Chapter Text
Luca's got his phone in his hand while sitting on the bench in front of his stall, scrolling through Twitter as he waits for Holms and Young to be done in the shower. The three of them are set to grab lunch after practice, their last practice before the season really starts, and he's already mentally running through the list of food he wants to inhale when –
"What the fuck," Luca chokes out on an exhale, his thumb freezing on the screen as his stomach flips. On his screen, on a post made by some hockey fan's timeline, is a set of four tastefully done black and white photos of Cliff Marlow.
Nude photos of Cliff Marlow.
Jesus Christ.
He's not sure how long he's been staring at the pictures but he does know that it's taken everything in him to not save the four photos to his phone to look over later when Evan Dykstra grabs it from his grip with a laugh. "Luca, buddy, are you looking at porn in the locker room?" He teases as he glances at the screen, his eyebrows raising.
"Wait – is that –?"
"Shut the fuck up," Luca snaps, scrambling to his feet and trying to grab his phone back as his cheeks flush. Evan is cackling now, holding Luca's phone above his head as Alec Young and Dennis Holmberg finally make their way into the locker room from the showers, Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov trailing behind them.
"What side of Twitter are you on, Haasy?" Evan teases and Luca really just wants his phone back because now they're drawing attention and –"Roz! You know Cliff Marlow, right?"
Ilya Rozanov raises an eyebrow at the two men fighting over the phone, bemused, "Yes, my good friend Cliff Marlow, shittier than me captain of the Boston Bears." Luca finally manages to get his phone back from Evan and shoves it into his pocket as Roz asks, "Why?"
Evan laughs and shoves Luca toward their captain, "You gotta show him, Haasy!"
"Show me what?"
Luca grimaces and feels the eyes of at least half of the locker room on him as he admits, "I was just on Twitter and saw some uh, Marlow. He did a new ad campaign and it's all over Twitter."
Roz's face lights up and Luca feels a bit like he's leading a lamb to slaughter as he slowly pulls his phone out again, working his way back to Twitter as he closes the space between him and the now half dressed captain. "Give," Roz says, holding his hand out as he leans against his stall.
Luca grimaces but drops his phone in Roz's hand, avoiding staring too hard at the older man's ripped chest as he waits for Roz to look at the screen. "Oh my God," Roz says, sounding delighted, "What is this even for? Grindr?"
"What do you know about Grin– oh. Oh my. That's – a lot of Cliff Marlow on your phone, Luca," Shane says as he looks at the phone over his husband's shoulder.
"It's not mine!" Luca insists, panicked, "I was just scrolling on Twitter and they popped up and then Evan grabbed my phone and –"
"Bud, quit while you're ahead," Wyatt Hayes says as he tosses an arm over Luca's shoulders, forcing them away from his ears as he leans in close enough to see the screen of Luca's phone in Roz's hand. "Oh wow, that's – wow."
Luca's cheeks are hot as the rest of the team gathers around them, all clamoring to catch a glimpse of the photos that Roz is now zooming in on on his phone.
"Jesus, Roz, you were roommates with that on the road? No offense, Hollzy," Pierre LaPointe says with a whistle.
"I was uh, immunitet –" Roz says, waving the hand not holding Luca's phone dismissively, "Shane had my heart and soul, even if Marley and me did have fun with ladies in Boston together."
Roz hands Luca his phone back as the rest of the team goes quiet for a moment before bursting into a wall of sound.
"Wait – WHAT do you mean by fun with ladies?"
"Ilya, you can't say shit like that!"
"Together?"
"Harris is gonna be so pissed that he missed this!"
Luca shoves his phone back into his pocket and manages to shoulder his way through the gathered crowd as he tries his very best to not imagine Roz and Cliff fucking Marlow taking some lucky fucking chick back to their hotel room. "I'm going to lunch," Luca announces loudly, "Holms, Young, hurry the fuck up!"
Luca is proud of himself for surviving the rest of the day without staring at his phone, especially when Holms and Young do eventually join him in the parking lot so that they can walk over to the deli nearby. He keeps his thoughts firmly on the game that night and not at all on the Twitter thread that he may or may not have snuck into the bathroom to favorite and save on his burner account.
Ya know, just….just in case.
"Not so bad, Roz Junior," Cliff fucking Marlow says a few months later as he slams Luca into the boards, pressing against him as they fight over the puck during the first game against Boston this season.
Luca huffs out an annoyed breath, trying to push off of the boards as he snarks, "Do any more nude photo shoots lately, old man?"
Marlow is laughing as Luca manages to slap the puck down the ice and right to LaPointe's tape. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He asks, his tone teasing as he finally shoves off of Luca, shooting off down the ice but not before Luca's face blushes hot.
&&&
"Did you like them?" Marlow asks, his shoulder digging into Luca's as they fight over the puck again, in Boston's zone.
"Like what?" Luca is playing dumb, he knows he is, but there's no way that this conversation is actually happening. There's no way that Cliff Marlow is asking Luca if he liked his nudes.
Roz saves Luca from any further conversation by slamming into Marlow from the other side, stealing the puck easily and shooting it over toward Shane. "Leave my son alone," Roz says with a glare and Luca groans, pushing himself off toward the neutral zone where Shane is.
&&&
Luca feels a tug on his jersey and then an arm is wrapping around his shoulders, pulling him into the larger man's side. "Gotta partner up, Haas," Marlow says with a cheeky grin. Luca focuses on LaPointe getting absolutely bodied by a large Boston Defenseman and most certainly not on the fact that Marlow's throwing off heat like a furnace against his side.
"You know as well as I do that you all started this mess," Luca gripes, lips twitching in amusement when Roz grabs LaPointe by the back of his jersey and hauls him up off the Boston player only for Young to try and take his own turn.
"Nah, we're absolutely delightful, Haasy, us Boston boys would never do anything messy," Marlow denies with a laugh as Luca pulls away slowly, a ref skating past the two of them and giving them a look.
Luca snorts out his own laugh and starts skating off toward the bench, shoving LaPointe between his shoulder blades as he passes him. "Didn't take you for a liar, Marlow!" He says as he creates some room between him and Marlow, ignoring the way his stomach flips at the older man's wink when he glances at him over his shoulder.
&&&
"What is going on with Marley?" Roz asks Luca during the intermission between the second and third periods, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Luca shrugs because he's honestly not sure what is up with Marlow. "I made a snarky comment about his uh, ad, he asked if I liked it and I refused to answer him," Luca summarizes, choosing to ignore the fact that it certainly feels like there might be more going on than that.
Roz reaches out and grabs Luca's shoulder, shaking him lightly. "Haasy, my son, do not let Marlow's flirting distract you from puck," He says, scowling as he adds, "Marley should not use his powers for evil."
"He's not flirting!" Luca denies immediately, cheeks coloring at the pitch the words escape at.
"Marlow is absolutely flirting with you, Haasy," LaPointe says, holding an ice pack to his cheek, "I'm not sure why, but he definitely is."
"He's straight!"
Roz humphs and lets go of Luca's shoulder with one final shove. "Not everything is just gay or just straight," He says, waggling his finger at Luca as he adds with a smirk, "That man maybe has touched too much dick to be straight."
"And how would you know how much dick Cliff Marlow has or has not touched?" Shane asks as he drops onto the bench next to Roz's hip, smacking his husbands thigh lightly. Roz opens his mouth with a smirk and Shane shakes his head as he cuts him off, "You know what? Never mind, no one needs to know."
Roz snorts out a laugh and then claps his hands, drawing the attention of the rest of the team. "Let's go out there and make Boston cry!" He says, drawing a round of whoops and cheers from the team before they head back out onto the ice for the last period of the game.
Let's fucking go!
"I can't believe we actually won," Alec says as Luca is towel drying his hair by his stall, "Seriously, that last goal you scored? Was a thing of beauty!"
"Thanks," Luca mumbles, tossing his towel to the bottom of his stall and pulling on his hoodie. "Wouldn't have been able to do it without your assist though," He says honestly, shooting Alec a half smile.
"Listen up!" Roz's voice is loud as he steps into the locker room, hair dripping wet and towel wrapped around his waist, "We're taking the Bears out to a club – yes, Shane, you too – because they miss me and they suck so they deserve to drink tonight." The team laughs as Shane groans and Luca feels his stomach twist because if all of the Bears are going to be there then Cliff Marlow is gonna be there and well, Luca doesn't need to be drunk around that man. Not after the flirting on the ice tonight.
Jeez, Luca thinks to himself as he shoves his wallet and phone into his hoodie pocket, slipping his feet into his shoes, if fifteen year old me knew that Cliff fucking Marlow was flirting with him he would have cum in his pants and then probably cried.
Luca follows Alec and Pierre to the parking lot and slips into the backseat of Pierre's car, leaning his head back against the headrest while the two up front argue about music. "So, are we going to talk about the fact that Cliff Marlow was definitely flirting with you on the ice or is that something that we're ignoring?" Pierre asks eventually, glancing back at Luca through the rear-view mirror.
Luca groans and Alec laughs. "Do we have to talk about it? I'm sure he wasn't even serious – I mean, have you seen him?" Luca knows that he sounds pathetic but he can't help it.
"Roz seems to think he was serious, did you see the look on his face at the end of the third when Marlow shook your hand for too long?" Alec teases, "I thought he was gonna go full angry dad mode."
Luca rolls his eyes even as his stomach twists at the memory of the large hand in his, the way Marlow's fingers dragged against his pulse point before the handshake ended. "Whatever," He says, his face hot, "We're going to a club, I'm sure he'll find someone more interesting than me. And I'll find someone more interesting than him."
"Interesting isn't important when you want to suck his dick," Pierre points out as they pull into the club parking lot, glancing over his shoulder at Luca with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh my God, please shut up. Everyone on this team is way too comfortable with talking about sucking dick," Luca complains as he shoves his way out of the car, tucking his hands into his hoodie pocket and gripping his phone as he waits for Alec and Pierre to join him to walk into the club.
The bouncer waves them past the line and they make their way toward where Roz and Shane are already set up in the back corner with, ugh of course, Cliff Marlow and what seems to be most of the Bears.
Luca sucks in a deep breath and braces himself for however this night is about to go as they work their way toward the group of hockey players because this? This is unfortunately the stuff of his dreams.