Rating: PG-13
Original Date of Completion: August 2002
Disclaimer: I own them all, and you can't have them. This is all fiction, so please don't sue me.
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Kirk's POV
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Kris asked.
"It really is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I replied in awe.
"Go ahead, touch it,"
"But what if I hurt it?" I asked, kneeling.
"It's tough, it can handle it. Just give it a little stroke,"
"God, you two are sick," Sean yelled, walking up behind us.
Kris and I turned at grinned at Sean. I reached forward and gave a stroke down the Stanley Cup, causing Kris to bit his bottom lip. I smirked at him, then pulled the Cup from it's case and carried it over to my car. The top was down, so I sat it in the backseat. Giggling, I buckled the seatbelt around it. Sean shook his head at me while he prepared the video camera. When the light turned on, he turned the camera on himself and flashed a cheesy smile.
"My day with the two gayest people I know, take 1."
"Hey!" Kris objected, slapping Sean in the back of the head. "There's NO way we're the gayest people you know,"
"Yeah, you know yourself," I laughed, taking the camera from his hand. He glared at me and crossed his arms over his chest in an exaggerated pout. "And this is my video, so none of that crap," I reprimanded, zooming in on the tattoo on Sean's arm. He stuck his middle finger up at the camera and leaned against the car. "Hey, you're the one who invited me along on this day o' fun,"
"And don't make me regret it. Just get in the car, we gotta go get Dandy,"
"Sean smiled, and in my mind I was pulling a Mr. Burns from the Simpson's with "Excellent." Dandy had been depressed, HORRIBLY depressed since Dom retired. He wouldn't talk to any of us about it, as much as we've all tried to get him to. No one really knew what he was going through, because none of us really knew about him and Dom until it was almost over. We tried to relate to him, but I think we just annoyed him more in the end. So I made it my mission to make him happy, somehow. And what better way to do that than to shove him and Sean together. Sean was habitually unhappy, Dandy was depressed, it just seemed to me that they could make each other happy, right? If it didn't work, I'd feel bad, but you don't get anywhere without taking risks. So when I was thinking about what to do with my day with the Cup, I decided on taking a trip to the beach way over in Western Michigan, and making Sean and Dandy come along. I knew Sean wouldn't disagree, he loves being my tag along. Convincing Dandy was hard, but I was eventually able to bribe him with Dunkin Donuts and use of my movie collection. He was clueless that I planned to shove him with Sean today. Sean however, I'm pretty sure he knew. I turned the camera to Kris and shot him from the head down, capturing his bare chest on film. He noticed immediately and covered his chest with his arms. Sean and I laughed at him, and I sat the camera down into the Cup. Sean looked at the backseat then tugged on my sleeve.
"I get to sit next to the Cup?" Sean asked giddily, bouncing just slightly.
"Yes, you get to sit next to the Cup," I replied, mockingly patting his head.
"Yay!!"
Sean ran around the car and hopped in next to the Cup. I looked at Kris and shook my head. He smiled and pulled me into a hug. He kissed me on the forehead then patted me playfully on the ass.
"He's your kid, not mine," He smirked and walked around to the passenger side of the car. I glared at him as I opened my door and climbed inside. I slid the key into the ignition then turned in my seat to look at him. He grinned goofily at me, and I couldn't contain my smile. I glanced back at Sean, then back at Kris, and shook my head.
"He is NOT my kid. He looks more like you if anything,"
"No, it's a proven fact my kids don't turn out that ugly,"
Sean glared at us, causing both of us to laugh. I looked at Kris and nodded my head, consenting to his victory.
"You're right. You could never produce ugly children,"
He smiled brightly and leaned over toward me. Slowly our lips met, and I knew without even opening my eyes that we were being videotaped. I made a mental note to edit that and all of my earlier footage before I sent that video to my parents. Our kiss lasted at least a minute before Kris pulled away and ruffled my hair. I giggled and slapped his hand away, then straightened out in my seat. I fired up the engine then buckled my seatbelt. As I started to pull out of the driveway, Avery edged up his seat and put his hand on my shoulder.
"Mommy, am I adopted?" He asked, mimicking a child's voice.
"Yes, yes you are," I laughed as I pulled onto the road.
"Thank god!" Sean said relieved, slipping his sunglasses on and relaxing in his seat.
I shook my head and turned the corner from Kris' road, starting officially my day with the Cup.
* * *
When we arrived at Dandy's the three of us hopped out of the car and walked up to his door. I set my car alarm as we walked up to his door, couldn't have anyone stealing the Cup while we were gone. Sean knocked on his door, and I prepped the camera while we were waiting. Dandy opened the door, and I saw a bright smile come to Sean's face. Kris and I grinned at each other, then I turned the camera on Dandy. He smiled at Sean, but then frowned when he saw the camera in my hand. That only egged me on, and I stepped in front of him and zoomed in just slightly.
"Come on Dandy, say something to the people," I said as I walked backward.
"Kirk Maltby has sex with men, lots of men. And he's bad at it," He said as he walked toward the car.
"Cut, cut!" I yelled, turning the camera on myself. "The views and opinions expressed by Mathieu Dandenault do not reflect the opinions of Kirk Maltby, or anyone in the sane world,"
Mathieu snorted a giggle and climbed into the backseat. With the Cup being seatbelted on the driver's side, Mathieu had to sit in the middle next to Sean, which sent me back into Mr. Burns mode. I grinned as I walked toward the car, filming the two of them as they nervously got situated in the car. Kris walked up behind me and slipped his arms around my waist, making me jump in shock. He giggled and kissed my neck. I turned the camera on us and walked slowly to the car, Kris still holding onto my waist.
"Say something into the camera," I said as we stood next to my door.
"Um. Kirk Maltby is the sexiest man I have ever known and I want to have 10,000 of his babies,"
"Oh God," Sean groaned from the car.
I grinned and craned my neck back to kiss him. It was kind of hard to kiss at that angle, so we pulled apart before any groaning could come from the car. Kris slapped me on the ass once more, then walked around to the passenger side of the car. I steadied the camera in front of me and made as serious a face as possible.
"And he, my friends, is all mine,"
"Yeah, except in public," Dandy teased. "Will you get in the damn car already, it's a 3 hour drive to Muskegon,"
"Hey, this is my day with the Cup, and you will do what I want. And if I want to stand here and talk to my camera, I will," I rambled, shaking my finger at him.
"Kirk, get in the car," Sean ordered, trying to sound tough. I snorted a giggle and turned the camera on him.
"Or what Sean?" I scoffed as I got into the car. "You'll do horribly unspeakable things to me on a pool table?"
I saw his face turn red through the camera and I smiled at my victory. I handed the camera off to Kris, and fired up the engine.
"Fuck you, Maltby," Sean muttered as I pulled out of Dandy's driveway.
"Been there, done that,"
* * *
The drive to Muskegon was pretty unremarkable. Driving a red Mustang, with the top down, and the Stanley Cup in the backseat, every cop in the state was probably on the look out for us. So we pretty much had to stay in our seat belts and keep facing forward. That didn't keep us from joking around though, with Sean being the ass of almost all the jokes. Even Dandy began to cut on him after awhile, which was great to see. Sean spent most of the three hour trip either red faced or muttering "Fuck you, guys." All of it was caught on camera, making a lot more footage I'd have edit out later. Especially since it probably wasn't shot all that great since Kris was shooting it while facing forward in his seat. But the soundtrack would be priceless.
When we finally arrived at the beach, our collective jaws hit the floor. It was absolutely gorgeous. I didn't think Michigan had anything this beautiful. Living in Detroit, the most water we see is that dirty ass river. But the water here, it sparkled. And the sand was so clean, it was white. The waves looked mild, but off in the distance you could see the wake from boats crashing against the limestone rocks that lined the walk leading to the old lighthouse. My sister owned a cabin around here somewhere, so she'd explained everything to me prior to coming. As I looked around at our surroundings, I really couldn't think of a place I'd rather spend my Cup day than right here. I'd really have to remember to thank my sister for suggesting this place when I mail her her video.
We parked the car at the beach's edge, then proceeded to unpack the car. My trunk was so jammed full of stuff, it's really surprisingly we didn't ride with the rear end dragging on the ground. One by one, the three of them picked up the stuff out of the trunk, leaving me to carry the prized possession, the Cup. When we walked onto the beach, people immediately flocked to us. Camera flashes snapped all around us. It became brutally obvious we weren't going to get much further than this, so we dropped our stuff about 15 feet from the water. We sat up our chairs, and the camera on its little pedestal and invited all the fans over. We posed for pictures, signed autographs, generally spent most of the day making the fans happy. So we didn't get to do a whole lot of anything else, big deal. It wasn't often we got to mesh with the fans like this, especially in a completely unknown town like Muskegon, it was nice. But that's not to say I didn't breathe a big sigh of relief when the beach began to clear out, leaving just us four and a few people further down the beach.
"Should we like, set the grill up and cook, or just say fuck food and get to the beer?" Sean asked, burying his feet in the sand.
"Can you even legally drink, Fido?" Kris asked, unpacking the small grill from the duffel bag I called a picnic basket.
"You know what Draper, I've had enough of your mouth," Sean avowed, getting to his feet.
Kris grinned and sat the grill in the sand. He walked over to Sean and stared directly into his eyes. Sean took his sunglasses off and dropped them onto his chair. He took a step forward and leaned up so his nose was touching against Kris'. Kris looked at him with mock intensity, but I could see a smile twitching at his lips.
"Well, what are you gonna do about it, FIDO?" Kris asked, putting emphasis on Fido, Sean’s despised nickname.
"This," Sean replied.
"In a flash, Sean reached up and yanked on Kris' chest hair, ripping some from his chest. Kris yelped, and clutched his hand to his chest. Sean burst away and ran toward the water. Kris watched in shock, briefly, then chased after Sean. Dandy and I were nearly rolling on the ground laughing as we watched them. Kris' speed kept him close on Sean's heels. But every time Kris caught him, Sean would deke around him and take off running in the opposite direction. I was fighting for breath when they ran out of our sight. I was so glad we'd set the camera up earlier.
I took my sunglasses off and wiped the tears from my eyes. I glanced over at Dandy, who was doing the same. He smiled at me and my heart leapt in satisfaction. I think that was the first time in weeks I'd seen him genuinely smile. I smiled at him and he leaned over and clapped me on the shoulder.
"He's going to kill him when he catches him," He laughed, staring down the beach where Kris and Sean ran in and out of our sight.
I laughed and nodded my head. "That's not necessarily a bad thing,"
Dandy grinned and took his sunglasses off. He folded them up and sat them in his lap. "Thanks for making me come today, Malts. I appreciate you caring so much for me,"
I smiled and reached over to ruffle his hair. The gel had cemented it in place, so I just patted him on the head. "You're my friend, don't mention it," I told him, laughing as Kris tackled Sean into the water.
"No, I mean it," Dandy mumbled, staring down at the sand. "You've been there the whole time I've been dealing with...." He paused and jammed his eyes shut. I smiled sadly at him and rested my hand on his shoulder. "Dealing with what I've been dealing with," He finished. "It really means a lot, Kirk,"
"Hey," I said softly, getting sort of choked up. "It's what friends are for. You'd have done the same thing for me, right?"
"Yeah, but still....thanks,"
We were both getting pretty choked up, so we leaned over and hugged each other. You'll never get either of us to admit it, but more than a few tears were shed in the contours of that hug. We pulled apart after only a few seconds, laughing at ourselves, and punching each other in the arms like guys do to expunge any emotion. We leaned back in our chairs, and looked away from each other to wipe our eyes. I slipped my sunglasses back on and turned my chair toward him.
"So...what do you think about Sean?" I asked, reaching over and grabbing the grill. Dandy rolled his eyes, then put his sunglasses back on.
"I knew you would try to set me up,"
"Of course, I want you happy. So what do you think?" I said, shoving the legs onto the grill.
"He's nice, and really cute. But he's not even gay,"
I snorted a laugh and sat the grill back onto the sand. "Trust me, he's gay," I giggled, pulling out the small bag of charcoal from the duffel bag.
I saw an eyebrow raise behind his sunglasses and shook my head. I poured the coals into the grill as he sat up in his chair and rested his elbows on his knees. "How do you know?"
I sighed and threw a match into the coals, engulfing them instantly in flames. I sat back in my seat and took off my sunglasses. I put them atop my head and leaned closer to Dandy.
"There was this time, on Mac's pool table. Sean and I kinda...."
That's where I was cut off by Sean and Kris running back to us. Sean leapt over his lawn chair, but couldn't clear it completely, dropping him face first onto the ground. He rolled onto his back with a groan and Kris walked up and knelt harshly onto his stomach. Dandy and I both spoke a futile "don't hurt him too bad", but we knew Sean was in for some massive payback. We turned our chairs toward them and watched on intently.
"Are you hurt?" Kris asked, still kneeling on Sean's stomach.
"No," Sean replied.
"Good," Kris yelled gruffly, reaching down and clamping onto Sean's nipple. Dandy and I cringed as we watched him give it a violent twist. Sean yelped and bucked Kris off of him. Kris smirked and playfully kicked sand into Sean's hair. "Now you are," Kris walked smugly over to me and knelt down in front of me.
"Hey good looking, got a date?" He asked, tilting his head to the side.
"Yeah. This goofy looking red head," I said in reply, fake wincing at the thought. "You can't miss him, he's got a bald spot on his chest now,"
Kris glared at me and I just smiled. He leaned up and our lips met in a brief kiss. Dandy groaned and turned his chair away from us. We laughed at him and Kris reached over and patted his shoulder. Sean got slowly up from the sand and walked over toward us. He kicked sand onto Kris' feet and grinned.
"Get your hands off you....you...Dirty Ontarian you!" He yelled jokingly.
The rest of us laughed at his choice of insults (Dandy was the only one here NOT from Ontario.) Kris smirked and attempted to stand up, but I pulled him back down. I grinned at him and pushed myself up from my chair. I took a step forward and stood face to face with Sean. He grinned and like with Kris earlier, leaned up so we were touching nose to nose. I saw Dandy shaking his head out of us out of the corner of my eye, but with a huge grin plastered across his lips, directed right at Sean.
"What did you call my boyfriend?" I asked in mock anger, gritting my teeth.
"A dirty Ontarian, just like you," He replied, grinning.
"I might just have a problem with that,"
"Yeah? Whatcha gonna do about it?" He asked, cautiously crossing his arms over his chest, covering his damaged nipple.
I watched Kris crawl behind Sean, completely out of his sight. I grinned and stared Sean straight in the eye.
This,"
I grabbed Sean's face and plated a sloppy kiss onto his cheek. In shock he took a step back, careening into Kris and toppling over him into the sand. He landed with a loud thud, sending the rest of us into hysterical laughter. Sean sighed angrily and crossed his arms over his chest.
"I hate you guys," He pouted, only increasing our laughter.
Dandy got up from his chair and walked over to Sean. He knelt down next to him and ran his fingers through Sean's hair. They grinned goofily at each other, giving me and Kris full reason to roll our eyes at them. I extended my hand to Sean, and reluctantly he took it. He slowly got to his feet, giving Kris ample time to sneak around behind him. Before Sean even knew he was back there, Kris grabbed hold of his boxers and yanked up on them hard, giving Sean a wedgie from hell. Sean whimpered and collapsed back onto the ground. I picked up the camera and turned it on Sean just in time to see him curl into the fetal position. Dandy murmured an "Aww" and ran his fingers through Sean's hair again. Kris threw his head back in laughter, garnering a glare from Dandy.
"You guys are abusive parents, leave him be," Dandy kept petting Sean's hair. Sean inched up the beach until his head lay against Dandy's stomach. I couldn't control my smile.
"Yeah, leave him be," Sean yipped, wrapping his arms around Dandy's back.
"Aww, the baby has to hide behind his Dandy?" Kris mocked, staring down at Sean.
"Yes," Dandy answered. "Now go away,"
"Fine," Kris said huffily. "I can tell when we're not wanted. Come on Kirk,"
He grabbed my hand and started to pull me away, but I put the brakes on. I motioned to the camera stand with my head, and he grinned. I ran back and set the camera back up, then ran back to Kris. He grabbed my hand and led me toward the water. The sun was beginning to set, and the people had all cleared out, leaving us perfectly alone. We walked along the beach in silence, the water crashing against our bare feet every so often. It was really nice walking with him like this. The adrenaline of the last few weeks had been so high, it was nice to just be with him, in the quiet. No words were needed, we were just enjoying each other's company.
We walked the length of the beach before Kris stopped. I glanced down the beach and noticed Dandy and Sean were out of our sight. I scanned my surroundings and realized we were standing where Kris and Sean had disappeared to earlier. Kris stepped behind me and put his hands over my eyes. He kissed my neck and told me to slowly walk forward. I laughed at him and asked him what he was doing, but he answered with "Just do it." I listened, and slowly stepped forward, Kris' hands still covering my eyes. When I'd taken only a few steps forward, he forced me to turn. I complied, and kept walking forward in the new direction. He pulled me to a stop and told me to open my eyes. I did so, and slowly he took his hands from my eyes. When I was able to focus, I saw a large box sitting in front of me, horrendously wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper, with a large silver bow on top. I turned to Kris with a raised eyebrow. The smile on his face was reminiscent of the Cup win, and I couldn't stop myself from leaning over and placing a soft kiss to his lips. I pulled away from his lips reluctantly and turned back to the box.
"What is this?" I asked, motioning toward the box with my head.
"You were the neglected middle child weren't you? Don't you know what a present is?" He asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
I punched him in the shoulder with a glare. He grabbed his arm and rubbed it, and with a grin I walked over to the box. When I stepped closer to the box, I cringed at the horrible wrapping job. I looked over at Kris and asked "You or Sean?" He flipped me off and said "Open the damn box already," I smirked at him and tore into the wrapping paper. I pulled it from the top and slowly pulled open the top of the box. Kris walked next to me and watched with a smile on his face as I dug past the tissue paper. When my eyes focused on the contents of the box, I immediately felt tears well up in them. I jammed them shut, squeezing the tears out, and slowly lifted out my gift:
A giant stuffed panda bear in Kris' jersey.
When the bear was in full view, the dam burst and the tears came flooding out. But it was like sobbing, just silent, happy tears that made me feel ridiculous. I sat the bear back into the box and wiped at my eyes. I turned to Kris and smiled hugely at him. He smiled and scuffed his foot in the sand.
"Well, I know you never really asked for it, but I figured, I get lonely now when I'm away from you, so I was...uh, kinda figuring he could hold my place when I'm not there,"
If I hadn't already loved him more than life itself, that would've thrust me over the edge. In my 29 years of life, I had never heard anything that sweet. I pulled him over to me and pushed my lips onto his. I could never express the feelings running through me with words, so kisses would have to do. Slowly our lips mashed together, zapping all the passion in our bodies. He nibbled softly on my bottom lip, and my hands slipped around his waist. His hands slid up my back, and a shiver coursed down my spine. Our lips continued in a hurricane of passion, our bodies pressed tightly together. If it wasn't for running short of air, I never would've separated that kiss. But reluctantly, I took my lips from his, then laid my head on his shoulder. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed softly at his neck. He giggled softly, and shivered just slightly.
"You are the single most wonderful, beautiful, absolutely sweetest, most perfect man on the entire planet," I spoke softly into his neck. He chuckled softly and ran his hands up my ribs, making goosebumps form on my skin.
"It's kind of hard to be that, when the person you just described is my boyfriend," He whispered into my ear.
We pulled apart, and I stared deeply into his shimmering green eyes. Even in the darkness that now surrounded us, that sparkle could not be mistaken. We shared a quick, soft kiss, then I turned back to the bear. I picked him up from the box and stared at him. I smiled at the jersey, and hugged the bear tightly to me. It was then I got a whiff of Kris' cologne, and a smile exploded on my face. I leaned over and hugged him, bear sandwiched between us.
"You really went all out for this didn't you?" I asked, smiling at him in adoration.
"I figured, it was either going to be really sweet, or really corny, there was no in between. So yeah, I went all out,"
I leaned over and kissed him softly again, then stared at my newfound bedmate. The bear was so adorable, I couldn't honestly stop smiling. I caught myself thinking that, in 29 years of life, this was the sweetest gift I'd ever gotten. I don't know if that just means I never got sweet gifts, or if this one just took the cake. Something told me it was the latter of those two things. I sat the bear down on the edge of the box and stepped back. I rested my head on Kris' shoulder, and his arm slipped around my waist.
You gonna name him?" He asked quietly.
"Mmm,"
"What?"
"That's easy. I'll call him Junior,"
"Kris pulled away from me briefly, then pulled me back into his arms. We stayed like that for at least ten minutes, before both of our ankles started to hurt from standing in the same position too long. Being a hockey player can do that to you. I rubbed my hands quickly up his back and planted a soft kiss just below his earlobe.
"I love you," I said as we separated.
"I love you, too. Very a lot,"
I giggled and we shared a quick peck. I tucked Junior back into his box, then snatched it up into my arms. I held it with my left, and extended my right to Kris. He entwined his fingers with mine, and hand in hand we started our walk back down the beach. The walk back, too, was silent. I spent most of it thinking of how I could ever top, or even come close, to getting him something so sweet. It was like he looked right into me, and without me even saying anything, he knew how lonely I got now when I spent the night without him. I can't really explain it, we haven't even been together that long. And it's not even like we've shared a bed every night since we won the Cup. But anytime I was alone at night, the room seemed so empty. Junior wasn't going to be anywhere near as good as Kris, but it was certainly a step up from a pillow.
When we arrived back to where Dandy and Sean were; they were laying together in the sand, Sean's back resting against one of the chairs, and Dandy laying on his chest. Dandy was obviously asleep, but Sean looked up as he saw us approach. He smiled lightly, and I swear even in the darkness I saw him blush. He was still having trouble with being gay. I still don't think you could pay him enough to actually say it. But he was trying. Maybe Dandy was what he needed? Because a caring, devoted, and let's face it, cute as hell friend was exactly what Dandy needed right now. And I knew very few people in my life who were as devoted to their friends as Sean was, he's like a puppy. I smiled at him and quietly tiptoed past them and to the camera, dropping Junior off next to my chair. I leaned down in front of the lens, and flipped the screen to see myself.
"Well, this was my day with the Stanley Cup," I whispered. "It may not have been the most exciting day in the world..." I paused and looked behind me to where Kris stood, pulling a hot dog off the little grill, and where Sean and Dandy lay together. A smile spread across my face, and I turned back to the camera. "It may not have been the most exciting day in the world, but I couldn't have had a more perfect day. Goodnight Everybody,"
I shut the camera off, then dismantled the pedestal. I carried the parts back over to our set up, and dropped them onto their bag. I folded the camera up and slipped it into its bag. I looked over at Kris, who sat in the sand, eating a bunless hot dog. He patted the spot next to him, and I smiled. I tiptoed over to him, and sat down in front of him. He draped his arms around me, and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. I sighed and reached next to us and pulled a hot dog from the grill. I took a bite of it, and smiled as Kris kissed the top of my head. I glanced up at him and smiled, then glanced over at Sean and Dandy, sleeping peacefully. I got a warm feeling inside and cuddled back on Kris. We stayed in that exact position until the sun rose out over Lake Michigan the next morning. As I watched that spectacular sight, wrapped up in the arms of the man I love, I decided something. I could win a dozen more Stanley Cups and never be satisfied. Because the craving for a celebration like this would never go away.
TBC
©2002 Triple X
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