Rating:

Explicit

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

Multi

Fandom:

Heated Rivalry (TV)

Relationship:

Cliff Marlow/Hayden Pike/Jackie Pike

Characters:

Cliff Marlow | Cliff Marleau, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike

Additional Tags:

Established Relationship, Internalized Homophobia, Toxic Masculinity, Sex, Meeting the Parents, Family Dinners, Coming Out, POV Alternating, They each get a turn, Family

Language:

English

Series:

Part 2 of The Hayden/Jackie/Cliff Cinematic Universe

Stats:

Published: 2026-04-01 Completed: 2026-04-15 Words: 19,492 Chapters: 3/3

Let's Meet the Families

Summary

A few months after winning the Stanley Cup, Jackie, Cliff, and Hayden are attempting to integrate their lives. It's as tricky as it is wonderful.

It's time for the next step: meeting each other's families.

Sequel to The Impossible Scenario.

Chapter 1: The Marlow-Espositos

"You look good, Jacks," Hayden said, standing behind Jackie, who was urgently lint-rolling her dress as she stood before the tiny hotel mirror.

"Black was the wrong choice, it's too...I look like I'm going to a funeral, not meeting in-laws."

"It's professional," Cliff said, plucking a piece of fuzz off his dark purple button-up shirt. He slid in his earrings, knowing his mom would look at them. She wouldn't say anything, she wouldn't sigh, she wouldn't even glare. But she would look. She would look in that way that Dr. Lara Esposito looked at her children, and Cliff would feel about four feet tall. "Mom will appreciate it."

"Oh god, I don't know. Professional isn't exactly what I'm going for to meet my partner's family." Cliff got a childish fluttering in his belly every time he was referred to as a partner or a boyfriend. "Maybe I should just go with the green sweater. But I didn't pack my slacks..."

"No jeans," Hayden and Cliff chorused. Cliff had told the pair, a week ago, when they decided on flying Jackie to Philadelphia after their afternoon game in January, that they had to dress well, professional, respectable, to make a good first impression. Lara could be judgmental in that way. His mother was hard to impress. 

His mother was impossible to impress.

Amanda, Tony's wife of fifteen years, had yet to impress Dr. Esposito. Even her oldest child, Anthony, who should be the darling of the family, rarely impressed her.

She never expressed her disapproval, of course. But Cliff knew the weight of her brown-eyed stare. He had tried to shake it his entire life. He tried to shake is damn need for her approval his entire life. 

Cliff had tried everything. He tried following her rules, being the good, respectable son who rarely got in trouble and didn't talk back. Then he tried rebelling. He pierced his ears and got his first tattoo at seventeen. He wore eyeliner to parties and he didn't even bother pretending he was going to apply to college.

What worked the best, Cliff found out after way too fucking long, was just being what he wanted, not what she wanted. She respected confidence; people who were straightforward, who lived by their own terms. 

Learning what would finally gain his mother's approval and actually implementing a plan to achieve it, however, was an uphill battle.

At least he was better at projecting confidence than Tony. 

God, he was nervous.

Jackie's dress was modest and a little boring for her usual fashion. It had a high neckline, it didn't cling anywhere, and the hem rested just above her knee. She wore tights under it, as it was January in Philly, and she confessed to Cliff that she was paranoid about having her legs out. 

"I already look like a slut, showing up with two men on my arms."

Their nervous energy only fed his own. He was starting to think his heartrate might read as cardiac arrest. 

Hayden smoothed his hands over Cliff's shoulders before pulling him down for a kiss. Hayden's lips were smooth with lip balm and his mouth still tasted like a lemon candy he popped earlier. The kiss was relieving, it was grounding, and it was a reminder of why they were choosing to put themselves through this.

"She's not a tyrant," Cliff said as he called the uber, typing in the address of his childhood home. "We're not all terrified of her or anything. She's just...the family isn't close."

That's what Cliff kept saying, he kept saying their family wasn't close. It was true, mostly. Except, it also wasn't, because this was his family. His brothers, his nieces, his mother...

Their closeness was never consistent. The family had moments of closeness, but it was always temporary. In high school, Tony bought Cliff his first beer. Cliff was thrilled. They hung out in his room, Cliff sipped it beside his open bedroom. He remembered the sound of the bus squealing by, the driver taking the corner too fast. He was excited, he was going to sneak out later and meet up with the neighbor girl. The beer was gross as a first beer always is, and Tony laughed at Cliff's scrunched up face after taking his first sip. Cliff drank the whole thing without flinching after that, because that was what he was supposed to do, and Tony would never be disgusted by something as simple as a beer. 

"That's a man's beer," his brother told him. 

He was close with Mikey for a while, when he was in college, before it got bad. Cliff was away, of course. He was in Boston, coming to Philly once a month if he could manage it, which he often could not. Mikey called and texted him constantly, he was Cliff's anchor home. Cliff didn't find out until years later, but Cliff was Mikey's anchor too, to reality.

Mikey was at Temple for an English degree, which made their father, a difficult man to please, prouder than he was of his other kids. He would never say he was proud of Mikey, because he was at Temple, not Villanova where he taught. 

Cliff and Tony were close with their mom the last time Mikey needed them. He was in Philadelphia constantly. He kept missing optional practices and even a few mandatory ones. Roz always covered for him, he knew what was going on. Mikey was struggling, in active addiction. He had not made it through his English degree, but Cliff didn't really know why. Not for a few years. Not until Tony called him crying, scared, unsure of what to do.

They banded together that time, even their father, who preferred to hole up in his study reading, forgetting he had loved ones.

He grew close with Tony again, and with their mom, while they tried to both sort out Mikey's treatment, and convince Mikey he needed help at all. 

The three of them had a lot of late nights, sitting around in the dim lights of the Marlow-Esposito's barely-used kitchen, talking, or sitting silently with coffee or wine.

Mikey got clean, then he fell back into his habits. He got clean again, though, and he stayed clean. Cliff was proud of him, but, unfortunately, they weren't close like they were. He called his little brother as much as he could, but the men had very little to talk about. He had even less to say to Tony.

They drifted. They weren't a close-knit family, not like the Pikes were. 

He hadn't even realized how...odd his family was until he saw how close the Pikes were. They were always...talking to each other. Hanging out. Laughing. Cliff's childhood hadn't been difficult or abusive, but the brothers mostly did their own things, and their parents were extremely busy with their careers. When Cliff was at the house, it was usually empty.

"I'm burning this dress after this."

"Wear something else, Jackie. You should be comfortable first," Cliff said, pinching the fabric at the sleeve just so he could brush his knuckles on her bare skin. Hayden's kiss was nice, and he needed about a thousand more of them. He was desperate for contact. 

She smiled sadly at Cliff, sensing his fears.

"I'll live. I bought it for this, anyway."

"You look really pretty."

"I know, so do you. My boys."

She smiled at them before turning back to the mirror.

"I didn't meet Hayden's mom until the wedding. She was not happy, she still doesn't like me."

"Who cares?" Hayden said. He wasn't close with his parents at all. He talked to them on the phone around once a month. Usually, it was because his mom called first. Cliff had been staying over at their house more often than his apartment these days. He had been there when Hayden's face tightened as his eyes scrawled over the contact info. He always answered, though.

"I want one of my in-laws to like me."

Cliff bit back a wince and very pointedly did not say that his mom still didn't really like Amanda. 

The drive in the Uber black was almost completely silent. There was enough space to spread out, which they took advantage of. Cliff kept jiggling his leg, staring out the tinted windows as the neighborhoods started looking more and more familiar.

"So, this is where you grew up?" Hayden asked, glancing out the same window as Cliff. There wasn't much to see here, homes, apartments, a corner store, and the spot Cliff and his brothers would get water ice when they were kids.

"Yeah," Cliff said, biting his nails.

"Cliff...you did call your mom first, right?"

"Yeah," Cliff said, "I texted you guys when I did it."

"Just making sure,"  Jackie said. 

He startled, someone was touching him. 

Jackie was holding his hand, he stared down at their joined hands and sighed, his shoulders dropping. 

The dinner would be tense, awkward, but they would survive it. Cliff's mom was an accepting person, almost to an embarrassing degree. When Cliff turned fourteen, pamphlets about safe sex of every kind appeared on his desk. She did the same for Cliff's two brothers. Cliff wanted to set himself on fire when he read the heading about protecting against HIV. He ripped up that pamphlet, and the other one about sex between men, and buried them in his trash can.

He was certain he had done something to make his thoughts, which were a very recently development, obvious to everyone. He thought his parents knew, and it was mortifying. It wasn't until Cliff was in his mid-twenties when Anthony brought up the pamphlets that he learned the truth. She had given the same literature to Tony and Mikey when they became teens. Lara was just covering the bases. She was always their doctor first, mother second.

Cliff had been meaning to call her for days leading up to the Philly game. He kept avoiding it. He would pick up the phone to call her, then turn it off and stay off it the rest of the day. Once, he picked up his phone, dialed her, then hung up and threw it across the room.

As if avoiding the conversation could prevent it altogether.

"We don't have to do this," Hayden said to him. "We can say screw it. Throw the whole plan out, no big deal."

"No," Cliff said immediately. "No. My family...we need to do this."

He couldn't make them understand why he wanted them all to meet. Fuck, maybe they already did understand. Cliff hardly did. He wasn't close with them, but they were some of the most important people in his life. Anthony was a smug jackass 90% of the time, but Cliff would run into a burning building and yank him out. The same was true for Mikey, and his mother.

He would do that, but he wouldn't pick up the phone to call them. 

Until he did. He was on his way to the Pike house, a fresh overnight bag in the passenger seat. He slept over there most nights a week, and had accompanied them on most family outings. Amber and Arthur were thrilled at his extended sleepovers. But the twins, but now thirteen, looked at him with suspicion. They were smart girls, they were old enough to know Cliff's presence in their home was odd. 

They would have to have a conversation with them very soon, as when Cliff's lease ended at the end of June, he was moving into the Pike house. He was giving up his little apartment in the neighborhood he liked, and he was so excited he could hardly stand to wait.

On his way to the Pike's, a text popped up, which his text-to-speak offered to read.

Jackie: We can be with you during, if you want.

Cliff pulled over, he parallel parked expertly on an exceptionally busy street, a pro after years of living in Boston and learning to drive in Philadelphia. 

He disconnected his phone from the Bluetooth and called his mom, who was in his phone as Dr. Lara Esposito. 

"I wasn't sure if you were going to call me again, after calling me the other day and then not answering my call back," his mom said, instead of hello.

"Hey, mom. Sorry about that. It's been a crazy few days."

"Mhm," she said, not accepting the excuse, but not caring enough to pressure him. "How are you?"

"I'm...I'm good. How are you, ma?"

"I'm fine. I think the orchid is dying." 

He imagined her, then, dressed in one of her flowy, floral dresses she only wore in the house, lounging in her sun room, spraying random plants with water out of her glass spray bottle.

"I might just throw it out. I don't like finicky things, you know. It's too much."

"Yeah, sure."

"Amanda gave it to me, though, so I am trying to keep it alive, the damned thing."

"So, I'm going to be in the city next week," Cliff pivoted clunkily. 

"Yes, I know," she said. She didn't ask about tickets. She wouldn't come to his game. Even now, five years retired with nothing better to do, he knew she would not come. 

"I was thinking it would be nice to get everyone together for family dinner. Mikey, Tony, Amanda and the kids."

"I suppose I can see what everyone's doing," she said, but Cliff knew better. If she told Tony there was family dinner at the house, he would drop everything and rush over. He would move heaven and earth for their mother. Mikey would also fall in line, Cliff was certain. 

"Good, because there's...there are...some people....I want you to meet."

Silence.

"Some people? Who are these people? Did you have a child, Cliff? Because I am going to be irritated if you decided to bring a grandchild I did not know about to my house. I would have like to have met the baby's mother before it was born."

"No mom, there's no kid. It's nothing like that."

"If you and Anthony are conspiring to put me in a home, I will not go. I will not be taken against my will. I bite."

"Christ, mom, no."

"Am I just supposed to keep guessing, son?" Cliff winced, a car honked beside him. His phone buzzed with a text. He had to rip the damn bandaid clean off, even if it took some extra flesh with it.

"No. So the thing is...I've been meaning to tell you...god. I've been meaning to tell you for a while now-"

"Quit waffling, please. Spit it out, I have to meet up with Angela in three hours."

"I'm bisexual."

"Okay."

There was no hesitation in her response. It was just a flat, all-encompassing 'okay.'

Cliff felt himself relax slightly at the predictable response, but he really needed a little more than that.

"Okay..."

"Yes, that's fine. Oh, right, I need to say more. Being bisexual is fine. Being bisexual is natural. Being bisexual does not change our relationship. I accept you and I love you, you're my son."

Her tone was still mostly flat, but the words, however clinical, were making Cliff's eyes water. He watched cars zip by him in traffic as he tried not to sniffle into the receiver. 

"Thank you, mama."

"I love you, Cliff," she said, a little more emotion in her tone, but not enough to be detectable to anyone outside the family.

"I love you too."

"I assume this is relevant to your earlier statement. You said 'some people.' They are your lovers, I presume?"

Cliff sighed, trying not to cringe. They had to have this conversation, he knew that, but his mother's sterile conversations surrounding sex were always hard to bear.

"Yeah."

"And at least one of them is a man, that's why you felt the need to come out of the closet after all this time."

"Hayden and Jackie."

"Jackie," she said. "Jaqueline, right? But Hayden...that's not a very serious name."

"Ma."

"No, I know. He can't help it. It's his parents fault."

"Mama, please."

"I won't say that to him. Jaqueline sounds nice. What does she do?"

"She's a stay-at-home mom," he said, wincing fully as he imagined the look on her face.

"So there are children."

"Hayden and Jackie are married and have kids."

"What does Hayden do, then?"

"He plays hockey with me."

His mother's sigh was lethal. 

"Another athlete. I'm sure dinner conversation will be riveting."

"Mom, that's not fair. Will you just...please just give them a chance?"

"Of course I will. You're my son and I love you. Polyamory is...uncommon. Though, more common than in my days. Your...public profile, or what have you, would suffer if this became public knowledge. It is a risk engaging in this, even more of one bringing them to meet your family. You must love them both very much."

"I do." Cliff said easily. 

Most days, his love for them was manageable. He wore it on his skin like he did his ink. Some days, it was so consuming it felt like he was standing on the surface of the sun, quickly succumbing. 

Cliff spent most of his time avoiding touching them. He stood beside them, spoke to them, smiled at them...but he couldn't touch them. Unless they were alone, in their bedroom, behind a closed door. 

This was changing, they were coming out slowly and strategically. Cliff had only a couple of seasons of hockey left in him. After he retired, they didn't have to be so careful. And, in the meantime, they could privately integrate their lives.

But he still couldn't hold Jackie's hand in public. He couldn't kiss Hayden on the ice after he scored.

That's why this was so important; introducing them to his family. Because more people were going to learn about him, and inside his mother's house, he could put his hand on the small of Hayden's back without worrying about eyes on him, and he could let Jackie hold his hand under the table when it all got a bit too overwhelming. 

"Good. I'm sure they will be better than the last one, anyway."

His mother had not said Maddie's name at all since the divorce was finalized. Cliff didn't mind.

"One other thing," Cliff said, feeling shame and anxiety spike. He was being cowardly. He couldn't help it.

He really, really couldn't help it. This four minute conversation was sucking the energy from his body. He needed to perk up before he got to the Pike house, and he couldn't do that if he made two more of these phone calls.

"Do me a favor, please, and let Mikey and Tony know all this when you call to invite them to dinner."

"You want me to come of the closet for you to your brothers?"

"Uh, yeah. Or just...just let them know what's going on so they're not blindsided, okay? Thanks, I have to run, mom. Love you."

He hung up before she could say anything else. 

Hanging up on his mother had also been cowardly, but she tended to allow him his antics. Quietly, of course. Later, when she emailed him confirmation for the dinner, which included the address (his childhood home) and the time for the meal, she also linked resources to finding a doctor in Montreal to help with the anxiety disorder she suspected him of having.

The Uber double parked in front of his parent's-no, his mother's house. His father was not waiting inside. He was buried beside his parents in a cemetery across town. Cliff hadn't been to the grave since the funeral. He wouldn't make it this trip, either.

It was a large, historic colonial style red-brick home on a quiet street. The yard in the back was landscaped to death these days, but twenty-five years ago, Cliff and his brothers utilized the space for field hockey.

"Is this the right place?" The driver asked when the three just sat in the back, staring at the house, not moving.

Cliff popped open his side door, triggering the other two to get out of the car. Cliff handed the man a cash tip, smoothed his shirt down, and climbed out. 

He didn't see Tony's car out front, but he very easily could have bought a new one since Cliff last saw him. His mother's Cadillac was in the driveway, clean and impersonal. 

It looked like the three of them were the first ones to arrive. They were about fifteen minutes early. His mother always required at least ten minutes. Being early was being on-time, and being on-time was late, and being late was unacceptable. 

"Lara," Cliff said, standing before Hayden and Jackie, who were buzzing equally with nerves. "Dr. Esposito is too formal, and Mrs. Esposito will offend her."

"Won't Lara offend her?"

"It's the best way to go, trust me." He replied, purposefully ignoring the question.

"We do," Jackie said, squeezing his elbow. She looked nice, even in the dress she hated. Her hair was curly and her eyes were lightly lined with brown eyeliner. 

He kissed her, on the dark street, needing to be grounded quickly and easily. 

Hayden's mouth was shiny with chapstick. The January wind was biting, and his lips were constantly chapped. Cliff kissed him too, never tiring of his lips, gentle, almost always surprised, against Cliff's.

I get to have this. 

A car was coming down the street, hovering at the stop sign. When their lights landed on them, Cliff led his lovers out of the street and up his mother's singular front step. It was recently salted. He had a key, but it could only be used for emergencies.

He knocked, and his mother was at the door in an instant.

He had not seen her in a few months, but she looked the same. Her hair was cut short, which was how she wore it nearly his entire life. She always said it was just more practical than growing it long. Her mouth was a firm, hard line that wavered slightly as she took in the sight of her middle child. He towered over her, she was 5'8, not a tiny woman, necessarily, but she was no 6'5. 

Still, it felt like she was standing over him, hovering, intimidating, and god, he was struck by relief suddenly. He was happy to see her, despite the awkwardness. 

"Ma," he greeted, smiling. The corner of her lip curled up. She had opened a bottle of wine already, he guessed. He was holding flowers, but he really wanted to hug his mom. He reached behind himself to hand the flowers to Hayden so he could hug his mom.

"Welcome home, son," she said, hugging him back, a little awkward, like she always was with affection. Cliff didn't mind. 

The front door was open. Hayden and Jackie were still outside. He stepped back and ushered them into the warm home. 

"Mama," he started, hoping it would butter her up a bit, "This is Jackie."

He grabbed the one who was closest to him to introduce first. Jackie was small and fit against his side like she belonged there, under his arm. 

"Hi, Lara," Jackie was holding a bottle of his mother's favorite red wine in one hand while she offered the other. "Cliff has told me so much about you. Your home is lovely."

"It's fine, it serves its purpose," Lara replied, "that for me?"

"Yes," Jackie said, handing off the wine. 

"Wine works better than flowers, son." She said, raising her eyebrows at the bundle Hayden was holding.

"I know, but..."

"Flowers brighten up a home. It's nice to have them this time of year, isn't it?"

Lara turned her level, mostly harmless gaze on Jackie, who's smile almost faltered before digging in. Cliff was pretty sure Jackie had never met a person she couldn't charm. She wouldn't give up easily. That determination could either impress Lara, or it could disgust her.

"This is Hayden," Cliff said, all but pushing his lover towards her, his hand on his hip, palm brushing over corduroy pants.

"Great to meet you, Lara," Hayden did not shake her hand, as hers were full of the wine and the flowers she plucked from his grasp.

"Hayden," she said, and Cliff heard her grimace as she turned the syllables over in her mouth.

"She's difficult," Cliff explained to them, months ago, while they had wine together after the kids went to bed one night. "Amanda thinks she's got something going on with her, I don't know. She's just...a challenge. My dad was the same. Serious people. Difficult to read, and deeply, deeply judgmental."

"Wearing earrings again, Cliff?"

"Yep," he replied. "Do you like them?"

"No."

Cliff snickered, which made her crack a very tiny smile. She was teasing him, but she was also being brutally honest, as she usually was.

"So, you're my son's lovers."

They were still standing in the entryway, the three of them pressed against each other in a half moon shape, backs to the front door, as they stared at Cliff's mom, praying for the interaction to end.

"Well, yes," Jackie said when the silence extended. 

She held Jackie's eye contact again, and Jackie maintained it. Jackie was nervous, and Lara was a brick wall. Cliff knew how desperately Jackie and Hayden wanted this to go well. He knew Jackie was grasping at straws to get a reading on his mother. Projecting confidence was best. Never take your eyes off the predator that has you in its sights.

Hayden and Cliff watched and waited; this would either end in Lara loving Jackie or absolutely fucking hating her.

Lara broke the contact, leading them deeper into the house. Off the main hallway, to the left, was a staircase, to the right was the dining room, and off that was their small kitchen. 

"It's chicken parmesan. I hired a chef to come in. I don't cook," she was talking to Jackie and Hayden. As they disappeared into the dining room, the front door opened behind Cliff. Cliff, deciding he was, actually, a full-fledged chickenshit, ducked into the dining room to delay seeing which brother had arrived. "I think my awful aunt gave me an ugly vase when I got married. I will see if I can find it for those."

She poured them each a glass of wine as Cliff listened to the sounds of two pairs of shoes being kicked off in the entryway. Jackie hovered beside Cliff as he leaned against the doorway of the kitchen. Lara danced around them to greet Anthony and his family after giving Hayden the ugly vase to fill. 

"Cliff! We saw you outside when we pulled up," Tony called down the hall, "you tall fucker, were you-oh."

He paused, smiling in the doorway of the dining room. 

He looked the same, black hair slowly salt-and-peppering, slicked-back, face clean shaven, grin wide and a little villainous. He always said it helped him in the car business, and he must have been onto something, because he went from selling cars with his community college business degree to owning three dealerships in the Philadelphia area.

"You must be the person we saw Cliff playing tonsil-hockey with in the street. You seemed taller."

"Hi," she said, "I'm Jackie, Cliff's-"

Hayden came out of the kitchen then to fit himself between Cliff and Jackie. Cliff glanced over his shoulder, his arm coming to rest around Hayden's back as he found the vase on the windowsill. Tony stared, confused. 

Amanda and Lara appeared behind Tony. Amanda looked equally confused, and Lara was silently sipping from her wine glass.

He had not heard from Tony in the week that he asked his mother to...inform him of the news. He expected a text at the very least, or a voicemail when Cliff inevitably did not answer the phone. Instead, he got nothing, and Cliff took that as confusion rather than outright rejection. He didn't expect his family to hate him for this, after all. The silence had made him wonder, though. 

Something didn't add up, because Tony looked genuinely confused, like he didn't know who Jackie and Hayden were. His arm slid off Hayden as it clicked into place.

"You didn't tell him." Cliff stated, not asked. Lara shrugged.

"Slipped my mind. You know how busy I am." She was not busy. She was retired. 

"Mom-"

"Sorry, told us what?" Amanda asked, polite smile on an otherwise perplexed face.

"Cliff-" Hayden started, which Cliff accidentally interrupted. 

"Maybe we should wait for Mike to get here-"

"Michael isn't coming."

Tony and Cliff both turned to stare at their mother, who's expression remained impassive. 

"What do you mean?"

"What I said. He said he was busy tonight when I called."

Cliff pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt a hand on his arm, Hayden's, he was pretty sure. He shoved away the urge to shrug him off.

"Did you tell Mikey, at least?" Cliff asked, knowing the answer.

"No."

"Told us fucking what, Cliff?" Anthony was growing agitated. 

Jesus Christ, this was his nightmare. The room was split down the middle, family on one side, his lovers on the other. He had to fucking explain this to them. In person, looking into the eyes of his big brother.

Their father's eyes, the ones they shared.

Tony brought up the pamphlets over a decade ago, laughing about their mom being thorough even though it was obvious none of them were gay. Cliff laughed along with him and quietly thought about the last person he had hooked up with at the time, Hayden fucking Pike.

"This is Jackie, and this is Hayden," he stated firmly, gesturing to his lovers, who were as stiff and uncomfortable as he was. "My partners."

You could hear a pin drop. 

"Your what?" Tony asked, not grasping the situation. Amanda's absent smile had fallen when Cliff introduced Hayden and Jackie as his partners, but she was visibly rallying. 

"Maybe we should all sit down," Amanda said. 

"That's a good idea. Maybe you could dish dinner for us, Cliff." Lara said, taking a seat at the head of the table.

Cliff and Amanda quietly dished chicken and pasta onto six plates. Amanda was humming next him, and he was trying not to freak out. His side hurt after taking a hit earlier, and his head hurt from, well, all of this.

"The girls couldn't come?"

"They're at a sleepover," Amanda said.

Cliff nodded. He hadn't seen his nieces in a long time. He had expected them to be there because that's usually how family dinners went. He wanted to see them, but based on how the dinner was going so far, he was grateful they weren't there.

Cliff sat at the end of one side of the large oak table between Jackie and his mom. Hayden was beside Jackie on the other end. Across from them sat Amanda and Tony. Cliff had wanted to sit between his partners, but he didn't want either of them sitting directly beside his mother. 

Sandwiching himself between Hayden and Jackie would probably freak Tony out even more. Cliff was glad, in a really shitty, small way, that it was Jackie he was sitting besides, not Hayden. He didn't want distance from his male lover, but he also knew distance might make the whole situation easier to swallow for his brother.

Tony kept eyeing Cliff, then he would slide his gaze down the line to analyze Jackie and Hayden.

"We're sitting," Tony said, "Can we talk about it now?"

"Yes," Lara said. "Enlighten us, Cliff."

"There's not too much to say. They are my partners, like I said."

Tony nodded to Hayden, "You play hockey for the Metros with Cliff."

Hayden nodded, "Yeah, I do."

"Did you win today?" Amanda asked.

"Yeah, they did. It was a great game," Jackie said, flicking her gaze down the table to Lara.

"What does 'partners' mean?" Amanda asked, "I'm sorry, I'd just like some clarification." Jackie looked to Cliff before answering. Cliff tilted his head to the side in a single nod, begging her to take over.

"We're together," Jackie said, "the three of us."

"It's polyamory," Lara said, "becoming more and more common these days."

"It's like an open relationship. You're both...with Jackie?" Tony asked, gesturing between Hayden and Cliff.

It took Cliff sixty seconds and a violent scoff from Hayden for Cliff to realize he was asking about their sex lives.

"Our relationship is not open," Hayden said. "It never was."

"I'm bisexual, Tony."

Tony pulled his stare off Hayden to land on Cliff. 

The years laid out before him. He and Tony had been close, once. That closeness died with time and with Cliff's demanding career, helping Mikey, the death of their father, and Cliff purposefully pulling away.

"Since when?"

"Since always."

"Always?"

"Yeah."

The table was silent, and if it wasn't for Jackie's hand on his thigh, rubbing repetitive circles with her thumb, Cliff would think he and his brother were alone.

"Sexualities do not just develop, Anthony, you know that."

"Ma, please," cringing like a child at the word "sexualities" coming from the mouth of their mother.

"You are not as stupid as you frequently act. You know better than to ask things like 'since when,'" Lara rolled her eyes at him, irritated with her eldest child.

"Ma, stop taking his side."

"His side? Amanda has been planning your birthday, but I think she needs to scrap her ideas. We need to get a clown and a bounce house. Maybe a slip-n-slide."

"What?" Anthony breathed, incredulous. 

"Are you seven-years-old, Anthony? Please have an adult reaction about this."

Anthony sat back in his chair, properly chastised.

"How long have you been married?" Amanda asked when everyone began eating quietly, clocking the rings on their fingers.

"Going on fourteen years," Hayden replied.

Cliff scratched the edge of the second skin just under the base of his throat, his shirt tickled it absently.

"Cliff tells me you have children?" Lara asked.

"Four," Jackie said, "Three girls and a boy."

"I wanted daughters very much," Lara said, "Enough to let their father get me pregnant a second time. Then a third time."

Anthony and Cliff stared at Lara in horror.

"You never told us that."

"You are not curious. Boys ask no questions." Lara said, waving them off. "Anthony, are you finished with your temper-tantrum?"

"It's not...I just don't understand."

"It's not that complicated," Cliff responded. "We're in a relationship."

"With both of them."

"Yes, with Hayden and Jackie."

"And they're...with you."

Cliff stared at his brother, deeply exasperated.

"What?"

"If you're asking if we're in love with him, the answer is yes," Jackie said, earning a snort from Lara. 

Amanda smiled at them, "Well, that's wonderful. Right, Anthony?"

"No-" 

Amanda kicked her husband so hard the table shook. Cliff didn't miss the amusement on Lara's face.

"Yeah. It's great."

"We're happy for you." Amanda said, her tone much more convincing than her husband's.

They got on with dull conversation for a while. Anthony talked about the dealerships. His mother visibly tuned him out. Amanda chatted with Jackie about her dress, which Amanda loved. Jackie happily talked clothes with his sister-in-law, even though their styles were very different. 

"How old are your children?" Lara asked when the silence extended.

"The twins are thirteen. Arthur is ten, Amber is eight."

"Right around the age of the girls. Teenagers, right?"

"Ha, right," Jackie said, not agreeing with Amanda but wanting to get along. The girls had been a little irritable. Ruby's focus on hockey was getting intense and Jade was becoming a bit withdrawn, but they were mostly normal kids, not really the rebellious or difficult teenager stereotype. 

"Do you plan on having more kids?"

"Jesus-"

"Mom!" Cliff and Anthony protested, glaring at the woman at the head of the table. They were saved from answering that by the front door opening.

"Hey!" He called. It was Mikey. Lord above, was Cliff thankful for the distraction. 

Michael Marlow stumbled into the dining room, kicking off his shoes as he entered.

"Fuck, I didn't think I was this late."

"Dinner starts promptly, Michael, you know this."

"Thirty minutes is barely late."

Cliff sighed and rubbed his eyes. 

"Whatever, I'm gonna make a plate.

Michael was several years younger than Cliff. He was thirty-one, now, Cliff was pretty sure, but he had the personality of a twenty-year-old. He skipped into the kitchen. He had taken off his coat and his shoes, but his very long purple scarf was still on, trailing behind him as he disappeared around the corner.

He took the empty seat at the other end of the table, beside Hayden. 

"Hello," he said through a bite of pasta, not realizing everyone, and the elephant in the room, was waiting for him. "Dinner guests, fun, I'm Mike."

He offered his hand to Hayden, as he was closest. 

"Hayden Pike, this is Jackie, my wife."

Jackie waved at Mikey.

"Hi, I love your scarf."

"Oh, thank you. My friend knitted it for me. She's a good lady." 

He scooped up the end and it threw it over his neck before picking up his knife and carving into the chicken breast on his plate.

"Michael, I forgot to tell you when I invited you to dinner. Cliff wanted everyone aware he was bring his partners to meet us."

"His partners?" Mike asked, chewing. "You two?"

Jackie and Hayden nodded. Cliff waited, hopeful.

"Okay, cool. Welcome to the family. Mom's pretty intense, right? Imagine her at your birthday parties. Or your fucking intervention."

Jackie laughed along with Mikey while Anthony audibly protested. 

"That's it? 'Welcome to the family?'"

"Uh, well, yeah?"

"Do you have any questions, Mikey?" Cliff asked his little brother, who was, currently, his favorite family member.

"Not really. You play hockey with Cliff. I saw you tonight assist that goal."

"You were at the game?" Cliff asked, surprised. 

"Yeah."

"Why didn't you tell me? I could've given you my tickets-"

"Nah, I got a friend who works there. Sneaks me in. More fun that way."

"I wish you texted me," Cliff said, feeling a little hurt Mikey didn't reach out.

But, that was his way. When Anthony didn't text Cliff about his sexuality in the days leading up to the dinner, Cliff took it as confusion. But for Mikey, Cliff figured he just didn't care, or forgot to reach out. He wasn't really great with communicating. Or using his phone.

"We could have rode together from the stadium, at least," Hayden said. His honey-toned voice infected Cliff, forcing him to relax slightly. Hayden's voice tended to have that affect on him. On paper, there wasn't a thing especially unique about it. His voice was slightly higher than Cliff's, and he tended to speak in a sort of rushed, panicked way often. Or with a sexy teasing lilt. Or a cute stutter, if he was close to an orgasm. It was more...Cliff's body reacting to Hayden's proximity. 

It was the same with Jackie. Often, if Hayden calmed him down, Jackie lit him up. It was a combination unlike any drug he had ever taken in his life. 

"Well, I was going to see this girl after, but she wanted to go to her other boyfriend's place instead." Mike shrugged, not noticing the baffled look from Anthony. "Anyway, I figure, since you guys play hockey together, this is probably a big secret, right? People can be so uptight."

"It is a secret," Jackie said, "and-"

"I'm sorry, but what? Other boyfriend? Is everyone doing polyamory now?" Anthony's eyes flitted between his younger brothers. Beside him, Amanda looked tired.

"No," Mikey replied, chewing, "I'm not seeing her man. Ginger isn't really my girlfriend, either, we just fuck. You know, friends with benefits? You're not that old, Tony. You have to be aware of the concept."

Jackie was shielding her face from the table, laughing silently. Cliff could see her cheeks turning red with the force of it and he couldn't stop himself from smiling. His hand rested on Jackie's back. A second later, Hayden's own hand fell on top of his while Jackie continued to shake under their touch.

"There are many types of relationships, Anthony. I did not raise my children to be so close-minded."

"Well, but, ma-"

"Stop it. Start again when you can speak coherently."

Cliff caught Hayden's eyebrow raise as Jackie sat back in her chair, finally calming herself. 

"I'm sorry," Tony said after a solid two minutes of forks scraping on plates. "Cliff."

Cliff nodded at his brother, knowing it was difficult for the other man to apologize.

"It's alright."

"Why did it take you so long to come out? I don't understand that."

"Oh Jesus, Tony-"

"It's fine, Amanda," Cliff started. "To me, it was just never relevant."

They digested that for a minute.

"That's a real mom thing to think," Mikey was chuckling as he mopped up sauce with a piece of garlic bread. 

"How was it not relevant?"

Cliff sighed, tense. Jackie's hand found his thigh and squeezed. How was he supposed to explain it to them? To his family? 

For years, he was ashamed of his desires. Being bisexual was wrong but easily hidden through an endless stream of hookups with anonymous women before marrying one of them. 

"Dad would have hit the ceiling," Mikey said, which made Tony nod solemnly. Their dad wasn't, necessarily, homophobic. He was a damn English professor, half his students, hell, half the writers he taught about, were queer. Despite his love for literature and the humanities, though, he had certain opinions about masculinity that he made sure his sons were aware of. Men should be intelligent, scholarly, but strong. Providers, ultimately. He expected a level of unwavering ruthlessness in his boys that plagued all three of them even long after they put him in the ground.

Tony had taken his lessons and ran with them, getting a degree, marrying a woman, having children...he always tried to be the perfect son. Cliff had fucked up his attempts at pleasing their father at every turn. 

"He was a difficult man," Lara said. "It is best he's not with us now, for this."

"Jesus Christ, mom!"

"Well, I'm right, Anthony. It would have only made things more difficult."

They all had a strained relationship with Marcus Marlow. In his final years of life, Marcus and Lara barely spoke to each other. They cohabitated, but that was about it. They were both way too focused on work to give a shit about each other. As for his relationship with his children, he made sure each of them knew they were a disappointment in a specific way unique to them. Anthony only went to community college. Cliff was an athlete with no proper education, and Mikey was a drug addict college drop-out.

No one at the table really mourned Marcus Marlow. 

"That's why," Cliff said in the silence.

"What?"

"That's why. Dad, all of you..."

Cliff swore. He didn't know what to say. 

They were looking at him differently, now. Cliff accepted who he was. He was a queer man, he loved another man and he loved a woman. He was in a relationship unfathomable to many people but as easy a pie to others. 

But they were seeing him as weird, as other, as wrong-

"Tell you what," Mikey said, "now that I know about this" he gestured between Cliff and Hayden, "it makes sense why it's so much more fun to watch your games since you joined the Metros."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I hated the Metros, no offense, Hayden."

"None taken," Hayden replied.

"Because of the Shane Hollander stuff. I'm not a hockey fan. I mean, obviously, I started watching it when Cliff became a pro fucking athlete, but I was always whatever about the sport. I would watch his games with Boston and they were entertaining enough. But since joining Montreal? What do they call you guys? Besties?"

Hayden sighed, turning slightly pink. Amanda, Lara, and Anthony were watching the interaction, confused. None of them paid any attention to his hockey career.

"Because they play together. And it makes sense now, why Cliff follows you around the ice."

"What does he do?" Amanda asked, and Cliff thought he might be blushing as much as Hayden was.

"Mikey-" he tried, desperate to stop Mike's teasing.

"No, shut up, it's cute. Cliff plays defense, and when this guy," he reached over to clap Hayden on the shoulder. The man gaped at Mikey, clearly at a loss for words, "is moving the puck, Cliff is right there with him, following, knocking down anyone who tries to stop him."

"He started doing it so much, the coaches gave up and wrote it into plays," Jackie glowed, amused. Amanda and Mikey chuckled. 

"That's a man in love, alright."

"He must be helping you score more, then, right?" Anthony asked. He really didn't know anything about hockey, but he was half right. Hayden's point averages were better than they were before Cliff joined. Mostly because no one's had much of an opportunity to knock Hayden down since their relationship started.

"Yeah," Hayden said. "Cliff is an amazing player. One of the strongest on the team."

"Probably the strongest on the team," Jackie replied. She rested her hand on Hayden's cheek, cutting off whatever half-hearted protest he was about to give.

"Yeah, probably," Hayden agreed lovingly. 

Cliff was melting into a puddle of goo. They could not be nice to him like this here, in front of his family, where he couldn't cry, or kiss them, or do anything.

"Oh, he looks happier," Lara commented, everyone turned to look at her, where she was staring contemplatively at Cliff, swirling the wine in her glass. "Happier than with the last one, that asshole."

Amanda snorted and agreed, she never liked Maddie. None of them did, really. 

Cliff couldn't help but frown at the mention of his ex-wife. He felt...embarrassed, when he thought of their relationship. For a long time he could probe the wife-shaped hole in his chest and come away with pain. He would miss her, sometimes. The good times, even the bad ones, when he was terrible and alone and drinking. Now he just felt shame. Shame that he let it go on for as long as he had, and shame that he accepted the treatment from her that he got. 

"Good. Jackie and Hayden are good. I bought a tiramisu."

Dessert moved them all into the less formal dining room where Lara played a jazz record and they all had tiramisu. 

"Does that mean she likes us?" Jackie whispered into the three person huddle the trio held at the back of the room, by the large windows and the piano that was purely for show. "Does 'Jackie and Hayden are good' mean she approves?"

"I think so," Cliff said.

"Uh, it definitely means that, sorry, hey," Mikey shoved himself into their half circle. "Mom's thrilled, clearly. Calling them good? You hit the jackpot, dude. She vehemently hated all my girlfriends."

"You only brought girls over when you were in active addiction, Mikey."

"That is fair. Are you gonna eat that?" Mikey did not wait for an answer, he scooped half of Cliff's cake on his spoon and plopped it on his own plate. 

"You prick."

Mikey grinned up at him, knowing Cliff would never do anything about it. 

"So, your friend that made the scarf, does she sell them?" 

Mikey and Jackie spoke about his friend's Etsy shop. Cliff set his plate down on the piano as he saw Anthony slip out the back door.

It was drizzling outside, not quite cold enough to freeze, it seemed. Anthony was under their mom's awning, a cigarette between his teeth.

"Got another?"

Anthony tossed him the pack of Newports. Cliff lit one and stood beside Anthony.

Anthony was older than him, but he was about three inches shorter than Cliff. Their father had stopped at about 6'3. Anthony didn't quite make it there. Cliff was pretty sure he lied about being 6'2, but he didn't fight him about it. Mikey was in that range as well, but neither of his brothers sprang up quite like Cliff did. Quietly, Cliff always thought Marcus hated having to look up at his son.

"I get it. I mean, I don't, but I do. Why you never came out to us."

Cliff breathed in the nicotine and nodded.

"Would you ever have? If not for them? Or some other...guy?"

The hesitation to say 'guy' was answer enough, but Cliff decided to lie to him.

"I don't know."

Cliff couldn't see Anthony's face properly in the dark, snowy yard, but he could sense his pronounced frown.

"That breaks my heart, man."

"Tony-"

"No, just. I know you got your big life up there in Montreal. I know you're like, a great athlete and a legend and everything. And I'm glad you're not alone anymore. But...I want to be apart of your life too, man. Not just family dinners twice a year. I want you to come by the house sometime for a visit. Stay a while. Hang out with the girls. Stephanie always watches your games, you know."

"She does?"

"Yeah, she always lets me know how you did."

Cliff felt some of the ice in his chest melt. Anthony was paying attention. He accepted Cliff. They would be okay.

"I...you should all come to Montreal sometime."

Cliff wasn't sure how that was going to work exactly, especially since Cliff would be moving into Jackie and Hayden's home soon, but he wanted to figure it out. He wanted his nieces to meet the kids, he just knows the twins would be obsessed with Stephanie, as she was just a little older than they were, and kids always worshipped older kids. 

"That would be great, man. We should definitely set something up."

The back door slid open. It was Jackie.

"Cliff? Hey." She smiled, not stepping outside to join them.

"Hey, okay?"

"Yeah. Your mom has declared dinner to be over, though. Ready to go?"

"Right. Forgot she did that."

Lara tended to end gatherings when she was ready for them to end. Usually by saying 'the night is over, please leave.'

Cliff crushed the cigarette under his shoe but picked up the remains. Lara would murder the both of them if they littered in her yard. 

Jackie went back inside to wait.

"She's nice, your girl," Tony said. "She seems good for you. Him too."

"They're...they're my favorite people in the world."

Tony nodded before crushing the cigarette as Cliff had. 

"I'm glad. I am." 

Before they went back inside, Anthony pulled Cliff in for hug. Cliff, as he wrapped his arms around his older brother, tried to remember the last time the two men hugged. Maybe their father's funeral, but he wasn't totally sure.

Everyone was lingering by the door. Mikey and Jackie were hugging, which made Cliff smile. Jackie could make friends literally anywhere. He was pretty sure she swapped contact information with Amanda earlier, too.

Cliff hugged his mom, who wrapped her arms around him tightly as she could. 

"Stay safe," she urged, quietly. She wasn't especially private with her children, she liked to say what she felt she needed to say at a loud volume. But this...this private message was familiar. He had heard it ever since he signed with the Bears, when his mother told him she would never watch him play if he chose to live this life because she would not watch her son die on the ice. 

"This career you've chosen is a waste of time. You are risking your life in pursuit of nothing. Nothing but ego."

"That's what every career is!" He yelled back, he was eighteen and it was the first time he had ever risen his voice at his mother. "You can't tell me that your endless hours at the hospital aren't for your own ego. Yes, you're helping people, yes, you're doing research and trying to better medicine. But you are fucking obsessed with glory. If you deny that, you will be lying to me. You don't lie."

The two stared at each other. Cliff had a bag at his feet. 

"This isn't what we wanted for you. You know your father is disappointed."

"I don't care." He did care, he cared a lot. But he was a teenager, and therefore, proud. Pride makes liars of everyone.

She hugged him, then. He was smaller, he still had a few inches to grow. She squeezed him tightly both because she wanted to hurt him, and because she wanted him to stay. 

"I will never watch your stupid games. I will not watch you risk your life, or willingly throw it away. I've seen those guys come into the ER. I won't watch you die."

He hugged her back, at a loss for words. His mother had never been so outwardly emotional with him, it was frightening.

"Stay safe, son."

"Love you, mom."

"I love you."

Lara nodded at both Hayden and Jackie, kissed Anthony and Mikey on the cheek, and disappeared into the house.

There was an Uber idling outside. Mikey hopped in for a ride with Anthony and Amanda, and it was over, just like that.

"We did it," Hayden said as the driver pulled away.

Cliff slumped low in his seat, holding his face in his hands. Relief that it was over was as overwhelming as his exhaustion that it happened at all.

He usually felt that way after family dinners, though. He didn't walk away with too much extra damage, then.

"I think it went well." Jackie said, looking at her phone. "Lara and I talked while you were outside."

"How was that?" Cliff asked, through his hands. Hayden leaned on him and forced his left hand down, into his lap so he could hold it.

"It was good. I think she started to...respect me? Maybe? When I told her about my plans to go to work eventually."

Cliff dropped his arm. His left hand was clasped with Hayden's, which he reached over to cover with his right.

"She tends to respect women more than men, but it makes her harder on women sometimes," Cliff said. This was something he noticed after Amanda had been in the family a few years.

"She's...odd," Hayden settled on, squeezing his hand. "Do you feel better?"

Cliff tried to analyze the wriggling in his gut. He was pretty sure he did, but when he started to probe at the evening in his mind, he felt a bit like he was slipping underwater.

"I'm glad we did it," Cliff said. "It was important."

"Yeah," Hayden said, reaching over to play with Cliff's hair. "But it was a lot."

Cliff nodded.

"He needs a distraction," Hayden said to Jackie.

"Yeah, you need to be taken out of your body a bit, don't you, baby?" Jackie asked him, whispering so the driver couldn't hear. Her low tone was sensual, and it went straight to his dick.

Cliff nodded and rested against the leather seats, content to let his city devolve into a blur. Hayden continued holding his hand and playing with his hair as he shut his eyes and waited for the hotel.

Chapter 2: Sexual Interlude

Chapter Notes

Short chapter and the reason for the explicit rating, because I can't write them without writing them sucking and fucking, apparently.

Hayden woke up to a pitch black room and wet, breathy sounds only a few inches from his ear.

He was on the right side of the hotel bed. It was king-sized, but even that was hard to fit three adults comfortably, especially when two of them were professional hockey players. He was on the edge of the bed. He attempted to blink the sleepy blur from his eyes and read the red lettering on the digital clock on the nightstand beside him. 4:22am.

He turned over onto his back. Someone, he was pretty sure it was Cliff, was beside him, in the center of the bed. He tried to remember how they fell asleep that night, but his sleep-addled brain wasn't catching up to the situation, not as fast as his dick was.

The wet kissing noises ceased.

"You awake, Hayden?" That was Jackie.

"Mhm," he replied, rubbing his eyes. He reached blindly for someone, some form of contact, and his hand smacked against Cliff's large bicep. He rested his hand there while Jackie flipped on her lamp.

Hayden stared at them, mildly annoyed at being woken up four hours before their alarm, and also, horny. They had not managed sex after coming back from dinner last night. Cliff had fallen asleep in the Uber on the way back to the hotel, exhausted by the emotional nature of the evening. Hayden could hardly blame him. The three of them settled in for cuddling, and that was nice, falling asleep with Cliff between them, their hands on his body so he could finally relax for the first time all day. 

Still, it sucked not to take advantage of a hotel room.

"Why are you awake?"

"Couldn't sleep," Jackie said.

The blankets were kicked down on their side of the bed, Hayden had been clutching most of the comforter to his chest. Hayden slid his eyes down Cliff's body. His sweats were pulled down to his thighs and his dick was hard and exposed.

Hayden could guess what had happened. He woke up a few times over the years to Jackie's lips on him because she 'couldn't sleep.'

"Were you gonna wake me?" Hayden asked, not mad, just curious. Some weird, confusing part of his brain got a little turned on at the thought of them having sex beside him while he was oblivious, dead to the world.

"We were just getting started, baby."

"We were making out," Cliff said, "We should go back to bed."

"With your dick like that?" Hayden asked, pointing at his erection. Jackie chuckled. Hayden's voice was low and rumbly with sleep. He cleared his throat.

The airport was going to be hell tomorrow, especially since tomorrow was technically today, but Hayden wanted to get his mouth on Cliff's dick. 

He tossed the blankets on the floor, because they were just getting in the way.

He considered kissing Cliff, but was feeling more like getting straight to business. He squirmed his way down the bed to Cliff's parted thighs. He pressed a kiss to a prominent freckle on the left one. He didn't have that many freckles. Hayden figured it was because his skin was largely covered in tattoos.

Speaking of, the plastic skin on Cliff's chest was visible. His tank top was low-cut. He could just make out the three overlapping hearts under the ink bleeding and the plastic sheen. Hayden rubbed his right thigh absently before ducking low to run his teeth along his boyfriend's thigh.

Jackie and Cliff continued their makeout session, which was messy and uncoordinated and noisy. Hayden decided to compete with them in terms of obscene noises, and proceeded to give Cliff the loudest head of his life. Sloppy and embarrassing, Hayden moaned around his length and took him as far as his body would allow.

God, it was good. Hayden was overwhelmed with Cliff, his jaw was slack and ached with the weight of it. His other hand played with Cliff's balls as his left covered the part of Cliff's cock he wasn't able to reach. 

Ugh, the taste of him...

It was penis. Penis and jizz, that was the taste, it shouldn't do things to Hayden, but it fucking did. Hayden loved the flavor of Cliff's come. Jackie's too. And he loved this, he loved Cliff swearing above him, Cliff's hand in his hair, tugging the short strands through his fingers. 

"Hayden, fuck..."

"I love seeing him do this," Jackie whispered, low, sensual. She was talking to Cliff, not him. He was watching them from his position with Cliff's cock in his throat. Her face was pressed against the side of his head, she was cupping his jaw, speaking directly in his ear, making him shiver. 

"Look at him, look at him fucking worship your cock, baby."

"So good," Cliff whined, "Fuck. Fuck."

"You gonna come for us, Cliff?" Jackie asked, rubbing over his chest. Hayden saw her press a kiss to his cheek before Hayden's eyes rolled back in his head, Cliff's pre on his tongue was making him drunk. "For him? You know he wants it. Give it to him."

"Mmm, Hayden," Cliff came with a gentle whine, filling Hayden's mouth with his release, which he promptly drank down like some kind of slut.

Jackie pressed herself against Cliff. Reclined together, Hayden climbed up their bodies, breathing heavy. He slotted one leg in between Cliff's, and one between both of them, as he could not straddle both his lovers at the same time. This would have to do.

Jackie was the one to pull Hayden's hard, leaking dick out of his joggers. She gave him a few strokes before letting him go. Then, Cliff, seeing the edge of the plastic where Hayden's pants were slightly pulled down, slid his pants down his thighs, exposing the covered tattoo there.

Cliff ran the nail of his index finger along the edge, a hungry look on his face.

"I can't believe you got me in that chair," Hayden said. He had been so nervous on the day of the appointment, he almost puked. It was incredibly childish and totally nonsensical to be afraid of a little pain as a professional athlete, but it turns out, the concept of needles inserting ink into his body freaked him out. Sue him.

He wanted it, though. They all did. He couldn't pretend like he wasn't a little turned on watching Jackie lay on her stomach on the chair as the artist traced the hearts on her lower back. 

Cliff's artist got them in for a late night appointment, well after business hours, so when she locked the door and finished up with Hayden and Cliff, the men could sit on the chairs and cuddle up to each other as Jackie got her hearts.

"So fucking hot, Hayden," Cliff said, staring at the tattoo on his thigh. The look in his eyes was positively possessive. Hayden couldn't wait for the sex they would have when they were healed enough to take the skin off. Hayden was pretty sure he and Cliff were going to compete over who was going to fuck Jackie first.

Hayden's dick was woefully neglected as Cliff lazily ogled him. It was getting terrifyingly closer to five in the morning, they should just stop and try and get a few more hours of sleep before the morning. The three of them all had to be in the air before noon, after all. 

Jackie's hand closed over Hayden's cock, stroking it gently before she had to stop to spit in her hand to continue.

"There's lube in the bag," Hayden said, but the bag was across the room, and they were all so tired, he knew they weren't going to get it. He certainly wasn't.

"Fuck me, Hayden?" Jackie asked, brown eyes big and wet and beautiful. 

"Please," he said. Cliff shifted over, taking Hayden's former side of the bed so he could hover over Jackie. He took her pants off before he settled. They were Christmas pajamas, the pattern was the cartoon grinch. He tossed them somewhere in the dark room. 

Jackie was wet and inviting. She breathed as he slid into her. 

Beside them, Cliff laid on his side. He peeled Jackie's plain blue t-shirt up, exposing her tits, which bounced with each of Hayden's gentle thrusts. Cliff played with her right breast, as it was closest to him. His eyelids were heavy, he had a small smile on his face. He would be asleep by the time Hayden and Jackie were finished, he guessed.

Hayden kissed Jackie and played with her clit. He was going to come soon. Jackie's eyes slid closed, she breathed pretty little gasps and moans with each thrust, her hands rested on his shoulders. She looked so pretty like that, her eyes either closed or barely open, blissful, with her curls tangled against the pillow.

Jackie came quietly, her face scrunching up as her pussy spasmed around him. It felt so good, he pulled out quickly to come on the sheets rather than inside her, as she was going to fall asleep fast, he could tell. He was too. 

He pushed Jackie to the center of the bed. He was right, Cliff was asleep, or, mostly asleep, as he pulled Jackie against him, leaving Hayden space to cuddle up against her half-naked body. 

When the alarm went off, he was pleasantly surprised to find his wife like that, naked from the waist down. It was really, really easy to grab Cliff's morning wood and direct it into her, all before someone shut off the alarm. 

Hayden tended to the alarm as Cliff and Jackie had half-awake morning sex. They had a little time, at least an hour before they had to leave the hotel and attempt to navigate the Philadelphia airport. 

Cliff was fucking her from the side, her leg was thrown over his body as he grinded into her. Hayden was happy to cling to her back and rest, his eyes closed. Eventually, the movement and the quiet noises from his lovers made his cock too hard to ignore. He ended up rubbing against her ass without any real finesse as Cliff fucked her pussy.

"Fuck," Jackie said, he couldn't see her face, but he imagined her nose scrunched and her mouth opened. "You two...you're gonna get me all sticky. I won't have time to shower."

Hayden felt blood rush south as he imagined Jackie having to go through airport security, and fly all the way home to Montreal, wearing their come. Obviously, she would have time to clean up, it wouldn't happen that way, but fuck, that was doing it for him. 

"You'd like that, Jacks," Cliff grunted, his thrusts losing a bit of rhythm. "You love it when we come on you."

"Don't bully me," Jackie whined. Hayden pressed a kiss to the back of her arm, which promptly turned around to grip his head, urging him closer. "You can't embarrass me."

"You shouldn't be embarrassed," Cliff responded, "about fucking anything. You're perfect."

Hayden was close. He pressed in and slid the stretched-out neckline of her shirt away so he could bite down on her shoulder. He got a beautiful, surprised whine for his trouble.

"How's it going back there, Hayden?" Cliff asked from Jackie's front. 

"Pretty fantastic," he said, groping Jackie's plump ass. 

"Same here."

"Gonna come soon, Cliff?"

"Yep," he grunted, "you want it on you, or in you?"

"On, on, please on. Take my shirt off."

Hayden ripped her stupid shirt off and threw it. He kissed over the bite mark he left on her shoulder. 

"Come on my pussy," Jackie said. "Wanna...rub it into my pubes."

"Oh my god," Hayden moaned, hips stuttering. 

"I want you both to come on my pussy but I also want you to come on both sides of me..." she was pouting, he could tell by the tone of her voice. 

"We can do one now, one later." Hayden said. "I'm gonna come, so probably...sandwich for now."

"Sandwich, yes, good," Jackie moaned, "we have all the time in the world."

That, embarrassingly, was what sent Hayden over the edge, the reminder that their relationship had no end date, that they would see Cliff again soon enough that they could fulfill Jackie's numerous fantasies ASAP. Maybe even that same night.

And, in a few months, Cliff would be living with them. They truly did have all the time in the world.

Except this morning, they were on a time crunch. Thank god Hayden could hardly ever hold himself back from coming.

He coated her ass in his release, sat back to admire it for a minute, before sitting up to watch as Cliff pulled out and jerked off over her.

"Aim, aim-"

"I know, baby. I know what you want." Cliff's voice rumbled, making Jackie smile. Cliff groaned as come spurted from his cock, right over the mound of Jackie's pussy.

The men watched as she used her index and middle fingers to rub Cliff's come into her hair before dipping down to reach her clit.

"Can I get a little help? I'm so tired. These two rowdy men kept me up into the wee hours of the night."

"Oh my god, is that what happened, Jackie?" Hayden laughed, Jackie stuck out her bottom lip. 

"Take pity on a girl. It's hard to not be horny with two sexy men in my bed."

That was fair. Cliff was grinning as he moved to eat her out, but Jackie came pretty fast, just from a few laps of Cliff's skillful tongue.

After, it was an unfortunate rush to get cleaned up and all of their things shoved in their bags. Hayden was pretty sure most of their stuff was in each other's bags, nobody packed right, but Hayden and Cliff had to catch a flight with their team at eleven, and Jackie had a different one a half hour later. They were all flying to the same place, anyway.

It was exhausting, keeping up appearances. Hayden was pretty sure JJ was spinning some elaborate cover story about why Cliff and Hayden missed the team's bus ride to the airport. Hayden and Cliff would share a car to the airport, but one would pause a few minutes and allow the other to reach the team first to keep up the illusion that they did not arrive together.

Hayden, occasionally, got a sick little thrill from having such sexy secrets, but these days, it was mostly a fucking drag.

Still, it was all worth it for days like this. Traveling as partners, lazy morning sex, sweet, sugary goodbye kisses, and seeing Jackie's panties in Cliff's bag when the man opened it in the Uber looking for his phone charger.

Hayden laughed in the backseat of the car, blushing a little out of pure happiness.

Christ, he loved these people. 

"Shut up," Cliff said, digging passed the red thong, only to unearth a pair of her lilac purple boy shorts.

Cliff didn't pull them out of the duffel. He fisted the underwear in his hand, which rested atop the open bag in his lap, and caught Hayden's sparkling gaze.

The men were laughing uncontrollably as the driver pulled up to their terminal. 

Chapter 3: The O'Brians

Chapter Notes

"Is there gonna be cake at grandma and grandpa's house?" Amber asked as Jade bent to help her tie her sneakers.

"Maybe."

"For Jade and Ruby's birthday?"

"Our birthday was a week ago, remember? We're going to lunch so grandma and grandpa can meet Cliff."

The entire family hovered in the entrance of the house. Hayden's arms were full, he was carrying a cooler and a bag of swimsuits for the kids, as Mr. O'Brian bought a slip-n-slide. Cliff was beside him, tattoos on display in his all-black summer outfit, sunglasses pushed up on his head, arms cradling a massive container of cut up watermelon and honeydew. Hayden's eyes caught on the three overlapping hearts that sat at the base of his neck. Hayden longed to pull at the hem of his shorts, but he didn't have a free hand. 

"And meet Levi!" 

Megan and Jeremy would be bringing along their son, Levi, who was only a couple weeks old. Jackie went to visit Megan in the hospital after she had the baby, but the entire family had not got together to meet him. Everyone was so excited about their new cousin, they barely reacted to Cliff moving in full-time.

"Amber, watch me," Jade said, running a hand through her short hair as she pointed at Amber's other shoe. "You gotta learn this."

Jackie frowned. It had been an uphill battle, several years ago, teaching Amber how to tie her shoes. She struggled way more than the other kids did and would often get too frustrated to continue with lessons. She had finally learned, but the last couple of months Amber had seem to totally regress in the skill. She had also started pushing back more, too, and demanding attention from her older sisters while snubbing Arthur. 

"I know," Amber said sadly, watching Jade tie her other sneaker for her. 

Today was their first time going to Jackie's parent's house with Cliff. It was their first time spending time together as a family, an entire family. Her parents would be there, as would her brothers, her sister-in-law, her nieces and nephews, Megan, Jeremy, and their new addition. It would be a packed house, loud, chaotic, and awkward. 

Jackie was buzzing with anticipation, most of which was excitement. 

Cliff seemed less excited. He was extremely nervous, he had shared that with them over the last week, but he was determined to go through with the party. She heard him in the bathroom that morning reciting the names of her family members in the mirror. He was as desperate to make a good impression on her parents as she was with his family back in January.

Jackie was certain that particular meeting was the hard part of this whole process, though. Lara had been an extremely tough nut to crack, but by the end of the night, Jackie had managed worm her way through her tough exterior. 

When Cliff and his older brother snuck away, Lara practically cornered Jackie. She had questions for her, and Jackie had answers. It was intense, a little grueling, and Hayden looked to be on the verge of pissing his pants in the corner while he watched. In the end, when Lara learned that Jackie intended to begin her career in a few years (after Hayden retired) Lara passed along her phone number and instructed Jackie to call her. Jackie was terrified of the woman. She was also obsessed with her.

"Just make sure you tell everyone what's going on before the dinner." Lara said, remarking on her son's mistake.

That had been a weird conversation. But, a simple enough one. She texted her siblings in their group chat and explained the situation, and she took her parents out for lunch back in May, when the guys were still in the season, and told them what was happening.

Her mother kept saying "oh my god" over and over, it was very dramatic. Her father was just confused.

"I really don't get it. You keep trying to explain but I don't understand," her father said, smiling through his confusion. 

So Jackie explained again, and then again, and then a fourth time. Her mother started questioning her, asking her odd things like:

"Are you going to a new church?"

And:

"Did someone approach you about this lifestyle?"

And that's when Jackie realized her mother thought she had joined some sort of cult, so she assured them, several times over, that she was still agonistic, she just had two partners instead of one. She was not in a cult, she was in a relationship.

Finally:

"Two men?" Her mother said, bewildered, "That seems like so much work."

"Janet, please," her father chastised, wincing deeply.

"Well, it does."

"We saw him play, he's a rough player." Her father said, clearly deeply worried. His face was shriveled up with concern and his mouth hadn't shut since she started talking. She was a bit worried for her sensitive, introverted father's well-being. 

"He's a good man, dad. I promise. He's gentle. He's great with the kids." She added that last comment about the kids so she didn't blush, 'gentle' probably wasn't the right word. 

The knowledge of his rapidly approaching move-in date also deeply distressed her mother. So she explained, again, their relationship, and that it was okay that he was around the kids, they loved him. Finally, in the end her father said:

"Well, we will have to have him over at the house sometime." This dismissal was a classic Derek O'Brian tactic to wrap up a conversation, but Jackie latched onto the comment. The date finally came in the first week of August, thanks to Megan's perfect new little boy. 

"Aiden, Jordan, and Izzy, right?" Cliff turned around, he was in the passenger seat. He locked eyes with the first kid he could find, which was Arthur. "Your cousins?"

"Yeah, and now Levi."

"It's gonna be fine, honey," Jackie said, reaching over to take his hand as she pulled onto her parent's street.

"Grandma and grandpa are nice, don't worry, Uncle Cliff." Arthur, smiling at the man.

Hayden was in the back running a comb through Arthur's long blonde hair. His hair had grown to shoulder length now and he was still unwilling to cut it. Barbers made him nervous, which Jackie understood, but he also didn't want any of his adults to touch it either. His hair really was beautiful. Jackie was sort of aware, though, in an unfortunate way, that Jade's pixie cut that she asked for as a birthday present, and Arthur's long hair, would make her father, and her sister-in-law, raise their eyebrows.

Jackie attempted to shake the thought from her head. She had nothing to be ashamed of, and she would not let her anxieties overtake her excitement.

They had too much to carry and too many children to wrangle to hover at the door for awkward introduction. She made her boys carry everything as she shoved her parent's key in the lock. 

Amber and Arthur were at the side gate. Goddammit. Even with Cliff, there were not enough hands. 

"Hey, guys, wait!" Hayden called, but they were already through the gate, running into the yard. Jackie heard voices shouting greetings to the kids, so she decided it was fine.

Ruby and Jade followed the adults into the house. Sure enough, it was dark. Everyone was out back. Jackie went straight to the fridge to stash the fruit. She snagged a beer for herself and her boys. The girls got juices.

"What are you waiting for?" Jackie asked when the twins hovered in the kitchen with them. They were fourteen, the same height as she was now, and she was trying really hard not to be freaked out about it.

"You're stalling." Jade said, snickering a bit. Jackie frowned, not ready to be taunted by her children.

"We're not stalling," Jackie lied.

"You're definitely stalling," Ruby commented. "You already told them about Uncle Cliff, right?"

"Just wait until you have to meet someone's parents someday," Jackie said, "It's scary stuff!"

"It's grandma and grandpa," Ruby said, "They're harmless."

"Go play."

"We aren't kids anymore, mom."

"Go outside and text, then," Hayden said, ushering their twins towards the back doors. "We need to have an adult conversation."

"Ew," Jade replied, wrinkling her nose.

"No, not-go outside." 

"Teenagers," Hayden breathed, closing the door behind them.

"We have about ten seconds before someone comes through that door and interrupts us," Jackie said. "We cannot stall when my parents are involved."

"Derek and Janet?"

"Derek and Janet, yeah. Listen, mom might like, accuse us of being in a cult. Or make some comment about-"

"There you are!" Janet O'Brian seemed to float on air into the kitchen. Jackie jumped, she had not heard her mom coming. Janet grabbed Hayden for a hug before doing the same for Jackie.

Cliff stood beside the fridge. His sunglasses were pushing his black hair back from his face. His wide, dark eyes were full of nerves.

"Hey pumpkin!" Derek O'Brian approached behind Janet, ignoring Hayden to hug Jackie once his wife was finished. Jackie watched out of the corner of her eye as Janet stopped in front of Cliff.

"Hi, Mrs. O'Brian. I'm Cliff Marlow."

"Yes, hello, Cliff," Janet said, craning her neck to look up at him. Jackie thought Cliff may have been lowering himself a bit on purpose to appear less intimidating.

Cliff looked like a scared puppy. He was the second least intimidating man she knew.

"Welcome to our home," Derek's smile was more of a tense grimace. Janet stepped aside so he could clasp Cliff's hand in a firm shake.

"Thank you for having me."

The five adults hovered in the kitchen awkwardly. Jackie was usually the one to break these kinds of silences, but she couldn't think of a damn thing to say.

"Grandpa!" Amber called, barreling in through the backdoor. She didn't slow, she just ran straight for Derek's legs.

"Oh, sugar, careful! I got old bones, you know," he said, hugging Amber against his legs. 

"You said you were going to set up the slip-n-slide."

"I did say that, didn't I? Well, I'll go do that," Derek said, practically running for the door. 

Formation broken, Jackie collected all four of their children to distribute their bathing suits. Only three were interested in the slip-n-slide.

"What the hell, Jade?" Ruby asked, swearing right in front of Hayden.

"Hey, language, girls."

"Please, like you're so innocent," Ruby replied, and Jackie...

"That's not the point, we don't talk like that in front of grandma and grandpa. You can swear all you want in a few years, when it's socially acceptable."

Jackie didn't care all that much if her teenage children swore, it meant very little to her. But...childishly, she really wanted her parent's approval. She didn't want to give them one more thing to raise their eyebrows about. 

"Whatever," Ruby replied, giving up but glaring at Jackie. "Jade, you're really gonna be a loser?"

"Ruby." Hayden scolded, his tone one of flat disappointment. 

"A stick in the mud?" Ruby corrected, like that was really better.

"I don't want to," Jade said, stomping away, slamming the door for good measure.

Ruby stared after her, conflicted. And Jackie...Jackie's worry about Jade was growing

Once the kids, theirs and some of their much younger cousins were set, Jackie resolved to talk to Jade, but she was off to the far side of the yard, sitting in a lounge chair talking quietly with Cliff.

Jackie sighed. She could see Jade's mouth was moving, she was talking, and Jackie didn't want to interrupt that.

She scanned the rest of the party, eyes landing on the congregation of children on the other side of the lawn. The kids would need their sunscreen reapplied soon. It was a warm August day. All the kids were lining up, thrilled at their grandfather's newest toy.

Janet sat nearby, recording on her iPhone. Derek was beginning to grill, and Hayden was standing with her brothers making idle commentary on the tricks the kids "attempted."

"Where's Hannah?" Jackie asked, sliding up beside Hayden, who put his arm around her immediately. 

"Bathroom," Jimmy replied, taking a pull from a beer bottle. 

"We were trying to meet your guy, but when Jade stomped to the corner, he went to sit with her," Drew said, nodding in their direction.

"Jade's still upset?" Hayden asked. 

"She'll be alright," Jackie said, giving him a look that said we'll talk later.

A moment later, whatever Cliff said to Jade had her laughing loud enough for the cluster of adults to notice. Relief rushed through Jackie. 

When she saw Cliff with her, she knew she would be okay. Cliff got through to Jade like they didn't, for whatever reason. She wasn't just moody anymore, she was...angry. Frustrated. She was always snapping at them or at Ruby, or she was quiet, earbuds in, ignoring everyone.  

"You were just like that when you were a teenager," Drew said. "Grumpy Jackie, always slamming doors."

"Shut up, dick," was Jackie's elegant response. "Where's Meg?"

"Showing your favoritism again, Jacks."

Hannah appeared at Jimmy's side, smiling at Jackie and Hayden.

Jackie saw Cliff approaching before everyone else did. Jade had quit hiding to go sit beside Janet and watch the rest of the kids. Cliff hadn't gotten up until Jade did. Jackie almost got emotional about it.

"You're not supposed to have a favorite sibling," Hannah teased, "but yeah, obviously yours is Megan."

"So is yours," Jackie teased. Cliff had crossed the yard and made it to their group, stopping between Hayden and Jimmy.

"Hey!" Jimmy said, "I'm my wife's favorite."

"You're not one of her siblings-in-law, dumbass," Jackie replied, laughing at the eldest sibling's pronounced frown.

"That's gross, Jackie, you're sick."

But Drew and Hannah were laughing along with her, at Jimmy's expense, so Jackie won. 

Jackie did a quick check as Cliff greeted her brothers. Jade was in the grass with Izzy, Jimmy's youngest. They were playing in some mud. Jackie almost called out to stop them, but they were both pretty covered in it already, and Jade was laughing, a rare sight these days.

"I can't believe Meg got to meet you before we did." Jimmy said, "we're her big brothers, we're supposed to approve."

"Ew, Jimmy-"

"Jimmy, don't be such a man."

"Yeah, Jim," Drew said, "fucking shill for the patriarchy, or what?"

"Fuck off, you know what I meant."

"He meant, Cliff, Hayden, Jackie, that this is all pretty weird, but no one's acknowledged how weird it is yet."

"Thanks for calling it out," Jackie frowned at Drew.

"Anytime."

"It is weird," Hayden said, "and we don't expect anyone to just accept it without questions."

"Mom thought Hayden got me involved in a cult." 

Hayden and Cliff snickered.

"Stop it, what's so funny about that?" Jackie turned to her lovers, betrayed.

"Nothing," Cliff said.

"Yeah, nothing."

"They're probably thinking that you're the one that would coerce them into a freaky sex cult, not the other way around," Hannah's snicker turned into a full-blown giggle-fest when Jimmy's disgusted groan ripped through the conversation. 

"You can't just say things about my baby sister like that."

"Your baby sister is a grown woman, in her thirties, with two boyfriends."

"Partners," the three of them said in unison. 

"Did you guys practice that?" Drew asked.

"Every time we come out to someone," Cliff responded.

"But you guys aren't out out, right? Like...your fans don't know? That's so weird to say. Your fans. You're literally my brother-in-law," Jimmy shook his head, even though Hayden has been famous as long as the family knew him.

"Just our families for right now," Hayden responded. "It's safer that way."

Conversation turned away from them. Ruby went down the slip-n-slide while standing up. Someone had added dish soap to it to make it even more dangerous. She made it all the way to the end without falling on her face, which got her uncles cheering for her. 

Her brothers debated the risks of joining the slip-n-slide as two adult men rapidly approaching forty. Hayden looked one beer away from joining in himself. Hannah noticed Izzy was now covered head-to-toe in mud, and she sighed deeply.

"There's no point in stopping her now. She's going to be so upset later when Jimmy hoses her down, though."

"Me? Why do I have to do it?"

"Because you're bad cop, obviously."

"Jesus Christ," Jimmy mumbled, staring at his daughter with a deep frown that reminded Jackie of their father.

"Drew, dating anyone at the moment?" Jackie asked after checking her phone. Still no Meg.

"Can't, since you claimed everyone in the Montreal area for yourself."

Jimmy cackled and the brother's did their stupid little handshake they invented when they were kids. The joke was nowhere near good enough to warrant the fucking celebration. 

"Just don't go for a hockey player," Hannah replied, also betraying her. "Everyone else is fair game, right?"

"Can you all fuck right off?" Jackie asked, blushing.

"No, sorry. You're stuck with us forever." 

Drew suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Jackie in a forced hug that was more a light choking. She pushed against him, but he held her tighter, laughing. He started to shake her around, so she bit him, hard enough that he had no choice but to let her go, lest she break skin. 

"Psycho."

Jackie bared her teeth at her brother. 

"Now you see where the kids get it from," Hayden murmured to Cliff, who snorted, smiling down at them.

Lunch was served, still no Meg. Jackie frowned at her phone. 

The kids all shoved together at the picnic table. The adults gathered around each other on her parent's patio furniture. Jackie sat with her legs crossed in the center of the couch between Cliff and Hayden, one knee touching each of them. They all had burgers, watermelon and honeydew, Hannah's potato salad, and grilled veggies from her mother's garden.

"Getting out of the house with a newborn is hard, I'm sure she will be here any minute," Hannah said. "I don't miss those days."

Jackie frowned at her plate. The sun was directly on the three of them, so they were all wearing sunglasses. This meant she couldn't read Hayden's mind about Hannah's comment. Or Cliff's.

"No more kids for you guys?" Drew asked Hannah and Jimmy.

"No," Hannah said enthusiastically. "Hell no."

"You're next for babies, Andrew." Janet said, smiling at the horrified look on Drew's face. "You know, you aren't getting any younger."

"Y'all got Levi. And the thousand other kids. You're not hurting for grandchildren."

"No," Derek said, smiling slightly at his second oldest child, "but more are always welcome, son. I think it would be good for you to settle down."

"Why is my love life the topic of conversation when literally the most interesting thing that has ever happened to this family is happening, currently, on the couch."

The trio paused, frozen in place. Jackie sat reclined against the back of the couch, out of the way. The men were leaning over her lap, paper plates suspended in front of her as Hayden transferred his potato salad onto Cliff's plate.

"Don't like the potato salad, Hayden?" Hannah asked innocently. 

"Ah no, it's good...I'm just watching what I eat. For the summer," He lied through his teeth, Jackie knew he fucking hated Hannah's potato salad, everyone did except their parents, it was too bland for everyone but old people and babies. 

"And Cliff...Cliff is bulking, so," this was not even true. Jackie smiled and sipped her pineapple soda, soaking up the sun alongside Hayden's anxious rambling. 

"He's certainly bulky!" Janet replied. The comment was good-natured, but she frowned when everyone turned to stare at her. "Oh no, honey, not in a bad way. It's just that you're...well you know. Large."

"I am," Cliff said, nodding, attempting to save Hayden's web of lies with: "It takes a lot to maintain it."

"I bet," Janet agreed, visibly regretting her comment.

"Thank you, baby," Cliff murmured lowly as Hayden finished transferring the unwanted potato salad onto his plate.

It wasn't low enough for the adults to miss, though. Jackie watched her father's eyebrows furrow, and Hannah's delighted smile as she smacked the back of her hand against Jimmy's chest.

They all looked poised to say something when Meg, Jeremy, and a baby carrier finally appeared at the back gate.

"Levi is here!" Arthur called, as if Levi were a friend of his instead of a six-week-old infant.

All the kids scrambled up and rushed their aunt and new cousin. Jeremy held the car seat against his chest, protecting it against tiny hands. Jackie found herself setting down her plate to jog over. 

"Kids, give them some room."

Jackie said, which went ignored. Goddammit. Mom voice time.

"Kids," She said, "go eat your food. Let them get settled first."

The kids broke away reluctantly, but they listened to her, her kids, and Jimmy's.

"You're gonna have to teach me your mom ways," Meg said, and oh, poor thing, she looked so tired. 

She was sweaty, her recently dyed blonde hair was falling out of a messy bun, and she had makeup smudged under her eyes.

Jackie pulled her in for a tight hug. Jeremy hovered beside them, arms still protectively around the baby carrier.

"Thanks for bringing your baby. It's a great distraction for my odd lifestyle choices," Jackie said, rubbing a smudge of mascara away from her sister's undereye.

Megan laughed and led Jackie back into the yard.

"Well that's why I did it, you know. It had nothing to do with wanting to have a baby. Or fucking up my pills." The sisters laughed all the way back to patio.

"Up," Jackie said, standing in front of Hayden and Cliff.

Her boys immediately got up and ceded the couch to Meg. 

"Get her a burger, man," Jackie said, nudging Jeremy as Megan sat back on the sofa, putting the carrier beside her.

Jackie peered inside for the first time to see the pale sleeping face of her infant nephew.

And, oh god, he was so precious. Was she crazy, or did he look just like Amber when she was a baby?

After everyone ate, the kids got back on the slip-n-slide. 

Ruby could put her own sunscreen on, but Jackie and Hayden each took a kid and slathered their blondest children in the stuff.

"Ugh, mom, it stinks."

"I like the way it smells," Arthur said, smelling the back of his arm.

Jackie watched Hayden, who was staring at the slip-n-slide with a longing she only saw on his face in like, 2014, while watching a Bears game.

"Take your shirt off," Jackie huffed. "Cliff, help me. He's gonna go injure himself."

"Not before the season!" Cliff protested with a grin. Jackie poured sunscreen on her hand before handing the rest to Cliff. Cliff poured some on his hand before rubbing them together and smacking it on Hayden's back.

"Ow," Hayden complained. "I could probably do this part myself, you know."

"You miss spots. Remember that time we came back from Mexico and the only part of you that wasn't tomato red was the outline of a handprint spreading the cream across the center of your chest?"

"Oh come on, that was one time."

Cliff laughed as he rubbed the sunscreen into Hayden's back.

"Alright, you guys are gonna have to stop touching me now," he said lowly. "Drew, Jim, you coming?"

The question was all the encouragement Drew and Jimmy needed, apparently. The three grown men lined up behind the children, politely waiting for their turn. Janet was recording on her phone again.

Jimmy went first, going down on his stomach, the traditional way.

Drew was second, he slid down like Ruby had, getting a running start before staying on his feet, arms out, like it did anything at all for balance.

Hayden, of course, immediately tried to copy him but he got too much speed and when he hit the end of the plastic, he tumbled face-first in the grass.

Jackie and Cliff picked him up, the three of them were laughing hysterically. 

"Are you okay, are you okay?" Jackie kept asking through fits of violent giggles. Hayden gave her a thumbs up and stood, his body was covered in soap and grass.

"You guys have to try it. Come on."

"No thank you," Jackie said, she was a little too tired, and she didn't feel like getting damp. 

Cliff took very little coaxing. They forced him into the same sunscreen treatment Hayden got, even though he kept insisting it wasn't necessary.

"I don't burn, I only tan."

"Skin cancer doesn't care," was Hayden's reply.

Once Jeremy saw Cliff was doing it, he got permission from Megan to line up. The fucking slip-n-slide had outshined her new throuple relationship, and the birth of an entirely new person. 

Janet, Derek, Hannah, Megan, and baby Levi sat on the patio together, drinking iced tea and watching as the day went on.

"How are things with Jeremy?" Jackie asked. Levi had woken up with a string of adorable, delicate newborn noises that melted Jackie's heart. Megan was feeding him. 

"He's good. He's fucking in love with your man, though. When he found out Cliff was here, he was trying to rush us out. It's why we were so late. Levi's diaper exploded. Pretty sure he taped it up wrong."

"That's annoying." 

"Extremely, extremely annoying. The car seat was fucked. Luckily, we got two at the baby shower."

"Megan, really, language," Janet said, gesturing at Levi.

"Mom, he's six weeks old tomorrow."

"They pick up on it young," Derek responded.

"I do not need this right now. I'm exhausted."

Jackie frowned, guilty.

After she had the twins, it was Megan that helped her when Hayden was away. The girls were born in July, but Hayden was gone for away games just a couple months after. It was Megan who ran to her when she called her sobbing, because the girls just wouldn't sleep, or she couldn't rock them both at once, or she felt like she was being buried alive by their crying.

God, the crying.

It was so hard to do it alone, and she felt very alone after that first pregnancy. It wasn't until she communicated her feelings with Hayden and they talked it out that she felt better. When Hayden was home, he was the perfect father and partner. He went way above and beyond. But he couldn't do it all, and she couldn't either.

Megan was her village, and she had not been able to repay the favor. She owed her sister for years of babysitting, and also, scraping her off the floor.

"I'm sorry I haven't helped out more," Jackie said, but Megan didn't need to console her, that wasn't her job. 

"You've done a lot," Megan said, burping Levi. "And I'm not alone. Jer is great with him."

She shifted Levi so he was laying in her arms again. His eyes were blue. Jackie wondered if they would stay that way. She and Megan had the same brown eyes. Jackie "tickled" his tiny torso. He blinked up at his mom, not really aware of anything in the world yet.

Jackie felt tears sting at her eyes again.

"He's so damn precious," she said, brushing a stray tear off her cheek. 

"Oh god, what are you, ovulating?" Megan laughed, bumping her shoulder against Jackie's. 

"He is cute," Janet said, "He looks like Amber and Jordan."

"He does, right?" Jackie asked their mother, feeling validated. "I thought I was crazy."

"No, all you kids and grandkids look like Derek," Janet huffed, patting her husband's thigh. "It's like I wasn't even involved in the process at all."

"You did it all, my love," Derek said, kissing Janet's hand. 

"Wooo!" Someone called, Hayden was going down the slip-n-slide with Amber, they were holding onto each other, trying to stay upright. 

Jade, where's...

Jade and Arthur were in the mud puddle with Jordon. Great.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Can you take him, Jack? I really gotta pee."

"Y-yeah," Jackie said, surprised, shifting her focus to the small, squirming body being lowered into her arms.

Support his head, the voice of the nurse in the hospital that handed Ruby to Hayden while they waited for the second twin echoed in her mind, and suddenly, she was in the memory.

She remembers that childbirth was the worst physical agony she had ever experienced. Her mother was at her side. Megan was there too, and Hayden. Her mom was on her left, Meg was beside her. They both held her hand. She remembered thinking she was too young, and she was scared, and the hospital was going to say it was a mistake and take her babies from her-

All her fears were irrational, but in those moments, when you're on the cusp of something terrifying, your brain can only panic like an animal.

She remembers that the pain was horrible, that it just wouldn't stop, but she doesn't remember the pain specifically. She knows it was bad, but she has no physical metric anymore, it had been too long.

Jackie stared at the blinking face of her nephew, remembering how Ruby, covered in childbirth gunk, blinked at the harsh fluorescent lights before squealing like a bird.

The relief Jackie felt...the love that cracked her open from her chest down her legs...she was two now, three in a few minutes, and five eventually. 

Hayden. The way Hayden looked at Ruby was everything to Jackie; his blue eyes welling over like the flooded lake that colored them. He sobbed while holding her, support her head the nurse said, before taking Ruby from Hayden to put on Jackie's chest.

Her tiny body, so warm, squirming, her child-

Jackie was crying as she held Levi. She was crying a lot, actually. A tear fell off her face onto his soft yellow blanket. His hands reached up, his brow scrunched as he looked at her. She was still a stranger.

"Hi," Jackie said, his tiny fingers clasped on her index finger. "We met before. I'm your auntie. Your Aunt Jackie. And I love you so much."

"Jackie," Janet said, and Jackie looked up to face her mom, who also had tears on her cheeks. She laughed, and so did her mom. 

She looked down at Levi's tiny face as his eyes slid closed. She clutched him close to her, bouncing just-so. The stirring in her chest was dangerous and familiar.

A shadow fell over them, the kind that could only be caused by a hockey player induced solar eclipse. 

"Hayden," Jackie said, staring up at her husband. Cliff was beside him, both dripping water on the patio, staring at her inquisitively. Hayden recognized the look on her face.

"Jackie, no-"

"I want another one," she told him, bouncing Levi. 

Cliff gasped. Hayden scrubbed a hand over his face. He squatted down on the patio before her.

"We have four kids, Jacks. The twins are fourteen."

"I want another one." Jackie repeated, wanting it so desperately she thought it might kill her.

The thing was, this wasn't the first time she thought about it.

In fact, she had been thinking about it, casually, every day, for the last year or so. 

She had been thinking about it more seriously since January, after meeting Cliff's family and dodging Lara's question about more kids.

Hayden looked raw and desperate. She could tell he felt the same way she did. She could read him like a book.

Denial came first, because that was the logical response when you already had four kids, the youngest being ten-years-old. 

Acceptance would come fast, because Hayden always wanted exactly what she did. They were a couple who lived on the same page.

Cliff was the question mark now.

She ordered them to go change, having stashed extra clothes in the car for them (she had been certain they couldn't resist the slip-n-slide).  Meg came back out before they did, but Jackie kept holding Levi, needing to cuddle him as long as she could.

When her boys came back out of the house in fresh clothes and arranged themselves on the patio, Jackie nodded at Hayden.

"Can I?" She asked Megan, who nodded.

"Yeah, please. Just no kissing, okay?"

Everyone on the patio agreed. Janet was eager to get a hold on her newest grandbaby. 

Hayden easily held the baby passed to him, his hand under Levi's head, just as he held Jade when she was born. Ruby was in her grandmother's arms, and Hayden held Jade against the length of his arm, her head in the palm of his hand, staring at her with wonder.

"Jackie..." he trailed off. They were having this conversation right in front of her parents, Hannah, and Megan. She knew they would have to discuss it later, and at length, but Jackie was settled. She knew what she wanted, and she could fucking read Hayden's mind.

"Doesn't he look like Jordan and Amber?" Hannah asked gently, smiling at Hayden.

Hayden nodded, not taking his eyes off the sleeping newborn.

If they were passing him down the line, Cliff was next. Jackie watched as Cliff shifted away from Hayden, who was offering the bundle.

"Oh, I don't know-"

"You're going to have to learn, son," Derek said, nodding at Jackie. "O'Brian women are the most stubborn on Earth."

Cliff had nothing to say to Derek. He took Levi in his arms. Hayden kept his hand under Levi's head until it was safely nestled in the crook of Cliff's arm.

He was tense, clearly new to this. Jackie figured he hadn't held a baby since his nieces were born, if even then. 

"He's so wiggly," Cliff remarked. "You said he looks like Amber?"

"Yeah, a little," Hayden replied, smiling, reaching over to rest his hand on Levi's head.

Oh good lord. Cliff holding a baby...Hayden leaning over him, smiling at Cliff with adoration...

"Girl, chill," Megan whispered in her ear. "You're being super intense right now."

Jackie sat back on the couch and wiped her cheeks. She swatted Megan, but the woman was right. If her brothers came over and heard her talking like this, she would never hear the end of it.

Jeremy arrived at the patio as Cliff was holding Levi.

"Oh my god," he mumbled, "Cliff Marlow is holding my baby."

"Yeah, idiot," Megan said, "You have a marker? Maybe he can sign our son for you."

Jeremy couldn't even muster embarrassment as he stared. 

Cliff held Levi way longer than Jackie thought he would before passing him off to Derek, who was next in line. Janet was bouncing in her seat with impatience. 

Cliff was unsure what to do with his hands after passing the baby off. He fidgeted until Hayden took his hand, stilling him.

Jackie breathed. 

She knew, logically, that later, when she was away from the adorable newborn baby, that she might calm down, and think rationally.

But the thing is, she didn't feel irrational now. She felt sure. She felt, with complete certainty, that she was meant to have another baby. Preferably immediately, but she resolved to wait until she could get an appointment to have her IUD out.

And if the boys agreed.

Cliff only did just move in, after all, and he may love their children, but a newborn might be too much for him. This was not a possibility they ever discussed, because previously, Hayden and Jackie accepted that their family was complete. 

But they thought that multiple times over the years and were wrong, with further additions coming in Amber, then Cliff.

Shit changes. 

Jackie preferred to roll with it.

"When did you get a tattoo, Hayden?" Megan asked him hours later, after everyone got a chance to hold Levi, the kids were tired of the slip-n-slide, and the sky was starting to grow orange with the oncoming sunset.

Everyone was still scattered around the yard for the most part. The twins were inside, showered, and on their phones. Amber and Arthur were still playing with their cousins, except Izzy, who was inside getting cleaned up with her mom.

Hayden's shorts had ridden up high enough several times over the day to expose the three hearts on his upper thigh. He pulled at the hem again, but her brothers latched onto it, somehow missing it until Megan pointed it out.

Megan knew about Hayden's tattoo, of course. Jackie told her months ago, when the three of them got them in January. She even got Hayden to take a picture of her lower back to send to her sister. She was just pointing it out now to be a dick. 

"Wow, you do have one, Hayden!" Derek said, "I never thought I'd see the day."

"Hayden, you seemed like such a polite, respectable young man, what happened?" Drew teased, using his old man voice, which his father caught.

"Hey, shut up, Drew. That's not what I meant. I'm not that old."

"Did you get one too, Jaqueline?" Janet asked, crossing her arms, frowning.

Jackie smiled defiantly at her mother.

"Yep."

"Oh good lord."

"Mom-"

"No, it's your life. I guess it's good it's in a spot I can't see it in that outfit."

"Is that better?" Megan snickered along with Drew.

"What do you mean by that, Megan?"

"Nothing," Meg laughed, sipping her water, raising her eyebrows at Jackie.

"How many tattoos do you have, son?" Derek asked Cliff, who looked surprised to be addressed. 

"Oh, I don't know, actually. I haven't kept track."

"This one looks familiar," Drew said, leaning forward, squinting at Cliff before tapping the plain skin at the base of his own throat. "Where have I seen that before?"

"Oh my god," Jimmy swore, staring at the tattoo on Cliff before pointing at Hayden's thigh like a three-year-old.

"You all have the same tattoo?!" Janet asked, practically shouting. "Jackie, you told me this isn't a cult thing, but you all having the same tattoo-"

"WE'RE NOT IN A CULT, MOM!" Jackie cried, exasperated, especially as the uncontrollable laughter of her three siblings attempted to bust out her eardrums.

The party broke up not long after that. Megan and company left, and Amber was falling asleep on Hayden's lap, so it was time to load the kids in the car and fuck right off.

"Come back soon, sweetie," Derek said, hugging Jackie. Jackie hugged him back. "He's nice. Don't worry. I'll talk your mother down. You know I'm a lot more hip with the times than she is." 

Despite the dad joke, she knew he was being genuine with his approval, and that meant everything to Jackie.

"Thanks dad," she said, squeezing him a little tighter.

Janet hugged her daughter and ignored her daughter's men in favor of scooping up her grandchildren (only three, Amber was asleep and clinging to Cliff like a barnacle on a ship), for a big hug. 

"Come back any time, kids. Tomorrow, if you want. Or maybe we can do a sleepover?"

"No grandma, we want to go home," Arthur said. Jackie sighed, but Janet wasn't put off by Arthur's rudeness. She knew he didn't mean it that way.

"Okay that's fair, but still, come back soon, okay?"

The car ride back was quiet. Hayden drove and Cliff rode passenger. Jackie lounged beside the sleeping Amber, brushing her blonde curls away from her face. They couldn't talk there, the twins and Arthur were still awake. 

At home, Amber and Arthur both went straight to their beds, but the twins now had a bedtime set at midnight. They asked for it as part of their birthday present and their parents were allowing it for over the summer. 

Their light went off at 11:58, and Jackie gathered her partners in the living room for a discussion. 

"You haven't changed your mind, have you?" Hayden asked, already knowing the answer.

"Have you?" She asked, knowing he was just as interested in the idea as she was.

They turned to Cliff, who appeared confused.

"What's going on?"

"A baby," Jackie said. "Do you want one?"

"Do I...do I want a baby?"

"Yeah," Jackie said easily.

"Yep," Hayden confirmed, waving his hand.

"Um. Well, how would that...how would that work?"

Cliff wasn't saying no, which Jackie found very interesting.

"We would have to figure it out." Hayden said, "What we were going to do, how we would plan it, the logistics-"

"We're still. I mean, we're still in the closet, for the most part. Having a baby would out us," Cliff said. 

Jackie nodded.

"Maybe."

"Definitely," he said, looking anguished. "It's not that I don't want to be out, it's just that...you know they wouldn't accept this."

Surprisingly, it was Hayden who jumped in, beating Jackie to the punch on something he previously appeared reluctant about.

"Here's the thing, though. You moved into our house this summer. We all live together now. And we're not advertising that, and we've accepted that if people at work find out, then they find out. We're already being loosey goosey with this."

Cliff stared at Hayden. "Loosey goosey?" He repeated, baffled. 

"Well, yeah," Hayden said. "Cliff, we have matching tattoos. In the locker room."

This was something they discussed ahead of time, of course. They were banking on the guys not noticing a new tattoo on Cliff's body, even if it's placement was front-and-center. Hayden couldn't help his own being revealed. The guys saw it in the shower his first practice after getting it. Cliff left the showers early as Hayden explained he and Jackie had the same one.

Hayden came home and recounted the events to Jackie, and they made Jackie feel insane.

She knew they couldn't be "out." Not yet, but they weren't exactly in either, the boy's teammates were just fucking blind and stupid. She wanted them to notice them. To look, with their eyes. Cliff's tattoo sat delicately in the hollow of his throat, it was the exact same as Hayden's, which was high on his thigh. How could a bunch of professional athletes lack basic observational skills?

What she really wanted was to hard launch Cliff. She wanted to post a family photo. Or, better yet, one of their private photos. There was one locked away that she loved. She was reclined in a chair, Hayden's body was twisted between her legs, his hand sliding up her mini skirt, mouth open and wet on her thigh, while Cliff's entire body was pressed against the length of her, his strong hand was on her jaw, holding her head in place while he sucked on her neck. 

They took that photo on purpose for Jackie's birthday, because she wanted evidence. She wanted to open her locked album and stare at it when the boys were away, and she did, frequently. It was lewd, outrageous, but everyone was fully clothed enough that it could be posted everywhere, if she was so inclined.

She wasn't, of course. That was just a fantasy. A fucking hot fantasy, but a fantasy nonetheless. They could not hard launch their relationship. She knew that.

Jackie rested a hand on the softness of her tummy. A baby bump would be a hell of an indicator, though. 

"And JJ knows. And all our families, and Shane and Ilya."

"I know," Cliff said, he was visibly torn. 

"What is it, baby?" Jackie asked. She had a theory, but it was too heartbreaking to speak aloud.

"I just...I never thought...are we actually going to do this? Actually? Or is it just talk? I need to know."

"We're doing it," Jackie said. "Or, we'll try, anyway. I'll make an appointment for as soon as possible."

The noise that ripped itself from Cliff's throat was that of a kicked animal. He fell to his knees and put his hand over Jackie's, on her torso. There was nothing in there, not yet. Maybe there never would be, Jackie was a realist, after all. 

"I didn't think...I never thought I would be allowed this."

"Oh baby," Hayden breathed, sliding onto the floor beside Cliff, he took the big man into his arms, and Cliff buried himself in the hug.

"You've given me so much."

"You've given us everything, Cliff. We're a family."

"We're pretty much married, now," Hayden said, his tone a bit joking, but it was true. Jackie had, quietly, thought of them as her husbands for a few weeks now.

"We need to get rings," Jackie said, "or, a ring for Cliff."

Cliff was crying, he sat back on his heels and stared up at Jackie.

"Is this a proposal? I'm the one on my knees, Jacks."

Jackie giggled, she took his hand. 

"Did you know Hayden proposed to me months after we already started planning our wedding?"

Hayden snorted, his cheeks were wet. "We don't do anything normally."

Jackie's hand rested over the scratchy stubble on Cliff's cheek.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't do a thing differently."

Hayden nodded, then called Jackie cheesy.

Jackie's grin was feral, she stood, forcing Cliff and Hayden away from the sofa.

"So, it's settled. I'll get my IUD out as soon as possible. But, until then, we should probably practice."

Hayden stood and offered Cliff his hand, pulling him up too.

"Practice?"

"Yeah, I'm thinking just one round from each of you tonight, but we'll work up to multiple rounds of you guys finishing inside me a day. How does that sound?"

Jackie stared at their shocked faces with a small smile. It was like that trend of saying all of a dog's favorite words.

"It's gonna be more than one each, Jackie," Hayden said, his hands were on her hips, forcibly turning her around and walking her towards the stairs. "Cliff and I need a lot of practice."

Chapter End Notes

Hi, I hope this fic conveyed the messy, chaotic, combined horror and loveliness of family, and didn't come across like some kind of slip-n-slide ad. I really feel like, under everything in this fic, the romance, angst, fluff, and sex, it's just a poorly-disguised love letter to the season of summer.

Jokes. Anyway, next installment features the fifth pike child that I have had named since like, chapter five of the first fic. That kid has been haunting the narrative from the future.

The first time I held my newborn niece, I was so tense that my arms hurt for the entire next day. She was only seven pounds, I am not that weak, but I was so scared of doing it wrong or dropping her that I was extremely locked in. That pain would probably happen to Cliff in this fic if he wasn't a jacked athlete.