Keep Me Close- Chapter XXIV
Team: San Jose Sharks
Pairing: Joe Thornton/Evgeni Nabokov
Rating: R
Summary: Not all in San Jose is sunny as the path to the Stanley Cup proves to be as difficult as ever; falling in love might be the simplest task on this year’s agenda.
Editor: sherlockelly, I can’t even begin to say how much I am indebted to you!
Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter IX | Chapter X | Chapter XI | Chapter XII | Chapter XIII | Chapter XIV | Chapter XV | Chapter XVI Part one | Chapter XVI Part two | Chapter XVII part one | Chapter XVII part two | Chapter XVIII | Chapter XVIII | Chapter XIX | Chapter XX | Chapter XXI | Chapter XXII | Chapter XXIII
Disclaimer: No sadly, but I do hope that these boys had a very merry Christmas!
-Chapter XXIV-
“Happy holidays,” Joe chirped with growing smile, taking a step forward to keep their sights intact when the other man began heading up the porch stairs.
With an airy laugh, Evgeni came to a stop at the top of the flight of steps, his arms folded over the railing, all the different lights sparkling in his crinkled, happy eyes. “That’s rhight,” he bit his bottom lip to cover his humoring grin. “I’ll call yhou tomorrow,” it was a soft reminder, but as if Joe could ever possibly forget.
“’Night.”
Evgeni chewed on his lip through his smile and glanced away, his long eyelashes splaying on his flushed cheeks. He looked back after a minute or two of silence. He didn’t say anything more; there wasn’t a need for anything more to be said. Evgeni simply flashed his teeth in a wide, genuine grin, stepped back with a small wave, and entered the house.
Joe could have stood there for another ten minutes, gazing at the spot Evgeni had last stood, before he turned on his heel and treaded lightly over to the side yard gate, leading out to the street. He stopped short, inhaling the brisk air deeply when the cold came back to nip at his skin again. It felt nice this time, and when he closed his eyes, he could almost believe that he was on the ice. Opening his eyes, he stared hard into the grain of the wood, his hand flat on the gate ready to push it open.
Closing his eyes one last time before he stepped back out from his small, secluded spot, Joe reluctantly thought back on what Patrick had said. But then, he could still feel Evgeni’s kiss on his cheek, and he could feel the smile that finally seemed to reach the man’s eyes as they filled his chest with warmth.
Just this once, Joe knew that Patrick was wrong.
-----
“This what yhou had in mind for Christmas?” Evgeni giggled, throwing another log into the hearth as Joe lit a candle on the mantle.
“Well, err… no,” he grumbled reluctantly in return, holding the match steady until the wick caught fire. He really wasn’t expecting to spend his Christmas without electricity, and there was no shame in denying it. “Actually I had something else planned, but now we just have to hope fer the best with these turn of events ‘n all.”
“Ah, got it. Will yhou tell me what you had planned at least?” Evgeni asked as he settled himself in front of the crackling fire, his long legs folded beneath him, his hands propping himself up as he leaned back a little from the rapidly warming air.
“I can’t tell you that!” Joe exclaimed aghast, at the same time flopping down next to the other man with a teasing smirk playing at his mouth. “It’ll ruin the surprise for when I can reuse it!”
He was shot a look of mild disbelief, fragments of Evgeni’s amused expression lost in the shadows of the room. Joe’s smile held, and he sat on the side of his left leg, the right shifting up to his chest so that he could rest his elbow on his thigh, his head cocked in his open hand. Joe caught a glimpse of Evgeni’s raised eyebrow as the man turned towards the fire, snorting at Joe’s comment. “Reuse it?”
“Yeah! I’m not gonna let a good idea go ta waste.” Wasn’t that obvious? Because- well, damn!- Evgeni may not have known it, but it was a good idea.
“Yhou’re assuming that we’re ghoing to do something like this again,” Evgeni stated matter-of-factly, his smoldering gaze returning to land on Joe. The smile tugging at his lips betrayed his attempt to squash Joe’s presumptions.
“Considering that nothing has gone wrong yet, yeah.” His mumblings ended with a string of uneasy coughs. Damn that man’s strange ability to make his skepticism look coy and inviting. “W-well I was.” He furrowed his brow, clicking his teeth together in thought. “Umm… nothing has gone wrong, yeah? I mean the power going out isn’t necessarily my fault.”
What if he already messed up? He wasn’t good at this sort of thing! To tell the truth, he was usually one for the… how to put it lightly… for the physical aspect of the relationship. He liked that just fine! No extra worrying about what the other thought of him, because he already knew, and he thought the same way: flirt, fuck, leave before it got awkward.
Evgeni laughed with an inviting smile on his lips, “No, nhothing wrong yet.”
Oh thank god. He mentally relaxed despite his earlier disdainful thoughts aimed toward himself. “It’s too bad though, the Christmas lights aren’t gonna work.” Oh that was smooth. Really? Christmas lights? This is why he avoided relationships like this before and after Tabea. The two of them must have stayed together for so long because she was in the nicest sense of the word clingy, and Joe… well he really had a thing for accents.
“That’s a shame.” And apparently Evgeni had the same incredulous thoughts as he did. He also had a strong accent too, especially when teasing, Joe acknowledged as an afterthought.
“Is that sarcasm?” He sure hoped so.
“Maybe a little. Really, Christmas lights?” his voice had the edge that put forth the image of him rolling his eyes. “A little, ah, cheesy.”
‘Thank you! I know! Why am I even still talking?!’
“Don’t say that, that’s what Christmas is all about!”
’Seriously. Stop talking.’
“The Cheesiness? Hmm, that whould make sense, why yhou would like it and all.”
“And the presents,” he offered with a wink to keep up with appearances, though he was pretty sure that Evgeni didn’t see it through the flickering darkness.
They fell into an easy quite; Joe grumbled quietly enough to melt it in with the crackling of the fire. He thought that he had gotten a grip of his flapping mouth and loose tongue; really, it hadn’t happened for a while, he knew that for a fact. A long time actually, the more he thought about it. It’s strange, when he and Evgeni were angry and fighting and drunk and sorrowful, there was no time for Joe to mess things up with something as simple as talking. But now that the worst was behind them, idiotic comments seemed to be the only thing he could come up with.
It was as if… he was nervous when he was around Evgeni.
That’s never happened before, he pouted, ruffling at the thought. It wasn’t fair. He was the one who made other people nervous. He was Joe Thornton, damn it!
His contemplative venting was put on hold when he heard the man who was unconsciously bombarding his thoughts shift closer to the fire, their knees centimeters from touching. Joe smiled warmly at the sight.
“I’m glad you came over,” he stated truthfully, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Me too,” Evgeni responded as he continued to gaze deep into the fire.
“Or else I would have been sitting here in the dark, all alone. Pretty pathetic, right?”
The man ripped his eyes away from the enticing flames, his grey eyes settling on Joe. Joe’s stomach fluttered briefly at the darkened look directed at him. “Well, it’s not dark,” Evgeni indicated the crackling fire with a wave of his hand, “and yhou’re not alone,” he added with a smile as he pressed his splayed hand into his chest. “So yhou shouldn’t worry about it.”
“Yer awfully talkative by the way.”
“Sorry?” he asked, mockingly affronted. “I’ll stop,” a small laugh weaving into his words.
“No! No, no, don’t stop,” Joe pleaded, hearing the joking tone in Evgeni’s voice, but still paranoid enough to believe he was making it up. “I like it,” he admitted softly.
“I know,” Evgeni reassured just as soft, his voice soothing as it sent ripples of relief through Joe’s body. “Or at least yhou’d better be kidding, or this whould be a pretty bad… um… you know.”
“Would you be surprised if I said I didn’t actually know?”
“Well, I mean, that is, Iya don’t know. Is this a… a date or something?” Evgeni asked meekly, the word making the man flinch.
“Oh.” That’s what he was thinking about. “I guess…?” he stopped short. He didn’t know either. “Huh. I dunno. Do ya want it to be?”
“Iya…” Joe thought back to the night before. They had awfully treated it like a date at least. “I think so.” Apparently Evgeni thought the same.
“It’s a date then,” he smiled.
That word. ‘Date.’ It seemed so juvenile, yet at the same time, his stomach flopped now much like it did when he was a teenager, when the word used to mean something.
“Oh.” Evgeni’s mouth tried to form new words in his surprise. “W-what should we do then? For our, ah, date.”
“We don’t hafta do anything, I was having a pretty good time talking with you.”
“So we dhon’t have to go out? We can jhust stay in tonight?”
“We already started a fire; I don’t see why we should let it go ta waste.” Really now, he didn’t want to put it out, it was a handsome fire.
“No, I guess that mhakes sense. Thank yhou.” He glanced up, his bottom lip caught between his teeth to hide his timid smile. “Really, thank you.”
Joe was flattered, he just wasn’t sure why. “Fer what?”
“I don’t know. Everything?” Oh that’s specific, Joe thought grumpily.
“Yer not going to get all sappy on me are you?”
“How about jhust thanks for staying in then.”
“That’s better.” He could accept gratitude for that, really, staying with Evgeni was his pleasure. “Tell me something.”
Raising an eyebrow, Evgeni pursed his lips in thought. “Like what?” he asked carefully, treading around Joe’s comment with caution.
“I dunno.” But a split second later, he did know. He knew exactly what he wanted to know. “What happened last night?”
“What about lhast night?”
“Why were you in the side yard? You said you were down there fer, like, three hours er something. What were you down there for? Why? To everything.” Once the first question bubbled to the surface, they all came spewing out.
“Oh.” If Evgeni was surprised with the sudden influx of inquiries, he didn’t show it. He actually looked complacent with it. But then again with all the mystery that was involved in his life, he had probably wondered what took so long for Joe to ask. “Iya was… thinking. About everything I suppose.”
“Yeah?”
“Since the bheginning of the season, you know? When yhou found me in the bathroom.”
Joe hummed disapprovingly at the memory, still bristled at Todd about that night.
“Oh! I have something funny to tell yhou about that, but I’ll tell you lhater.”
“Uh, all right.” What the hell could ever be funny about that night with Todd? He stopped and rephrased his question. What the hell could ever be funny about Todd?
“Iya thought about the season, and yhou, and how close we became, a-and then… t-that night in Dallas, when yhou found me. And after…” He had started wild-eyed and enthusiastic, but his words lost their forceful tone as he continued talking, both his and Joe’s body stiffening when he choked out the end of his explanation.
Joe thought about that night often, as much as he wanted to forget about it. It wasn’t so much the sex- because lets be honest, Joe knew it was the best he had had in a long time- but more the events the led up to that point. He could still remember the dank smell that lingered on the dirty streets as he walked further and further from the bustling downtown. He had been frantic at the time, his senses jumping with adrenaline of primal need from worry to find Evgeni. When he did… his thoughts stopped short, as if physical blockage permitted him from remembering more.
“Iya thought about how… how lost I was in the summer, and how it felt as if… as if Iya deserved what happened-”
“You didn’t,” he cut in, almost angry that Evgeni could even think like that.
“I know, but Iya couldn’t help thinking at the time that maybe…” he sighed heavily, his shoulders heaving and rubbing against Joe’s arm just barely with the motion. “It doesn’t matter.”
Joe wanted desperately to say that it did matter, but he held his tongue, knowing that it wouldn’t have done any good. Evgeni continued talking after a moment’s pause.
“Yhou were always there though. And I couldn’t understand why, so I drank, and Iya got angry. Mostly at you, because yhou kept coming bhack when you had no reason to.” He looked away sadly before talking a deep breath and turning back, a hopeful glint shining in his eyes. “But you didn’t need a reason, did yhou?”
“I- no. I guess I didn’t.” He definitely didn’t.
“Iya realized that last night. That’s what I whas thinking about,” he mumbled in conclusion before perking up. “Was that what yhou wanted to hear?”
He hadn’t really had a set list of what he wanted to hear, but it was nice all the same. “I’m glad you said it, yeah.”
“Now tell me something,” Evgeni implored, suddenly taking great interest in the silly little game that Joe had started.
‘Stupid self.’
“What should I say?” Hadn’t he done enough talking already?
“Something. Anything.” He was desperate, but the curious type of desperate. Like he was asked a question he didn’t know, and now he was dying to find the answer.
Damn him. “Well… I think… you look real nice tonight.”
“Joe,” Evgeni shot back, certainly not the thing he expected to hear.
Well he asked for it. It wasn’t Joe’s fault if he didn’t like what he was going to hear. “Shush, you said anything.” He took great pleasure in making Evgeni flush like that, though he would never tell the man so. “And I find myself looking at you and thinking about you, a lot.” He hadn’t really meant to say all of that. His plan was starting to backfire on him. “Have you noticed your eyes, how they’ve become grey?” Wait. What?
“T-that’s a question, we dhidn’t agree to that.”
“And yet I’m still fully expecting an answer,” Joe mischievously shot back.
“Iya didn’t know they changed color, no.” His eyes narrowed into a mock glare. “Are yhou sure they haven’t always been grey?”
“They haven’t.” He knew they hadn’t. He’d watched them all year. They were never the same shade of grey. And only once has he seen them remotely in their shade of blue.
“Eyes jhust don’t change color; Iya think yhou’re making things up.”
“Then should I tell ya something else?”
“Yhou’d probably say it anyway,” he sighed with a roll of the eyes, the teasing smile on his face apparent.
“I really like you.” It tumbled from Joe’s mouth before he knew he said them.
“W-what?” Evgeni jerked back, slightly alarmed. Joe couldn’t blame him, he was still trying to wrap his head around what he just said as well.
“I said-”
“I heard you, jhust… what? Why?”
“What? How do- Huh? How do I even explain that?… What?” words jumbled around in his head. Who asked that? And how was he supposed to even begin to explain it?!
“I dhon’t see why you would though, it’s just-”
“Yevi,” he interrupted curtly, the name coming off his tongue as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
Sighing, Evgeni picked at the hem of his shirt, glancing away. “… Yhou haven’t called me that for a long time, Joe.”
“Can I touch you?”
“Iya…” he stopped short, his breath hitching as he sputtered for a moment at the unsuspected question. Before finally, he bowed his head. “Yes.” He looked back up, and Joe couldn’t help but remind himself to keep breathing.
The firelight flickered in Evgeni’s wide eyes, a warm orange clashing with the expanding darkness. Joe leaned in closer, his hand sinking deeper into the carpet, as he brushed his lips against the shell of the man’s ear delicately in question, before pulling back, running the end of his nose along the sharp contour of Evgeni’s cheekbone. They both sighed contently, almost inaudible as the exhale dispersed throughout the open room.
The angry pink blush blotched in an ever changing mix of vibrant and dull, flittering over Evgeni’s face as the fire continued to grow. Oak logs popped and snapped under the dancing flames, a comforting, unpredictable sound that made Joe’s lips turn upwards in a lazy smile. He could feel the flush reach his cheeks as well in a mixture of his arousal and uncharacteristic shyness.
Swallowing his trepidation, he lifted his free hand from its spot on his thigh and placed it lightly on Evgeni’s shoulder. The cloth of the shirt was bathed in the fire’s light, and the heat resonated though Joe’s weathered palm, reaching deep into his muscles to make his grip grow slack.
“Can I kiss you here?” he whispered thickly, indicating where by rubbing the pad of his thumb through the thin shirt and into the loosening muscle. He was overcome by the need to smother the man with his mouth to the skin, or to run his hands along the smooth curve of the long, athletic body; yet at the same time, the simple touch so satisfying. He held back, merely observing, caught in the daze of not needing anything more; that this was enough, just sitting in the light of the fire, while the places that the licking flames could not reach fell away into nothing, the darkness a singularity of unimportance.
It seemed wrong to break the volume of the fire, and Evgeni realized this as well. He watched languidly, a diaphanous veil of lust covering his hooded eyes, nodding as he turned his gaze from Joe’s hand to his face.
“Yes,” he purred, the animalistic growl of the word vibrating up the length of Joe’s arm and back to his fingertips.
Shifting his weight onto the side of his leg, Joe brought both hands to the first button of Evgeni’s shirt, just beneath his collarbone. He shut his eyes, following Evgeni’s lead, and let his nimble fingers undo the next two buttons without watching himself do so.
Their foreheads met and Joe cracked open his eyes again, gazing silently at Evgeni’s flushed face, his fingers stilled. Brow crinkled slightly with determination, Evgeni panted breathily through his parted mouth, his tongue sweeping over his bottom lip, leaving it shining in the firelight. Joe angled his neck, tilting his chin up until their lips ghosted over each other’s. A rumble of a laugh left him as Evgeni’s long fingers threaded though the hair behind his ears, holding him there gently, never once opening his eyes.
The man’s shirt flopped open, revealing his mottled chest heaving with every breath he took. Joe slipped his hand under the open collar, moving the material back as he pushed it over the shoulder, the shirt bunching at his wrist. Eyes flickered down when the shirt grew taut, caught around the middle of his chest, Evgeni’s bare shoulders and upper arms prickling with goosebumps as they were exposed to the open air.
Joe marveled at how the pale skin appeared translucent into the warm lighting. Sweat drops beaded on the porcelain skin, reflecting the glow of the flames as the palpable, glowing arm beneath it quivered with impatience.
Some of the sweat trembled and fell harmlessly from Evgeni’s shoulder as Joe leaned in close once again, his breath rolling over the flesh and disturbing the fragile beads. They left tracks that glowed orange on Evgeni’s skin, before they too fell to Joe’s heated breaths and evaporated instantly. A sly smile on his lips, Joe pressed his upward curled mouth to the place where the sharp collarbone met the swell of muscle in Evgeni’s shoulder.
The hands in Joe’s hair made their presence known again as they pawed at the base of his skull, Evgeni curling the hair between his fingers.
“Can Iya tell you something?” Evgeni asked, a little breathless.
“Of course,” Joe mumbled into the man’s arm. He placed his hands gently at the trim waist, feeling the lean muscles contract under his prodding fingertips. He nipped the flushed skin with his teeth, earning gasp of surprise followed by soft mewling of encouragement. Pressing his weight forward, Joe laid Evgeni onto his back with himself bent over him, breaking the contact between his mouth and the shoulder to look into the large, expressive eyes.
Joe hummed appreciatively when Evgeni tucked some of the wild, auburn curls behind his ear before parting his bowed lips to whisper, “I really like yhou too.”
The words curled like incense smoke around Joe’s insides, hot and viscous. He froze with a sharp jolt to his chest, his brain questioning what his ears had picked up. He blinked. Once. Twice.
Evgeni was still smiling shyly back up at him, his fingers flattening the hair at the base of Joe’s neck with these tiny, expert movements. The tips of the fingers were barely touching at Joe’s spine, the roughened palms flat against the side of his neck as the thumbs rubbed deeply into the dip right behind either of his ears.
Cheeks flushing madly, Evgeni laid stock-still in the firelight, curious of Joe’s response. He was lying there gazing up, waiting for the man crouched atop him to make the first move. Somewhere in the back of his subconscious, Joe knew it was just an act of courtesy, but he couldn’t help the feral growl rip through him, inviting him to claim the offered body, to dominate it. Like an animal. A throaty groan shook in his chest, and he sagged slightly, not careful in the least of his weight on top of the smaller man’s.
Evgeni didn’t seem to mind though as his smile grew more confident the more Joe unraveled in his touches, oblivious to the predatory thoughts running through the other man’s head, the moans and hums making him work his fingers more forcefully into the tensed column on muscle.
“P’rrrfect.” The word flopped uselessly around in Joe’s open mouth before it came tumbling off his tongue in a slurred mess. He could feel the tightly knotted muscles in his shoulders untie at Evgeni’s imploring touch, his whole body trembling and shivering gelatinously with need when the hands splayed on his back pushed the two of their bodies closer together.
The soft lips latched onto the side of Joe’s neck, just above his pounding pulse and just next to Evgeni’s wrist of his right hand. He collapsed under the overwhelming pleasure shooting down his spine, which made his legs ache even under the minimal weight they were carrying.
For a second, his mind cleared, and regret of his carnivorous intentions filled him.
But then an appreciative growl rumbled from Evgeni’s bare chest, up through his open mouth and reaching Joe’s own chest as their erections bumped clumsily together through the heavy denim of their jeans, and Joe relapsed into his primitive needs. Snaking both hands between them, Joe made quick work of the rest of the buttons on Evgeni’s shirt, the eagerness of his actions mirrored in the licking and prodding of the slick tongue at his throbbing jugular vein.
Evgeni sank back into the thick carpet when Joe reached the last of the small buttons, squirming on the floor as the man sitting on his hips undid the last one with disciplined patience. Joe’s eyes traveled up from the line of wispy hairs tickling his knuckles on Evgeni’s tight stomach, meeting the lust-filled eyes with equal desire.
They took off the encumbering layer of separation, flinging it away from the fireplace, and got to work on tugging Joe’s fleece sweater over his head, peeling it off his arms before it too landed in a heap to the side. A hungry grin spread over Joe’s face, and a challenging glint flashed in Evgeni’s hooded eyes, his chin tilted back defiantly.
Just like that, the basic instinct to surround his cock in a heat sickeningly sweet, fucking himself raw left him. Don’t get him wrong, he was still aroused as hell, rubbing his confined dick against Evgeni’s groin, shuddering as the tremors traveled the length of his shaft. The rapacious smile slipped off his face and he faltered, his eyebrows creasing with worry. He wanted more; but because who the man lying beneath him was, not because of what the man was offering.
True, he was Joe Thornton, he heard his thoughts echo faintly in the back of his mind, but when he was with Evgeni- not Evgeni Nabokov, starting goaltender for one of the premier hockey clubs in the league- just Evgeni; he became just Joe. Bumbling, bad with words, happy-go-lucky, hockey-loving Joe.
His concern faded, and a broad smile spread over his face as he collapsed quickly, capturing the startled man’s lips in a passionate kiss. He clutched the sides of Evgeni’s face desperately, so grateful that the familiar body was so alive beneath his finger tips, the lips he thought of so often opening up against his own.
He was eager to keep his hands roaming over the heated body, and he kept his tongue running over all the silky skin he could reach. Drawing up onto his hands and knees to appreciate the view under him, Joe growled with barely contained excitement, Evgeni’s wild yet timid grin and sparkling, lust-filled eyes urging him to continue. He gladly buckled under the intense stare, bowing his head and sucking the skin right behind the man’s ear, soaking in the violent shiver that ripped through the man’s body.
His enthusiasm reflected in his actions, and soon Evgeni was mewing with pleasure. His head was thrown back against the floor and he raked his dull nails down the expanse of Joe’s back in response to Joe bucking their needy hips together in a fumbling mess, kissing sloppily down the chest that was arched up to his mouth to meet him halfway. Denim-clad legs were thrown around his bare waist, and Joe groaned approvingly at the added pressure between their straining erections as Evgeni lifted his hips off the floor and dropped his back down to carry the brunt of his weight.
Pleasure was building deep in his gut, so overwhelmingly full that he felt as though he would burst. It was sinful the way Evgeni’s flexible body bent without restraint, churning and curving like the water’s lazy waves lapping at the sides of a bank, but only so, so much hotter. They were everywhere, and yet their fumbling hands couldn’t grapple enough.
Hands in hair, fingers tracing the waistline of jeans, the thrusting to bring them closer to each other as well as closer to the inevitable completion. The growing moans and whines and whimpers and yes, yes, yes’s filled Joe’s apartment until nothing else mattered. Joe wanted this. They wanted this. He could tell. He could feel it under his hands, under his lips, up against his chest where Evgeni’s heart thumped without rest, a beat matched in time by his own blood, burning through his bloodstream like fire.
He reached for the button of Evgeni’s jeans when he finally heard the distinct beep of his home phone signaling the caller to leave a message. He must have missed the ringing due to his distracting matter at hand.
Devin’s voice rang through the apartment. The electricity must have been working again, Joe thought gloomily through his clouded head.
“Joeeeeeee. Hey bud, I know you’re there, so pick up your fucking phone. I’ve been calling you only, like, thousands of times on your cell.”
Joe grunted his frustration, dipping back down to encourage another lip-locking with Evgeni, in which the man responded eagerly, but Devin continued his constant chatter.
“Joe. Joe. Hey, Joe. Joeeeeeeee. Joey, pick up your goddamn phone…” he rambled off with different variations of Joe’s name, with some swearing and choice words that for reasons unknown managed to tear a rift in the sensual mood that had settled earlier. “JoeJoeJoeJoeJoeJoeJOE!!”
“I don’t think he’s gonna stop,” Joe whispered while looking down with a distraught grimace, pausing for an especially elongated syllable that disrupted the silence to prove his point.
Evgeni laid on his back blinking owlishly, his slack-jawed mouth open and searching for words, his head bobbing in a lethargic nod. Lips barely moving, Evgeni kept his eyes on Joe’s when he finally shook himself and began whispering. “Oh, um. Y-yeah.”
Joe wasn’t sure if that was an invitation for him to answer the phone, but he detached his left hand from the button of Evgeni’s jeans and fumbled for the receiver on the end table, because Devin’s unnecessary message was getting really annoying.
He dropped his gaze to watch Evgeni once again as he geld the device to his ear. “Yes, Devin. What do you want?” he asked tightly, suddenly very aware of the legs hooked around his waist and the subtle grinding that he was applying without thinking. He stopped quickly and blushed bright red.
“Joe! I knew you were home, Bro!”
“Yes… you said that in your message,” Joe sighed, shifting his hand with the phone until he could place his elbow on the ground next to Evgeni’s ear, running his free hand up the long leg wrapped around him and squeezing the strong upper thigh with teasing fingers. The man involuntarily giggled through his clenched teeth at the imploring touches.
“… Evgeni? That you?” Devin questioned lightheartedly.
Both froze. Evgeni dislodged his nails from the broad shoulder blades while Joe uncupped the ass in his hand and rolled off to the side.
“W-what?” He hoped that his squeaked exclamation hadn’t sounded so high-pitched on Devin’s end on the phone. How did he even hear that? Let alone connect the laugh to being his teammate’s.
“That was Nabby, right? That’s perfect! You two can come over, I’m out getting some booze for me and Mitchie.” Joe didn’t find that Devin’s happy banter improved his mood at all.
“Um… give me a sec, Dev.” He whipped his head around, staring down Evgeni with wide, frightened eyes.
“How did he know?” Evgeni whisper-yelled as if to show he was being sneaky and furious at the same time.
“What the hell? Beats me! Shit. Jesus fucking Christ!” Joe whisper-yelled his alarm right back.
“Stop swearing. What are yhou going to tell him?”
“Well, we obviously can’t go…”
“Of course not!... Dhont’ say ‘we!’”
“Fuck, yer right.”
“Tell him- hey, stop! Dhon’t pick up the phone- hey! Stop it! Stop it!” he snapped in vain before Joe shooed his outstretched arm away and held the phone back up to his ear.
“Yeaaaah, sorry Seto, I think yer confused,” he stated bluntly. “Uh, you see… Nabs isn’t over, and… and I can’t make it anyway.”
“Really?” Devin gasped, taken aback. “Sounded juss’ like him!”
Joe turned on Evgeni who had a sheepish smile twitching at his lips before he had the decency to mouth ‘I’m sorry’ with a shrug. Rolling his eyes, Joe smacked the man on the arm and turned back to his hasty conversation.
“Nope. I’m watching TV.”
Panicked, Evgeni slapped him on the leg and whispered, “Yhou said you couldn’t make it!”
Catching his slip of the tongue a little too late, Joe winced when Devin’s nonstop talking came to a halt, obviously thinking something over. “Don’t you have plans?” the young man finally asked, confusion laced into his deep voice.
“I’minabarcan’ttalkrightnowbye!” Joe winced after he hung up, both he and Evgeni staring wide-eyed at the offending object in his hand as if it were poisonous.
“Iya hope he doesn’t call back,” the man still draped across the floor muttered after a minute or so of silence.
“Oh shit. Shitshitshit.” Joe made quick work of removing the batteries from the phone and throwing all of the pieces on the couch in five seconds flat.
“That’s not ghoing to work!” Evgeni cried worriedly, but made no move to stop Joe after he chucked the phone.
They waited in silence until it was an unspoken agreement that Devin wasn’t going to call back, probably off to call someone else. Maybe Ryane; but Torrey was still giving him the cold shoulder. Possibly Boosh, he liked those two a lot. As long as it wasn’t them.
“Mhaybe… we were taking it too fast,” Evgeni whispered when Joe finally clambered down next to him on his side, his head propped in his open hand. He glanced over to the larger man lying beside him, a warm flush renewing on his cheeks and winding its way down to his chest. His skin was slick with drying sweat, but it still shone with a mix of the firelight and the afterglow of their groping session. Entwining his fingers around his flat stomach, Evgeni sighed quietly, his eyes fluttering closed before he looked back up to Joe with a tired smile.
“I was ‘bout ta jump you right there. Ya looked… well, breathtaking,” Joe stated truthfully, nodding in agreement as he found no need to skirt about the issue. He smiled with relief when the other man laughed at his words, his face turning ten shades brighter with the compliment.
“S’not like Iya was complaining…” he muttered, shrugging off Joe’s words as if he hadn’t heard them.
“Stay here t’night,” Joe blurted out, only slightly annoyed with himself this time about his inability to keep his mouth shut. He probably would have been more aggravated if he didn’t want his request to become true. He would be lying if he said he didn’t.
Flustered, Evgeni glanced around the room wildly. “What? I mean, Iya don’t know if I should…” he began rambling off, his hands unlatching themselves from his belly as he waved them around to emphasize his many points, his face growing more and more heated by the second.
Removing his head from his hand, Joe bent down and pressed his lips softly against Evgeni’s own, muffling out the rest of his ramblings quite effectively. Pulling back, he put on the most calming smile he could create and he gripped one of the other man’s now still hands as reassurance. “Trust me.”
Eyelashes flickered down as Evgeni watched Joe’s lips shape out the two short words. Who knew something so small could have such an impact. And yet, within seconds, he found himself smiling shyly. “I do.”
“Then stay.”
“All right.”
-----
To be continued
-----
Hmmm yeah I’ve been pretty down low lately. Finals and all *grumblegrumble* But I want you to know that the reviews for last chapter were all so great and I can’t wait to reply to all of them when I get the chance! This thing just needed to come out before Finals actually start this week aka even more no time for my life if that was possible. And I’m ranting now.
But yay fluff. Yay lots of talking! I had fun writing this one.
Pairing: Joe Thornton/Evgeni Nabokov
Rating: R
Summary: Not all in San Jose is sunny as the path to the Stanley Cup proves to be as difficult as ever; falling in love might be the simplest task on this year’s agenda.
Editor: sherlockelly, I can’t even begin to say how much I am indebted to you!
Chapter I | Chapter II | Chapter III | Chapter IV | Chapter V | Chapter VI | Chapter VII | Chapter VIII | Chapter IX | Chapter X | Chapter XI | Chapter XII | Chapter XIII | Chapter XIV | Chapter XV | Chapter XVI Part one | Chapter XVI Part two | Chapter XVII part one | Chapter XVII part two | Chapter XVIII | Chapter XVIII | Chapter XIX | Chapter XX | Chapter XXI | Chapter XXII | Chapter XXIII
Disclaimer: No sadly, but I do hope that these boys had a very merry Christmas!
-Chapter XXIV-
“Happy holidays,” Joe chirped with growing smile, taking a step forward to keep their sights intact when the other man began heading up the porch stairs.
With an airy laugh, Evgeni came to a stop at the top of the flight of steps, his arms folded over the railing, all the different lights sparkling in his crinkled, happy eyes. “That’s rhight,” he bit his bottom lip to cover his humoring grin. “I’ll call yhou tomorrow,” it was a soft reminder, but as if Joe could ever possibly forget.
“’Night.”
Evgeni chewed on his lip through his smile and glanced away, his long eyelashes splaying on his flushed cheeks. He looked back after a minute or two of silence. He didn’t say anything more; there wasn’t a need for anything more to be said. Evgeni simply flashed his teeth in a wide, genuine grin, stepped back with a small wave, and entered the house.
Joe could have stood there for another ten minutes, gazing at the spot Evgeni had last stood, before he turned on his heel and treaded lightly over to the side yard gate, leading out to the street. He stopped short, inhaling the brisk air deeply when the cold came back to nip at his skin again. It felt nice this time, and when he closed his eyes, he could almost believe that he was on the ice. Opening his eyes, he stared hard into the grain of the wood, his hand flat on the gate ready to push it open.
Closing his eyes one last time before he stepped back out from his small, secluded spot, Joe reluctantly thought back on what Patrick had said. But then, he could still feel Evgeni’s kiss on his cheek, and he could feel the smile that finally seemed to reach the man’s eyes as they filled his chest with warmth.
Just this once, Joe knew that Patrick was wrong.
-----
“This what yhou had in mind for Christmas?” Evgeni giggled, throwing another log into the hearth as Joe lit a candle on the mantle.
“Well, err… no,” he grumbled reluctantly in return, holding the match steady until the wick caught fire. He really wasn’t expecting to spend his Christmas without electricity, and there was no shame in denying it. “Actually I had something else planned, but now we just have to hope fer the best with these turn of events ‘n all.”
“Ah, got it. Will yhou tell me what you had planned at least?” Evgeni asked as he settled himself in front of the crackling fire, his long legs folded beneath him, his hands propping himself up as he leaned back a little from the rapidly warming air.
“I can’t tell you that!” Joe exclaimed aghast, at the same time flopping down next to the other man with a teasing smirk playing at his mouth. “It’ll ruin the surprise for when I can reuse it!”
He was shot a look of mild disbelief, fragments of Evgeni’s amused expression lost in the shadows of the room. Joe’s smile held, and he sat on the side of his left leg, the right shifting up to his chest so that he could rest his elbow on his thigh, his head cocked in his open hand. Joe caught a glimpse of Evgeni’s raised eyebrow as the man turned towards the fire, snorting at Joe’s comment. “Reuse it?”
“Yeah! I’m not gonna let a good idea go ta waste.” Wasn’t that obvious? Because- well, damn!- Evgeni may not have known it, but it was a good idea.
“Yhou’re assuming that we’re ghoing to do something like this again,” Evgeni stated matter-of-factly, his smoldering gaze returning to land on Joe. The smile tugging at his lips betrayed his attempt to squash Joe’s presumptions.
“Considering that nothing has gone wrong yet, yeah.” His mumblings ended with a string of uneasy coughs. Damn that man’s strange ability to make his skepticism look coy and inviting. “W-well I was.” He furrowed his brow, clicking his teeth together in thought. “Umm… nothing has gone wrong, yeah? I mean the power going out isn’t necessarily my fault.”
What if he already messed up? He wasn’t good at this sort of thing! To tell the truth, he was usually one for the… how to put it lightly… for the physical aspect of the relationship. He liked that just fine! No extra worrying about what the other thought of him, because he already knew, and he thought the same way: flirt, fuck, leave before it got awkward.
Evgeni laughed with an inviting smile on his lips, “No, nhothing wrong yet.”
Oh thank god. He mentally relaxed despite his earlier disdainful thoughts aimed toward himself. “It’s too bad though, the Christmas lights aren’t gonna work.” Oh that was smooth. Really? Christmas lights? This is why he avoided relationships like this before and after Tabea. The two of them must have stayed together for so long because she was in the nicest sense of the word clingy, and Joe… well he really had a thing for accents.
“That’s a shame.” And apparently Evgeni had the same incredulous thoughts as he did. He also had a strong accent too, especially when teasing, Joe acknowledged as an afterthought.
“Is that sarcasm?” He sure hoped so.
“Maybe a little. Really, Christmas lights?” his voice had the edge that put forth the image of him rolling his eyes. “A little, ah, cheesy.”
‘Thank you! I know! Why am I even still talking?!’
“Don’t say that, that’s what Christmas is all about!”
’Seriously. Stop talking.’
“The Cheesiness? Hmm, that whould make sense, why yhou would like it and all.”
“And the presents,” he offered with a wink to keep up with appearances, though he was pretty sure that Evgeni didn’t see it through the flickering darkness.
They fell into an easy quite; Joe grumbled quietly enough to melt it in with the crackling of the fire. He thought that he had gotten a grip of his flapping mouth and loose tongue; really, it hadn’t happened for a while, he knew that for a fact. A long time actually, the more he thought about it. It’s strange, when he and Evgeni were angry and fighting and drunk and sorrowful, there was no time for Joe to mess things up with something as simple as talking. But now that the worst was behind them, idiotic comments seemed to be the only thing he could come up with.
It was as if… he was nervous when he was around Evgeni.
That’s never happened before, he pouted, ruffling at the thought. It wasn’t fair. He was the one who made other people nervous. He was Joe Thornton, damn it!
His contemplative venting was put on hold when he heard the man who was unconsciously bombarding his thoughts shift closer to the fire, their knees centimeters from touching. Joe smiled warmly at the sight.
“I’m glad you came over,” he stated truthfully, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Me too,” Evgeni responded as he continued to gaze deep into the fire.
“Or else I would have been sitting here in the dark, all alone. Pretty pathetic, right?”
The man ripped his eyes away from the enticing flames, his grey eyes settling on Joe. Joe’s stomach fluttered briefly at the darkened look directed at him. “Well, it’s not dark,” Evgeni indicated the crackling fire with a wave of his hand, “and yhou’re not alone,” he added with a smile as he pressed his splayed hand into his chest. “So yhou shouldn’t worry about it.”
“Yer awfully talkative by the way.”
“Sorry?” he asked, mockingly affronted. “I’ll stop,” a small laugh weaving into his words.
“No! No, no, don’t stop,” Joe pleaded, hearing the joking tone in Evgeni’s voice, but still paranoid enough to believe he was making it up. “I like it,” he admitted softly.
“I know,” Evgeni reassured just as soft, his voice soothing as it sent ripples of relief through Joe’s body. “Or at least yhou’d better be kidding, or this whould be a pretty bad… um… you know.”
“Would you be surprised if I said I didn’t actually know?”
“Well, I mean, that is, Iya don’t know. Is this a… a date or something?” Evgeni asked meekly, the word making the man flinch.
“Oh.” That’s what he was thinking about. “I guess…?” he stopped short. He didn’t know either. “Huh. I dunno. Do ya want it to be?”
“Iya…” Joe thought back to the night before. They had awfully treated it like a date at least. “I think so.” Apparently Evgeni thought the same.
“It’s a date then,” he smiled.
That word. ‘Date.’ It seemed so juvenile, yet at the same time, his stomach flopped now much like it did when he was a teenager, when the word used to mean something.
“Oh.” Evgeni’s mouth tried to form new words in his surprise. “W-what should we do then? For our, ah, date.”
“We don’t hafta do anything, I was having a pretty good time talking with you.”
“So we dhon’t have to go out? We can jhust stay in tonight?”
“We already started a fire; I don’t see why we should let it go ta waste.” Really now, he didn’t want to put it out, it was a handsome fire.
“No, I guess that mhakes sense. Thank yhou.” He glanced up, his bottom lip caught between his teeth to hide his timid smile. “Really, thank you.”
Joe was flattered, he just wasn’t sure why. “Fer what?”
“I don’t know. Everything?” Oh that’s specific, Joe thought grumpily.
“Yer not going to get all sappy on me are you?”
“How about jhust thanks for staying in then.”
“That’s better.” He could accept gratitude for that, really, staying with Evgeni was his pleasure. “Tell me something.”
Raising an eyebrow, Evgeni pursed his lips in thought. “Like what?” he asked carefully, treading around Joe’s comment with caution.
“I dunno.” But a split second later, he did know. He knew exactly what he wanted to know. “What happened last night?”
“What about lhast night?”
“Why were you in the side yard? You said you were down there fer, like, three hours er something. What were you down there for? Why? To everything.” Once the first question bubbled to the surface, they all came spewing out.
“Oh.” If Evgeni was surprised with the sudden influx of inquiries, he didn’t show it. He actually looked complacent with it. But then again with all the mystery that was involved in his life, he had probably wondered what took so long for Joe to ask. “Iya was… thinking. About everything I suppose.”
“Yeah?”
“Since the bheginning of the season, you know? When yhou found me in the bathroom.”
Joe hummed disapprovingly at the memory, still bristled at Todd about that night.
“Oh! I have something funny to tell yhou about that, but I’ll tell you lhater.”
“Uh, all right.” What the hell could ever be funny about that night with Todd? He stopped and rephrased his question. What the hell could ever be funny about Todd?
“Iya thought about the season, and yhou, and how close we became, a-and then… t-that night in Dallas, when yhou found me. And after…” He had started wild-eyed and enthusiastic, but his words lost their forceful tone as he continued talking, both his and Joe’s body stiffening when he choked out the end of his explanation.
Joe thought about that night often, as much as he wanted to forget about it. It wasn’t so much the sex- because lets be honest, Joe knew it was the best he had had in a long time- but more the events the led up to that point. He could still remember the dank smell that lingered on the dirty streets as he walked further and further from the bustling downtown. He had been frantic at the time, his senses jumping with adrenaline of primal need from worry to find Evgeni. When he did… his thoughts stopped short, as if physical blockage permitted him from remembering more.
“Iya thought about how… how lost I was in the summer, and how it felt as if… as if Iya deserved what happened-”
“You didn’t,” he cut in, almost angry that Evgeni could even think like that.
“I know, but Iya couldn’t help thinking at the time that maybe…” he sighed heavily, his shoulders heaving and rubbing against Joe’s arm just barely with the motion. “It doesn’t matter.”
Joe wanted desperately to say that it did matter, but he held his tongue, knowing that it wouldn’t have done any good. Evgeni continued talking after a moment’s pause.
“Yhou were always there though. And I couldn’t understand why, so I drank, and Iya got angry. Mostly at you, because yhou kept coming bhack when you had no reason to.” He looked away sadly before talking a deep breath and turning back, a hopeful glint shining in his eyes. “But you didn’t need a reason, did yhou?”
“I- no. I guess I didn’t.” He definitely didn’t.
“Iya realized that last night. That’s what I whas thinking about,” he mumbled in conclusion before perking up. “Was that what yhou wanted to hear?”
He hadn’t really had a set list of what he wanted to hear, but it was nice all the same. “I’m glad you said it, yeah.”
“Now tell me something,” Evgeni implored, suddenly taking great interest in the silly little game that Joe had started.
‘Stupid self.’
“What should I say?” Hadn’t he done enough talking already?
“Something. Anything.” He was desperate, but the curious type of desperate. Like he was asked a question he didn’t know, and now he was dying to find the answer.
Damn him. “Well… I think… you look real nice tonight.”
“Joe,” Evgeni shot back, certainly not the thing he expected to hear.
Well he asked for it. It wasn’t Joe’s fault if he didn’t like what he was going to hear. “Shush, you said anything.” He took great pleasure in making Evgeni flush like that, though he would never tell the man so. “And I find myself looking at you and thinking about you, a lot.” He hadn’t really meant to say all of that. His plan was starting to backfire on him. “Have you noticed your eyes, how they’ve become grey?” Wait. What?
“T-that’s a question, we dhidn’t agree to that.”
“And yet I’m still fully expecting an answer,” Joe mischievously shot back.
“Iya didn’t know they changed color, no.” His eyes narrowed into a mock glare. “Are yhou sure they haven’t always been grey?”
“They haven’t.” He knew they hadn’t. He’d watched them all year. They were never the same shade of grey. And only once has he seen them remotely in their shade of blue.
“Eyes jhust don’t change color; Iya think yhou’re making things up.”
“Then should I tell ya something else?”
“Yhou’d probably say it anyway,” he sighed with a roll of the eyes, the teasing smile on his face apparent.
“I really like you.” It tumbled from Joe’s mouth before he knew he said them.
“W-what?” Evgeni jerked back, slightly alarmed. Joe couldn’t blame him, he was still trying to wrap his head around what he just said as well.
“I said-”
“I heard you, jhust… what? Why?”
“What? How do- Huh? How do I even explain that?… What?” words jumbled around in his head. Who asked that? And how was he supposed to even begin to explain it?!
“I dhon’t see why you would though, it’s just-”
“Yevi,” he interrupted curtly, the name coming off his tongue as if it was the easiest thing in the world.
Sighing, Evgeni picked at the hem of his shirt, glancing away. “… Yhou haven’t called me that for a long time, Joe.”
“Can I touch you?”
“Iya…” he stopped short, his breath hitching as he sputtered for a moment at the unsuspected question. Before finally, he bowed his head. “Yes.” He looked back up, and Joe couldn’t help but remind himself to keep breathing.
The firelight flickered in Evgeni’s wide eyes, a warm orange clashing with the expanding darkness. Joe leaned in closer, his hand sinking deeper into the carpet, as he brushed his lips against the shell of the man’s ear delicately in question, before pulling back, running the end of his nose along the sharp contour of Evgeni’s cheekbone. They both sighed contently, almost inaudible as the exhale dispersed throughout the open room.
The angry pink blush blotched in an ever changing mix of vibrant and dull, flittering over Evgeni’s face as the fire continued to grow. Oak logs popped and snapped under the dancing flames, a comforting, unpredictable sound that made Joe’s lips turn upwards in a lazy smile. He could feel the flush reach his cheeks as well in a mixture of his arousal and uncharacteristic shyness.
Swallowing his trepidation, he lifted his free hand from its spot on his thigh and placed it lightly on Evgeni’s shoulder. The cloth of the shirt was bathed in the fire’s light, and the heat resonated though Joe’s weathered palm, reaching deep into his muscles to make his grip grow slack.
“Can I kiss you here?” he whispered thickly, indicating where by rubbing the pad of his thumb through the thin shirt and into the loosening muscle. He was overcome by the need to smother the man with his mouth to the skin, or to run his hands along the smooth curve of the long, athletic body; yet at the same time, the simple touch so satisfying. He held back, merely observing, caught in the daze of not needing anything more; that this was enough, just sitting in the light of the fire, while the places that the licking flames could not reach fell away into nothing, the darkness a singularity of unimportance.
It seemed wrong to break the volume of the fire, and Evgeni realized this as well. He watched languidly, a diaphanous veil of lust covering his hooded eyes, nodding as he turned his gaze from Joe’s hand to his face.
“Yes,” he purred, the animalistic growl of the word vibrating up the length of Joe’s arm and back to his fingertips.
Shifting his weight onto the side of his leg, Joe brought both hands to the first button of Evgeni’s shirt, just beneath his collarbone. He shut his eyes, following Evgeni’s lead, and let his nimble fingers undo the next two buttons without watching himself do so.
Their foreheads met and Joe cracked open his eyes again, gazing silently at Evgeni’s flushed face, his fingers stilled. Brow crinkled slightly with determination, Evgeni panted breathily through his parted mouth, his tongue sweeping over his bottom lip, leaving it shining in the firelight. Joe angled his neck, tilting his chin up until their lips ghosted over each other’s. A rumble of a laugh left him as Evgeni’s long fingers threaded though the hair behind his ears, holding him there gently, never once opening his eyes.
The man’s shirt flopped open, revealing his mottled chest heaving with every breath he took. Joe slipped his hand under the open collar, moving the material back as he pushed it over the shoulder, the shirt bunching at his wrist. Eyes flickered down when the shirt grew taut, caught around the middle of his chest, Evgeni’s bare shoulders and upper arms prickling with goosebumps as they were exposed to the open air.
Joe marveled at how the pale skin appeared translucent into the warm lighting. Sweat drops beaded on the porcelain skin, reflecting the glow of the flames as the palpable, glowing arm beneath it quivered with impatience.
Some of the sweat trembled and fell harmlessly from Evgeni’s shoulder as Joe leaned in close once again, his breath rolling over the flesh and disturbing the fragile beads. They left tracks that glowed orange on Evgeni’s skin, before they too fell to Joe’s heated breaths and evaporated instantly. A sly smile on his lips, Joe pressed his upward curled mouth to the place where the sharp collarbone met the swell of muscle in Evgeni’s shoulder.
The hands in Joe’s hair made their presence known again as they pawed at the base of his skull, Evgeni curling the hair between his fingers.
“Can Iya tell you something?” Evgeni asked, a little breathless.
“Of course,” Joe mumbled into the man’s arm. He placed his hands gently at the trim waist, feeling the lean muscles contract under his prodding fingertips. He nipped the flushed skin with his teeth, earning gasp of surprise followed by soft mewling of encouragement. Pressing his weight forward, Joe laid Evgeni onto his back with himself bent over him, breaking the contact between his mouth and the shoulder to look into the large, expressive eyes.
Joe hummed appreciatively when Evgeni tucked some of the wild, auburn curls behind his ear before parting his bowed lips to whisper, “I really like yhou too.”
The words curled like incense smoke around Joe’s insides, hot and viscous. He froze with a sharp jolt to his chest, his brain questioning what his ears had picked up. He blinked. Once. Twice.
Evgeni was still smiling shyly back up at him, his fingers flattening the hair at the base of Joe’s neck with these tiny, expert movements. The tips of the fingers were barely touching at Joe’s spine, the roughened palms flat against the side of his neck as the thumbs rubbed deeply into the dip right behind either of his ears.
Cheeks flushing madly, Evgeni laid stock-still in the firelight, curious of Joe’s response. He was lying there gazing up, waiting for the man crouched atop him to make the first move. Somewhere in the back of his subconscious, Joe knew it was just an act of courtesy, but he couldn’t help the feral growl rip through him, inviting him to claim the offered body, to dominate it. Like an animal. A throaty groan shook in his chest, and he sagged slightly, not careful in the least of his weight on top of the smaller man’s.
Evgeni didn’t seem to mind though as his smile grew more confident the more Joe unraveled in his touches, oblivious to the predatory thoughts running through the other man’s head, the moans and hums making him work his fingers more forcefully into the tensed column on muscle.
“P’rrrfect.” The word flopped uselessly around in Joe’s open mouth before it came tumbling off his tongue in a slurred mess. He could feel the tightly knotted muscles in his shoulders untie at Evgeni’s imploring touch, his whole body trembling and shivering gelatinously with need when the hands splayed on his back pushed the two of their bodies closer together.
The soft lips latched onto the side of Joe’s neck, just above his pounding pulse and just next to Evgeni’s wrist of his right hand. He collapsed under the overwhelming pleasure shooting down his spine, which made his legs ache even under the minimal weight they were carrying.
For a second, his mind cleared, and regret of his carnivorous intentions filled him.
But then an appreciative growl rumbled from Evgeni’s bare chest, up through his open mouth and reaching Joe’s own chest as their erections bumped clumsily together through the heavy denim of their jeans, and Joe relapsed into his primitive needs. Snaking both hands between them, Joe made quick work of the rest of the buttons on Evgeni’s shirt, the eagerness of his actions mirrored in the licking and prodding of the slick tongue at his throbbing jugular vein.
Evgeni sank back into the thick carpet when Joe reached the last of the small buttons, squirming on the floor as the man sitting on his hips undid the last one with disciplined patience. Joe’s eyes traveled up from the line of wispy hairs tickling his knuckles on Evgeni’s tight stomach, meeting the lust-filled eyes with equal desire.
They took off the encumbering layer of separation, flinging it away from the fireplace, and got to work on tugging Joe’s fleece sweater over his head, peeling it off his arms before it too landed in a heap to the side. A hungry grin spread over Joe’s face, and a challenging glint flashed in Evgeni’s hooded eyes, his chin tilted back defiantly.
Just like that, the basic instinct to surround his cock in a heat sickeningly sweet, fucking himself raw left him. Don’t get him wrong, he was still aroused as hell, rubbing his confined dick against Evgeni’s groin, shuddering as the tremors traveled the length of his shaft. The rapacious smile slipped off his face and he faltered, his eyebrows creasing with worry. He wanted more; but because who the man lying beneath him was, not because of what the man was offering.
True, he was Joe Thornton, he heard his thoughts echo faintly in the back of his mind, but when he was with Evgeni- not Evgeni Nabokov, starting goaltender for one of the premier hockey clubs in the league- just Evgeni; he became just Joe. Bumbling, bad with words, happy-go-lucky, hockey-loving Joe.
His concern faded, and a broad smile spread over his face as he collapsed quickly, capturing the startled man’s lips in a passionate kiss. He clutched the sides of Evgeni’s face desperately, so grateful that the familiar body was so alive beneath his finger tips, the lips he thought of so often opening up against his own.
He was eager to keep his hands roaming over the heated body, and he kept his tongue running over all the silky skin he could reach. Drawing up onto his hands and knees to appreciate the view under him, Joe growled with barely contained excitement, Evgeni’s wild yet timid grin and sparkling, lust-filled eyes urging him to continue. He gladly buckled under the intense stare, bowing his head and sucking the skin right behind the man’s ear, soaking in the violent shiver that ripped through the man’s body.
His enthusiasm reflected in his actions, and soon Evgeni was mewing with pleasure. His head was thrown back against the floor and he raked his dull nails down the expanse of Joe’s back in response to Joe bucking their needy hips together in a fumbling mess, kissing sloppily down the chest that was arched up to his mouth to meet him halfway. Denim-clad legs were thrown around his bare waist, and Joe groaned approvingly at the added pressure between their straining erections as Evgeni lifted his hips off the floor and dropped his back down to carry the brunt of his weight.
Pleasure was building deep in his gut, so overwhelmingly full that he felt as though he would burst. It was sinful the way Evgeni’s flexible body bent without restraint, churning and curving like the water’s lazy waves lapping at the sides of a bank, but only so, so much hotter. They were everywhere, and yet their fumbling hands couldn’t grapple enough.
Hands in hair, fingers tracing the waistline of jeans, the thrusting to bring them closer to each other as well as closer to the inevitable completion. The growing moans and whines and whimpers and yes, yes, yes’s filled Joe’s apartment until nothing else mattered. Joe wanted this. They wanted this. He could tell. He could feel it under his hands, under his lips, up against his chest where Evgeni’s heart thumped without rest, a beat matched in time by his own blood, burning through his bloodstream like fire.
He reached for the button of Evgeni’s jeans when he finally heard the distinct beep of his home phone signaling the caller to leave a message. He must have missed the ringing due to his distracting matter at hand.
Devin’s voice rang through the apartment. The electricity must have been working again, Joe thought gloomily through his clouded head.
“Joeeeeeee. Hey bud, I know you’re there, so pick up your fucking phone. I’ve been calling you only, like, thousands of times on your cell.”
Joe grunted his frustration, dipping back down to encourage another lip-locking with Evgeni, in which the man responded eagerly, but Devin continued his constant chatter.
“Joe. Joe. Hey, Joe. Joeeeeeeee. Joey, pick up your goddamn phone…” he rambled off with different variations of Joe’s name, with some swearing and choice words that for reasons unknown managed to tear a rift in the sensual mood that had settled earlier. “JoeJoeJoeJoeJoeJoeJOE!!”
“I don’t think he’s gonna stop,” Joe whispered while looking down with a distraught grimace, pausing for an especially elongated syllable that disrupted the silence to prove his point.
Evgeni laid on his back blinking owlishly, his slack-jawed mouth open and searching for words, his head bobbing in a lethargic nod. Lips barely moving, Evgeni kept his eyes on Joe’s when he finally shook himself and began whispering. “Oh, um. Y-yeah.”
Joe wasn’t sure if that was an invitation for him to answer the phone, but he detached his left hand from the button of Evgeni’s jeans and fumbled for the receiver on the end table, because Devin’s unnecessary message was getting really annoying.
He dropped his gaze to watch Evgeni once again as he geld the device to his ear. “Yes, Devin. What do you want?” he asked tightly, suddenly very aware of the legs hooked around his waist and the subtle grinding that he was applying without thinking. He stopped quickly and blushed bright red.
“Joe! I knew you were home, Bro!”
“Yes… you said that in your message,” Joe sighed, shifting his hand with the phone until he could place his elbow on the ground next to Evgeni’s ear, running his free hand up the long leg wrapped around him and squeezing the strong upper thigh with teasing fingers. The man involuntarily giggled through his clenched teeth at the imploring touches.
“… Evgeni? That you?” Devin questioned lightheartedly.
Both froze. Evgeni dislodged his nails from the broad shoulder blades while Joe uncupped the ass in his hand and rolled off to the side.
“W-what?” He hoped that his squeaked exclamation hadn’t sounded so high-pitched on Devin’s end on the phone. How did he even hear that? Let alone connect the laugh to being his teammate’s.
“That was Nabby, right? That’s perfect! You two can come over, I’m out getting some booze for me and Mitchie.” Joe didn’t find that Devin’s happy banter improved his mood at all.
“Um… give me a sec, Dev.” He whipped his head around, staring down Evgeni with wide, frightened eyes.
“How did he know?” Evgeni whisper-yelled as if to show he was being sneaky and furious at the same time.
“What the hell? Beats me! Shit. Jesus fucking Christ!” Joe whisper-yelled his alarm right back.
“Stop swearing. What are yhou going to tell him?”
“Well, we obviously can’t go…”
“Of course not!... Dhont’ say ‘we!’”
“Fuck, yer right.”
“Tell him- hey, stop! Dhon’t pick up the phone- hey! Stop it! Stop it!” he snapped in vain before Joe shooed his outstretched arm away and held the phone back up to his ear.
“Yeaaaah, sorry Seto, I think yer confused,” he stated bluntly. “Uh, you see… Nabs isn’t over, and… and I can’t make it anyway.”
“Really?” Devin gasped, taken aback. “Sounded juss’ like him!”
Joe turned on Evgeni who had a sheepish smile twitching at his lips before he had the decency to mouth ‘I’m sorry’ with a shrug. Rolling his eyes, Joe smacked the man on the arm and turned back to his hasty conversation.
“Nope. I’m watching TV.”
Panicked, Evgeni slapped him on the leg and whispered, “Yhou said you couldn’t make it!”
Catching his slip of the tongue a little too late, Joe winced when Devin’s nonstop talking came to a halt, obviously thinking something over. “Don’t you have plans?” the young man finally asked, confusion laced into his deep voice.
“I’minabarcan’ttalkrightnowbye!” Joe winced after he hung up, both he and Evgeni staring wide-eyed at the offending object in his hand as if it were poisonous.
“Iya hope he doesn’t call back,” the man still draped across the floor muttered after a minute or so of silence.
“Oh shit. Shitshitshit.” Joe made quick work of removing the batteries from the phone and throwing all of the pieces on the couch in five seconds flat.
“That’s not ghoing to work!” Evgeni cried worriedly, but made no move to stop Joe after he chucked the phone.
They waited in silence until it was an unspoken agreement that Devin wasn’t going to call back, probably off to call someone else. Maybe Ryane; but Torrey was still giving him the cold shoulder. Possibly Boosh, he liked those two a lot. As long as it wasn’t them.
“Mhaybe… we were taking it too fast,” Evgeni whispered when Joe finally clambered down next to him on his side, his head propped in his open hand. He glanced over to the larger man lying beside him, a warm flush renewing on his cheeks and winding its way down to his chest. His skin was slick with drying sweat, but it still shone with a mix of the firelight and the afterglow of their groping session. Entwining his fingers around his flat stomach, Evgeni sighed quietly, his eyes fluttering closed before he looked back up to Joe with a tired smile.
“I was ‘bout ta jump you right there. Ya looked… well, breathtaking,” Joe stated truthfully, nodding in agreement as he found no need to skirt about the issue. He smiled with relief when the other man laughed at his words, his face turning ten shades brighter with the compliment.
“S’not like Iya was complaining…” he muttered, shrugging off Joe’s words as if he hadn’t heard them.
“Stay here t’night,” Joe blurted out, only slightly annoyed with himself this time about his inability to keep his mouth shut. He probably would have been more aggravated if he didn’t want his request to become true. He would be lying if he said he didn’t.
Flustered, Evgeni glanced around the room wildly. “What? I mean, Iya don’t know if I should…” he began rambling off, his hands unlatching themselves from his belly as he waved them around to emphasize his many points, his face growing more and more heated by the second.
Removing his head from his hand, Joe bent down and pressed his lips softly against Evgeni’s own, muffling out the rest of his ramblings quite effectively. Pulling back, he put on the most calming smile he could create and he gripped one of the other man’s now still hands as reassurance. “Trust me.”
Eyelashes flickered down as Evgeni watched Joe’s lips shape out the two short words. Who knew something so small could have such an impact. And yet, within seconds, he found himself smiling shyly. “I do.”
“Then stay.”
“All right.”
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To be continued
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Hmmm yeah I’ve been pretty down low lately. Finals and all *grumblegrumble* But I want you to know that the reviews for last chapter were all so great and I can’t wait to reply to all of them when I get the chance! This thing just needed to come out before Finals actually start this week aka even more no time for my life if that was possible. And I’m ranting now.
But yay fluff. Yay lots of talking! I had fun writing this one.