Page 24 of Scoring Position

As tired as Ryan was, it seemed like Nico was taking his advice to heart. He was trying to make friends—to figure out where the boundaries of their friendship might be. Ryan could sacrifice a few moments of rest to encourage that. “Not the same, dude. I went to bed on time and tried to sleep. I get an A for effort on the taking-care-of-myself scale.” He poked Nico’s biceps and regretted that choice when he was viscerally reminded of how big and firm and bitable they were.

“Okay. A-plus for effort.” Nico gave him a once-over that Ryan refused to read into. “Looks like you got a D for execution, though.”

“Ouch, my ego.” He put a hand over his chest. “I would argue, but I’m too tired.”

“At least you have time for a nap, right?” Nico offered.

That was true—the four hours between Indianapolis and LA would definitely give him enoughtimefor sleep. But the issue of time was an academic one. “Time, yes. Ability? Not so much.”

Nico frowned. “Why not?”

“Because sleeping on planes is the worst. How do you even do it? It’s so cramped and noisy.” Not to mention the light. And eye masks were terrible.

Nico snorted. “Noisy I get, but cramped?” He made a point of eyeing Ryan from top to bottom—again; Ryan was going to develop a complex—and then glancing down at his own knees. “You have plenty of room.”

“Short jokes? Really?” Ryan shook his head in mock disappointment. “That’s beneath you.”

Nico laughed. The sound was warm and surprisingly deep, and it softened the handsome but severe lines of his face into something approachable and softer.

He could feel the rest of the plane’s attention on them too. How long had it been since Nico had laughed around the team?

Ryan forced himself not to dwell on it. “Just because I’m not a giant, that does not mean I find planes comfortable, Kirschbaum.” Nico smirked and fiddled with his headphone case. “Just for that dig at my perfectly normal height, you’re going to have to entertain me. What’re they for?” He jabbed his finger at the AirPods.

Nico turned to him with a wide-eyed innocent look and said, “They’re called headphones, and they’re used for listening to audio. These ones use Bluetooth—”

Whowasthis man? How long had he been hiding behind his own misery? How badly had he needed to talk to someone if he’d come this far in two days? “Yuk, yuk. Now he’s a comedian.” Ryan shook his head but couldn’t curb the smile. He was glad Nico was in a good enough mood to joke. “What are you watching—listening to?”

Nico looked down, embarrassed. “Oh, uh, an audiobook?”

That was a far cry from the pop music or latest blockbuster zoom-and-boom Ryan had been expecting, but he could roll with it. “What are we listening to today?”

He got another poisonous look for that. “I’m not letting you stick my AirPods in your ears.”

Oh, so it was a hygiene problem. That was rare among NHL players, but Ryan could respect it. One day maybe teams wouldn’t all give each other mono. “Never fear.” He pulled out his own and wiggled them. “Come on. Show me what you got.”

With a sigh, Nico dutifully allowed Ryan to connect his headphones and then restarted the chapter of his audiobook, which turned out to be some kind of parable about greatness. It sounded vaguely familiar; Ryan was sure he’d read something like it in undergrad. He tilted his head at Nico in question.

Nico lifted a shoulder, not meeting Ryan’s eyes but not exactly avoiding them either. “Barb recommended it.”

“Hmm.” Ryan tried not to show his relief. Barb was helping, but more than that, Nico was putting in the work outside of sessions with her, becoming an active participant in his own happiness. And Ryan wanted Nico to be happy.

But it was only a tiny step from wanting Nico to be happy to wanting to be the one tomakeNico happy. He couldn’t take on that role.

Ryan concentrated on the parable of building a house.

The plane’s engines roared for takeoff, and the g-forces made his body feel heavy. He closed his eyes as they reached cruising altitude and leveled off.

Vaguely, over the sound of the audiobook, he registered the sound of the window blind closing.

He woke up with a start to Kitty standing over him. “What?” he groaned. The audiobook had gone silent in his ears. His mouth felt like death. Had he been drooling?

Kitty made an impatient hush noise. “You wake Kolya.”

Ah, fuck. There was something heavy on Ryan’s head and remarkably firm under it. The firm thing had to be Nico’s shoulder, which, despite the delightfully round shape, did not provide much cushion. Which made the heavy thing Nico’s head. Because of course, right after Ryan finished explaining his difficulty sleeping, he’d dozed off on Nico. And then Nico had returned the favor.

Then he registered Kitty putting his phone away. “You took a picture, didn’t you?”

“Kolya is very cute,” Kitty said by way of an answer. Behind him, someone was snickering.

---