argument with his husband, “just because you do not know doesn’t mean they’re not fucking like rabbits.”

“Ilya!” Marlow figured it would be Hollzy acting like a virgin, considering how much of a potty mouth the man had.

Hunter had been listening very carefully the whole time, his head tilted like his brain was having trouble processing the information. Kip rubbed his boyfriend’s arm and nodded at Hollzy, and it was probably a good thing because Roz would say something unhinged if he were asked. “So how long have you two been together then?”

Hollzy smiled at Kip, and Hollzy was just so pretty when he smiled like that. Marlow wasn’t the only one who thought that either, because everyone smiled at Hollzy. “Ilya and I have been together more than a decade now, in some form or another.”

Marlow recognised Seb’s look immediately when he looked around the table. Seb was about to ask something insane, bored with the relationship history that they knew already.

“Would you recommend fucking without a condom?” Sebbin asked Hunter, abruptly cutting through the sappiness, no hint of embarrassment in his voice, “since there’s no risk of pregnancy anyway and all.”

Hunter choked on his drink, and Hollzy goggled at Seb. This was why Marlow had come. Arya was going to be so mad she missed this, and she had been sure going to the publicists’ meetup would be more interesting, since they had plans to meet Roz and Hollzy for brunch the next day.

Wait, even Hammer had his mouth open. “What the fuck, Sebby?”

“Why didn’t you ask me?” Roz was pouting again.

“Well, you’re extremely safe,” Seb shrugged, and he was right because Marlow remembered Roz giving many, many safe sex lectures to grown men and distributing condoms on road trips, “and Hollzy’s a clean freak, so I can reasonably assume you two only rarely go without.” Sebbin had his moments, Marlow supposed, because that was smart thinking. “So Hunter? Kip?”

They were now all looking at Hunter and Kip, even Vaughn, and Hunter looked like he was staring down the barrel of a shotgun. Kip didn’t seem to have as many compunctions about answering. “We sometimes do, but we’re monogamous, so it doesn’t really matter?”

Seb had broken Hunter, who was just opening and closing his mouth without saying anything.

“How long have you two been fucking?” Ooh, Vaughn was a curious fucker, and maybe Marlow should talk to him after this so he wouldn’t have to hear about the Admirals secondhand. He did know this woman on their PT staff, whom he met searching for Carmy’s socks after his injury a few years ago, and they had kept in touch, and went out for coffee sometimes when he was in New York. Marlow should probably text her, but Vaughn would also be a good addition to his list.

“Since we were drafted, I guess?” Seb and Hammer had joined the Bears at twenty out of college, not having been drafted as early as Roz and Hollzy, but that was still fifteen years ago. Arya was going to lose her mind when she heard this, since they knew it’d been at least a decade, but more than that was news.

“Fifteen years?” Hunter repeated, sounding faint. Vaughn also looked like his brain had stopped working.

“Yeah, so?”

Roz laughed with Marlow, and Hammer rubbed a hand over his face. “Sebby.” Marlow didn’t know Hammer had a limit for embarrassment, since he had always seemed above it, but maybe it was just that they never really talked about it much.

“What?” Seb asked, genuinely confused, “You said we could talk about it now.”

Hunter was still staring at them like his brain had short-circuited somewhere around the word fifteen. “You mean you’ve been,” Hunter gestured vaguely between them, clearly trying to find a polite word and failing, “doing that the whole time?”

“Fucking?” Roz supplied helpfully. Seb and Hammer had little filter, but Roz was the one who really needed a muzzle, and had found one in his husband, who put his hand over Roz’s mouth. Roz immediately licked Hollzy’s palm, making Hollzy yelp and glare at his husband.

“Yes, thank you, Rozanov,” Hunter said flatly. Marlow hoped Hunter could still play the game tomorrow after everything he had found out today, because Marlow had money on him winning, but only because Hollzy was on the same team as Hunter. Roz would never need to find out who Marlow had bet on, but the fucker probably also had money on Hollzy. Had Hunter been going around thinking he had been the only gay hockey player before he’d come out? That was hilarious, and even Marlow knew that was statistically impossible.

“Sometimes,” Seb answered seriously when Hammer didn’t even try to reply, like he had been asked a tactical question, “Sometimes regularly, sometimes a few months apart, sometimes with other people.”

Roz looked deeply unimpressed. “You were fucking way more often than that.” Marlow agreed, they had been scarred too many times for it to have only been sometimes.

Hammer thought about it. “Well, we do have jobs.”

“You are hockey players,” Roz pointed out, “your job is literally skating and fighting and fucking.”

“That’s not the whole job,” Sebbin protested, “and I did say on the regular.”

“You were also fucking on the job, Seb,” Marlow interrupted, because he clearly needed to remind them of how often they were caught in closets, and there was a joke in there if Marlow wanted to make it, “Want to see a picture of the tally marks?”

The Bears had a board for each time the fuckers scarred someone in a public place. Marlow had started it as a joke in his rookie year after he’d walked in on them in the showers, and it had somehow turned into a charity fundraiser. Seb and Hammer were solely responsible for the success of one of the LGBT shelters in Boston, even though the donations were made in the Bears’ name.

“You see?” Roz said to Hunter, spreading his hands. “This is why I say hockey players are idiots.” Why was Roz telling Hunter about hockey players being idiots? Roz had to count himself among that number, if he counted all the bullshit he spewed regularly.

“Speak for yourself,” Hollzy said, nudging Roz, and Roz kissed his temple without even looking. Marlow loved watching these two together, like whiplash between what they said and what they did, and a mindfuck all on its own.

Kyle appeared beside the table, like a bartender summoned by gay distress when Hunter’s forehead hit the table, followed by Bennett. “Alright, boys,” Bennett said, “I need to get going.”

“Is it your bedtime?” Seb always knew when to say the damnedest things. Marlow waited for him to get a smack on the back of his head, considering he was sitting right next to where Bennett was standing, and he didn’t have to wait long when Bennett’s hand rose.

“You’re closer to my age than theirs, Sebby, so fuck off.”

Hammer slapped off Bennett’s hand before it made contact and pulled Seb away from Bennett and closer to himself, something Marlow had never seen him do before. Maybe it was an old-age thing? Marlow would have to find out more later and observe them in their natural habitat once they were back home.

“Yeah,” Kyle said, setting another glass in front of Hunter, whose eyes were still blown wide. “You’re gonna need that.”

Kip slid the glass over to Vaughn before Hunter could get at it, looking like a dad taking a kid home after a birthday party as he pulled Hunter up from his chair. “We’re going to head home too.” Hunter didn’t argue, probably still processing Seb and Hammer, and both waved goodbye at the group. Kyle took the rest of their orders and made his way back to the bar.

Roz leaned back in his chair, enjoying the way Hunter’s jaw kept twitching as he steered the conversation away from Seb and Hammer once the couple walked off. “Did I tell you about Dalton?”

Marlow perked up. “The dude who used to play for Florida until last year?”

“The one with the dildo socks?” Hammer was the one who showed them the video of Dalton in the locker room with bright purple socks, and the internet had zoomed in to show that it was socks with dicks on them.

Dalton had been trending so hard on Twitter that he’d had to do a press conference claiming he’d lost a team bet and had to wear the socks. Marlow didn’t believe that story for a second. Unfortunately, Dalton had been traded to Edmonton right after, so Marlow never found out what the real deal was. Florida needed more depth at centre, and Edmonton had been in desperate need of a good defenseman, which Dalton was, so he’d gotten traded, and it sucked for him to move away from Florida’s weather, because Dalton’s girlfriend was hot, and her bikini pictures were consistently in the tabloids.

Vaughn grinned as he joined the conversation. “He’s with Edmonton now.” Marlow really needed to get to know this guy better soon.

“Yes, that one,” Roz said, waving a hand lazily, “little birdie told me he has this thing where he cannot eat anything green before a game, and he freaks out if anyone even brings anything green into the locker room.”

“No, no, no, that’s not true. I heard from Gloria that he’s fine with kale because it’s not really green, whatever that means.” Marlow laughed so hard he almost spilled his drink. Vaughn was earning his keep tonight, even though Hunter was the one actually paying their bar tab.

“Gossip from your actress girlfriend does not count, Vaughny. Unless she’s in the locker room with him, it’s hearsay.”

“It’s all fucking hearsay,” Vaughn crossed his arms, looking like he was about to get into a fight with Roz, “Gloria knows his girlfriend, who did costume design for one of Gloria’s movies a few years ago, not that Gloria ‘knows’ knows her. Her stylist heard about it and told her, and then she told me.”

“I also know his girlfriend,” Roz shot back, “How do you think I found out?” How did Roz know Dalton’s girlfriend? Had he—

“Don’t tell me you fucked her, Roz.” Marlow was going to die if that was true, because why was the woman telling Roz anything, even if they’d fucked once, let alone about her current boyfriend?

“Noooo,” the blond grinned, the speed of it ruffling his curls as he shook Hollzy off his shoulder, making his husband grumble, “I am WAG, yes? I found out from WAG chat.” Roz was a fucking legend for getting himself into WAG chats.

“Ilya is the only one who can keep up with those chats,” Hollzy said, raising his hands in surrender when Marlow and Vaughn looked at him for more gossip, grinning as if he’d already resigned himself to being dragged along for Roz’s amusement. “I stay out of it. I’m technically a WAG too, but I don’t need the notifications blowing up my phone.”

Roz leaned back, clearly pleased with himself, scrolling his thumb across an imaginary phone screen. “Yes, yes, Shane is a very boring WAG.” Marlow snorted into his drink, glancing between Roz and Hollzy. He loved how Hollzy’s patience was basically just him letting Roz be Roz.

Roz explained something about how Dalton’s girlfriend had tried to sneak kale into a smoothie because it didn’t count, so that was why Vaughn had probably heard about the kale, and Vaughn was arguing that smoothies with kale looked green, so Dalton wouldn’t have been fooled when Marlow pulled out his phone under the table.

Arya was so going to kill him for not dragging her here instead of letting her go to that stupid publicist mixer.