Page 20 of Two for Charging

As the love interest used his whittling business to supply handmade artisan crafts for the lead’s work auction, saving her job and risking his own livelihood, Chris made his way through the meal, pausing every now and again to voice his appreciation. He licked his lips to get the last of cream off and then used his last piece of bread to mop up the salad dressing before placing the piece of burrata he’d saved on top and putting it all in his mouth.

He groaned as the last molecules of flavor left his mouth.

Satisfied, he set his plate on the coffee table and leaned into the couch. “That was fantastic. Thanks, man.”

“Uh-huh.” Luca’s voice was tight. When Chris looked over at him, he found his roommate hunched over with a pillow clutched between his belly and thighs. He’d hardly touched his own food.

“Are you okay? Does your stomach hurt?” The preseason didn’t matter for standings, and Lindy might not play them in the starting lineup for the first few games while she tested the rookies and AHL guys, but it would suck to miss out because of a stomach bug.

“No,” Luca said through gritted teeth.

“Luca? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine.” Luca got to his feet and stalked off to the kitchen.

Chris watched him go helplessly. If he followed now, Luca might get more upset, and Chris didn’t know what he’d done wrong. He’d never made Luca truly angry, not the way Luca was with Hayes and sometimes Vanderbilt, even though he thought no one noticed. With Chris, he’d been disbelieving and mocking, sure, but Chris could live with any of those. All that mattered was that Luca liked being around him, whether it was to make fun of Chris or because he wanted to be friends. Chris would rather not know which.

He looked over to the TV screen. The love interest kissed the lead in front of the sun setting over her parents’ failing orchards and told her she had to decide whether she wanted her old life or a new start with him.

“Quit your job already,” he muttered. “The orchard needs you.”

But the movie had only been running for half an hour, so she went back to her terrible job in the city—Chicago, Chris guessed, though he wasn’t great at identifying American skylines, despite flying over most of them several times a year. Anyway, all the ground-level shots were clearly filmed in Toronto. Chris sighed and crossed his arms. Why could nothing go right for good people?

Luca came out of the kitchen with two real, alcoholic beers just as the lead told her boss off for being a sexist asshole.

“I figured we could indulge once before the season,” he said and offered one to Chris.

“You’re not mad at me?”

Luca looked at him for a long moment, his dark eyes inscrutable. “No. Of course not.”

Maybe Chris could scratch the last item off his list of things to be worried about.

Chapter Four

Tyson Fuller [reading from a notecard]: Favorite bonding activity we ever did with the team? Oh, one time when we had a day off on the road in Canada, the Magpies went to a maple syrup tasting. It was lit.

Damir Denisov: Every year during training camp, we go axe throwing. [He grins] I am the Chicago Firecrackers’ axe-throwing champion, three years running.

Kilian Howard: Oh, uh, good question. Sometimes we go out to eat together, I guess?

Top comments:

grant16rules: Anyone wondering why the Sea Lions haven’t won a cup yet, it’s this right here. Doesn’t matter who’s betting on who, they barely feel like a team.

sealionsfan8216: @grant16rules—You might be right. What would be some good team bonding activities, do you think?

firecrackers_spark: Denisov smiles as if he could kill a man with his teeth and eat him for dinner

(From “Team Bonding, an NHL Short,” posted to YouTube by the official NHL channel, 10/05/2025)

On the plane ride up to Seattle, Luca googled activities to do with friends.

He felt indescribably lame. He wasn’t thirteen and meeting up with a classmate without parental supervision for the first time in his life. Grown adults shouldn’t need to look up how to spend time with friends.

Grown adults also shouldn’t get raging erections from the way their friends moaned over bread and fucking cheese. It had been an act of supreme willpower to stop himself from jerking off into the goddamn kitchen sink yesterday.

He needed to get a handle on his feelings for Chris, and planning activities out of the house was one way to start. It had to be easier not to get too excited in public.