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I can't believe how strong s have becoive up its freedorown stronger over the last feeeks Our days are filled with a sweet normalcy We see each other at work We joke We text each other He asks how , and he worries over how hard I work I praise his game play, take joy in his reconnection to old friends like Oliver, and continually admire the man he has become

I'ain, and it's just beautiful to me

"So," Hawke drawls out, a ether, no sex, no hanky-panky, no nothing to cause you to screaht?"

And I didn't think ooey where he's concerned, but it literally flops over and ht

"Yeah, you can stay the night," I whisper, h to clear it

"Awesoerated accent "And for the record, I can controlany type ofuht want to perform on me"

"Is that right?" I ask with a laugh

I flip over on the couch so I' him, and drape my left arm over his waist I have to tilt ht and his eyes sparking with amusement

"This is cool," I say carefully, not wanting to get too sappy with hilean anything about the state of his own attitude towardand falling into soently stayed away fros I try to remember back to the first time Hawke and I said the L-word to each other, and I remember vividly that I said it first We were on a free period fro under a large el for a calculus test He was sitting cross-legged on a blanket, and I was on my stomach, my book opened up before me He reached over and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear--the side that wasn't shaved--and said, "You are the irl in the world"

I never thought twice and just blurted it out "I love you"

He grinned and said it right back to me, no hesitation whatsoever

It alue At this point, I'm too afraid of rejection and just as fearful that perhaps this is alla little too fast

"This is totally cool," he agrees "Just hanging withmyself sick on Snickers"

I like that

My girl

"What did Max end up doing tonight?" I ask as I snuggle into hihter aroundwith us but he declined We've actually been doing a lot with him lately He and Hawke have beco out withit in the net so far this season, but he seems driven to be beco last season due to an injury and then Ryker filling in and taking top spot is what's fueling him

Hawke gives a slight shrug to his shoulders "No clue Said he had plans, though"

"Plans?" I say with surprise Max is even more of a homebody than I am As far as I know, the man trains, plays hockey, eats, and sleeps That's it "Do you think he has a date?"

"Babe," Hawke says with a dramatic drawl "I'm a dude He's a dude We don't talk about stuff like that"

"Yes, you do," I argue as I tip ain look up at hiuys most certainly talk about stuff like that They have to

"Rest assured," he says blandly "We don't But even if we did, I wouldn't tell you That would be a vi

olation of the bro code"

Ho, when Hawke and I were together, there were no secrets between us Well, at least not until that night No bro code would stand in the way of hi His trust in me was absolute, and he would have shared any and all tidbits He would have done so knowing I would keep secrets locked and secure

Thethe bro code at s are currently, there are still trust issues to e subjects

I push up and out of Hawke's e, "Roll on your back"

He cocks an eyebrow at me as he does as requested, and let me just tell youthiseyes They can roll and arch in such a way to convey high intensity or the thickest amount of skepticism Either way, it never prevents the brilliancy of his blue irises fro at me