2: Two Taps Means Yes

ROCKET

Two taps means yes.

It's flirty and a little funny and it always makes him blush.

"What are you guys playing?" Steph sticks his head into the three person game of Uno that HÃ¥kon and I are playing with Fenrir. Private planes are nice, we get tables and chairs that turn and we're allowed to take off our shoes.

"Uno," Fen responds, clearly very focused on his move even though I know for a fact that he doesn't have a single green card in his hand.

"Ick," Steph says. "Deal me in." He flops down next to me. HÃ¥kon lifts his eyebrows at me, we still haven't told Steph even though I promised myself that I would tell him next.

Fen finally manages to play a wild card and call it blue.

HÃ¥kon tosses a card onto the pile. "Uno."

"Goddamnit." Fen mumbles, staring at a hand that's at least 20 deep.

HÃ¥kon's foot brushes mine under the table, both of us in socks because let's face it, who wants to wear shoes on a four hour plane flight. Especially after securing a spot in the playoffs. I tap his foot twice making a little blush slip up his cheeks as he stares very intently at his last card.

"Uno," I say as well, throwing my last blue two onto the deck.

Fen is chewing his lip, debating what to do next. "HÃ¥kon would you be so kind as to tell me what color that last card of yours is?"

HÃ¥kon lets out a soft laugh. "No." His foot retreats a little bit and I chase it, tapping twice on the top before wrapping my ankle around the back of his calf.

"I'll have Nico scratch you for the game against the Wild, I swear-"

"Nico won't scratch me." HÃ¥kon laughs. "She loves you with all her heart but she won't do that for you."

"Goddamnit." Fen drops his forehead to the table and then tosses out a blue nine.

"Yep," HÃ¥kon sets down a blue four. "Should've changed it back to green or something."

Fen sighs and sets down his stack of cards. "Look at this, I mean, you catch me without a yellow once and there I go having to pick up the whole deck."

I just laugh. "It's alright, Steph's playing with us next round, you won't lose against him, he's shit at Uno."

"Listen, just because my luck is bad with Uno doesn't mean you get to make fun of me for it."

Steph laughs. "I can shuffle if you want."

"Go for it, it was my deal last time and Fen went first and now you're between us." I hand him the stack and he gets to it.

HÃ¥kon is busy with something else. His foot traces up the inside of my thigh, causing little swirls of goosebumps up my back under my hoodie and down my legs under my sweats. He watches Steph shuffle for a minute, then glances out the window. He doesn't look at me directly but it's very clear that he's paying very close attention to what I'm doing.

I stretch my leg out and open up my thigh, letting him set his foot very carefully into my lap. I tap the underside of his knee twice with my own foot, telling him it's okay. I feel comfortable with Steph and Fenrir and he clearly does as well.

HÃ¥kon lets out a little sigh, nudging his toes against my thigh.

The smack of a card in front of me distracts me from his foot in my lap and I pick it up. Green draw two.

Steph finishes dealing seven and then sets the rest of the cards in the middle, the first one is green and it's going to Fen.

He mumbles a little curse under his breath and picks up a card off the top of the deck, then another, and another.

I let my hand drop to my lap, resting it against his ankle and rubbing a little circle around the top connection of his foot to his leg with my thumb.

The card makes it to me, HÃ¥kon giving me a little bit of mercy even though I know for a fact that his luck with Uno is insane and he could probably smite me with a draw four if he wanted to.

I pass my draw two onto Steph who complains under his breath and picks up cards.

Fen still doesn't have any green. He growls little curses and damnations under his breath in German has he picks up another five cards trying to find a green.

HÃ¥kon's eyebrows shoot up at me, a little wiggle in the left one telling me he's about to be a massive bitch to his friend.

Reverse.

"Oh I swear to god-" Fenrir complains. "I fucking hate you."

"You're welcome." HÃ¥kon leans back in his seat. I drop my fingers under his foot and run my knuckle up the arch, rubbing the clear tension out of it.

"AH!" Fen picks up a green on the first draw, throwing it right back down and sticking his tongue out at his assistant captain. HÃ¥kon just shakes his head, smiling.

I look at my hand, realizing I'm completely in charge of what cards go to my boyfriend now and I'm going to weaponize it.

I rub my thumb across the pad of his foot, giving him a false sense of security.

"Guess who doesn't have any green," Steph sighs. "But I do have a number match." He throws down a blue.

I take my hand out of my lap and pick up the blue skip in my hand, giving it right to HÃ¥kon with a cheeky little grin.

He glares back, silently letting the turn pass off to Fenrir.

Fen apparently does have blue in there somewhere and drops a draw two on Steph who cusses under his breath and picks up his cards.

I give HÃ¥kon a nine.

He drops a yellow nine on top of it, looking over at Fenrir.

Fen sighs. "But I needed to get rid of my blues."

"Must suck."

Fen gasps. "Jerk."

HÃ¥kon can't fight the evil smile that erupts onto his face, pulling his lips strong enough to show me that he's not wearing his retainer. My heart flutters a little bit.

"Been a while since I've seen you without the teeth." Steph comments. I have the urge to slap my best friend. He might be comfortable with not wearing them but he's sure as hell not comfortable with answering questions about it.

HÃ¥kon sees my flicker of anger and taps his heel against me once. No. I force myself to relax.

"Yeah, it's in my bag. I decided not to bother this morning."

"My mom has been absolutely on my ass to get mine filled in recently. I have no idea why considering she's only been light about that specific request earlier."

"Are you going to?" HÃ¥kon asks. "I would get mine replaced but if I snapped an implant the metal bit has a chance of chipping off parts of my skull." That, I didn't know, and I never want to think about ever again.

"Gross," Steph comments.

"Yeah, what?" Fen asks, running his tongue over his teeth.

"The metal implant goes into your jaw where your tooth used to be, for me since they've been missing quite a long time, it would involve drilling back into my jaw which is fine, but if someone hit the metal on the outside or if I got hit in the face with a puck, the metal has a chance of breaking through my bone on either side."

Fen cringes and Steph is a little pale.

"Thanks," Steph mumbles. "Never talk about that again. I'm going to have bad dreams."

I lean forward and hoist my leg up, setting it on his thigh and nudging his leg. He doesn't put his hand on my foot like I expected him to but he does push his thigh away, making my foot fall into the spot between his legs on the soft cushion of the plane seat. Then he slides forward so my foot is tucked into the soft cozy heat of the spot between his legs.

HÃ¥kon is acting like nothing happened. "So, what about you, all you need is a filler." He glances at me, eyebrow going up to make sure this is alright. I'm too stunned to respond.

"I'd rather not." Steph sighs. "I mean, just like you, they've been gone for six years and while it would be alright to have them filled in instead of just capped, I feel like I'd start whistling again when I speak and plus, how am I supposed to get a front clasp bra off anymore? These are vital."

I push my foot forward out of curiosity, putting a little pressure on him. His jaw flexes but nothing changes about his appearance.

Nobody has ever played footsie with me in the first place but I didn't even think this was an option with this game. He really went out and created a whole new level.

"How-" Fen frowns, thinking about it. "I mean, I guess I can see where you're coming from, but just use your hands."

"Okay, but why would I use my hands when I could snap it with my teeth, that's arguably more attractive." Steph sets down a green four absentmindedly.

"I'm going to kill you." Fen comments, reaching for the stack. "Okay but does August only wear front clasps? Because if that's the case then there's a reason for it but."

"She's got a couple, I think, I'm not sure. Anyway I'm not getting my teeth filled in and I'm especially not getting them filled in because my Mom asked."

I've moved to the outside of HÃ¥kon's foot, rubbing my fingers down the side and working through a couple little movements that I do on my own feet after a long day in skates or dress shoes. He shifts, getting his legs closer together and warming up my lower leg between his thighs, which, unfortunately, at this point, is where I want my skull not my shin.

"What are you doing in your lap?" Fen asks me. "It looks weird from this angle."

HÃ¥kon taps my thigh twice with his foot, letting me tell them. I tap back once. His tap made his thigh flex all the way up and I could feel it against my shin which is not making my crush on him any less strong.

"I've got a little muscle knot on the top of my thigh, I'm just trying to get it out." HÃ¥kon's foot starts to retreat but I grab it by the ankle and pull it back. I like having it here but I'm not comfortable enough to tell them that.

"Alright, if you figure out anything that works tell me because I've got one on the backside of my thigh that Nico refuses to mess with no matter how much I ask." Fen laughs, looking back at his huge pile of cards.

"Nothing's worked yet but I'll tell you if I figure it out." I nod. HÃ¥kon nudges his foot twice against my thigh, telling me, probably, that it's working.

Well yeah, dumbass, I know it's working. I do this to myself too.

Steph manages to pull out the win in this round somehow by catching everyone around him but HÃ¥kon with draw fours. The only reason that HÃ¥kon didn't pull through is because he got caught with a draw looking for a blue or a two and ended up pulling ten cards.

I relax back into my seat, letting Fenrir shuffle. My hand is on his foot and I'm working my thumb into the side of his joint. His feet are fucking huge. I don't get to say that often considering I wear a twelve but his feet are crossing over into clown territory.

HÃ¥kon is in charge of scoring and he's busy doing a little bit of math to figure out where we all are.

"Okay, losing is Fenrir, he's got a hundred and four. Next is Rocket with a fifty two, Steph's a cheater and only has zero because he joined late and I have an eighteen." HÃ¥kon looks up at me.

I shrug. "I'm not losing that badly, turns out."

"A hundred? I'm in the hundreds?" Fenrir is appalled. "Gross. Nico!" He looks around. "Nico dear!"

"What?" She sticks her head out of the front section of the plane. "We're literally holding a meeting right now."

"I'm losing at Uno." He complains. "I think HÃ¥kon is faking the math."

"HÃ¥kon isn't faking the math, he knows how to add." Nico looks over at the four of us. "Right, HÃ¥kon?"

"Right." He responds. "Fen's just being a baby about it."

"I'm not-"

"Fenrir." Nico says.

"Okay, yes, I'm being a baby about it but I think that they're cheating and that's something to bring up."

"Cheating? I would never cheat." Steph offers, giggling a little bit under his breath.

"Liar." I respond. "You cheat every single time you play me in monopoly."

"Okay-"

"No excuses."

"Fine." Steph laughs.

HÃ¥kon's foot drops out of my lap and I frown, looking for it with my own foot, tapping around.

He heaves his other leg up, setting his other foot on my thigh.

He raises his eyebrows to ask. I tap his ankle twice, then start to toe against the foot that just dropped.

Two taps means yes.

***

alright, so we're getting there. Anyway I'm writing like way deep into this part and at this point I think my poetic yearning is far overestimating the abilities of two men who have only gotten high school diplomas considering if I heard an nhl player mutter the line "It's blasphemous to love someone like god but I love you in a way that that same stupid god could never because my love is bound by death where theirs is not bound at all." i'd spontaneously combust.

also the line "I'd rather go down burning in hell for the rest of eternity so I could spend these increasingly mortal moments with you against your skin than go to heaven knowing that I chose the god who did not choose me over the love that did." seems incredibly uncharacteristic to come from a pair who learned english as a second language.

anyway g'night