Jjeffalch

Seems a little premature. They each need to find out what aand who they've become over the last 20 years before they could either one start thinking of a future together. Both of them still have the picture if the other one from 20 years ago in mind. That's not really a solid basis to start building a relationship, though both seems to want that.

I really enjoyed this story. It was amusing to see how unaware they were of their growing attachment, even as it manifested itself in their flawless partnership on the ice, and even as it became glaringly evident to all around them. It is a shame they didn't win the Cup, but they have each other now, and that's wonderful, even off the ice. Great story. I look forward to your next one.

Wonderful story, @kbois! It always called forth strong emotions in me, and not always entirely positive ones, but the long path did indeed lead home and that's the only place the story could have ended. Except, I hope it doesn't end there. I hope they find a couple of boys around the age of Lynn's brood, with an innate love of horses and a strong tolerance for opinionated cats, to bring into their family and widen the completed circle. But wait, there's a still-to-be-completed epilogue, isn't there?.... Wonderful story, @kbois, which I've thoroughly enjoyed, as I have enjoyed all your work. I hope my rants about The (long-forgotten) Abandonment will eventually be forgiven. 🫣

Yes, this is all wonderful, and of course beautifully written, and Kent and Randy moving in together feels inevitable and just roght. But now I look forward to the rest of this story with foreboding. Randy does not feature at all in the first story of this series. Which means something terrible will happen to him in this one, something that contributes to Kent's emotional fragility in that first story. And just by the way that fragility is described there, it seems to me that there must be another deployment where it all goes wrong.

The truth of Marcus' utter intransigence is finally laid out plainly in full sight of both Calliway boys, they are both being played by Marcus for reasons he himself does not seem to understand. He has issues he hasn't faced and doesn't understand. And won't until he comes to terms with whatever happened between him and Sean. He should listen to that USB drive soon, it may contain some of the answers. I know love befuddles, but the Calloway boys need to recognize that Marcus is toxic for them both. And they should, hopefully understand the need to stay away from him, however hard that will prove to be. It seemed they were taking the first steps down that path when they spoke that morning in Ryan's bedroom. I hope they continue.

I'm glad Ben and Eddie, Coach and the rest of the team are giving them space while they work out the terms of their relationship.

You got it out beautifully, @Topher Lydon. What you described echos the wrenching suffering that my older cousin, after ten years of self-enforced solitude following the sudden death of her fiancé, finally found the words to express to me. The pain she described reminded me of losing my baby brother in an accident, but there was too a qualitative difference. I lost him at the age of 32. It wrenched a hole in my soul that still hasn’t quite closed, 34 years later. I adored him. But I was not planned to build my emotional future around him. James was on the brink of starting the rest of his life with Devin, that he had articulated around Devin, defined in terms of Devon. To have that all ripped away—I can’t really fully understand the damage that would wreak on one’s soul, but I can just about imagine it. This was beautiful. Agonizing, but beautiful. Thank you for sharing

I'm glad Sky's parents have accepted the new relationship so smoothly, and I hope that Juanita really does move past Hector smoothly and quickly. It really is a shame that Sky and Brant had to destroy her relationship with Hector, though that was inevitable given the circumstances. But I really can't imagine that her friendship with Brant and Sky could remain on the same plane with Hector in the mix but now "on the other side". I do wonder how the new trouble will be received in public.

It's just getting a bit hard to swallow. Cameron spends the night in hot threeway sex with Marcus, gets up, goes to Andres whom he has hated since college, who admits to having the hots for Cameron, who then immediately drops his drawers for this guy he's hated viscerally for years..,apart from the incredibly shirt recovery time, can a guy so totally ruled by his dick be desirable as anything other than a one night hookup?

This is entirely too messed up...

Baby steps...for people used to flying over the ice in the fastest sport known to man, who deal with "issues" by bodychecking them into the boards, and for whom 'softness' and 'emotion' have a different connotation than for the rest of us, maybe it's understandable that Noah and Jackson are so slow to understand quite what's happening to them. Of course, that begs the question of why Ben and Eddie and Aleksandr and the coaches and even the timid PR lady all understand...maybe Noah and Jackson are just too good as hockey players

Matthew whispered, “I want you. Only you. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I couldn’t take seeing someone else touch you. I wanted you the moment we went into the river.” OK, if that is the case, why did he invite Connor to spend the night? Why did he flick the switch from "off again" to "on again" when they bumped into each other in Birmingham after Thanksgiving dinner ? Why did Matthew see that as a "sign"? He couldn't take seeing someone else touch Noah while he's standing there in front of Noah with his boyfriend's hand possessively on his shoulder? He hasn't treated Noah very well since Thanksgiving. He owes Noah not just an explanation. He owes him a real apology.

The epiphany! Now, what to do with it?

I am so sad that the outcome is an either "Juanita" or "Brantsky" scenario. No matter how noble and understanding she is, in the end, Sky and Brant have waltzed into her relationship, and taken away her "forever" guy. I agree with her-- Hector must have had latent doubts about his sexuality which might well have surfaced later in their relationship and destroyed it. But that doesn't change the fact that Sky and Brant offered this throuple to Hector, knowing full well that he was in a relationship (with their own dear friend and perhaps their biggest supporter in Hollywood, no less), and knowing that pulling Hector into their marriage (which really didn't stay exclusive for very long, did it?) would destroy Juanita and Hector as a couple. They decided they could live with the consequences of their decision, and chose accordingly. Poor Juanita is not being given the luxury of a choice at all. I also notice that Sky hasn't yet said anything about all this to his parents. I wonder what their reaction will be!

OK, I give the two of them one more chapter of this blissfully oblivious tine-wasting, and then, you, @andy cannon, are going to have to speak to Coach Hayes about getting Ben and Eddie to stage a targeted intervention. Otherwise, if this continues, the hockey will suffer-- unacceptable, given the season they're having. Not that Noah or Jackson will have issues with each other on the ice--they're actually skating perilously close to perfection together. No, it'll be all the other players getting distracted from playing proper hockey by all the time they will ge spending placing bets on what specific form of denial the two will indulge in next.