Archive of Our Own

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Saturday, November 29th, 2014: North Avenue South dorm, Atlanta — Ty

Ty loses track of Special K and Casey pretty quickly, though he's pretty certain they left the stadium before almost anyone. Ty gives Mercedes a kiss and promises to meet her at dinner before he celebrates more with the team. When Ty gets to the locker room finally, a quick glance in Special K's locker confirms that Special K didn't stop there. Ty picks up Special K's stuff, including his phone, and heads towards the dorm, figuring that's the least he can do.

By the time he gets to the dorm, though, he's already getting annoyed with Special K's phone, so he puts it on silent. The entire dorm building is quiet, and Ty doesn't immediately hear anything when he opens the door to their dorm.

He doesn't even get the door open, though, before he realizes Special K's jersey is in the way. He kicks at it, only to run his foot into Special K's shoulder pads, and Ty shakes his head with a snort. There's a pair of shoes that Ty recognizes as belonging to Casey in the path through the kitchen to the living area, too.

Ty stands there for a minute, then decides to dump it all in one pile, including what he brought from Special K's locker. There's a sock and Special K's shoes in the hallway near Special K's door, so Ty makes a pile across from the door. He dumps his own stuff in his bedroom before stopping in the bathroom.

Where there are more clothes, including Casey's jeans, which must have had his phone in them, because they are buzzing and chiming. Ty chuckles and fishes Casey's phone out of the jeans before he adds all the clothing in the bathroom to the pile in the hall. He turns Casey’s phone to silent, too, after deciding he probably ought not turn it completely off. The phone becomes the final thing on the pile before he heads back to the bathroom.

"Well, good for you two," Ty says, chuckling when he sees the large yellow handprint on the shower wall. He thinks about trying clean it up for a few seconds, then decides he’ll just leave it, and Ty goes back to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of Gatorade, a Clif bar, and the last bit of pumpkin pie from the refrigerator. He is still leaning against the counter, polishing off the pie, when Danny walks in.

"Did I see Special K and Casey?" Danny asks.

"Uh-huh," Ty says, laughing. "You did. If you'd gotten here ten minutes ago, you would have seen all their clothes on the floor."

Danny grins. "Well, I'm happy for ’em."

"Might want to do like me," Ty offers. "Drop off your stuff, have a snack, and then we'll leave for awhile."

"That does sound like a plan," Danny says. "At least we have two things to go celebrate now!"

After the two of them have dinner with Mercedes and Brittany, they drive the ladies back to Mercedes’ dorm room, where Brittany is staying, and then head back to their own room. They run into Coop in the hallway outside the door, and Ty grins. “You been in there yet?”

“Naw, I was out with Todd and Whittaker having a couple of beers,” Coop says, eyeing the door suspiciously. “Why?”

Ty laughs. “Let’s just say I had to make a laundry pile.”

“A laundry pile? Why’d you have to— oh sweet Jesus, seriously?” Coop asks.

“It’s sweet. I think, anyway,” Danny says, unlocking the door and stepping into the kitchen. He stops, holding up a hand, then waves them in. “See, it’s fine!”

“Yeah, it’s something,” Ty agrees. He leans on the kitchen counter. “Least they aren’t on the couch or something.”

“Let’s not even think about that, alright?” Coop says, shaking his head. “I can live my whole life without that mental picture.”

Danny grins. “I bet.” He takes a can of Coke out of the refrigerator and opens it, hopping up on the counter. “But good for them, I guess.”

Before Ty can respond, his phone buzzes with a new text from Jones. Turn on ESPN! Quick!

“Huh. Jones says we should turn on ESPN,” Ty says, walking towards the living area and picking up the remote.

“Guess the team’s on there,” Danny offers.

“Yeah, probably,” Ty agrees, turning on the television and flipping to ESPN. The last shots of a commercial disappear before the show comes back on.

“And now we revisit the Georgia Tech win over the University of Georgia earlier today. This afternoon during the celebration, one of our camera operators caught the following shot.” The anchor disappears and suddenly there’s a shot of Special K and Casey, kissing right there on the field. After it plays, they replay it, then go back to the anchor. “Details are still sparse, though we did find out the player in question is named Tony Smith.”

Casey’s friend from the SWARM appears on the screen next. “Oh yeah, that guy? That’s Tony Smith.”

“Do you know what position he plays or any other details?” an off-screen reporter asks.

“Well, he’s a really big guy. I think he’s on the defensive line,” Casey’s friend says, straight-faced.

“Were you surprised by this happening, right here on the field?”

“I sit with a bunch of guys in yellow wigs and body paint,” Casey’s friend says scathingly. “That kiss was not the weirdest thing I saw tonight.”

“I know he knows better!” Danny says gleefully, clapping his hand on his leg. “I bet he—” Danny cuts himself off. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Coop asks.

“David!” is what they all hear, clearly coming from Special K’s room and equally clearly being Casey’s voice. The three of them all freeze, and Ty stares down at the remote. It’s repeated, though, getting a little higher-pitched each time, and none of them say a word.

“I don’t know where to look right now,” Danny says during a moment of silence, and Ty takes the opportunity to turn the volume up.

“At the television,” Ty says. “Look, let’s see who’s playing in the Championship next week.”

Sunday, November 30th, 2014: North Avenue South dorm, Atlanta — Casey

“What do you mean we were on ESPN?” Casey says, leaning over to look at David’s phone. “Why would we be on television?”

“Well,” David says slowly. “There were cameras filming the game. And the immediate aftermath.”

“But, why would— oh!” Casey puts his hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. “But there were hundreds and hundreds of people,” he says behind his hand. “How did they see us in hundreds and hundreds of people?”

David shrugs. “I don’t know. Guess it was just one of those random things.” He’s still looking at his phone, shaking his head. “Also apparently, some places are still reporting my name is Tony Smith.”

Casey starts to laugh, then stops suddenly. “David, is this bad? Will you get in trouble?” He takes a deep breath and asks, “Are you going to be safe?”

“Huh?” David looks up, confused. “What do you mean?”

“That boy from LSU and the Aggies, remember?” Casey says.

“Oh, yeah. It’s fine. That was the SEC and anyway, the whole team pretty much knew already. Most of the coaches too.”

Casey mentally tries to go through scenarios in which he pretends he isn’t David’s boyfriend for David’s safety, and whether or not he’d have to wear disguises, and he ends up just saying, “I could wear dark sunglasses!”

“If it means replacing those yellow ones, sure,” David agrees. “Man, there are so many texts. Want me to read you some of them?”

“My yellow sunglasses are great,” Casey grumbles to himself, then smiles at David. “Sure! We can take turns.”

“Dad wants to know why we didn’t tell him sooner.” David snorts. “Along with three emoticons. Why did I tell him about texting with those?”

Casey shakes his head and goes to the first text on his phone. “Uncle Monty says it’s terribly romantic and that he and Aunt Shannon DVR’d the game.” The next text is from Shannon, and Casey starts to laugh. “And Aunt Shannon says that wasn’t appropriate on-field behavior and next time I should wait until my boyfriend is off the field to jump on him.” It’s the first out-loud use of the word ‘boyfriend’, so Casey sneaks a look at David to see his expression.

David is laughing at the text. “Yeah, I bet she did. Let’s see. Evans says what translates to ‘way to go dudes’.”

“Yes, way to go us!” Casey agrees, leaning up to give David a kiss before reading his next text. “Oh, here’s one from Bill. ‘You and Tony’s secret is safe with me’. Hmm. Wonder what that’s about!”

“Next few are all from the team,” David reports. “Variations on way to go and assurances they didn’t tell the reporters anything.”

“There’s actual reporters wanting to report about it?” Casey asks. “Wow, that’s… wow!”

The next text on Casey’s phone is from Miles, and just says Yellow isn’t your color, Cherry. Casey texts back Shut up Miles it SO is! without saying anything, then he scrolls through the texts list again, shaking his head. “I have three from Rick. One says ‘was that you?’ and the next one says ‘hey that was you!’ and the last one says ‘that’s awesome!’”

“I got one from Hudson at like, 2:30 in the morning,” David says, looking baffled. “It just says ‘finally’ with some extra exclamation points.”

“Maybe he saw it online when he got up in the middle of the night to eat leftovers,” Casey suggests, because it sounds like as plausible a theory as anything else. “Oh, I have one from Kate.” He smiles at the text, but doesn’t read it out loud right away.

“What is it?” David asks.

“She says ‘that’s THE BOY isn’t it?’ and then she sent me some less than threes,” Casey says, smiling even wider. “And she said, um.” He giggles.

“Said what?”

“That I, um. Climbed you like a tree,” Casey giggles. “And that she bets that won’t be the only time that night.”

David snorts. “Thank you, Kate. Santana just says ‘way to gay’.”

“Hmm. Accurate, at least,” Casey says. “I think that Alicia and Uncle Monty should spend some time together. She thinks it’s romantic, too.”

“Oh, and Az says we should have just put an ad on YouTube.”

“Well, no more free coffee for him!” Casey says, and David laughs.

“Enough texts,” David says after a minute, putting his phone aside. “C’mere.”

Casey puts his arms around David’s neck as he moves to straddle David’s legs. “This is probably a more appropriate time to jump on my boyfriend.”

Sunday, November 30th, 2014: North Avenue South dorm, Atlanta — Dave

Dave orders a second burrito to go before they leave Moe’s and head back to the dorm, and when he opens the door, there’s a distinct difference from when they left – the television is on.

“Hey,” Dave calls out.

“Hey… David,” Coop calls back.

Dave rolls his eyes and puts the burrito in the refrigerator.

“Hmm. That’s weird,” Casey says, shaking his head.

“Oh, is that David?” Ty says loudly.

“Hey Special K!” Danny yells.

“That’s weird, too,” Casey says. “Not Danny. Just Ty and Coop.”

“Think they’re funny,” Dave says, shaking his head and standing in the doorway, facing the living area. “Haha.”

“I’m funny,” Coop protests. “You hear that, Ty? David doesn’t think we’re funny.”

“That’s just so sad,” Ty says, grinning. “So, so sad.”

“I mean, that’s his name, right?” Coop says. “It’s David.”

“It is. It was good to have a reminder,” Ty says.

“A frequent reminder, even,” Coop adds.

“Oh, are you two just talking about how loud Casey was shouting Special K’s name?” Danny asks.

Casey is slowly turning red, his eyes wide and horrified. “I… I wasn’t that loud,” Casey whispers to Dave.

Dave winces. “Uh.”

Casey swivels his head towards Dave with a puzzled look on his face. “I wasn’t that loud,” he repeats. “Right?”

“You know, your voice really carries,” Coop says. “You think that’s from being in the SWARM?”

“Ohmigod,” Casey whispers, putting both hands over his face.

“Maybe we should go do that homework somewhere else,” Dave says to Casey.

“Shh,” Casey hisses from behind his hands. “I’m concentrating on trying to fall through the floor.”

“Oh, okay,” Dave says, nodding. “I’ll just go get our backpacks.”

“That sounds good,” Casey says, still behind his hands.

Dave grabs their backpacks and walks back down the hall, handing Casey his before opening the door. “Later,” he calls back into the dorm.

As Casey follows Dave out, Ty and Coop yell together, “Bye David!”

Once the door closes behind them, Casey drops his hands from his face and asks, “Was I really that loud?”

“Uh.” Dave pushes the stairwell door open and grimaces. “Well. Yeah?”

“But… but I’m not that loud!” Casey protests.

“Not… usually,” Dave settles on.

“Oh. Is it, um. Alright?”

Dave probably looks a little confused. “Yeah, it’s fine with me.”

“Okay, then,” Casey says, taking Dave’s hand. “If it’s fine with you.”

Monday, December 1st, 2014: Field dorm, Atlanta — Casey

David kisses Casey awake before leaving for his workout to tell Casey that he’s cleared out the bottom drawer for him. Casey dozes for another half an hour, then gets up, showers, gets dressed, and sprints down the street to Field. When he gets up to his dorm room, he flings the door open to reveal Murph, who appears to be eating one of Casey’s Clif bars while using one of his pens, both while seated on Casey’s bed.

Casey throws both hands in the air with a cry of frustration, then he stalks over to his bed, where he pulls out his rolling duffel bag. He yanks open his dresser drawers and stuffs all his weather-appropriate clothes, along with all his socks, underwear, and pajamas, into the bag. Once the clothes he needs are all in his bag, he starts shoving his paperback novels into the remaining space.

Murph watches with a confused expression while Casey storms around the room, putting more items into the bag. Once the duffel is full, Casey closes it and pointedly picks up the partially-empty box of Clif bars, which he tucks under his arm. With a final glare, Casey snatches the half-eaten Clif bar out of Murph’s hand and throws it into the trash can. Murph stares at him with his mouth gaping.

“I’ll be back for my books,” Casey announces, then he turns and stomps out of the room, rolling his duffel bag behind him.

As the door starts to close, Casey hears Murph calling out, “Hey, weren’t you on TV yesterday?” but Casey keeps on walking back to David’s dorm – or their dorm, he should probably call it. It might seem like a fast jump to cohabitation, and it probably would be for other people, but Casey’s been living with one foot in David’s dorm since he first moved to Atlanta. Besides, if anyone asked, Casey might just tell them that it took him and David three years to move in together; it wouldn’t even be untrue.

Monday, December 1st, 2014: Georgia Tech campus, Atlanta — Dave

Dave is in the middle of a lecture about stability when his mind suddenly flashes back to the scars on Casey's hips.

It wasn't something he'd remarked on at the time, and he hadn't wanted to. He still doesn't really want to say anything, if he's honest, but he did notice them. He's seen the ones on Casey's arms before, of course, and intellectually, he knew they were there. That's not the same as seeing them in person, noticing how the skin puckers and dips, lines of scar tissue interrupting the freckles there.

It makes him angry. He's not sure who it makes him angry at, even, but he knows he is angry. He hears a snap and glances down at his hand, realizing he's squeezed the pencil so tightly that it broke. Well, better the pencil than anything else, and at least he can still use the pencil.

Still, he hates to think about Casey hurting himself, hurting and hiding it, fooling as many people as he could. It's over, thankfully, but it isn't a pleasant thought, and Dave pushes the thoughts to the back of his head. It's over, and they don't have to worry about it again.

When the lecture's over, Dave swings his backpack onto his shoulders and heads towards where he's meeting Casey for lunch. He grins as he approaches, spotting Casey, and when he reaches him, he puts an arm around Casey and pulls him into an almost fierce kiss.

“Hey,” he says after that. “Ready for lunch?”

“Sure!” Casey says, with a huge smile. “I heard they have pie today!”

Dave laughs, walking in with his arm still around Casey’s shoulders. “Sounds good.”

Tuesday, December 1st, 2014: Brittain Dining Hall, Atlanta — Casey

Casey is in the middle of twirling his pasta to get it perfectly even on the fork when David leans towards him and whispers, “Case, just twirling it doesn’t count. You have to move the fork laterally, too.”

“I’ll move you laterally later,” Casey whispers back, but he does put the forkful of pasta into his mouth and make a great show of chewing it.

“Uh-huh,” David agrees, taking a bite of his chicken. A moment later he groans, then hurriedly swallows. “Hasn’t ESPN gotten bored yet?”

Casey looks in the same direction as David and notices that the muted dining hall television is set to ESPN, and that the footage shot at the game is replaying on the screen. “Oh look!” Casey says. “I’m on TV. Again.” He starts twirling more pasta onto his fork. “I didn’t realize my hair looked that long.”

“Well, yeah,” Danny says, sounding surprised. “It looks that long ’cause it is that long.”

“Well, it doesn’t look that long from the front, and that’s the way I always see it,” Casey counters. “It is long, though… but I don’t think it’s really that color. The video makes it look weird. This whole video situation is suspect. David, we should complain.”

“Ask them to retouch it?” David says skeptically. “Maybe.” He puts down his fork and frowns at his phone as it starts to ring. “I don’t know that number, but it’s local.” He picks it up and answers. “Hello?”

“Maybe you won something!” Ty suggests, laughing, and David frowns at him.

“Yes, this is— how did you get this number?” David asks suspiciously. Casey watches David scowling at the phone, and he’s about to offer to take it and tell whoever is on the other end to go away and never call again when his own phone starts ringing. It’s also an unfamiliar local number, but he answers it anyway.

“Hello?” Casey says.

“Yes, is this Casey O’Brien?” a woman asks politely.

“Um. May I ask who’s calling?”

“This is Katherine Hernandez with 11 Alive News,” she continues. “Do you prefer Casey or Mr. O’Brien?”

“Um.” Casey puts his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and asks David, “How polite do I need to be when I tell them to stop calling me? Just, um. For example?”

“Kill ’em with kindness,” David whispers. “Maybe it’ll work.”

Casey nods and uncovers the phone. “I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid I just can’t talk to you right now. I have an, um, pressing engagement that’s… hmm, related to my academics.”

“Oh, that’s fine, I certainly understand. Could we perhaps make an appointment to speak via the phone tomorrow?”

“Um. Excuse me a moment, please.” Casey puts his hand back over the phone. “What’s a polite way to say I’m not ever, ever, ever going to let them interview me?”

“Here, let me,” Ty says, and he plucks the phone from Casey. “Hi, ma’am. I’m afraid I’m going to need to ask you not to call Casey again. He’s very invested in his personal privacy. Have a nice day.” With that, he hangs up, and hands the phone back to Casey.

“Oh, that was great, Ty!” Casey says, impressed. “You’re good at that. You should consider it as a career option.”

Ty laughs. “Well, it’s easier when you aren’t the person they really want to talk to. Special K, you need a rescue, too?”

David rolls his eyes but shakes his head. “No, thank you,” he says into the phone. “Good bye.” He ends the call and sets his phone down with a sigh. “Like a dog with a bone.”

“Mine was 11 Alive. Who was yours?” Casey asks.

“WSB,” David answers. Before they can have any discussion about the calls, the phones both start to ring again, one after the other. Casey picks up his phone and immediately hands it to Ty.

“Hello, Georgia Tech Dining Answering Service,” Ty says with a grin. “How may I direct your call?” He pauses and then continues. “I’m sorry, sir, but we don’t direct personal or media inquiries to our students. Have a nice day.”

“Now answer David’s!” Casey says.

“Naw, I’m getting this one,” Coop says, leaning across the table to answer the phone. “’Lo? No, it’s not.” He grins at David. “Well, you called me, so you tell me who it is you think you’re talking to.” Coop’s grin widens and he shakes his head. “Naw, naw, that’s not who this is. You sure you called the right number? Ma’am, I don’t know what number you called, that’s why I’m asking you.” He pulls the phone away from his ear and looks at it. “Seems like she got confused and hung up.”

“That’s a real tragedy,” David deadpans.

“Who was on the phone? Um, phones, I guess?” Casey asks.

“I think I had the 11 Alive lady,” Coop says.

“I had the WSB dude,” Ty answers. “Everybody done?”

David looks strangely at Ty. “Is there a time limit tonight?”

“Oh, no, just Coop and Danny and I, we were going to head out to Publix. Maybe a few other stores. We’ll be gone, what do you think Coop? Ninety minutes?”

“Yeah, at least ninety minutes. Maybe even a full hundred and twenty,” Coop says. “So, you know, that’s how long we’ll be gone, in case you needed to know that.”

Casey starts to laugh, but hides it by eating another twirled forkful of pasta. David glances at Casey, head shaking minutely, but he doesn’t say anything to Ty or Coop.

Danny brightens and picks up his tray. “I’ll set that timer, guys!”

Casey sets down his fork and leans over to whisper to David, “I bet if we hurry to the dorm, we could use the whole hundred and twenty minutes.” David grins and then laughs, nodding, and the two of them stand up, heading for the tray return without looking back at the table, where the other three of them are all laughing. Casey takes David’s free hand in his, and after they dump their trays, they do in fact hurry back to the dorm and make use of the full one hundred and twenty minutes.

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2014: North Avenue South dorm, Atlanta — Dave

It feels strange for it to be a Wednesday evening and not be attending the Pride Alliance meeting, but Dave has no desire to spend his twenty-first birthday being the unwitting star of the meeting, or subject to pleas about all the ‘good he can do’ now that he’s the only NCAA football player who is out. He’s already gotten an email to that effect, and there are a few stories being posted online about that, too. Since Casey didn’t mind missing the meeting either, they’re sitting in the living area, ostensibly doing homework. Dave’s actually sorting through his email, though, sending most of it straight to the trash.

“Hey, Case?” Dave asks, snorting as he reads through one email. “Do you think I should sign this card in support?”

“Who are we supporting?” Casey asks, climbing halfway onto Dave under the guise of trying to look at the laptop.

“Oh, some kid in Atlanta,” Dave says offhand. “Ever heard of a Dave Karofsky? The name sounds familiar somehow.”

“Hmm. It’s a really small world, David! Because I’m actually sleeping with a guy named Dave Karofsky,” Casey says, wiggling around in a feigned attempt to get comfortable. “Isn’t that a funny coincidence!”

“It’s terribly shocking,” Dave agrees, setting his laptop down to the side. “I think my signature might confuse them.”

“Hey, guys!” Ty suddenly says loudly. “Special K, what’d you think of that drill today?”

Casey makes a whiny noise and shifts again, and Dave shakes his head a little. “Brat,” he whispers, then turns towards Ty. “Seems a little late to be doing a new drill.”

“I know!” Ty agrees. “Even last week wouldn’t’ve been so bad.” He walks into the kitchen, still talking. “Now I know you know I’m not trying to interrupt anything, just like y’all never are trying to interrupt Mercedes and me.”

Casey wiggles again and leans back against Dave’s chest, turning his head to kiss Dave’s neck. “I’m not a brat,” Casey says, his lips on Dave’s neck.

“Sure,” Dave says quietly, then repeats it more loudly. “Sure. Sure, Ty. No one ever interrupts anyone around here.”

“We don’t interrupt Coop!” Ty says, reappearing with a slice of cold pizza. “He’d have to find a girl so he’d have something we could interrupt.”

Dave laughs with Casey, and Casey says, “Poor Coop.”

“Aww, don’t be too sad for him,” Ty says. “He’ll find someone eventually. Maybe it’s just the girls in Atlanta aren’t really his speed.”

“Yes, that’s nice,” Dave says, rolling his eyes at Ty. “Was there anything else?”

“I told you, I’m just having a conversation,” Ty protests. “Casey, what about you? Anything interesting happen to you today?”

Casey moves even more deliberately on Dave and gives Ty what can really only be described as a bratty grin. “Oh, I skipped Pride Alliance to have birthday sex with my boyfriend.”

“Oh, yeah?” Ty takes a bite of his pizza. “That working out for you, then?”

“Hmm. Well, the dorm acoustics being what they are, you’ll probably know the answer about the same time I do,” Casey says, conversationally.

Dave isn’t sure if the appropriate response is to glare at Casey, at Ty, or somehow both of them simultaneously. He is pretty sure that ending the conversation is a preferred outcome.

“So not too great so far, then,” Ty says to Casey, almost smirking.

“Okay, that’s it,” Dave announces, grabbing Casey and standing up with him. “Ty, I’d send you to your room, too, but I’ll just have to call Mercedes to scold you instead.”

“Uh-huh,” Ty says, laughing. “I’ll be waiting, then.”

“You should put on some headphones and listen to music while you wait,” Casey suggests. “With the volume up. That whole hearing damage thing is just a conspiracy theory.”

“And you,” Dave says, pushing open his door. “Shush.”

Thursday, December 4th, 2014: Georgia Tech campus, Atlanta — Casey

Now that Casey and David’s offseason clothes are in locked bins from IKEA and stored at Casey’s old dorm room, and the rest of Casey’s clothes and his books are all neatly put away in David’s room, he feels like he actually lives there. That means that instead of having to go out to hang out with Bill, Casey can just have Bill come up to the dorm, which is much better than having to go back out on campus. He was already approached by someone from Pride Alliance on the way to lab earlier in the day, and he’d just as soon not have to explain to anybody else today that no, David is not going to give any kind of talk to any kind of meeting.

Of course, that does leave Casey in something of a quandary, because he just got an email saying he has a package to pick up.

“So, Bill. Do you want to help me retrieve a package?” Casey asks.

“Is it large?” Bill asks.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t say. It’s just…” Casey waves his hand in the direction of the door. “Out in the world. With the people and Pride Alliance and the media outlets.”

“Am I your human buffer zone?” Bill asks, sounding resigned.

“Thank you, Bill!” Casey says, with an over-wide smile to demonstrate how appreciative he is.

“Having something useful to do might help assuage my bitterness over the dorm situation,” Bill says, shrugging. “So the football players have nice dorms and we get stuck in tiny rooms with people who take our things. That’s just the nature of the world.”

“Casey! Casey’s friend whose name I don’t remember, sorry!” Danny says brightly. “Where’re you going?”

“His name is Bill. We’re going to get a package,” Casey explains.

“Yeah? Cool! I’ll come too,” Danny decides.

“You will?” Bill asks.

“That’s great!” Casey says. “That way, if we have to explain to somebody that David needs to be left alone, you can help explain!”

“People are bothering Special K?” Danny asks, frowning. “That’s no good.”

“They think he should give talks and things,” Casey says, as they head out of the dorm and down the hall. “I just hope this all goes away soon, really. We’re actually very boring people and nobody should want to ask either of us any questions ever.”

Danny laughs. “That’d be a real short talk. They don’t know Special K.”

“Doesn’t it bother him that it went so public?” Bill asks.

“It bothers him that people won’t leave him alone,” Casey says, shrugging. “I don’t think it bothers him that they know. At least, I hope it doesn’t.”

They finish walking to the student center, and Casey shows his student ID to get his package, which turns out to be an exceptionally large bouquet of flowers that are actually chocolate chip cookies.

“That’s a real nice cookie bouquet!” Danny says enthusiastically. “Who’s it from?”

“I didn’t know cookies came in bouquet form,” Casey mutters to himself as he looks at the tag on the cookies. “Oh! It’s from Rick and Alicia. That’s very nice of them.”

“Why did they send you cookies?” Bill asks.

“They’re happy for me,” Casey says. “Well, for us. Me and David. They’re his cookie flowers, too.”

“Well, that’s better than flowers that’ll die,” Danny says, looking impressed.

“Yes, these are flowers we’ll eat. That’s much less morbid,” Casey agrees.

“You can eat dandelions, you know,” Danny mentions.

“Also rose petals and pansies,” Bill says. “Flowers are an underutilized food ingredient.”

“You people are weird,” Casey says, holding on to his giant flower bouquet. “I’m going back to the dorm to eat cookie flowers.”

Friday, December 5th, 2014: Architecture Building, Atlanta — Dave

“You’re sure you want to sit through this?” Dave asks just after lunch, as he walks with Casey into the room where the architecture lecture is being held.

“Of course I do,” Casey insists. “You like the lectures. They’re important to you. I can sit through one.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” Dave says, settling into a seat. He’s pretty sure that if that were the real reason, Casey would have come to at least one lecture before; he’s also fairly confident that Casey’s real rationale has something to do with making sure no rogue members of the media pop up in the middle of the lecture.

The lecture starts on time, and the speaker is a good one, talking about LEED certification and the different levels. It’s only ten minutes into the lecture when Dave realizes Casey hasn’t moved at all for a few minutes, and his head on Dave’s shoulder feels almost heavy. He looks to the side and stifles a laugh.

Admittedly, Casey’s probably not been sleeping any more than Dave has for the past week, and Dave knows architecture and LEED certification aren’t really high on Casey’s interest list, so he’s not that surprised. It is a little bit funny, though, how Casey is lying on Dave, sleeping heavily in the midst of a room of architecture students who are all taking notes or listening raptly.

Dave considers staying in the room even after the lecture is over, but he’s pretty sure there’s a class scheduled. It’s too bad; Casey’s sleeping well and no one yet has tried to find Dave in the architecture building, probably because football players aren’t supposed to major in architecture any more than they are expected to be gay and out. He might have to come out yet again, but this time as an architect.

Dave is pretty sure in some places on campus, that would actually generate more interest. The only college campus that doesn’t seem all that interested in ‘Dave’s story’ is Georgia Tech itself, which suits Dave and Casey perfectly.

When the lecture ends, Dave claps along with the other attendees, then gently shakes Casey. “Case? We have to leave now.”

“Hmm? I’m awake,” Casey mumbles. “Is it over already?”

“It’s over,” Dave confirms. “Do you have time to grab some coffee before class?”

“We should grab coffee in bed,” Casey suggests.

“Sadly, that’ll be quite awhile from now,” Dave says. “But we could probably go get two of those cookie flowers.”

“Okay,” Casey sighs. “Coffee and a cookie flower, then.”

Saturday, December 6th, 2014: Georgia Dome, Atlanta — Casey

Casey and Bill are two of the first people on the SWARM bus heading over to the Dome for the ACC Championship game against FSU, and Casey slouches down in his seat as the rest of the bus fills up. After everybody else files off at the Dome, Casey follows them to the SWARM seating area and tucks himself into the very end of a row. He kept his face paint low key today and he opted for the SWARM T-shirt over going shirtless, but despite that, when he glances up, the rest of the people in the row—except for Bill—are staring at him.

“What?” Casey asks, a hint of irritation creeping into his voice.

“You know the Dome’s different,” a guy halfway down the row says. “They don’t let us rush the field in the same way here.”

“Um. Okay?” Casey says, shrugging one shoulder as he exchanges a look with Bill, who also shrugs.

“Maybe they want boyfriends, too?” Bill offers.

“Remember! Everyone pick a player!” another guy yells. “I have dibs on Todd!”

Casey narrows his eyes. “Are they… seriously?”

“I think they are,” Bill agrees.

“Then I guess you should claim Danny,” Casey says to Bill quietly. “Brittany probably wouldn’t mind if you jumped on him.” He raises his voice just enough to be overheard and adds, “But if anyone touches David, they’ll be sorry. I have a knife in my boot.”

The first guy and his neighbor give Casey a concerned glance, like they aren’t sure if they need to believe him or not. Casey gives them a wide smile before Bill points out, “You’re wearing Converse.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t have in a knife in my boot,” Casey says. “It just means my boots aren’t here.”

The score during the first half of the game is close, so Casey does lots of shouting and cheering, but apparently Tech has misplaced their big D again as the second half starts. At one point, a referee throws a flag and announces that Tech has to move back fifteen yards, which makes Casey so mad that he pulls off his shirt and throws it on the ground, stomping on it a few time while he screams at the referee. The game ends with Tech down by seventeen points, which means there’s no rushing the field, at least not by the SWARM or the other Tech fans.

“Dammit!” the loud guy from before the game says. “Now I’ll never get my chance with Todd!”

“Oh, I can introduce you, if you want,” Casey offers, straight-faced.

“Yeah?” The guy grins. “Why not!”

“Better Todd than Coop, I guess,” Casey says to Bill. “Because I think that ship has sailed.”

Sunday, December 7th, 2014: North Avenue South dorm, Atlanta — Ty

“Are they still in there?” Ty hisses at Coop, nodding down the hall towards Special K’s room.

“Yeah,” Coop says. “It’s quiet now, at least.”

“They woke me up twice last night!” Ty says, setting the cake on the counter and starting to remove it from the box.

“Shit, son. I even heard ’em once,” Coop says. “Kid’s got some volume on him for a little guy. At least I can’t hear Special K from across the dorm, ’cause that’d be too damn much.”

Ty just shakes his head. “I might switch beds with Marigold at this rate.”

“Marigold might be alright with that deal, anyway,” Coop says.

“Good.” Ty shakes his head. “Do we have enough unicorns and rainbows?”

“Hey, Britt said those were important,” Danny says, coming down the hall. “Want me to start taping them up?”

“Leave no wall uncovered,” Ty snickers. “You think this’ll wear ’em out enough that we can sleep tonight?”

“I think if the game didn’t wear ’em out, a party isn’t doing it,” Coop points out. “But keep hoping, Ty.”

“More like a prayer now,” Ty says. After Danny covers the walls and a little bit of the ceiling in unicorns and rainbows, the three of them go down the hall to let the rest of the team know it’s time to start.

Ty knocks on the door where Whittaker and his dormmates are, waiting for someone to answer the door. Jones opens the door and gives Ty a nod.

“Is it time?” Jones asks.

“Yep. All of y’all ready?”

Jones glances behind him into his dorm room, then looks back at Ty. “Yeah. I think Todd’s gonna be late, though.”

“Yeah?” Ty nods slowly. “Good for him.” Ty continues down the hall, and eventually he, Coop, and Danny reconverge on the dorm, at least half the team waiting.

“Okay, who lost a bet this week?” Danny asks.

Coop grabs a redshirted freshman by the sleeve and announces, “Hey, Newbie’ll do it!”

Ty grins. “Good man.” He unlocks the door and points down the hall. “They’re in B.”

“Go with god, Newbie!” Coop calls out.

The rest of them pile into the living area and the kitchen, waiting around while the others admire the decorations. “It’s a little like the unicorns threw up the rainbows,” Whittaker says, his voice a cross between admiring and horrified.

“It is, isn’t it?” Ty says proudly.

“I just hope they appreciate it,” Danny remarks.

“Of course they will, Danny,” Coop says. “It’s beautiful.”

Special K appears first, and he stops just inside the living area. “What the fuck?”

Casey’s voice comes from behind Special K, still sounding half-asleep. “David? Why are there so many people?”

“I feel like Brittany must’ve visited again,” Special K mutters.

“No, she just gave me some ideas!” Danny chirps.

“It’s your ‘Finally’ party,” Ty explains.

“They got you this weird-ass cake,” Jones says. “It’s got a really angry flying unicorn on it.”

“Again?” Special K asks. “You gotta see that, Case.”

Casey steps around Special K, taking his hand and leaning against him. Casey obviously scrambled to find clothes, because he’s wearing one of Special K’s hoodies with his jeans and his hair is a mess. As they walk to look at the cake, Ty fights a snicker at the way Special K’s hair is sticking up in the back.

“It’s a real nice cake,” Danny says. “It’s not that weird, Jones!”

“David, why is that unicorn so mad?” Casey asks Special K, still clinging to his arm.

“Maybe he knows he’s not real?” Special K offers, then looks around at how crowded the dorm is. “You should’ve reserved a room at the Student Center at this rate.”

“How would we have gotten you there?” Ty says. “Nah, this is great. Right guys?”

“Uh, hey guys?” Coop asks, sounding concerned. “What’d you do with Newbie?”

“There’s a newbie?” Special K asks, then grins. “Nah, I think he wanted to rifle through Ty’s stuff.”

“Hey!” Ty protests.

“I’m here!” the freshman says, raising his hand. “I got stuck back in the corner.”

“How long do we have to party before we can go back to bed?” Casey asks Special K.

“A long time,” Danny answers Casey. “It’s time to start the music!” Danny does in fact start the music going, and Ty starts cutting cake, being sure to reserve the angry face for Casey. After about twenty minutes, Ty notices Casey trying to get Special K back towards the bedroom.

“Nope!” Ty says loudly, sliding in front of Casey. “Back to the party, Casey.”

“What?” Casey asks, in a put-on innocent voice that is not at all convincing.

“It’s a social occasion, which means you have to interact with people who aren’t Special K. With clothes on,” Ty says firmly.

Casey gives Ty some kind of scowl–pout combo, then stands on his tiptoes to whisper something to Special K. Special K just shakes his head and doesn’t say a word, and Ty keeps looking at Casey, pointing behind him. Casey finally turns around with a dramatic huff.

Not even ten minutes later, Ty spots Casey looking furtive, and he cups his hands to yell over the music at Coop. “Coop! Head ’em off!”

Coop nods and apparently intercepts them, because less than a minute later, Ty hears Casey utter an outraged-sounding, “Ty!”

Ty laughs and exchanges a fist-bump with Danny. Another fifteen minutes passes before he realizes he hasn’t seen Casey or Special K for a few minutes, so he stalks down the hall and bangs on Special K’s door. “This is not how you party!”

“This is how I party!” Casey shouts back from inside the room.

“Get out of there!” Ty says.

“I can’t!” Casey says. “I lost my clothes!”

“Oh, Casey.” Ty shakes his head. “It is SO on!” He shakes his head again, already trying to think of some amusing pranks, and walks back to the party. The door opens, and Todd walks in.

“What did I miss?”

Monday, December 8th, 2014: Arthur B. Edge, Jr., Intercollegiate Athletics Center, Atlanta — Dave

By the time the ACC championship game ends on Saturday, Dave realizes that he’s going to have to make at least one official statement. By midday on Monday, he’s talked to the athletics staff and they’ve found two reporters to come video Dave reading a prepared statement. No questions, not a press conference, just reading a press release and then the athletic department will release the text of it as well.

Casey insists on being there, but Dave insists that Casey shouldn’t be on camera, so Dave sits down at the front of the room and Casey stands to the side, hands on his hips. The prepared statement is short and doesn’t say anything revolutionary: yes, he’s gay; yes, he has a boyfriend; yes, the rest of his team and the coaching staff had already been aware of his orientation. It’s all apparently important, though, and they hook him up to a microphone and shine bright lights in his face before indicating that he can start reading it.

It takes four tries to get a ‘clean’ recording, whatever that means. Dave doesn’t see why it has to come across perfectly, but that’s what they want, and everyone seems to think this should get the media to leave him alone, at least. Once he finishes, though, the lights don’t turn off, and one of the reporters turns to him with a too-bright smile.

“So, Dave,” the reporter begins, even though Dave knows the reporter was told absolutely no questions, “now that you’re the first out gay NCAA football player, what are your plans?”

Dave knows they want some kind of answer about being the new posterboy for sports and gay athletes, but they’re going to be sorely disappointed. “Well,” he says slowly, refraining from rolling his eyes. He looks over at Casey instead, and Casey smiles back at him. “I think my boyfriend and I are going to walk across the interstate on North Avenue and get some milkshakes.”