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When Eddie finds Lu, he’s standing in the hall talking to trainers and various other staff; Eddie isn’t paying any attention to them, has eyes only for Lu. He stands there for a few moments, waiting for Lu to finish his conversation. He’s supposed to be in the locker room right now, but he has to talk to Lu. Eddie thinks, he could stand here all day because being this close to Lu, the fire in his chest is warm and comfortable like he’s sitting in front of a fireplace on a cold night. Lu finally turns around and sees Eddie standing there. “Eddie,” he says softly, looking the Swede over. His eyes stick on his initials on Eddie’s bare chest a moment before he turns and says, “Give us a minute, eh?” The others retreat, leaving them alone in the hall. “L-Lu,” Eddie stutters. “How-how have you be-been? I’ve miss-missed you. You-you look g-good.” “Eddie,” Lu cuts him off. “You don’t have to be nervous around me.” Eddie falls silent and starts shifting from foot to foot. He wants to touch Lu, wants to wrap himself around his goalie mentor and never let go. Lu, seemingly reading his mind, holds his arms out. “Come here.” Eddie all but tackles him, hugging Lu as tight as he can. Lu’s arms come around him, and Eddie melts against him, pressing his ear to Lu’s chest, right over his heart, and he feels calmer than he has since the last night they slept in the same bed. “Hey, kiddo,” Lu laughs gently, stroking a hand over Eddie’s hair. “Missed you,” Eddie mumbles. “I missed you, too, Eddie.” He starts to pull away, but Eddie holds on. Eddie doesn’t think his heart can take it if he has to let go of Lu. “Eddie? C’mon, look at me.” Eddie leans back, but doesn’t let go of Lu. “Eddie, you’re not supposed to be out here,” Lu says quietly. “I don’t care,” Eddie says and buries his face in Lu’s chest again. “Listen to me, Eddie,” Lu says softly, leaning down to murmur against the top of Eddie’s head. “You need to get back to your locker room, but we’ll hang out after, okay?” “Lu, no,” Eddie says, an edge of desperation slipping into his voice. How can Lu just send him away like this? When they’ve finally been reunited? They haven’t seen each other in almost two weeks, and Lu expects him to be able to just leave? “I know, baby. I know,” Lu says, and just hearing his voice calms Eddie. “But you’re not supposed to be out here, okay? You’re going to get in trouble. So, you go back to your locker room, we’ll play this game, and then we’ll hang out after. I promise.” The game. How the fuck is Eddie supposed to play this game? How is he supposed to play against Lu? “Lu, I can’t--” “You can, Eddie. It’s going to be fine, just like every other game. Just don’t think about it, okay?” “Lu, no. Lu,” Eddie says, because he can’t, he can’t. “You can,” Lu repeats. “I believe in you, so you . . . Go out there and play your heart out for me, yeah?” “Lu,” Eddie’s voice breaks on the one syllable. He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to Lu’s chest again. “Don’t cry. Eddie, don’t cry,” Lu nearly pleads, running a shaking hand up and down Eddie’s spine. “You have to go.” He disentangles from Eddie and catches the Swede’s hands when Eddie reaches for him again. “I’ll see you tonight,” Lu says, squeezing Eddie’s hands. He looks as wrecked as Eddie feels. “Good luck.” And then he’s just gone, disappearing around the corner, and leaving Eddie alone and cold. Eddie wants to scream, wants to punch the wall, wants to track Lu down and superglue himself to his side so he can never get away again. His chest hurts. It feels like there’s a rope running through him and someone has tied a fat, complicated knot in it and then soaked it in gasoline and lit it on fire. It knocks the breath from his lungs, and he goes down, knees hitting the cold floor. He holds his hand over his heart, using the other to steady himself against the wall as he tries to catch his breath. He puts his fingertips to the letters on his chest, and they burn him, leaving ugly black marks over the loops and whirls. He looks down, and the letters are burning a bright red, like they’ve only recently been branded onto his skin. “Lack, you okay, man?” comes a voice from behind him. Eddie turns around and sees Markstrom leaning on the doorway to the visitors’ locker room. He forces a smile. “Yeah, just stretching,” he says and slides into a butterfly, leaning towards his left knee. “On this shitty floor? You are so weird,” Markstrom says, shaking his head and retreating back to the locker room. Once he’s gone, Eddie lets himself slump against the wall, pressing his forehead to the cool surface. He closes his eyes and holds his breath until the burn in his lungs surpasses the burning in his chest. When he feels like he can breathe again, he gets up and staggers into the locker room, still a little shaky. Torts is yelling about something; no one really seems to be listening. When Eddie walks in, all that anger is suddenly directed at him. He nods along, says his lines, but doesn’t hear a word Torts says. When they go out for warm-ups, Eddie doesn’t look towards the other end of the ice, can’t. He stands in the crease and tries to go into his goalie mentality. His net behind him, his fortress to defend. His crease, his battlefield. It works, mostly. But he can still feel Lu’s eyes on him. He tries to stay there, to not let anything else in, but a few times the fire spikes inside him. The game is tied at the end of three, and Eddie manages to stay strong in overtime. But then they’re going to a shootout and Eddie doesn’t think he can do it, starts to panic in the locker room. Luckily, Markstrom notices before Torts does and pulls him out into the hall. “Eddie, what’s wrong?” Jacob asks. “I can’t, I can’t,” Eddie mumbles, shaking his head. Jacob pushes Eddie against the wall “Eddie!” he snaps. “What’s wrong?!” “I can’t do this. You have to play,” Eddie babbles. “You know we can’t do that,” Jacob says sharply. “You have to get it together and go out there and play.” “I can’t,” Eddie snaps. Jacob looks helpless for a moment before he slaps Eddie’s chest, says “Stay here,” and disappears back into the locker room. He’s back a moment later with Eddie’s phone, which he pushes into Eddie’s hands. “Call him.” “I shouldn’t--” “Call him,” Jacob says firmly. “I’ll cover for you.” And he’s gone again. Eddie takes a deep breath and dials the number he knows by heart. “Eddie,” Lu answers on the first ring. “Lu, help me. I can’t do this.” “You can, Eddie. I promise, you can,” Lu says, quick and a little breathless. Eddie takes a shuddering breath. “Okay,” he says, a little shaky but easy. “All you have to do is make it through this, and then we can . . . And then we’ll hang out, okay?” “Okay,” Eddie says again, sighing the tension out of his body. “You’re going to be so great, Eddie,” Lu says quietly. Before Eddie can say anything, Lu hangs up. Eddie stays there, leaning on the wall to stay upright, and takes a few slow breaths. When his hands stop shaking, he slips back into the locker room. The shootout is painful. Eddie has to focus. It’s just him and one guy, but the whole time he can feel Lu’s eyes on him. Somehow, he manages to hang on, and the Canucks pull out the win. Heading to the locker room, Markstrom is babbling Swedish ninety miles a minute, but Eddie doesn’t hear a word of it. He doesn’t hear a word of Torts’s post game lecture. He doesn’t care about anything but getting to Lu right now. He’s in the hall within minutes, shifting from one foot to the other, waiting for the Canadian. Lu comes out some ten minutes later and immediately wraps Eddie up in his arms. “I’m so fucking proud of you,” Lu murmurs, and the words go straight to Eddie’s heart and begin a slow burn there. Lu leans back, but doesn’t let go of Eddie. “Are you going to get in trouble if you come back with me?” “I don’t care,” Eddie says honestly. And then they’re out the door, Lu’s arm around Eddie’s shoulders, anchoring the Swede to his side. The inside of Lu’s car is warm, and Eddie watches the city go by out the window, but he doesn’t see any of it. It takes entirely too long to get up to Lu’s apartment, but finally they’re there, and . . . Well, what are they supposed to do now? Eddie shrugs out of his jacket, and Lu takes it and hangs it and his own on the hooks by the door. It quickly becomes obvious that Lu isn’t sure what to do either. “So . . . ,” Eddie says. It’s weird. They’ve never been awkward together. And there was such an urgency to get here, and now they don’t know where to take it from this point. “We should probably talk about this,” Lu says slowly. Eddie nods. “Okay.” Lu leads him past the living room and straight into his bedroom. It’s not too late, but it’s understood that neither of them will be leaving this room until tomorrow, so they both strip down to boxers and t-shirts and slide in between the sheets. Lu pulls Eddie into his arms, and the Swede goes easily, tucking into Lu’s every curve, comfortable and familiar. Eddie feels . . . settled. “So . . . ,” Lu says. “We’re bonded.” “Yep,” Eddie says quietly, turning his head to press his ear to Lu’s chest, over his heart. He looks up at Lu. “Can I see?” And . . . It will be the first time Eddie will see it for real. “I’ll show you mine if you’ll show me yours,” Lu says. The joke is lost on the Swede, and Eddie starts to take his t-shirt off. Once it’s been tossed over the side of the bed, Eddie settles in, leaning back just enough so Lu can see his mark. Lu’s eyes catch on it, and he seems to move without thinking. He raises his hand and traces a fingertip over the letters. Eddie gasps because it burns in the best kind of way, and Lu pulls his hand away. Eddie catches his wrist, meets his eyes, and replaces Lu’s hand, palm over the letters. They stay like that, just staring at each other, for a long moment. Finally, Eddie swallows hard and says, “Your turn.” Slowly, Lu leans back and pulls off his t-shirt, eyes never leaving Eddie’s. And then Eddie has to break the gaze, has to see the letters there. And . . . There they are, burning a faint orange: EL. It takes Eddie’s breath away. He can’t speak, can’t breathe. He wants to touch. He raises his hand, but pauses, hovering just above the mark. “Can I?” he breathes. “Yeah,” Lu whispers, sounding just as wrecked. Eddie touches tentatively, barely a brush of his fingertips. It makes him feel all warm and fuzzy inside, even as he shivers on the outside. When he glances up, Lu is watching his face instead of his hand. Lu leans down and kisses Eddie’s forehead. “Is it . . . .” And Eddie can’t look at Lu when he asks this, so he focuses on where his thumb is tracing the bottom part of the L. “Is it a platonic bond?” Lu cups Eddie’s cheek in a warm hand and tilts Eddie’s face up so the Swede has to meet his gaze. “I don’t think so,” he says quietly. Eddie sucks in a quick breath and holds it, waiting for Lu to go on. He doesn’t have to wait long. “Just . . . Ever since I left, I’ve missed you. And not just like I missed all the guys. I missed being near you, and now that you’re here . . . It’s been killing me all day, because all I want is to touch you,” he says all in a rush, a faint red tint crossing his face. “But . . . Like this ?” Eddie has to be sure. “This,” Lu’s arms tighten slightly around Eddie pulling him in closer. “This is great, but I feel like I want to be even closer to you.” Eddie drops his forehead to Lu’s chest and lets his breath out. “Do you want to?” Lu asks quietly, hand stroking warm and sure between Eddie’s shoulder blades. “Yes,” Eddie breathes. And finally, at long last, Lu leans down and covers Eddie’s mouth with his own. Eddie’s dreamed of this moment countless nights, and it’s better than he could have ever imagined. And it’s chaste, but Eddie whimpers anyway and tries to scoot closer to Lu, who pulls Eddie in closer against him and makes a broken little sound like he’s dying, because he never knew this was something he wanted, but now that it’s happening, he doesn’t know how he went so long without it. When they part, both boys are a little out of breath, and Eddie stares up at Lu, eyes wide. “Eddie,” Lu breathes, but that’s as far as he gets because then he’s kissing Eddie again. It’s far less chaste this time, all tongue and teeth, and it’s positively filthy. Lu regrets never knowing Eddie could kiss like that. His hands slip lower on Eddie’s back until he’s got his fingers tucked into the back of Eddie’s boxers. At the desperate little sound Eddie makes in the back of his throat, Lu takes the cue to push the Swede’s boxers down out of his way, and Eddie returns the favour with nimble hands, managing to not break their kiss that now feels like a battle back and forth, except that they’re fighting for the same cause, to be closer, take advantage of these few hours they have together, and convey what this means to each of them. Finally, there isn’t a thread between them, and Lu moves atop Eddie, causing the Swede to gasp into Lu’s mouth and wrap his legs around the Canadian, trapping him and keeping him close. Lu breaks the kiss to lean up and fumble in the nightstand drawer, coming up with lube and a condom. Before he can even settle back into place, Eddie plucks the condom out of his hand and chucks it across the room. “You and me,” he says. “No one else.” Lu hesitates for a moment, because yeah, once they do this, once the bond takes fully, there will be no going back. For a second, it’s a little intimidating, but Eddie just looks so hopeful. And then there’s the whole, initials branded into their skin, stating clearly that they’re meant to be together. “Only us,” he says softly with a smile. And then Eddie’s kissing him again, hot and desperate. Lu fumbles with the lube between them; Eddie is absolutely not helping, but Lu’s not going to say anything because Eddie’s been waiting for this a hell of a lot longer than Lu has, so he’s going to let Eddie have whatever he wants now. Lu finally gets a few fingers coated with lube and reaches down around Eddie’s thin but muscular thigh to press a fingertip against his hole. The angle isn’t the best, but it’s worth it for the way Eddie whimpers and bucks against him, trying to push down on Lu’s finger and rut up against his belly at the same time. Lu laughs gently at him and slips his first finger in slow, to the last knuckle. Eddie keens against Lu’s mouth because the contact is stoking the fire in him. He moves with Lu, unable to kiss him anymore, just breathing against his jaw, his throat, his shoulder, whatever warm skin his mouth finds. The second finger comes quick, and the sting of it is perfect, building the blaze that is steadily growing in Eddie’s chest, and he knows Lu feels it too, because he can feel the warmth radiating off Lu’s chest pressed against his own. He can also feel that it’s nowhere near enough for either of them. “Please,” he begs, mouth finding Lu’s again, and the messy kiss feels like fire on his tongue, like the flames in both of them are coming together where their lips are locked together. Lu pushes a third finger into him, and Eddie writhes on the sheets when Lu hits his prostate. And then Lu abuses the place shamelessly, and Eddie can’t take it. He’s one more sweet press from coming when Lu slips his fingers out, leaving Eddie moving against nothing, loosing a whine from his throat when his release is denied. “Not yet, Eddie,” Lu whispers against his lips, circling his fingers around the base of Eddie’s cock to take him off the edge. “You’re not going to come until I’m inside you, okay?” Eddie whimpers and nods, couldn’t speak if he tried. He surges up to kiss Lu again, all tongue and fire. They stay like that for a while, just kissing, hot and wet, until Lu leans up again. Eddie’s brain is a little fuzzy, and he looks up at Lu with wide eyes, pupils blown with arousal. “Ready?” Lu asks, voice soft compared to the harshness of their breathing in the hot room, air thick with the smell of sex already. Eddie huffs a laugh and leans up to nip at Lu’s bottom lip. “Don’t ask stupid questions.” For a moment, it takes Lu back. Their first road trip together as starter and backup. Every morning, Lu had woken up with Eddie in his arms, pressed tight against his chest. When they’d gotten back, they’d gone out to lunch together. Eddie had chewed his lip and picked at his food and stuttered when Lu tried to talk to him until Lu had covered his fidgeting hands on the table and asked him what was wrong. Eddie had stuttered his way through asking if Lu minded when Eddie ended up in Lu’s bed, mumbled something about sleeping better when he could hear Lu’s heartbeat, and Lu had told him . . . “Don’t ask stupid questions,” Lu repeats, barely a whisper, the words heavy in his chest, like if he says them any louder the weight of them will crush him. Eddie grins, like sunshine after a thunderstorm, somehow seeming brighter than usual and warmer. “I kn-knew you’d remember.” And it’s not even a stutter; it’s a happy little hiccup, Eddie so happy that it’s bubbling out of him, tripping his words. Lu grins and kisses Eddie. “Okay.” Easy, like it’s always been with them. He lines himself up carefully, the head of his cock just resting at Eddie’s entrance, pushing just enough to tease. He looks up at Eddie, and the Swede looks like something out of some seriously high quality porno, laying back, ready and waiting, eyes heavy-lidded, mouth bruised and wet. Lu never even thought that Eddie could look like that, and he wants him, any way and every way he can get him. He never wants to leave this bed, leave the circle of Eddie’s legs still wrapped around his middle. He wants Eddie so completely, and finally he understands the very strength of their bond. Eddie gives the slightest of nods, and Lu pushes in, into that tight heat. And it’s hot, so fucking hot, fire thrumming through both of them, making both of them gasp at the feeling of it. It’s almost painful, but it’s so perfect. Eddie moves first, rolling his hips sinfully against Lu’s, arms winding around Lu’s neck and pulling him down into a kiss that is slow and tender, despite the sudden heat that is enveloping the entwined pair. When they break apart, Lu thinks there’s a sparkle in Eddie’s eyes, but in the next second he sees that it’s the flame glowing in him, flickering in the dark of his eyes. He wonders if he has the same look about him. “Move.” It takes him a moment to register the word, not exactly a command, more like Lu has forgotten where to go from here, and Eddie is helpfully reminding him. Lu feels one side of his mouth tip up in a crooked smile before he leans down and gets his mouth on the already sweat-slick skin above Eddie’s collarbone and finally starts to move. Eddie twists his fingers in Lu’s thick black hair and makes the filthiest sound Lu’s ever heard, almost like he’s pained, but the pain is doing it for him, and with the fire that’s dancing in Lu’s own body, the older man can definitely understand that. Eddie moves with him, using the leverage of his legs around Lu to pull the Canadian in so deep with every thrust. And the flame between them only builds. It’s a wonder that sparks aren’t flying from every point their sweaty skin rubs together. Eddie wonders if one of them will eventually spontaneously combust at the same time Lu wonders if he should be worried about them burning down his apartment. The heat radiating off them is hot enough that it would burn anyone else, but they are protected by the bond. There’s actual tendrils of steam curling between them. When Lu leans down to kiss Eddie, he marvels at the smoky taste on Eddie’s tongue, like a bonfire on the hottest day of summer. Fire sparks up and down his spine, and Eddie’s hips stutter against him. He’s close, and Lu is right there with him. Eddie reaches his peak first, breaking from Lu’s mouth to loose a sound between a moan and a shout, and Lu actually sees a spark of flame towards the back of Eddie’s throat. Eddie clenches down around Lu, the already tight heat tightening around him, flame licking at every place they’re touching, and Lu’s coming inside Eddie, pushing his seed hard and hot into the flame in Eddie. Finally, the fever breaks, and Lu collapses on top of Eddie. He breathes there a moment, and then starts to move, but Eddie keeps his legs locked around him. “Don’t go,” he says softly, eyes wide. Lu swoops down to lay the softest of kisses on Eddie’s lips. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says, just as softly. So he stays where he is, lets Eddie hang on to him, because he owes that to Eddie, anyway. He ducks his head to mouth at the mark he’d started above Eddie’s collarbone. The smooth skin there is salty slick with sweat, and Eddie makes a faint, pleased, sated sound when Lu sucks at the skin with a faint hint of teeth before moving back to lick over the mark, smiling a little when he sees that it’s vaguely cartoon flame-shaped. Eddie scratches blunt nails against the base of Lu’s skull, and Lu looks up at him. Eddie’s got the sweetest smile on his face, well-fucked and something else, something deeper. Lu beats him to it. “Eddie, I love you.” Eddie lights up with happiness. He actually laughs. Lu grins and reaches up to push Eddie’s head playfully. “I love you, too,” Eddie says, and then erupts into giggles again, and he’s just so fucking cute. Lu leans up to kiss him. And it’s good. It’s so good. Lu feels genuinely happy for the first time since the trade. They’re both gross and sweat soaked, but they’re together, and it’s the best thing ever. They eventually make it out of bed and into the en suite to shower together. Then they go back to the bedroom, Lu pulling the sweat drenched sheets off the bed and dropping them in the floor. They duck under the covers, and then mess up the blankets. The fire is nothing more than a low burn between and within them the second time. Lu’s read about this, that the flame the first time is to test the strength of the bond, test if the bondmates can handle being together. They end up sleeping without covers, but they don’t really need blankets because they’re so wrapped up in each other, like before the trade, only without any clothes. Eddie fits himself into Lu’s every curve, just like old times, ear pressed against Lu’s heartbeat. He falls asleep easier than he has since the trade, but Lu stays awake as long as he can. He can feel Eddie, sleepy and happy in the back of his mind, can feel that Eddie’s settled in a way he hasn’t been since the trade. Lu stays awake, fingers tangled in Eddie’s sweaty hair, fingertips rubbing against his scalp, feeling him breathe and try to scoot closer every few minutes, a faint smile gracing his sleeping features. And he’s beautiful, which is another thing Lu had never realised. Eddie’s lanky and awkward with his limbs, but he’s also sweet and so earnest in everything he does, and he’s beautiful. Morning will come, and Eddie will have to leave, but in the long hours of tonight, it doesn’t matter. They’ll kiss goodbye, but Eddie won’t feel like his heart’s going to rip out of his chest. There will always be that faint tug when he’s not with Lu, but it will be okay. Offseason is nearing, and they’ll spend the summer together. The distance isn’t great, but they’ve got time, and they’ve got each other, and really, that’s all that matters.