#does the lake creature then disguise itself as a beautiful woman and try to sabotage them?

[linskywords]

Would you ever consider writing a Little Mermaid hockey AU? I love your fairy tale AUs! ❤️

Ooooh this is so fun! Okay, as you probably know, I love me a good mostly-hockey-with-light-magical-realism AU, so probably what I'd do is say that Patrick (it's gotta be Patrick; is anyone more of a Disney prince than Jonny?) is from a family of...not quite selkies, exactly, but something like that. They live at the edge of Lake Erie, on land like a normal human family, but they have to spend a certain amount of time in the water of the lake in order to survive. So Patrick grows up playing hockey at a high level but knows he could never be in the NHL because he can't go more than a week without the lake. The OHL is fine -- London is on Lake Erie, and they don't travel for more than a few days at a time. But the NHL would be impossible. Even if he gets drafted by Buffalo or Detroit, he's gonna have to say no.

But then he meets Jonny. Later than he did in real life, because he can't go away for a whole summer in Pennsylvania. Maybe they end up on the ice together at a tournament when Patrick's 17 or 18, not even on the same team but they've both snuck onto the rink for some extra practice and this guy is just...wow. Patrick's never played with anyone who makes him feel like this. Who plays with him so seamlessly, who bears down on the puck with such perfect intensity, who laughs and makes the breath catch in Patrick's throat. Patrick already wanted to play in the NHL and now it's all he can think about. Getting to the NHL, and getting to play with Jonny. And so he decides to try something dangerous.

His parents have always warned them against swimming too far towards the center of the lake. There's something there, something more powerful than they are, something that can never leave the lake at all -- something that can make things happen for you, if the price is right. Patrick swims out to see it and asks for what he wants: to play in the NHL on the same team as Jonny, to play out long careers together. And the creature agrees -- but only if Patrick can get Jonny to kiss him before their first season is out. Otherwise, Patrick will come back at the end of that first year and spend eternity as foam on the waves of Lake Erie.

But Jonny's an NHL player, Patrick says. He can't go around kissing guys; that's not how it works. Too bad, the creature says. That's the deal: Patrick can take it, or he can go back to Buffalo and resign himself to a life without the NHL and without Jonny.

Patrick takes it.