Fisher was gutting fish.

It was all Matty could do to resist the pun, but from the way Fisher kept eyeing him every time he flicked his knife along a fish’s spine, he knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Sorry!” Matty laughed. It wasn’t just the name pun bugging him, to be fair. Fisher was also taking his sweet time—Matty could do it faster. He’d gone fishing a lot around home a lot.

“Oh, is Fisher not done gutting fish yet? Jesus, for your namesake you’re fuckin’ slow,” CJ called from the back deck.

Fisher groaned, but he joined in laughing with Matty and CJ. “I’ve never heard that before. Congratulations. Brand new idea,” he called out.

A minute later, he had the last few fish pieces ready to slide onto the plate. “All done?” Matty asked.

“Yep. Go bring ’em to that asshole.”

Matty snorted with laughter and brought the plate up to the grill on the deck. “Here you are, asshole,” he cheerfully told CJ. “Your boyfriend sent these.”

CJ fluttered his lashes. “How romantic!” He threw them on the grill, brushing them swiftly with oil while Matty went to check on Kevin and Chris. There were already sausages, potatoes, and corn loaded onto the grill, so there wasn’t a lot of prep left to do.

Chris was kicking back at the picnic table while Kevin tossed a salad. All day, he’d been trying to make himself useful—from carrying coolers to making sandwiches for lunch and bringing more drinks down to the dock for them all.

Matty was dying to pull him aside and tell him he didn’t have to try so hard, but he hadn’t really had a chance to get him alone since that kiss not long after lunch.

After that, he and Fisher had gone to the other dock—the old one, on the other side of the little island—to catch these fish for supper while the others stayed on the newer one so they didn’t stomp around and disturb the fish. And then it had taken a while to get supper ready, and… they just hadn’t had a moment yet.

Not like that moment earlier. Jesus Christ, that was hot, and he couldn’t let himself think about rubbing up against that gorgeous body for more than three seconds at a time.

That was the end of this three seconds, so he distracted himself by calling out, “How long ’till everything’s done?”

“Maybe five minutes?”

“Oh, jeez. Almost there then. Okay.”

“Good,” Kevin spoke up, scooping the salad bowl under his arm to carry out to the back deck. “This is done, too.”

“That’s it for inside, then.” Matty shut the door on the way out to keep the slightly cooler inside air in, then helped serve up supper.

They talked about random shit over supper as always, but Matty kept sneaking glances at Kevin. He seemed relaxed enough, despite how skittish he’d acted earlier when he’d thought everyone would stare up and through the trees at their bedroom window while they were kissing.

It was a given that Kevin was partly closeted, but it seemed like maybe he cared even more than Matty about maintaining that, despite playing at a lower level. Matty just hoped Kevin’s helpfulness wasn’t from being worried he didn’t fit in or that they wouldn’t like him if they found out their secret.

After supper, Matty stuck around to do the dishes while everyone stayed up late talking in the living room. Tired though he was, he determinedly stuck it out as, one by one, the other three guys crashed and headed to bed to sleep off their big, late supper and busy day of relaxation.

That left just the two of them, at fucking last, to talk and… well… do whatever.

Matty’s heart jolted as he nodded down to the dock. “Wanna head out for a bit?”

“Ready to fend off the black flies?” Kevin countered with a laugh. At night, they wouldn’t be nearly as bad as they were at dusk, but still…

“I got a citronella belt clip thing.” Matty patted it. “We’re good within fifteen feet.”

“Jesus, that’s smart. I want one,” Kevin grinned. “I guess I’ll stay closer than fifteen feet.”

I want you a lot closer than that.

Matty swallowed and grabbed his t-shirt, shrugging it on before he pulled open the patio door. “Aprés-vous.”

“Ohhh, the formal. What’d I do wrong?” Kevin laughed.

“You remember high school French?”

“Who fuckin’ doesn’t,” Kevin groaned rhetorically, sliding the door shut after them.

They wandered down the steps to the dock where they’d spent most of the day. It was quiet now aside from the incessant backdrop of crickets and frogs along the banks. It was a constant, high-pitched song, but Kevin associated it with things like this—camping with buddies and quiet fireside conversations.

“We gonna do a bonfire tomorrow?”

“Fuck, yeah,” Matty answered. “There’s a fire pit down the other side of the island there.”

“Perfect.” Kevin dropped into a chair and stretched out, wiggling his toes.

Matty smiled as the movement caught his eye, then dragged the deck chair right next to Kevin’s and sat in it.

“Stars are already coming out.”

Matty leaned back for a look, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. “So they are.” There weren’t a lot yet, a slight hazy layer of clouds obscuring part of the sky, but that seemed to be blowing off as it darkened. He could see a couple constellations, at least. “Pretty out here.”

“It is,” Kevin murmured. “Don’t often get to do this.”

“Not during the summers?”

“Nah. I was usually in town working, to pay for tuition or whatever,” Kevin laughed. “Or pay for camps, gear… you know how it goes.”

“Yeah,” Matty murmured. “It’s not easy. I worked a part-time job during school too, ’till I came here.”

“What year did you leave?”

“Second year.”

Kevin whistled under his breath.

Matty laughed quietly. “Not ‘cause I’m awesome or anything. They were just desperate.”

“I dunno about that, man. Your Wikipedia page says otherwise.”

This caught Matty off-guard, and he laughed a short, sharp sound that made Kevin flinch with surprise. “You Googled me?”

“Fuck yeah, I Googled your ass before I came to a deserted island with you.”

Matty snorted. “What’d you find?”

“Not as many gay rumors as I thought.”

That made Matty smirk, at least. So they were slowly coming around to the subject—but neither of them seemed to want to bring it up yet. “Everyone’s pretty careful not to point a finger until there’s proof.”

“Mmm.” Kevin gazed off across the water, and Matty stole the moment to look at him—the moonlight framing those sharp cheekbones and his firm jaw.

God, he was so damn beautiful. Matty hoped he didn’t wreck his face playing this fucking sport.

Then, Matty wondered if he was thinking of someone. Had he had boyfriends before? How quiet would they stay if and when Kevin got big?

“It’s rough, not getting these moments a lot,” Matty offered to give him the chance to talk. “Especially not having a lot of buddies outside the game.”

“Yeah. You get a whole new family inside it, but you lose everyone outside,” Kevin agreed with a quiet chuckle. “I’m lucky I’ve got a second family, pretty much… Cam’s buddies… but other than that, not a lot of friends anymore.”

Matty nodded. “And as you move up, it’s that slow cull of everyone from the towns around you until you’re the only guy you know from your city, huh?” He was the only one he knew from Timmins around his age, though there were some older and one or two younger guys, too. And aside from Cam and now Kevin, he couldn’t think of anyone else from Fredericton.

Not that that mattered too much—once you were on a team with a guy, you could become almost kin with him by the end of a season.

“Really sucks when they’re gone because you kicked their ass,” Kevin murmured.

Matty was startled into another little laugh. “Yeah. I know, though.” It sounded egotistic, but when you were one of the better players in the draft… well, it set up tensions.

“God, it’s just a life of its own,” Kevin murmured, then finally glanced at him. “But it’s worth it so far. How are you finding it?”

Matty leaned forward a little and braced his elbows. “It’s good. It’s… it’s a lot like you’re used to, but more. Just more intense, a lot more media and fan attention, more pressure, more violent on the body…”

Kevin nodded silently.

“This time next year you’ll be in just as rough shape as I was this summer. Hopefully even worse-off if you get to the finals,” Matty grinned. “But yeah. Finding someone who understands that is… hard.”

It was a silent, tentative gesture, and Matty could see how fucking nervous it made Kevin: he put out his hand to rest on the arm of Matty’s chair.

How goddamn sweet.

Instantly, Matty covered Kevin’s hand with his own, running his thumb down Kevin’s.

And almost instantly, his brain went into overdrive: why the hell should he get close to this guy when he might not even be around that long? He could get traded to another team, he could lose his spot before the season even began, he could get sick, and then that would be long-distance hell.

But he took a deep breath, then slid his hand under Kevin’s.

And I don’t even know him, not really, even though I Googled him probably just as much as he Googled me…

Matty let his shoulders sink and the tension drain from his body again when Kevin didn’t pull back. He had to give this a shot.

Their fingers tangled, their eyes locked, it was hard to say who made the first move. Both of them leaned across the arms of their chairs, their hands now firmly gripping each other’s as they twisted sideways to make the connection.

Lips met lips. Matty was getting to know how Kevin tasted, and even better, how he kissed.

Kevin’s kisses were slow at first, tentative, like he wasn’t quite sure that he was welcome. Once Matty had been kissing him back for a few seconds, his kisses were deep and sensual, his lips moving with precision along Matty’s to suck or nip at just the right spots.

Matty burned with heat, his fingers running along Kevin’s, but Kevin squeezed his hand tighter.

They broke apart to gasp for breath, both laughing under their breath even though nothing was that funny.

Matty just felt a glow in his chest that he didn’t know how else to express. And his dick, but he knew exactly how to handle that… preferably roughly.

The mental image of his swim trunks hauled down, Kevin pressed up behind him with one strong arm around his waist like earlier, his other hand jerking his hand up and down Matty’s shaft as he pressed those beautiful pink lips against the soft spots behind Matty’s ear…

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, he wanted that so bad he almost couldn’t breathe.

“Yeah,” Kevin breathed out, his voice hoarse for a second and eyes hazy. Christ, were his thoughts as dirty as Matty’s right now? Then, he cleared his throat. “Yeah, we probably shouldn’t…”

“Make a habit of this? Kissing in public?” Matty grinned.

“Have we ever not kissed in public?” Kevin laughed, and Matty joined in. They dropped hands as they rose to their feet, pushing back their deck chairs.

Then, Matty’s smile faded slightly as he watched Kevin’s expression. Do you want to?

But he didn’t dare ask it yet.

He wasn’t sure he’d earned the right to.

“I’m heading in to bed,” Kevin murmured after a second, finally blinking and glancing away at the stars again. “Staying out?”

“For a minute,” Matty nodded, his chest tightening. No way could he jack off with his buddies right there inside, but maybe he’d jump in the water for a late-night swim if this burn in his stomach didn’t fade. “Be there soon. I’ll try not to wake you up.”

“Okay. See you.”

Matty waited until the purr of the patio door shutting faded, then glanced out over the water once more and let out a long, slow breath.

Something was going on, and every time he tried to screw up his courage to address it, he found himself with one thought on his mind: maybe Kevin just didn’t want to label it. Worse yet, maybe he was so closeted he didn’t want to think about it. Pushing him too hard now might mean they never found out how good they could be together.

They’d only met a couple weeks ago, for fuck’s sakes. It wasn’t like they’d been playing this game for years, but even days felt like too long to wait now that Matty had had a taste of him.

This weekend, he promised himself. Even if I have to talk to him on the fucking boat on the way back. I’ll find a way.

When his boner had subsided enough that he knew he wasn’t gonna make a pass at Kevin, Matty hauled himself to his feet to head in and get some sleep.