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“You feeling good about this?” Gavin asked Zach as they walked into the rink.

Zach glanced over at him. “Yeah. Actually. Yeah. I thought I’d be . . .nervous, I guess? But I’m not. They’re all gonna be supportive. How could they not be? You were supportive of them, G.”

“That’s not why I was supportive,” Gavin grumbled. He wasn’t expecting to be paid back in loyalty, just because he’d been a decent person who believed people shouldn’t be defined by who they loved.

“I know that, and they know it, too,” Zach reassured him, nudging him with his shoulder. “I’m just saying, they’re probably going to be more excited than anything.”

Gavin groaned in the back of his throat.

He didn’t think Zach was wrong, which was why they were doing this now, after clinching their conference title, assuring their spot in the Frozen Four.

They had two regular season games left, but he and Zach had agreed that if they were going to tell the team, this was the time to do it .

“We’re just going to do it and then move right along,” Gavin reminded him. He didn’t think the team would be so disrespectful as to ask for details, but it wasn’t like they ever shied away from sharing plenty of their own.

“Right,” Zach said, shooting him a grin. “Sure that’s gonna happen.”

They’d called the meeting before the last practice before their final back-to-back games.

They didn’t need to win these, but Gavin wanted to win them anyway, because if they did, they’d set a Portland University record for the number of wins in a single season, and that meant that even if their Frozen Four dreams didn’t come true, they’d still be in the history books, memorializing this incredible season.

“It’s happening,” Gavin retorted.

“You’re still good with this, right?” Zach asked.

Not for the first time.

“I’m just saying,” Zach added, “I’m not coming out of the closet. Just telling everyone I coach how I just punched up, big-time.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, charmed despite the fact that he should know better. “Oh, yeah? Somehow I don’t think that’s how they’re gonna take it.”

“That’s how they should take it,” Zach joked, nudging him again. His smile was wide and bright, zero hesitation.

“Honestly telling Sidney was more nerve-wracking than this,” Gavin admitted. “And that went fine enough.”

“Everyone’s just happy that you’re happy, including me,” Zach said. He hesitated, glancing around, and once he was convinced there was nobody in this corridor, he leaned and pressed a quick kiss against Gavin’s cheek. “ Mostly me, to be perfectly honest.”

Gavin flushed. “Don’t start anything you can’t finish.”

“Oh, I’m gonna finish it, baby,” Zach teased.

It wasn’t easy to drag his mind back out of the gutter, but Gavin managed it, but it took the rest of their walk to the locker room.

Zach pushed the door open, and Gavin was pleased to see that pretty much the whole team was already there, getting changed for practice.

“Hey, guys,” Gavin said, and they all looked up, nodding their greetings. “Just wanted to get together real quick before these last two games and check in.”

“We’re ready, Coach,” Ramsey said. He looked properly respectful, but Zach had already told him that Ramsey had guessed what was going on between them. Had even encouraged Zach to go for it on New Years Eve. He probably knew exactly what this meeting was about.

Gavin wasn’t surprised; he’d known what he was getting when he’d asked Ramsey to be the captain of this team.

“Last two regular season games. Chance to set the Portland U record, and put our stamp in the record books before we head to Wisconsin for the championship.” Gavin glanced over at Zach.

He seemed relaxed, totally at ease, hands shoved in the pockets of his sweatpants, a smile on his face.

“We don’t need these games, but I want them.

For me, for sure, and for Zach too, but also for us, as a team.

This is a special team, and I don’t want anyone to forget us. ”

“They wouldn’t,” Brody said, speaking up. He wasn’t the most vocal in the room, but always the most quietly supportive.

“And they won’t,” Ramsey agreed, sharing a glance with his best friend. “We’re gonna make fucking sure of that.”

“Good,” Gavin said, nodding. “But here’s the thing—this team hasn’t just been special because of how we’ve won on the ice.

We’ve won off it too. Forging a new era in Evergreens athletics, not just saying we’re supportive and that everyone can play, but leading by example.

Ramsey is the first captain of the Evergreens who’s openly queer.

Zach the first assistant coach, and . . .

” Gavin took a deep breath. He’d just told Zach that telling Sidney the truth had been tougher than this, but now that the moment was here, all those expectant faces looking at him, he realized it wasn’t easy to do this, either.

“What Coach B is saying is that you should pat yourselves on the back for practicing what we’ve been preaching.

You were examples in the way you always played hard, and in the way you lived your lives,” Zach said, coming up to stand next to Gavin.

He looked over at Gavin, giving him a little nod of support.

It was now or never.

“In that vein,” Gavin said, “Zach and I wanted to tell you something, even though it’s a little unconventional.

Despite that, we hope this won’t really be a big thing—” Zach laughed out loud next to him, and yeah, maybe that was wishful thinking.

“We wanted you to know that we’re . . .uh .

. .together now.” Gavin reached out and took Zach’s hand, squeezing it, hoping that would be the visual cue they all needed to understand exactly what he was saying .

Gavin watched as jaws around the room dropped and a shocked silence descended.

“We’re very happy, thanks,” Zach joked.

“Well, shit, you weren’t already together?” Ivan asked.

Gavin froze.

“Told you,” Ramsey retorted, shooting Ivan a triumphant look.

“Fuck—does that mean you won the pot?” Brody questioned Ramsey.

“I told you we should have gone later,” Elliott said, leaning over to nudge Mal. “I told you they didn’t have their shit together, yet.”

Mal just shrugged.

“Actually,” Finn said, speaking up, “I think I won the pot.”

“What?” Elliott exclaimed. “When did you say?”

“Technically, Ramsey said the new year. I said the end of the season.”

“Wait a second,” Gavin said, not sure he was following. Hoping that he wasn’t, actually. “Did you bet on us getting together?”

“Yeah, Coach, neither of you were very subtle.” Finn shrugged.

“No way, not even remotely,” Elliott agreed.

“That’s fucking rich, coming from you. One half of the least subtle couple in history,” Ivan complained.

“Hey,” Elliott protested. “Mal and I figured our shit out on our own!”

“Yeah, Jones, but not before we had to witness your months-long mating dance,” Brody retorted .

“This is slander,” Elliott grumbled. “Total fucking slander. Tell them, Mal.”

Mal just shrugged. “They’re kinda not wrong, babe?”

“Ugh,” Elliott grumbled.

“I think the real question is, who won the pot?” Ramsey said, his voice cutting through Elliott and Brody’s argument.

Gavin looked over at Zach, who just shrugged.

“The only way we’re gonna be able to decide is if we know when ,” Finn said.

“Oh God,” Zach said. “That’s none of your business.”

“It sure is,” Ramsey argued. “We need to know who won the pot!”

“It’s not a small amount of money,” Ivan said, nodding.

“No shit,” Finn said.

“Dude, shut up, your dad is a multi-millionaire and you’re dating another multi-millionaire,” Elliott said.

“And most of the room gets some kind of NIL money,” Ramsey inserted. “Nobody’s hurting.”

“Uh, we’re not comfortable discussing the details,” Gavin said, hoping that maybe he could head this off at the pass. “Maybe we could donate the pot to charity? Maybe Jacob’s charity?”

Ramsey looked unimpressed by this plan. “It’s not about the money. It’s about bragging rights.”

God. Their relationship details were now part of the bragging rights of the team. If he’d thought answering Jon’s questions about their sex life was uncomfortable, this was worse.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Brody said, and Finn chimed in his agreement .

“Shut up,” Ivan told Finn. “You’re only saying that because you think you won.”

“He did win. He’s fucking Jacob Braun,” Elliott said.

“Hey,” Mal said. “And you’re fucking me.”

Elliott shot him a look filled with love and affection, batting his eyelashes. “And oh, baby, I love it. Every single moment of it.”

Gavin scrubbed a hand across his face. “What would settle this?”

Next to him, Zach was chuckling under his breath. At Gavin? At Gavin’s clearly delusional idea that he’d be able to tell the team the basic fact that they were together now and they’d leave it alone? Probably .

God, Gavin loved him anyway. Even the annoying bits. Especially the annoying bits.

“Obviously we need to know when you really got together,” Ramsey said.

“Not the nitty-gritty,” Ivan said hurriedly. “Just the timeline.”

“I don’t know, I could stand to hear a few details,” Elliott muttered.

“Shut up, you horny monster,” Brody retorted. “It’s amazing Mal manages to satisfy you.”

“Not so much of a surprise,” Elliott announced.

Ivan groaned. “Don’t fucking get him started, okay? Because he will tell you exactly how Mal does, in explicit detail.”

“A timeline. Okay.” Gavin looked over at Zach, who was still grinning. “You okay with that? ”

“Hey, it’s your show, G,” Zach said, raising his hands like he wasn’t half of this.

Gavin sighed.

“That’s what we need, Coach,” Finn said. “What date was it?”

“January 2,” Gavin finally admitted.

The room burst into noise again, Ramsey trying to argue that January 2 was basically the same as January 1, which was the New Year and Finn making the point that the fact it was after January 1, plus that Gavin and Zach were telling them two games before the end of the regular season meant he should win.