Page 101 of The Trade Deadline
“In my defense, I never thought you two would meet,” Ryan joked.
“Hard same,” Tanner agreed. “I’ll let you two enjoy your dinner. Bro, come visit sometime this week. I got that new DLC I was talking about and I need your help in co-op to get the last few achievements.”
“Sure. And thanks again for your help, man. You’re the best.”
Tanner beamed at the praise and then disappeared into the elevator. Lars regretted not inviting him to eat with them, but he got the impression Tanner didn’t want to be a third wheel. Or rather, he didn’t want to be a third wheeltonight.He seemed the type who was completely comfortable crashing a date.
The apartment smelled faintly of paint, but there was no other sign anything had been wrong. At least not to Lars’s eye, and granted, he was more acquainted with the bed than the plumbing.
“You know,” Lars said as he unpacked the food, “I’m a little offended you told your neighbor we had sex before you toldme.”
“Whose fault is it that you needed to be told?” Ryan said with a wink, then disappeared into his bedroom with his duffle bag and roller suitcase. All right, fair point. It was probably good that Ryan had had an outlet to talk about the weirdness of becoming teammates with a guy he’d fucked and who subsequently had forgotten he’d existed.
It was also probably in Lars’s best interest that he had forgotten. He couldn’t imagine remembering Ryan and not wanting to see him again. It would’ve wreaked havoc on his entry into the NHL, always looking for his next game against Ryan and pining. It might’ve made for a rocky start in Baltimore, but Lars firmly believed things had happened for the best.
“It’s weird being back,” Ryan said when he reappeared. “I think I got used to your place.”
“It is pretty nice,” Lars said. “All the natural light.”
“The giant sofa.” He sounded wistful as he looked to his worn leather sofa, just large enough for them to sit side by side but not long enough for either of them to lie on. “Though my bed is better, hands down.”
Lars made a face. “Is it?”
“I have twice as many pillows, my down comforter is fantastic, and the mattress is better for my back. Yours feels like there’s a lump on the right side that has a grudge against my kidney.”
“That lump’s there to force you closer to me,” he teased. He pulled Ryan in so they were hip to hip. Cozy. “Welcome home.”
“Thanks.” Ryan hesitated. “It’s good to be back. Not because I wasn’t enjoying being at your place, but it was constant anxiety, y’know? It’s nice to have that done so I can, like, focus on other stuff.”
Lars trailed his thumbs back and forth along the skin right above the waistband of Ryan’s pants, where his shirt had ridden up. Ryan had a lot of things that stressed him out, Lars knew. That was why Ryan worked so hard to stay in shape, why he put more into practice than all but the AHL and rookie players trying to earn their place. He had neverseemedstressed about his apartment while he was staying with Lars, but of course he must have been.
…was Lars a source of stress? Because this thing between them was happening and they hadn’t put any labels on it?
“I…” he started slowly, trying to simultaneously find the right words and gauge Ryan’s reaction to them. “I want you to know…I liked living with you…I’m glad you have your space back and don’t have to worry about it…but…I’ll miss having you all to myself…” The words got stuck and he couldn’t push more out.
Ryan’s expression gave nothing away but he sucked in a deep breath, held it a moment and then let it out in a rush. His left hand held Lars’s bicep while his right came up to rest at the back of his head where his fingers curled into his hair. Lars loved when Ryan did that, the tactile soothing nature of the gesture, and he had avoided cutting his hair to encourage the habit. It was too long most of the time, starting to get in his eyes, but moments like this reminded him why he did it.
“I liked staying with you.” Ryan spoke with the same caution Lars had, like he was wading into a river and didn’t know how deep it was. “And not just because it was less awkward than staying with Tanner would’ve been. I…really enjoyed getting to see you all the time…and don’t want tostopseeing you all the time…just…” He tilted his head to indicate the room around them. “I want to do some of it here again.”
It wasn’t everything. There were still things left unsaid, questions unasked and feelings unowned. Still, it felt like they’d sharedsomething,made some progress. Not bad for two guys who’d never had a real relationship before.
“Good. Me too.” He moved his hands higher to wrap around Ryan’s back. Their chests bumped and Lars thought he could feel Ryan’s heart. He rubbed their noses together before stealing a quick kiss. “Let’s eat dinner so you can try to convince me your bed is, in fact, better.”
The Trade Deadline: Are the Blue Crabs Buyers or Sellers?
Abigail Cunningham, The Baltimore Sun
WITH THE TRADE DEADLINE about a week away, it’s time to time to review what that means for the league and, more importantly, what it means for the Blue Crabs.
What is the trade deadline?
The NHL imposes a deadline on when trades can take place. Before this date, any team can make any and as many trades as they like. After, no trades can happen again until free agency opens on July 1st. The trade deadline this year is 3 p.m. EST on March 5, and there will likely be a flurry of activity as teams scramble to perfect their rosters before the last push of the regular season and the start of playoffs.
Buyers and Sellers
Teams first have to decide if they think they stand a chance of making the playoffs and competing for the Stanley Cup this year. It’s a grueling task to fight for sixteen wins across four rounds over two months, and this far into the season, teams will know where their weak spots are.
Usually teams with little to no playoff hope are “sellers”—they’ll take advantage of other teams’ desperation to make the playoffs, and use that to gain draft picks and unload players who will become free agents. Free agents are players with expiring contracts, and the decision to either renew a contract or look for another team is a difficult one for both clubs and players. Trading these players during the season can remove some of this tension, especially if the team doesn’t plan to re-sign them.
