Chapter 9:

Laying in his bed, Sidney is trying seriously hard not to bang his head on the wall. For whatever reason, he's not allowed to drive yet. So he has to wait for Alex to come back before they can go watch the Caps' game. It's been like an eternity and longer. What could be taking him so long?

Sidney resolves to laying on his stomach, cheek on the pillow while he waits for the Russian to appear somewhere.

"Uh Sid?"

He sits up, turning to face Alex. He has a.. big white box in his hand.

"What's that?" Sidney asks, chewing on the interior of his cheek.

Alex smiles, sitting on the foot of the bed, "Is for you."

Sidney gently takes the box in his hands, setting it on his lap. He really hopes that this isn't one of those random, fancy gifts that Alex likes to give.

He has to open it though. So he does. Peeling off the tape slowly before lifting the lid to look at the jersey.

Correction. Look at Alex's Washington Capitals jersey.

Alex bites his lip, looking at Sid expectantly.

He's at a loss for words. "I.. I.. Thank you." Sidney does the only thing he can think of. Which is kiss Alex's mouth.

Alex pulls apart first. "You like?"

Sidney smiles, pulling it out of the box. "I -love- it." He stops smiling, giving Alex an all-bussines look. "Why?"

The Russian looks at him puzzled as if he should already know. "Be easier to spot you."

Sidney slightly rolls his eyes. "Did you forget we're in D.C. and a bunch of people will be wearing your jersey?"

Alex offers a small smile. "No one in box will."

"Alex," Sidney whines. "We talked about this. My terms for going to your game are that I have to sit and the stands and I don't receive any special treatment that would make me noticable."

Alex grabs Sidney's hand. Massaging it with his light touch. "You know how loud crowds are. Concussion no like." He tapes his nogin for emphasis. "So we made special box. Noise, not as loud. Can see out, but cameras no see in. Perfect."

Sidney groans. This is why he hates Geno. He was -supposed- to fly back to Pittsburgh, spend the rest of his concussion in peace. Geno decides that 'bring him home' actually means 'change the flight to D.C. without telling him until we get to his boyfriend's house, then spring the news onto him and almost get Geno's face clawed off until Alex calmly kisses him on the mouth.. in public.. on his front porch.'

Then again, he'd be laying at home, not talking to anyone, not allowed to do anything if Geno hadn't brought him here.. Still. He should've been told.

Alex coaxes Sidney to put it on. He's very reluctant to do so. It's not that he wouldn't love to wear Alex's jersey any day of the week, but he's afraid of being asked about it. And Sidney's pretty sure that Alex is purposefully trying to get outed, so he's not going to keep his mouth shut (plus he likes to boast about everything). Not to mention he's being very pushy and persistent.

He slides into Alex's Mercedes SL65 AMG. It's a lot different than his own car. Which is probably just collecting dust on Sidney's drive way in Pitt. His poor baby. Apparently no one decided he might need it, or just want to look at it. So rude.

Alex is easily the most reckless driver Sidney has ever met in his life. He's trying not to, it's evident the way he blushes with embarrasment when he makes a sharp left turn.

Sidney does feel bad, so he rests his hand on Alex's arm. "Geno's driving is a lot worse."

Alex holds in his laugh all the way until they arrive at the Verizon Center. Even then it's only a light chuckle.

Alex looks real nervous. Like someone who's about to head into battle. And maybe he is. It really depends on who they're playing. Sidney realizes with a shock that he doesn't know the opponent. Obviously it's meant to be a surprise since Alex didn't bother to tell him.

It's probably the Flyers. He brought him here to watch Alex beat down Sidney's rival team. That makes perfect sense.

Well it's a Pennsylvanian team. Just not the Flyers.

Geno pulls Sidney into a bone crushing hug. "Sid!"

"Oh my god, Sid! You fucking traitor." Flower says, patting the name Sidney's back.

Sidney glares at Alex. "It is so -not- my fault."

Alex just smiles with pride as he pries Geno off of his boyfriend, "Zhenya, going to kill him."

Geno puts his hand on his hips, looking Sidney over. "Flower right. Sid, big traitor."

"I am being forced to do this, thank you very much." Sidney retorts.

Paulie squeezes James's shoulder. "He almost looks as good as you do."

Sidney doesn't get it at first. The reason that Paulie would say that to him and then James would blush brightly.

Then he sees the romance hidden in their secret glance.

Oh.

Sidney decides not to say anything. If the team doesn't know (or they did and didn't tell him) it's not his place to say anything. So he lets Alex drag him out of the awkward huddle of Penguins toward his special room.

Sidney isn't one hundred percent sure that the box is actually.. custom made. And he highly doubts the company would put in extra money just to do something for a conference rival's concussed captain who's dating their captain. So he tells Alex that.

Alex rolls his eyes, making Sidney sit down before pressing a kiss on his lips. "If box is no safe, all over Twitter tomorrow."

He watches Ovie go. Sidney suddenly feels alone, empty. And he hates it. Like he -really- hates it. It feels like his whole world just walked away from him.

And in a way, it did.

The game ends up going into a shootout. Alex plays a really good game. He's always had fun playing against Zhenya. Mainly because Evgeni is really good, almost better than Alex himself (but not better than Sidney). They haven't played against each other since the KHL days. Alex isn't really complaining. He's just really impressed that Evgeni has improved so much since then.

When Zhenya asks to take Alex out for some drinks, he instantly declines. He can't just leave Sidney alone in his house.

"No it's fine." Sidney objects. He places a hand on Alex's chest before stretching up to whisper in his ear. "I'll wait up for you."

What he said really doesn't mean anything. Besides, Sidney isn't medically cleared for activities that intense (or at least the doctor never said, but he might be).

Alex can still imagine.

He eventually caves. There's no point in arguing with the two most stubborn people in the world.

It's not a big, fancy strip club like he's used to (plus Sidney would kill them both if he found out they went to one). Instead it's a simple bar. They go into a private room which is filled with a bunch of drunk NHL Russians, and J.P. Barry (Zhenya's agent).

Sasha, Nicklas, and Ilya are here. So he shouldn't let the sight of Evgeni's agent ruin the night.

Conversations are you know, normal, Russian, male stuff. Alex mainly shares a bottle of vodka with Evgeni and make random, rude comments (which are always hilarious, because he's hilarious) when he feels like it.

Zhenya gets really drunk. He's so plastered that Alex doesn't really care to listen to mumbling that he says to himself in their home language.

That is until he hears Sidney's name.

Evgeni plays with the liquid in his glass. "... Sidney is so.. perfect. He's beautiful. Lucky to be with. Sanja doesn't deserve him."

"Excuse me?" Alex snaps.

Evgeni turns to him, eyes wide and enraged. "You heard me. You don't deserve him. He can do so much fucking better." He snarls. "Sid dates horrible, scumbag of men. People like you and Claude. He goes for people who just want his body.. not.. not him."

That is a bunch of bullshit. "Don't you ever fucking say that again."

Evgeni gets up, balling his fist. "What you gonna do Sanja? Punch me. Go ahead p. Lets see how much Sid like you then."

Alex sighs, looking at his friend with sadness in his chest. "Zhenya, you know I don't fight men at their weakest."

The Penguin looks even more pissed, facing starting to turn red. "I am not weak! You don't fight for your own honor, how do you expect to protect his?" Evgeni spits in his face. "He's not taking this whole family rejection thing better than you think he is. Not to mention the concussion and not being able to play or do anything. It's fucking killing him. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

Alex wipes the spit off with the sleeve of his sweat shirt. "I do fucking see how depressed he is. But you know what, at the end of the day, I make him happy. He lays in my arms in my bed. Not yours."

Evgeni snarls. "I bet if he knew I wanted him he would go with me." He smiles a little devishly. "How about I ask him with my tongue tomorrow."

Alex stands up, crowding his personal space. "You better not fucking touch him."

Zhenya pushes him, the bigger Russian only stumbling back a foot. "Try me."

He's had enough of this shit. He pushes back his friend (ex friend?), hard enough Evgeni has to grab the bar from a few seats down to steady himself.

They exchange a few punches, one splitting open Evgeni's lip, before they're being pulled apart. Sasha and Nick grabbed Alex's shoulder, pulling his into one corner, while Ilya and Nabokov pull Evgeni over to the other side of the room.

"What is wrong with you two?" Sasha asks, clearly trying not to punch Alex himself.

Alex exhales harshly. "Personal shit."

Nick rolls his eyes. "Does it have to do with the new Lemieux?"

He pretends he has no idea what he's talking about. But Nick just rolls his eyes again before explaining to Alex he saw them kiss and that Sid was wearing his jersey, blah blah blah, he tried not to puke, blah blah blah.

Sasha flicks him in the ear as Alex watches Ilya haul Evgeni out of the room and probably out of the club.

Then J.P. heads his way.

"How dare you touch Evgeni in such a violent manner!" J.P.'s face is redder than Evgeni's was. "Now he's going to have an unexplainable split lip thanks to your actions."

Alex relaxes, making his teammates relax too. It was enough of an escape for him to break free and punch J.P. in the jaw.

The agent stumbles back, holding his face, his eyes wide in utter shock.

"Maybe you should ask your client what -really- happened." Alex snarls.

J.P. practically runs out of there, still clutching his jaw like it's a life or death situation.

This time Sasha doesn't hesitate slapping him and giving Alex a lecture about manners that would make his mother swoon.

"You gotta stop this man," Nick says as he drives Alex home. "I don't know your relationship with Lemieux or anything. So I'm not going to tell you what to do. Plus I'm not Sasha and your still my captain." If only Sasha knew that. "But you have to quit being so defensive over him. I'm sure he's capable of handling himself."

Alex sighs. "I know. The things Evgeni said were.. innapropriate and very rude." Alex shrugs as Nik parks in the driveway. "It's just that.. Sidney is my everything. I love him. And I just.. don't like people talking about him behind his back. Especially when someone who knows me better than anyone calls me a scumbag, saying I don't care about him."

Nik's mouth hangs open. "Who are you and what have you done with Ovie?"

Alex rolls his eyes, "Trying to be serious Niklas."

"Yes, I know. Now stop, I don't like it."

He sighs, rubbing his hand on the side of his face before grabbing the doorhandle. "Night Nik."

Nik squeezes Alex's shoulder. "Night Ovie. You better be back to your old self by tomorrow's game."

Alex shuts the door quietly before walking up to his house and unlocking the door.

The light in the living room is on, but no Sidney to be found. Turning off the light, he heads up stairs, carefully trying not to wobble.

When he does manage to get into the room without hurting himself, he finds Sidney laying on the bed reading one of his romantic French novels.

"Hey." Sidney says, putting the bookmark on his place before setting the book on the night stand.

Alex takes off his sweat shirt, exposing his bare chest as he throws the gray material on the ground. "Hey."

Sidney looks at his lap, an obvious blush creeping over his face. "Did you have a good night?"

Alex shrugs. "Good as night can be with drunk Russians," He sits on the bed, getting as close to Sidney as possible. "Did you have good night?"

Sidney blushes even more, "Well I mean ... it was lonely and stuff. But I kept telling myself you know .. that we um .. need to .. spend some time apart every now and then." He clearly looks nervous. "Because, you know .. it's not .. healthy for a relationship to be um, inseperable. So uh, as long as your out. And I'll be able to go out eventually. So um .. that'll be good for us." Sidney opens his mouth to babble on some more, but Alex presses nd index finger on it.

"Calm down, take breath, relax." Alex orders. "Now tell me what you trying to say."

Sidney searches Alex's eyes for.. whatever. Before placing a cautious hand on the Russian's chest. "Do .. do .. do you um .. want me?" He licks his lips, looking even more nervous than before. "Like.. uh.. sexually."

Alex tries really hard not to smile, but totally fails. "Wouldn't be here if didn't."

Sidney nods like he expected that answer from him. He bites his lip, pulling back his hand and letting it fall on his own lap.

Alex watches in - shock? amusement? he can't quite decide - as Sidney has a mental battle with himself. After a few minutes of conversing with his conscience, he makes up a decision.

Sidney mumbles something to himself before turning toward him.

The Canadian cups Alex's cheek, bringing their lips together for the most intense kiss that they've ever shared.

It's awkward. And it really shouldn't be sexy. Yet it is. He wants more, more than usual.

Maybe Evgeni has a point.

Sidney never saw Evgeni's flirting attempts. Never saw how the other Russian watched him with such longing, whether it was on or off the ice.

Sid had never realized any of that. Maybe he would be with Evgeni instead of Alex..

Then again, Alex wanted Sid first. Has wanted him since he first saw him when the Canadian was only eighteen and about to enter the NHL draft.

It's taken seven years, but he finally has what he's always wanted. Evgeni would never take this away from him.

Or would he?

When Sidney pulls away, he looks star struck. His lips a little puffy that just gets worse when he bites the bottom one. "When you.. get back from Pittsburgh, okay?"

Alex squeezes his hand, "Whenever you want is fine for me."

Sidney nods. He still looks incredibly nervous, but whatever battle he's having with himself is obvious to personal to share, "So how's Geno?"

Alex's stomach twists into knots and his chest aches. He can't lie to Sid, he won't. "Very drunk."

Sidney rests his head on Alex's shoulder. "And how are we?"

"We do good." The Russian replies. "Is nice to spend lots of time with you. Bad situation, but is still good."

The Canadian nods, placing a small kiss on Alex's pale skin. "Maybe I could come to Pittsburgh with you. That way we can go out without it being .. noticable."

Alex really should say no. It'll be bad enough having to see Evgeni after that .. scene, him being there would be worse. After seeing the pleading in his partner's eyes, he can't say no. "Can ride plane with team! Then we have big Cap-Pen playoff party at house. Will be good."

Sidney rolls his eyes, giving off a small smile. "No alcohol. I will not let a bunch of drunken, sex deprived hockey players anywhere near my house."

Alex runs his fingertips down the front of Sid's jersey. "I buy Sid jersey, you wear this. We go out, make out during movie, dinner. Will be great."

"Are you trying to get outed?" Sid asks.

Alex smirks. "Maybe."

Sidney flicks his earlobe. "We will go out. But we'll do normal, guy things. You know, things that friends do."

"Friends don't kiss each other Sid."

Sidney rolls his eyes. "And none of that will be happening then either."

Alex slides down so he's on his back instead of resting against the head board. He uses arm to shield his eyes. "So unfair Sid. Can't look at you."

Alex feels the smaller man's head on his chest and an arm wrapped around his stomach. The Russian opens his eyes to find the room dark and his lover looking up at him.

"Sorry, the light was starting to hurt."

The words were simple and meaningless, but it filled his heart with.. such pure happiness. Happiness that only Sidney gave him. A feeling that nobody will be able to give him again. Losing Sidney is something he can't handle, he won't let it happen.

No matter what, he won't let his much smaller lover go into the arms of another man. Especially not Evgeni. Even if the cost was his longest and greatest friendship, he wouldn't let Sidney go.

He waited to long, watched from the side line. He kept lying to himself. Saying that Sid wouldn't feel the same, that he'd never have a chance with him. But Sidney does want Alex, almost as much as Alex wanted Sidney.

"Everything will be okay if for you."

Alex doesn't know where the words came from or how he almost performed a perfect sentence, but it happened. Making Sidney blush before laying his head all the way down.

The Russian breathed calm and steady, making himself relax. When Sidney's soft breathing increases a little in volume, Alex lets out a sigh of relief.

It's always been his goal to protect the ones he loves. More specifically, Sidney and Evgeni. He's always done everything he can to help them.

What does he do when the two people he loves the most have to be separated and it's all his fault?

Maybe .. Maybe Evgeni does deserve Sidney. Maybe Alex should let him go. Zhenya would make him happier.

Maybe he really should.