Unsportsmanlike Conduct

Hoisting the Puck

As soon as he gets back to Tye's house, Moss rushes to place the jersey and stolen clothing items that he had previously left behind back into his suitcase. Tye doesn't need any reminders of his abrupt departure, so Moss happily reclaims the clothes in the midst of him cleaning up any evidence of their short-lived breakup.

Knowing that the team is flying in later that evening, Moss DoorDashes a healthy-ish meal from a local restaurant since there aren't many groceries in the house. He's sure that the team was fed before they left for the airport, but Tye has always complained about the chefs that travel with them from city to city. The meals made for them are always deemed bland and disappointing due to the teams restrictive diet plan according to his boyfriend.

With that being said, Moss is sure that his hockey player will be grumpy because of the late flight in and the lack of food with flavor given to them. He does his best to pick out a dinner that will satisfy Tye's cravings while also somewhat complying with the teams strict playoff diet.

Moss has just finished setting up the table and putting out their food when Tye walks into the kitchen from the garage.

He's visibly relieved to see that Moss is actually there, letting out a breath that he must've been holding since he arrived at the house. Setting down his bags, Tye envelopes him in a hug from behind with no intentions of letting go. They sway together for a moment, just enjoying being in each others presence once again before Moss turns his head to give him a kiss and pushes him lightly to a chair so he can eat.

"The travel chefs made grilled chicken and white rice with carrots. I swear they didn't even try to put seasoning on any of it," Tye grumbles lowly while sitting at the table.

Moss smile  knowingly, "That's usually what happens, which is why I DoorDashed all of this. I figured you'd still be hungry and crabby by the time you got home."

Tye hooks his ankle around Moss' in thanks as he grins at him and digs into the meal.

During dinner, Moss tells Tye about his trip to the Larsson's and how they discussed possibly introducing Moss to the WAGs. Moss emphasizes that he wanted to run it by him first before jumping into anything.

Tye still has his ankle hooked around Moss' right one, but brings up his other foot and effectively traps Moss' ankle between both of his feet. After capturing his boyfriends foot under the table, he smiles warmly and says, "I'd love for you to meet the girls. There's no doubt in my mind that you'll fit right in with the group."

Moss smiles at his response before nervously bringing up the other topic of conversation that has been stuck in the back of his head since his confrontation with Shane.

"So.... I've been meaning to ask you about something else that Shane had told me before your flight to Houston."

Tye looks pensive and less relaxed at the mention of Moss' brother, but nods for him to continue with his question.

Taking a deep breath, Moss explains the comment Shane had made that has been bothering him for the last couple of days.

"He told me that a lot of NHLers cheat on their wives and girlfriends when teams travel during roadtrips. I'm pretty sure that he was just trying to upset me, but I wanted to ask you about it to confirm that what he was saying was bullshit to get under my skin."

Tye grabs Moss' hand which was previously holding a fork as he pushed around the remainder of his dinner before responding.

"I promise you, that piece of shit was just trying to mess with your head. I've heard some stories about a couple of players cheating on their partners from before I was in the league, but it's definitely not nearly as common as Shane made it out to be. I swear on the Stanley Cup that I don't know of a situation like that happening on our team or any other team right now. Even if it were to happen with one of the Boulders players, the team would not be cool with it. We'd definitely say something to the jackass who is dumb enough to even try doing something like that."

Moss exhales with a subtle sigh of relief hearing this and squeezes his boyfriends hand affectionately.

Tye squeezes his hand back before tentatively asking, "Was he, like, trying to imply that I was cheating on you?"

Pausing with uncertainty, Moss thinks of how to proceed with answering this question as cautiously as he can.

"Yes-"

He rushes to continue his sentence before Tye can get up and drive to Shane's apartment to have round two of their boxing match.

"Yes- but, I promise that I didn't believe him when he suggested it. I never had any doubts that you were being loyal. I honestly wasn't sure if other players were casually cheating during roadtrips on their significant others, though."

"What were the exact words that he said to you?" Tye calmed down a bit after Moss finished reassuring him, but still looks ready to confront Shane at any moment.

"Um...." Moss internally battles whether or not he should disclose this information to Tye, but eventually decides that it's best to be open with his boyfriend right now. "I think he suggested that you have contacts in multiple cities. He was trying to convince me that you're going to be a temporary part of my life so he probably just made that up to prove his point."

Tye's cheeks are dark red and he looks livid after learning these details.

"Mo- I want to kill your brother," he says in an unsettlingly even voice.

"Maybe let's not do that?" Moss suggests. "I didn't believe him then and I definitely don't believe him now. I'm glad we had this conversation, but I need you to trust that I trust you now."

The intense color is starting to fade from Tye's cheeks as he takes a deep breath.

"I trust you. I just don't know how I'm going to look your brother in the eye after all of the fucked up shit that he's done to us."

Moss nods understandingly, "I know- I'm sorry that you have to deal with him when you should be focusing on the playoffs. I think your best bet is just to ignore him off-ice and continue to be the professional that you always are during games and practice."

"You're right- as always," Tye sighs and gently pulls Moss partially across the table to give him what is supposed to be a reassuring kiss, but is probably more to calm himself than anything else.

Smiling at his newly composed boyfriend, Moss decides to transition their conversation back to the topic that they were previously discussing. They finished eating, cleaned up the table and are now doing the dishes.

"So.... now that we have that cleared up. How would you feel about me giving Addie the go-ahead to put me in the WAG group chat soon?"

Tye turns to him as he's drying one of the plates that Moss had just washed.

"How would I feel?" Tye repeats the question sarcastically with a grin on his face, "I would personally add you to that group chat right now if I could."

Moss beams at this, "I think I'll text Addie to do it tomorrow morning then."

Tye is ecstatic about this before getting a conflicted look in his eye, "Can you wait until I'm back from media tomorrow to do it? I want to be there for support, but I also want to see the group chat explode when Addie introduces you."

Nodding in agreement, Moss smiles and promises to wait until Tye is present for the chaos that will most certainly come from him virtually meeting the WAGs.