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Leon, at this point, is very used to having unrequited feelings for teammates. He falls very easily for attractive people who have his back, which, to him, is largely what teams are. So he’s interested in Connor, yes, but it’s passive, tucked away in the back of his mind. He doesn’t feel the need to do anything about it, and he probably never will.
But even if Leon does decide he wants to, he still probably won’t act. This is because the downside of teams, in any men’s sport, is that very nearly everyone is straight. Leon doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything from Connor to indicate otherwise - or, even if he maybe has, that Connor would be into him, specifically.
Actually, no-one on the team knows what Connor’s type is, or if he even has one, because here’s the thing: Leon may only pick up when the person he’s talking to hits the right emotional buttons, but Connor never picks up at all.
So Leon’s pretty unbothered by the guys deciding they’re going to help their captain get laid. In fact, he joins in, and it’s only partly to keep an eye on them that he does so.
--
Leon isn’t sure who brought money into it, but he dutifully hands the cash to Nuge. Just like that, he’s fully bought into this (probably terrible) idea. With the addition of the financial incentive, though, comes a slightly increased desire to win. Consequently, he’s not really surprised that they make the rookie go first.
Pulju apparently decides to play it safe; in the bar, after their unfortunate loss to the Flyers, he brings over a woman who fits the exact stereotype of what hockey players are supposed to like. Emma is tiny, blonde, and very smiley, and Pulju glares down Klef until he surrenders his seat. She thanks him, and takes it, smiling at Lars on her left and Connor on her right, and he smiles back - or, at least, Leon thinks Connor means for it to be a smile. It doesn’t look much like one, if he’s being honest, but that’s Connor.
“So, uh, the Eagles?” is what he comes up with as a conversational topic. Leon would like to be disappointed in him, but it turns out that Emma is a massive Eagles fan, and Connor turns from ‘awkward conversationalist’ to ‘attentive listener,’ shoulders sagging in obvious relief.
Leon doesn’t follow American football - he’s never much cared to, and he doesn’t play in a city that cares for much besides hockey - but he finds himself listening to her anyway. She makes it accessible, once she realises they’re mostly novices, and her obvious passion for the sport reminds him endearingly of Connor’s. Leon half-expects him to go home with her, just for that.
He doesn’t.
(Stromer does.)
--
Stromer, of course, was never invited to their group. This isn’t because he’s new, but because he knows Connor, and some people had thought this might give him an unfair advantage.
Leon is starting to wonder if he doesn’t know about them anyway. It’s almost too perfect, the way he seems to run interference on them during every night out, the way he always seems to charm every woman they get anywhere near Connor.
But he doesn’t mention this to anyone else. He’d really like to say that’s the spirit of competition, but that would mostly be a lie.
--
Stromer has no defenses against people they actually know, though. So when Benny shows up to their post-matinee get-together with some of his local friends, Leon makes sure he’s looking at Stromer’s face. He catches a flash of something - annoyance, maybe? - so quick he’s barely sure it was there.
Stromer’s back to normal when Benny introduces everyone, though, and Leon’s attention turns to them. He’s not surprised to discover that one of them is single.
Leah is taller than Cags, with dark skin and a bright laugh that Leon is more than half in love with himself. Honestly, though, he’d be a little grossed out with Benny, who keeps shoving her at Connor, if it wasn’t obvious that she finds it - and Connor himself - entertaining.
Connor is being Connor, of course, more than halfway wrapped up in his media persona to try and hide the way he’s not actually meeting anyone’s eyes. Leon would like to help him, but Benny is giving him a careful side-eye, Nuge is distracting Stromer, and Khairs and Cags are forming a perimeter while pretending not to be, so he doesn’t.
Leah leans over and says something quiet into Connor’s ear, and the aloofness and stiffness just melts off of him, and Leon wonders, a little, if he could even have managed that. At the end of the evening Connor even gives her a hug. Granted, it’s one of his awkward half-hugs, where he approaches from the side and sort of springs it on people, but she laughs and side-hugs him back, and Benny texts a triumphant “Ha!” to the group while Leon tries to be happy for Connor.
But they both leave alone, and Leon really wishes he didn’t feel so relieved.
--
Nursey is probably the smartest of the group; at least, he’s the only one besides Leon who seems to have noticed the whole Stromer thing. So Stromer is in the bathroom when Nursey brings his new acquaintance to the table. They may be in Minnesota but she looks almost too stereotypically Swedish to be believed. Then she introduces herself.
Anna actually is Swedish, and Connor genuinely perks up at this news almost as much as Lars and Klef do. Mostly, Leon thinks, this is because it’s an easy thing for him to ask questions about, while sharing nothing about himself. Apparently she’s a biathlete, in town for Olympic qualifications.
Leon only vaguely recalls what the biathlon consists of - there are guns and skis involved, he’s pretty sure - but Connor seems to know quite a bit about it. It’s almost nice, seeing him be interested in something other than hockey for once.
This is when Stromer comes back.
He doesn’t head straight for Anna; instead, he starts with Nursey, distracting him from distracting Lars. Suddenly, that corner of the table becomes a Swedish zone, and Leon is, again, guiltily relieved when Connor politely extracts himself. He’s even more pleased when it’s him Connor chooses to talk to instead.
“I wish I’d realised sooner,” he says. Leon doesn’t know what he means but nods understandingly anyway. “After all,” Connor continues, “I would hate to ruin Nursey’s wingman for them.” He gestures to the Swedish area, where Klef has taken Connor’s place, and smiles. Leon smiles too, and pretends he’s not wrestling with the idea of Connor being this oblivious.
Then again, he supposes interpersonal stuff isn’t really in Connor’s wheelhouse, and this probably qualifies.
--
Connor is alone at the bar in Nashville when two things happen. First, Nuge realises that Leon hasn’t actually tried to help Connor pick up at all yet, and he tells everyone. Second, Connor gets approached by a very pretty woman, all dark hair and lean muscles and miles of leg.
These two occurrences, taken in conjunction, result in Leon being shoved towards the bar.
Connor is standing there looking as awkward as Leon has ever seen him. Honestly, it’s even worse than the airport. So he steels himself for this and makes his way over.
“Hey, man, who is this?” he tries.
“Oh, um, sorry, I didn’t catch-” Connor says, and Leon only just manages not to sigh.
He turns to the woman, who looks mildly amused. “Could I have an ice cube?” he asks.
Her eyes glitter as she fishes one out of her drink and hands it to him. He puts it on the floor. “Step on it,” he says to Connor, who snaps out of ‘look at the ceiling’ mode and does so. There’s a crunching noise, audible even over the music and chatter.
“There,” Leon says. “Now that the ice is broken…” He turns, intending to go back to the table.
“Mary,” he hears her say, and “Sorry!” from Connor, and then he’s being dragged outside by 192 pounds of Oilers captain, hoping that somehow the team doesn’t notice.
“What-?”
“I’m gay,” Connor says, all at once. He frowns.
“Oh,” Leon says, and Connor turns towards the door. “Wait?”
“What?” asks Connor, carefully.
And Leon makes a decision he never thought he would. “You know,” he says, equally carefully, “the ice between us broke a long time ago.”
Then it’s Connor’s turn to say, “Oh.”
“Come back to the hotel with me?” Leon asks, and Connor - awkward, socially inept Connor - takes his hand, brushing his lips over Leon’s knuckles.
Leon blushes hard. So does Connor.
They don’t tell anyone they’re leaving.
--
As they satedly drift off, Leon has a sudden realisation, and can’t keep from laughing.
“No, go to sleep,” Connor says, pawing vaguely at Leon’s face.
Leon dodges him and says, “I will, I am. I just didn’t expect to win the pool like this, is all.”
Connor groans. “I knew those fuckers were trying to set me up, but you had money on it?”
“I wanted to keep an eye on them,” Leon says, half-truthfully. “Anyway, now I can use it to take you out and date you right.”
“We both have giant contracts,” Connor points out. “Wait - date?”
“Yes, date,” Leon says. “Unless you don’t want-” and Connor’s flailing hand finds his mouth this time.
“Date,” Connor insists, and it’s the last thing Leon remembers hearing before he falls asleep.
--
Nobody says anything to Leon when they board their plane for Arizona. He’s not sure whether this is a good thing, that they’re respecting his privacy; a bad thing, that they can’t handle two men being together; or if they just don’t know that anything happened. Either way, he thinks, he’ll count it as a blessing for now and move on. Few things, in Leon’s mind, are worse than his whole team giving him their best wink-nudge treatment.
When Connor gets on, though, it becomes clear that the third option is the correct one, because he’s unbuttoned his shirt just low enough that the hickey on his collarbone is visible, and everyone explodes into noise.
“I don’t kiss and tell,” is all he says over the excitement, and Nuge utterly fails to be surreptitious about paying Leon. By takeoff, though, everyone’s settled down. The two of them are alone.
Leon is ready for some hardcore cuddling. He wants to hold Connor’s hand during the flight, either openly or under their shared blanket if Connor prefers secrecy. He wants to lay his head on Connor’s shoulder and murmur sweet nothings into his ear until he goes pink, to nip at his earlobe and whisper some of his filthier ideas until Connor goes red. He wants to hook his ankle around Connor’s as they watch whatever movie Connor thinks they should watch, to listen to his even breaths when he falls asleep in the middle of it. He wants to stay close enough to see Connor’s pulse pounding in his throat, to press his lips to the crook of Connor’s neck when nobody’s watching. Most of all, Leon wants to kiss Connor in that quiet way where urgency and expectations don’t exist: a kiss that, without words, says I’m happy and I appreciate you, that says I’m in this as long as you want me and, maybe, I love you.
Unfortunately, Stromer shows up as soon as the plane levels off, giving Connor the kind of look that also needs no words to convey feelings like I’m going to lecture you because I care and What were you thinking? Leon sighs and reaches for his seatbelt, because the sooner this is done, the sooner he can get back to stroking the smooth skin of Connor’s wrist.
But Connor grabs his hand tight and doesn’t let go, glaring right back at Stromer, and Leon feels nothing short of amazing.