Robbie’s parents stared around the Thunder players’ lounge in awe. It had been gratifying for Robbie to give them the grand tour of extensive facilities. They seemed completely impressed by the size and professionalism of the whole organization.

Robbie wanted to laugh. What had they expected from the NHL? Something like Pee Wee hockey locker rooms but with bigger men?

“This is outstanding,” Grant had said, taking in the high-tech viewing room, the fully outfitted gyms, and the PT rooms with the hot and cold tubs, massage tables and medical equipment. The equipment room looked like a high-priced sporting goods store. His mother’s eyes bugged out a little when he pointed out that some of the skates cost up to a thousand dollars a pair.

Robbie introduced them to the teammates that were there to support him as he took the leap and became the first person to come out as an active pro hockey player. Almost every player was there. Sergei had even made the trip back from the All-Stars earlier than he’d planned so he could be there.

He and Georgia and his parents were off to the side of the Thunder pressroom, waiting for the press conference to start.

It had been decided that it would be Robbie, Coach Williams, and the press spokesman at the table. At the last minute, Bryce had surprised the heck out of him by asking if he could be there as well.

“Of course,” Robbie had responded. “That would be amazing.”

Bryce was working the room, chatting with reporters and looking like a model in his perfectly tailored suit. He was getting a feel for the room, smoothing out any potential trouble spots and trying to minimize surprise questions. Watching him work, Robbie realized there was a lot more to being in the league than just playing hockey.

It should be fine. The media team had been thrilled to put their plan into place, reaching out to LGBT-friendly news outlets and reporters. Robbie saw representatives from Out and the Advocate, and local affiliates of most of the major networks.

It wasn’t a surprise announcement. The media department had sent out press packets and spoken to every individual in the room. Still, Robbie felt mildly nauseous. There was no doubt his life was going to change after this.

Like it or not, he was going to be the gay face of pro-sports. He would be judged on everything he did from here on in as not just a player, or as a man, but as a gay player, a gay man.

Potentially, every misstep or mistake he made risked being attributed to his sexuality, every success achieved in spite of it as if being gay was a handicap he had to overcome heroically.

It was infuriating.  

Unlike Bryce, Robbie wore the Thunder team jersey. The League wanted it to be one-hundred percent clear that Robbie had the full support of his team and his teammates. Looking out at a sea of blue and white jerseys did calm Robbie’s nerves a little bit. No matter what happened, his guys had his back.

Any objections or issues they had with him would be handled in private.

The one person he didn’t see was Paul. He hadn’t expected him to be there, but he’d hoped.

“He’s still not here?” his mother asked.

Robbie shook his head.

“You and he were dating, but now you’re not, correct?”

“Yes.” That wasn’t exactly true. He and Paul hadn’t talked much over the break. He knew Paul’s father and sister were flying in, and Paul was planning on having a long talk with his dad. But there was a huge gulf between Paul coming out to his father and Robbie coming out to the world on the six o’clock news.

Neither one of them knew if they’d be able to bridge that gap.

“Oh, that’s too bad. We like him,” his mother said. Robbie knew that. Paul had bonded with his mother over the phone. When she found out he loved to read, she’d starting sending him book recommendations, and they often had long text conversations about the books he read.

“I love him,” Robbie said simply. “And I know he loves me.”

His father rested a hand on his shoulder in sympathy. “I’m proud of you for what you’re doing.”

“I have to be out. I can’t hide who I am anymore. And he can’t be out, not without losing everything important to him. I mean, he barely accepts who he is,” Robbie said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice.

“Give him time,” Grant said. “He’ll come around.”

“I know. But apparently, twenty-four years of being told you’ll go to hell isn’t something you get over that quickly.”

Truthfully, Paul had made enormous strides in a short time. But this was a lot to ask of someone newly out. It’s not like any of the players Robbie knew for a fact were gay had asked to join Robbie at the microphone.

“It’s really not,” Paul said from behind them. “But people can surprise you.”

Holy shit. Robbie spun around so quickly he got dizzy.

Paul stood there, more gorgeous than ever, in his Thunder jersey.

“You came,” Robbie said.

“I had to come. Did you really think I wouldn’t?” His smile dropped.

“I’m sorry. I should have known.”

Paul shook his head. “No. I haven’t given you a lot of reason to trust me with this.”

“But you’re here!” Robbie said, more relieved than he thought he would be. Doing this without Paul in the audience would have been hell. If he didn’t get to wrap his arms around Paul in twenty seconds, he might die.

“Not just me,” Paul said, excusing himself to get by Robbie’s parents. He pointed into the audience. “Look.”

Robbie saw a man who could only be Paul’s father taking a seat at the back of the room.

Georgia was right. He did look exactly like Robbie imagined Paul would in twenty years. A pretty young woman with Paul’s blonde hair and peaches and cream coloring sat down next to him.

“Sissy?” Robbie asked.

“Yep. She’s dying to meet you. Like, crazy dying. I had to bribe her with driving the Stingray to not burst back here like an insane person.”

“And they’re okay with you being here? With you supporting me?” He couldn’t believe it. Having Paul here was a surprise. He hadn’t even considered that Paul Senior would make an appearance.

“I guess he didn’t disown you, then?”

“Not even close. We have a lot to talk about. A lot.” Paul turned to Georgia. “He’s really curious about you,” he said with a smile.

“I’ll bet.”

Paul looked out into the audience. Sissy caught his eyes, and Robbie saw her break into a huge smile and give him two thumbs up.

Paul’s dad turned to see where Sissy was looking, and Robbie found himself staring directly at him. Stoney held his gaze, looking long and hard as if he were evaluating Robbie from a distance.

Finally, he smiled slightly and nodded as if in approval. He searched for Paul and gave him a nod as well.

“Well, I guess you’d better go take a seat, too,” Robbie said, though he wasn’t ready to let Paul get that far away from him.

“Actually,” Paul said, taking a deep breath. “I was wondering if there was room at the table for one more?”

Jenny inhaled sharply, and Robbie’s mouth fell open. “You want to be up there with me? Right next to me in public when I come out?”

Paul nodded.

“You know what people are going to think? And you’re okay with that?”

“Well, I reckoned I would just tell them right out, so they don’t have to guess.”

“Oh, my!” Georgia said from somewhere behind Paul.

“How much time do I have?” Robbie asked the room in general.

“About ten minutes,” Grant replied. “More like seven.”

“I’ll be right back.” Grabbing Paul by the jersey, he dragged him over to the first door he could see.

It turned out to be a small closet stocked with supplies for the lounge kitchen.

“This is the exact opposite of what we’re supposed to be doing,” Paul said, laughing and breathless as Robbie shoved him into the closet and shut the door.

“Shut up,” Robbie said. Hand still clenched in Paul’s jersey, he crowded him up against the metal shelving in the almost pitch black room. “Are you sure? One hundred percent sure?”

Paul reached for Robbie, grabbing him by the hips and pulling him flush against him. “One hundred percent.”

Robbie gasped as Paul slid his hands up under his shirt. “Don’t do this for me.”

“I’m doing it for me,” Paul said. “I promise. I don’t know how I’ll live if I don’t.”

Robbie had to kiss him. Slamming their mouths together. Paul kissed back like the only oxygen he could get would be from Robbie’s lungs.

“Oh, my God,” Robbie said as Paul grabbed his ass and dragged him tight against him. They were both hard almost instantly. The four days they had been apart and on shaky ground had felt like an eternity.

Paul whimpered and straddled Robbie’s leg, rutting shamelessly against Robbie. “Fuck, I love your thighs,” he said. “Goddamn.”

Robbie grabbed Paul by the hair and tugged hard, yanking his head back so he could reach Paul's’ neck.

“Oh, fuck.” Paul’s strangled yell was loud in the small room, and they both froze.

“Shit,” Robbie said, releasing Paul and taking a step back. His cock throbbed painfully against his pants. Robbie pressed his palm hard against it. “We can’t go out like this.”

Someone pounded on the door. “Rhodes, Dyson, get the fuck out of there right now.” It was Jake, and he didn’t sound happy. “I’m opening the fucking door; you’d better be fucking dressed.”

“Nice vocabulary, Cap’n,” Paul said smugly as Jake yanked the door open.

Jake looked at both of them and scoffed in disgust. “Jesus, go out like that, and you won’t even have to say anything. A fucking nun would know what you two were up to.”

“Sorry,” Paul said.

“And I thought we agreed no screwing around in the arena.”

“Sorry,” Robbie said. “He surprised me.”

“Yeah. I hear it’s your coming out day, too. Congrats, Dyson. Now go makes yourselves presentable and I’ll buy you a few minutes. Jesus Christ,” he muttered as he stormed off. “Goddamn kids can’t keep it in their goddamn pants for two fricken minutes.”

Paul and Robbie snorted and ran to the bathroom to pull themselves together.

There was a murmur from the crowd as Robbie walked up to the table. It grew exponentially as Paul followed right behind him. Bryce’s eyes widened in surprise as he saw Paul, and he stood up. Checking the microphone in front of him to make sure it was off, he pulled Paul in for a hug.

“You doing this?” he whispered.

“Apparently,” Paul answered nervously.

Bryce hugged him again, then turned and enveloped Robbie in his strong embrace, too.

“You are a champion hugger, Lowery,” Robbie said with a small laugh even as he clung to the support of Bryce’s strong arms.

“I am so incredibly proud of you two. So proud.” His eyes were suspiciously bright. “You know whatever you need, whatever you want, Dakota and I are behind you, one hundred percent.”

Robbie blinked back tears of his own. Now was not the time. “I know, man. Thanks.”

“You want me to stay up here, now that you have Paul?”

Robbie looked at Paul. Paul nodded, a little desperately.

“Please,” Robbie said.

Bryce motioned for someone to bring up another chair, and the murmurs from the audience got louder.

Finally, they were all seated. “Ready to do this?” the press guy said, hand on the microphone.

Robbie squinted into the lights that seemed brighter than usual and nodded. He squeezed Paul’s knee under the table. “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

He flicked the microphone on. Robbie leaned into it. “Hi. I’m Robbie. Hi.”

The audience laughed, breaking the tension.

“I guess you all know why we’re here.” Robbie struggled with what to say after that. The words on the paper the PR guy had placed in front of him swam in the bright lights and tension. He was going to sound like a moron. Maybe he could get away with standing up, saying I’m gay, I like dick, particularly this guy’s, and running out of the room.

Probably not.

The silence stretched until one reporter finally took pity on him. “So, Robbie, your team released a statement saying that you’re coming out today. That you’re gay and you wanted everyone to know it.”

A little of the tension leaked out of the room. “Yes. Ah yes. That is true. I’m gay. That’s what I wanted to say.” Jesus. Why couldn’t he speak like a normal person?

Paul squeezed his hand and smiled. Robbie saw all the eyes in the room track over to him.

“Hey, y’all,” Paul said, laying it on thick. “I know y’all weren’t expecting me here today. I know Rhodes wasn’t. Hell, I wasn’t really expecting me to be here.”

“So why are you?” someone called.

“Well, I couldn’t rightly let my boyfriend be out here all by himself, now could I?”

Not surprisingly, a bunch of people started speaking at the same time. One voice rang out over the rest. “Did you say boyfriend?” ask a woman Robbie didn’t recognize.

“Yes, ma’am. I did. Just to be perfectly clear, I, Paul Dyson, current Thunder defenseman and formerly Huntsville Charger, go Chargers!, am gay, and I am dating – and I am truly sorry to admit this – a former Bemidji Beaver. I hope the fine state of Alabama will find it in their hearts to forgive me. He can’t help being a Beaver. He was born that way.”

A sharp wolf-whistle rang out from the sea of baby blue jerseys, followed by some rowdy howls and clapping. U-A-H, someone chanted U-A-H!

Robbie leaned in close to Paul. “You’re amazing.”

“I know,” he said with a grin, leaning in.

“Kiss him!” Lipe bellowed from the floor. Robbie would recognize that voice anywhere.

“Bite me, Lipe,” Paul yelled back.

Next to Robbie, the press guy dropped his head into his hands.