WIP Amnesty: Brioux family feelings (11000 words, Teen)

[rsadelle]

The title of this story's doc was briouxs1 (Sean has a boyfriend). As that 1 can attest, this was the first Brioux story I started writing. I gave up on it partly because I wasn't sure exactly what should happen next and partly because I realized the timeline doesn't work at all. (At one point, I have a note to self that says, "Crap. This is the Friday night in 24/7.") It is, however, still my ur-Brioux story, and you can see in it a lot of elements I ended up reusing in other stories.

Danny and Claude were close, but they really were just friends and roommates.

When Sean moves in, Danny has a talk with him about the rules. He tells Sean he understands that Sean's an adult, and he has a right to have adult relationships. He can invite people over, within reason, but no sex or sleepovers when the boys are home. "Claude followed the same rule, and so do I." It's a little awkward, but it's an important rule.

A couple of months later, Sean waits until the kids are in bed and hesitantly says to Danny, "There's this guy. We've sort of been dating, and I wanted to make sure it was okay if I brought him over sometime."

Danny's a little surprised, but he says, "Yes, of course. No sex while the boys are here."

Sean blushes but says thanks, and he invites Kyle over to play video games on a Sunday afternoon.

Then, of course, one morning Sean and Kyle are having breakfast in the kitchen, both of them wearing Sean's pajama pants and no shirts, when Sylvie drops the boys off unexpectedly, which means Danny has to have an awkward conversation with the boys. Sean apologizes profusely, and Danny waves him off. "You couldn't know she was going to bring them over."

On another occasion when Sylvie drops them off, Caelan picks a fight with Danny that involves him yelling, "I hate you! You don't understand anything! And you made Claude leave!" and slamming his door.

Danny's a little off at practice the next day, too tired for anything else, especially with Caelan still not talking to him and Sylvie not helping him figure out what's going on. Claude asks him if he's okay, and Danny wants to tell him what's going on, but even though they're still friends, Claude doesn't live with them anymore, and Danny can't lean on him to help parent the boys.

"Sean said Carson said you had a fight with Caelan," Claude says later.

Danny just sighs. "I'm handling it."

Claude looks doubtful, but lets it go for a couple of days, and then after practice on Friday he says, "Caelan doesn't have practice this afternoon, right?"

"No," Danny says.

"I'll pick him up from school," Claude says. "Bring him home and hang out for a while."

Danny knows what he's doing, taking over some of the parenting duties, and he should probably say no, but the week's been so long that he agrees instead.

"What about Caelan?" Cameron asks when Danny turns home instead of toward the high school.

"Claude's picking him up," Danny says.

Friday means no homework - Danny doesn't make them do it until Sunday if they don't want to - so Cameron and Carson set up the net in the driveway and get Danny and Sean to play with them.

Danny doesn't know where Claude and Caelan go, but they don't get home until later, and then the hockey game breaks up in favor of a video game tournament.

"I was going to invite Kyle over," Sean says when Danny starts flipping through menus to decide what to have for dinner.

"What does he like on his pizza?"

Sean shrugs. "He'll eat pretty much anything." He wanders off, phone already out.

"Kyle?" Claude asks.

"Sean's boyfriend," Carson says. "He's cool, but he doesn't know anything about hockey. Can we get the shrimp pizza?"

Danny says, "You're not going to like it," but orders it anyway. He'll eat it even if no one else will.

"Boyfriend?" Claude asks in an undertone when the boys are absorbed in their game again.

"It's like having five kids around sometimes," Danny says.

Danny answers the door when the bell rings, and calls for Sean when it turns out to be Kyle. He leaves Kyle in the entryway so he and Sean can have a moment alone, and they come back to the living room before the pizza shows up.

The boys clamor for a movie after dinner, and Danny says, "If you brush your teeth and put on your pajamas, you can stay up for a movie."

Sean and Kyle cuddle up together in the recliner that's really too small for the two of them. Cameron leans into to Claude's side on the couch, so close he's practically in his lap. Caelan and Carson sit on the floor. Danny gets the last spot on the couch.

The boys go to bed without argument when the movie's over. All three of them hug Claude before they go, and even Caelan lets Danny kiss him goodnight.

"I should go," Kyle says. "I have an early volunteer shift tomorrow, and you have a game."

"I'll walk you out," Sean says.

"I should go too," Claude says.

"You might want to wait until they're done," Danny says. Then he gives in and asks, "Did you find out what's up with Caelan?"

"He's fourteen. He's mad at the world." Claude shrugs. "You might have to wait for him to grow out of it."

*

Claude starts coming over most Friday nights. He picks up one of the boys - in rotation, so none of them are jealous but they all get to spend time with him - and they all play hockey or video games or ping pong together until they get hungry. They go out once in a while, but there are too many of them to make that particularly easy, so mostly they just order in. Kyle comes over about half the time, and Sean goes over to Kyle's the other half.

Sean's over at Kyle's on a Friday when they spent most of the week on the road. It's Caelan's turn to get picked up by Claude, and by the time they get home, Danny has a raging headache that a dose of painkillers is barely touching. He knows it's mostly exhaustion, but that's not making it any better.

Claude takes one look at him and talks the boys into a video game tournament.

Danny throws him a grateful smile - it's not Claude's job to keep them entertained, but with the way Danny's feeling, he'll take any help he can get - and leaves the boys with Claude while he goes upstairs to lie down for a while.

He gets some sleep, and wakes up when Claude taps on the door and pokes his head in. "We ordered Chinese," he says, "if you want to come down and eat."

Danny glances at the clock and finds he's been asleep for almost three hours. "Yeah," he says. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

Claude waves him off, even though Danny can see that the week is starting to take its toll on him too. "It's okay. Come eat."

The boys are still rowdy, but Danny feels like he can handle it now, and they put on a movie after dinner, which keeps them quiet until bedtime.

"I think I could fall asleep right here," Claude says after the boys are upstairs. He hasn't even bothered to lie down, just has his head tipped onto the back of the couch.

"Do you want to stay? We can put clean sheets on Sean's bed."

Claude makes a face without opening his eyes. "I would have hated it if you'd let someone else sleep in my room while I was living here."

"You can stay with me."

Claude opens his eyes. "Or I could sleep here."

"That couch is not that comfortable."

Claude sighs. "It's really not." He gets up with a groan and goes upstairs while Danny turns off the lights and locks the doors.

They move around each other easily, even if they're sharing a bed and not just a hotel room, and Danny falls asleep to the familiar sound of Claude's breathing.

Danny got a nap Claude didn't, so he lets Claude sleep in while he gets up with the kids. They all have cereal, and so does Claude when he gets up a little later. The kids are delighted to have him there, so much so that when it's time to go to morning skate, Danny says, "Get your gear bags and we'll have a family skate after the team's done."

At the rink, the kids follow Danny and Claude into the dressing room to leave their stuff and hang out.

"You're missing a kid," Hartsy says.

"Coots is a grownup," Danny says. "He'll be here."

"Sean didn't stay at home last night," Cameron says. "He was at-"

Caelan shoves him. "Shut up, dummy."

"Don't call your brother a dummy," Claude and Danny both say. They exchange a look, and Claude turns to his stall.

"Go find somewhere to watch from," Danny says. "Keep your phones on," he calls after the boys as they shove at each other on the way out of the room.

"Your rookie staying out all night?" Hartsy asks once the boys are gone.

Sean walks through the door before Danny can answer, causing a ripple of laughter to run around the room.

"What?"

"We hear you're staying out late," Schenner says.

Sean flashes a look at Danny, who says, "Cameron," with a grimace.

Sean shrugs at Danny and asks Schenner, "And how's your sex life?"

Schenner bursts out laughing, in a way that makes it clear there's more to Sean's question than the rest of them are privy to, and the prying it brings on neatly turns attention away from Sean.

Morning skate is morning skate, and when they're dismissed, Danny and Claude take a few minutes to rest while the boys get suited up.

They play adults versus kids until the kids decide that's unfair and rock-paper-scissors to split them up.

Danny calls a halt after an hour and hustles them all into the showers with the promise of going out for lunch. He invites Claude and texts Sean, and the six of them settle around a table and order sandwiches and burgers with enough fries to satisfy the boys and still have some left over for Danny and Claude.

The boys try to convince Claude to come over and play video games after lunch, but Claude hugs them and says, "Game day. I have to go home and take a nap and get ready."

They all make faces at that, and Cameron says, "If you still lived with us, you could."

Danny says, "Cameron," and catches an unreadable look from Claude.

"I'll see you tonight," Claude says. He hugs Cameron again. "I'll come see you after the game."

Danny takes that as his cue and herds the boys into the car.

"Claude should live with us again," Cameron says before they're even out of the parking lot.

Danny doesn't touch that, and Carson takes over needling Cameron about his video game skills to the point that they barely pause to drop their gear bags before they're ensconced on the couch.

Danny leaves them to it with only a shouted instruction to take the dogs out while he takes his nap.

They order an early dinner, Danny and Sean get changed into their suits, and they head to the rink where Danny and Sean join their team and Danny unleashes the boys onto the chaos of the family lounge. There are plenty of people there to keep an eye on them, and they're old enough that he doesn't worry about leaving them alone.

Danny gets done with the press late enough that half the team has left by the time he makes it up to the lounge to get the boys. Claude is already there, with the boys and a few of the other kids gathered around him talking about his game-winning goal.

Danny hangs back for a bit, getting a smile from Claude over the kids' heads, and doesn't try to wade in to retrieve the boys until the other kids are also being pulled away by their parents.

He checks his phone in the meantime, to find a bunch of congratulatory texts he skips and one from Sean saying he said goodbye to Kyle and is at the car.

"Sean's waiting," Danny tells the boys when he succeeds in wresting their attention away from Claude.

"He should have come up here," Carson says.

"Maybe next time," Danny says. "Let's go."

Claude walks out with them, staying with Danny when the kids go racing down one of the downstairs hallways ahead of them.

"Coots isn't going to be able to avoid questions forever," Claude says.

"I know." Danny rubs a hand over his face. "That's not a talk I want to have with him."

Claude claps him on the back and keeps his arm around Danny's shoulders. "You took him in. I think that makes you the dad."

"I didn't sign up for this."

"Oh, I think you did." Claude squeezes Danny's shoulder. "Think of it as practice for the boys."

Danny groans. "Let's not rush them into dating any sooner than we have to."

"I hate to break this to you," Claude says, "but I think Caelan's almost there."

"Don't tell me that," Danny says. "Now I have to talk to him about it."

Claude laughs. "I already talked to him about condoms and respecting girls."

Danny swears. "I'm not ready for this."

"I doubt anyone ever is." Claude pushes the door open and they cross the garage to where the boys and Sean are waiting at the car reliving the game.

Claude hugs Danny and the boys, and says, "Good game, Coots," to Sean before he heads for his own car.

The good thing about it, Danny thinks as he makes sure everyone has their seatbelts on and heads for home, is that at least he doesn't have to have a sex and relationships talk with anyone tonight. It can all wait until he has a chance to talk to Sean or Caelan alone.

*

Danny gets to Sean first, in the car on the way home from practice. "Cameron almost said something to the guys about Kyle." He's not looking, so he doesn't have to know how Sean takes that. "I'm not telling you what to do, but they're going to notice eventually."

"I know," Sean says. "My parents like him."

"So do my boys," Danny says.

"Do you think the guys will?"

Danny answers him honestly. "I don't know. He's not into hockey, but Claude and I like him anyway. Some people aren't going to be okay with it."

Sean makes the same kind of huffing noise the boys do when they think Danny's being unbearably dense. "I've known I'm gay for years. I know."

Danny decides that he's discharged his duty and drives the rest of the way home in silence.

*

Caelan is harder to pin down. It would be hard enough with how busy their house is, but it's doubly so when Caelan is still angry at the world and avoiding being alone with him. In the end, Danny enlists Claude's help and has him pick up Carson and Cameron on Friday afternoon while Danny gets Caelan.

It's awkward and uncomfortable for both of them, and Caelan tells Danny both, "We have sex ed at school," and, "Claude already talked to me."

"I love you," Danny says as they make the last turn toward home. "You might not want to talk to me about this, but you can, or to your mom or Claude."

"Okay, fine," Caelan huffs.

"Caelan."

"Okay," Caelan says without the attitude. "I get it."

Caelan's out of the car the moment Danny pulls into the driveway, and he's already in the rec room with everyone else trying to talk his way into the in-progress ping pong tournament when Danny gets into the house.

Claude rests his hand on Danny's back for a moment while he sidesteps negotiations by saying, "I'll make grilled cheese. Danny can help and the four of you can play. Is Kyle coming over?"

"Yeah." Sean checks his phone. "He should be here soon."

Claude cedes his place to Caelan and Danny follows him to the kitchen. Bread and cheese are still staples even now that Claude isn't there to work his grilled cheese magic on a regular basis.

Claude slices the cheese and tasks Danny with cutting up whatever else he wants to feed the boys with their sandwiches. Danny's tempted to just give them all chips, but he slices apples and cuts carrots into sticks instead.

"How'd it go?" Claude asks.

Danny sighs. And cutting things up was just lulling him into relaxing. "I have no idea, but I told him he could talk to you, so heads-up."

Claude just shrugs and takes a slice of apple from the cutting board. "He could always talk to me."

After that, it's like any other Friday night. They watch a movie, send the boys to bed, and Claude hangs out with Danny until Sean and Kyle are done making out in the entryway.

*

Caelan doesn't get any happier with Danny, to the point that he barely says goodbye to Danny or hello to Sylvie the next time Danny drops the boys off.

"Our son the teenager," Sylvie says after Carson and Cameron have hugged them both and gone to put their bags in their rooms.

"Yes," Danny says. "Claude says he's just mad at the world." He grimaces. "But we both had sex talks with him, so prepare yourself for dating."

Sylvie makes a face back at him. "Can't we just forbid them to date until they're thirty?"

Danny laughs and doesn't make any mention of how young the two of them started dating. "We could never enforce it. I'll pick them up on Tuesday."

"Have a safe trip." When they were married - when they were married before things started to go bad - that would have been accompanied by a kiss. Now Danny just smiles at her and heads to the rink.

"I don't think I've ever been so glad for a road trip," he confesses to Claude when they're finally done for the day and in their room. Danny opted out of going out after the team dinner, and Claude came back to watch TV with him instead of joining the guys who went out.

"Wait until all three of them are teenagers." Claude hangs his jacket in the closet and takes Danny's to hang up too. "Then you'll really appreciate road trips."

"If I'm still playing." Danny makes himself change for bed; if he sits down now, he knows he's not getting up again.

"Jags is forty. If he can do it, so can you."

"We'll see." Danny digs his shaving kit out of his bag and goes to brush his teeth.

"You're technically skilled and in good shape," Claude says when they switch places. "You'll still be playing when you're forty."

"If having teenagers doesn't kill me," Danny calls through the closing door. He can hear Claude laugh before the door closes all the way and cuts it off.

Danny takes control of the remote and flips channels mindlessly.

"Stop that." Claude comes back into the room and takes the remote from Danny. "You're worse than the boys." He picks something, a movie, and nudges Danny. "Sit up."

Danny groans. "Why?" He does as told, though, and gets Claude sitting half behind him and kneading the knots out of his shoulders. "Thanks."

"Mmmhmm." It's silent but for the movie for a few minutes, and then Claude says, "There are three of us, plus whatever rookie you talk into living in the spare room. We should be able to handle this."

"You don't have to," Danny says. "You're not their dad."

"I love the boys," Claude says. "Just because I moved doesn't mean I don't want to be involved."

Danny sighs, and drops his head when Claude's thumbs dig into the base of his neck. "When I'm forty," he says, "the rookies will be the same age as Caelan and Carson."

Claude hmms. "Maybe Caelan and Carson will be the rookies."

"Maybe." Danny closes his eyes and listens to the movie, to Claude's breathing easy and familiar. He loses track of time until Claude laughs softly.

"Go to sleep." Claude squeezes Danny's shoulders and gets up.

Danny slides under the covers and barely registers the TV volume going down before he's all the way asleep.

*

On a Friday after practice, Hartsy does his best to goad everyone into going out that night. "Early," he promises, "so we can still kick ass tomorrow night." He points at Claude, "G, you're in, right?"

Claude shakes his head. "I have plans."

Hartsy leers at him. "What's her name?"

Claude just laughs and says, "Their names are Caelan, Carson, and Cameron."

Hartsy rolls his eyes. "I thought you were over being the stepmom."

"You can go," Danny says. "You don't have to hang out with us."

"No," Claude says. "I want to."

It gets them both a lot of eye rolls, and Schenner asks, "Coots? You going to ditch the married couple and the kids and go out?"

Sean takes a breath, visible and long enough that a lot of attention shifts to him. "Can I bring my boyfriend?"

A couple of guys take a step back, but everyone's too well-behaved for more of a negative reaction than that.

After a moment, Schenner makes a face. "I don't know," he says. "If he's dating you, there has to be something wrong with him."

Sean throws a sock at him and Claude says, "He doesn't know anything about hockey."

"He's coming," Hartsy says. "We'll fix that."

Danny laughs, still keeping an eye on the room. If enough of them treat it as normal, it'll force everyone else to do so too. "If Coots and the boys couldn't, I don't think you'll have any luck."

There's a round of ribbing from the guys who are okay with it, and Danny makes note of who might need an extra conversation about it. That, at least, falls firmly within his job as one of the captains. When his look around the room brings him back to Claude, Claude gives him a nod, which means they're on the same page about that, and he won't have to do it all himself.

*

The Friday Claude is still out with a concussion, Danny eats with the boys, Sean, and Kyle, then leaves them at home and heads over to Claude's. He has a spare key, so he lets himself in, puts the case of ginger ale he brought in the fridge, and goes looking for Claude.

He taps on the door to Claude's room and waits for his invitation to enter before going in.

"Ginger ale and saltines for the nausea." Danny holds up the can and the box. "Sylvie swore by them when she had morning sickness."

"Thanks." Claude sits up enough to take the can.

Danny puts the crackers on the nightstand and sits on the edge of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Not good." Claude drinks half the ginger ale, puts the can on the nightstand, and lies down. "Ready to feel better. I could have sent someone else to the grocery store."

"I thought you might like the company."

Claude closes his eyes. "What about the boys?"

"Sean and Kyle are there. They'll be fine for a while."

"I'm not very good company."

"I don't mind." Danny moves up to sit against the headboard. It puts his hip level with Claude's head, and he reaches down to run his hand through Claude's hair. "Okay?"

"Yes," Claude says on a sigh. "I'm probably going to fall asleep on you."

"I have a key. I can let myself out."

Claude smiles. "Tell me about the boys."

Danny keeps his voice low while he tells Claude all the things he would hear about if he were at the house: hockey practice, Carson's history test, Cameron's search for the perfect thing for hat day at school, the evolution of Caelan's teenage attitude.

True to his word, Claude falls asleep somewhere in the middle of it. Danny rests his hand on Claude's head for a moment, wishing he could just will him better, before he gets up. He drinks the rest of Claude's ginger ale, tosses the can in the recycling, and turns out all the lights before he leaves.

The boys are watching Spider-Man for the millionth time, but they pause it when Danny gets home. They all look at him expectantly, and it's Cameron who asks, "How's Claude?"

"Still not feeling well." Danny wedges himself onto the couch between Cameron and Carson, putting an arm around each of them to soften the blow.

"I wish we could go see him," Cameron says.

"I know." Danny kisses the top of Cameron's head. "I think all of us would be a bit much for him right now. He asked about all of you. I told him you were awful."

Carson leans hard into Danny's side. "No you didn't!"

Danny grins at him. "No, I didn't." He catches Caelan's eye, so he knows he's included in that.

"Did you tell him about my hat?" Cameron asks.

"Yes," Danny says, "of course I did, and when he's feeling better, you can show it to him."

The boys seem content with that and no one objects when they start the movie. Danny looks over to check on Sean and Kyle just in time to catch Sean letting go of Kyle's hand and putting an arm around him. Kyle looks more upset than Spider-Man calls for. Danny recognizes the look; it's the same one Sylvie used to get every time she started to think about how much more dangerous hockey was at the professional level. Sean murmurs something to Kyle that makes him relax a little, but he'll have to get used to it if they're going to make it work.

*

There are a few flurries when they sit down to dinner on a Friday night sometime after Claude's back from his concussion. The wind picks up while they're eating, loud enough to be heard over the rambunctiousness of the dinner table, until it's a real storm blowing snow across the windows.

Once the boys put their dishes in the dishwasher - which requires a reminder - they crowd around the window to watch it come down. Danny leaves the cleanup for the moment and joins them.

"I should probably go home," Claude says.

"No one's going anywhere," Danny says. "That goes for you too," he tells Kyle. "The roads are too dangerous, and they won't plow until tomorrow." It's warm in the house, but he can feel Cameron shiver where he's pressed against his side. He puts an arm around Cameron's shoulders and squeezes. "Go get your sleeping bags, and mine for Kyle. You can have a slumber party in the living room."

Carson tugs on Claude's arm. "We can find something for you too."

Claude laughs. "I'm too old to sleep on the floor."

"You're only a few years older than us," Kyle says.

"And it's enough that I'm not sleeping on the floor," Claude says. "Go on," he says to the boys. "We'll hang out with you before we go sleep in a real bed and let you have a slumber party by yourselves."

The boys thunder up the stairs amidst a shouted conversation about what else their slumber party requires that continues in the upstairs hallway.

Kyle looks between Danny and Claude, and Danny can see the moment when he decides not to ask where, exactly, Claude is sleeping. "Pajamas," he says instead, tugging Sean toward the stairs. "Slumber parties mean pajamas."

"They're just going to fool around up there," Claude says to Danny in an undertone.

"Of course they are," Danny says. "If Kyle's not leaving, they won't get another chance with the boys around." He puts a bag of popcorn in the microwave. It doesn't matter that they just had dinner; it's a slumber party and that requires snacks.

Claude gets a couple of bowls out of the cupboards. "Are we letting them have sodas too?" He doesn't wait for Danny to answer before taking a handful of cans into the living room.

Danny dumps the first bag of popcorn into a bowl and puts a second one in the microwave. He turns around from doing that to find that Claude has already gotten into the M&M's stash the boys don't know about and is pouring a handful of them into his mouth.

Danny takes the bag when Claude offers it to him and gets his own handful before dumping half the bag into the bowl of popcorn. He hands the bag back to Claude, who grins at him, takes another handful, and puts the bag back where it belongs in the back of one of the upper cabinets.

Caelan comes into the kitchen and looks suspiciously at their handfuls of M&M's. "I want some." He holds out his hand, and Claude drops half his handful into it.

Danny hands the bowl of popcorn with M&M's to Caelan before he can make any more demands. Caelan looks like he's about to protest, but then he looks down into the bowl and takes it to the living room without complaint.

"How's that going?" Claude asks. "He still mad at you?"

Danny groans. "Sometimes. He's so sullen. I don't know where he gets it from. I was never like that."

Claude laughs. "Really? What will your mom say if I call her?"

"She'll say I was a perfect angel," Danny shoots back. "And it's not like I can ask Sylvie if she was like that before I met her. Is he talking to you at all?"

"Sometimes. We text mostly." Claude crosses the kitchen to stand next to Danny, their shoulders pressed together. "I'll let you know if he says anything you should be worried about."

Danny leans into him. "Thank you. I know they're not your kids-"

Claude cuts him off. "Danny. I told you, I want to be part of their lives. Unless you don't want me to."

"I do." Danny moves away to get the popcorn before it burns. "It's a lot easier with you."

Claude takes the popcorn from him and dumps it into the other bowl. "I'm not going anywhere." He tosses the popcorn bag into the trash and takes the bowl into the living room to referee the boys' squabble over what to watch.

Danny pauses to grab them each a beer before he turns out the kitchen lights and follows. It's enough time for the boys to have chosen a movie. They're sprawled across the floor on top of their sleeping bags, soda cans next to them and popcorn bowls being passed around. Sean and Kyle are on one of a pair of sleeping bags pulled close together, Kyle leaning against Sean's chest and Sean's arm around his waist. Danny decides not to see the evidence - red lips and messy hair - that they were, as Claude predicted, fooling around upstairs.

Danny hands Claude a beer and joins him on the couch. Claude pulls his feet up onto the couch for what appears to be the sole purpose of nudging Danny with them. Danny pushes back, which does nothing to discourage Claude, and in the end he puts his hand over Claude's ankles and holds them still.

They watch Rise of the Planet of the Apes and drink their beer, then Danny reminds the boys they need to keep it down and not to stay up too late, and he and Claude go to bed.

It's as easy as ever to move around each other, for Danny to fall asleep listening to Claude breathe and wake up to the same sound. The wind stopped in the night, and when Danny gets up and peers through the blinds, the world outside is quiet and blanketed with snow.

He makes coffee, quietly so he doesn't wake up the kids, Sean, and Kyle, who are all still asleep in the living room. He checks his phone while he does, and holds it up to Claude when he wanders into the kitchen.

"Morning skate's been moved back an hour."

"Should've slept in." Claude pours himself a cup of coffee. "Think we'll get out of here without having to feed the boys?"

"Depends on how late they were up." Danny puts his coffee down and gets bowls and cereal out of the cupboard. Claude adds the milk, and they take their breakfasts to the table.

It's like Claude never left, until Kyle wanders in and gets a cup of coffee he shares with Sean when he joins them.

"Morning skate got pushed back," Sean says.

Kyle hands him the coffee they're sharing and leans into his shoulder. "We can go back to sleep."

Sean puts his hand on the back of Kyle's head. "If I do, I'll be all groggy for morning skate. You can."

Kyle makes a sleepy noise and doesn't move.

"They're like puppies," Claude says, quietly enough that Sean and Kyle don't notice.

Danny has to smother his laugh with his hand to keep from bothering them, and then the boys trickle in one by one and he takes care of making sure they're fed and prepared to be left home alone for part of the day.

"Why can't we come?" Cameron's still half asleep and leaning on Claude when he asks it.

"Because I don't want to take you on the roads while they still might be dangerous." Danny puts cereal on the table for Caelan and Carson, and waits to see if Cameron is going to pretend he's young enough to climb into Claude's lap. He's still cranky, and he looks like he has to peel himself away from Claude, but he ends up in his own chair.

He cheers up as he wakes up, especially when he seems to realize they'll be unsupervised for a couple of hours. Danny almost asks Kyle to stick around, but figures there isn't that much trouble they can get into, and knowing his boys, they'll either end up watching TV or playing Call of Duty most of the day.

He leaves them cash to order pizza for lunch, keeps them and Claude out of the way while Sean and Kyle say goodbye, and then hustles Sean into the car before there can be any more protest than Carson's question about whether or not they could come to the game. Danny doesn't promise anything, in case the weather gets worse, but they're on the road most of the week, so he wants them there and they won't get to see Claude for a while if they don't make it. He's not sure any of them have figured it out, but Claude has; he hugged all three of them before taking his own car to the rink.

*

A week on the road ending with a loss means everyone is tired by the time they file onto the plane in San Jose.

"I'm so tired." Claude slumps into the seat next to Danny.

"We all are."

"I even miss the boys."

Danny says, "You talked to them this afternoon," but he knows what Claude means. Talking to them isn't the same as spending time with them. He glances over and frowns; Claude is squeezing and stretching his hand. "Having problems with your hand?"

"Just stiff. I think I was squeezing my stick too hard."

Danny lives with pre-teen boys; he sees the joke, but lets it go. "Here."

Claude pushes the arm rest between them up and holds his hand out to Danny.

Danny digs his thumbs into Claude's palm, strokes up each of his fingers. When he hits a spot that makes Claude hiss, he works into it carefully until he can dig into it without hurting him.

"Better?"

"Now the other one feels stiff," Claude says.

Danny huffs a laugh and takes Claude's other hand to work the stiffness out of it too.

"Kyle called me," Claude says after a while.

Danny's tired and has to think for a moment to realize who he's talking about. "Sean's Kyle?"

"Yeah. He wanted to know about my concussion."

Danny hmms. "He was pretty freaked out. I don't think he realized how dangerous hockey can be."

"He'll have to get used to it if they're going to stay together."

Danny smiles a little. "Did you tell him that?"

"No." Claude sighs. "I don't know if I was any help."

"You can consider it practice for the boys."

"No fair using my own words against me."

"Face it, we have five kids now."

Claude snickers, and after a moment it turns into full-on, exhausted laughter. "And Sylvie only has to help with three of them. Do you think we can get Kimmo to help with Sean?"

"I think he'd tell me I let him move in, he's my responsibility."

Claude bumps his shoulder against Danny's. "You are the most responsible of any of us."

"Curse of being the oldest. Hands feel better?"

Claude flexes both hands, turns his wrists. "Yeah. Thanks."

Danny nods and closes his eyes. It's a long flight home, and he's tired.

"Maybe," Claude says after a minute, "one of the wives or girlfriends will talk to Kyle."

"You come up with someone," Danny says. "I'll tell Sean to send him up to the family lounge with the boys at a game."

Danny wakes up a few hours later to the bright flash of Hartsy taking a picture of him sleeping on Claude's shoulder.

"I tried to make him stop," Claude says.

Danny flips Hartsy off and closes his eyes. "Try harder."

Claude chuckles, jostling Danny a little, and has a low-voiced conversation with Hartsy that Danny lets wash over him without listening to any of it. He gets a little more sleep, wakes up during the descent into Philly.

In the waiting around that inevitably accompanies trying to get a bunch of hockey players off a plane and onto a bus, Claude leans against Danny's shoulder. "I'm so tired," he says. "I don't want to drive. Can I just come home with you?"

"Did you drive to the rink with Schenner?"

"Yes."

Danny looks around for Brayden. "Schenner," he calls in that direction.

"What?"

"You can either drive G home or sleep on my couch. Your choice."

"I don't want him driving my car," Claude says.

Schenner makes a face and looks over at Sean before saying, "I'll take the couch for a couple of hours."

When they finally make it back to the rink, Danny herds them all into his car and takes them home. He's the most awake of any of them, but even he's fading, so it's a quiet ride.

Claude and Sean go straight up the stairs while Danny finds a blanket and a pillow for Brayden, who says, "Thanks," on a yawn.

Danny makes sure the blinds are closed and the doors are locked before he goes upstairs. Claude is already asleep, so Danny moves around quietly, changing and brushing his teeth, setting the alarm for late in the afternoon so he'll be up to pick up the boys even if they sleep all day.

It's not quite that bad, but it's after noon when he wakes up for good, turns off the alarm, and hops into the shower. Claude's still dead to the world and the rest of the house is quiet while Danny makes coffee and pours himself a bowl of cereal.

"Coffee?"

Danny's never seen Brayden first thing in the morning; there's a pillow crease across his cheek, his eyes are barely open, and his hair is standing straight up.

"Cups above the coffeemaker," Danny says, and then thinks better of it and gets a cup down for Brayden himself.

Brayden slumps over the table and drinks his coffee without ever seeming to lift his head.

Sean comes down the stairs just as Brayden's looking into his cup in confusion. Sean refills it, pours himself a cup and a bowl of cereal, and joins them at the table.

"G still asleep?"

"Yes."

"I'm going over to Kyle's later," Sean says. "I can take Schenner home."

Danny nods. "Dinner?"

Sean shrugs, a tiny smile on his face. "I'll probably stay over at Kyle's."

Brayden makes a retching noise, which Danny takes as a cue that he's awake enough to be offered breakfast. He pretends not to see them kicking each other as he pours cereal into a bowl and throws some bread into the toaster; they're not actually his kids, and he doesn't have to teach them manners.

They're still chirping each other when Claude comes into the kitchen in just boxers and t-shirt. He pours himself coffee and cereal and sits next to Danny at the table.

"I'm taking Schenner home in a bit," Sean says. "You want a ride?"

Claude glances at Danny. "I thought I'd stick around, have dinner with the boys, if that's okay."

Danny says, "Of course."

Brayden and Sean both roll their eyes at them, but Sean's eager to see Kyle, so they don't hang around for much longer.

Claude slouches around the house for a while longer - Danny uses the time to check the cell phone bill to make sure the boys aren't doing anything they shouldn't, make a grocery list, and decide he doesn't actually need to go to the store until after practice tomorrow - before he drags himself back upstairs and finally comes down dressed five minutes before they have to leave.

Sylvie picked up the boys from school, so Danny and Claude drive over to her place. Cameron opens the door, hugs both Danny and Claude, and hurries off to find his brothers.

Sylvie comes to the door and lets Danny and Claude in. "Carson had a fight with Andrew," Sylvie says, getting right to the point of kid updates before the boys come back. "Caelan's sulking. Good luck with him."

Danny sighs and crouches down to pet the dogs. "And Cam?"

"Cheerful as always." Sylvie ruffles Cam's hair as he comes back and leans against her side.

Carson joins them with a frown that disappears when he sees Claude. Caelan trails after him and barely acknowledges Danny or Claude.

Danny and Sylvie exchange a look, Danny makes sure the boys have all their stuff, and Sylvie hugs all three of them, even when Caelan makes a face. Danny lets the boys negotiate over dinner on the way out to the car, and Claude calls in their order while Danny drives.

"Who's going to help me carry it?" Claude asks when they pull up in front of the Chinese place that probably recognized them by their order.

Cameron and Carson scramble out to go with him. Caelan seems to think he's too cool for it, but doesn't seem to realize his mistake until Danny unbuckles his seat belt and turns so he can see him.

Caelan scowls at him. It's going to be a very long few years if he spends his entire teenage life angry.

Danny takes a deep breath to get a handle on himself. He's a calm guy. He can't let his teenager wind him up this easily. "Are you going to talk to me?"

Caelan looks away, scratches at Zoey's ears.

"Caelan, I don't think I can handle five years of you not talking to me."

Caelan's head snaps up, and he stares at Danny.

Danny keeps his voice as even as he can. "You're my son, and I love you. You can always talk to me, but I can't do anything if I don't know what you're mad about."

"Are you going to make Sean move out at the end of the season?"

Danny doesn't answer for a moment, because whatever he was expecting, that wasn't it. "No," he finally says. "Sean can stay if he wants to." Danny doesn't think he will; his best guess is that Kyle will figure out the worry of being involved with a hockey player is worth it and Sean and Kyle will buy a place over the summer.

Caelan makes a frustrated noise. "But Claude left. And Mom."

Danny sucks in a breath. "Claude wanted his own place, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want to spend time with you and your brothers. He's over every Friday, and he hasn't been to his place since we got back because he wanted to see you. Your mom," he has to take another breath, because this hurts even two years later, "left me, but she didn't leave you. She loves you and your brothers more than anyone else in the world. We both do."

"You're always leaving!" The words seem to burst out of Caelan. "You don't know what's going on because you're not here."

Danny rubs his eyes. "That's my job," he says. "That's hockey, and I love it, and I only get to do it for a few more years. But when I'm here, I'm with you." He reaches into the back so he can put his hand on Caelan's knee, pushes Zoey away so he can keep it there. "I'm with you, because the best days of my life were when you and your brothers were born." It's a cliche, and it's true. "I go away for games, but I'm always coming back." He squeezes Caelan's knee to make him look up. "I've been doing this your whole life, and I've always come back."

Caelan makes a frustrated noise, but he doesn't seem quite as tightly wound, and Danny turns around and buckles his seatbelt when the other boys and Claude climb into the car, complete with Carson hassling Cameron about not spilling anything.

Claude shoots Danny a look, but Danny just shakes his head and takes them home.

Dinner is its usual raucous affair, and then there are the protests about doing homework that Claude helps quell by sitting down at the table and getting Carson to explain his history assignment to him.

Danny puts leftovers in the fridge and plates in the dishwasher, wipes down the counters. He sits down and looks over Cameron's homework, checks with Caelan that his is done, leaves Carson to Claude. The boys get half an hour of TV they barely fight over, and then Danny sends them all upstairs for bed.

Claude lets him flip through channels without stopping on anything for a bit, then he takes the remote away. "Are you going to tell me what you and Caelan were talking about?"

Danny recounts the conversation for him.

When he's done, Claude says, "You're really freaked out."

"Of course I'm freaked out," Danny snaps. "My son just told me he hates what I've been doing since before he was born."

Claude looks at him for a moment, then turns off the TV. "Time for bed. You're worn out, and it'll be better in the morning."

"I slept all day. I'm not tired."

"You don't have to sleep then. Just lie down and try to relax."

Danny can't help the way that makes him almost smile. "I've used that argument on the boys."

"Where do you think I learned it?" Claude rubs the back of Danny's neck. "Come on. He can't hate it that much if this is the first time he's mentioning it."

It's not a bad argument, and Danny lets himself relax a little under Claude's hand.

"Okay," he says after a minute. "I'm going."

Claude says, "I'll lock up," so Danny goes upstairs and gets ready for bed.

"I'm not asleep," he says when Claude comes in.

Claude chuckles. "One of these days," he says, "I'm going to call your mom and she's going to tell me what a pain you were when you were a kid."

"My mom would never tell you that."

"Your mom loves me."

Danny closes his eyes and listens to the sounds of Claude getting ready for bed. He does relax, in spite of himself. He's used to those sounds, and his body knows they mean time for sleep.

Still, he says, "I'm still awake," when Claude gets into bed.

"Now you're just being a brat."

Danny opens his eyes. They've adjusted enough that he can see Claude's smile in the near darkness.

"What am I going to do about him?"

"Nothing right now," Claude says. "Sleep on it. See how you feel in the morning."

"Easy for you to say."

Claude's quiet for a moment before he says, "He's mad at me for leaving too."

Danny sighs and closes his eyes. "Yeah," he says, because there isn't anything else to say. He tries to relax, tries to match his breathing to Claude's even though he doesn't think he's going to fall asleep any time soon, and wakes up with a jolt when the alarm goes off in the morning.

"Go back to sleep," Claude says, hitting the clock to make it stop blaring. "I'll take the boys to school."

"I can-" Danny starts to sit up.

Claude pushes him back down with a hand on his chest. "I've got it. Really, Danny." He gives Danny a lopsided smile. "They can see I'm not going anywhere."

Danny stops protesting and lets Claude get the kids. He doesn't really go back to sleep, but he does doze for a while and gets up to an empty house and a full coffeepot.

He's at the table eating breakfast when Claude comes home. He has one of the travel mugs, and he refills it before he sits across from Danny.

"Carson said the girl Caelan likes might be moving to California."

At least half the tension leaves Danny's body. "That explains why he's mad about it now."

"If you want to know what I think," Claude says, and Danny gestures at him to go ahead, "we should leave this one to Sylvie. We both gave him sex talks and he yelled at you. It's her turn."

Danny quirks a smile at him and says, "That's not really how it works," but he also calls Sylvie and fills her in.

"Are you leaving this one to me?" she asks, and before he can answer, she says, "It's your day, but I can pick him up this afternoon and talk to him."

The rest of the tension leaves Danny's body. "That would be great," he says.

"I'll bring him by later," Sylvie says, and Danny hangs up feeling better about the whole thing.

"Sylvie's turn," he tells Claude.

Claude high-fives him across the table, and they hang out for a while before they head to the rink for practice.

Sean doesn't get there until after almost all the rest of the guys are already in the locker room at various stages of putting on their gear, and he pulls off his shirt to reveal a hickey on his collarbone that gets a lot of catcalls.

"What kind of things are going on at your house?" Hartsy asks Danny.

"It wasn't in my house," Danny says.

"We had the boys last night," Claude adds.

"Aww," Hartsy says, "that's sweet, the kids getting quality time with Dad and Stepmom. Did you have a nice, wholesome family game night?"

Claude says, "No, they had homework," which makes everyone around them laugh and serves as enough distraction that by the time anyone pays any attention to Sean, he's dressed and ready for practice.

*

"Can I ask you something?" Sean asks on the way to the rink before a short road trip.

Danny glances at him. "Sure."

"Are you and G," Sean pauses, then finishes with, "together?"

Danny laughs. "You need to stop listening to the guys. Just because they call us married doesn't mean we are."

"It's not just them," Sean says. "He sleeps with you when he stays over, and I know he gave Caelan a sex talk."

"Right now," Danny says, "it takes at least three parents to deal with Caelan." He looks over at Sean. "Don't tell the boys I said that."

Sean holds up a hand that seems to promise silence on that matter. "But you and G," he says. "You seem so together. Like you have the kind of relationship I want with Kyle."

Danny looks at him in surprise, but Sean looks perfectly sincere. "We do have a good relationship," Danny says, because that much is true, "but we're not together."

Sean says, "Oh," and he looks so disappointed that Danny almost wants to apologize.

They make the rest of the drive in silence. Danny doesn't know what Sean's thinking, but he's thinking about how this is different from the ribbing he and Claude took last season. It's not a joke to Sean, and it's not coming from someone who only sees a tiny part of the story from the outside.

The drive to the rink isn't that long, though, and then there's practice, a train ride Danny naps through, a real nap, a call to the boys, and team dinner. Everyone goes out after, taking over a bar where Danny has a beer and watches the guys play darts, flirt, and stay well within the bounds of acceptable drinking for the night before a game. Danny plays a round of darts with Jags, plays wingman for Schenner at the bar, and buys Claude a second beer but not a third.

It's a good evening, and Danny's feeling pleasantly mellow by the time they get back to the hotel.

"I talked to Coburn," Claude says when he's done with his turn in the bathroom. "He says Nadine will talk to Kyle."

"I'll tell Sean." Danny's silent for a moment, watching Claude stretch his hands up toward the ceiling, arch to stretch his back. "Speaking of talking to Sean," he says, "he asked me if we were together."

Claude chuckles and comes out of his stretch. "He has to learn not to listen to the guys."

Danny smiles briefly. "I told him that. He said it wasn't about them. It's about us, the way we are. He said we have the kind of relationship he wants with Kyle."

Claude tilts his head and looks at Danny. "Have you ever thought about it? Being with another guy?"

Danny starts to say no, then thinks about the way he followed Sam Leroux everywhere the year before he met Sylvie, the way he was just watching the arch of Claude's body as he stretched. "Oh," he says. "Maybe." Maybe he has been, without letting himself really think about it.

"Stand up."

"What?" Danny looks up at Claude, who's coming closer, crossing the room toward him.

"Come on," Claude says. "Stand up."

Danny stands, and Claude says, "I'm going to kiss you," just before he does.

It's not the first time Danny's kissed someone taller, and he only lets Claude control it for a moment before he takes over. They don't kiss for long, and Claude smiles at him when they stop.

"There," Claude says. "Now you have something to think about that while you're having your sexual identity crisis."

Danny blinks at him. They're still close, Claude's hands still on him and his hand still curving around the back of Claude's head. "What about you?"

"I'm not having a sexual identity crisis," Claude says with a grin. He relents after a moment and says, "I've always liked guys, but I play hockey." He shrugs. "You know. Guys would only make my life harder, and I like girls too." He stops talking for a long moment in which their breathing and the soft hum of the air conditioning are the only sounds in the room. "You're the only guy I've gotten close enough to that I would let you make my life harder. For you and the boys, I would do that."

Claude's right there, so Danny uses the hand in his hair and pulls him down for another kiss, slower this time, taking a moment to learn one of the few things he doesn't already know about Claude.

Claude doesn't let it go on for long before he squeezes Danny's hip and steps away. "Game tomorrow," he says. "Okay if I turn the lights out?"

Danny says, "Yes," and goes to bed still feeling Claude's lips on his, Claude's hands warm through the thin cloth of his t-shirt, Claude's hair soft under his hands.

*

Game day is game day, and Claude having kissed him doesn't change Danny's routines, even if he does keep catching glances of Claude out of the corner of his eye and thinking that he knows what it feels like to kiss him.

He waits until after the game to think about it, the train ride home, through the next day until he gets to practice. It was one thing to have the guys teasing them, and another to have Sean ask about it, and something completely different to have Claude say he would choose Danny and the boys over making things easier for himself.

At the rink, Danny keeps looking at Claude, but more than that, he notices himself looking at Claude, because despite what's going through his mind, he isn't doing anything he doesn't usually do.

Claude doesn't avoid him, exactly, but there's space between them that there hasn't ever been before.

Danny closes that space by catching Claude after morning skate on Tuesday, Sean still clowning around with Schenner and no one else paying attention to them. "We're out of town on Friday," he says. "Want to come over tomorrow instead?"

"Sure," Claude says, no different from any other time they've made plans. "You want me to pick up one of the boys?"

"Yeah, whose turn is it?"

Claude says, "Carson," and grins quick and easy. "Thanks for the invite."

Danny squeezes his arm. "We'd miss you if you didn't come for dinner this week."

*

All three of the boys protest their homework even more than usual on Wednesday, making Danny think having Claude over in the middle of the week wasn't such a great idea.

"It's going to take you less time to do it than it will to complain about it," Claude says. "And the faster you get it done, the more time we'll have to play video games."

"Very parental," Danny murmurs to him when the boys settle down with only a little more grumbling.

"I learned from the best," Claude says with a grin.

This is what Claude was talking about when he said he would make his life harder for Danny and the boys. Not dating, or even sex, but being a part of Danny's family.

Danny returns Claude's smile, and they hang out with Sean - with interruptions to answer questions - until the boys are done with their homework. Then Danny steps back and lets the boys, Sean, and Claude battle out a few rounds of NHL 12 until bedtime.

Sean goes upstairs when the boys do, phone already in his hands, no doubt ready to call Kyle, which leaves Danny a few minutes to walk Claude to the door before he has to go check to make sure the boys are actually in bed with their phones off.

"If you don't have plans with any of the guys on Friday, do you want to have dinner?"

"Friday? Sure." Claude finishes pulling on his shoes.

"I don't just mean dinner," Danny says. "I mean a date."

A smile spreads across Claude's face. "A date," he says.

Danny smiles back. "A date. Food, grown-up conversation, maybe a goodnight kiss if it goes well."

Claude steps closer. "Do I have to wait until Friday?"

Danny puts his hand on Claude's chest to hold him where he is. "Yes." Not that he doesn't want to kiss Claude right now, but this part is fun too.

Claude laughs and brushes Danny's hand away, leans in close and kisses him anyway, quick and almost chaste. "Consider that a preview of Friday night."

"If it goes well."

Claude smiles, a slow, soft smile Danny's never seen directed at him. "It will."

*

"Is this weird?" Claude asks as he nudges Danny aside so he can look at himself in the mirror.

"Going on a date?" Danny steps back and watches Claude adjust his tie. It's a purple stripe Danny hasn't seen before that sits nicely against Claude's pink shirt under his favorite gray plaid suit.

"Getting ready to go on a date with my date in the room."

"Not that weird," Danny says. "Sylvie and I used to get ready together if we were going out."

"First rule of dating," Claude says, holding up a finger and meeting Danny's eyes in the mirror, "no talking about the ex."

Danny smiles a little. "No talking about the ex, got it. Ready to go?"

Claude turns to face him. "I think so. How do I look?"

Danny puts a hand on his shoulder. "Good. You look good."

"You do too." Claude puts his hand over Danny's and squeezes.

They gather up their coats, and Danny lets his hand rest at the small of Claude's back for a moment before they leave the room.

Danny gives the restaurant name to the cab driver. He's been in Toronto enough that he doesn't need to watch the city passing by. He looks at Claude instead, quick glances and frank appraisal, the kind of thing he gets to do now that they're on a date. Most of the time, he finds Claude looking back at him.

The talk about the boys, but not Sylvie, over dinner, about the movie Claude saw on TV last week, about Max's latest dating disaster. It's mostly the same as any other time they've had dinner. What makes it different is the way Claude looks at him over the edge of his wineglass, eyes heavy with intent, and the way Danny has to keep himself from reaching across the table to take Claude's hand. The effort it takes not to touch Claude is the only hard part about it. They haven't done more than kiss yet, but if the physical part goes even half as well as the rest of it, it's the kind of thing Danny thinks he could do, even if it does make their lives harder in some ways. There are only some ways he's willing to make it harder, though, and hurting his boys isn't one of them.

"This," he forces himself to ask while they're lingering over dessert, "is it just dating? I know you said you would make your life harder for us, but how far does that go?"

"I want to be with you," Claude says. "I want to keep helping you raise the boys. It might not work out - being friends doesn't always mean it'll work - but it won't be because I'm not trying."

Danny starts to reach across the table, but checks the impulse. The layout of the restaurant is such that their table is somewhat secluded, but not private enough for how he wants to touch Claude. Instead, he catches their waiter's eye and gets him to bring the check.

"I want that too," Danny tells Claude. He gives his credit card to the waiter, waits for it to come back for his signature, and then hustles Claude out of the restaurant and into another cab.

The drive back to the hotel is too long, and Toronto is a hockey town; Danny doesn't dare hold Claude's hand. Not in the elevator, either.

They hang up their coats in the hotel room, and Claude turns to Danny with a smile. "Is this the part where I get my goodnight kiss?"

Danny could tease Claude about it, about if it went well enough for that, but he wants to kiss Claude too much to wait, so instead he puts his arms around him and takes the kiss he's been wanting since the restaurant.

Claude makes a noise and kisses back, clutching at the back of Danny's suit jacket.

It's a good kiss, really good, and it leads to another and another and another, until they're wrapped around each other and Danny's half-hard. He can feel Claude hard against his hip, and the physical part is probably going to be just fine; he doesn't want to stop here. He wants to keep going, keep kissing Claude, keep touching him until he's the one who makes Claude come.

He protests, just a noise in the back of his throat, when Claude softens the kiss before breaking away.

"Game day tomorrow," Claude says. They're still so close that his lips brush Danny's when he speaks. "And I don't want to rush this."

Danny closes his eyes, leans his forehead on Claude's cheek. It's the smart thing to do, take it slow, no matter how much he doesn't want to.

"Okay," he says. "Okay." He presses his lips to Claude's, gentle without the intent of anything more.

They shift away from each other, not far, and Claude slides his hand down Danny's arm to lace their fingers together. "Can I come over for dinner on Monday?"

Danny squeezes his hand instead of pushing him down onto one of the beds. "You can come for dinner every day if you want."

Claude's face blooms into a smile. "Monday," he says. He kisses Danny one more time, and then he really does move away.

It's like he flips a switch when he does, because even though neither of them says anything about it, they're no longer on a date. They're back to their usual hotel night routine, even if it takes a few minutes of deep breathing for Danny's cock to get the message that he's not going to come tonight.

*

Claude shows up on Monday with grocery bags that he unpacks onto the counter. "I'm cooking," he tells Danny with a smile that makes Danny's fingers itch to touch him.

Claude makes grilled cheese, of course, and he's brought a couple of different kinds of salads from the deli that they just open and serve from the deli containers.

The boys jostle each other out of the way trying to be first in line for sandwiches, which only makes Claude say, "Stop shoving your brothers," to all three of them and catch Danny's eye across the kitchen.

Danny smiles at him and hands out plates to the boys. "You can start with the salads, and Claude will bring you sandwiches when they're ready."

It serves to settle the boys down, and Danny only has to settle one argument about who's taking more than their fair share of potato salad.