"Your brother is pissing me off, sweets."
"You can't go running to your sweets every time I beat you at chess."
"Fuck off- you don't even know how to play chess. You're making up the rules as you go."
Moss smiles as he watches Tye and Shane fight over their game of chess while he lays on the couch with Eli who has his head in Moss' lap. His boyfriend and his brother have been bickering ever since they arrived at the Kettler family lake house two days ago.
Eli looks up at him as the arguing persists, "Please do something, Mo. Their bitching is giving me a headache."
"You guys are giving Elly a headache. Neither of you know how to play chess so can you please stop arguing about who won already."
Moss continues to run his hand through Eli's hair after scolding the duo.
"Sorry MoMo," Tye gets up and pecks Moss on the lips before sitting down next to him and draping an arm over his shoulders. He then shifts forward to flick Eli in the head and speaks to the younger boy in a mocking tone, "-and so sorry to you, E. Didn't mean to cause any more damage to that empty dome of yours."
Eli scoffs at this, "You're such a dick. You deserve all of Mo's bullying. "
"I don't bully him," Moss protests
Giving his shoulder a squeeze, Tye smiles at his boyfriend's denial, "You do bully me, sweets, but it's hot- so it basically cancels out."
"We all need to know less about each other," Eli says flatly. Clearly having heard enough about his brother's relationship with his teammate, he gets up and walks to the kitchen.
"Look at what Addie texted me," Moss ignores his brother's exit and instead gets out his phone to show Tye the pictures sent to him earlier in the week.
Addie:D
**image of the Larsson family around the Stanley Cup in their backyard**
**image of one year old baby Larsson sitting in the Stanley Cup with the two older kids standing on either side of the cup**
**image of Lars asleep in his recliner with the Stanley Cup**
**selfie of Addie with her tongue out while she points at Lars behind her who is still asleep on the recliner with the Stanley Cup**
Tye laughs as he scrolls through the Larsson family pictures that they took during their day with the cup. "He's still feeling the aftermath of the parade. Lars is officially an old man that can't handle his liquor."
"You weren't much better during the cup celebrations, to be fair," Moss grins at him. "Kelsey and I had to yank you and Enny out of the hot tub while you were both fully dressed and singing a drunken rendition of Sweet Caroline after the parade."
"You'll never let me live that down, will you?"
Moss pecks him on the cheek in response (Tye knows that this means he will be reminded of that story at least once a day for the rest of his life) before scrolling back through his texts with Addie. He lands on the one message that he really wanted to show Tye and holds his phone out for the hockey player to read.
Addie:D
What's the hold up on the cat adoption?
You and Marty should be recreating our baby in the cup pictures but with a kitten **raised eyebrow emoji**
Moss turns to look at his boyfriend expectantly after showing him the text.
"MoMo," Tye sighs exaggeratedly, "we can't get a kitten until we're back in Colorado for the season. It wouldn't be fair to get one and then leave for vacation- and traveling with them wouldn't be any better.... don't look at me like that...."
Frowning at the logical response that he has already heard many times before, Moss lets out a huff. "We can cancel our vacation plans and stay back with the kitten."
Tye smiles gently and adjusts him so Moss' legs now stretch across his lap.
"We're not cancelling our Bora Bora trip. I promise you'll have so much fun there that you're going to forget all about your obsession with wanting to become a cat dad. Besides- even if we cancel that trip, we still committed to visiting my parents in three weeks."
"Ugh- I know. I just keep seeing TikTok's about the cat distribution system and I want it to happen to us already. Plus, Addie's kitten in the Stanley Cup picture idea would make a sick Christmas card.... We still have time to go to an animal shelter and try our luck while the cup is here for the next two days," Moss tries to casually suggest.
"You're a shitty boyfriend if you don't let my brother get a cat, Marty," Shane jeers at Tye from where he's sat rearranging the chess pieces at the table across from them.
A throw pillow promptly hits Shane in the head and falls onto the chessboard in front of him, consequently knocking over the pieces he had been tediously arranging.
Moss laughs as Tye drags his body even closer to use as a human shield while shooting Shane the middle finger.
"Boys- dinner is ready!" Shane looks ready to fight Tye, but resists this urge as he makes his way into the kitchen instead where his mom just called for them.
And that, ladies and gentleman, is called growth.
They take their seats around the table which has already been set. A pan of chicken piccata is passed around allowing everyone to serve themselves. Asparagus and pasta with the same lemon sauce from the chicken is also making its rounds.
Cutting into a piece of chicken, mama Kettler decides to kick off the dinner conversation.
"So what was all of the ruckus about this time? I heard yelling and crashing all afternoon- I better not find anything broken when I go into the living room later."
Tye and Shane share a brief look of panic remembering the picture frame that cracked while they were wrestling earlier. Shane had pressed the pieces close together and leaned the frame back against the wall and backed away slowly after that. He and Tye silently agreed not to say a word about it in a rare moment of truce.
"Shane and Tye were fighting again," Eli tattles immediately before shoving a large bite of chicken into his mouth.
The mother of three sighs in exasperation at this, but has a small smile on her face.
"I thought the two of you made up," she says. "Why are you still fighting all the time?"
"If he's going to date Mo, I have to make sure that he can hang with the big dogs," Shane replies with his chest puffed out in an exaggerated imitation of a tough guy.
Moss chuckles at this and lightly kicks at his brother foot under the table. "That makes no sense. You two just like picking on each other."
Clearly wanting to move on from the topic, his dad decides to interject, "Mo- how do you like the piccata? We know it's your favorite, but your mother and I don't make it very often. Is it living up to your expectations?"
"It's delicious," he smiles in father's direction. "Thanks for making this for me."
His parents have done a complete one eighty these past couple of months.
Eli admitted to talking to their parents about how the family had been treating Moss. He said that they were extremely receptive to the conversation and felt terrible for how they had been unknowingly treating their oldest son. Ever since then, his parents have been showing much more interest in him and take on more of the tasks that were previously thrown at him. They haven't made him cook at all and even started having Shane and Eli do the dishes after meals occasionally.
His parents ask Eli how apartment hunting is going in Denver and offer to help him search if he hasn't found anything yet to his liking. He has been eager to get his own place away from Shane now that he's certain he won't be sent down to the AHL anytime soon- not after being a major contributing piece in winning the cup this year.
"Mo, how is the moving process going for you?" his mom questions after Eli gives a detailed rundown of all the places he's looked at so far.
Tye had asked him to move in which he eagerly agreed to after receiving permission from his boss to work fully remote. They had packed up everything in his Detroit apartment and drove straight to the Kettler family lake house where both Shane and Eli will be having their respective day with the cup celebrations. The plan is to roadtrip back to Denver after spending a week at the house partying with close friends and family.
"We got everything packed up in Tye's truck," he happily reports. "I didn't want or need any of the furniture from my place, so we really don't have too much to transport back to Colorado."
Tye explains to them what they ended up doing with the furniture and how they got it out of he building while Moss checks his phone.
The Core Four Whores **heart on fire emoji**
Roksana Sasha
**image of Roksana's left hand with an extravagant ring on her ring finger**
Sasha says I can't leave US now. Sad.
Melanie Ev
ROKSY!!
CONGRATULATIONS OMG **series of wedding-related emojis**
Kelsey Enny
ROKSY GOT A ROCK **diamond emoji**
HOW DID HE PROPOSE
DO YOU HAVE MORE PICTURES
IM SO HAPPY FOR YOU **crying emoji 5x**
He and Tye had their suspicions that this would be happening soon. Neither Sasha nor Roksana revealed anything to either of them prior to today out of fear that the couple would accidentally spoil the secret. Moss can't wait to show the text to his boyfriend who most likely has not been updated due to the team group chat's bad habit of not sending relevant, exciting news in a timely manner.
To: The Core Four Whores **heart on fire emoji**
Congrats Roksy!!<3<3
I have a tight schedule but I am available for bridal party activities if needed.... just something for you to think about
Roksana Sasha
Xaxaxa **laughing face emoji**
Love my bwag group much
Mossukha and girls will be available for bride party **evil purple smile emoji with horns**
Roksana sends more pictures of the proposal for Kelsey. Sasha popped the question in a fancy restaurant that looks like it was completely rented out for the night. Roksana had been wearing a red dress and posed effortlessly with her new bling in the photos sent to the group chat.
Dinner soon finishes up so Moss and Tye decide to head to the dock out back to watch the sunset by the lake. They sit side by side for awhile with their feet dangling over the edge, but not touching the water.
"Tomorrow is August 8th," Tye says eventually while looking out at the water.
Moss smiles and leans into him, "Half a year together."
While pressing a kiss to Moss' head, Tye pulls out a small box with a bow on it.
"Wait- I knew you were going to do this. Give me a second to grab your gift," he exclaims while standing swiftly. Moss rushes back to the house to find the anniversary present he prepared ahead of time.
Tye is standing on the dock facing the house looking antsy as Moss makes his way back to him.
He pushes the wrapped box into Tye's chest who looks a little surprised, but excited nonetheless. After lightly shaking the box to see if he could guess what it is, he hands over the smaller package to Moss who mimics his gesture, jokingly shaking the gift.
"You first," Tye smiles and nods at him to open his present.
Inside is Tye's 2023-24 Stanley Cup ring.
"Tye-"
Moss is cut off by his boyfriend grabbing his hand and pulling him into his embrace. "I want you to have it. I couldn't have gotten through playoffs without you."
Teary eyed, Moss responds, "It's too special. You really should keep this for yourself."
"You're more special," Tye smiles goofily at him, "-and don't make fun of me for being cheesy. I love you so much and you definitely earned the ring with how much you had to take care of me during the playoff run. Honestly, I'd argue for you to get your name etched onto the cup if I could."
Grabbing Tye's chin, Moss pulls him down for a long, emotional kiss.
When they break away, Moss gestures at the present in Tye's arms, "Well, it's your turn now."
Carefully unwrapping Moss' gift to him, Tye pulls out a burgundy scrapbook. The cover displays a small square picture of Tye and Moss on the ice after Colorado defeated New Jersey to win the Stanley Cup. The picture is of them smiling into a kiss while Tye holds the cup above their heads.
Tye is mesmerized for a moment before shaking it off briefly to open the book up to the cover page where Moss had written a message.
2023-24 Stanley Cup Champs! :)
Tye ~
I'm so proud of you and everything that you've accomplished this season.
I'll forever be grateful for you coming up to me in the locker room way back at the beginning of the season. Who knew a conversation surrounded by sweaty men and my.... interesting(?) family would bring us to where we are today.
Despite turning my view of the world completely upside down, you have been nothing but a ray of light in my life. The days have felt more fulfilling and exciting since you awkwardly made a move on me.
Happy 6 months and congratulations on becoming a Stanley Cup Champion!
I love you and hope you enjoy your present,
MoMo<3
After reading the note, Tye pulls him into a tight hug and pushes his face into Moss' neck. Moss can feels wetness on his skin from where Tye is crying as he sways them back and forth.
"I love it MoMo- this is perfect. Thank you," he murmurs with his face still buried in Moss' neck.
Running a soothing hand up and down his back, Moss laughs softly as he replies, "You haven't looked at any of the pictures yet. I worked hard on this and a you didn't even make it past the first page."
They eventually sit down with Tye leaning against a wooden pole on the dock while Moss sits between his legs with the scrapbook in his lap so they can both look at it.
Inside are pictures from throughout the regular season and playoffs. Moss had taken the majority of them, but needed some assistance from the WAGs and Evelyn.
The first image makes Tye choke out a laugh. It's obviously cropped and zoomed in, as the quality is not great and they were definitely not meant to be the focal point of the picture. Moss had remembered that he and Tye were in the background of the picture taken of his parents, Eli and Shane from the first regular season game months ago. While their faces are not clearly shown, Moss still loves it and is thrilled that their first meeting was somewhat captured for them to remember forever.
As they continue to flip through the book, better quality images are shown.
There are screenshots from their early FaceTime calls they would so often have when they were just friends accompanied with notes written in teasing Tye for his subtle flirting that Moss hadn't caught onto in the moment. Drunk selfies from the Mt. Dorothy Ski Resort and a picture of Tye that Moss took when they were at the steakhouse celebrating his promotion are also included.
"I really thought I was being obvious about how much I liked you when I took you to that steakhouse, by the way."
Moss laughs at this, "Sorry- I assumed you were just being a really good friend."
Smiling at his boyfriends obliviousness, Tye turns to the next page.
Addie must have photographed Moss the first time they went to a game together. In the photo, Moss is wearing his Martel jersey for the first time after Tye gifted it to him earlier that day. The score of the game is written on the page (they lost). Moss also made a note by the picture saying he was convinced that Tye was pissed after the game when he returned home and was silently staring at Moss. The note describes the surprise he felt when he was kissed instead of being forced to withstand a longwinded rant about the opposing team's power play.
The page next to it has the ticket stubs from their first movie date. 'FLOP' is written above the tickets and 'SUCCESS' over a picture Moss took of the pizza and strawberry picnic that Tye had put together afterwards.
Tye chuckles lowly, "I don't want to hear you call me cheesy or whipped anymore when you literally kept the ticket stubs from our first date, you softy."
"Shut up," Moss mumbles with a small smile on his face as his ears turn red. Tye picks up his right hand to press a kiss to his knuckles before flipping to the next page.
A whirlwind of pictures is shown throughout the next couple of pages- from Tye staying with him in Detroit to Moss being formally inducted into the WAG group with a jacket to show for it. Moss even included a screenshot from Tye's presser where he confirmed their relationship with the transcript of what he said written over it which got a hardy laugh out of Tye.
Tye is emotional again, however, when he gets to the San Francisco section of the book. Moss had taken many pictures of them together on that trip, especially after their anniversary date where they said I love you for the first time.
Evelyn had sent Moss many photos from the Martel's stay at Tye's house during round three of the playoffs. His favorite one that he made sure to include was when Moss had accidentally fallen asleep during a movie night, but his head happened to fall on Evelyn's shoulder. She took a selfie to commemorate the moment with Tye in the background on the other side of Moss looking pissed at his sister for being on the receiving end of his boyfriends affection.
There is even a page dedicated to drunk Tye celebrating making the Stanley Cup Finals after defeating Alberta in the third round. Melanie, Roksana and Kelsey had taken their significant others' phones to send him pictures from that night at the bar. Tye was absolutely shit-faced which made for some great photo ops.
The last two pages are for the game seven win that secured them the Stanley Cup as well as the parade that accompanied a few days later.
There is a collage of Tye with the cup and Moss is in a few of the photos. Tye is, once again, wasted beyond comprehension in the parade pictures which Moss thinks is the funniest thing in the world. He had given an incoherent speech once they reached the stage which garnered raucous cheers despite it making no sense at all. Kelsey had even sent him the pictures she took of Moss cackling while dragging Tye and Enny out of the hot tub later that day which he made sure to include as well.
That's the last page that Moss had filled out. There are plenty more empty ones waiting to be used. Moss is already planning the offseason portion of the book which will include the lake house, Bora Bora and Calgary. Moss says this to Tye who smiles adoringly down at him.
"I can't wait to fill the rest of the book with you, sweets."