Unsportsmanlike Conduct

2-man Advantage

Tye walks into the kitchen from the garage, trying to shake off the loss they were just handed by the Arizona Canyons. He hangs up his peacoat in the closet by the front door and heads into the living room where he finds Moss sitting by the fire, sipping tea and re-watching the latest episode of their crime show that they had on the other day.

Moss' hair is still damp from the shower he must've taken not too long ago. He's wearing the white Boulders sweatshirt that Tye got for him along with Tye's black sweatpants that he definitely stole from his room. Tye can tell that the pants are his because of the way that the fabric bunches up at Moss' ankles, clearly too long for his legs. The cozy outfit is tied together with a pair of purple fuzzy socks on his feet.

They make eye contact and Tye realizes that he was caught staring for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Moss smiles tiredly up at him before speaking, "I'm happy you made your captain and his wife babysit me, they were super cool. You had a great game too- and don't disagree with me just because you didn't win."

Tye does disagree because not only did they lose, but he didn't even register a single point. However, he knows better than to voice these thoughts to Moss and his big hazel eyes.

Tye forces a smile at the praise, but struggles to come up with a reply. He's mesmerized by the man sitting in front of the fire looking at home in his Boulders sweatshirt with Tye's name on the back.... and wearing Tye's too-big sweatpants.

Misinterpreting his silence as disappointment from the game, Moss continues to try to raise his spirits through words of encouragement.

"The Boulders are basically guaranteed to clinch a playoff spot so you don't even have to worry about that," he reassures the defenseman. "It was one off night for the team. You'll bounce back from this."

A piece of dark brown hair has fallen and curled on Moss' forehead as it drys from its damp state that it was previously in from his shower.

Suddenly, Moss stands and is attempting to usher Tye into the spot that he just got up from.

"Sit down. I can make you some tea to help take your mind off of things," Moss instructs, but Tye lightly puts a hand on his arm in a successful attempt to keep the shorter man from walking away.

"Let me know if I got this wrong and I promise I'll back off," Tye gently guides Moss' chin up so he can look at him before placing a chaste kiss on his lips.

Shocked by this development Moss asks, "You like me?"

Tye huffs out a laugh at this, rubs his eyes and halfheartedly throws his hands out in front of him in a what the hell do you think motion.

"I mean- yeah. I thought I've been kind of obvious about that," he confesses sheepishly.

"Huh, well that changes things," Moss says mostly to himself as if he's thinking out loud.

Seeing Tye get visibly nervous at his statement Moss clarifies, "Not in a bad way.... I kept wondering if our friendship was kind of weird or if it was just a mature, adult friendship that I've never experienced before. I guess this kind of clears things up, though."

-

Moss makes Tye a cup of tea and reheats his own before joining him at the counter.

"I'm not sure where to start.... Do you want to talk about what brought this on?" Moss questions gently.

Tye takes a sip of his tea before responding, "I think I've had feelings for you for awhile now, but they've been a lot more difficult to ignore recently."

Moss nods along to the explanation while sipping on his own tea.

"I've never been in a relationship with a man before, but the more I think about it, the more I'm realizing that we've basically been in a long-distance relationship for some time now," he observes.

"Does it freak you out that I'm a man?" Tye asks hesitantly.

Thinking the question over, Moss responds, "Not really. Our friendship or relationship or whatever is honestly probably the healthiest I've ever been in which must count for something. Right?"

"So- since we're already in a healthy relationship, would you maybe want to be my boyfriend?" Tye asks, smiling at him softly.

Moss beams back at him, "Yeah- might as well make it official."

-

After finishing their tea, Moss grabs his suitcase from the guest room and drags it upstairs to Tye's bedroom.

They end up falling asleep in each others arms with the episode of the crime show that they still haven't managed to finish playing faintly in the distance.