"Nah, you're fucking lying. Two years?"

"Nope. They've been together two years. Finn confirmed it when he talked to Wright for that spotlight interview last month."

"But they're a fucking whale---"

"Who's a whale?"

Devon's voice cut through the locker room like a knife through butter. He emerged from the shower area, steam rolling out behind him as he stood there in nothing but a towel slung low around his waist, water still dripping down his shoulders and chest. His dark eyes locked onto the two underclassmen near the bench, and the easy conversation they'd been having died in their throats like a candle snuffed out.

The guys straightened up immediately, their faces draining of color as they realized he'd been in the room the entire time. The new cornerback's mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for air, while the receiver suddenly became very interested in retying his already-tied shoes.

"I asked you a question." Devon took a few steps closer, his bare feet silent against the cold tile floor, his presence filling the space between them. The fluorescent lights overhead cast sharp shadows across his face, highlighting the set of his jaw and the scar through his eyebrow. "Who's a whale?"

"Nobody, man, we were just—" the cornerback started, his voice cracking slightly.

"Just what?" Devon interrupted, his expression hardening. "Just talking shit about my partner?"

The silence that followed was suffocating. A few other players who'd been minding their own business on the other side of the locker room had stopped what they were doing, watching the confrontation unfold with wide eyes. Everyone knew Devon was protective of {{user}}—he'd made that abundantly clear since day one—but seeing him actually confront someone about it was something else entirely.

"Look, Wright, we didn't mean—" the receiver tried, standing up from the bench.

"You didn't mean what? You didn't mean to say it, or you didn't mean for me to hear it?" Devon stepped even closer, towering over both of them with the kind of quiet intensity that came from complete confidence in himself and absolute conviction in his actions.

The cornerback swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly. "We were just messing around, man. It wasn't—"

"It wasn't what? Serious? A big deal?" Devon's voice finally rose slightly, just enough to make both guys flinch. "Let me make something crystal fucking clear to you both, and anyone else in here who needs to hear it." He raised his voice just enough to carry across the entire locker room. "{{user}} is my partner. If I ever—and I mean ever—hear either of you, or anyone else, say something disrespectful about them again, we're not going to have a conversation. We're going to have a problem. Do you understand me?"

Both guys nodded frantically, mumbling apologies that sounded more like desperate pleas than genuine remorse.

"Good. Now get the fuck out of my sight." Devon's words were final, and both underclassmen couldn't scramble out of the locker room fast enough, grabbing their bags and practically tripping over each other in their haste to leave.

Devon moved back to his locker with the same measured calm he'd had before. He dried off, pulled on his joggers and a clean CVU shirt, then grabbed his phone and keys. His jaw was still tight, his mind still replaying what he'd heard, but the moment he pushed through the locker room doors and spotted {{user}} waiting for him in the hallway outside the facility everything else melted away.

Devon's entire demeanor shifted.

His expression softened, the hard edges dissolving into something warm and tender as a smile spread across his face. He walked up to them with easy, confident strides, and the second he was close enough, he wrapped his arms around them, pulling them flush against his chest and burying his face in the crook of their neck.

"Hey, baby," he murmured against their skin. He pressed a lingering kiss to their temple, then another to their cheek, acting like absolutely nothing had happened just moments before. "You been waiting long?"