Page 46 of Two for Holding
“How did you get good at it?”
Tom crossed his arms like a petulant child in the body of a very large hockey player.“I practiced.”
“And what does that tell you?”
“I can’t just…practice kissing on some guy.”
Practice on me!Jax wanted to shout.He didn’t because he was an adult with self-preservation instincts.
“Actually,” Tom said, peering at Jax under the light of a digital display panel at a bus stop, “could I practice with you?”
Jax opened his mouth to turn Tom down flat.It was a terrible idea.He’d only realized he’d romantically fixated on the man five minutes ago; practice kisses would be a handy exercise in self-flagellation.Which was much more Tom’s deal than Jax’s, whose MO trended toward avoiding pain at all cost.
“It’s perfect,” Tom said before Jax could so much as get to thenof no way.“You know what you’re doing.You can teach me.Neither of us runs any risk of being outed, and you’re not into hockey players, so it can’t get messy.”
Tom had said so many incorrect things in a row Jax didn’t know where to start.To begin with, no one had ever accused him of knowing what he was doing except for maybe the NHL.As further evidence for this claim, when Tom stepped in close to him and ducked in for a kiss, Jax did absolutely nothing to stop him.
nine
Jax: Most likely to get called out on social media?Hmm, tough one.Besides me, I’m gonna have to go with Howie on this, ’cause he’s a young guy, and he’s on social media more than the older guys on the team.And, well.Sometimes he puts his foot in it.
[Smash cut to Howie]
Howie: Jax said me?Well, then, I’m going to say him.Most likely to get called out on social media.Jax Grant.Boom.Next card.Person on the team you would go to for advice?That one’s easy.Tom’s the captain for a reason, yo.
Top comments:
seelionssaylions: this just in, Sea Lions most wholesome team in the league
stickstickpuck: Crowler team dad confirmed.Who’s Grant, team crazy wine uncle?
(From “San Francisco Sea Lions Call Each Other Out For Fun,” posted to YouTube 10/15/2024)
The kiss was nothing to write home about.Tom only managed to brush his lips against Jax’s, dry and close-mouthed, before Jax wrenched away.
“What are youdoing?”
For a queasy moment, Tom thought Jax was so incredibly repulsed by him that the kiss angered him.Or Tom was so bad at kissing that he’d hurt Jax.
“We’re in the middle of the street!In Montreal!People could see us.”
Oh.“I forgot.”
Jax stared at him, so handsome, especially with his eyes all wide and dark in the streetlight and his lips red from the cold.Tom wasn’t in the habit of letting himself look for too long, but he’d already kissed Jax in public, so he might as well.
“I cannot believeyou’remakingmebe your impulse control.”Jax turned on his heel and started walking.
Tom followed.“Are you—did I—” He couldn’t think of a way to finish the sentence without apologizing or begging for feedback vis-à-vis his kissing skills.
“We are going to the hotel,” Jax said, his voice calm and measured, which was how Tom knew he was extremely agitated.“And then we are going to your room, and then I am going to kiss you properly.”
“Oh.Okay.”
The three blocks they walked side by side might as well have been ten miles.An unbearably tense elevator ride up to their floor followed.Chief among Tom’s worries, besides whether there had been any CCTV cameras by the bus stop, was how to exit the silent detente they found themselves in and resume kissing.It seemed impossible, as if they’d left the potential for kissing outdoors in the cold, and now, they were two people who had kissed and discussed further kissing but were unable to do so until they found the magic words to reengage.
Tom didn’t know the magic words.He wasn’t sure he knew any words.
Fortunately, Jax knew the words.The door to Tom’s hotel room had hardly closed behind them, and then he was in Tom’s space, walking him backward toward the nearest wall.“You’re sure about this?”
