TITLE: From Boston with Love
AUTHOR: Jennie
CHARACTERS: Jim Fahey and Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks
SUMMARY: �He�d been taught all his life that he should be something he wasn�t.�
RATING: G :)
DISCLAIMER: I wish I lived in San Jose, owned hockey players and the rights to Boggle, but I do not. All I own in this story is the way the words are written.
INSPIRATION: This and this.
A/N: Cheech is Jonathan Cheechoo, Jimmy is Jim Fahey, Scott is Scott Thornton, Patty is Patrick Marleau, �the helicopter pilot in Moose Factory� refers to the guy who flew the helicopters from Cheech�s hometown (Moose Factory, which was on an island) to the mainland and Shark Byte is a show about the Sharks on TV in the Bay Area (has player interviews, stuff about the team, etc. Kinda like Cool Shots..*tear*). Let me know what you think about it! Happy reading!

It wasn�t that the team wasn�t excited about Joe coming to San Jose. Everyone knew about Joe. Joe, the captain. Joe, the team player. Joe, Scott�s cousin and Patty�s best friend. Joe was going to propel their team to the finals. And Jimmy Fahey couldn�t care less. Jimmy cared about winning the cup, and that was all. Don�t get me wrong, Jimmy loved to have fun. Jimmy loved drinking (as any Boston boy), baseball (as any Boston boy), and acting crazy (as any Boston boy).

But when it was time to play, Jimmy was all business. Anything to help his team win the game (breaking noses, having broken noses, passing cross ice, throwing hip checks center ice, etc.), Jimmy would do, an intense glare in his eye. If Joe helped their team win, Jimmy would be happy. But in the mean time, Jimmy would roll his eyes at the mention of a single guy turning their team around.

Jonathan Cheechoo, also known as �Cheech�, loved people. On every team he�d ever played on, he�d made a strong bond with someone. Heck, even the helicopter pilot in Moose Factory called Cheech, just to check in. San Jose was no different for Cheech. By the end of the season, he�d invited Joe to Moose Factory for the summer, hosted numerous backyard barbeques, and found a best friend in Jimmy Fahey.

To an onlooker, the two were far from alike; Jimmy, the loud, arrogant, outwardly homophobic Boston kid, and Cheech, the friendly, in the closet polite Indian from the middle of nowhere. But Cheech knew how similar they really were, down to their taste in cars. Cheech loved spending time with Jimmy and loved being in love with Jimmy. But wait, what about Jimmy?

Jimmy had known all along that Cheech was gay. Cheech never said that he was to Jimmy, but Jimmy just knew (Jimmy knows these things.). He never meant his comments to hurt Cheech; Jimmy was brought up to express his Christian morals. He was brought up to forget any gay impulses� he had, and to always have some girl dangling from his arm. By the end of the season, Jimmy truly believed he found a suitable girl to marry and proposed to her on a freezing cold night in a boat in the Sacramento River. He knew that she should be his first priority, now that they were engaged, but he couldn�t move Cheech lower in his List of Important People.

Jimmy tried once. She wanted to go to a movie, but plans to get skunk drunk and play strip Boggle (the loser of each round strips to the nude and leaps like a ballerina down the road) were made weeks ago with Cheech, so Jimmy called Cheech and asked him to reschedule. When Jimmy came to practice the next day, Cheech�s anger was quite obvious. Cheech even said, during an interview for Shark Byte, that his favorite teammate used to be Jim Fahey.

Jimmy had never felt more hurt in his entire life.

That night, Jimmy showed up at Cheech�s doorstep with a 6 pack of Molson Canadian and Boggle. When Cheech opened the door, hair disheveled and chest bare, Jimmy apologized for his behavior the previous night, and then set his gifts on the steps. Jimmy said he didn�t realize how much he felt for Cheech until that interview, and said that he�d been taught all his life that he should be something he wasn�t.

Jimmy said he realized he couldn�t hide in the closet anymore, and placed his hand around Cheech�s neck, watching as Cheech�s eyes widened. �Cheech, I�m hornier than a rhino and waiting for you!� Joe appeared in the hall, a pair of handcuffs dangling from his wrist. Cheech and Jimmy glanced in his direction, and then turned to look at each other. Cheech�s voice was soft, but forceful at the same time. �You were too late, Jimmy.�