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Lu isn’t fucking blind, okay?
At the beginning of the season, Eddie looks at him like he’s the Cup personified, with almost literal stars in his eyes. Lu gets it, he remembers— “Vaguely, almost lost to the mist of time,” he says expansively, and Kes rolls his eyes — what it’s like to get your real call-up to the big leagues.
He figures a couple of bad games and the combined assholery of Gillis, Torts, and pissed off fans will rub that shine off.
It doesn’t, though, or at least it doesn’t change the way Eddie looks at him. It takes Lu a little while to realize it’s maybe not just hero worship that makes Eddie blush and duck his head like that when they’re goofing around in the locker room after practice, stripped down to their underwear.
So, fine, Eddie has a crush on him, it’s not a big deal. He’s not going to be a dick about it. It’s cute.
Torts bitches them after a loss. Lu lets it wash over him, but next to him Eddie is jiggling his knee anxiously, biting his lip and staring blankly at the locker room floor. Lu spreads his legs, presses his knee against Eddie’s. Eddie goes still. He lifts his head and looks at Lu.
Lu gives him a reassuring smile, it’s okay kid, and Eddie smiles back warm and grateful.
(If he’s being honest, it’s kind of a nice feeling that someone is still looking at him like that.)
*
Lu gets pulled after he gives up four goals to the Kings.
It’s a kick to the balls, like it always is, but the fact that this whole season is an audition for the Olympics makes every loss, every bad game worse. Eddie can’t stop the bleeding, and the Kings win, 5-1. A tiny part of him gets a nasty twist of satisfaction out of the loss, out of the fact that pulling him didn’t change anything, but he shoves that down and goes out to give Eddie his helmet tap and a “Good job, kid.”
Eddie looks hunched and miserable for the entire bus ride to the hotel, but when Lu gets off the elevator, Eddie follows him.
Lu just wants to take his suit off and go to bed, forget the whole fucking day, but he lets Eddie follow him into his room.
Lu drops his jacket over the back of a chair and sits down on the bed to start taking his shoes off. Eddie wanders over to the other side of the room, pausing to straighten the remote and the room service menu, pick up one of the complimentary bottles of water.
"Are you stealing my water?" Lu asks.
Eddie twitches. “Sorry,” he says.
Lu holds out his hand and Eddie comes over, hands him the bottle.
"I’m sorry," Eddie says again, and it’s softer, not about the water.
Lu shrugs. “You didn’t make me have a shitty game and you didn’t make Torts pull me.” He cracks open the bottle and takes a swig of lukewarm water, trying to wash the sour taste of the game out his mouth.
"I’m sorry I didn’t win it for us. I’m — they should have left you in, you would do a better job than I did."
Eddie is standing in front of him, almost in the vee of his thighs, and Lu has to tip his head back to see his face. Eddie is looking at him with wide, earnest eyes, like he really believes what he’s saying. Like he really believes in Lu.
There’s a lot of reasons for what he does next — he’s tired and pissed and disappointed in himself, and Eddie is still looking at him like that — but none of them are good or smart.
He hooks one finger into Eddie’s belt loop and says, “You wanna make it up to me?”
Eddie’s lips part and his eyes widen. “Oh,” he says.
Lu is careful to smile, like they can just play this off as a joke, but Eddie takes one step closer and drops to his knees.
"Yes," he says, "I want to." He puts his hands on Lu’s thighs, almost hesitant, his eyes still on Lu’s face.
Whatever he sees makes him keep going. He fumbles with Lu’s fly, pulls his soft dick out, ducks his head to take him in his mouth.
Lu gets hard faster than he’s expecting. Eddie is sloppy and enthusiastic and he keeps looking up at Lu through his eyelashes, almost shy.
"Fuck," Lu says. He cups the back of Eddie’s head, tangles his fingers in Eddie’s hair. "That’s good, you’re doing so good—"
Eddie moans in the back of his throat and Lu’s grip tightens.
The room is quiet except for their harsh breathing and the slick, wet sounds of Eddie’s mouth on his cock. Lu’s right up against the edge before he even knows it.
He tugs at Eddie’s hair. “Fuck, kid, I’m gonna—”
Eddie shakes his head minutely and swallows him deeper, and that’s it, Lu is done. He flops back onto the bed, boneless, floating on the rush of orgasm.
"C’mon," he says hoarsely, and Eddie scrambles up to kneel over him. He’s flushed, his mouth red and shiny. Lu palms his dick through his suit pants. Eddie’s hips jerk, grinding down against Lu’s hand, and he comes with a soft, shocked noise. He drops his head forward to rest against Lu’s shoulder, his breath fast and ragged.
Lu can feel the warm glow of his orgasm fading, replaced by something cold and guilty. Fuck.
Eddie rolls off of him, swings his feet over the edge of the bed to sit with his back to him. “I should go back to my room,” he says.
Lu should let him, because this was a mistake, and the faster they can forget this ever happened, the better. But Eddie’s voice sounds so small and uncertain that he can’t help saying, “If you want. Or you can stay.”
Eddie looks back at him over his shoulder. “Okay,” he says. He gets up and goes to the bathroom and Lu hears the water come on.
Lu kicks his pants off and peels his shirt off without getting up. He can brush his teeth in the morning. He squirms under the covers.
When Eddie comes out, Lu says, “You can borrow a pair of boxers if you want.”
Eddie hesitates. “Okay, thanks.”
Lu grunts, already halfway asleep. Eddie makes a detour to Lu’s bag, then climbs in next to him.
"Night, Lu," he whispers.
Lu is totally going to answer, but he falls asleep before he can open his mouth.
When he wakes up in the morning, Eddie is gone.
*
Eddie gives him quick, hesitant glances at breakfast and in the locker room, but he doesn’t say anything. Which is fine with Lu. Lu is entirely onboard with the “pretend this never happened” plan.
It was a dumb mistake, it’s not a thing.
Eddie starts against Anaheim. They lose, but at least the road trip is over and they can go home.
They lose the next three games at home, too.
The last one is to Florida, with Tim fucking Thomas in the net, which is just salt in the fucking wound. Lu does what he can, but it’s a shitty, sloppy game, and Torts says as much to them and to the media afterwards.
Eddie is waiting when Lu is finally ready to go.
"Can I get a ride?" he asks.
"Fine," Lu says, short and clipped.
Eddie falls in to step behind him. He doesn’t say anything until they’re in the car.
"You want to get something to eat?" Eddie asks finally.
"No," Lu says.
They pull up to a red light, and Eddie says, “You want me to suck you off?”
Heat flashes over him at the image, sparking off the restless anger under his skin. He gives Eddie a sharp look, and Eddie looks back, calm and serious.
Lu looks back at the road. He doesn’t say anything, but when the light changes, he turns left, towards his place, instead of right.
Eddie blows him in his front hall, down on his knees with Lu against the wall. Lu jerks him off afterwards and Eddie doesn’t last much longer than he did the first time.
Orgasm washes all of the anger out of him, and Lu mostly just feels tired when it’s all over.
"I’m definitely not driving you home now," he says.
Eddie nods, glancing away. Lu wipes his hand off on Eddie’s shirt, leaves his palm spread over Eddie’s ribs. “C’mon, you can have the guest room.”
*
Eddie gets his first NHL shut-out against Carolina in December. Lu is fucking proud of him for it, pounding the boards as loud as anybody, and he makes sure he gets the game puck from the ref before they leave the ice.
They’re home, and they don’t have another game for four days, so everyone goes out. Lu buys the first round.
"For a fucking beauty of a game," he says, and all the guys cheer. Eddie goes red and drops his eyes, but he’s grinning, wide enough to make Lu’s face hurt just looking at him.
Kes and Bur talk Eddie into shots after that, and it’s a party, everyone delighted with the win, with their five game streak, with their baby goalie.
At the end of the night, Eddie flops down into the booth next to Lu and leans into his side, boneless with alcohol. He gives Lu one of those wide-eyed hopeful looks, and Lu throws an arm around his shoulders.
"You did good, kid," he says. He said it on the ice, and he’s been saying it all night, but it still makes Eddie’s face go soft and pleased. "I couldn’t have done better myself."
Eddie closes his eyes, smiling, and puts his head on Lu’s shoulder.
"You got him?" Kes asks.
“‘M not that drunk,” Eddie says.
Lu rolls his eyes. “Yeah, I got him.”
Eddie huffs, but he lets Lu herd him out to a cab. Eddie slumps over against the window, spreads his knee out to bump against Lu’s.
Lu takes him home.
Lu hasn’t been keeping up with the rest of the guys’ alcohol consumption, but he’s had enough beers that he feels warm and loose, happy. He lets Eddie lean on him while they both take their shoes off in the foyer, and then he steers Eddie up to one of the guest bedrooms.
"You want some water or Gatorade?" Lu asks in the doorway.
Eddie shakes his head. “I want—” He stops, bites his lip. He’s taller than Lu, but the way he ducks his head and curls his shoulders, it’s like he’s looking up at him.
Lu lets it drag out for one long moment, then he steps in close to Eddie. “What do you want?” he asks, low and gentle.
Eddie shivers all over. “Anything, please,” he says in a rush. “I want to suck your dick, I want—”
"Okay, shhh," Lu says. He puts his hands on Eddie’s hips and nudges him back towards the bed.
Eddie goes, almost tripping over his own feet.
"Pants," Lu says, and Eddie unbuttons his jeans, shoves them down to his ankles.
Lu helps him get them the rest of the way off. Eddie’s already half-hard. Lu gets him on the bed and stretches out on his belly between Eddie’s thighs.
He looks up at Eddie. Eddie’s face is flushed, his eyes bright. He’s biting his lip. Lu gives him a smirk. “Shut-out is definitely worth a blowjob,” he says, and Eddie laughs, breathy, almost disbelieving.
Lu wraps his hand around Eddie’s dick and gives him a few gentle strokes. He tugs his foreskin back so he can lick at the head and Eddie’s breath comes out in a rush.
It’s probably the easiest blowjob he’s ever given. Eddie is all the way hard in no time, leaking precome over Lu’s tongue. Everything Lu does pulls a moan out of him, soft, inarticulate babbling, his hands fisted in the sheets.
"Oh," he says, "oh,” and Lu can feel the muscles in his thighs and belly pull tight, shaking under the tension. He takes his mouth off of Eddie’s dick and starts jacking him off.
"C’mon, kid," he says.
Eddie gasps and comes all over Lu’s hand.
"Yeah, like that," Lu says, and Eddie makes a tiny noise, his dick jerking in Lu’s hand.
Lu sits up, and Eddie blinks his eyes open. He looks dazed, flushed and panting, mouth red from biting his lips.
"You, I wanna—" Eddie says.
Lu doesn’t think Eddie’s going to stay awake long enough for him to get off. “Okay,” he says. “Take your shirt off.”
Eddie tugs at it clumsily, and Lu helps him pull it off. Eddie flops back onto the covers. Lu lets himself trail his fingertips over the cut of Eddie’s abs, and Eddie sighs, eyes slipping shut.
Lu gives it a minute, but Eddie’s breathing steadies and slows into sleep. Lu shakes his head. He washes his hands in the guest bathroom and tosses a blanket over Eddie on his way out.
He takes a shower before he goes to bed, washing off sweat and the smell of the bar. He doesn’t entirely mean to, but he can’t stop thinking about the feel of Eddie’s cock in his mouth, about the noises he made. Fuck it, he thinks, and wraps a soapy hand around his own dick.
*
Eddie stumbles down to the kitchen after Lu’s started the coffee. He sits at the kitchen island and squints at Lu.
Lu hands him a bottle of Gatorade and Eddie drinks half of it in one go.
He sets it down on the counter, centering the label carefully. “Are we going to talk about this?” he asks.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Lu asks.
Eddie’s mouth quirks, almost a smile. “No, I guess not.”
"Okay, then," Lu says. "Scrambled or fried?"
Eddie takes over the egg making eventually, since Lu’s technique apparently causes him deep spiritual outrage. Lu tries to fight him off with the spatula, but he’s laughing too much to make it believable. Eddie’s eggs are better than his, but Lu will take that to his grave.
*
Lu gets a shut-out in the next game.
"Can’t let the rookie outshine me," he says in the locker room afterwards, slinging an arm around Eddie’s shoulders.
Eddie’s waiting for him by his car when he’s finally done with the media.
Lu raises his eyebrows.
Eddie smiles, a little shy around the edges. “Shut-out is worth a blowjob,” he says.
Lu should say no, but— he doesn’t really want to. “Get in the car.”
Eddie’s grin widens.
It’s definitely a thing.
*
They hook up after Lu gets pulled again against Dallas, after bad games when Lu just wants to think about something else, after good games when he wants to hold on to the buzz a little longer.
Eddie gets his second shut-out before the month is over, and Lu rims him until he’s sobbing for breath and begging to come.
Lu’s pretty sure he’s a terrible person for that hot rush of satisfaction he gets from hearing Eddie say his name like that.
*
The last two weeks before the Olympics are brutal. They lose two at home, and then it’s one long downhill slide on the road. The last game in Toronto makes it seven losses in a row.
By the end, they’re not even having sex after the games. Eddie comes to Lu’s room with popcorn and they watch trashy reality TV, and Eddie falls asleep with his head on Lu’s shoulder.
He’s actually relieved by the time the break starts, even though it pretty much means Price will have to fuck up hugely in one of the first round games for Lu to be the starter. At least the Canucks are out of their misery.
Sochi isn’t Vancouver, but nothing is ever going to be as great as winning gold on home ice, so he figures he’ll just relax and enjoy it for what it is.
He sees Eddie’s bromance tweets when he’s getting ready for bed and they make him laugh. He SnapChats back a selfie with the most ridiculous hangdog expression he can make. Miss u 2 buddy.
He feels a weird little pang after he sends it, though, because he realizes it’s actually true.
Whatever, it’s the Olympics, he’s got other things to worry about.
*
He gets Eddie’s Congratulations! text when they land in Newark.
*gasp* TREASON, he texts back.
I trust you not to betray my secrets :))))), Eddie says.
Lu turns the phone over in his hand for a long moment before he texts back, Thanks.
*
Torts tells them he’s starting Eddie in the Heritage game at the end of practice the day before.
Eddie’s face lights up for a split second before he freezes and shoots a horrified look at Lu. Lu laughs, sharp and unamused, because of fucking course Torts isn’t going to start him in the one game he’s actually been looking forward to playing in this shithole.
"Eddie’s been doing good for us since the break ended," Torts says. "We gotta keep that hot streak going."
"Sure," Lu says, biting down on everything else he wants to say. "He’ll do a great job."
Eddie stares at the floor and doesn’t say anything.
Lu finishes stripping off his pads with short, jerky movements. That old, familiar pointless anger burns under his skin, raw and stinging.
"I’m sorry," Eddie says, finally, while Lu is tying his shoes.
Lu grunts.
"I didn’t ask—"
Lu glances up at him. “I know,” he says, because he never doubted that. He manages a tight smile. “Management is a bag of dicks, that’s all.”
Eddie nods, dropping his eyes.
"Maybe this means Gillis has someone on the hook for my contract and he doesn’t want to scare them off if I have a bad game." He wants to believe this, but it doesn’t seem any more likely than Torts and Gillis just being assholes. "Maybe it’s my lucky day and I just don’t know it yet."
Eddie flinches.
Lu sighs and stands up. He takes a few steps, then glances back over his shoulder at Eddie. “You coming?”
Eddie gives him a shaky smile and falls into step with him.
*
By the end of the game, Lu is pissed all over again, this time for Eddie’s sake. This is why he wants to get the fuck out of this city.
"They’re assholes," he says, pulling Eddie’s head down for the helmet bump. "Don’t listen to them."
Eddie nods, tries to smile. He doesn’t pull it off.
Lu changes and waits for Eddie to be done with the media. Eddie tells them that Lu is the best goalie the franchise has ever had, and Lu wants to go out and kick in the teeth of all the fuckers that booed him.
Eddie frowns a little when he sees Lu waiting for him.
"Fuck them," Lu says. "C’mon."
Eddie doesn’t say anything on the drive to Lu’s house. Lu pretends he doesn’t see Eddie scrubbing his eyes in the dark of the car.
Lu pushes Eddie towards the sofa when they walk in. He goes to the kitchen and grabs two beers. He’s not going to let Eddie get drunk, but they both need something to do with their hands.
Eddie’s sitting on the couch when he comes back. Lu holds out one of the beers, but Eddie grabs the waistband of his slacks instead.
"Whoa," Lu says.
Eddie pops the top button and looks up at him. His eyes are red and his face is a mix of hurt and angry and defiant. “I thought you wanted—”
"I invited you over so we could drink beer and watch all the reality TV I’ve recorded to make us feel better about our own life decisions." Any other game and he’d be happy to try Eddie’s suggestion, but this one is — they’re both to pissed and raw for it to be a good idea.
"Oh," Eddie says.
"If you don’t want to, I can take you home," Lu says.
Eddie shakes his head. He pulls his hands away and takes one of the beers Lu is holding.
Lu sits down next to him, close enough to touch if Eddie wants it, and turns on the TV.
After a couple of episodes of the Bachelorette, Eddie is curled up on the sofa with his head on Lu’s thigh. Lu feels like his brain is turning to mush, but it’s worn all the sharp edges off his anger.
Eddie wakes up when Lu eases out from under him. He makes an unhappy noise, and Lu changes his mind about leaving him on the couch.
"C’mon," he says quietly, and Eddie follows him blindly up the stairs and into bed.
*
Lu is already packed for the road trip when they tell him he’s been traded.
It takes a minute for it to sink in, for him to believe it, but when the does, the rush of joy and relief makes him lightheaded.
He gets barely any time to say goodbye to the team before they leave for Phoenix. Everyone laughs and slaps his back and gives him shit about ditching them for sunshine and bikini-clad women.
"And Tim Thomas," Kes says.
"I will back up Tim fucking Thomas for the rest of my contract if it means getting out of here," Lu says, maybe a little too heartfelt.
"Ouch," Kes says, and it’s not entirely joking.
Lu winces. “Sorry, I will miss you all like fuck, but—”
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Kes says.
Eddie gives him an awkward smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “So I guess this is it,” he says.
The thing is, Lu hasn’t really had time to think beyond fuck yes finally, to realize that he’s not just leaving management and the city and the fans, he’s leaving his team, too. It feels like a sucker punch.
But he’s standing in the middle of the team lounge and even if he had all the right words, neither of them have time for this conversation.
Lu pulls him into a hug, his hand tight on the back of Eddie’s neck, and says, “Don’t let the bastards get you down. You’re gonna be great.”
Eddie hugs back hard. “Thanks,” he says into Lu’s shoulder. He takes a breath like he’s going to say something else, but then he just sighs and lets go. Everyone is filing out. “I have to—”
"Yeah," Lu says.
Eddie gives him one last fake smile and goes with his team. Tanev comes up beside Eddie as they’re walking out and throws his arm around Eddie’s shoulders. Eddie leans into it, their heads bent close together. Neither of them look back.
Then Lu’s phone is ringing, and he has to go back to dealing with the details of moving his entire life to another country.
*
But he has a lot of time to think about it while he’s in Florida. About how he likes the team and the city, but maybe not as much as he would have if he’d been traded last year. Or, no, that’s not it — he’d like them just the same, but he wouldn’t have missed Cory nearly as much as he misses Eddie.
Fuck, he’s dumb. This whole time he thought Eddie was the one who was in too deep, but it doesn’t feel like that now.
Their first game against each other is in Florida. The night before, Lu texts Eddie, same hotel as always?
y, Eddie texts back. y?
Emergency goalie dinner. C U in 30 min.
Eddie doesn’t reply, but he’s waiting the lobby when Lu pulls up.
"So," Eddie says, sliding into the passenger seat. "Just like old times. Wining and dining without the sixty-nineing?"
Lu grins at him. He feels kind of stupidly happy to see him again. “I think I’m too old and you’re too tall for that, but I wouldn’t be opposed to the sixty-nineing if you wanted to try.”
Eddie’s smile slips and he looks away. “I take your word for it.”
Shit. “Let’s do room service,” Lu says abruptly. “I kinda want to talk to you about something.”
"Okay," Eddie says cautiously.
Eddie watches him in the elevator like he’s trying to figure Lu out. Lu’s realizing that he maybe should have planned this speech a little better. The problem with not talking about all the hooking up back in Vancouver is that they’ve got nothing to start from.
"Menu?" Eddie asks. Lu shakes his head. He leans up against the edge of the desk, and Eddie sits down on the bed and picks up the phone. He orders the usual, steak and baked potato and sauteed spinach.
When he hangs up, Lu takes a deep breath and says, “I don’t want this to be it.”
"What?"
"I, uh, I don’t want our relationship to be over—"
"Relationship?" Eddie says. "You, I thought it was casual, I thought you didn’t—" He stops, and Lu can feel himself flushing.
"It was at first, but it wasn’t by the, by the time I was traded."
Eddie takes a quick, startled breath, eyes wide.
"You were the best thing that happened to me this season," Lu says quietly.
"Aside from the trade," Eddie says, not quite a question.
Lu shrugs and waggles his hand back and forth. Honestly, it could go either way. “The trade sucked a lot more because of you. Because I miss you.”
"And you want—"
"I want to do the long distance thing. I mean, that’s what Skype is for, right? And away games and the off season." He scrubs a hand through his hair. "If you don’t want—"
Eddie surges up from the bed and kisses him, clumsy and hard and so sweet. “I want to,” he says. “I want to, please—”
"Yes, fuck," Lu says.
He lets Eddie tug him back to the bed. They’re lucky this hotel has shit service, because they both manage to get off before the food shows up, Eddie’s hand wrapped around both their dicks, making out like they’re teenagers.
*
"Better than the gold medal?" Eddie asks sleepily, later.
"Mmm. This one, yes, Vancouver—" Lu holds his hand up and waggles it back and forth, and Eddie smacks him in the shoulder.
*
Lu is the one who changes Eddie’s Wikipedia page.