Page 50 of Goaltender Interference

“You can, I know you can, you always do—do you really want me to stop?”

He was beyond words at this point, making desperate noises every time Matt touched him, every time his mouth moved or his fingers twisted. He was outside of himself, beyond himself, the only way he’d ever found to get there.

“I’m going to fuck you now,” Matt managed, “you can move for that, you can come, you can come whenever—”

Aiden was still restrained and blind but that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was how good it felt when Matt was inside of him, when Aiden rocked up to meet him, when Matt alternately stroked and slapped him and he never knew where Matt’s hands would fall, whether it would be a caress or a sting.

Matt’s hands on his stomach and biceps, softer places where it didn’t hurt as much; harder places where the muscles werealready straining, where Aiden cried out, overwhelmed. Matt’s hands gentled him, soothing down the ache, a tenderness that was almost more painful than anything else. Matt, relentless, driving up into him. And eventually it didn’t matter whether it was a slap or not, it all felt the same, it all rolled through him like an inexorable tide, blanking out everything else.

Matt was saying something, again, voice small and strained and pained, but Aiden couldn’t understand him at first. Matt’s hand on Aiden’s cock, and then Matt’s voice: “Come on,come on, Aiden, baby—please?”

The entire length of his body bowed in on itself, or it would have, if he weren’t pinned between the tie digging into his wrists and Matt’s weight on top of him. And then Matt: more of a gasp than anything, his head dropping so suddenly that his forehead bumped painfully against Aiden’s. They lay together like that for what seemed like a long time; Aiden still shaking, the aftershocks sparking all over his skin.

Eventually, Matt pulled out and sat up, started to untie the restraint. Aiden still couldn’t see him, just felt the shift of his bodyweight and the sting and burn as he could finally lay his arms down and the blood started recirculating. Matt tugged the blindfold away, too, revealing Aiden’s face. It must have been blotchy from exertion, his eyes watering, lip red where he’d bitten it.

He felt lightheaded, brain empty, didn’t even bother moving as Matt dropped back down on the bed next to him, breathing hard. This is what he’d been looking for: just a time of quiet. It would be over soon enough.

“Thank you,” he said, still shivering. Matt rolled over on top of him and the weight was welcome. Aiden’s wrists ached, but his body slowly stilled as Matt rubbed the circulation back into his arms.

“Your birthday,” Matt murmured into Aiden’s ear. “Not that I’m complaining. You’re—god, you’re something fucking else.”

Aiden was too tired to say anything, just rubbed his face against Matt’s cheek.

“Don’t fall asleep yet, Aidy.”

“Mm,” Aiden agreed, already drifting off.

Matt came home from practice to find Aiden frowning at his phone. “Hey, you okay?”

“It’s fine. It’s just Gabe asked me how Montreal was.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“The truth. It’s okay.”

Matt snorted. “I hope I’m doing better than okay, huh?”

“Sometimes,” Aiden said, with a brief, sly smile that reminded Matt of the early days again. It faded to a creased frown again. “It’s just that he misses me.”

“Do you miss him?” Matt asked carefully. Aiden had said he and Walker weren’t romantically involved, and Matt believed him, but it wasn’t... Aiden had been here a few weeks now, and he hadn’t seemed to really talk to anyone else except for Matt. He had spent a year seeing Gabe almost every day, had taken him under his wing.

“I mean, yes,” Aiden said. “He’s a good kid. Training him was kind of the only thing that kept me sane that last season.”

“How do you mean?”

“It was something else to focus on. I didn’t have to think about retirement. All I had to do was make sure Gabe was doing okay. It was always easier, you know? With a distraction.”

Matt had the brief, uncomfortable realization that he was in the same place: preparing for what could be his last season,focused solely on the rookies. “And then when you retired anyway?”

“He still wanted to see me all the time anyway, so that never changed. We were really close, Matt. Closer than Wardo and I ever were, but that was probably because Wardo had his kids, and I had...well, nothing.”

Matt held out his arms, and Aiden came to him easily. Matt inhaled, the familiar smell of him, the familiar way he could just barely tuck his chin against Matt’s head. “Why did you have nothing, Aiden?”

“You know me. I’ve never been very good at people.”

Matt wanted to laugh, but it was true. The beginning of their relationship had been full of stops and starts: it was amazing they’d ever been able to make it work in the first place.

The first time had started after that handshake line, when Matt had gotten Aiden’s number from Duncs and spent the next three months pulling his pigtails over text until things had started to shift into something more companionable. And as soon as it did, Aiden had immediately pulled away and told Matt they had to stop talking because it was a distraction.

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