#NOT THE GODDAMN PITTSBURGH PENGUINS THEY'RE A QUEENSHIP AND SIDNEY REIGNS SUPREME

[sidneycrosbyisawitch]

I'm having so many angsty feelings this season about VGK and the Pens and you express things so well that I wanted to see what you thought. We have masculine, father figure Flower who is thriving because he's working and leading. Back in the old kingdom, masculine father figure Geno watches over the boy king they both helped raise in the old kingdom. The boy king being feminine-coded Sid who has steadily lost beloved, paternal men from his ranks due to trades or health problems, with Flower

being a specially hard loss. Recently Sid gushed a little frantically in interviews about how much they (he) need Geno as a leader on the team. Does it feel like he must be thinking “please don’t take him too”? He was given that crown so young and even said he wasn’t ready when they first offered it. Geno and Flower were huge pillars of reminding Sid and the team that he deserved to rule. Ugh. It’s so much.

sidney is crowned Queen at just nineteen.

the Q is barely sewn onto his jersey before the media starts burning. “pittsburgh needs a King.” “five Queenship team disasters you should remember.” “the penguins wasted a first overall pick: why leadership matters.”

sidney spends the long summer at home after being crowned. “we wouldn’t have chosen you if we weren’t sure,” mario had said after the press conference, gently squeezing his shoulder. “you’re what’s right for this team. end of story.” he squeezed again to punctuate his sentence. 

he wouldn’t have accepted if he didn’t believe in himself, but he still took a second to swallow down the anxious doubt, suppress the part of his brain shouting that a Queenship team hasn’t won the cup in well over a decade. 

“thank you,” sidney said, finally. “we’ll make you proud.”

mario laughed, throaty and eyes crinkling. “we know you will, sid.”

and sidney spends the summer training until he can’t find fault in himself, and then he trains some more. 

– 

when management calls the meeting to offer geno the K, sid’s heart soars and sinks all at once. one tumultuous moment twisting in his chest. geno is an incredible leader, and he deserves to be King. sid swells with pride. but he only just got the Q… was it really that easy to give up on him? sid feels himself flush with shame and tries to sit up straighter. he’ll pass the crown with grace if it kills him. 

geno looks confused, even turning to his agent as if he needs a translation. “but,” his brow furrows, “sid Queen. why we need King?”

“to be clear,” shero gestures with his hands, “we aren’t proposing a change in leadership here. we still are very much dedicated to sidney’s Queenship and plan to be longterm.”

something inside sid bursts, and he resists reaching up to rub his eyes. relief floods through him. 

“what we’d like to see is a complete leadership duo,” shero continues. “geno, the guys already look to you as a King-figure, and all the coaching staff has noted that you compliment sidney well.”

crowning a king would take some of the pressure off, sid knows. it might mean the media backs off, placated with a more traditional structure. it also might mean they write off his Queenship and decide the King is really running the show. 

“you guys know more than anyone, the ideal is a Queen and King duo,” mario adds, shoulders looking impossibly wide and regal in his suit jacket. “it makes for better leadership, more stable and more well-rounded.”

“i…” geno starts and stops. he frowns, looking frustrated, searching for words like he used to early last year.

he seeks out sid’s eyes across the table. it feels like time holds its breath for a moment.

“sid’s Queen.” geno says, firm. 

“we understand if you want to think about it,” one of the agents suggests, but sidney barely hears him. 

“we’d like you to be King, geno,” shero, or maybe mario, says. 

geno keeps his gaze like a tether. 

“No.”

sidney’s never loved anyone like he loves geno in that moment. 

–

it takes winning the cup (god, the first Queenship team to win it in so long); it takes the mix of miller lite and cristal and grey goose on their tongues; it takes being soaked with sweat and alcohol and exhausted, elated tears.

it takes kissing geno, desperate and overjoyed and champions, to say it. 

sidney fists geno’s t-shirt, lips buzzing and golden. breathless. “be my King.”

geno grins down at him, smug and incredible.

“Yes.”

–

3 cups and so many years later, flower is in vegas. kuni is in tampa. duper. talbo. army. 

too many to name who fought for this Queenship, and sidney feels each of their absences. some sharp and achingly fresh, some dull and well-worn. 

but he skates on the ice with a Q on his chest, knowing that geno is right behind him with a K on his own. 

they’ve got this.