Page 69 of The Home Game

“Oh my God, look who the fisher cat dragged in!” Matty yelled, sprinting for Nico. He joyfully checked him into the boards, happy to hear Nico laughing as he shoved Matty away.

“Fuck, give a guy a minute to get his feet under him,” he said but his eyes were bright and happy.

Everyone crowded around Nico, playfully jostling his helmet or crushing him in a hug.

It was good to see him on the ice again, ready for full-contact. He’d been skating for a while, but it had all been solo stuff, just getting his legs ready.

“How do you feel?” Matty asked as everyone trickled away, returning to their respective halves of the ice.

“So fucking good.” Nico glowed and Matty glanced over to see August watching in the stands, a frown furrowing his forehead.

“Is your man worried about you?” Matty asked.

“Yeah.” Nico gave Matty a lopsided smile. “You know, we’re both working through it.”

“Yeah, I bet it was scary for him. I know it was for all of us.”

Nico nodded. “I’ve been working with Ron.”

“The sports psychologist for the team?”

“Yep.”

“Good,” Matty said. “Are you nervous about your first practice?”

“A little bit but mostly fucking excited to get out here with you guys again,” Nico said with a laugh. “C’mon, let’s do this.”

Matty hollered for everyone to get in position and they started up again. It was nice to have Nico in the flow now, throwing out chirps as he skated and stickhandled.

When they were done with practice and Matty was all flushed and sweaty, he wrapped Nico in another big hug, shaking him. “God it’s so good to have you out here again!”

“Fuck it’s good to be back,” Nico said. His cheeks were pink from exertion and his blond hair was sweaty at the base of his helmet.

“You look pretty good for having taken almost a year off,” Matty teased.

“Fuck you, I always look good,” Nico shot back with a laugh. He whacked Matty in the chest with the back of his glove. “Now I’ve gotta go reassure August that I’m not going to keel over and die.”

“You do that,” Matty said. “Just, you know, please don’t celebrate by having sex in the locker room or anything.”

Nico scoffed. “Why do you guys always ruin my fun?”

Guys were filing off the ice but Matty caught Dom before he could leave.

“You still pissed at me?” Matty asked, playfully jostling Dom, pressing him against the boards. The guys had talked about love languages once and all decided Matty’s love language was playful physical aggression.

Matty wasn’t so sure of that but he did like harassing his friends and making them laugh so maybe that counted.

Dom scowled but he didn’t seem too mad as he leaned on his stick. “I’m not pissed at you.”

“Just ‘disappointed in my behavior’?” Matty teased.

Dom snorted, a faint smile appearing on his face. “Not that. I was just worried about you.”

“You were? But you’re not now?”

Dom sighed. “I’m … still concerned. But I agree Antoni seems like a good guy. And obviously he really cares about those kids. I guess my worry is that you’re going to fall in love with the idea of having a family who isn’t yours and get your heart broken when he moves on.”

Matty swallowed. “I get that. But like … the man went from a bundle of stress sleeping on a couch to being able to relax and laugh and get a full night’s rest in a fucking bed. It makes me feel good to do that for him.”

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