(no subject)
TITLE: Brotherly Love
AUTHOR: Jennie
PART: 7
CHARACTERS: Zach Parise and Travis Zajac of the New Jersey Devils, Jordan Parise of the Lowell Devils, and Drew Stafford of the Rochester Americans/Buffalo Sabres.
SUMMARY: What do you do when the one person you want to be with you can't have? (I stink at summaries. Please read it anyways..:D)
RATING: PG (content)
DISCLAIMER: This is all fiction.
A/N: MAJOR props to Brad Schlossman of the Grand Folks Herald for this article, which gave me TONS of ficspiration. :)
They told reporters they were good friends, that they’d hang out off the ice and talked about everything. It wasn’t completely false; it was like life had begun when the plane took off in Dallas and had yet to land. They hadn’t kissed, hadn’t confessed anything, hadn’t outwardly loved each other. They fooled themselves into thinking that they were just friends, though inside, they were feeling much more than that. In the locker room the day after the kiss, Travis treated Zach as he treated every other teammate, and, with their line receiving more ice time, there was little time for discussion. Their off time was filled with Friday Night Lights the TV show, watched online on Travis’s laptop, and Tiger Woods Golf.
One night in Tampa, after a 2-0 win, they were lying face down on Zach’s bed watching the newest episode of Friday Night Lights. Zach heard Travis groan and looked at him sideways. When Travis commented on how beautiful Jason Street was, Zach agreed, keeping one eye on the computer screen and one eye on Travis. This was his way of releasing some of his emotions, pent up over the past few weeks. Travis looked up at Zach with a smile, as if reading his thoughts, and said, “Let’s go for a walk.” It was more a command than a question, but Zach wouldn’t have disagreed.
They walked to a bridge connecting a small island to the mainland behind their hotel and sat down, letting their legs dangle above the sparkling water. “I called Jordan last night,” Travis said in small voice, his words cutting through the still Florida air. “Drew picked up the phone. I asked him what they were doing and I guess he didn’t see the caller ID or something, and he said that they were jacking each other off.” Zach kept his eyes low. The admission didn’t catch him by surprise, as Drew and Jordan had been best friends since they were teammates at UND; they were even in a band together. Travis and Jordan's relationship, on the other hand, finally came to blows when, during the All-Star break, Jordan chose to visit Drew in Buffalo rather than drive down to see Travis. “I don’t know why I’m upset. It’s not like I didn’t see it coming. It’s just…” Travis looked at Zach, “We wasted all that time being concerned about Jordan, and all along, he wouldn’t have cared.”
Zach locked eyes with him and said softly, “Do you ever wish you didn’t run away when we kissed?”
“It doesn’t matter now. What’s done is done.”
With those words, something inside Zach snapped and he stood up with a start. “It doesn’t matter now?! You may feel like this, us, is all over, but it’s not for me. You think that just by forgetting it happened will make me forget how I feel? I was there, Travis. I felt it. You kissed me back, and you were the one who chose to run away. Do you remember how it was in the beginning of the season? You were the one who took all the initiative and I was the one who ran away. Well, now it’s my turn to tell you that you’re wrong to run. God,” Zach clenched his fists in frustration, “you said it yourself, how you would rather be with me than with Jordan. Well, now he’s gone, and you’re still pretending what we had wasn’t real. I can’t pretend that I don’t love you, that I wouldn’t want to be with you. I’m walking away this time, and I need you to follow me.” Zach looked at Travis, trying to convey all of the hope he had in his eyes. Travis looked away from Zach and didn’t move when he walked away.
Zach managed to contain his emotions until he got in the elevator. As the elevator approached his floor, he choked back a sob and stopped the elevator. Sinking to the floor, Zach let the weight of his emotions fall onto him, and began sobbing. In the beginning, he was always afraid to hurt someone: hurt Jordan, hurt himself, hurt Travis. But now...now, he was only thinking of himself and their relationship. It was just Zach and Travis, Travis and Zach, and in the blink of an eye, all of that was gone.
Still crying, he pressed his floor’s button and continued up. He walked down the hall to his room as one would walk away from a funeral: head down, tears staining his cheeks. “The elevator was stopped, so I had to take the stairs.” Zach finally looked up to see Travis leaning against Zach’s door. As Zach stood rooted to his spot, Travis walked over and cupped his head in his hands. With force, he brought Zach’s lips to his own and held them there for several seconds, before letting go. With all of the passion he could muster, Travis whispered, “I’d always follow you.”