Notes:
I'm sorry. But this may seem a little boring or dull. And I'm also sorry, because I had to make up an agent for Claude. The only thing I could find thay mention that said Pat was both Sid's and Claude's agent. Correct me if I'm wrong, please do. But for now I just had to make one up. Sorry.
I also updated chapter one. If you read the before march 27th and haven't done it yet, you should. I'm just going to warn you in advance that in this the Penguins haven't won the Stanley Cup yet. So just deal with it.
Also I'm really sorry for not posting in a while. I had to rewrite this several times. This was the best version, so I hope you like it.
Chapter 5:
Waking up to the sound of his phone receiving a call is never a pleasant way to wake up. Especially when that call comes in at -Four in the morning-.
"Sidney. You awake?" Pat asks.
"Am now." Sid groaned into the phone. He rubs his right eye with his wrist and sits up.
"Okay good." Pat sounds nervous, his breathing uneven and his voice just a bit shaky. "Have you made a decision yet?"
"No I haven't." Sid replies.
"Okay. Well I just talked to Giroux and he wants to talk it over tomorrow. Then you and I will have a private conversation with Mario." Pat explains, "What do you want to do? It doesn't have to be a permanent answer right now, but I need to know where your head is at." Sidney hesitates, his head starting to throb with how fast his life has changed.
"I want to come out. And I've got supporters. That doesn't even include the team." Sidney answers. He doesn't know why he says the last part, but it sounded important in his head.
"Good, good. We can uh.. make a list of people who want to personally aid to your.. coming out tomorrow. For now, get some rest. If you change your mind, no one will judge you."
"I appreciate it Pat. Goodnight." Sidney smiles for absolutely no reason.
"Thanks to your crazy ass soap opera life, this is the start of my morning." Pat retorts before hanging up on Sid.
He smiles more. Glad to know somethings can't change your agents.
~
He spends to night mostly tossing and turning and practice feels like hell. The whole team to be avoiding him for no reason.
Well fuck them, Sid repeats in his head as he switches to taking shots on the goal without Flower or Vokoun. It's kind of hard to play by yourself against an imaginary defense.
Desprite times call for desprite measures. And Sidney feels very desprite.
No one jokes around with him or chirp about his awkward skating from last night's restless sleep. They have plenty of fun just joking about each other's whatever. He's even left alone when he waits for everyone else to shower and leave before he takes off his pads. He doesn't understand what their deal is, but whatever. He has enough drama going on right now that he doesn't have the heart or energy to find out.
"Hello Sidney." Is the first thing he hears the instant he steps foot into the meeting room.
The meeting room isn't a very large place. Tan walls, white tile floor. A round table in the center with three chairs. And a screen that would need a projector kept in the back on the wall.
Sidney shakes his agent's outstretched hand with a pleasant of a smile that he can manage. "Pat."
"Please, take a seat and we shall begin." Pat says yawning and sitting down on a chair in the front of the round table.
Claude doesn't look up at him. Just sits there with a pale face and troubled expression. Sidney sits down, slowly and suspicously.
Pat picks his briefcase off the ground and sets it on the table. "Okay," he yawns again. "Regarding our discussion last night. Sidney, any changes?"
"No."
"Claude. As your agent, I should tell you that coming out could get you a better contract deal. And also a lot of publicity." Pat shakes his head. "But that is a bunch of bullshit. I am your friend, and I'm going to tell you to do whatever makes you happy."
Claude looks at his lap, clearing his throat. "For the interests of my career and my family. I decided that I can't be dragged into this." His voice is raspy, very rough and he gulps when he's done.
Pat sighs (seemingly out of relief). "I do appreciate you making everyone's lives easier. If you ever change your mind or if you just need to talk, you know my number."
"Can I leave?" Pat nods once. Claude springs up and leaves in such a rush, a breeze follows him out.
"Musta been awkward, huh?" Pat slumps back in his seat, raising an eyebrow at Sidney.
"Yeah uh I guess." Sidney shakes his head. Whatever Claude's problem is is his issue and surely Sidney doesn't need to be involved with it.
Pat rolls his shoulder. "What did your parents say?"
"Huh?" Sidney asks.
Pat rolls his eyes at Sidney. "You know, when you told them about all this." He uses his hands to gesture to their situation (technically it was to the air, but it's obvious what he meant).
Sidney stares at his agent dumbfound, resisting the urge to purposefully push his own chair over and face plant on the tiles.
Pat does face plant on the table though, letting out a loud groan. "Sidney, I love you to death. But you're an idiot." Pat says, sitting up straight again.
Sidney pulls out his phone, "I'll skype with them later."
"Okay. Correction. You're a moron." Sidney peers up at him. "We're flying to Canada today dingus." When Sidney's facial expression and confusion over his lack of description doesn't change, "So you can talk to them in person."
"I so knew that." Sidney lies.
Pat stands up, crossing over to Sid and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should try talking to someone who knows more about this than I do. It might help."
Sidney smiles at him. He literally has no idea what the fuck he's saying, or at least trying to say, but he figures he has good intentions. "Now get up. Have to get meet Mr. Boss Man."
~
Mario's meeting room isn't much different than the previous one. Except it has a rectangular table and mote chairs. And a pissed off general manager.
Ray shoots up from his chair as soon as the door is clicked shut. "What the fuck is the matter with you?" Ray asks.
"Ray. Sit down." Mario commands, looking at his general manager.
"Are you fucking kidding me! Our star player decides to have a public orgy with his secrey fuck buddy and not tell us about it. How could you -not- be pissed off?" Ray's face turns a medium shade of red as he yells.
Mario slowly stands up, getting in Ray's face. He snarls something inaudible, a very dangerous look in his death glare. Ray glances at Sidney before slinking back down into his seat with his head hung in shame.
Mario folds his hands and gestures for Sidney to take s seat in front of him. After he has obeyed, the lecture begins.
"Sidney. Ray clearly didn't express our concerns in an appropriate manner by any means," Mario says, "What he did intend to say was correct." He sighs. "I know it was never your .. plan to be caught kissing that man in the bar that night. We know you are much more responsible than that. You're to responsible for your age." Mario half smiles. "But we are.. disappointed for not being told about your boyfriend in case something like this did happen. But now we know and we can treat it properly."
"He's not my boyfriend." Sidney objects. "it was just a kiss, nothing more."
"Shame." He can hear the trace of amusement in Mario's voice. "Okay. Well. Since starting to road trip in Canada with the Senators. We'll probably set up a stage in Montreal right before heading to Toronto. Okay?"
"Is that it?" Sidney asks.
Mario looks at him, raising both eyebrows up to his hairline. "Uh. Well, do you have any questions or concerns or things to bitch about?"
"No."
Ray groans loudly. "Thank jesus that is over. Now we can talk about hockey things. I'll go get Dan." He practically jumps out of his seat and runs to the door in order to leave the most awkward situation of his life.
Mario reaches out, grabbing Sidney's hand. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Pat playfully kicks him in the calf. "Dingus hasn't even told his parents."
"Well I suspected that much." Mario squeezes Sidney's hand. "I took you into my home for a long time. I am a lot different than your parents. So why?"
Sidney looks into those eyes he always finds so soothing and homey. "I didn't want you to hate me." His voice sounds so small and pathetic even to himself.
Mario rolls his eyes. "I don't hate my first son and I'm never going to hate. my second."
"Unless you keep losing to your boy toys." Dan says as he pushes open the door and plops down into Ray's former seat, leaving the general manager to stand awkwardly at his side.
"Glad to know you have so much confidence in me Dan. Appreciate it."
Dan props his feet up on the table and smirks. "Hey. I'm just stating the fact that both times we lost in the last few weeks have had teams with some pretty attractive players on them." Dan's glasses slide down to the bridge of his nose as he looks at Sidney seriously (or tries to anyways).
"Maybe we should talk about something hockey instead of human life." Ray says as he scratches the back of his neck and shifts from foot to foot.
"Someone's a little afraid of the other team, are we?" Dan asks, smiling up at him.
Ray's eyes go wide as he balls his fists. "I have absolutely no problem with homosexuals. And we all play on God's team, thank you very much."
Mario slams the table. "Ladies! We have some serious business trying to attend to. So stop playing with each other and act like adults."
Ray hangs his head while Dan smiles proudly like he won the Stanley Cup for the first time.
"Okay. So the Senators are playing poorly right now."
~
The meeting and practice lasted about three hours. The guys weren't as chirpy as usual (not that he was complaining). They didn't seem to be acting specifically friendly towards him either. Whatever.
Getting on their private plan was a different story. They acted as friendly as ever. Especially when Flower and Geno fell asleep on Sid's shoulders. (With Marc drooling a little. Ew so disgusting).
Getting off the plane and getting into their hotelroom took about another two hours. Not to include getting to his room and having to explain to Geno (who he's rooming with) where he's going, why he's going there, and that there is now way on hell he's allowed to let drunk, naked girls get anywhere near his bed, and then trying to hide hid bag where no one would find it under his bed took about another two and a half. By the time he was standing at his parent's door step, it was seven o'clock and his sister would definitely be there.
Great.
He does knock and wait patientally for them to open. Drove all the way here, might as well do something useful.
His mother opens the door looking startled. "Come in sweety."
The house is quiet, minus the soft hum of the voices from the T.V. "Where's Taylor?" There is no way a place could ever be this quiet with a teenage girl living in it.
"Asleep." His mom says. Her face is pale, gets ever worse when Troy gets up from his spot on the couch and meets them in the middle of the living room.
"Sidney," his father says, "why didn't you tell us?"
They stare into each other's eyes. Sidney swallows trying to inhale like a normal person. "I didn't want you to be disappointed in me. I wanted to be your perfect child and nothing less."
"Baby, we'll never be disappointed in you." his mother hugs him, sympathy all over his face. His dad, on the other hand, continues to stare at him, expression only softening a little.
Troy cocks his head to the side. "Does he treat you right?"
"Well we're not actually.. together."
His mom takes a step back, placing her hands on her hips. His dad smiles and pats his shoulder.
"My little boy is finally a man."
His mother gasps. "How could you condone this type of rude behavior? We raised our son to be respectful to others and himself. Sidney Patrick Crosby, I am very disa.. angered by the way you decided to treat your body. You are a very good looking kid. You can't just fling your dick towards-"
"Oh my god. That didn't not happen." Sidney interrupts.
"Sure it didn't." Troy smiles wider at him. "Well I'm sure your agent has already come up with a plan to cover up the situation, eh?"
Sidney's chest tightens. "Actually... I decided to come out."
His dad closes his eyes and sighs loudly. "What?" He opens his eyes and looks at his son so serious it's almost painful.
"There isn't any other option." Sidney defends.
Tina walks off to the couch, sitting there and possibly crying. Troy pinches the bridge of his nose. "So you're telling me that there is no way to hide how much of a fag you are?"
Sidney cringes. "It was clearly me there and there isn't a doubt about what I was doing. And we can't claim that I was drunk considering I only had one drink the whole night and I drove home."
His dad's face turns a bright red like Ray's did earlier and he knows he's in for a serious bitching.
"Do you not understand how painful it's been to turn on ESPN or any other sports channel and have to hear about your controversial pictures? And you expect to barge in here, tell us how you have to ruin your career and expect us to forgive you!" his dad yells. "You have no fucking idea how many people have stopped me or your mother at the store or around town to gossip about you. Or how Taylor gets teased because her big hockey star brother is actually a big queer bag."
Sidney blinks, biting his lip. "Dad-"
"No. You don't get to call me that. Only my son does. And of you go through with this then Taylor is going to be an only child." His dad squints his eyes.
Sidney's air gets caught in his lungs as well as any intelligable words. "You can't be serious."
"I am very fucking serious." Troy says as his voice starts to rise. "Hockey is meant to be played by real men. Not little boys who strive to get on their backs."
"Daddy, you can't just talk to him like that." Taylor says, coming down the stairs. "He's part of our family. We always put our differences aside and love each other unconditionally. How is Sidney any different?"
Tina gets up and tries to force Taylor up the stairs. "Get out." Troy growls.
Sidney gives Taylor one last look over before he does leave. Getting in his car and driving back to the hotel seems to take a lot less time than the first trip.
Maybe it's because he's speeding and driving like a maniac.
No one throws him a second glance as he goes into elevator and slumps down the hallway to his room.
Could this day get any worse?
Sidney opens the door slowly, hoping that Geno would be asleep or not here or something.
"Sid!" Ovechkin says as Sidney closes the door behind him.
"Oh my god. What are you doing here?" Sidney groans and sits on the foot of his bed.
"Came to see best friend. Haven't heard from in while. Concerned." Alex sits on Sidney's bed crosslegged and facing his side. "Plus we in Toronto, boring city."
"I said I was your friend. Not your best friend." Sidney corrects. "I thought Bäckström was your best friend."
Alex puts his hand on Sidney's shoulder. "He is Swed. No count. Need American BFF."
Sidney can't help but smile, the things Alex says sometimes are ridiculous. "That makes no sense but whatever," He turns so he's facing Alex fully and sitting in the same position as him. "But why me? There are Americans on your team that you could hang out with. Why would you want to be with the big gay freak that's hated by even his own parents?"
Alex sighs and drops his hand from Sidney's shoulder to his thigh. "Know what you're going through."
"Huh?" Why can he never manage to say anything smart when he needs to?
Alex chuckles at him. "I know suprising. Is not gay, just bisexual. Told parents, hate me for while. Not completely comfortable, more tolerates it. Don't bring guys home so maybe why don't complain."
Sidney licks his lips, thinking it over. "That is suprising. But you could've just called me or skyped me or something. What was the point of driving all the way out here?"
Alex raises an eyebrow at him. Reaching out to brush his thumb over Sidney's bottom lip.
Oh.
Alex wants him. Drove all the way down here for him. Sidney should be happy, exstatic. This is what he sort of kind of wanted.
Why is he so scared?
"Do you not.. want..?" Alex asks, his accent deeper than usual.
"I.. I do.. but.. but.." Sidney studders. "I'm just.. not very good at this."
Alex brushes his fingers along Sidney's jaw. "Sure mystery man disagree."
Sidney closed his eyes and waited for the kiss. Hoping he was prepared and totally didn't fail.
When their lips finally met. It was soft, sweet. More than a brush of the lips but not quite a full kiss. It caught him off guard, but he wasn't when Alex's tongue touched his bottom lip.
He opens his mouth instinctively. He let Alex dominate and push him onto his back. The Russian lays on top of him, straddling his hips. He's only half laying on Sidney, reaching down to pull his shirt up some. Sidney knows what he wants, but he doesn't want to stop kissing. Alex pulls away anyways, squinting his eyes at Sidney.
"Sid." Alex groans. "Shirt."
Sidney rolls his eyes, using the moment to recatch his breath and removing their tops before going at it again.
This time it's much more ferocious. Their tongues fighting to be the leader. Sidney's hands runs through the Russian's hair while Alex hands travel around his chest. Feeling every inch of him.
His lungs feel like they're about to burst. He honestly really doesn't care, but apparently Alex wants to continue living so he breaks the kiss and moves down to Sid's neck.
He let's out a quiet moan as Alex's tongue and mouth travels along his throat and collar bone, looking for that sensitive spot. When he finds the area right underneath his earlobe and licks it, Sidney's back arches a little off the bed.
"Alex." He moans, stretching out the syllables as much as possible.
Alex continues to suck and kiss that spot, sliding his hand downs Sidney's stomach and grabbing his belt. Oh god, his pulse starts to race and he shuts his eyes. Letting out another moan.
"Sidney you- hell?"
They pull apart. Alex sitting up straight and smiling victoriously at Geno. Sidney blushes furiously and it travels all the way down to his chest.
"Hi Zhenya." Alex says.
Sidney expects Geno to flip out. To go ape shit on him and like punch the both to the death and throw their bodies in their trunk.
Instead he smiles brightly and looks at Sidney accusingly. "I am confuse. You said I no bring back pretty girls. Yet you can?" Geno asks, placing his hands on his hips. "Because Sanja is very pretty girl."
Sidney rolls his eyes. "I said that you can't fuck them on my bed. Never said you couldn't bring the back here."
"Stupid Canadians." Geno scoffs before throwing his body onto his bed, "Okay. Continue. I put in ear plungs and shut eyes. Not even here."
Alex smiles mischeviously at Sidney, who blushes. "No."
"Sid is ashamed of body. Your problem." Alex winks at Sidney, picking his shirt up off the ground and sliding it on.
"I hate you. I really do."
He hears Geno laughing from his bed and Sidney throws a pillow at him. It wasn't very hard, but Geno pretends to be hurt by rolling off his bed.
Geno stands up, holding an imaginary shot gun. "It's on now."
"You two, freaks. Am leaving now." Alex says. He stands up, bending over to press a kiss onto Sidney's lips and his sensitive spot. "Don't have to do this alone." Alex goes back to Sidney's lips, kissing him hard and with passion.
"Ew. Trying to keep down food." Geno pulls on Alex's arm, causing the kiss to break.
Alex mouths the words 'Call me' before Geno shoves him outside. He turns on Sidney, looking at him with a judgemental look.
"What?" Sidney asks. "He's better than Claude."
Geno thinks it over, but does nod. "Sure. But Sanja is.. different."
Sidney picks his shirt up off the ground. "How?"
Geno sits down on his own bed, sighing. "Claude is big, no emotion, asshole. Only wants.. sex. No strings. Sanja want more."
"You're kidding." Sidney says. Please dear god let him be kidding.
Geno puts his hands in the air. "Not say anything Sanja not want me to. But how many people would drive Toronto to Montreal just to see if someone interested when could have just waited fate to bring them together?" Geno shrugs before grabbing his towel and going to the bathroom.
Maybe Russians seriously had him or something. They always do this to him. Say things that should receive more detail, but instead they just leave. Which just makes him even more confused and frustrated.
Maybe it's just these two Russians that do that. Maybe all the others are just normal people who don't strive on ruining their best friends lives.
Maybe Alex was just being stupid and playing a joke on him or something. Then he brought Geno in on this for the ultimate betrayel. Such assholes.
If Alex really did want the... friends with benefits thing then Sidney could surely do that. It might be awkward considering it would be his first and everything. But it seriously can't be that hard.
Or if he wanted a relationship, Sidney can do that. He's had a few boyfriends. They tended to be short and horrible and.. weird. He even dated a girl before. Never again. It always ended with him having a broken heart wether he cared about the person or not. Then he'd have to go home to his parents and pretend it never even happened.
At least now he doesn't have to worry about his parents anymore. He sister when she turns into an adult, but that won't happen for another five years.
Sidney could surely get used to being with Alex. Even if that meant having to deal with those annoying Russians while he does. He could -definitely- get used to kissing him.
He feels his cock twitch in his pants. Sidney inhaled and exhaled as evenly as he could manage. He honestly doesn't remember being this hard. When he thinks about the way Alex's tongue along his neck and in his mouth, it's hard not to be that hard.
To distract himself, he pulls out his phone. He skims through his contacts until he finds Pat's name. He thinks it over before sending a simple 'didnt go well.'
'How bad?' Pat replies.
'Gonna need a new last name.'
'Sorry.'
Since Pat is the most boring person in the world (and possibly the most unplugged) he decides to text Mario the same news. Around ten minutes later, he receives a lengthy message back.
'Sid, I'm sorry. Truly. If your parents choose to disown you, then that's their problem. You are a great kid and who you want to spend ur nights with is not ur fault. I love u. Always will. Of u need a new last name, sure there are lots. Practically anything should sound good with sidney. I know one that starts with an L that you may be interested in :) ur parents will probably end up getting interviewed and annouce this on tv and then it will be a disaster. so we'll deal with this after tomorrows game. get some rest, no wories.'
He smiles to himself, letting a singular tear fall. He'll be strong, no more. 'Okay, love u 2'.
Geno finally gets out of the shower. He wears only a towel and his hair drips with water.
"Look better than Sanja." Geno jokes.
Sidney gives him a light chuckle before brushing brightly and jogging into the bathroom. Now he has two things to jerk off to.