A week before training camp is set to begin, David wakes up to a text from Jake, sent past midnight, asking if it’d be okay for him to come to New York for a few days before the start of training camp, and then, another an hour later, asking if he could stay with David when he did. David wonders if the timing means Jake was drunk, the question one he’s already regretting. There’s no way to tell from the texts themselves.

If Jake’s spelling and grammar get any worse when he’s drunk, well — David’s not actually sure that’s possible. If anything, they might be better.

He doesn’t want to be too enthusiastic if it’s something Jake will renege on, but at the same time, he misses him. The phone calls have picked up steam, Jake calling a few times a week, and they never seem to talk about much, but David’s phone is always hot by the time they say goodbye. They text every day, and whenever David isn’t training, he keeps his phone close so he can respond as quickly as possible.

But David misses him. He shouldn’t, considering how much they talk, but he does.

If it wouldn’t be inconvenient for you., David lands on as a carefully neutral agreement. Obviously it won’t inconvenience Jake, since he’s the one suggesting it, but if he’s changed his mind, it gives him an excuse. He can make up another obligation, something that isn’t ‘sorry, I was drunk, I don’t actually want to come.’

ill book a flight!!! Jake texts back almost immediately — he doesn’t seem to be concerned about sounding too eager, and David is embarrassed to find himself liking that — and sends rapidfire questions about best dates, times, which airport David would prefer he fly in to, so many David’s barely answered one text before he’s received another, and it doesn’t even take him ten minutes before he’s sending David a booking confirmation.

Definitely not concerned about sounding too eager.

David can’t stop smiling all day.

*

The day Jake’s set to arrive, David sets his alarm early, even though he doesn’t have training that day. David told his trainer he needed to take time off due to an unavoidable obligation, because it was the only way he could phrase it without it coming out like an outright lie. His trainer probably assumed it had something to do with the Islanders, which is fine. For the best.