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Gwen

T he doorman opened the door of Clark’s apartment building for me, greeting me with a smile and a “ Hi, Gwen, ” as usual. On the way to the elevator, I waved at the desk lady. I always felt so fancy. A door attendant and a desk person? So fancy. It differed greatly from my old building, which didn’t even have a security door or a working elevator.

I took the elevator up to Clark’s floor, my equipment bag and new backpack over my shoulder. I was still a little tired from all the festivities, but yesterday had been a holiday, so I’d gotten some rest. Today was the first day of my last year of university.

This year I had some interesting courses. I also had a paid internship, which I was doing at the rink . My hockey team was still riding the high of winning our division championship. This would be a fantastic semester.

“Clark, are you home?” I called as I entered the apartment and tossed my bag onto the kitchen counter, while I took out the protein bars and hydrogels I’d taken from practice, and put them in a bowl.

Then I removed some cushy socks, two headbands, ultra sporty deodorant, and mini packs of odor removing detergent, which were all from the care cupboard the athletics department kept for scholarship students. I plopped my equipment bag on the bench by the door, that was there for that purpose.

Clark sat at the kitchen table, working on his laptop. He looked up. “Hi, Gweny. How was your first day?”

My heart flipped at that grin.

“It was great. My class on detecting fraudulent reporting is going to be amazing. ” I put my backpack on the counter and got out a baggie full of over-the-counter medicines, vitamin and energy shots, and first aid supplies from the campus clinic. Also, some star-shaped noodles, carrot and ranch packs, tiny containers of peanut butter, and little bags of celery, along with a baggie of chopped tomatoes and onions, that I’d taken from the salad bar in the dining hall.

Snowball napped on the top of her tree. I took out a feather cat-toy wand and shook it. Hearing the bells, she woke up, jumped off the cat tree, and bolted over to me.

“I think our team’s going to be pretty good.” I’d gotten a shit ton of side-eye. Windy had been flapping his mouth all summer talking about how I’d cheated on Austin, then dumped him when he didn’t get signed. We all knew each other, and I’d have to deal with that at some point.

I dangled the toy for Snowball and she batted at it. “The treasure room had cat toys . I’d never even thought to look for stuff like that.”

“Treasure room?” He pushed his glasses up, which had slid down his nose.

“It’s what NYIT calls their needs pantry. We’re the Kings. ” I grinned at Snowball as she jumped at the toy. “Feel free to take some carrots or celery. The little packs are great on the go. Maybe next time they’ll have bottled smoothies or yogurts.”

Still dangling the toy for Snowball, I put the veggies in the fridge, except for the baggie of tomatoes and onions, which I put in the freezer, then grabbed a beer.

“People can have pets in the dorms?” Clark held out his hand and I gave him the toy. Snowball bounded over to him.

“You can in family and pack housing.” I sat down and opened my beer. “A lot of the stuff is donated. There were tons of school supplies today, too. But I used my points for snacks and a cat toy.”

“That’s great your school has that. My old college had one, too. The jam factory nearby always donated the jars with the messed up labels,” he told me. “Don’t feel like you have to use your points for meal stuff for us. Also, please order what you need on the grocery account, even extra things, like protein shakes and snacks. I want you to have enough food and I know you can’t always get to campus to eat.”

My hand went to my heart. “Thanks, that’s so sweet. I need to make some pasta sauce this week. If I can’t find the right fresh herbs in the greenhouse, behind the athlete’s dining hall, I might buy some.”

Sometimes I felt a little guilty that he paid for all the groceries, but I managed to feed myself a lot, so hopefully it balanced out. I tried to be a good shopper, but there were also foods I missed eating.

“Go for it. Pasta sauce? Sounds delicious.”

“Can I use your slow-cooker?” I added. Yeah, it was cheating. So was freezing my tomatoes, since it took a bunch of trips to the dining hall to take enough, since I only took a little at a time, so it wouldn’t be unfair. Every time I tried to grow my own in pots they died.

Clark blinked. “I have a slow-cooker?”

I nodded. “It’s a little one, still new in the box. I think it was a welcome to the team gift from the MASOs last year, because there’s some super cute hockey-themed potholders with it and recipes.”

Some of which I wanted to try.

“Um, go for it. Hey, you got a package.” He got up and brought me a large box.

“A package?” I frowned. “I didn’t order anything.”

“Do you want me to open it?” Clark offered.

I nodded. “Please.”

Just in case it was weird.

Getting a knife, he sliced open the box and removed something roundish and purple.

A helmet? But I already had goalie masks.

Clark looked at the box and the paper in it and laughed. “Tens sent you a motorcycle helmet. I was going to take you to get one, but this one’s cute.”

“That was nice of him. I like it.” I texted him a picture of me with it. It was all different shades of purple with stars.

Me

Thank you. It's so cute.

Tenzin

You're quite welcome. I just want you to be safe.

Awww. My heart melted.

“Hey. Do you want to go to that Thai place you like for dinner? If you’re hungry, that is?” He pushed his glasses up, which had slid down his nose again. “Though, first, can we have a serious talk?”

Oh. My belly dipped. “I… I was thinking maybe I should pay the electric bill, since I’ll be around more than you. Or the water bill, since I take so many bubble baths? I don’t mind contributing to groceries. Also, I won’t get my distribution until the end of the month if you need me to move out. Housing doesn’t have any singles, but said they might in a few weeks.”

“Don’t move out.” His look became stricken as he sat back down at the table. “I mean, unless you need to live on your own for a bit to be your best self. I’d support that. Don’t move out because you think I want you to. Did we make it weird at the wedding? I like you living here.”

My heart continued to thump as I joined him. “What? Never. You like me living here? I… I like living here.”

“Okay, then I want you to stay. Um, you don’t have to pay anything. I’m happy to cover everything.” He looked adorably flustered. “That wasn’t what I wanted to talk to you about. Um, do you want to be on my health insurance?”

“You want to add me to your health insurance?” That was not what I thought this conversation would be about, and I relaxed.

Clark nodded. “Yeah, this way, if you need additional visits to the physio or to see specialists, you can do that. It’s really good–there’s dental and mental health, too. Maybe they’ll have whatever special therapists you need to see, and then you can be in control of it yourself, instead of your brother paying for it.”

My jaw dropped at his reasoning. “That’s so thoughtful.”

I’d been fretting a little about it. I only had the free insurance everyone had–and campus healthcare. The types of people I specifically needed to see were either not available on campus or had long wait lists. But I didn’t want Matty to pay for it.

I stood and gave Clark a kiss. “Can you? I mean, we’re not mated, married, or pack.”

Which were the usual sorts of things extra insurance plans required to cover someone.

He turned the laptop around. “One option is that I can add someone if we cohabitate, prepare and eat food together, and share household responsibilities. That’s us.”

“It is. Wow. I love that.” It also sounded like the setup for a rom-com.

“I was trying to think of ways to help you,” he added.

“Thank you so much.” The school therapists were fine for some issues, but not for truly dealing with what had happened in the lake house. I wasn’t an omega, so I couldn’t get free care through the Omega Center, which was where most of those specific resources were.

I pulled my chair close and helped him fill out the forms.

“Okay, I got pet insurance for Snowball, too. Now, next item.” He submitted it. “Want to be my person?”

“Be your person?” I blinked, having no idea what he was talking about.

“Yeah, so you can go to any Knight’s game you want, not only the ones you’re on duty for. I know how much you love watching hockey live, but rarely get to go. If you get to go for free and have a seat in the family section, it wouldn’t matter if you came late from practice, or had to leave early to study. You can go to away games, too. Also, you’d have access to the family room, so you can get free food. Not that Carlos’ mom’s purse enchiladas aren’t delicious.” His look grew anxious.

I sucked in a breath. Again, not what I expected, and super cute. “I won’t be taking anything away from anyone, will I?”

“Not at all. I can still get tickets for my family when they come. It gets difficult and expensive for them to travel all the way to New York. They’re not on a direct ultra-bullet route. It’s easier for them to catch some of my games that are closer to them,” he told me.

His parents came a couple of times last year. I loved all of them. Especially his beta mom. Last year, he brought her to the fundraising gala for the Squires.

“I’m in your guest room.” I frowned a little.

“My family usually stays in a hotel, since there’s a lot of them,” he replied. “Mostly it’s the occasional friend or whatever. Now I don’t have a guest room, because it’s your room. Guests get the sofa.”

What did I do to deserve this hunk of adorableness?

“Um, so… want to be my person?” His look went earnest.

“Of course. I can’t wait. Thank you.” I loved that he thought of me like that. Now I could always sit with the MASOs, which I wouldn’t get to do outside of when I was on duty.

How much fun would it be to go to the opening game and just relax and enjoy it?

I bit my lower lip. “Does this mean I can wait for you after games in the family room, then ride to Tito’s with you on the back of your motorcycle?”

“Absolutely. I love it when you ride behind me. And now you have your own helmet.” His look became shy as he typed on his laptop.

“I do. Maybe one day we’ll convince Tenzin to give it a try?” I did a little dance at the thought. I’d gotten pictures of him and Cooter at the beach.

“Mmmm, I’d love that, too.” Clark licked his lips as we finished the form. “That cock…”

“Oh, yeah, when it’s your turn, you’re going to love how it feels.” I stole a kiss, remembering seeing them kiss.

“I can’t wait. Hey, did you get invited to the championship cup dinner? If not, want to be my plus one? It’s going to be so fancy,” he told me, pulling me onto his lap.

Right. The Knights winning the PHL finals meant they got a special party. This was where the championship cup was officially presented to them and the players got their rings.

“I’d love to. Thank you.” I could wear the blue dress I wore to the wedding.

“Great. Do you want to get that Thai? We can take my motorcycle. We can send Tens pictures, so he can see that you’re wearing the helmet.”

It was getting late, but I didn’t have any classwork. While I had to work on the schedules for Coach Kirov, that could wait. “I always have room for Thai food.”

He beamed at me. “Good. Let’s go for a ride.”