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It was a testament to just how tired Phichit was that it took so long to realize Celestino was driving the wrong way. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise!” Celestino said. He reached over, putting a hand on Phichit’s leg for a brief squeeze. “Trust me. You’ll love it.”
“More than I would love to get home and pet my hamsters and get into a bed?” Between the long time spent in airports and the disappointment, that’s all Phichit wanted to do at this point. Celestino could make fun of him for starting to get old all he wanted.
He was supposed to have been making this drive twelve hours ago, going straight from the airport to the line to get a signed copy of “Swan Song.” Carver Edlund was having a special signing in Detroit, and Celestino had spent weeks convincing Phichit not to skip out on the last two stops of his Thailand skating tour just to be sure he’d be home. The tiny consolation when the storms came up that made it unlikely that he’d actually get to go had been the chance to say I told you so to his older and wiser boyfriend, but Celestino had stayed somewhat smug about things. It was really starting to irritate him.
If Celestino weren’t driving, Phichit would probably be very tempted to slap the smirk off his face. “More than that. Phichit, trust me, okay? In ten minutes you’ll wonder why you were ever mad at me.”
“And if you’re wrong, you’ll let me skate the ‘Angel with a Shotgun’ program?” Phichit teased.
“If I’m wrong, I’ll let you skate ‘Hampster Dance’ as a competition skate.” Now Phichit was intrigued. “Angel with a Shotgun” was at least not a meme song. If Celestino was that confident that whatever his surprise was would be worth the risk of Phichit going full-on meme lord next season…
The disappointment stabbed hard when Celestino pulled up to the bookstore. “Ciao Ciao, there’s no way he’s still here and signing things. The event was over an hour ago.” Even if Carver were still cleaning up some stragglers, Phichit wouldn’t be able to sneak into the line.
“There was this kid, years ago, who snuck into a camp I was helping my old coach run. He was a decent skater, could have been nationals caliber if he’d been born into a family that would allow him to pursue it. Possibly even international contention. He was by himself most of the time – I got a few glimpses of what he said was an older brother, but I never met or even saw his parents. We spent some time together off the ice, too, because he was obviously quite lonely.”
“And here you said that until me you never went for much younger guys,” Phichit teased. “What’s the truth, Ciao Ciao?”
Celestino rolled his eyes. “When I say kid, I mean kid. He was like eleven at the time. I don’t know how he thought of me, but to me, the relationship was more like… you know the program Big Brothers Big Sisters, where teens and young adults volunteer to spend time with at-risk kids so they have positive role models in their lives? That’s what it was for me.” Phichit stuck his tongue out, so Celestino moved on. “Anyway, when I asked Sam what he liked to do outside of work and school, he told me he liked to write. He had all these crazy stories he dreamed up about monsters and demons and…”
“Wait.” Phichit sat up straight, mouth hanging open as he stared at Celestino. “Are you telling me you knew Carver Edlund when he was a lonely kid telling himself stories to avoid having to deal with his trauma from neglect and abuse?”
“I am, in fact, telling you that.” Celestino pointed to where two people were leaving the bookstore. “And last week, I got a phone call from one Dean Winchester, brother of Sam Winchester, the real name of the author publishing under the name Carver Edlund. Since Sam was planning on coming to Detroit for a big signing, he was doing some research on the city and saw that I was still here and still coaching. He wanted to see if we could arrange a meetup, and I told him that I would love that – on the condition that I could bring my partner because if I didn’t I would end up getting broken up with.”
Phichit was spared having to figure out what to say to that when the two people who had left the bookstore approached them. For the moment, he had another mystery to solve, as the taller of the two men looked a heck of a lot like one of Christophe Giacometti’s ex-boyfriends. “If he managed to have a secret career as an ice dancer, too…”
“Ha! No, although I had a similar reaction the first time I saw Masumi at a competition,” Celestino admitted. “Come on. Come meet your hero.”
Meeting Carver Edlund was everything Phichit had dreamed it would be and more, and nothing at all like he’d imagined. Being starstruck and tongue-tied hadn’t been a problem. Carver – Sam – was happy to talk about his books, a fan of Phichit’s skating – explained as following all of Celestino’s skaters – and between the two and catching up with Celestino and introducing his brother Dean, there was no worry about running out of things to talk about.
Things got a little awkward when Phichit went to the bathroom, and Dean followed him. “We need to talk, kid.”
“If this is about not spilling the secret identity of Carver Edlund, don’t worry,” Phichit promised. “I know I’m all over social media, but I do know how to keep a secret.”
“Good to know, but that wasn’t my concern.” Dean got between Phichit and the bathroom door, arms crossed. “My brother has a huge crush on you, and you spending the evening flirting with him is not helping him. Knock it off.”
“Last I checked, Sam’s a big boy and can tell me that himself,” Phichit protested. “Besides, I did back off, because he seemed a little uncomfortable with it.”
“That’s the thing. Normally, he’d love to have you flirting with him, but openly flirting in front of your partner? Even if it weren’t someone he looks up to as much as he does, he’d never interfere with someone’s relationship like that. He’s probably in there apologizing to your boyfriend for your crap behavior.”
“Oh, is that all the problem you have with it?” Phichit said through snickering. “If he’s trying to apologize, then Celestino’s reassuring him that we have an open relationship and even if it were normally closed, Carver Edlund would definitely earn a hall pass. He remembers the kid he mentored a little too well to join in, but he would give his blessing to me and Sam hooking up if Sam’s interested.”
“…Oh.” Dean let his arms drop and got out of Phichit’s way. “In that case, flirt away.”
“I take it I don’t need to practice the interviews explaining how you talked me into ‘Hampster Dance’?” Celestino teased the next morning, when Phichit finally made it home from one of the best hookups he’d ever had.