“Shane, you still keep a dictionary in your locker?” Tobias asked.
“Light reading, duh.”
Tobias chuckled and pulled Shane against him for a side hug.
Shane still had most of his gear on. Tobias had talked to him the day before about having a practice session together, and Shane invited him to the arena to get some work in.
Schilling shook his head and muttered, “Goalies are so weird,” but Tobias noticed he opened the dictionary and thumbed through the pages.
“C’mon, there’s an empty locker you can use to get dressed,” Shane said, leading Tobias to the other side of the room. “Booth is on injured reserve, so he’s not using it.”
Tobias turned to say thanks to Sophie for bringing him down here, but she was busy talking to a man in coaching attire with his back to him. He grabbed his bag and headed for the open locker to get ready for their training session.
Shane sat on the bench beside Tobias as he got ready and offered all the latest gossip about the team.
“Oh shit, I almost forgot,” Shane blurted. “I asked Cooper to join us, so we could have a real sniper challenging us, but I wanted to check it was okay first.”
Tobias’ head shot up from where he rifled through his bag of gear. He found Cooper Farnsworth looking at him from the other side of the locker room, still in his gear from the waist down and waiting patiently to find out what Tobias wanted. His brown hair was matted to his forehead and his hazel eyes patiently awaited Tobias’ decision. When Cooper first came into the league, some assholes tried giving him shit for his slightly larger nose—it hadn’t been reset right after a break in college—but Cooper teased himself about it enough people quickly forgot about it.
They’d played together before Tobias retired, and the following year Cooper had come out as bisexual. He topped the scoring leaderboards for years, making him a quick fan favorite. Fans who hadn’t immediately accepted him had warmed up to having the first out player in the franchise, in part because he was consistently the team’shighest scorer. It hurt to think Tobias could have been the first to come out, but he buried that down deep.
Some people thought fans booed Cooper every time he hit the ice, but they actually shoutedCoooooooop. After he came out, it made it hard to tell the difference for a bit. Fan-made signs around the arena and jersey sales made it clear the fans still supported him, some of them aggressively so, but that was Philly. A mostly female fan club calledThe Chick Coopwaved the largest signs, and they were his biggest hype team. Apparently, Philly was a safe place to be. Well, maybe not for Dallas Cowboys fans. Or drunk guys dressed as Santa.
“Yeah, that would be helpful, since we both know you can’t shoot for shit,” Tobias said as he nodded at Cooper, who smiled in return.
Shane chuckled as he shot the guy a thumbs up, and Cooper turned to his locker to throw a long-sleeved shirt on instead of heading for the showers.
It was weird being back in the locker room, which hadn’t changed much since he’d been gone—except for a handful of new faces.
When he finished getting dressed, one of those new faces arrived at his locker and introduced himself.
“Tobias Moyer, hi,” the man said as he stuck out a hand to shake, and Tobias recognized him as the current goalie coach. “I’m Adrian Tucker, so nice to meet you.”
Tobias shook his hand.
“Coach is gonna help us out with our session too,” Shane said, and he noticed the pink shading Shane’s cheeks, heart eyes aimed at his coach.
Oh shit.
As far as he knew, Shane was straight. But everyone thought Tobias was too, so he tried not to make any assumptions. Tobias hoped it wouldn’t be a major distraction for Shane. Adrian was attractive in an average way, although his soft blue eyes and easy smile were so welcoming they even put Tobias at ease. He could understand why Shane felt so comfortable with him, and he’d played a great season so far, so their dynamic must have worked.
“Sure, works for me. The more the merrier for drills. I gotta work on timing and rebounds most since I can’t practice those on my own,” Tobias said.
Chase had been working hard with him on his reflexes and reaction timing, but Chase’s shooting wasn’t anything close to a pro hockey player’s, even aretiredpro hockey player’s. His puck-shooting machine remained also a weak substitution for the real thing, so he was pumped for some real NHL training.
The four of them hit the ice, and a long-dead part of Tobias woke up, like a rising phoenix. He felt a contentment that had only peeked out seldomly since he’d left hockey. Funnily enough, he’d felt equally content that morning when he lay with Chase’s weighton top of him.
He didn’t want to let it go ever again.
————————
Tobias’ morning training with Chase worked its magic. Once he stood in net and the first puck sailed his way, his muscle memory returned with a vengeance. He was a brick wall, even against Cooper’s shots.
The text he’d found on his phone from Chase made him even more proud. He itched to get Chase alone again.
CHASE:No matter how your training goes today, remember you’re a fucking beast and a legend. And the next time I get you alone I’m going to show you how a legend should be worshiped.
“Rusty my ass,” Shane teased from his spot across the booth from Tobias. They’d gone out for a drink with Gray and Cooper once their training ended. Tobias was surprised Grayson stuck around to wait for them just for a chance to hang out with him. “You played like you retired yesterday, not three years ago. You’re not gonna try to take your spot back, are you?”
