#and i think that could stratch the itch. perhaps

[msmargaretmurry]

I wish you would write a fic where Dylan made it to the 2024 All Star Game (I am SO curious)

ohhh friend i wanted this so bad and i had SUCH a vision in my head of the mcstrome i would write about it if it had happened. (which it SHOULD have!!! i kind of get why the league tapped tom to go instead but dylan was the caps' leading scorer at that point in the season!!!!!! but it's fine because the asg was barely worth going to this year, if you weren't one of the few chosen for the skills stuff you were just sitting around all weekend anyway)

anyway it would have just been like a one-shot, a few thousand words about running into the guy you used to be in love with at this event you used to dream of getting to, back before the nhl turned out to be way harder for you than you thought it would be. and he's here attached at the hip with the guy who replaced you, and he belongs here, this is his event, and you're only here due to some fluke of your team's actual superstar having a slow start to the season. he keeps looking at you like he's not sure why you're here or what to say to you. or maybe you're projecting. whatver. but it's the all star weekend, so drinks are flowing, and even after all these years you know how to find him at a party — not that it's hard, because after all these years he still mostly watches from the sidelines. you just want to tell him you're proud of him for how he turned his team's season around after such a rough start. that you're still rooting for him. but there's something about the way he meets your eyes in the low light, the way you have to lean in to talk over the music, something about the alcohol and how it doesn't feel quite real that you're here — maybe this is an okay place to make the mistakes you were both too chicken to as teenagers.