On The Run
#32 of Hockey Hunk Season 3
It's time to do it bare. And hard.
Hehhey, everyone, and welcome to the Hockey Hunk!
I'm going to run a new edition of The Lurker Challenge here - do you remember the rules, or is this your first time? It's simple enough:
If you've never commented on HH before, or you haven't commented in the TWO previous chapters, you count as a LURKER
If I can get enough lurkers to rear their heads up, I will be posting the next chapter in advance on NEXT WEDNESDAY
This story gets a whole lot of readers, but there are never too many commentators, and new faces are always welcome! That's why it's fun to sometimes shake things up and give some incentive for speaking up. Thus, if we can get a nice quota of comments (from people new and old!) I'll be posting a surprise installment on Wednesday, because you're extra nice : ) The first round of the Lurker Challenge brought such great results and many new regular commentators that I am curious to see if anyone would be encouraged this time around.
Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Have a nice read!
*
"...so, Peter got the idea that maybe if I'd...call Cobb and ask him about something fun I could do for you as a nice surprise, and then...well..."
Victor grimaced.
"He gave you his mawful on that."
I nodded morosely and took a sip of my coffee.
"Yeah," I rumbled.
Victor's good ear flicked at me while the big Dobie sat there, mug at paw and a dark look crossing his features every now and then during our little talk.
"Must be why he was so overactive all day, yesterday and now," Victor mused.
"Hmm?" my ears rose.
Victor snorted.
"He doted on me," Victor huffed. "Always bringing food and drink and offering his company and movies to watch and..."
Victor waved one big paw in the air in front of him and bared his teeth.
"It was really starting to get on my nerves," he huffed. "As much as this whole...business."
I felt acutely aware of the whole business, and simply nodded.
Victor scratched his belly.
"I tried to keep it under the lid for so long, you know," he said. "It just...happened."
His regretful sigh afterwards got my gentle eyes and my sympathies, while we kept looking at one another sitting on my small couch and going through another round of coffee and discussion. Much of it had been covered before, of course. Arguments and snappy phone calls and apologizes had been traded, after all, but it was the first time we could talk about it all face to face. It felt pretty damn good, I had to admit, sitting there and being with him again. Talking with Victor.
"I can understand that," I replied, quietly.
"So he caught me on a weak moment and...I spilled it all," Victor rumbled. "I'm not sure why it happened exactly. I guess...hmm..."
Victor looked acutely displeased.
"Yeah?" I asked carefully.
"Well, Cobb was going on about all sorts of get well presents he could buy for you or me or for both of us together, and I was listening to that going on for an hour and..."
I could definitely understand Victor's feelings of me not deserving a get well present at the moment, and decided to only nod once more.
"I just kinda snapped at that and told him that there was trouble in the paradise," Victor snuffled. "Cobb went ballistic."
Victor rubbed the side of his muzzle and rumbled deeply. I could almost feel it, more than hear, as we sat so close to one another again on the couch. It was oddly comforting, even if the situation was hardly the most pleasant I could imagine. At least we were talking, getting it all out into the open.
"I can imagine," I said.
Could I? Hell yeah!
WHAT THE HELL VICTOR WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BROTHER DARLING HOW COULD YOU HOLD THIS DARK SECRET INSIDE YOU DON'T YOU KNOW THAT HOMOSEXUALS HAVE MUCH HIGHER INCIDENCE OF DEPRESSION AND EVEN SUICIDE BECAUSE THEYRE NOT ACCEPTED BY THE SOCIETY AND THEN SO MANY OF THEM ARE ALSO OBVIOUSLY CHEATING LOSERS WHO PLAY WITH OTHERS EMOTIONS AND MAKE THEM FEEL LIKE TOTAL SHITHOLES AND YOURE SUPPOSED TO LIKE SHITHOLES BECAUSE YOURE GAY THAT'S NOT FAIR ON YOU VICTOR OH VICTOR HOW COULD SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN HE SEEMED SO NICE WHAT WENT WRONG WERE YOU NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM ILL SHOW HIM HOW GOOD YOU ARE YOU ARE MY BROTHER AND IF YOU'RE NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR HIM THEN HE'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU PLEASE DONOT GO INTO MORBID DEPRESSION VICTOR LETS GO SEE A DOCTOR WHO CAN HELP YOU I CAN HELP YOU PAY FOR THERAPY IF YOU NEED IT JUST TELL ME HOW WE CAN GET OVER THIS DARK SHADOW THAT IS RORY FUCKING LION WHO DIDN'T KNOW THE BEST MAN WHEN HE MET ONE AND HOW COULD HE EVEN LIE AND LOOK ME IN THE FACE AND BRING ME GIFTS AND DO EVERYTHING HE DID HOW COULD HE CHEAT ON ME TOO AND YOU WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD IS THERE NOTHING HOLY LEFT IN THIS WORLD PLEASE VICTOR TELL ME HOW I CAN HELP YOU TO GET PAST THIS CRISIS I AM HERE FOR YOU BECAUSE IM YOUR BROTHER AND I LOVE YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT IS WRONG AND I CAN HELP YOU SOMEHOW ILL GET A RESTRAINING ORDER ON RORY IF YOU NEED ONE AND IF HE STARTS STALKING YOU I KNOW HOW ITS DONE I SAW IT ON SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT!
"It was pretty predictable," Victor took me out of the realm of imagination and back to the couch and the issue at paw. "Angry and sad and demanding more information and asking me why I didn't tell before and telling me I always let the wrong kind of guys take advantage of me and all that jazz."
I felt a twinge of unease in my stomach as I wondered just how much Victor had told to Cobb, but I daren't ask that directly. Reminding Victor of everything wasn't going to help this discussion, I suspected.
"Must've been horrible."
"He got really worked up," Victor nodded. "I wouldn't have been surprised if he started throwing heavy objects."
I shuddered.
"At you?" I asked.
Or me?
_ _
Victor shook his head.
"No, he ain't like that," the Dobie replied. "He's more...verbal when it comes to expressing his displeasure."
What a relief.
"Good," I said quickly.
"He took it really roughly," Victor nodded. "He's always been like that, too. Always gets really worked up really easily and then sizzles down quickly afterwards. Pretty often over me, too."
Victor didn't look too happy about that, and I wondered whether it meant that Cobb easily got angry with Victor as well, besides those who made Victor angry or hurt. I wouldn't have put it past him at this point, anymore.
"He's a bit of a hothead, I guess," I said over the rim of my mug.
Victor chuckled roughly.
"If you think that there was a certain amount of temper awarded for the two of us in the womb, I'd say Cobb got two thirds of the lot and I got the rest," the Dobie rumbled.
I could hold onto that, I decided, as I snuffled a little on his wry remark. I'd been on the wrong end of Victor's temper at well, and knew how uneasy it made me feel. I was kinda glad I wasn't there again.
"So it seems," I mused and tried to sound nonjudgmental.
"I'm really sorry he got at you, Rory," Victor rumbled again, looking me directly in the eye as he spoke.
I could have easily blushed under such a gaze, and felt the hint of heat touch my cheeks alright while the Dobie's deep eyes gazed upon my own. My tail flicked against the side of the couch.
"I'm sorry I gave him a reason to," I said, all too aware of my role in the whole mess.
I could see the swallow travel over Victor's neck before he cleared his throat and spoke again, to break the silence that existed for a few moments after my guilty statement.
"I guess we should have talked a lot more a lot earlier," he said.
The painful twinge in my stomach tripled itself at the tone of defeat in Victor's voice.
"You're not wrong," I said.
Victor gave me a look and then nodded.
"But we're talking now" I hurried to say and even managed a bit of a smile to go with that.
Victor snuffled.
"I think we are," he said.
"Yeah - "
I didn't get very far before the beeping of Victor's phone interrupted both of us. Victor's good ear flicked sharply and he let out an exhalation to match while his free paw disappeared into his pocket.
"Oh heck..."
The phone soon appeared in his palm and Victor held it up for himself to read.
"Victor I'm sorry. Please don't be mad at me. Are you alright? Please call me. Cobb," the Dobie read aloud in a quick, flat voice.
"Seems to be missing you a lot," I noted dryly.
Victor's fingerpads undulated over the rim of the phone and his eyes jumped between me and the little screen. His forehead had formed a scowl that told me more than even a growl or bared teeth would, judging by canine facial expressions.
"Yeah. And he's gonna be missing me for a while longer, too," Victor replied.
I gave him a quizzical look.
"I...am...with...Rory..." Victor spelled out as he typed with his thumb, "...will...call...later...now...stop...BOTHERING...me...Vic...tor....and...send..."
The phone beeped with a sense of finality.
"There," Victor declared as he stuffed the phone back into his pocket.
My eyes lingered on the paw feeling up his jacket front even after he began the process of sipping coffee again. The sight reminded me of my failure to be a good host and get his coat off him. I wasn't particularly bothered by that discovery, considering that during the past half an hour or so, much more time had been spent between me and Victor than during the previous three weeks or so.
"Think that'll calm him down?" I queried once Victor had enjoyed his big boy sip.
Victor's good ear batted in my direction.
"I'd say that you're lucky he doesn't know where you live, Rory," Victor said.
My tailtip tried to hide itself under the couch, but couldn't fit, so it decided to be content with just attempted tail-cramming and flopped down to the floor instead. I snuffled empathically.
"Guess we've got that in our favor, then," I mused.
Victor chuckled.
"Yeah, pretty much," he said. "He's done something else as well, hasn't he?"
My ears perked curiously.
"He has?" I wondered genuinely what Victor had in mind now.
Victor smiled crookedly, so that I could see almost the whole of one canine on the corner of his muzzle.
"We've got a mutual enemy now," Victor said. "Makes for the need for a truce, eh?"
He gave me a sideways look, and my belly fluttered. It was such an odd thing to say...well...appropriate, I guess, because in our mutual shock and surprise at COBB's behavior, we'd failed to argue about the Colin issue and the resulting ill feelings and fights and general ugh-ness over the state of affairs between us. The tension was there but it had been buried for the sake of the moment, and it had done us well for the moment. We were talking.
"Heh," I breathed.
Victor rumbled and patted my arm with his paw. The sudden contact felt nice, even if it was brief, and readily left me to want some more. The big paw was retracting itself by now, though, soon to rest against Victor's thigh while the expansive canine sat there and let out another of his deep sighs that probably didn't feel too good on his ribs.
"Well, maybe not an enemy per se," Victor spoke again after a pause. "Just someone who's managed to piss both of us off something serious."
I couldn't help but chuckle at his terms, and smiled with all the appropriate ear flicks to go with that.
"A couple of times, maybe," I replied. "But I guess you don't need to be told that."
Victor huffed.
"If I didn't love the guy so much I'd kick him in the nuts," the Dobie grumbled.
I braved myself and put my paw onto Victor's arm, cautiously, sure, but he'd done it to me before, I might as well reciprocate, and let it be.
"He really is concerned about you," I said, then, "can't blame him for that."
Victor snorted.
"I'd just hope he'd show it in a bit less intrusive and goddamn annoying ways," the big Dobie growled.
My paw still didn't move.
"And that really is Cobb for you," I said. "As well as many other family members everywhere who are concerned about their loved ones."
Hmmm. I'd better be careful with that particular expression, I decided, when the flutter in my belly didn't subside.
Victor gave me a look.
"Your folks ever meddle in your boyfriend business?" Victor asked me.
My cheeks felt a tad hotter than before once the question registered in my brain. It was a fair one, especially in this situation, and more than appropriate, considering we were talking about THE COBB here, who probably could have earned some sort of prizes for that sort of behavior.
"Sure," I said. "You must know the deal with parents and...Cobbs. When they think you're straight, every female name you mention equals to a potential girlfriend, and once you're out, every male name must refer to a passionate gay fling. Sound familiar?"
I made a rueful face and Victor returned it with a small smile.
"Sure do. Not to mention the jealousy," he said.
My ears flicked curiously at this statement.
"Jealousy?"
Victor's good ear flicked down, and for a while he almost looked...coy, I guess that could be it, yes, a bit shy?
"I kinda stole a girlfriend from him a couple of times," he said.
I practically coughed up my coffee.
"Say what?" I managed.
"Well, I did it intentionally only once, when we were fourteen. The other time was an accident."
My tail tried to tie itself into a knot while I listened to this new turn of events take place in the history of Victor Holden, a tale ever so curious, it now dawned on me.
"An...accident?" I tried.
"Cobb was really liking this girl called Laura who was in our Spanish class and he was kinda trying to impress her but she...heh...she would have preferred me," the Dobie related the story to me quickly, and still managed to look like he was going to blush.
"Well," I mused dryly. "That definitely is something I haven't done for Justin."
He still didn't mind the paw.
"Good," he smiled.
"But I gotta say, I don't think my parents have ever done anything quite like...this," I noted.
"I'm not surprised," he huffed.
"But that's Cobb," I said.
"Yeah," Victor replied as he moved his paw to rub his chin, "but I can't say I'm exactly innocent either. I've done my share of bad choices and Cobb sure has let me know about it, too."
He snapped his pawfingers and made a face.
"Like the time I landed to the ER because of my ex Ismail."
*
Dun dun dun...
How can I? How could I stop it right there? That's nuts!
But worry not, the story is back on WEDNESDAY for a special Wednesday chapter, which shall keep the story rolling at a nice pace ; )
Don't forget the Lurker Challenge, either - extra many comments will help me produce the extra chapter extra quick, too, I suspect!
Also remember that all votes, faves and watches will help others to find these stories to enjoy as well!
Cheerio, and see you on Wednesday!