For Pride Month, one way I celebrated was by creating a fun scene with DEAN and KIERAN from 𝘙𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝘚𝘤𝘩𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘴! (Fast Break #1). There are also cameos from all his basketball-playing housemates. Read on for a brand-new fun and all-levels-of-ridiculous scene.
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𝗞𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗻 (𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗕𝗿𝗶𝘅𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲)

“What’s he doing?”
Ty’s question makes me jump. How the hell did he manage to sneak up on me? “Jesus.” I press my hand against my racing heart and cut him a look before returning my confused stare to Dean. “I want to say practicing, but….” Yeah, I’m not quite sure what’s going on.
Dean, the man who is undoubtedly the love of my life, is on his back in the hallway of our shared house. Cushions and pillows surround him. It actually looks like a snug place.
Sheets, blankets, and… I lean forward, trying to make out what’s at his side.
“Looks like wood. Some long sticks.” Ty beats me to it. I angle to look at Ty as he tilts his head. “Is that a pair of skis?”
Honestly, I’m a little afraid to look too closely. The whole image before me is too boggling.
An hour ago, I melted under Dean’s touch as we showered together. He disappeared on me a little while later when I told him I needed to catch up with my parents. Which leads me to now.
Is it wrong I’m tempted to back away? Maybe I could head to the kitchen for a snack. If I take slow steps back, he’ll never know I was here, peering over at him, trying not to wonder what he’s doing.
“So, what are we doing?”
Jesus. I shake my head as Ty steps forward, drops to the ground beside my boyfriend, and nudges him over so he can share the pillow under Dean’s head.
There’s still time to retreat, right? Ty appears to be all over whatever th—
“Yo, Key. You should totally take a look at this. Get your ass down here.”
There’s no point trying to escape, not with Ty’s ability to be as subtle as a bull in a china shop wearing tap shoes.
“Do I really need—”
Dean’s gaze snaps to mine. That damn arched eyebrow he lifts all sexy-like when he’s all but begging me to try to disagree with him is aimed directly at me.
“Fine. But do we know when the last time this floor was cleaned?” I eye it warily, but that ridiculously sexy quirked brow is still set on Dean’s face. It doesn’t stop me grumbling as I settle down beside him.
If I’m forced to be on this gross floor, at least I can be snuggled up to Dean.
A loud belch destroys that fantasy.
“Hell, I feel better.” Ty rubs his stomach. "Did you know that the average person's burp travels at a speed of ten miles per hour?” Ty’s still glancing at the ceiling, but I dare not look away in case he burps again in our direction to try and prove something. “That burp there was like unleashing a tiny sonic boom.”
“Why are we here again?” I ask, not even attempting to get into a discussion about belching and speed records.
Dean angles to look at me. Our faces are close, so close in fact, I can’t not lean in to dot a kiss to his lips. Considering the third wheel at his side, it's super brief but enough to earn me a soft smile. “Just look.” Dean flicks his gaze to the ceiling.
Reluctantly, curiously, and damn well wishing I’d been more strategic with the placement of cushions, I glance up at the ceiling.
“The hell is that?”
“Do you remember when there was that whole Jesus on toast thing years back?” Dean’s still staring at the off-white ceiling. “It’s like that—”
“But not toast,” Ty supplies super helpfully.
Dean nods. “—and not Jesus.”
It’s impossible not to stare at what looks to be a watermark on the ceiling. There are varying shades of brown and a little gray, and the more I stare at it, the more— “It’s a bear.”
“Holy shit, you’re so fucking right.” Dean pounds my chest with an enthusiastic slap to my chest, tugging a grunt from me. I snatch his hand before he can do some damage.
Seriously, he may be practically a foot shorter than me and weigh a buck fifty soaking wet, but Dean is strong. The muscles he gets from spending so much time as the team mascot, and the dancing he has to do, means he’s fit and toned.
I’ve spent so many hours mapping out every curve and hard line on his body with my fingers and tongue, I can resolutely say, any more enthusiastic smacking will result in bruises.
“I think it’s a sign,” Ty says.
“For what, there’s a water leak?”
“No, asshole. It’s a bear. We play for Brixham Bears.”
Oh boy.
“Yes, definitely a sign.” Dean bobs his head, and I wish I’d stayed away and not mentioned that the water stain resembles a bear. “What sort of sign?” he follows up with. And I know he can’t be talking to me.
The front door opens, and Leon walks in. The scuffle of shoes follows, as does the close of the door. Immediately after, there’s a presence above my head, and Leon’s confused face comes into view.
“What are we doing?”
“Looking for the meaning behind the bear.” Ty sounds far too serious.
“Huh?” Leon looks at me for clarity, but I have none.
“You can take my pla—”
Dean snags my arm. “Nuh-uh. You discovered it.”
“You were the one on the floor, camping out with sticks.” Hold on. “What’s with the wood and blankets?”
A light pink caresses Dean’s cheeks. I follow the trail as it spreads across his skin. My gut clenches as it dips below his collar. Fuck, I love it when he blushes, and from the flare of heat in Dean’s gaze, he knows exactly how I feel.
A thud beside me pulls me out of my Dean trance. Leon’s pressed up next to me, his head next to mine as he readjusts the pillow under my head to share it.
This is so fucking weird. But in truth, the amount of crazy shit we’ve got up to together over the years, us crammed in the hallway on the floor is pretty lowkey.
“Is that a bear?”
“See, even Leon thinks it too.” Dean sounds far too smug, but it’s best not to engage, so I sensibly keep quiet.
“You were in the middle of telling me what all the equipment’s for,” I push, not letting Dean distract me.
“I wasn’t in the middle of—” At my pointed stare, he huffs a sigh. “I was making a fort.”
A fort? My lips part, and I scrunch my brow, nonplussed.
Of all the things Deans could have said, a fort was so not it.
“Any reason why you’re making a fort in the hallway?” Hell, if he suggested a fort in my bedroom, I’d be totally on board. It could have been our very own cuddly sex cave.
Not so much in the middle of our hallway, though.
“I took the rubbish bag outside, found the wood and skis at the curbside someone had dumped.”
“And that screamed ‘fort’ to you?” Amusement colors my question, and hell if Dean’s level of adorable doesn’t reach new heights.
“It’s your fault.”
“My fault?” I bark out a laugh, even more confused.
“I got dragged into a TikTok hole because you were on your phone forever. There’s something wonky with my algorithm, as it was video after video of all these awesome forts. Then I saw the wood and skis and yeah… fort.”
“God, I love you.” I have no qualms in telling him how I feel in front of my friends, or anyone for that matter.
A wide, perfect smile stretches his lips as he looks back at me. “Love you back.”
“That’s all great, but it still doesn’t explain why there’s a bear on our ceiling.” Ty moves his head this way and that, as if the movement changes his perspective.
“Screw the bear. I want to make a fort,” Leon pipes up.
Me? I just want to drag Dean to my bedroom and have my way with him again, but I know that won’t happen. Plus, hello, fort-making. I am so up for making a fort.
Everyone’s quiet for a beat. Ty is the first to break the silence. “Okay, I’m up for a fort, as long as we order pizza.”
Dean snorts, and I shake my head, making a mental note to call the landlord tomorrow to check out the water stain.
And then we’re scrambling to get up. Just four twenty-two-year-olds debating the best and most secure structure to create a fort that, to be honest, needs to cover the entire hallway to fit the basketball players amongst us.
We measure and collect more random items in our pursuit—a chair, a sweeping brush, the clothesline that Leon takes down in the dark backyard. When Dean pulls out the fairy lights from who knows where, we all grin, totally on board with the added prettiness.
Ty tries to talk us into dragging out mattresses, but we overhaul the idea with a majority vote. He does set up his and my laptop, doing something fancy to them so they’re screen mirroring.
A sound at the front door, and I scramble to my knees. We’re expecting the pizza delivery. My head’s sticking out the opening between the curtains we took down from Ty’s room when the front door opens.
Sammy stops short, Bentley smacking into him with a grunt, almost upending the boxes of pizzas he must have intercepted at the door.
I stare up at them, a head between curtains, not saying a word.
“Fuck yes.” Sammy kicks off his shoes, tearing off his coat.
Unless I want to get squashed, I need to shift. I do so quickly as Sammy, all long limbs and big feet, dives through the opening, landing half on Leon with a grunt.
Bentley, still holding the boxes, stares at me. A slight uptick lifts his mouth as Leon cussing Sammy out drifts from behind me. “Do I want to know?”
“Meh.” I lift my shoulders, my lips twitching. “Probably safer not to, and get your ass in here before there’s descension coming from within.”
Bentley snorts, hands me the pizzas, and quickly tugs off his sneakers and his jacket to he can clamber between our curtained door.
Dean’s saved me a space. I snuggle next to him, repositioning a moment later when it’s clear six grown-ass men make for a mighty tight fit. Once Dean has settled between my legs, his back against my chest, I exhale and dot a kiss to his head.
A glance at my friends spread out in blankets and cushions, pretty much like a puppy pile, pulls a smile to my lips.
The end of our senior year is drawing close so quickly. Between classes, training, games, and spending as much time doting on Dean as possible, it would be easy to miss out on moments like this.
I squeeze Dean to me and try to capture the cozy fort home we’ve created to my memory. It’s times like these that will keep me going when I leave and go pro next year. Sure, I’ll make new friends and have new players to connect with, but I can’t imagine they’ll be anything like my Brixham Bears brothers.
Since that’s the case, I’ll ensure we stay connected. Missing out on such ridiculous nights isn’t worth imagining.