#THEY GAVE THEM ALL SHIRSEYS TO WEAR

[ratatatastic]

MIKKSY IN A SHIRSEY IN THE GREEN ROOM I REPEAT MIKKSY IN A SHIRSEYYYYYY IN THE GREEN ROOM IM GONNA THROW UP OH MY GODJDNFNGNGG

[tessisawriter]

Tell Him (Andrei Svechnikov ft. Braden Holtby)

Request: Imagine being [Holtby’s] sister and dating Andrei Svechnikov but [Holtby] doesn’t know

A/N: Text messages are in bold. The original request was for Y/N to be Ovechkin’s sister, but since he is on my “Players I Don’t Write For” list, I switched it to Braden Holtby.

Warnings: Two swear words, angst

Word Count: 2.5k

It was hard enough being the Capitals’ star goalie Braden Holtby’s little sister, but try that while secretly dating superstar winger and member of the rival Hurricanes Andrei Svechnikov. That’s hard on steroids.

Things would’ve been a lot easier if you had fessed up to Braden already. But alas, you were sitting in primo seats in the PNC Arena in Raleigh three days after Christmas, watching your boyfriend’s team shell your brother, who of course had to be in net tonight, with quality shots. Braden wasn’t playing all that well, and you were on the edge of your seat, anxiously watching the action.

“Five minutes left.” Your sister-in-law, Brandi, was sitting next to you, and from the look of her shoulders, the tension was obvious.

“I can’t tell him tonight. He’s going to be so pissed!”

“I hate to say I told you so, Y/N, but: I told you so.”

As you turned to glare at her, the goal horn blared and everyone got up out of their seats to celebrate. You whipped your head back around in the direction of the Capitals’ net and saw Andrei in the middle of a group hug with his teammates. He was pointing at you and grinning widely. Braden took his helmet off and stared at the scene playing out in front of him.

“Looks like you don’t have a choice, honey.” Brandi patted you on the shoulder.

“I told him not to fucking do that, and what does he do? He does it!” you groused as you watched Andrei high five his teammates.

“He clearly agrees with me.” You didn’t answer Brandi because she was right.

You met Andrei eight months ago while his and your brother’s teams were playing against each other in the first round of the playoffs, but you didn’t start dating until you started school at Duke. While you weren’t that far away from your brother and Virginia, you were homesick, and you got Andrei’s number when you met him in the spring, so you ended up calling him during your second week at school and asking him to hang out.

It was nice hanging out with Andrei. While he didn’t live in Durham, he was only 30 minutes away in Raleigh, so he knew the area well enough, and he helped you settle in to life in North Carolina while you helped him improve his English (he was from Russia, and while he spent some time in the States before joining the Hurricanes, his English still needed some work). Within a few weeks, you were dating.

It scared and amazed you at the same time how fast you fell for Andrei. He was spontaneous and knew exactly how to cheer you up, making corny jokes that sucked so badly they were funny. Andrei was tired of hiding your relationship, and while you wanted nothing more than to shout it from the rooftops, you were afraid of disappointing Braden.

Braden was both your older brother and a father figure of sorts, since he was 12 years older than you. You moved to the States for high school and lived with him, his wife, Brandi, and your niece and nephew in Virginia. You loved your big brother and always confided in him about your problems, so it felt weird keeping such a big secret from him, but you did because you didn’t know how he would react. While Braden never explicitly told you to not date a hockey player, Andrei was a star player on one of the Capitals’ biggest rivals. And he just killed any chances of Braden’s team winning the game tonight.

Tonight was the worst possible night to drop the bomb on him, but Andrei just made it impossible to stall any longer.

You sat with your head in your hands for the remainder of the game, even when Panik cut the deficit from 6-3 to 6-4, because the game was effectively over. Besides, you had to figure out the best way to break the news to your brother about your relationship with Andrei, and fast.

***************

You were quaking in your boots as you stood in front of the Capitals’ dressing room, waiting for your brother to come out.

“Whatever happens, Y/N, I’ll be there,” Brandi reassured you. “He’s going to be mad at first, but he’ll forgive you. He loves his baby sister.” She ruffled your hair.

“I’m glad you figured it out: I would’ve gone insane if you hadn’t known, either.”

“I was a teenage girl once too, you know.”

You smiled at her. Brandi figured it out on Christmas Eve when Braden asked you and Brandi to accompany him to Raleigh for the second half of the back-to-back, and you initially said no. When Braden asked you why not, you made up a lame excuse about being tired from a long semester, and while he bought it, Brandi didn’t and pulled you aside after Braden went to bed. Telling her about your secret relationship lifted some of the weight off of your shoulders.

“And you made a smart choice wearing his jersey,” Brandi added.

You looked down at the three white stars and navy letters on the front of your red jersey before glancing at the white number 70 on your sleeve. Little did she know that you weren’t wearing an ordinary black t-shirt under your jersey, but instead Andrei’s shirsey that he gave you earlier this afternoon as a belated Christmas present. You might’ve told Braden and Brandi that you were taking an Uber back to campus to see some of your friends when in reality, you went to Andrei’s apartment. At least it wasn’t a complete lie: you took an Uber.

Suddenly, you felt a pair of strong arms wrap around your waist from behind, and you jumped, not knowing who it was until you turned around and found your victorious boyfriend smiling at you.

“Hi, babe.” He peppered your cheeks with kisses.

“Andrei!” you whined, but you liked having his undivided attention.

Your moment of bliss was interrupted when you heard someone clear their throat. Still in Andrei’s arms, you turned to find your brother scowling at you, arms crossed against his chest. “Bray, I can explain—”

“Explain what? That you’ve been clearly been dating him and sneaking around behind my back to do it?” Braden rarely raised his voice, but the raw hurt in his tone made you wish he did. “I thought we had a better relationship than that.”

“Braden—”

“Brandi, I’m booking us another night at the hotel and I’ll make arrangements for us to fly out tomorrow. I don’t want to see her until we go to the airport.”

You started to cry. “I’m so sorry, Bray, I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“I can’t deal with this right now. Let’s go, Brandi.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hall and away from you while you sobbed into Andrei’s chest.

***************

It was a silent drive back to Andrei’s apartment. Since you had nowhere else to go for the night, he insisted you stay with him.

Andrei parked the car in his space and as soon as you got out of the car, your phone chimed with a text.

“Is it him?” Andrei asked.

You shook your head as you looked at the screen. “It’s Brandi.”

Her text read: Are you staying with Andrei?

You shot a quick Yes back before walking into the building, Andrei following you.

While you were in the elevator, three grey dots appeared on the screen. You and Andrei watched as they disappeared and a text popped up in its place: I’m sorry about Braden. He just needs the night to calm down/process.

You swallowed before typing back: I get it and the elevator doors opened on Andrei’s floor.

The grey dots appeared again when you were settled on top of the bed, Andrei’s arms wrapped around you, and the next text read: We have a private plane leaving at 2PM from Raleigh. Be at the airport at noon.

Followed quickly by another one: And bring Andrei with you.

You looked at your boyfriend. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to. I’ve got to face him at some point, and besides, we should tell him together. Properly, I mean.”

You smiled for the first time since you saw Braden outside the locker room. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you, my love.” Andrei gently kissed you on the lips before pulling away and saying, “You should answer her.”

“Oh, right.” You typed out the text and sent it—We’ll be there—before realizing something. “Shit. My carry-on is with the Caps’ bags!”

You hurriedly texted Brandi, and she quickly replied: Don’t worry; I have it. You’re good with the clothes you have on, right?

You cringed. “This is not good.”

Andrei leaned over to read the text. “What do you mean…? Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. I’m wearing your shirsey!”

“You can borrow one of my other shirts.”

“Do you own any non-Hurricanes related clothing?”

“Of course I do!” Andrei huffed.

“Wait, let me rephrase that: do you have any shirts not related to hockey in general?”

This time, Andrei paused. “I do…somewhere.”

“It’s all right, we’ll worry about it in the morning. I just really want to go to sleep.”

Andrei got up off the bed and went over to his drawers while you texted Brandi to say good night. He pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a Hurricanes t-shirt for you to wear and tossed them to you. You smiled and went into the bathroom to change.

When you came back out, Andrei was already tucked into bed, and he was shirtless.

“Come here, babe.” He held out his arms to you, and you collapsed in the bed next to him. “I’m really behind on laundry, so I don’t have another clean shirt. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, babe.” A moment of silence passed before you continued: “You were right, you know. I should’ve told him earlier. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, Y/N. I get where you were coming from.” He kissed your cheek and you snuggled further into his arms. Before you could fall asleep, though, he added: “A private plane, though? Really?”

You chuckled. “Leading your team to a Stanley Cup has its perks. Not that he uses them often; leave that to Ovi.”

You could feel the vibrations of Andrei’s laughter as he pulled you even closer to him than before.

***************

You were so tense on the drive to the airport, not even Andrei’s bad jokes could make you smile.

Brandi texted you earlier that morning, telling you Braden was still in a bad mood but that she expected him to forgive you. You weren’t so sure he would. He had never acted like this before, and you were scared you ruined your relationship with your brother.

Your stomach churned as you and Andrei walked up to the terminal entrance.

“Are you okay?” Concern was written all over his face.

“No. But there’s no turning back now,” you said and grabbed Andrei’s hand as you walked through the doors.

Brandi and your brother were waiting on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Bray,” you said, trying to sound as casual as you could. “I—”

“How long?” Braden cut you off.

You gulped. “Almost five months.”

“Five months.” The last part came out like a whisper, so he cleared his throat before continuing. “Wow, okay. Look, I’m sorry about last night. I should never have left you in the arena like that. But I was really upset, and I still am.”

There was a terrible silence before Andrei blurted out: “I’m the one who insisted we keep it from you. Don’t blame her; it’s all on me.”

Braden regarded him for a moment. “I know for a fact that’s not true, but I like that you’re defending my sister. If you don’t mind, though, can I talk to her alone for a moment?”

“Sure, I’ll just—”

“You don’t need to leave, we’ll talk over there.” Braden pointed at the big windows, and you followed him.

“Y/N, I want you to know that I’m not mad about you dating Andrei. I mean, it upset me at first, but it’s because so many changes have happened: you went off to college, and now you have a boyfriend…but I’m over it now. You have to live your life.” He cleared his throat. “There is one thing, though: I’m hurt that you felt you couldn’t tell me. Why did you feel that way?”

You felt a tear fall down your cheek. “I didn’t want to disappoint you.”

“Why would I be disappointed?”

“Andrei plays for one of your biggest rivals.”

Braden scoffed. “I couldn’t care less about that. I care about the way he treats you, and from what I’ve seen so far, he’s good to you. I think he might even love you.”

You blushed. “I think I might love him, too.”

“Then that’s all that matters. Nothing could ever make me stop loving you, Y/N.” Braden wrapped his arms around you and hugged you tight. You held on as if he were going to disappear.

“I love you too, Bray.”

You pulled away from the hug, only to find Andrei and Brandi standing right behind you.

“Are you guys good?” Brandi asked.

“We’re good.” You smiled.

“Thank God, I don’t ever want to see you two fight again.” She came over and hugged you.

“As for you, Andrei,” Braden turned his attention to your boyfriend. “Just because I live in Virginia doesn’t mean I won’t come down here and kick your ass if you hurt my sister.”

“I wouldn’t dream of hurting her.”

“Good. Now I know you’re an adult,” he shifted his attention back to you, “but promise me you’ll stay in the dorms on weeknights and not take your focus off your studies. You’ve worked so hard to get here, and you’re going to graduate from college.”

“Yes, Dad,” you joked.

“Okay, I think we’ve covered everything. I’ll give you two a moment.” Braden grabbed Brandi’s hand and walked over to the ticketing counter.

“I’m so glad it went well,” you said.

“I knew it would: he’s just protective of you.”

You wrapped your arms around your boyfriend. “Thanks for coming with me.”

“Anytime. When do you come back?”

“Nine days.”

“Ugh, it feels so far away,” he whined, and you laughed.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” You leaned in and kissed him.

“Ahem! No PDA around me!” Braden shouted, and you and Andrei pulled away from each other laughing.

“Call me when you land?”

“I will. See you soon.” You kissed Andrei on the cheek before joining Braden and Brandi at the ticketing counter to go back home.

[foryouandbits]

ASG

Based off this post of a headcanon of Bitty beating out the other skaters at the All-Star Game without even being in the league. 

Read on AO3.

Early in the morning on the first of January, Jack Zimmermann was asleep in his bed with his boyfriend on his chest. Bitty had returned early from Georgia to spend the last few days of his winter break in Providence. They had hoped to ring in the new year together, but Jack had an away game and was in the air as 2016 turned to 2017. It was fine; that was the sacrifice they made so Jack could play professional hockey. A phone buzzed. Jack felt Bitty stir but neither of them woke. A second buzz was enough to fully wake Jack, who opened his eyes and looked over at the nightstand. It was still much too early. It was a holiday and he had the day off. While he wasn't planning on sleeping in, he was planning on a lazy morning in bed with Bitty. Usually early morning texts meant he was needed somewhere, and at the moment he was needed there in his bed with Bitty. The phone buzzed again. "You should look at those," murmured Bitty. "Mmm, no," said Jack, who wrapped his arm around Bitty, catching the cool print of his number on the back of Bitty's Providence Falconers shirsey. It wasn't a pleasant feeling on his fingertips, so he slipped his hand under the hem of the shirt to touch Bitty's skin instead. That was much better and it made Bitty sigh in the way he did when something felt good. Much to Jack's chagrin, Bitty lifted his head and took the phone from the nightstand. He quickly sat up. "What?" Jack asked, finally opening his eyes. Bitty's hair was mussed and stuck up more than just the usual cowlick at the crown of his head. His eyes were heavy and dark; he'd waited up for Jack to arrive home before they both fell into bed around two-thirty in the morning. Jack stared at him anyway as Bitty's expression lightened and his mouth turned into a broad smile. "What?" Jack asked again. "You've been selected for the All-Star Game," said Bitty, turning the phone toward Jack. 

The phone displayed three notifications, all texts from George Martin: George Guess what? George Just got the call George You've been selected to the ASG this year! Jack rubbed at his eyes. It was much too early and they'd gone to bed much too late. "What?" he said again, but when he opened his eyes the notifications were still there, and George had texted again. George Up and at 'em, Jack. I need to confirm that you're in. Jack took the phone from Bitty and unlocked it so he could stare at the texts without the display dimming. He must have still been dreaming, or perhaps he was hallucinating, because this was ridiculous. This was his second season. It was entirely too early for him to be considered an All-Star. "You okay, sweetpea?" Bitty asked. He'd placed a hand on Jack's bare skin, on the six inches between the waist of his boxers and the hem of his rucked-up T-shirt. Jack frowned as he continued to look at the texts. His gaze flickered to Bitty, who was still smiling at him. Bitty took the phone out of his hands, put it on the nightstand, and then straddled Jack's hips, both of his hands on Jack's skin now as his beaming smile morphed into a smirk, something much too sexy for this early in the morning. "It's legit, honey," said Bitty, as if reading Jack's mind. "They want you on the All-Star team." "But…why?" Jack asked. "Because you are a star, Mister Zimmermann," said Bitty, and he leaned forward for a brief kiss before he returned upright. "You are a Stanley Cup champion. You are a Conn Smythe winner. You are an alternate captain —" "Alternate captain," Jack clarified. "Which you were named in your rookie year. I would not at all be surprised if you were chosen as the captain captain when the time comes to name one." Jack continued to frown, but Bitty looked so enticing, straddling his hips, touching his skin, grinning at him, and pointing out accomplishments as if they meant something. They did mean something, because Bitty had never doled out compliments for no reason. Not to Jack, not in their bed, not when they were alone. "Will you come with me?" Jack asked when he finally put his hands underneath Bitty's shirt. "To the ASG?" Bitty asked in surprise. "I… I don't know." "Guys usually bring their families," said Jack, running his hand up Bitty's side to hopefully remove the surprise and bring back the desire. "Yeah, their kids. Not their WAGs." "You're not a WAG," said Jack. "This is true," said Bitty. "Come with me," repeated Jack and his hands reached Bitty's armpits, the shirt coming with them, so he continued up until the shirt was off Bitty's body and on the floor. Jack returned his hands to Bitty's skin and slid them down to the waistband of his small sleep shorts, the kind he always wore to bed with Jack, because Jack liked them. At the present, Jack just wanted them gone. Bitty bent forward and gave Jack a deep kiss, allowing Jack to pull him down so their bodies were flush together. The phone buzzed again on the nightstand. They both ignored it. *** The 2017 All-Star Game took place in Los Angeles the last weekend of January. Jack flew in alone on Friday night. The opening dinner and after party were boring, so he schmoozed for the shortest amount of time possible and went to bed early. Bitty would be flying in on Saturday while Jack was in the press junket, but had to leave again right away in the morning to be back at Samwell in time for his game on Sunday afternoon. With the skills competition taking up most of the evening, Jack was disappointed that he'd only get a few hours alone with his boyfriend in the warmth of southern California before they both returned to the frigid Northeast. Jack was pacing in his hotel room, dressed in his suit, his eyes on the clock. Bitty was stuck in horrendous LA traffic and Jack needed to leave so he wasn't late. For some reason the All-Star Game included a red carpet, which he felt was both ridiculous and unnecessary. This was his first appearance at the ASG, and it might be his last if he missed the red carpet because he wanted to see his boyfriend. Savannah, the Falconers' Director of PR, sat in the armchair, her legs crossed, her hand to her temple, her eyes on the clock. "Jack, we've got to go." "Just another minute, he said they were almost here," said Jack, but he continued to pace in front of the king sized bed. "You can see him at the arena. People are already on the red carpet. If we don't leave now you're going to miss it, and I know there are fans waiting to see you." Jack groaned and finally sat on the bed when a loud knock sounded on the door. He jumped up just as quickly and ran to the door, which he opened to reveal Bitty with his carry-on suitcase, looking frazzled and annoyed. "Hi, sweetie. I am so sorry. I've heard that traffic in LA is bad but holy moly is it bad." "That's okay," said Jack, who paused at the door to give Bitty a kiss before he took the suitcase and brought it into the room. Savannah was on her feet. "Hi Bitty," she said. "We've got to get going. Are you riding in the car with us?" "Oh!" said Bitty and he looked at Jack. "Am I?" "Yes," said Jack. "Is that what you're wearing?" Savannah asked. Bitty looked down at himself. He was wearing jeans and his Samwell jersey. "Oh, sorry," he said. "There was a captains event right before my flight. I never changed. I can put on something else…" "No time," said Savannah. "Let's go." Savannah rushed them into the elevator and downstairs to the waiting black SUV. Savannah ushered Jack and Bitty into the back seat, and then she took the front. Once in the car, Jack relaxed, his hand in Bitty's, looking at his boyfriend rather than the road. "I'm glad you could come," said Jack, his head against the headrest as he looked at Bitty, who smiled happily at him. "I wouldn't miss this for the world," said Bitty, and he brought Jack's hand to his mouth to kiss the back of it. "Are you nervous? Jack had completely forgotten that he was about to compete with forty-three of the best players in the league. He was one of the forty-four best players in the league. So far the weekend had a very laid back air about it, but even so, he wanted to do well. He could just imagine making a fool out of himself in the fastest skater competition. He already didn't think he belonged there. George had been the one to tell him about it, and he stared at her after she said it, just like he'd stared at the text that brought him here. He figured he'd be asked to compete in the accuracy challenge, or maybe the hardest shot, but George said he was one of the two selections from the Metropolitan division as the fastest skater. It made no sense. He and Bitty had just gone skating in Madison, and Bitty had just smoked him on a lap around the rink. Jack was not a fast skater. "You are, though," said George when Jack vocalized this. "The challenges are head-to-head between divisions. They specifically nominated you for this one, and honestly, Jack, I'd put money on you to win." Jack was nervous, actually, but with Bitty next to him, it wasn't so bad. He kissed Bitty instead of replying to him, and Bitty blushed as he glanced at the front of the car. It had been seven months since they kissed at center ice in front of an audience of millions, but even so, Bitty still looked around whenever Jack kissed him in front of people he didn't know. Jack rubbed his thumb over Bitty's knuckles and Bitty relaxed. "Where am I sitting?" Bitty asked. "Good question," said Jack. He looked toward the front. "Savannah, where is Bitty sitting?" "There's a WAG section at press level," said Savannah. "Bitty's not a WAG," said Jack. "WAG and boyfriend section," said Savannah tersely. Jack rolled his eyes; Savannah's team had tried to come up with an inclusive acronym that wasn't "wives and girlfriends and I guess also boyfriends and maybe husbands someday," and so far no one had come up with anything catchy enough to stick. Every time events came up that included family, it was still just WAGs with an afterthought of "and Bitty too." It was frustrating, but fortunately it was the only frustrating part of being out in a league notorious for its homophobia. The red carpet was mostly fans, but there was a line of photographers that snapped pictures of him after he got out of the car and headed toward the arena. A camera followed him to the halfway point of the carpet and then hastily returned to the street to welcome the next player. Jack waved at fans, some of whom held rainbow flags with the Providence Falconers' logo on it. He stopped for autographs, focusing on children in Falconers gear, and then waved and continued inside. There were cameras in here as well, but it was much quieter. To his surprise, Bitty stepped up next to him. Savannah was just a few feet behind; they must have both exited the car as well but kept their distance until they entered the arena. "Oh, hi," said Jack. "You want to come with me while I get my gear on?" "Okay," said Bitty, although he eyed a nearby camera warily. It was crowded in the dressing room. Jack's gear was already waiting in a stall on the Metropolitan side, but they shared the dressing room with the Atlantic division so there were really no fewer guys than normal in the room, and almost everyone had an entourage. There was a camera and a reporter from every major network. It was fortunate Bitty was small; he and Jack squeezed together in Jack's stall as Jack began to change clothes. Jack had just half his gear on when he realized Savannah was gone. He looked around; someone from the Atlantic division was lacing up skates for his son, who clearly was meant to come out on the ice with him. Jack looked at Bitty. "You want to come on the ice with me?" he asked. Bitty's eyes widened. "Ooh, I don't know, Jack. I don't think I'm allowed." "Why not? I bet I could get gear for you in a snap. You're already wearing your jersey." "Gear? Jack, don't be ridiculous. I'll stay with you until you need to go on the ice and then I'll go to the WAG section." "You mean the WAG and Bitty section," Jack said darkly and Bitty frowned. Jack sent off a text and by the time Jack was putting on his jersey, an equipment manager appeared with a full set of gear in Bitty's size, including skates. 

Bitty shot Jack a look. "Are you serious?" Bitty asked. Jack smiled at him and stood to give Bitty room to change. Bitty looked around, but no one was paying attention to him, so he began to untie his shoes. The blue Falconers shorts didn't match his red and white Samwell jersey, but the skates fit, and when Bitty joined Jack on the ice after the opening ceremony, no one questioned his presence although several people requested an introduction.

"Hi, hi, oh my goodness hi," Bitty repeated as he shook hands with the current legends of hockey, his eyes wide and his smile immovable. Jack introduced him as "my boyfriend" and relished in the full feeling in his chest whenever he was able to do so, despite the cameras recording all of them for national broadcast, despite the eighteen thousand fans in attendance. He'd been so afraid of this for so long, ever since juniors, but there he stood with his boyfriend, and not a single person detracted from his happiness. During the first challenge, a four-man relay involving passing, puck control, stick-handling, and goalie goals, Shea Weber from the Canadiens had a five-minute conversation with Bitty about college hockey, which Shea bypassed by going directly from juniors to the NHL.

Bitty was still speaking with Shea when the next event began, a four line challenge that Jack would be participating in. Jack took hold of the stick that Bitty had been leaning on. "Oh, is it your turn already?" Bitty asked.

"Just for a group challenge. The fastest skater challenge is later."

"Good luck, sweetie," said Bitty as he handed over the stick, and he returned to his conversation. Jack joined his group of skaters at the center line. He would be part of the second group to go, and he began to feel nervous as he knelt on one knee, watching the first group as they set up at the blue line, aiming at the net that was mostly blocked apart from four very small openings. It looked ridiculously difficult but after the first group of players went and only one person actually scored a point, the pressure seemed to ease off. None of this really mattered and from the look of it, scoring even once seemed nearly impossible.

The first player in his group, Erik Karlsson, failed at getting both shots in the net. A referee turned to Jack and signaled that he take his place. He approached the center red line and let out a big breath. The audience seemed more chatty than cheery, but he heard a few screams when he set up and most audibly a shout from Bitty: "Show 'em how it's done, Jack!"

He juggled a puck on his stick and looked toward the net. There were holes in the upper corners and lower corners and while the uppers were larger and worth more points, Jack knew the chance of getting something in one of them was steep compared to just shooting along the ice into the lower corners. He had two chances so he decided to try for an upper on his first shot, but the puck smacked into the barrier rather than into the net, so he decided that attempting another in that direction was too risky. He took the other puck on his stick and Bitty shouted again, "You've got this!" He aimed for the lower right corner of the net, keeping the puck along the ice, and held his breath as it sailed forward. It hit the post but plinked in, and Jack pumped his fist as the crowd roared and Bitty wooed.

Smiling, Jack returned to the side of the ice and received fist bumps the two remaining members of the Metropolitan division. At the end of the challenge Jack was only one of four players who'd managed to net a puck, but Mike Smith, the goalie from the Arizona Coyotes, shot one in from his own goal line and as a result earned the Pacific division thirty points, so Jack's singular point made no difference. He skated across the rink back to Bitty, who beamed at him. "That was awesome, sweetie," he said and grabbed hold of Jack's arm in sort of a hug before he quickly let go. 

"This is too much pressure," said Jack, which caused Bitty to roll his eyes. "I think you should do the next one for me."

"Me?" Bitty asked, scandalized. "Jack, this is your competition, not mine."

"I'm not fast enough. You do it."

Bitty rolled his eyes again, but after the accuracy challenge, Jack took Bitty's hand and dragged him across the ice with him. "Jack, seriously, I'm not in the NHL. I'm not allowed to do this." Jack pushed Bitty toward Nikita Kucherov, who gave Bitty a strange look, but didn't say anything as Jack knelt with them. There wasn't a lot of time for Bitty to protest, however, as the TV feed returned from commercial and Kucherov stood. The camera focused on him but then as the in-arena announcement stated, "First in the Fastest Skater Challenge, Nikita Kucherov from the Tampa Bay Lightning against Jack Zimmermann from the Providence Falconers," Jack pushed Bitty. Bitty stood and the camera moved to him rather than Jack. Bitty smiled shyly and waved.

Jack looked across the rink at the press box located between the two team benches. Kent Parson, who'd been injured the previous week and thus wouldn't compete, stood next to an announcer with a headset on. Jack couldn't help a smile; they'd grabbed a few players to commentate during the challenges, and of course Parse would be asked for this one since he'd won it the year before. Parse looked impassively at Bitty, but Jack knew his face well enough to know that Parse was stifling a scowl. As Bitty and Kucherov were directed to the starting line by a referee, the rinkside announcer, Scott Oake, quickly snatched Jack from the ice and handed him a headset. As soon as he put the headset on, he could hear Parse speaking.

"...like Jack found a substitute," Parse was saying.

"Jack," asked Scott, "who's this you've got taking your place?"

"This is Eric Bittle, my boyfriend," said Jack, and then there it was, the first hesitation. There was no way Scott didn't know Jack had a boyfriend, or hadn't made the connection, but it was clear he hadn't expected Jack to be so bold on national television.

"What jersey is he wearing tonight?" Scott asked after a significant pause.

"That would be his. He's the captain of the hockey team at Samwell University in Boston. And he's very fast, so I'm expecting him to win this heat," said Jack. He looked at the ice and Bitty stood at the blue line, Jack's stick in his hand, his eyes on the referee. The referee blew a whistle and Bitty bolted forward, the crowd cheering him on but Jack watching silently, enthralled by his speed and his grace. Bitty might have been the reason Jack could even be considered for this sort of challenge, but there was no question Jack would rather watch Bitty go than compete on his own. Kucherov wasn't far behind, but he was behind, and as they rounded the second turn and headed back to the original blue line to finish, the tip of Jack's stick crossed first. Jack looked up at the time: thirteen seconds even, as opposed to Kucherov's time of 13.16 seconds.

"Nice," Jack said.

"Eric Bittle has beaten the winning score from last year's competition of 13.172 seconds. Kent, how do you feel about Eric breaking your record?" asked a different announcer across the rink.

"That doesn't count," said Parse. "He doesn't even go here."

Jack laughed, and Parse did too, although Jack recognized his fake media laugh even through a headset and eighteen thousand cheering fans. Bitty skated over to Jack and he said, "Good job, bud," as Bitty approached. Bitty stopped next to him and Scott held out his microphone.

"That was an impressive time," Scott said. Bitty had to lean in to hear over the cheering. "Is this something you practiced coming in to tonight?"

"This is a drill I'm familiar with back at Samwell," said Bitty, slightly out of breath as he gestured to the setup of the rink, which was split in half with three cones marking the turns at the faceoff dots near the goal line. "I'm usually not racing against someone, though. That made it more fun."

"Well congratulations on winning the first heat. Let's see how the rest goes."

Jack kept his headset on the rest of the challenge, which was awkward. Bitty had just beat an NHL player in a lap around the rink, and while it didn't surprise Jack, it definitely turned him on, and he very much wanted to congratulate Bitty without a microphone next to his mouth and a camera in his face. Bitty stood with him, eventually regaining his breath, but as the next set of players raced, neither met his time. "Oh dear," said Bitty when he looked at the scoreboard. Jack's name remained on the display, Bitty's time next to it. The third set of players raced, and again neither beat Bitty's time, but the final heat contained Connor McDavid, who was well-known for his speed. Jack felt his heartbeat tick up as McDavid took the line. If anyone was going to beat Bitty's time it was him, but just over thirteen seconds later, Jack was looking at the scoreboard for the result, and he said a loud, "NICE!" when Connor McDavid's score posted just below Bitty's name, with a time of 13.02 seconds.

"Oh hey!" said Bitty, smiling brightly although his face was beet red. "Do I win something?"

"Every challenge winner gets $25,000," said Scott and Bitty's eyes glazed over in shock as he looked at Jack. 

Jack couldn't stop grinning.

***

"You were so good, Bits," said Jack that evening back in the hotel room, Bitty still in his Samwell jersey per Jack's request, Jack still in his dress shirt and slacks per Bitty's request. They'd settled onto the bed but Jack couldn't keep his hands off Bitty's body, looking him up and down as he remembered the cheering of the crowd, the wind through Bitty's hair, Bitty's stick crossing the blue line an entire foot before Kucherov's. "Nobody else was even close."

"Connor McDavid was close," said Bitty.

"Barely."

"It was two hundredths of a second!"

"It was miles," said Jack and he put his face into Bitty's neck, kissing his sensitive skin there. Bitty squirmed. Jack lowered his hand from underneath Bitty's jersey to the back of his jeans, gripping his butt through the denim, which caused Bitty to squirm again. It was exactly what Jack wanted. Jack began to suck at the skin beneath Bitty's ear, but this time he squirmed too much and pulled away.

"Stop it, sweetpea, I've got a game tomorrow."

"But you taste good," whispered Jack into Bitty's ear. Bitty turned his head and caught Jack's mouth, and they kissed for what felt like hours only to be interrupted by the buzz of Jack's phone. Bitty pulled away and groaned, his head turned toward it, but Jack put his hand on the side of Bitty's head to direct him back.

"What if it's important?" Bitty asked.

"Then they'll text again."

Unfortunately, that was what happened, and Jack's phone buzzed a second time. He groaned and reached over Bitty's alluring body, fully clothed in his jeans and jersey, to the nightstand where his phone charged. He looked at it. George again.

George What time is Bitty’s game tomorrow?  George I’ve got four scouts blowing up my phone 

Jack stared at the message, an internal debate raging in his mind. George could have easily looked up the time of the Samwell game, as could the scouts, but she wasn't asking for information. She was asking for approval. Bitty in the NHL would be amazing; he'd always thought Bitty was a world-class player who elevated the game of those around him while still holding his own, but if Bitty wasn't on the Falconers, Jack would spend three fourths of every year away from him. At least now Bitty could pop in during the weekend, or just for a night if he didn't have an early class. There would be significantly less of that if Bitty were in the league as well.

This, however, wasn't Jack's decision. He showed his screen to Bitty for him to decide. Bitty took hold of the phone and stared at it, and as he did his eyes filled with tears that he successfully prevented from spilling over. "Really?" Bitty asked as he looked at Jack.

"Looks real to me," said Jack. "What do you think?"

"I... that would be wonderful," said Bitty immediately, which caused Jack's heart to sink. Four scouts blowing up George's phone didn't include the Falconers' too, otherwise George would have mentioned it. Bitty returned the phone and Jack put it back on the nightstand without responding. Bitty wiped at his eyes and when he took his his hands away from his face, he looked less wistful and more grounded. "It would be wonderful, but that's so much, Jack. What if I ended up in Florida or Texas or all the way in Vancouver? I'd never see you."

"This isn't about me," said Jack. "What do you want?"

Bitty was silent for a long time, looking away from Jack and up at the plain white ceiling. Jack lay on the pillow next to Bitty and held him loosely around the waist, but didn't speak and didn't nudge until Bitty looked back at him. "I love hockey," said Bitty. "I really do."

"But?" Jack asked, vocalizing what Bitty didn't.

"But I don't love it like you do. I don't think this is my life."

"You don't have to decide right now. We can get you an agent, see if you get any offers..." 

Bitty shook his head decidedly. "No. Even if I was guaranteed to play with you, I can't. This isn't what I want."

"Are you sure?" Jack asked.

Bitty nodded, but the tears were back in his eyes. "Oh my God,"  he said. "Oh my God, I just said no to the NHL."

"It's not what you want," said Jack quietly, and he rubbed Bitty's stomach gently. "What do you want?"

Bitty lifted his head. "Well, I just won myself a little nest egg," he said. "I think we should get serious about the bakery. What was that place you saw the other day on your run?"

"It's a nice location. It's a busy street but there's enough parking," said Jack.

"I think we should do it," said Bitty. "I think I should do it."

"If that's what you want," said Jack, and Bitty smiled.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's what I want," he said. "But you know what I want first?"

"What?"

Bitty kissed him again and let Jack roll him onto his back. "Thank God," said Jack as he tugged up the hem of Bitty's jersey. "I wanted to fuck you as soon as you crossed the finish line."

Bitty grinned. "You should have."

"I should have," said Jack. He removed Bitty's jersey and then kissed him again.

***

Jack Thank you, but he’s not interested Jack But you can tell Parse if he wants a rematch, he can eat Bitty’s dust at Faber

[hockeybabestars]

New Year, Same Us - Auston Matthews - Five

a/n: me - says i’ll post immediately, also me - gets hella distracted. 

March 1, 2018

The hole in the wall coffee shop was Austons’ idea. It had just opened up in a quaint area of town and he decided he desperately needed a pick-me-up after a brutal practice. 

“Babs is in overdrive. It’s prime time all the time.” He looked exhausted, sprawled out over the sofa, hockey bag and shoes strewn out in the foyer. I sat down next to him, laughing at his over dramatic nature. He lifted his head up and scooted so it was laying in my lap, my fingers going through his hair on their own accord, the strands still partly wet from his shower. “Sounds like you busted your ass today then?”

“Practice keeps getting worse. I know it’s a month till playoffs and best hockey and all that but it feels like we’re pushing harder and harder and nothing’s happening. It’s just brutal.” He sighed, looking up at me.

“If you guys are working that hard and he’s pushing you that hard then something has to come out of it. You’re probably stressed and need to take your mind off of everything. Let's go do something.”

He sat up, “like what?”

“I don’t know what's gonna relax you?”

“Uh, I know that new coffee place you’ve been talking about just opened if you wanna try that.”

 I got up grabbing my keys, “sounds good, let’s do it.”

“Right now?” He raised a brow, following me out the door, trying to step over all his equipment without tripping. 

“Yup. You’re putting your shit up when we get back by the way.”

He chuckled as we stepped into the elevator, saluting me, “sir yes sir.”

“And I’m driving.”

“Uhh no you’re not.” 

“Okay fine.” I stepped out of the elevator. Waiting until I got to the door of the parking garage to go into a sprint. I figure if he really is tired he won’t try to fight me on it, and if he isn’t then we have ourselves a challenge. “First one to the car gets to drive!” 

“Oh you’re on!” My head start gave me a decent lead but he was catching up pretty quick. The car was on the second level, and we had just made it up the stairs. I still somehow preserved my lead, and as I made it to the drivers side door, he was right behind me, boxing me in so I couldn’t move.

“Ya know, for someone who just had a brutal practice you don’t seem tired.” My eyebrow quirked up and he just laughed as I caught my breath, his arms on either side of me and palms flat against the car. He looked fucking perfect for starters, and not at all like he sprinted and climbed the damn stairs. He wasn’t even breathing hard for Christ's sake. 

“And for someone who hates running you just sprinted your little heart out.” He teased. I scrunch my nose in distaste as he laughed. I turned around, unlocking the car and booting him to the passenger seat. We climbed in and I started the engine, smirking,“we all have our days Aus.”

Auston held the door open for me as we walked into the shop and the smell of the coffee grounds immediately overtook my senses. I could tell I was about to get some good quality coffee. The aesthetic was cute, white tile flooring and marble countertops with black and wooden accents. But it was the menu that caught my eye. Pastries galore and some pretty interesting coffee orders. I figured I would go pretty basic with a vanilla latte, and Auston just ordered a black coffee. The barista seemed a little bit in shock as he placed his order, but we ended up with two coffees that said my name on them.

It wasn’t too busy so Aus found a place to sit fairly easy, and as we sat down I could see him visibly relax.

“This place is cute.” I said leaning back in the brown leather armchair across from him. The gold coffee table between us added a nice touch to the decor and I took mental notes that I could bring back to our apartment. A year of living there and it was still blank. My room was somewhat put together but the rest of the tiny space resembled Aus’ room and that was just a no go. Mostly blank walls and necessity furniture. It was about time to do something with it.

“Kinda your aesthetic don’t ya think?” His legs were so long with him leaned back in his chair. They easily closed the small gap between us, playing footsie with me while we waited for our order to be called. 

“Yeah very. Think we should decorate the living room kinda like this?” He looked at me with a weird glint in his eyes. “Aus?”

He cleared his throat, “uh, yeah. I think it would look good, with less… uh, blankness. In there.”

I smiled looking up at him, “okay good. let's go get some stuff after we’re done.”

“Sounds good.” He smiled back.

“Okay but you can’t let me get lost in Home Goods, I can and I will go ham in-“ he laughed as the barista interrupted, “Order for (Y/N), vanilla latte and a black coffee.” 

“I’m serious.” I looked back to him as I got up and went to grab our drinks. I thanked the barista and headed back as I saw a young girl talking to Auston. She had to be a big leafs fan seeing as she was wearing Austons shirsey and couldn’t have been more than 11 or 12. Her mom sat at the table behind us, leaning over her chair to talk to Auston. He looked happy, chatting to them as he signed the spot in his number on the back of her shirt.

I sat down introducing myself and handing him his drink.

“Thanks,” he gripped it smiling and took a sip, “you’re the best.”

The girl and her mom both looked at me adoringly. If they only knew.

The mom started asking him about his season and how happy she was that he was a leaf. While the girl, whose name was Jess, turned to me. “(Y/N) can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.” 

“Is Auston your boyfriend?” She beamed.

I froze, glancing at him and hoping he didn’t hear her accusation. He seemed preoccupied and I was relieved.  “No, he’s just my best friend. Do you have one of those friends you tell everything to?” I diverted hoping she would take the bait.

“Yeah! Her name’s Molly! We’ve been best friends since kindergarten.” She stated matter of factly.

“I love that.” I say sincerely, “Auston has been my best friend since kindergarten too. We grew up together.”

She looked at him and then back to me, “Are you sure you guys aren’t together?? He looks at you like you’re his favorite person in the entire world.” The intuition of a 12 year old yeesh. Wasn’t expecting to get grilled on my feelings at a coffee shop.

I chuckled, my hands starting to get clammy as I sipped on my drink, “we’re not together, but uh I’m not sure about that.”

“Sure about what?” Auston asked. Damn him. Twice.

“She’s not sure that she’s your favorite person!” Jess blabbed.

My eyes went wide and I was about to defend myself before Auston cut me off.

“What does she mean she doesn’t know?” He said playfully when answering her, almost smirking to spite me. But when his eyes landed on me they went soft, “of course she’s my favorite person.”

“In the entire world?” Jess asked hopeful, thinking she might get the answer she was looking for.

“I don’t know about the entire world….” he trailed off laughing when I playfully kicked him, hoping to neglect some of the embarrassment I felt off myself. But he smiled softly at her, still somewhat joking, “Yeah, in the entire world.” He guessed and smiled beaming his pearly whites, like he expected me to be proud or something. 

I jokingly scoffed under my breath, “don’t let your mom hear you say that.” He laughed.

They had to leave as they had errands to run and Jess gave me a hug, “you guys are so lucky to have each other. I want what you have when I grow up.” She smiled. And as much as she embarrassed me, I felt like I had at least gotten somewhere with where we stood. I had never thought in a million years I was his favorite person in the world. Even if he was mine. I was expecting his mom, sisters, maybe Mitch and the boys, and a long list of other people first. But not me. And not the favorite. 

The warm feeling in my chest faded as I realized I definitely had some ammo now. 

As we settled into our seats again, sipping our drinks, I looked at him with wide smirk gracing my features.

“What?” 

“Oh nothing. Just didn’t realize I was your favorite person in the entire world.” I teased and his cheeks tinged pink. He leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees.

“You got a problem with that?” He quipped. I wasn’t expecting such a serious response from my pestering and the thumping of my heart slowed a little. “Not at all.”

The corners of his mouth turned up and then the teasing, smirking, son of a bitch everyone knew and I loved came back, “so that definitely means that I’m your favorite person too.” He finished his drink, standing up and holding his hand out to me.

I stared at it for a second, and then at him, “who said anything about that?” 

“You when you confirmed you didn’t have a problem with it, now take my hand woman.” He emphasized his outstretched hand again and this time I took it, enjoying the warmth as it entwined with mine.

I took a leap of faith, “you’re right.” We threw our drinks away and he looked back at me playfully questioning, “I am? That’s a first.” I tilted my head back laughing.

“You’re right about that too.” I said handing him the keys and then pouting, “Can we go to Home Goods now?” 

[leafsgrandpa]

i’m SCREAMING we called the chipotle and asked if shirseys count and they DID so we just used ALL my leafs shirts and i literally have like five so i gave them to all my friends and we ALL got the BOGO deal. there was however a brief moment of panic where the chipotle server turned out to be a habs fan of all fucking things but she said it to my friends who don’t watch hockey but were wearing my shirts so they all turned to me like 😰😰😰

[bellemareyouserious]

Hey, Jealousy

Hey, Jealousy- Auston Matthews 

Description: Moving to Toronto to work for the Maple Leafs was terrifying- until you landed Auston Matthews as a boyfriend. Your first fight with Auston is about jealousy- he’s jealous of your male best friend. You decide to elicit some jealousy yourself, by wearing William Nylander’s jersey and flirting relentlessly

Warnings: SMUTTTT, swearing, fighting

Word Count: 2,531

Author’s Note: Y’ALL it’s my first but certainly not last Auston Matthews smut! I had so much fun writing this. I don’t have any more specific players in mind for my next story, so PLEASE send me requests! I hope you guys love it, leave me feedback if you’d like! 

6 months ago:

 This was it; you were giving up your normal life in a small town to make it big in Toronto. You had dropped everything to work in the front office for the Toronto Maple Leafs, a job you were dreaming of since you were a kid. You always watched hockey with your parents and brothers growing up and the Maple Leafs were your #1. Upon joining the team, you got to meet everyone, including all of the players. You were the youngest staff member in team history (which was super intimidating on its own) and you were all alone in the big city.

 When you met all the players, everyone was impossibly nice and supportive. A few of them even said it was “badass” that such a young person was part of the staff. A handful of players stuck around and offered to show you around the city, since it was still offseason. Mostly the younger ones. But it was Auston Matthews who immediately caught your eye. He was hot as fuck, not in an obvious way, and his body was bangin. You could’ve sworn you saw him staring at you a few times, and then looking away whenever you caught him. All the guys were flirting with you that night but he was so sweet with you, pointing out all of his favorite landmarks and telling you stories of the team and memories him and his family have made here since he got drafted. You two just naturally clicked in a way that you had never felt before.

 At the end of the night, the team had said their goodbyes, but Auston stayed behind to walk you to your door and say good night. He also asked you to go on a date with him and see where it went. You weren’t supposed to get involved with anyone you worked with, but you thought ‘fuck it’ and said yes.

 Present day:

 “I just don’t get why you’re so jealous all of the sudden! It makes no sense, Auston!” you ripped your hands through your hair, screaming at him. This was your first big fight and it was so stupid.

 “Because, y/n! You know I’m so busy by midseason, and here you are texting these other guys while I’m at work! You know I get jealous, we’ve discussed it plenty of times,” he huffed and started throwing shit around the apartment.

 “Aus, he’s been my best friend since we were kids! Why does it bother you so much?!” you were so incredibly done with this argument, but Auston kept bringing it up.

 “Because, I can’t know what you’re doing while I’m travelling all this time! Who knows, you might’ve even cheated on me with every guy in Toronto for all I know!” he snapped, which made you lose your shit.

 “You really think I’d go out and cheat on you?” tears were brimming your eyes, but suddenly it all turned to anger. “Get out of my apartment!!” you barked at him, and pointed towards the door. His temper had been out of control about this and you’d had enough.

 “Gladly! Call me when you’re ready to talk and not scream at me!” he slammed the door shut, and you suddenly lost it and started bawling. You couldn’t help but feel alone in this shitty situation, so you called up your best friend from the team, Willy Nylander. It sounded like he just woke up when he answered.

 “Hey, y/n, what’s up, are you okay?” he whispered in a gravelly tone.

 “Not really. I just threw Auston out of my apartment. I think we might be broken up,” you cried to him. “He got super jealous of my best friend from back home and then accused me of cheating on him with all of Toronto,” you bawled to Willy. He couldn’t help but feel bad for you.

 “Is there anything I can do, y/n? Besides convincing Auston that he shouldn’t be such a shit head,” he chuckled and that made you laugh, too.

 “Actually, yeah, can you get me one of your jerseys? I’d rather wear yours than his tomorrow at the game.”

 “Absolutely. Anything to get that kid’s head out of his ass and stop hurting my best friend,” he snickered. “I’m serious, though, let’s make him jealous. I love him, but he’s gotta realize what a fucking great girl he has. Wear my jersey tomorrow, and I’ll stare at you the whole time during warm ups. It’ll be great.”

 “I’m not so sure about that, Will. Do you think it’s a good idea to keep him angry?” you asked, biting your lip to keep the tears from flowing again,

 “Babe, trust me. I play with him. He’s always better when he’s angry.”

  It was a Saturday night game, which was always more hype than a weekday game since more people were off of work. The energy was absolutely buzzing. You couldn’t help but feel excited for the game, Leafs vs. Caps.

 Warm ups had just started when you found your permanent seat 2 rows behind the leafs bench. Willy nodded over and smiled and you gave a small wave to him. That’s when you caught Auston out of the corner of your eye. He looked irritated but nothing out of the usual for pregame. Willy came into the bench and summoned you to the tunnel to talk, so you obliged. You glanced to see if Auston was watching, and he was, glaring and biting his lip. Willy grabbed your hand and whispered, “Is he watching? He’s been in such a pissy mood all day. I’ll be happy when he’s over this,” he rolled his eyes but smiled after.

 “I really hope this works, Will. I can’t have him being even more mad at me,” you huffed, remembering his harsh words to you the night before.

 “Gotta go babe, make us win this one,” he said with a wink before going back to the ice.

 The game was going well, there was 13:43 left in the third period, and the leafs were up 3-0. Auston already had 3 points on the night. It made you excited but irritated that he looked right at you with a straight face after scoring his goal. He didn’t even look remotely happy about it.

 There was now 3:27 left in the third and it was tied 3-3, damn caps. Every time Auston came to the bench he looked at you- even if it was just a slight glance. You knew he was out of his mind about the fight. With 1:19 left in the game, he came to the bench and stared you down, and you mouthed “you got this” to him sweetly. He smiled slightly and nodded but watched the clock run out signaling overtime. He was so good in overtime, and you were hoping he would score just for you (even if he was an asshole sometimes).

 OT was counting down and there were some close calls on either end. You watched as Auston, Will, and Mo getting onto the ice for a shift at 1:47 left, and your heart was racing. A pass went out into the neutral zone and suddenly Will and Auston has a 2-on-1 and were passing back and forth when Auston sniped it and scored!!! The whole crowd jumped up and cheered the loudest you’ve ever heard, as Auston pointed right at you and you could see him mouth “Fuck yeah baby!” You didn’t want to admit it but you were ecstatic that it was him that scored the winning goal.

 You walked slowly down to the locker room, giving your brain time to think of what to say to him. Or not say to him. You were still pissed off at him, big time. But you couldn’t help but smile when you saw him point at you after his goal. You loved when he was so happy that he couldn’t contain his facial expressions. It’s what you lived for, basically. You got to the locker room and the security guard smiled at you as he opened the door for you, “Great game, eh, y/n?” he laughed and fist bumped you.

 “It was amazing! Can’t wait to see my boys,” you grinned. You walked in and a few guys high fived you and hugged you as you walked through to find Auston and Will. Will found you first and encircled you in a giant hug, swinging you around like a kid. You couldn’t help but laugh when he put you down. “I can’t believe you just did that,” you giggled. He just smiled and nodded over towards Auston. You knew you weren’t as mad anymore, but he might be. It’s always hard to tell with him.

 He looked up at you and gave you a small smile before pulling you onto his lap for a soft hug. He whispered in your ear, “I missed you so fucking much.”

 You giggled and whispered back, “Aus, it’s only been a day since you’ve seen me.”

 “I’m such a dick, y/n. I’m sorry. I was stressing about this game and I took it out on you.  I know you would never cheat on me. Forgive me?” he looked up at you with the saddest eyes, and you knew he was being sincere. You just shook your head and gave him a little punch on the shoulder and said, “Just don’t ever do that again, okay?”

 He looked down and smiled and nodded back to you. You lifted his chin up and gave him a soft kiss. “Let’s get home, y/n,” he yawned to you. You just chuckled and agreed, then waited as he got dressed.

 As soon as you got home, Auston dragged you into your bedroom and down onto the bed. He came up behind you and spooned you, getting comfortable.

 “Aus, you still have your suit on,” you laughed.

 “Yeah, and you still have that ugly jersey on,” he smirked into your neck and started kissing it, then biting and sucking it. “You know number 34 looks way better on you,” he breathed into your ear. You shuddered and turned to him and took off the Nylander jersey, revealing his shirsey underneath it. He laughed loudly and shook his head, “I knew you couldn’t resist me.” He pulled your face towards his aggressively and started his attack on your lips. His hands were at either side of your face, holding you to him as he kissed and licked at your mouth relentlessly. You couldn’t help but let out a small moan as you gripped his waist. You could feel him smirk against your mouth before pulling away and rid himself of his suit jacket and shirt. You move to the edge of the bed and undo his belt buckle and pull his pants down, licking your lips at the sight. You put your fist around his hard cock, pulling slowly to tease him. He moans and pushes you back on the bed, reaching down to take off your pants and shoes. He kisses his way back up to your mouth, making sure to kiss your clit over your panties tantalizingly slow. He pulls the bottom of your shirt up and over your head to reveal your bare chest. Your breath hitches in your throat as he takes one of your nipples in his mouth, kissing and sucking at the sensitive skin. Your hands fly to his hair, gripping it hard enough to make him bite you. You moaned out as he started kissing down your stomach, to your hips and thighs, and finally to your clit, where you need it most. He slips your panties down and immediately starts licking you up and down. Your hands find his hair once again as he continues his assault on your clit, the warmth and wetness from his tongue making you shake. You can’t help but moan out his name as he teases his tongue inside you. He licks, so slow, back up to your clit as you feel yourself getting close to your orgasm when he pulls away.

 “You’re such a fucking tease, Aus,” you breathe out as you pull him on top of you. He leans down and kisses your neck and collarbone, finding the perfect spot to bruise. You can’t take it any longer, so you take his boxers off of him and start lining him up to your entrance. He laughs a little at your impatience, but goes serious as soon as his cock touches you.

 “Do you have any condoms?” he asks you before you continue.

 “Do we have to use one? I’m on the pill…” you look to him for approval and his eyes just go wide, you’d never had sex with him without a condom. He cleared his throat as you felt his cock twitch in your hand.

 “If it’s okay with you, it’s okay with me, babe,” he whispers.

 You guide him to you, letting him feel your body like it’s the first time. He slowly pushes into you, his eyes rolling into the back of his head in the process. You know you aren’t going to last long with how good he feels inside you, and his reactions are turning you on even more.

 “Fuck, y/n…” he barely gets out, “You feel so fucking good.”

 He starts moving in and out of you at a slow pace to start, letting your body adjust to him. His skin on yours feels like fucking heaven. You’re both sweating, leaving your bodies stick together every time they touched. His thrusts become faster, leaving you out of breath. He knows just the spots to hit at just the right time. Your nails are imprinted into his shoulder blades as he pulls all the way out of you, then goes slowly back in until he’s bottomed out. You both moan at the same time, licking at each other’s skin wherever you could get to. He does this a few more times before pushing in and out of you at a rapid pace. His thrusts continue as you both near your orgasms. He looks you up and down and bites his lip.

 “Babe, I’m so close,” you breathe, and he speeds up, sending you into a trance. You feel your walls getting tighter and you know your orgasm is right there. Auston suddenly kisses and bites your neck while thrusting in and out of you and you cum so hard, scratching his back and screaming out his name. His thrusts start getting erratic and he squeezes his eyes shut, moaning right in your ear as he cums inside you. You’re both panting, he pulls out of you carefully and lays next to you.

 “That was fucking amazing,” he sighs out, and puts his arms around you. “Can we do that again?” he asks, and his eyes light up. You just laugh and say, “Yes, dear.”

 “I really am sorry, babe. I’m such a douche sometimes.” He looks at you with sad eyes. “I promise I’ll try to control my stupidity next time,” he says. You just nod and smile, both of you falling asleep soon after.

[mapleleafstrash]

Offbeat (Part Two) - Auston Matthews

A/N: Due to all the positive feedback I was really motivated to get this up asap! Let me know what you think!! :)

Thanks for all the support as always guys, and I’m pleased to announce I’ve reached over 500 followers!! WOW!!

Requested: Yes/No

Characters: Auston Matthews (Feat. Connor Brown, Morgan Rielly, William Nylander, Zach Hyman, Mitch Marner, and Kasperi Kapanen)

Words: 4,625

Warnings: Language 

[Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five] [Part Six] [Part Seven]

“You didn’t mention this was a group excursion,” you gritted out, as your best friend just grinned sheepishly towards you.

When Connor had invited you up to his family’s cottage for the long weekend, you hadn’t expected a bunch of his Leafs buddies to be joining. Sure, one or two, but not six. That seemed a bit drastic.

Now as you stood with your arms crossed in Connor’s driveway, Kasperi’s familiar jeep pulled up, and Zach arrived shortly after in his own vehicle.

“Oh c'mon babes, we have more girls with us this time,” Madison chirped from beside Connor, her pink tinted ray bans flashing in the sunlight. She looked absolutely stunning today. With her long hair, down in waves, and a cute beach outfit on, Madison looked beautiful. While you, well you didn’t feel so attractive.

You had your hair up in a pony tail, and one of your many ball caps on. You were wearing your pair of worn out keds, along with your set of rolled up light wash jean capris. On top, you were adorning your lucky t-shirt. It was from a hockey tournament you had won when you were sixteen. The grey coloured material had pulled over time, and a few holes could be found along some of the seams. Due to the holes, you had just put on a bandeau underneath, leaving a few glimpses of your pale skin free for anyone to see.

If you had known it wasn’t just going to be you, Connor, and Madison, you would’ve made a better effort to clothe yourself this morning.

When you saw the other Leaf girlfriends who were joining you, you definitely wanted to go die. Alannah, Zach’s lovely girlfriend, was a sweetheart, but she was also a bombshell. The funny part was that Zach knew it and loved to show his long-term girlfriend off. The other girlfriend, Annika you believed, was everything you weren’t, which made you cringe. She was tiny, but her body was sculpted beyond belief. Yep, there was no way you would be going out to the lake this entire trip.

“Y/N!”

You sent your Swedish friend a smile, as William charged up towards you. You hadn’t seen him since your club night a couple weeks ago as he had gone back home to visit his family.

“Hey Will,” you greeted, and laughed when the power forward gave you a tight hug and lifted you slightly.

“How’s my favourite Canadian?” he questioned, causing a loud shout of “Hey!” to come from both Connor and Zach, who were preoccupied with packing the latter’s trunk.

You stifled a giggle, “I’m alright, how was Sweden?”

“It was awesome,” he sighed, a smile appearing on his lips as he thought of his home country, “you’ll have to come next time Y/N, you’d love it,”

“Maybe one day,” you replied, and William’s lips suddenly made an ‘O’ shape. “Speaking of the trip, I brought you back some presents,”

“What? You didn’t have to do that,” You said as William scrambled back to Kasperi’s jeep.

“Well yeah, I had too, besides it’s nothing huge or anything,” William shrugged, as he handed you the small giftbag.

Taking the tissue paper out, you laughed as you pulled out two boxes of Swedish cookies. William had kept them stashed away at his apartment, claiming they were too good to share. But one night in front of most of the guys, William did allow you to have one, as you were his favourite Canadian after all.

“There’s one more,” William told you, as he took the sweet treats out of your hand.

Reaching in, you chuckled and shook your head when you pulled out the bright yellow shirt. “Did you seriously get me your shirsey?”

“It’s a limited addition Y/N, they’re from the world championship, so I thought you could add it to your collection,” William explained, a hint of humour in his voice. It had become a running gag in your group of friends to give you their hockey gear as presents.

“Thanks Will,” you smiled, giving him a one-armed embrace.

“Hey! You didn’t get me anything!” Kasperi complained, as he joined you both.

“That’s because you’re spoiled Kappy. Besides, you’ve been to Sweden, where Y/N here hasn’t joined us yet,” William pointed out, giving his best friend a shove. “When I take her to Sweden, we’ll come visit you in Finland,”

“Hey party people!”

Looking over, you grinned and waved towards Morgan, who himself had just arrived. “Is that everyone?” you then questioned, looking towards Connor specifically.

“Auston and Mitch should be here any second,” he replied, and your stomach dropped. Of course, he was coming.

“So how are we dealing with the seating situation?” Zach then asked, approaching your group.

“Well Mads and I are coming with you and Alannah. Leaving the seven of you,” Connor explained.

“Well why don’t Y/N and Will come with me, and then Mo can go with Matts and Marns?” Kasperi suggested, and I nodded, silently agreeing with the Finnish Leaf.

“Yeah, okay, sounds good, now we just have to wait for dumb and dumber,” Morgan sighed, and Connor nodded, “Matts said they were on their way,” and just as he finished his sentence, the sound of Mitch’s car revved around the corner.

“You’re late,” Zach chastised when Auston rolled down the passenger window when Mitch’s car came a stop in front of the house.

“Sorry, dumbass here got lost,” Auston sighed, earning him a smack from Mitch.

“Well let’s go, we’re burning daylight here,” Morgan said, making his way up to Mitch’s rear door, and slipping in.

As you turned away to walk towards Kasperi’s vehicle, you stopped when Auston’s eyes caught yours.

“Hey Y/N! You need a ride?” Auston’s voice called out to you. Morgan then wiggled his eyebrows from the back seat and Mitch sent you a playful wink.

“Nah, she’s coming with me!” William’s smooth voice then replied, answering for you as he pulled you along. You sent Auston an apologetic smile as the Swede hauled you away, while he just raised an eyebrow.

“You made the right choice Y/N,” Kasperi chuckled as you and William slid into his back seat. “We’re the cool car,”

You snorted, “okay Kap,”

The three cars pretty much drove together for most the ride. It was about a two-hour drive to Connor’s cottage, and you’d done it multiple times throughout the years, so you knew what to expect.

You mostly just stared out the window, and bopped your head slightly to the sound of the music coming through the cars’ speakers. The conversation between William, Kasperi, and Annika filtered through your ears but you honestly weren’t paying too much attention. Your stomach was still in knots. The thought of spending four days with Auston and being at a cottage caused your insecurities to run rampant through your head.

You had decided you wouldn’t be going anywhere near the lake, as you didn’t want to wear a bathing suit around any of the guys, let alone Auston. You were semi-disappointed that meant not being able to participate in any of the water sports, but you knew you’d be able to go boating. What about room arrangements? Connor only had five rooms and a pull-out couch. Knowing your luck, you’d end up on the lumpy sofa bed. You sighed just thinking about it.

“So Y/N,”

Turning your head away from the window, you looked towards Kasperi’s blonde girlfriend, who was looking at you intently.

“Oh here we go,” you heard Kasperi sigh, earning a chuckle from the boy sitting next to you.

“You and Auston huh?” She asked, raising her eyebrows and sending you a grin. You groaned and turned back away. You didn’t want to hear what she had to say.

“Annika!” Kasperi chided, sending her a look and she pouted, “What? It was just a question,”

You sighed and decided to play along, “what about it?”

“Well how long have you liked him?” she asked, blinking her big blue eyes towards you.

“Is it that obvious?” you questioned, snapping your head back in defeat.

“At least he’s clueless,” William said, patting you on the thigh in comfort.

“I think it’s cute,” Annika smiled, “you’d be the lovable, dorky, odd couple,”

As her words sunk into you, the feeling of utter dread seeped back into your body. You knew she didn’t mean it in a rude way, but it still hurt regardless. “I see,”

“Y/N,” William sighed, knowing exactly where your thoughts were going. “She didn’t mean it like that,”

“Oh no! I didn’t mean it in a bad way! It’s just that the girls Auston typically go for aren’t exactly like you,” she explained, “as in like you’re not his type. Oh, crap, no I mean, I just,”

“Annika!” Kasperi scolded again, and she firmed her lips together.

“It’s fine,” you finally voiced, bringing your knees up to your chest and staring back out the window at the passing forest terrain, “it’s not like she’s wrong,”

“Y/N,”

“We’re almost here anyways, it’s the next left,” you spoke, hoping to end the conversation.

As Kasperi pulled up onto the long gravel drive way, you smiled slightly at the familiar sight. The Brown Family Cottage looked as good as ever. The beautiful home had a long balcony that stretched around the front, and held a path that led down to the small beach. The cottage also came with a newly finished boat house, that held two boats and a few different seadoo’s. The best part however, was that you could go up onto the top of the structure, and either sun bathe, or star gaze, whichever met your fancy. The beach was complete with the long dock that stretched out past the boat house, and led to the deeper water.

“Wow,” William breathed out from next to you, and you flashed him a smile as you both made your way towards the cottage home. Carrying your bag in, you set it down onto the long table.

Once you walked in, you immediately found yourself in the kitchen and dining room area. Further in sat the entertainment area, which included a flat screen, a sound system, and a piano, along with the wood-stone fire place. Past that, was the rec-room. Memories of playing mini-stick hockey with Connor made their way through your head. You used to spend countless hours on rainy days playing in there.

To the left of the main room, held the long hallway which led to the five different bedrooms. There was the very large master, two suites, and then two regular sized rooms. There was one bathroom as well, but it was mainly for the two bedrooms that didn’t come with their own ensuites.

“I call master!”

You were pushed to the side when Mitch zoomed past you. Turning back, you almost ran into Auston’s chest, who had clearly followed his hyperactive teammate through the front door. You opened your mouth to speak but closed it as Connor’s girlfriend ran past the both of you.

“Mitchell Marner, it does not work like that!” Madison screeched as she chased after him, wanting to claim her room.

Auston chuckled softly as you suddenly heard a loud 'ow!’ echo from down the hall.

“Y/N, you can just use your normal room, okay?”

Grabbing your attention, you nodded towards Connor and walked past Auston, tracing back your steps to collect your bag. You were inwardly thrilled you were getting your own room. No lumpy sofa-bed for you!

About twenty minutes later, you were lounging in the living room with Morgan and William on either side of you. Once the room arrangements had finally been decided, everything seemed to be going smoothly.

“I just don’t get why I have to be on the couch,” Mitch muttered, as he walked in to join us, taking a seat on the small sofa across the room.

“We all drew straws Mitch, fair is fair,” Auston said, taking a seat next to him.

Auston, William, and Morgan would be sharing the other remaining bedroom, which came with a double bed and a bunk bed. Leaving poor Mitch on the sofa.

“But Y/N gets that entire room to herself,” Mitch whined, “it’s a queen-sized mattress, she doesn’t need all that space,”

You suddenly felt bad. He wasn’t wrong, you didn’t need all the space but you wanted your privacy, which was precisely why you were given your own room in the first place.

“Maybe one of the guys will let you cuddle?” You said, and the two boys on either side of you and Auston all suddenly looked upwards, avoiding yours and Mitch’s gaze.

“Well don’t you all volunteer at once,” you laughed sarcastically.

“Who’s ready for the lake!”

The five of you all turned your head towards Madison, who had come out of the master suite in her bright bikini. William whistled low causing you to whack him hard in the gut.

“I’m going to take the boat out too, so if you want to join, now would be the time,” Connor added, walking in behind her.

“Nah, Lannah and I are going to go tan,” Madison then told her boyfriend, and flashed a grin when Zach’s girlfriend also came into the room in her bathing suit.

Connor rolled his eyes as the two walked past him and out towards the beach area.

“I’ll come,” you spoke up, causing Connor to send you a grateful grin. You knew you wouldn’t have to go into the water, and you always loved boating with your best friend.

“Anyone else?” Connor questioned, as you stood up to join him.

“I think I’m going to take a nap, jet lags killing me,” William then said, stifling a yawn.

“Mitch and I wanted to go fishing off the dock,” Morgan explained, while Mitch nodded.

“We ready?”

Zach then appeared into the room with his swim shorts on and his sunglasses perched on the top of his head.

“Auston what are you going to do?” Connor then asked the younger boy and he shrugged, “I guess I’ll come with you guys,”

“Sweet, now let’s go,” Zach said, moving towards the door. You chuckled and walked beside Connor as you followed the older boy down to the lake. You could hear Auston’s footsteps trailing behind as the four of you went down to the boathouse.

“You can actually drive this thing, right? Like legally?”

Connor scoffed while you just chuckled. “Yes Zachary, I can,” he bit out, as you all made your way down the dock and towards the boat.

“I’m so excited,” you grinned. Just thinking of the wind in your hair and the light mist from the lake made feel right at home. Connor just sent you a knowing smile.

Once you reached the boat, Connor leaped into the water vehicle, while Zach shakily stepped in from off the dock. Auston followed Connor’s lead, his long legs allowing him to hop in easily.

Crouching down, you gripped the edge of the dock, and placed one foot down into the swaying boat.

“Here, take my hand,”

Looking up, you flashed Auston a grateful smile and took his hand, as he helped you safely into the boat. “Thanks Auston,”

“No worries,” he shrugged, sending you a small smile.

“Hey Y/N, would you mind untying the ropes for me?” Connor then asked, as he pulled the buoys into the boat while Zach had taken a seat in the passenger chair, pulled his shades down, and placed his feet up comfortably onto the small dash.

“Princess here has already gotten comfortable,” Connor pointed out, snickering at his teammate causing Zach to just simply flip him the bird.

“Yeah sure,” you smiled, stepping back towards the edge of the boat and untying the three knots keeping your boat at bay.

Once you’d untied the ropes, you waited for Connor to start the motor before you pushed off from the dock, allowing the boat to float out into the open water.

As Connor pulled out of the small bay, you took a seat at the head of the boat, opposite Auston who himself was already staring out around the lake.

You passed by many small islands and lots of other gorgeous cottages. You were heading to the marina to get some gas to bring back for the weekend to fuel the boat and the seadoo’s. It was a twenty-minute ride out to the small marina, which was located on the other side of the lake.

Staring out into the sparkly blue water, you adjusted your hat and placed your fly away strands behind your ears. Connor and Zach had fallen into their own conversation but you were having a hard time hearing them due to the sound of the water coupled with the loud revving coming from the motor.

“So how many times have you been up here?”

Turning to look back at Auston you shrugged, “I probably couldn’t count, Connor used to drag me up here all the time when we were little,” you explained, “we’d come out three or four separate times during the summer,”

Auston nodded, “must’ve been nice,”

“Yeah, it was,” you grinned to yourself. “It was a little escape from everything,”

“I can see the appeal,” Auston spoke, as he looked back out at the surrounding scenery, “now I know why everyone in Canada seems to be obsessed with cottage country,”

“Well when you’re living in the city all year, its nice to come out here and just unwind. Get back to reality, right?” you said, curving your lips upwards.

Auston smirked, “Yeah, I think we all need a bit of that,”

Once you arrived at the marina, you stood up and helped Connor properly connect to the dock. As you began retying the ropes against the dock you smiled to yourself once you realized Auston had also stood and was tying the rope next to you. By the time you had finished your one, Auston had completed the other two. You were surprised to say the least but you just shrugged it off.

The four of you hopped up onto the dock and walked down to the gas meter. Connor had brought four gas canisters that needed to be filled, so you each carried one. While you waited for the marina employee to fill the canisters, you stayed with Connor while Zach and Auston walked into the convenience store to grab some drinks.

As you stood tapping your foot up against the wooden dock, Connor conversed with fuel attendant. Your eyes trailed around your surroundings, looking at all the different people and the different boats that were around. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as busy as you thought it’d be for a Friday afternoon, but you supposed it was better for you. You usually had to wait for your turn in line to buy gas so it was a pleasant surprise when you found the line was empty.

Turning around to look back out onto the water, your eyes widened suddenly.

“Shit!”

Running back down the dock, you heard Connor question you while you ran away, “What? Y/N What’s wrong- Oh fuck!”

Connor’s boat obviously hadn’t been properly secured and had begun floating away. Even though it hadn’t gotten too far, it was well enough away from the dock. You could hear your friend’s heavy footsteps trailing after you as you sprinted to the end of the wooden platform. Without thinking, you took your phone out of your front pocket and dropped it down onto the dock safely and kicked your flip flops off before you dove into the water.

Your nerves screamed within you as your body hit the ice-cold lake water. Kicking your legs, and sending you upwards, you took a huge breath as you popped up to the surface.

“Shit that’s cold,” you cried out as you pushed on, hoping to get used to the water’s temperature sooner rather than later. Because you were in such a deep part of the lake, it was much cooler than the water back at the cottage.

“Y/N!” Connor called out to you, but you put your head down and began swimming forward, your arms and your legs moving as fast as they could.

“What the hell?! What happened?”

That was Zach, who had clearly witnessed the commotion.

As you kept swimming ahead, your limbs were beginning to get tired. It seemed that even though you were swimming further and further out, the boat just kept drifting away. You were determined to catch it, but you weren’t sure if you were going to have the strength or the energy to push it back. It was too big for you to be able to do it on your own. You figured you’d have to climb in and either drive it or paddle back.

“Are you okay?!” Connor yelled out to you, and you turned back slightly and gave him the thumbs up.

Once you finally caught up, you reached up to grip the side of the boat to try and pull yourself up and over the edge. You grimaced as your arms cried out for you to stop. You typically weren’t even able to pull yourself up out of a pool without using stairs let alone a boat. But you were bound and determined this time, and despite the pain and fatigue you were able to put your foot up onto the side and lift your body up and over the edge.

Rolling over, you landed onto your back and placed your hands onto your stomach. Breathing in and out deeply you sighed and closed your eyes, trying to catch your breath.

“Y/N!”

Sitting up, you stood shakily and looked back towards the dock. Auston had now joined the others and him, along with Connor looked extremely concerned where as Zach looked absolutely stunned you’d been able to swim out that far.

“Just take a minute!” Connor told you, “make sure you catch your breath!”

Sending him another thumbs up, you keeled over and placed your hands onto your knees, making sure to ventilate properly. Taking another deep breath, you then walked down to the end of the boat. Looking at the ignition system, you groaned when you noticed Connor had taken the keys with him, leaving you no choice but to use the spare paddle that was lying in the back near the motor.

Picking the wooden oar up, you took a wide stance and began paddling the boat back to the dock. You winced as your arms continued to throb, but you knew you couldn’t stop.  About five minutes later, you were only about fifty feet out from the dock. Noticing you struggling, Connor took action.

“I’m coming Y/N!” Connor then proclaimed, as he stripped his shirt off and jumped into the water, leaving Zach and Auston behind.

Popping up, he took quick strides as he made his way out to you. Groaning from pain and from his weight, you helped Connor roll over into the boat. Pulling him in you let out a large sigh of relief. As he walked over towards the driver’s seat you plopped down square onto your bum, and tossed the paddle away.

“Please tell me you brought the keys,” you wheezed out, as you laid back down onto the floor, and Connor chuckled, “I’m not that dense Y/N,”

“Thank god,” you sighed, closing your eyes and feeling a sense of relief when you heard the boats motor turn on.

You sat up when you felt Zach and Auston jump into the boat. Thankfully, they were kind enough to load the boat.

“Y/N, that was really fucking cool, like totally badass,” Zach admitted, and you rolled your eyes, “thanks Hymy,”

“Here, I made sure it stayed safe,” Auston said, as he pulled your phone out of his hoodies pocket. You sent him a thankful smile.

“I need a beer,” you groaned out, as you slowly lifted your body up off the floor, and fell down onto the leather passenger seat.

“You need a medal,” Connor joked back as he turned the boat around to begin to head back to the cottage.

“What the hell happened anyways? I thought you tied the boat down Y/N,” Zach then questioned.

You shrugged, shaking your head, “I thought I did,”

“It was my fault,” Auston then spoke up, “I didn’t tie it down properly, which was probably why Y/N’s knot got loose.”

You knew he was right. He was spot on. But you weren’t blaming him, you should’ve double checked.

“Accidents happen,” you sighed, trying to make him feel better, but he shook his head, “I should’ve been the one to swim out all that way though, not you,”

“It was instinct, I didn’t have time to think or place blame Auston, I just saw the boat floating away and I acted, don’t worry about it,” you explained and he nodded, but turned his body away from the three of you.

Zach waved his hand, silently telling you to ignore him, but you couldn’t help but pout slightly. You didn’t want him feeling guilty.

By the time you got back, everyone immediately questioned why you were sopping wet. Connor had dried off quicker due to him only wearing his swim trunks, where you were still wearing your full outfit.

“I think I’m just going to go lay down,” you spoke up once you all had gotten back onto the beach.

Everyone seemed to understand, and you headed up to the cottage. Shrugging your flip flops off, you went into the bathroom and stripped yourself of your soaking clothes. Using one of the many bath towels under the sink, you dried yourself with the fluffy material, and hung your clothes over the side of the tub.

Pulling your hair out of its pony tail, you grimaced when you noticed how knotted it was. Exiting the bathroom, you walked into your bedroom and closed the door quietly. Grabbing your hair brush, and dropping your towel, you stood in front of the vanity’s mirror and attempted to brush through your tattered hair.

You screamed out in frustration, and slammed your brush down onto the vanity when the knot in your hair just seemed to get worse and worse. You didn’t have the energy or patience to deal with it right now. You figured you’d just go have a nap and then go shower afterwards. A thick glob of conditioner was sure to do the trick.

Suddenly without warning two quick knocks rapped against your door and just as you were about to speak, you squeaked instead when your bedroom door was thrown wide open. You reached back to grab your towel, but it was already too late, the damage had already been done.

Starring wide eyed, you took a step back as Auston Matthews stood in your doorway, his eyes surprised, but not shocked as you thought they would be. You were shocked enough for the both of you. He licked his lips as he watched you, and you shook your head.

“Auston!” you screamed, wanting him to get out.

He didn’t respond, as his eyes instead trailed up and down your barely-covered body. Your heart was rapidly beating and your throat had gone dry. You were beyond embarrassed. You were absolutely mortified.

“Auston! Get out!” you squeaked out again, this time getting his attention.

But rather than turn around and leave, Auston shocked you by stepping fully into your bedroom. His brown eyes never left yours, and you suddenly recognized the look he was giving you. You took a shaky breath and gulped, this wasn’t happening. You then took another step back, as Auston slammed your bedroom door closed, and stared you down.

[flauntpage]

Thanks, Doc

When people die, we all hurry to share our thoughts, to impart our experiences with them.

On one hand, it feels callous to turn someone else’s misfortune into a personal story. On the other, there’s probably no better way to honor a person than to share how they impacted your life in some small way, or maybe even a big way.

When that person is a professional athlete, those stories are in endless supply. Some are told by friends and family, but most come from mere admirers who likely never met the person or at most had fleeting, memorable encounters with them.

Athletes, celebrities and other public figures have outsized impact on those who view their work. Their performances can mark time for total strangers. I remember where I was. Those things aren’t just part of sports fandom– often they’re part of people’s lives.

There’s been no shortage of those stories since news of Roy Halladay’s death broke yesterday. We all remember when the Phillies traded for him, where we were during his perfect game (which he threw during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals), and for his postseason no-hitter. We remember his love of Chooch. We remember “funner.” We remember him running the steps of Citizens Bank Park. We remember the time he saved a naked man from an Anaconda. Teammates remember clubhouse antics, personal exchanges, his work ethic, and being in the presence of greatness. They remember the person and the teammate.

But for all of those fond memories, today there is a family in mourning.

For better or worse, Halladay’s Twitter feed serves as a stark reminder that while he was a baseball hero to many, he was a loving husband and father to a few. These Tweets… they rip your heart out and smash it on the ground:

I love the Players & Parents of our Florida Burn! They keep proving why they’re the best team on the field but more important the classiest! http://pic.twitter.com/4agAeCO4wY

— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) November 6, 2017

Yes here are the HS kids and me with my son! Proud dad, Proud coach, Proud member of a coaching staff! #family http://pic.twitter.com/3WgoW0kwC6

— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) May 28, 2017

My son in the middle of the dog pile after closing out the semi-final game!! So proud!!#family http://pic.twitter.com/LmRmqi6toZ

— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) May 28, 2017

First official day of summer break for my son! What a day! Icon A5 we spent 5hrs 3.2 flying, 1.8 chill'n, 100% buds! http://pic.twitter.com/DCclvMMvhs

— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) May 19, 2017

Flew a Dog Rescue trip to Alabama for two 5m old puppies who's ears were cut off w/ scissors to prep them as practice for dog fighting!! SAD http://pic.twitter.com/A6EYYFGoT5

— Roy Halladay (@RoyHalladay) September 26, 2016

Come on.

Virtually every other Tweet from the last two years was about his love of his new plane, Chooch, or saving puppies.

None of us can speak for what his family is going through and what they’ll continue to deal with for a long time. In an instant, everything Halladay had worked for, earned, and enjoyed was rendered meaningless due to an unfortunate accident.

If there’s any good to come out of this, it’s that we’re hearing some stories about Roy, the person, that we never knew. This one from ESPN reporter and local guy John Barr may be my favorite:

1/ I have a story about Roy Halladay that sums up the player and the man. It was after he threw his 2010 post-season no-hitter v the Reds

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

2/ I was fortunate to be assigned to that game for ESPN and I saw it from the ESPN radio booth. By the 4th inning we saw he had no-hit stuff

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

3/ After the game, we interviewed Halladay and Chooch on the field as they were still riding sky high. Then we went to file our story.

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

4/ more than an hour later, I was walking thru the tunnel and it occurred to me I should check in at home. So I called the family

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

5/ As I rounded a corner, with my wife on the line, I saw Halladay up ahead. By then he'd finished all interviews and was milling about

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

6/ I asked my wife to hold on, put the phone down, and thanked Halladay for his earlier comments and for giving us a special moment

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

7/ when I put the phone back to my ear, my seven-year old was on the line. A HUGE Halladay fan. He said: "Dad, was that really Roy?"

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

8/ And then I took a look back at Halladay, and noticed he wasn't in any hurry to go anywhere and I proceeded to break protocol.

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

9/ I asked if he'd take a quick second to talk to my kid, who wanted to tell him "Great job!" So Roy takes my phone and talks to my son!

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

10/ Then my 7-year old goes into reporter mode. Asks Roy what it was like to throw a perfect game and no hitter in same year!

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

11/ Pretty damn good question from a kid, right? They spoke for about a minute or so. Then Roy hands the phone back.

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

12/ When I get back on the phone it's my wife, telling me my son started crying. He was overwhelmed by what he'd just done and processing.

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

13/ The next day he told the kids at his elementary school: "Yeah, I talked to Roy after his no-hitter."

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

14/ There are a helluva lot of athletes who I would never dream of approaching with a request like the one I put in front of Roy that nite

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

15/ But @RoyHalladay was special. He was the stuff childhood dreams are made of. And he made us all soar that night.

— John Barr ESPN (@JohnBarrESPN) November 7, 2017

Those are the stories I’m glad we’re getting to hear.

I’m genuinely at a loss for words. I have been for more than 16 hours now. I’m just sort of stunned, saddened, surprised, shocked, whatever. I never had an encounter with Roy. But he does hold some special meaning for me beyond just the baseball field.

The first ever post I wrote on this site was on the day the Phillies traded for him in December of 2009. I of course celebrated the arrival of Halladay but criticized Ruben Amaro for trading away Cliff Lee to make it happen. It’s a bad post. But it’s also one that quite literally changed my life, or at least my “career,” if that’s what you can call sitting at home blogging about sports.

I started multiple sites over the years, and none of them stuck. No one read them. But interest in Philly sports may have been at an all-time time high when the Phillies traded for Halladay. I figured I’d try one more time to start a website and see if I could make something of it.

I took to Facebook to create a Halladay fan page. At the time, you could be a fan of anything on Facebook– from a sausage link to a famous athlete. The social network wasn’t used for brand or official pages yet, and there were probably 10 or so dedicated to Halladay as a Phillie, but for some reason mine is the one that stuck, and it quickly amassed a few thousand fans, and then 10,000, and eventually more than 80,000.

I realized that I had a captive audience and that I could post links to my blog posts on the page. Despite the accusation of some Phillies bloggers at the time, I never posted as Roy or pretended to be him, I simply ran a fan page dedicated to him.

The readers I got from those early posts are the reason the site exists today.

Obviously it helped me grow an audience, but perhaps more importantly it gave me the motivation to keep going since I knew people were actually reading what I wrote. I am quite confident that I would not have continued with the site were it not for the early audience I got from that page.

After a while the page became redundant once I had amassed a following of my own on Facebook and Twitter. I made an effort to reach out to either the Phillies or Halladay’s agent (I forget which) to turn the page over to them. I never got a response. But after about a year, when Facebook went through the process of verifying official pages for brands and athletes, they reclaimed it and, at some point, turned it over to Halladay’s agency.

I believe the page now named “Roy Halladay Official” was the page I started in 2009. It has more than 300k fans and, agonizingly, contains posts from well-wishers mourning his death. For a while, Halladay (or his agent) was posting to it. The last one came in 2015 and was a picture of Halladay behind a guy wearing his shirsey at an amusement park. It’s become a pretty popular image:

I tell you this because, though Halladay didn’t know it, he is literally responsible for my livelihood. I had jobs in sales and marketing but had always wanted to do this. Halladay was the break I needed. And now it feels weird to juxtapose the celebratory posts from his arrival with news of his death.

As a fan, I of course have my own stories.

My Dad texted me last night and reminded me that we attended four of his five postseason games. What an honor. To me, almost as impressive as the no-hitter was Game 5 against the Cardinals in 2011. Halladay battled through that lineup and gutted eighth-inning outs to give the Phillies a chance. You just felt that he was willing them to win. He almost did.

But it was Roy’s first postseason start that was truly memorable. Probably the greatest sporting event I ever attended live. This is me, and my Dad:

If only iPhones had image stabilization back then.

These are the moments I talked about earlier– that’s not just a sports moment, that’s a memory. My Dad and I have attended hundreds of sporting events together, but we’ll never forget that one.

It’s those moments athletes create in our lives. They’re unwitting family members, if for just a day. It’s the bonds they create between fathers and sons. The most gut-wrenching part of this is that those are the moments Roy will no longer get to share with his sons.

Braden and Ryan will go on without their father. They won’t get to experience the joy of watching their favorite player, or their favorite team, with their favorite person. That’s really hard to swallow. Halladay had retired perhaps earlier than he needed to. As pointed out by Jim Salisbury, many players in his position would have turned to performance-enhancing drugs to heal an injured shoulder. But he decided to spend his time and wealth at home with his family. He slowed down to embrace what’s really important. For as good of a pitcher as he was, he was, by all accounts, an even better family man. He spent his time coaching and doing what he loved best– flying. There’s something poetic about that, I guess, but trolling through the pictures and videos on his Twitter and seeing him tweet so glowingly about what would ultimately lead to his death is just eerie. Most of all, it’s sad.

I’m not sure what else to write. Halladay was friends with Kenny Chesney, so I feel like maybe it’s best to just post this video about cherishing the small moments in life and then have a good cry. Feel free to join in.

Thanks, Doc published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

[zachparises]

what type of sports gear do you have? (jerseys and shirts for which players, hats, ect.?)

hopefully this doesn’t come off as braggy but i’m just gonna list what i have!!

-as far as jerseys go i have THE WORST luck. i had a kane jersey that i bought myself in like 2014 but i started disliking him shortly after so i never really wore it much and FINALLY sold it like five months ago lol. i also have a shaw jersey i got for xmas last year and i wish i got another player because i don’t like him very much either anymore but??? i’ll still wear it i guess. and i have a cubs starlin castro jersey my brother gave me that’s like a knockoff but i don’t like him too so i never wear that either loll. so yeah my jersey collection isn’t really that special rn it’s just two shitty(ish) players

-then for tees i have a toews shirsey, two 2010 blackhawks championship shirts and a 2015 champs shirt with all the players names on the back that i got signed by kris versteeg when i went to the 2015 convention (i got him to sign it ‘dick kris’ and idek why??? i think it was like a joke from one of the panels but i can’t remember??). i have some hawks pj pants too and a shirt my mom got me from barstool that says ‘captain ser19us’ on it but i never ever wear it because no one gets it and it’s ugly but i love it. for cubs i have a kyle schwarber shirsey and some other shirts too but i never wear them???? and then i just have like college stuff like it’s mostly wisconsin but i have some northwestern and indiana stuff too and this NC sweatshirt i wear all the time even though i have 0 affiliation with the school ???

-i have a usa hockey hat which i love and i wear it in like all my selfies it’s so cute???? i have a cubs hat too which is so cute it has their old logo and idk i love it!!!! and i have a blackhawks hat (or toque i guess???) from the 2015 winter classic and it’s rly warm and nice for winter

other than that i probably have stuff i’m forgetting but that’s really all i can think of !!! sorry half of this was rambling