#elias petterson fic

[wildrangers]

Home // Elias Pettersson

Word Count: 3.1K

Summary: This is my submission for the lovely @ryngrvs in The Winter Fic Exchange 2k23, organized by the wonderful @antoineroussel! It’s an established relationship with lots of fluff so I hope everyone enjoys ☺️

Warnings: cursing

“Holy shit, you’re going to lap me soon!”

“Oh, fuck off, Elias” you grumbled as your boyfriend skated past again. His laugh trailed behind him as continued his laps around the rink. You sighed, watching his effortless glides as you desperately tried to stay upright without grasping onto the boards. A month from now, the Canucks were hosting their annual Friends and Family Skate Day and you were deathly afraid you were going to embarrass yourself by wiping out on the ice.

While Elias had been skating basically since he could walk, no one in your family knew how so you were learning now as an adult. You knew you physically could do it but you didn’t have the benefit of being a carefree kid, unafraid of a scraped elbow or twisted ankle—you were acutely aware of the many ways you could accidentally hurt yourself on the ice.

“Need a boost?” Elias called as he approached from behind and you threw your arms out in response. A moment later, you felt your boyfriend’s hands latch onto your waist. “This is the one, I can feel it” he murmured, placing a quick kiss to your ear before carefully pushing you forward for some much-needed momentum.

You took a deep breath, keeping all of Elias’ tips in mind as you moved your legs. You felt giddy as you skated across the length of the ice before grasping onto the corner boards. “I did it!” you called and Elias whooped before stopping in front of you.

“At this rate, you may not embarrass yourself after all” Elias teased and, without thinking, you lurched forward to give him a playful shove.

“Maybe I should ask Brock to train me, he’s way nicer than you” you retorted, pressing your hands into his chest to push him away. A moment later, you realized you’d skated quite a few feet as you moved him away from you after his sarcastic barb. “You asshole, you goaded me into skating without psyching myself out.”

“And it worked, didn’t it?” he smirked, gesturing to how far away you were from the boards. “Also, Boeser is too nice, he’d just coddle you. You wouldn’t learn in time.”

“Wow, it’s almost like you know me or something” you joked, matching Elias’ strides as he kept himself just out of your reach.

“I guess dating someone for almost a year can do that” he agreed, eyes studying your form. “You’re still too tense, älskling, loosen up your knees a bit.”

You did as instructed, surprised and relieved to feel the pressure on your ankles let up slightly as you corrected your stance. “You just don’t want me to demand a foot rub like last time, huh?”

“No, I don’t want you in pain for three days again” he corrected, though you doubted his intentions were entirely pure. “Now, remember, the corners can be tricky but you just have to let your body move with your feet, not fight them. And no knee locking again.”

You nodded, your brows furrowing in concentration as you tried to mimic his movements. You had nearly cleared the corner when you felt your heart skip a beat as your torso naturally came closer to the ice’s surface. You immediately tried to tilt the opposite way to give yourself some distance but that only resulted in you flailing and falling onto your ass. “Fucking hell!” you groaned, laying your head back on the ice and closing your eyes.

You felt Elias settle beside you as his hand gripped yours. “You got to let go and trust your core muscles” he corrected gently.

“I know” you sighed. “But I hate feeling off balance like that.”

“You’re not off balance, you’re actually perfectly stable until you panic and then you lose your balance” he noted as he laid down next to you. You two lay in silence for a few moments as you caught your breath and felt your heart rate return to normal. When you finally opened your eyes to face Elias, he was already studying you intently.

“What?” you questioned softly, meeting his gaze.

“Just admiring the view” he replied quietly, gently brushing the loose strands of hair out of your face.

“Flatterer” you accused even as you felt butterflies rush into your stomach. “What are you really thinking?”

“That I’m lucky to have a partner who cares enough about me to teach themselves how to skate even though it kind of scares the shit of out of them.”

“And I’m lucky to have a boyfriend with enough patience to teach me even though you can occasionally be a bit cranky about it” you grinned, causing him to roll his eyes.

“I’m sorry I lost my patience watching you cling to the boards and refuse to move for half an hour our first time out here” he retorted drawing a loud laugh from you.

“I know, I know, I just couldn’t help myself” you responded, lifting your linked hands to place a kiss to his. “Can we please go back to one of our places now?”

“Only if you can make your way over to the exit on your own. We need to end on a good note, yeah?”

You begrudgingly nodded and Elias got up to help you to your feet. As you readied yourself to skate back across the ice, he wrapped you in a tight embrace, resting his chin on the top of your head. You smiled into his chest, holding him close and stealing some of his eternal warmth.

“I’m proud of you, sweet pea” he mumbled into your hair and you pulled away just enough to place a quick kiss to his lips.

“Thank you, sweetie pie” you replied. “But let’s move this indoors, yeah? I’d like to feel my toes again.” Elias chuckled and nodded before making his way over to the exit to wait for you. You took a deep breath, loosening your knees as you pushed off and easily made your way over to him.

***

“Oh my god, Bela!” Elias groaned, eyes glued to the TV. It was a few hours later and he knew you were feeling much better after eating some takeout and curling up beneath a blanket.

“I thought you didn’t like this show” you teased from beside him. He didn’t need to glance over to know you were smirking, quite proud of yourself for finally getting him hooked on Sex Lives of College Girls.

“I don’t” he stubbornly responded. “I just think she’s doing stupid shit this season.”

“Mhm” you replied knowingly. He finally paused the TV to turn and face you, noting the amused quirk of your lips.

“I’m sorry, did you want me to stop massaging your sore ankles?” he asked, pausing his movements to raise his eyebrows at you.

“You’re no fun at all, just admit I was right and you like the show” you said, matching his stubbornness. Elias sighed, taking in the determined glint in your eye that he knew meant you weren’t going to let up, even with his empty threats.

“Fine, I’m invested in these girls’ lives and the stupid shit they get themselves into” he grumbled, loathe to prove you right but knowing you’d won this round. He was rewarded with a broad grin as you leaned up and wrapped your arms around his neck, pulling him in for a deep kiss.

As much as your relationship was filled with teasing and sarcasm, it was equally grounding and comforting. Whenever Elias had a tough game, which was happening plenty this season, he knew he could call or stop by and you would know just what to say to calm him down. With every passing day together, you were becoming his home and he hoped you felt the same way.

As you pulled away, he wrapped his arms around your waist to keep you close, resting his forehead against yours. “I love you” he said quietly, not wanting to break the peace of this moment.

“And I love you” you responded “…especially when you admit I’m right.”

“Oh my god, Y/N!” he laughed, jokingly pushing you away as you cackled at his annoyance. He released a deep breath, shaking his head, as he pressed play and resumed massaging your tired ankles.

***

A few days later, you were curled up in bed totally lost in your book. You jumped slightly at the loud knocking coming from your front door, brows creasing together in confusion. You weren’t expecting anyone and the nightstand clock said it was just shy of 11PM. You got out of bed, padding to the door and peeking through the hole, only to see a frustrated looking Elias on the other side.  

“Baby?” you questioned taking in his exhausted features as you unlocked the door.

“I’m sorry, I tried calling and texting but you weren’t answering and I just, I needed to see you” he rushed out in a burst, his accent thicker than normal which was a dead giveaway he was upset.

“You don’t need to be sorry, what happened? Are you okay?” you questioned, ushering him inside.

“I’m just so frustrated and tired of this fucking season” he sighed, tossing his bag to the side and plopping down onto your couch. He cradled his head in his hands as you sat beside him, giving him a moment to gather his thoughts. “It’s like we’ll have a couple of games where things click and then everything goes to shit and the locker room is so fucking tense and it just sucks.”

“Come here” you replied quietly, gently pulling his hands away from his face and pulling him to you. He buried his face in your neck, wrapping his arms around you tightly. You rubbed his back with one hand while the other brushed through his hair in soothing patterns.

You two sat in comfortable silence as his shoulders slowly but surely loosened and his body finally fully relaxed into yours. “Have you eaten?” you questioned and he shook his head against your chest. “I’m going to put on some water for pasta, you get out of that suit and into something comfortable, yeah?”

You felt him nod and he slowly got up, placing a kiss to your forehead before trudging down to your room to change. You walked to the kitchen, finding your forgotten phone on the counter. As you waited for the pot to fill with water, you scrolled through the multiple missed FaceTime’s, calls, and texts from Elias. Each message was more frantic than the one before and your heart sank. You’d meant to have your phone with you since it was a game night but you’d lost track of time while reading.

You sighed, chastising yourself, as you placed the pot on the burner. Adrift in your thoughts, you didn’t realize Elias had returned until you felt his hands rest on your shoulders, turning you towards him.

“I’m really sorry for just showing up like this, especially so late.”

“Lias, I promise it’s okay. I’m so sorry I didn’t have my phone with me, I knew it was a game night and forgot to keep an eye on the clock…”

“And you got lost in that book of yours” he teased and you laughed, nodding.

“Yeah, that too. But I’m here now and I’m all yours” you promised, cupping his face in your hands. “I’m sorry this season is so challenging and stressful. But you can only control yourself and you’re having an amazing run, especially with all this adversity.”

He sighed sadly but nodded in agreement, “I know you’re right, it just feels so hopeless after a tough loss like tonight. And the thought of going back to my apartment alone sounded like torture.”

“Then stay here tonight” you offered and he agreed, placing a kiss to your forehead. You moved away, adding pasta to the boiling water as Elias began heating up some leftover chicken. You two moved around each other easily, slipping wordlessly into a routine you’d instinctively created together.

As Elias began eating his late dinner, you hopped up on the counter, studying your boyfriend.  You took a deep breath, sharing the thought you’d been mulling over for a month now. “What do you think about moving in together?”

Your boyfriend’s bright blue eyes shot up to meet yours, “Really?”

“Yes, really, or I wouldn’t have brought it up” you replied, nerves flooding your system at his non-answer.

“I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask you for weeks” he admitted and you felt your shoulders loosen. “Especially tonight, the whole way here I just kept thinking how much easier it would be to know that no matter how shitty my day was I’d be coming home to you.”

“Well, good thing one of us was brave enough to say something then” you teased and he rolled his eyes at you.

“Are we really doing this?” he questioned, eyes searching yours, and you nodded, smiling. He wrapped you in a tight embrace and you felt like you were already home just being in his arms.

***

“How are you feeling?” Elias asked. It was Friends and Family Skate Day and you were feeling confident given the weeks of practice you’d had.

“Good, actually, thanks to you” you admitted, bumping your hip into his making him grin down at you. “Still a little nervous about the corners but you’ll stay with me, right?”

“Of course, älskling” he promised, pressing a quick kiss to your forehead as you two reached the outdoor rink. You sat down and removed your boots as Elias unpacked his bag, taking out your skates so he could put them on for you. As Elias gently slid each of your feet in before tying them securely, you looked around, taking in the crowd. You waved at a few people you knew, your smile widening as Quinn arrived and sat next you.

“How’s the move going you two?” Quinn asked as he laced up his skates.

“Good, all my things are officially in Elias’ apartment now. Not put away yet but at least my old place is cleared out.”

“It’s not ‘Elias’ apartment’ it’s ‘our apartment’” Elias corrected, tapping your foot so you knew you were ready to go. You stood up and leaned against the boards so he could take your seat to get himself ready.

“Yes, yes our apartment, what a silly mistake for me to make” you joked, causing Elias to glare up at you while Quinn fought back a grin. “Are you able to come to the house warming party next week?”

“Yeah, can’t wait. I’ve been to Petey’s place a hundred times but now that it’s Petey and Y/N’s apartment, I’m sure it’ll blow me away” he replied and Elias shoved his friend with his shoulder.

“Very funny you two” Elias grumbled, reluctantly accustomed to you and Quinn ganging up on him.

“I’m sorry, babe, you just make it so easy to annoy you” you smiled, grabbing his hands as he rose to stand beside you. “See you out there, Huggy!”

Elias pulled you onto the ice and you skated over to Brock pulling him in to a quick hug. “How’re you doing? It’s been forever since I’ve seen you.”

“I’ve been good, you two have been crazy busy. We’ll have plenty of time to catch up at your party next week” Brock grinned at you. “Feeling good about today?”

You nodded, squeezing Elias’s hand, “Lots of training so I won’t embarrass myself too much.”

“Stop being modest, you’re going to be great” Elias corrected.

“This guy has really softened up since you two decided to move in together” Brock teased and you fought back a grin as Elias’ face flushed red.

“Drop it Brock, Quinner was already razzing him before we even got on the ice. If you two keep this up, he’ll uninvite you from the party” you threatened jokingly. Brock raised his hands in mock surrender before skating off to say hi to another teammate and their partner.

“Don’t worry, sweet pea, you’re still my big, tough, strong hockey man” you teased and Elias removed his hand from yours, skating purposefully away and towards the corner boards. “Wait come back!”

“Nope, you come here” he challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. You sent him a pout with widened eyes but he simply shook his head causing you to sigh. You took a deep breath, loosening your knees as you’d done countless times at this point.

As you skated towards the corner boards, you found you were surprisingly calm. You’d been practicing for weeks and you knew if you fell, Elias would help you up and, minus some embarrassment, you’d be okay. You glanced up to see him grinning at you and that urged your feet on a little quicker, hoping to reach him that much sooner.

As you effortlessly glided around the corners and into his arms, Elias let out a whoop of celebration as he pulled you into a tight embrace. “You did it, älskling!” he cheered, lifting you off the ice and swinging you around a few times. You laughed as he did, holding onto him as the world delightfully spun around you.

“I did it!” you repeated as he finally set you down. His eyes were bright and so full of love that you couldn’t help but pull him down for a quick kiss.   

“Better watch yourself, Pettersson, I’m coming for your job next” you joked, skating away from him. You knew he’d catch you quickly but it was worth it to make him smile. As you felt his hands grab your waist, you let out a startled laugh before dissolving into giggles as he lightly tickled your sides.

“What was that you said?” he asked, amusement obvious in his voice. You were about to relent and take it back when Elias’ weight was suddenly gone from behind you.

“Go, Y/N, go!” Brock called and you turned to see him and Quinn holding a struggling but smiling Elias back. You didn’t need to be told twice—you were off and skating, fearlessly taking each corner as it came. As you completed the full lap to pass Elias, you cheered.

“See, I did lap you after all!” you teased skating back to him as the boys finally let him go to give you high fives.

“And with no help or cheating at all, very impressive” he said sarcastically and you grinned up at him.

“Of course not, I would never” you replied and he rolled his eyes at you.

“You’re lucky I love you” Elias said, ruffling your hair.

“Don’t I know it” you agreed, wrapping an arm around his waist so you two could continue on together, arm in arm.

A/N: Thank you for reading! C, I hope you enjoyed 💕 Thank you for giving me so much freedom with what to write, I tried to infuse what you shared with me as much as possible so it felt personalized. Now, I can finally follow you! I didn’t want to ruin the surprise beforehand lol

Swedish translation (according to google):

 älskling = darling/ my love

[hockeywhhores]

house hunting- e. pettersson

elias pettersson x gn!reader

warnings~ two mentions of nudity, nothing really

genre~ fluff

word count~ 1.2k

main masterlist

buying a house with a partner is always a major step in the relationship; an extremely stressful one at that . when elias first suggested it you thought it had been a joke. you were both curled up on the couch messing around on your own phones, even though the tv was turned to some swedish soap opera. having felt like a bother asking to use his macbook charger everyday, you had mentioned going back to your apartment to grab it, due to the late time you were just going to stay at your house for the rest of the night. you were just beginning to sit up and start heading out when elias just blurted out, “why don’t you just move in?” to say you were shocked would have been an understatement. 

“don’t you think its a bit soon for that?” you asked back, the relationship was just barely at the one year mark. “i can’t have you getting tired of me too fast.” 

“i could never get tired of you.” elias said back very seriously. “I think it could be a great choice; you already practically live here. our nights are already numbered due to away games and i hate sleeping without you. i just think you should at least think about it.” 

“i do hate sleeping without you.” you agreed and he gave you an ‘i-told-you-so’ look which made you giggle. “how about, if we are still going strong in six months, we will start looking. this apartment is too small for the both of us and we both have roommates.” you pointed out. its like he just remembered he still shared a space with quinn, because his smug look went away as he looked around the apartment and noticed the other man’s belongings. 

“that's a fair deal.” he finally decided. you laughed and tackled him with a hug. 

“i am having to go home tonight. i need my laptop charger for class tomorrow, besides you have a super early skate tomorrow. you need the rest.” you mumbled while kissing his neck. elias only grunted, not at all happy with what you have just said. “you can meet me back at mine after my 9 am class gets out, and we can go out for lunch?”

“that sounds lovely.” your beautiful swedish man said. 

~~~

you stayed true to your word. six months came and went, and now here you are looking at condos on the upscale side of vancouver. every condo looked the exact same: stupidly expensive, white walls, and real wood flooring with excess to a community pool and fitness room perfect for the summer. elias didn’t understand why you didn’t just choose the first one. they were all the same and perfect for both of you. 

“how do you feel about this one?” the blonde realtor asked you both. 

“i love it, how about you (y/n)?” elias quickly replied. 

“i love it too.” you said, not missing the sigh of relief elias gave out. 

“wonderful! i’ll have the contract sent to you both before the end of the week. you should be able to move in about two weeks after signing.” the realtor exclaimed typing away on her cell phone. you took one last look around the massive master bedroom you were all standing in, and gave out a sigh. this was all super nerve wracking. you were excited and scared. 

feeling the anxiety rolling off of you elias wrapped his arms around you from behind.“this is going to be great. waking up next to each other every morning. its going to be like heaven on earth” he whispered in your ear, kissing just below it to help calm you down. 

“i know, i know. i’m excited to finally live together, it’s just i don’t want us to move too quickly and get tired of each other.” you voiced your concern, leaning into his strong hold on you. 

“that won’t happen. i love you too much for that to happen, (y/n)” elias said after turning you around to look him in the eyes. you could have just melted into the ground right there, under the heat of his love. 

“i love you too.” you said back to him, giving him a kiss on the lips. 

~~~

back at your apartment packing has been a wreck. clothes, boxes, and hair products are thrown everywhere, and your roommate is insisting on keeping the pan set you both went half in on. you knew that elias would buy a new pan set and a whole new kitchen set if you asked for it, but you had always hated feeling like a bother. elias was packing the first load of packed boxes into the moving truck. “need help with the next boxes?” he asked. 

“sure. its just more clothes.” you chuckled out, feeling stressed. “kacey is refusing to give up the pans we bought when we moved in, so we are going to need to go get some.” 

“thats fine, honey. i took the liberty of furnishing the place before we moved in, if we need anything else i’ll just order it.” he said while continuing folding your jeans and placing them into the cardboard box in front of him. 

“babe, you know you don’t need to take on all the costs, right?” you inquired. 

“i know. i was very blessed with my contract this year, and want to put it to use. think about it as an investment into our relationship.” elias gave you the warmest smile and you felt yourself start crying. 

“i am so blessed to have you, elias. i don’t know what i would do without you.” you marveled still in disbelief that you had gotten so lucky in life. 

“i don’t know what i would do without as well.” he answered leaving the box he was working on and made his way to you. he sweeped you into his arms and kissed the very top of your head, wiping the tears from your eyes as well. “i can’t wait until we move in and i can wake up next to you, naked of course.” he winked then joined you in laughing at the comment. 

~~~

bright light shined into the room causing you to squint as soon as your eyes were open and you felt the weight of a hockey player under you. looking up, you noticed elias had yet to wake. taking this precious moment, you just watched his chest rise and fall calmly.

 after feeling like a creep, you kissed his chest and went to get up. elias immediately pulled you back down to him. “where do you think you’re going?” his morning voice coming through; his accent extra thick. 

“i need to go let the dog outside, and then i was going to start on breakfast.” you explained,

“just a few more minutes, pleeeesee.” he whined.

“no sir. bella needs to go outside, and i want some breakfast.” you said trying to pull away from him again as he continued to groan. “i’m not planning on getting dressed yet, so you better hurry if you want to watch me in the kitchen.” you chuckled as he sprung up and looked fully awake. it may have been stressful making such a big move in the relationship, but it has the best thing you have ever done for yourself and your relationship.

finished

[jostystyles]

one direction song fic challenge

long time no see besties! i myself and probably some of you because we all know the 1d to hockey fan pipeline have been missing 1d lately due to certain events. so why not host a fic challenge!

rules:

choose one song and a player from this list

only one song per fic, you can choose two songs if you like as long as they’re separate pieces!

if choosing more than one song (limit two so it’s only fair) please send one ask per song!

first come first serve, i’ll be posting in order of asks so make sure to look and see what’s been claimed already

minimum word count of 600 but no maximum!

fics must be submitted by january 4!

if you’re writing smut you must be 18+

you don’t have to be following me but it would be appreciated! happy writing, tracks are below!

ALBUM 1: UP ALL NIGHT (2011)

track 1: what makes you beautiful

track 2: gotta be you

track 3: one thing

track 4: more than this

track 5: up all night

track 6: i wish

track 7: tell me a lie

track 8: taken

track 9: i want

track 10: everything about you

track 11: same mistakes

track 12: save you tonight

track 13: stole my heart

track 14: stand up

track 15: moments

bonus track: another world

bonus track: na na na

bonus track: i should’ve kissed you

ALBUM 2: TAKE ME HOME (2012)

track 1: live while we’re young

track 2: kiss you

track 3: little things

track 4: cmon cmon

track 5: last first kiss

track 6: heart attack

track 7: rock me

track 8: change my mind

track 9: i would

track 10: over again

track 11: back for you

track 12: they don’t know about us

track 13: summer love

track 14: she’s not afraid

track 15: loved you first

track 16: nobody compares

track 17: still the one

bonus track: truly madly deeply

bonus track: magic

bonus track: irresistible

ALBUM 3: MIDNIGHT MEMORIES (2013)

track 1: best song ever

track 2: story of my life

track 3: diana

track 4: midnight memories

track 5: you & i

track 6: don’t forget where you belong

track 7: strong

track 8: happily

track 9: right now || elias petterson by @ilyasorokinn

track 10: little black dress

track 11: through the dark

track 12: something great

track 13: little white lies

track 14: better than words

track 15: why don’t we go there

track 16: does he know

track 17: alive

track 18: half a heart

ALBUM 4: FOUR (2014)

track 1: steal my girl

track 2: ready to run

track 3: where do broken hearts go

track 4: 18

track 5: girl almighty

track 6: fools gold

track 7: night changes

track 8: no control

track 9: fireproof || undecided player @mattyanonwrites

track 10: spaces

track 11: stockholm syndrome

track 12: clouds

track 13: change your ticket

track 14: illusion

track 15: once in a lifetime || nico hischeir by @fallinallincurls

track 16: act my age

ALBUM 5: MADE IN THE A.M. (2015)

track 1: hey angel

track 2: drag me down

track 3: perfect

track 4: infinity

track 5: end of the day

track 6: if i could fly

track 7: long way down

track 8: never enough

track 9: olivia

track 10: what a feeling || undecided player @mattyanonwrites

track 11: love you goodbye

track 12: i want to write you a song

track 13: history

track 14: temporary fix

track 15: walking in the wind || quinn hughes by @writingonleaves

track 16: wolves

track 17: a.m. || brady skjei by @jxmieoleksiaks

remember, once a track is claimed it’s gone! tagging some moots: @laurenairay @comphy-and-cozy @mattyanonwrites @2manytabsopen @lam-ila @ilyasorokinn @senditcolton @cellythefloshie @fallinallincurls

[tapedsleeves]

get rec'd - just so so so late

hi. it's me again, hargaret. It's been a while.

Follow me out of this abyss - by @kllovk

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An interesting take on A/B/O dynamics that had me captivated until the end.

fragile like a bomb by @zepuckinghockey

Adam Larsson / Vince Dunn, E, 3878

Adam is just looking for a good time in the heat room. Surely Vince is good at sex. Right? this is suuuch a fun premise. I love it when sex doesn't go perfectly i love it when dynamics are a little malleable, i loved this fic thru & thru.

running from ghosts by remyjane

nicklas backstrom / alex ovechkin, M, 19301

Nicke is secretly a prince. this fic doesn't feature heavy on romance but it is REALLY big on hurt / comfort and I LOVED it.

dare not speak its name by @droumack

nathan mackinnon / jonathan drouin, E, 42,622

Nate and Jo weren’t actually always friends. I gotta say - this short and sweet title didn't give me much to go on, but it did entice me. I waited for this fic to be completed with baited breath. I was soooo excited to read it. And when i did, i was blown away. This was SUCH a unique take on Dom/Sub dynamic fics and i was REALLY into Jo's POV even while he was being the most oblivious person on earth. Just. all around a perfect 5 out of 7 stars.

care and feeding by @spangledleatherponcho

tim stuzle / brady tkachuk, E, 10260

Brady learns something about Timmy. Aka the bunnicula fic. sometimes you learn your bunny best friend is a vampire and maybe you're into it.

i don't want to live love this way by @lurlur

vince dunn / adam larsson, e, 7057

a breakup in slow motion. this is SUCH a heartbreaking fic, because they break up and do NOT get back together which isn't normally my jam, but this is just. so well written and heartbreaking. Adam and Vince both have such unique and well reasoned POV's and I really, really love it.

to climb two mountains by @gaybroons

tyler myers / quinn hughes / nikita zadorov, E, 2191

read the title. you know what this is about. it's really really hot & well written DP.

i'm ready to journey again by thunderingskies

quinn hughes / elias petterson, E, 12192

Quinn and Petey were hooking up and it takes a long time for Quinn to realize that his feelings go way beyond that. This fic is just. oh man i love a good fwb to lovers fic and this one is *chef's kiss*

from this day forward series by @wymgreenteam

Nico Hischier / Jack Hughes ( / Jonas Siegenthaler), E, 91664

This series is based on a Swiss Royal Nico, arranged marriage to Jack & secretly in love with them both Jonas (in the sequel). Listen. This fic has everything. Enemies to lovers. Best friends to lovers. Polycules. Angst. I love it so so so much and reread it regularly. It's one of my favorite comfort fics.

take my hand, take my whole life too by @thatsnotbuddies

Jack Eichel / Noah Hanifin, T, 1817

jack and noah get vegas married. this fic is SO soft and SO lovely.

soft as it began by @droumack

nathan mackinnon / jonathan drouin, E, 41499

Nate & Jo get drafted together as mates - but Nate insists at first that it's platonic. I really liked this one as well, this author really has a way with angst that i really really dig.

[snorky]

The Water Is Rusted, The Air Is Unclean, And There For A Second, I Feel Free

Hey y’all! After some consideration, I wrote a second part to ‘Cause This Is A Wasteland, My Only Retreat, in which this story takes place in the Defy The Stars!AU. The title is still based off of the song “Hell Above” by Pierce The Veil. I needed to give Quinn a good ending, and this might be it, and Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson make a guest appearance. I hope you all enjoy this fic! Take care of yourself!

Pairing: Platonic!Brock Boeser x F!Reader, Quinn Hughes x F!Reader

Word Count: 4.3k

Warnings: Mentions of major character death, Sci-fi weaponry, Angst, Not too proofread

Part One

—

—

Time passed. It had to. The universe couldn’t just stop because her best friend was lost during a battle. She lived without Quinn since he passed, but it just wasn’t the same. The beautiful sky of Genesis seemed to lack that bright blue. The soft green grass didn’t seem soft, nor green any longer.

It seemed as if she mourned endlessly during the night, her tears would bring him back to Genesis, rather than the cold, bitter air of space where he took his last breath. But, she knew it wasn’t possible. With the lack of technology in Genesis and a strict set of morals, the idea of Quinn being resurrected seemed blasphemous.

Her life eventually had to go on without him, despite the thought of that making her heart ache beyond any possible measurement. She continued to work hard in the Genesis military, dedicating the majority of her work, time, and energy to trying to put an end to the war. All while doing so, she dedicated it to living for Quinn.

She tried her best to see the world in all the bright colors she used to. She spent time with his family, mourning, and reminiscing about his life with them. Every day, when she wasn’t serving at the base, she spent time with his family and friends. Just like he wanted her to.

When she got promoted to Captaincy, she wished Quinn had been by her side, and maybe even being promoted along with her. He had the skill, the passion, and all the qualifications to make it, but he didn’t have enough time.

On one particular night, the winter air seemed much harsher than it was. The snow fell constantly, with the wind howling in her ears, her vision was slightly impaired. Trudging through the snow, she wandered towards the bridge Quinn and she always hung out at.

Memories came flooding back once she spotted the little bridge that arched over the frozen river. Slowly walking towards it, her footprints were left behind in the snow, trailing behind her. She sat down on the bridge, the cold snow brushing up against her, stars gleaming above her.

The stars were something she could easily get lost in, the large multiplicity of them made her mind wander endlessly. It was something both Quinn and she enjoyed doing, counting the stars and laying in the grass in his backyard. Eventually, as they grew older, they were both teased relentlessly if they remained in his yard, and so they wandered to other places in town where it was just the both of them, together.

She remembers his laughter as if she heard it yesterday, the way his eyes crinkled, and the way he smiled proudly, yet she wanted to hear it so desperately as if she had forgotten. 

Tears formed in her eyes, the cold, bitter air pricking at them like shrapnel from an explosion. Blinking, her warm tears rolled down her face, a stark contrast to the freezing temperatures, and she broke out into a sob.

Her bare fingers started to go numb as she idly drew shapes in the snow, a distraction from her thoughts. “I miss you so much.” Her words came out like a quiet mumble as she sniveled, her body shaking with each breath.

The night remained silent but listened to her as the wind seemed to whistle in the snow. A faint crunch of snow sounded, her attention immediately drawn to it. Slowly, she started to remember that some animals could’ve been present, but then again, which?

No elk nor bear should’ve been in the area, even if it was past sundown. It was a light footstep she recalled, and so those creatures were outruled. Frozen with fear, she made no quick movement in order to avoid drawing attention to herself, although she was sure it would’ve seen her anyway.

Her eyes scanned the trees beside the river, searching for—hoping for a lack of a creature. Time seemed to slow, creeping upon her gently, and she could feel the grasp of it. Between two birch trees, a figure stood there, slightly hunched over as if it didn’t want to be seen.

From what she could tell, it had dark hair compared to its complexion, and it looked eerily familiar. Almost as if she could recall each little detail with precision. The snow never stopped falling, distorting anything that was far away enough, and so she kept her guard up.

Only after a few seconds of her noticing the creature, it seemed to run away, snow crunching beneath its feet rather quickly as if it noticed her. Color drained from her face, an empty-bad gut feeling settling within her.

Once the footsteps of the creature seemed distant enough, she ran back towards her home, never once looking back in fear if she spotted something. Through the winding trees, blurry snow, and aggressive winds, the run seemed much more difficult, and she felt much more vulnerable than she should’ve.

As she arrived home, she didn’t feel any safer for some odd reason. Her training allowed her to be attentive, much more than the average person, and to the point of her feeling an unsettling pair of eyes on her.

Quietly and quickly, she made her way to her room, changing out of her winter gear into ordinary clothes. She lay in her bed, mind racing about what she could’ve seen in the woods. It couldn’t have been Quinn, despite how similar it looked. Her mind must’ve been playing tricks on her.

Morning came and she was called back onto duty for Genesis. She packed her bag with some essential belongings, clothes, and a journal, and then parted ways with her parents and siblings.

It was almost a routine thing, despite how serious it was considering she had a possibility of not returning home. Her parents understood deeply, especially after seeing the Hughes family after the loss of Quinn.

When she arrived at the base, it seemed much busier than usual. Soldiers made their way to the station that connected Genesis to outside of orbit. Commanders, Captains, and Generals gave tasks and orders. It was all much more hectic.

“Captain,” a man with a bold posture and golden hair spoke. “Welcome back.” He smiled.

“Thank you, Commander Boeser.” She smiled back. “It’s nice seeing you again.”

“And you as well.”

They both shook hands, a formal greeting between them. She knew Boeser through Quinn since they both worked in the same department from time to time. As time went on, they all grew closer together, laughing at inside jokes, and sharing their dreams and passions.

Making their way down the corridor of the building toward the main control room, the hall seemed as vibrant as the outside sky. All Genesis government buildings were full of greenery and life, reflecting on the planet itself, and natural light shone through the clear glass ceilings.

When they made it to the main control room, they were greeted by another commander.

“There you are, Commander Boeser and Captain. Welcome.”

“Good morning, Commander Petterson.” They both said in unison.

“Lovely seeing the both of you here, despite the unruly circumstances of the weather,” he spoke lightly. “Unfortunately, we need the both of you working out of orbit for the next week.”

They both nodded in understanding, accepting their duties and their responsibilities given. The weight on Genesis seemed to be on their shoulders, but they wouldn’t let that get to them.

War continued to be rampant between Genesis and Earth, the fight never ceasing. It felt like a lost cause, but nonetheless, they continued to fight with all their forces. Protecting their world from the greedy palms of Earth that desired their pristine global conditions was their top priority. Genesis refused to succumb to the temporary desires Earth fell to.

“Will you both accept the risk and responsibility to lead the military?” Commander Petterson spoke, breaking her out of her thoughts.

They both spoke in unison, similar to a chant within a cathedral. “Yes, Commander.”

“We’ll contact you when you both arrive at the station.” He nodded. His eyes seemed darker than usual, tiredness and exhaustion evident.

Both Commander Boeser and she walked out of the main control room, back into the bright corridor, and towards the bay that held the small vessel that carried soldiers out onto the station outside of orbit.

They both changed from their on-planet uniforms to their exosuits, and waited in the lounge, a sense of discomfort filling the air. New and veteran soldiers waited in the same area, but it was evident who was who, where the rookies fidgeted nervously, and the veterans settled into their own routine.

The signal blared, startling a few people, and they stood in a single file line. As she boarded the vessel, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. She knew that this could’ve been her last trip, but she so badly wanted to go against it.

Slowly, they took off and headed towards the station, the green planet of Genesis fading away, being replaced by tiny dots of stars that scattered the ether. When they landed at the station, everyone was ordered to move from the vessel onto the station. Everyone drifted from their seats and through the tunnel that connected the two ships together.

Zero-gravity was always something that fascinated her, the idea that something could just float so effortlessly, almost flying through the air gracefully. It was one of the few things that Quinn and she talked about often when they were younger. They had a shared love for many things, but especially that.

Once everyone had boarded the station, they remained in the main area as the tunnel to the vessel closed. It had windows from the ceiling to the floor, showcasing the vastness of space just from that one area of the ship. 

She settled into her own routine that consisted of breathing deeply, relaxing her muscles, and taking time to allow herself to not feel too pressured. Being the Captain of a specific fleet meant a lot to her, especially because she wanted this since she was a little girl, playing pretend spaceship with Quinn in his backyard, running freely in the hills. She had to lead with minimal fear, with courage and confidence, she had to be brave for Quinn.

Waving her hand and signaling to the operator to activate the artificial gravity, the lights switched from a soft, bluish hue to a green one, which notified the soldiers about it and allowed them to brace themselves before the gravity kicked in.

When everyone landed, she started to give orders. “Alright.” Her voice held a strong confidence, and yet she could feel it waver slightly. “I need those of Fleet Two-Dash-Seventy to head to their fighter ships. Make sure to check your systems and engines, as well as your exosuits and helmets along with your vitals.”

They all made their way down the corridor that connected the main area to the bay that held the individual fighter ships, boots stomping against the ground. It sounded like the beat of a drum, thumping similarly to a heartbeat.

She glanced over to Commander Boeser, noticing the stiffness of his posture. He reminded her of when she first became Captain, nervous and afraid of making a mistake, the pressure seemingly beyond possible limitations it seemed.

“Easy there Commander’.” She chuckled. “You’ll lead your fleet just fine,”

He nodded in response and gave her a soft smile. “For Quinn.”

They both knew Quinn since they all joined the Genesis military in the same year, graduating at the top of their classes together. The three of them all strived to reach some level of authority or leadership, not for the power, but for hope of a better future. They all wanted to make a change and leave an impact behind.

Making their way to the bay, they started the engines of their ships and got in. It felt comforting, in the way that something routine or familiar was. The danger was always lingering in the atmosphere, awaiting for the right moment to arise, but the feeling of knowing how to handle it dissipated it.

As the ships launched out into space, the stars seemed to blur past them, a streak of white dots and fuzzy colors. She would never get tired of the beautiful view. It was always something she had dreamed of seeing, the mesmerizing stars and colors of the vast space. 

Adrenaline coursed through her veins, setting her up for readiness in the state of battle as she gripped the yoke of her fighter ship. She navigated through the small asteroids and debris easily, like second nature in her soul, and she felt minimal panic or unease. At least, for the most part. Once her systems spotted a fleet of mechs approaching, she knew she had to take action.

Pressing the button that activated the communications system, her hands showed no sign of unsteadiness. “Notifying all those in this area within the Genesis fleet. We have located a large number of mechs within the area. Proceed with caution.” Multiple ships notified her with positive affirmations, alerting her that they received her message. She set the gear of her ship to a higher level, allowing her to fly with more power in less amount of time, and then repeated her message.

Steering her ship in a downward motion to avoid a blast from a mech fighter, she knew it was going to be a much tougher fight. What scared her more was that this fight resembled nothing similar to the fight that took Quinn away from her. It was much worse than that.

Ship after ship came flying by, dangerously close to her own, and she reached for the communications system once more. “More mech fighters within the area, proceed with caution!”

“Copy that Captain,” Boeser spoke.

As a mech fighter flew directly at her, she quickly rolled over, dodging the mech by a mere sliver of space. She held her breath and prayed to some higher power that there wasn’t a Genesis fighter right behind her who was unaware of what was to come after she dodged the mech.

 Another mech fighter came hurling towards her at a rapid speed, and she fired at it instinctually, causing it to split into tiny pieces, drifting apart like stars.

It always caused her internal turmoil when she fought from time to time, considering how much of a human likeness the mechs had. A tactic beyond manipulative, and yet she still fought with all of her passion and might.

Turning her ship around a large chunk of debris, she spotted a chillingly familiar fighter ship, the blue and green stripes bold against the silver surface. It couldn’t be him. He wasn’t here.

And there he was. His messy brown hair stuck to his forehead in his helmet, gentle and angelic as ever. The soft roughness of stubble on his jaw. The look of sheer determination and confidence he always held. Every bit of him in the highest glory.

Her eyes had to be playing tricks on her. She couldn’t lose focus now, especially since she was in the middle of a major fight.

Gripping the yoke with her hands, she swiftly navigated her ship beyond what looked to be Quinn’s, and towards the fighter mechs. As she was doing so, she logged an unknown ship within the area to the database, and informed others through the communications system about it.

“Attention! Unidentified ship within the area—” The sound of other Genesis fighters logging in this information onto their ship could be heard, movements almost frantic. “Keep on high alert for a silver fighter ship, blue and green diagonal stripes on the side.”

She knew the number of his ship by heart, the double-digit of forty-three that he logged onto his ship every time. And yet, her ship wouldn’t register his number as recognizable, which was odd considering that each Genesis fighter ship had to have their number on display at all times.

Did he intentionally hide the number? Maybe it wasn’t really him. All these thoughts bubbled in her mind, causing her to swirl in light nausea before she was snapped back into reality.

“Commander Boeser speaking, are you active?”

“Yes Commander Boeser. Affirmative.” She messed up and lost her focus for a moment. It could’ve been devastating, but she was lucky this time.

“Copy that.”

Her eyes drifted beside her for a brief moment, and she caught the familiar ship in her vision again. Keeping her focus on the view in front of her, more mechs started to drift in, and she fired at each with precision.

As soon as the amount of mech fighters present in the area started to decrease, she quickly called an order through the communications system. “All Genesis fighters, head back to the station. Fighting has begun to cease and we advise you to head back to the station,”

Multiple fighters responded quickly in affirmation and from what she could tell on the navigational systems, no casualties have occurred during this fight, despite how heavy it was. A small smile formed on her face, in both pride for the fleet and gratefulness for their strength.

The fighter ships flew back towards the station as Commander Boeser and she kept track of them, taking into account each and every Genesis fighter ship. It was beautiful seeing all the simple, yet pretty design each fighter chose for their ship as it flew past like vibrant shooting stars.

Once all the ships started to dock in the bay, she followed behind them, checking one final time to make sure that all ships were in the bay, afraid of abandoning a miscounted one.

“Don’t you miss me, angel?” A familiar, soft voice spoke through the communications system.

That couldn’t be possible, no. The communications system was strictly between Genesis fighters, specifically coded that way in case of an emergency. But she was so sure that was his voice. The voice she had longed to hear for ages it seemed.

She cleared her throat and spoke, nervousness wavering in her voice. “What is your name?” Her hands shook slightly as she held the radio, unsure if she should flee and return to the station, or stay and allow her curiosity to get a hold of her.

His voice lured her in, like a siren’s song. “Please don’t tell me that you forgot me, please,” he pleaded. His voice sounded so broken, most likely from the hijacked communications system, but she knew that wasn’t the only reason.

“This is Commander Boeser speaking, are you active?”

“Yes, Commander—” Her communications system glitched for a brief moment, evident in the dull hum in the background with her voice cutting out briefly. “My communications system appears to be malfunctioning—”

“Report back to the station as soon as you can, okay Captain?”

“Yes, Commander Boeser.”

Her navigation system was still working properly, with signals being able to be sent and received, but her communications system seemed to struggle slightly.

“Meet me at the bridge, our bridge,” Quinn—maybe Quinn—spoke.

—

As soon as she was released from her week of out-of-orbit service, she headed back home to her parents, the familiarity being something that she always welcomed with open arms. Her parents and siblings greeted her with kindness and warmth, something that was needed during the cold and dark winter.

When they finished dinner together, laughing and chatting, savoring the crumbs and bits of life, she excused herself and left, promising to be back soon. Even if she was an adult now, she still felt the responsibility to not worry her parents to the point of sickness as a habit of growing up.

The air remained cold, just like the night she trudged out into the snow to see the bridge again. Midnight sky hung in the air, barely illuminating the ground below. Everything remained the same, almost pristine and untouched as a fresh layer of snow had fallen in the past week.

It crunched underneath her boots with each step she took, breaking the silent night. She approached the bridge, still the same as she remembered from her childhood, and sat on it, overlooking the frozen river.

Snow whirled around her, drifting in the air as it fell to the ground softly, unlike raindrops that splattered. The wind continued to howl, but it seemed quieter tonight.

Snow crunched behind her, a sound that broke the silence again. She didn’t have to turn around to know who it was. A promise was a promise.

“You’re here.” The familiar voice spoke, a tone of surprise lacing his voice.

“I never wanted to leave.”

The snow crunched as he walked towards her, sitting on the bridge beside her. He faced the river, his expression a tired-sad-weary dream as he watched the snow fall from the sky. Silence drifted between them, slowly melting in with the snow that danced in the air. He looked so familiar and yet there seemed to be something that was missing from him.

“You didn’t forget me, right?” He kept his gaze forward, his head not daring to turn and face her.

The silence spoke more words than the both of them, expressing a ‘I didn’t forget you, but you don’t seem familiar to me any longer’ that fell from her lips without saying a word. 

She turned to him instead, analyzing his expression, trying to decipher and decode his words. “Quinn.” She spoke his name carefully, as if she wanted to test if it still felt right on her tongue, if it still felt right to say. “I missed you.”

What did she miss? She experienced all that she had, but Quinn, where was he when she experienced those things?

“Where were you?” Her words came out sharper than she wanted, similar to a mother who cares, worries too much about the whereabouts of her loved ones.

He moved his eyes towards her gaze carefully, and as quickly as he did, he looked away in shame. “I should’ve come to you sooner.”

“Tell me about it,”

“I didn’t die.” He stated this easily, as if it was just pure, simple, undeniable fact. It opposed what she saw with her own eyes. It opposed the fact that his navigation and communications systems disconnected as soon as the blast hit. “I escaped, barely.”

All Genesis fighter ships were equipped with an emergency system, where if manually activated, the cockpit of the ship could disconnect from the larger component that held the weaponry of the ship, leaving the ship defenseless.

“I made it away from the area of the fight, but I latched on to a mech carrier ship, and drifted back to Earth.” Regret dripped from his tongue as he spoke, his palms cradling his head as he looked down in shame.

She wanted to ask him so many questions, but it seemed improper to do so at this time. However, she had one question that she so badly wanted to ask. “Why did you not return to Genesis?”

“I don’t know.” His voice was barely above a whisper, the howling winds almost overtaking it. “I don’t think it was safe to try and fly back to Genesis, considering the amount of conflict going on in that area and where I was.” His fingers traced shapes and patterns into the snow beside him as he talked. “And so I latched and stayed low.”

Getting up from beside him, she started to walk away, he watched her as she did. His heart sunk, twisted, whatever it could to try and understand what went wrong, and he knew well what went wrong.

“Come,” she said quietly. “You need rest, honey.”

His head perked up at the sound of the nickname, noticing how it sounded so perfect, and he wanted to hear it more. He followed her as they both walked to her home, the one that neighbored his own with his family. It was a quiet walk, the midnight sky offering little to no light, and they were only guided by the memory of the path.

Walking beside her now, he slowly reached for her hand, and held it carefully, and she allowed him to do so, giving it a gentle squeeze once he did. His hands felt warm compared to hers, and it was a comforting feeling, knowing that he was, and will remain, beside her.

When they both stepped into the warm, cozy home, they quietly made their way to her room, dimly lit with a small table lamp, and he sat down on her bed.

It was the same as he remembered as a young boy, her collection of comic books and novels on her desk, paper stars hanging from the ceiling, her favorite stuffed animals sitting on her bed, it was a reflection of who she was.

“Go take a warm shower and then relax in here once you’re done.” She looked at him, noticing that he was wearing the base layers that he wore under his exosuit. Her heart felt so upset at seeing him like this, broken, lost, and most likely scared. “I have some spare clothes that I borrowed from you a few years ago,” she trailed off. “I’ll grab them for you.”

She walked to her closet, grabbing a neatly folded pile of t-shirts and gym shorts, all slightly large on her since they were Quinn’s. When she handed it to him, the look in his eyes was almost, grateful, and yet it was teary-eyed and sad. “Thanks.” His words were quiet, but the mood he expressed was far from silence. “Thanks for not forgetting,” his voice cracked slightly.

Turning around before she made her way out into the hall, she gave him a sad smile, “I could never forget you. Never in my lifetime.”

[rocohen20]

Fic Rec: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Accidental Dating & Arranged Marriage

Fake/Pretend Relathionship

Leon Draisaitl/Connor McDavid

-Necessary Growing Pains, by liroa15, 17,926 words

[Available Podfic Version: [Podfic] Necessary Growing Pains, by Annapods, frecklebombfic (frecklebomb), 02:06:19 hours]

Connor lies about having a fuckbuddy to his ex-boyfriend and best friend Dylan in the hopes that he would stop nagging him. Leon volenteered to be said fuckbuddy, it leads to feeling.

I don’t tend to read about them, but I was pleasantly surprised by the story.

Quinn Hughes/Elias Petterson

-Last Christmas, by Mere_Sprite1847, 3,767 words

A cute little story about how Elias convinces Quinn to pretend being his boyfriend, after some misunderstanding from his parents' side.

Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin

-and there's always time to change your mind, by Nuanta, 40,451 words

Jamie is getting outed when a delicate picture is getting leaked. Tyler feels resposible to what had happened to him, and decides to help Jamie with the situation.

-[Podfic] Inhabit Every Feeling, by RsCreighton, 54:28 minutes

[Original Written Work: Inhabit Every Feeling, by hkafterdark, 8,541 words]

When Tyler visit Jamie in BC, Jamie finds out that Jordie told their parents that Jamie and Tyler were more than just friends, that leads to feelings.

-something good and right and real, by blamefincham and thistidalwave, 15,488 words

When Tyler is trying to get away with not bringing a plus one to a family member’s wedding, his mom comes to the wrong conclusion that he and Jamie are together. Tyler doesn’t want to break her heart, so of course he needs to bring Jamie with him to the wedding.

-take a deep breath and count back from ten (maybe you'll be alright), by cinderlily, 26,167 words

AU where They both are Buzzfid workers and they'd been selected to a "be married for a week" video.

- [Podfic] Do You Believe In Magic, by RsCreighton, 1:03:26 hours

[Original Written Work: Do You Believe in Magic?, by reallyyeahokay, 8,796 words]

After a magical accident that wrecked Jamie’s kitchen, Tyler had to lie in the investigation about the nature of his and Jamie’s relationship. Until the end of the investigation they need to fake a relationship.

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews

-Marry Me A Little, by bessyboo and thisissirius, 154,842 words

After Patrick's latest antics Jonathan is trying to convince management not to trade him away. In pure desperation he may have lied about how he and Patrick were together for a while and wanted to marry each other.

-Tied if We Stay by Staraflur [Podfic], by Rhea314 (Rhea), 03:01:14 hours

[Original Written Work is not available anymore]

Patrick by accident tweet publicly about the fact that he and Jonny are fucking. As a result of that management forces them to pretend that what they have with each other is romantically (and not just friends with benefits).

-Every Piece of Me and You, by thundersquall, 94,646 words

Patrick and Jonathan are friends with benefits for several years now, but when Patrick is knocked up and the media found out about it they agreed to fake a relationship and marry each other to save a media circus.

-Keep You On My Arm [PODFIC], by bessyboo, 39:17 minutes

[Original Written Work: Keep You On My Arm, by rsadelle, 6,732 words]

The team started to go to gay bars. Jonathan keeps pretending to be Patrick’s boyfriend.

-[Podfic of] our song is the way you laugh, by exmanhater, 59:06 minutes

[Original Written Work: our song is the way you laugh, by orphan_account, 9,951 words]

In order to get up on Sharpy, Jonny convinces Patrick to fake a relationship with him.

-we're looking for something dumb to do, by hatrickane (dandelionwhiskey), 13,551 words

The Arrangement AU. Jonathan's visa is about to be expired so he convinces his assistant to fake a marriage with him.

-perfect match, by thundersquall, 33,811 words

Patrick needs to find a plus one to Erica's wedding. With the advice of Sharpy he goes on this app that fixes people up to fake date with. There he finds the most gorgeous, handsom guy he ever met. He is kind of fucked.

This story was stuck at the back of my marked for later list for such a long time. Only recently I decided to finally give it a chance, and oh boy was I happy that I did it.

-Those Two Together, by dragons_and_angels, 13,772 words

Trevor thought that Patrick and Jonathan were dating. They didn’t want to let down the rookie, so they went along with it.

Patrick Kane/Abby Sharp/Patrick Sharp

-A Little Sincerity, by 7iris, 7,379 words

Sharpie tells Burish in desperation that he and Abby are having a thing with Kaner. In an attempt to make Burish belive in the lie the three of them are pretending to have a relationship together. Obviously it leads to feeling.

Prior to reading the story I didn’t expect to love this story and the three of them as much I did. Plus, the reading is so effortless.

Sidney Crosby/Patrick Kane

-Waking Up And I Don't Even Know My Last Name, by BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse (orphan_account), 11,490 words

Patrick and Sidney are in love in an unrequired love with their respected teammate, and they each go to Vegas to drown their sorrows. Somehow they meet there and get drunk married. Now they need to stay married.

Sidney Crosby/Claude Giroux

- i let you push all of my buttons (and you could push me off the edge all you like), by amiwastingmytime, 2,311 words

Claude incounter the rival beer-league captain of the other team. Next thing he knows Crosby is pretending that Claude is his new boyfriend infront of his ex.

-we weren't lovers like that, by whimsicalmeerkat, 13,262 words

After a fan post a picture of Claude and Sidney together, they start to fake a relationship. This leads to actually hooking up with each otger, an angry proposal and Claude slowly losing his mind.

Sidney Crosby/Marc-Andre Fleury/Veronique Fleury

-[Podfic] Where Else Would We Want To Go by Withershins, by brightnail, 39:19 minutes

[Original Written Work: Where Else Would We Want to Go, by withershins, 5,177 words]

Marc-Andre and Veronique had been fake-dating Sidney for the past three years. Each of them was fine with it, but when Kris stages an intervention about it the three of them needs to figure some stuff out. 

Sidney Crosby/Alexander Ovechkin

-[Podfic] If you want roses (I'll buy a bouquet) by Merryofsoul, by brightnail, 22:25 minutes 

[Original Written Work: If you want roses (I'll buy a bouquet), by merryofsoul, 3,457 words]

When the pens think that Sidney is dating Alex, Sidney and Alex decided to fake a relationship as a prank. 

Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin

-[podfic] Did you ever stop to love me, by Annapods, 02:38:01 hours

[Original Written Work: Did You Ever Stop To Love Me, by screamlet, 25,348 words]

Alex' ex outs him out, so Nicklas do the responsible thing and marry him.

I really liked Nicky in the story. He knew what he wanted and knew how to help Alex. Also I loved at the beginning the logistical stuff about citizenships and stuff.

-Holding Onto You, by somethingnerdythiswaycomes, 6,552 words

No player is excempt from the Vegas expansion, unless he is married. So in order to keep playing with each other, Nicky and Alex get married to each other.

Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin

-[podfic] The State of Marriage, read by lunchee (lunchee), 03:20:06 hours

[Original Written Work: The State of Marriage, by iBear, 28,243 words]

Evgeni gets outed during the off season in Russia, next thing he knows he fled the country back to Pittsburgh. During the process of making game plan, Sidney proposes the surprising thought out plan of marrying each other.

The relashionship of Evgeni with Russia is so interesting and heart breaking. This story is beautifally written.

Accidental Dating

Eric Stasl/Cam Ward

-No Foreign Lands, by go_gentle, 1,712 words

5+1 times that people thought that Eric and Cam are dating.

It's a short, fun story that I always have a nice time re-reading.

Carey Price/P.K. Subban

-Can I Draw You?, by LivinOnARarePair, 6,164 words

P.K. likes to draw Carey a lot, he doesn't realize it mean something.

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews

-[Podfic of] let's make it plural, by exmanhater, 02:26:20 hours

[Original written work was deleted]

Patrick and Jonny were dating for ages, only they didn’t realize it.

-Shadows Settle on the Place (That You Left), by crankyrage, 7,246 words

Jonny somehow managed to break up with Patrick, even though they weren’t even dating. The story is about how he needs to deal with the repercussions.

-Today isn't my day to find you ( I'll be coming for your love, OK?), by Moonygirl, 3,042 words

Eveyone except Patrick knows that they’d been dating forever. Jonny deals with it by knitting.

-[Podfic] Kids Like You And Me, by Hananobira, 43:31 minutes

[Original written work had been deleted.

Alternate Podfic Version: Kids Like You And Me by Ohtempora [Podfic], by Rhea314 (Rhea), 38:14 minutes]

5+1 players who are sure Kane and Toews are dating.

-Roommate Rings, by orphan_account, 6,360

Patrick's apartment is infested with cockroaches, so he needs a temporary place to stay at, que Jonny offering. Also, Patrick thought of the excellent idea of roommate rings.

It's a cute, easy to read story.

Patrick Kane/Tyler Seguin

-falling was the easy thing to do, by hishn_greywalker, 4,524 words

[Podfic Version Available: Podfic of falling was the easy thing to do by unperfectwolf, by NeuroticSquirrel, 23:12 minutes]

Tyler has a crush on Patrick in Biel which bleeds out to the rest of the season. Menawhile, Donna and Patrick's sisters welcome him to the family.

It's wholesome, and I liked the relationship of Tyler with each of the Kane Family.

Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin

-you haven't moved an inch, by blinkiesays, 7,301 words

Jamie slept with Tyler after a wild night out, it leads to a friends-with-benefits relationship...Well at least he thought it did.

-[Podfic] God, You Two Are So Married, by xan_reads (xancredible), 31:51 minutes

[Original Written Work: God, You Two Are So Married, by popfly, 3,900 words]

Everytime the team makes fun of them when they acting like a married couple they play along, until it seems too real.

-all i've kept within, lay before your eyes, by Menacherie, 2,922 words

Jamie buys Tyler a dog. Then he moves in with him.

It's a short, cute, domestic fic.

-different and the same, by Menacherie, 1,014 words

When Jordie makes a passing comment on their usual date night, Jamie start to reconsider things.

-O Holy Night!, by sadieb798, 2,279 words

During Casino Night their teammates talk to Jamie about his non-existense relationship with Tyler.

Danny Briere/Claude Giroux

-Only An Easy Game, by vamm_goda, 6,450 words

Claude is married to Danny and eveyone knows it. Well, except from Claude.

-settle down (you're not alone anymore), by hishn_greywalker, 8,696 words

After Danny's trade Claude finds out that in the eyes of the kids he was always listed as a step-dad. I really liked the family dynemic in this story.

Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovechkin

-are you mine?, by scissorghost, 1,168 words

An off-handed remark from Tom made Nicklas to reavaluate the meaning of the weekly dinner nights with Alex.

Paul Martin/James Neal

-[Podfic of] Marriage is What Brings Us Together, by exmanhater, 17:08 minutes

[Origianl Written Work: Marriage is What Brings Us Together, by james, 3,175 words]

James finds out that he was somehow married to Paul. It leads to reevaluation of his life.

Arranged Marriage

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews

-The Arrangement, by gloriousfaceduck, 47,694 words

Historical AU where Patrick marries Jonny to give his family a better faith. Now he needs to adjust to his knew life. 

-the promises you keep, by gasmsinc, 31,349 words

When Jonny finds out he was engaged to a stranger since he was a child, his life as a NHL player changes in more than one way. He isn’t sure if he likes it or not.

-A cute tumblr post, by Linsky

Jonny was always against his parents finding him a match, but now that he found someone perfect it’s even less apealling than before.

Jeff Skinner/Eric Staal

-Don't Go Breaking My Heart (I Couldn't If I Tried), by wantstothrill, 8,377 words

Jeff was never really interested in marriage, but when the eldest of the Staal family in making an offer to his family he finds himself agreeing  

Nicklas Backstrom/Alexander Ovexhkin

-the washington royals, by screamlet, 44789 wprds

The Russian Monarch and the Swedish Monarch form a treaty that promise a future marriage between Prince Nicklas and Prince Sasha. I really liked the world building and the relationship between the two of them.

GOOD READING/LISTENING TO EVERYONE!

[naritaren]

Look. I'm sorry it's been a bit since I did one of these, but here we are. It's a mixed bag of stuff, including fandoms. So. I'm sorry? Maybe? Here we go. Under the cut because of length

The Business of Pleasure by luxinferior Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Yoh/Sho Rating: Explicit Words: 6,005 A Good Heart by pretzelduck Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Shota Umino/El Phantasmo Rating: Teen Words: 4,265

Call Me Baby by Scars_Skelly Fandom: DDT Pairing: Sasaki Daisuke/KANON Rating: Mature Words: 2,363 Nevertheless, Ren by wilsonsnest Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Ren Narita/Shota Umino Rating: Gen Words: 6,925 hold out until there's closure by tekkers Fandom: NJPW, AEW, DDT Pairing: Konosuke Takeshita/El Phantasmo Rating: Explicit Words: 2,216 Sleep When We're Dead by sunsetflips Fandom: AEW Pairing: Mark Davis/Kyle Fletcher Rating: Teen Words: 1,331 Something Dumb To Do by pretzelduck Fandom: AEW Pairing: Will Ospreay/Jay White Colten Gunn/Kyle Fletcher Rating: Teen Words: 5,739 Cowboy by sunsetflips Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Clark Connors/Drilla Moloney Rating: Explicit Words: 12,059 In the Meantime by phoenixjustice (series) Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Ren Narita/Shota Umino Rating: Varies by story, mostly Mature Words: 27,161 in the series

everythings clean except my thoughts by turbobackpack Fandom: NJPW Pairing: Ren Narita/Shota Umino Rating: Explicit Words: 12,262 Note: Guys. It's literally a 12k word pwp. Just go read it Loverboy by wilsonsnest Fandom: NJPW Pairing: El Phantasmo/Shota Umino Rating: Mature Words: 3,439 My Unicycle Has One Wheel by McSpot Fandom: Hockey RPF Pairing: Elias Petterson/Brock Boeser Rating: Teen Words: 14,295 Note: Y'all seem to love her wrestling fics. I present her absolutely iconic hrpf fic. (I'm so sorry) best wishes, department of public relations by tapetotape Fandom: Hockeyy RPF Pairing: JJ Peterka/Jack Quinn Rating: Teen Words: 17,772 grenadier by polyabathtub Fandom: Hockey RPF Pairing: JJ Peterka/Jack Quinn Rating: Explicit Words: 3,146 Happy reading y'all!

[bitchinbarzal]

the pettersons are so underrated i remember when you first made the post for elias not wanting the baby and i was so heartbroken

The way that fic was never supposed to be the start of an au family I just gave her the name Astrid at the end and everyone was obsessed!! Now I love her so much!!

[pcttymcrlecu]

Psssst, it’s me! Your fic exchange writer! I hope you are as excited as I am for your fic! I have a couple quick questions for you so I can get started.

Love the list of players you have! Any chance you could give me a top 3? As a refresher, here is your list of gorgeous men: Andrei Svechnikov, Adrian Kempe, William Nylander, Josh Anderson, Brock Boeser, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Erik Johnson, Anthony Beauvillier, Nico Hischier, Colton Parayko, Mat Barzal, John Marino, Quinn Hughes, Elias Petterson, K'Andre Miller. (Can you see why I need you to narrow it down!? Your taste is excellent.)

Are there any songs or lyrics or quotes you love that you would like to see put into your fic?

If you do Spotify wrapped, what are two songs on there that fit your vibe?

What are the themes that have you kicking your feet? What themes would you be bummed out to receive?

Do you prefer reader-based fics or OC? If so, do you have a name preference?

You will be getting a happy ending! But would you perfect for it to be a full comfort fic, or have some angst to it as well?

hiii!! sorry this is a little late response 🫣 i am super duper excited though!!

I'm going to hide the answers under a read more so as to not bother people!

As a top three, I would probably choose (in no particular order): Andrei Svechnikov (I just adore him more than words can say), I am in my William Nylander era and because John Marino is new to my list this time around, I'll go with him!

Oooh I can definitely offer up some kind of input there but feel free to literally ignore it entirely. I do enjoy the whole vibe of At My Worst by Pink Sweat$ and Kehlani but also love Kodaline's Wherever You Are or these lyrics have recently struck a chord with me recently "I'm not a solider/But I'll fight through our darkest of days/Get on my shoulders/And I'll carry you all of the way" and also "I wanna slow dance in the living room like/We're eighteen at senior prom and grow/Old with someone who makes me feel young"

I don't do Spotify wrapped but I do use apple replay so hopefully that's fine for you as well! For this year: I think my vibe has been either anthemic or angsty so I'll give you one of each ahah - I'm Still Standing by Elton John and Unsteady by X-Ambassadors.

Anything Friends-to-Lovers/Idiots-to-lovers/the whole Requited-Unrequited Love thing gets me giddy all the time. Oh and how could I possibly forget Fake Dating. I'm a true hopeless romantic at heart so honestly if it could fit into the plot of a 90s/early 00s Rom-Com, it'll make my little heart sing. I really dislike miscommunication(in the sense of people not talking to each other - lost in translation/communication is okay). I'm not a big fan of pregancies (I prefer fun aunt/uncle/cousin vibes) but apart from that I'm not going to lie I'm pretty open, so long as it makes sense.

I like both honestly so I'm going to say it's up to you and what you're most comfortable with (I don't want to handcuff you too much) but it you want a firm response just let me know.

If it's 100% a happy ending, I don't mind a little bit of angst thrown in, you know - for character/dynamic development but I also would't be opposed to snuggling up with a cup of cocoa and the most wonderful piece of comfort prose to just destress a little.

I feel like I half answered a lot of your questions but please if anything is unclear and you need more clarification or you just want me to be decisive for once, let me know ☺️

[cellythefloshie]

you should write a Brock/petey fanfic

I'm going to assume this is referring to Brock Boeser and Elias Petterson... (I'm not a Canucks fan, don't hate me) Which will unfortunately have to be a no.

Not only would I not be able to do this pairing justice based on the fact that I do not know much about them beyond their names and NHL stats, and I am not currently in a place where I can confidently write an m/m pairing fic of any kind. I know nothing about m/m relationships romantically or sexually. And when I write something I want to know I'm doing my best to write something to the best of my potential and I would not be able to do that for them.

[ilyasorokinn]

special pieces

special prompts, holiday series, etc.

fics !

✷ natant (jack hughes) - y/n watches jack's dirty hit. (part of @wyattjohnston’s special prompt list.)

✷ elias petterson’s guide to the perfect christmas (elias pettersson) - "you're not christian and never celebrated holidays, so i take you home with me to show you how i love to do christmas" or in which y/n doesn't celebrate christmas so elias shows her how to do it the right way. (part of @ghostyjosty’s 2.2k writing challenge)

✷ running scared (matthew tkachuk) - matthew and y/n were best friends since they were kids, but after a falling out in high school, they quickly became enemies. flash-forward a few years, they find themselves forced to work together when y/n gets a job working for the flames media. (part of @wyattjohnston’s ’s 2k21 winter fic exchange.)

✷ the deal (anthony beauvillier) - y/n had a problem. they needed to find a boyfriend and fast. why? grandfather y/l/n had passed away, and in his will, the only way they would get her share is if they were in a relationship (i know, gross).

anthony, on the other hand, had no problem finding a girl. the only problem was they never stayed for more than a night. his mom wanted him to find a nice girl and settle down.

y/n and anthony come to an agreement. they would date for 6 weeks, which is more than enough time for y/n to get their share of the will and anthony to get his mom off his back. (part of @wyattjohnston’s summer 2k22 fic exchange)

✷ this love (freddie andersen) - freddie had come into your life just as quick as he left or a fic inspired by "this love" taylor swift. (part of @jostystyles’ 2.6k top track sitting challenge)

✷ second times the charm (juraj slafkovsky) - juraj and y/n were... something some years ago. but that was done and over with. so when y/n comes back as a medical team member, juraj knows there's only so much time to avoid all his problems. (part of @wyattjohnston’s 2k22 winter fic exchange)

✷ where you lead i will follow (mat barzal) - mat barzal is new to town, sort of. a town he didn't want to be in. after not so good press towards the end of the season in new york, during the off-season, the team decides to send him to ivory lake, a small town where his uncle lives, just until everything dies down. the first night he's there, his uncle forces him to go dinner at his not-girlfriend's house. there, he meet's her daughter, and he realizes he has more in common with her than he thinks. (part of @wyattjohnston 2k23 summer fic exchange)

special nights !

✷ taylor’s avs night (part one , part two) - a series to celebrate the avs win.

series !

✷ taylor's five days of halloween - five halloween themed fics. (2021)

✷ taylor’s 14 days of christmas - fourteen christmas themed fics. (2021)

✷ taylor’s halloween series - five halloween themed fics. (2022)

✷ taylor’s very merry christmas series - twelve christmas themed fics. (2022)

[ wips ] [ masterlist of masterlists ] [ taglist ]

[spine-buster]

c a t c h i n g  t h e  l i g h t  |  elias pettersson

Summary: Eleven years into the future, Elias and Svea embark on their next adventure.  They have tackled everything together in life thus far with the other by their side.  Now, it’s time to add someone new.

Word Count: ~13k

A/N: I hope you all enjoy reading this epilogue to Elias and Svea’s story.  This style of small snippet scenes was so fun to write and I hope you like it.  This sort of acts as an update on Brock and Grace’s story 11 years into the future as well!  Regardless, I love these two so much.

CW: difficult birth

                                                             11 years later.                                                                        ___

“I’m ready,” Svea said one night when she and Elias were in the car alone, driving home from the Parkinson’s Foundation of British Columbia Gala that they’d been to every year for almost fifteen years now, hosted by Grace.  They were holding hands across the centre console.  

Elias knew he had to keep his eyes on the road since it was dark outside, but he made sure to look over at his wife.  It was so out of the blue that he knew exactly what she meant.  “You’re ready?” he asked, wanting to make sure he heard correctly.

She squeezed his hand gently as she nodded.  “I’m ready.”

>< >< >< >< ><

“So you guys are trying?” Grace asked as she sipped on her iced coffee in the quaint coffee shop in Yaletown.  She rocked Dukey in his stroller, now almost 18 months old and in his prime chubby glory, though he was already fast asleep and had been since the car ride in.  The kid could sleep, that was for sure.  It was a nice reprieve from all the sleepless nights he cost Grace and Brock at the beginning.

“Officially.  Yes,” Svea nodded her head.  She was already on special prenatal vitamins.  Already off her birth control.  Already monitoring her ovulation cycle.  Already had a checkup with her doctor to make sure everything was in order.  Already having sex with Elias nearly every moment of the day she could fit it in.  Not that either of them complained about that point.  Almost twelve years later of marriage and they were still insatiable for each other.  Elias still joked they had to make up for lost time.  “I’m not a fertile youngin’ like you were but I’m hoping it happens just as fast,” she commented.

Grace nodded her head.  “I’m just a baby-making machine at this point, so ask me any question you want.  You know nothing is off limits with me, or us.”

***

“Fill me up, Elias.  Fill me up with your cum.”

Elias groaned at Svea’s words.  He grabbed her hair and pulled her towards him so her back was flush against his chest, pounding into her at a different angle now as he felt close to his release too.  He licked and bit at the skin of her neck before dragging his lips up to her ear.  “You want my cum, pretty girl?”

“My pussy needs your hot cum, Elias.  Please.  Please.  Fuck me deep.  Fuck a baby into me.”

He snaked an arm around to her hot core and began rubbing at her clit, and after a few frenzied gasps and moans, Svea felt him explode inside of her, filling her up like she so craved and making her feel the greatest pleasure she had ever known.  Her orgasm coursed throughout her whole body and made her knees weak – literally – as they slipped further and further apart.  She would have almost fell back down face first onto the mattress if it wasn’t for Elias holding her up and letting her fall back onto his body instead.  As they lay on their bed catching their breaths, his cock was still inside her as it softened.  “Happy birthday, Elias,” she mumbled as she kissed him.  This was only round two, and they were planning to go all night.

***

“Are you serious?  You just went to the washroom like fifteen minutes ago,” Brock pestered Svea playfully as she stuck her tongue out at him, quickly walking into the washroom at the mall.

Elias was looking down at his phone.  Pregnancy symptoms, he’d googled.

Increased urination. You might find yourself urinating more often than usual. The amount of blood in your body increases during pregnancy, causing your kidneys to process extra fluid that ends up in your bladder.

***

“Svea, you love isterband!  You can’t get enough of it!” Elias protested.

“Did we get a bad batch?  It smells heinous.”

“It smells delicious!” he protested.  What she was saying was unbelievable to him.  Usually, she had to be told to stop eating the delicious Swedish style sausage, especially when they were back in Ånge or Sundsvall having it, and especially when it was a homemade variety.  But now she was making gagging noises.  

“I’m gonna go to our room until it’s done,” she said as she got up from her seat at the dining table.  Immediately, Stella got up and followed her.  “Call me when it’s ready.  Hopefully it will smell less heinous by then.”

Elias watched her and Stella walk away.  He took out his phone again and opened up the internet, still on the same tab from more than a week ago at the mall with Brock and Grace.

Food aversions. When you're pregnant, you might become more sensitive to certain odors and your sense of taste might change. Like most other symptoms of pregnancy, these food preferences can be chalked up to hormonal changes.

“Sveeeeeaaaaa!” he called out.

***

Svea was holding Elias.

She let him cry.  It was important to let him cry.  

His face was nestled onto her stomach, and had been there for at least fifteen minutes.  His arms were wrapped around her.  Every so often, she’d feel him move to kiss her bare skin, and she’d be able to feel the wetness from his tear-stained cheeks.  

“I’m so happy,” he mumbled.  He’d been saying that since they got home from the doctor’s office, but there was something about this time, right now, that made Svea’s heart swell a thousand times its size.  His tone, the softness, the tears, the position – everything was working in a way that made her so emotional.  “I’m so, so happy,” he repeated.

“Me too,” she whispered, running her fingers through his hair slightly.

“I’m going to be a dad,” he said.  He looked her in the eye.  “I’m going to be a dad and you’re going to be a mom.”

She nodded slowly.  

***

“So all the fucking worked, then,” Grace winked from the sink.

“You’re so crass,” Svea giggled as Dukey screamed at her for more food.  He already had a grape in each chubby hand and was eyeing the scrambled eggs on Svea’s spoon like it was a filet mignon.  She brought it towards him and he opened his mouth easily to eat it.  “But yes, it all worked.”

“I mean, you guys fuck all the time so I wouldn’t be surprised.  You guys still fuck like you’re in your twenties.”

“You’re really comfortable saying the f-word in front of your 18 month old.”

“He doesn’t understand words yet,” Grace dismissed her quickly, causing Svea to snort.

“And who are you to call me out?  Clearly you and Brock still fuck like you’re in your twenties too,” Svea whispered the word fuck, referring to Grace and Brock’s giant brood.  

“Are you guys going to find out what you’re having?” Grace asked.

Svea shook her head.  “We both want it to be a surprise.”

“It’s more fun that way,” Grace agreed.  “I’m betting on a boy.”

***

“Can you see it?” Svea asked as she looked at herself in the mirror, her body in a fitted dress.  She switched to a side profile to see if she could see her bump better.  It was small, and barely noticeable, but it was there.

“I can,” Elias nodded, coming up behind her.

“Do you think other people will see it?” she asked.  “I want to show it off.”

Elias smiled.  “Show it off?” he asked.  

Svea nodded.  “Grace said she think I’m going to be all belly – you know, like one of those women who just grows out instead of, like, around.  I waited so long to have one.  Now that I do, I want everyone to know.”

Elias’s smile overtook his face.  

***

“Look at you!” Grace winked as Svea approached her, her bump styled in a tight dress that showed off the small but noticeable curve forming.  “Work it, Svea!”  Svea danced a little bit, boogieing from side to side as Grace began to do the same.  Elias and Brock rolled their eyes at each other but smiled, too, their wives completely ignoring them at this point.  “I was right, too!  You’re all bump!” Grace exclaimed.

“For now,” Svea smiled.  “I feel wider.”

“You don’t look it, but it doesn’t matter.  Get as wide and as big as you want, woman.  You’re pregnant with a baby.”

“And ask Petey to go and get you cans of tuna in olive oil at 2:30 in the morning,” Brock quipped.  Grace shot him a look.  “Five times,” he added for dramatic effect.

***

“You want some, Elias?” Svea asked as she stuffed a spoonful of strawberry flavoured frozen yogurt into her mouth.

“I’m okay,” he shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.  “You have what you want.”

“You sure?”

Elias nodded.  He looked over at the clock – 3:00 in the morning.  He had a practice tomorrow and she had work.  But she had to have some strawberry frozen yogurt.  She just had to.  She needed it.  Which is why Elias put on his winter jacket and a pair of shoes – but kept his pajama pants on – at 2:30 in the morning and made his way to their local 24-hour supermarket, buying her favourite frozen yogurt so she could eat it.  It was all worth it, now that she was digging into it – sitting cross-legged on the bed, belly showing through her pajama shirt, eyes rolling to the back of her head every time she ate a spoonful.  Now he realized what Brock meant.  “It’s okay, pretty girl.”

“Just one spoon,” she said, already scooping it.  She held it out to him and he smiled before he ate the spoonful.  “Is it good?” she asked.

He nodded.  “It’s better at three in the morning.”

She couldn’t help but giggle.  She had the best husband.  She wasn’t sure if others would have gone and gotten her frozen yogurt in the middle of the night.  “I love you, Elias.”

“I love you too.  Now give me another spoonful.”

***

“I love your cock so much Elias, fuck,” Svea sighed out.

He was much gentler these days.  They both were.  The doctor said it was completely safe and healthy but Elias was still…cautious.  But when Svea woke up that morning placing small kisses on his shoulder, and then reached over and slipped her hand down his pajama pants, he couldn’t help himself.  So he flipped around to face her, and they kissed, and kissed, and kissed, and he teased her already wet pussy with his fingers, and he hooked her leg over his torso and slipped into her easily, the both of them sighing, the both of them savouring the intimacy.

“Does it feel good?” he asked.  She nodded quietly.  “Does it feel different?”

“A little bit,” she nodded again, biting her bottom lip.  “But a good different.”

Elias thrust harder.  Svea let out a gasp.  “I could bury my cock in your pussy all day,” he huffed out.

That made Svea smirk.  “I’d let you.”

***

“You have to be patient.”

“I can’t be patient.”

“Well, you have to be.”

“You’ve been feeling them for a week now!  I haven’t!”

“Just.  Be.  Patient.”

“But Svea—”

“Elias—”

They both stopped the second they felt it.  It happened right where Elias’s hand rested on her growing belly.  He almost couldn’t believe it happened at first, because to him, the feeling was so new.  But when he realized what had just happened, and the magnitude of it, he looked up at Svea.  She was already smiling.  “Did you feel that?” he asked.

She nodded.  “Poke where they just kicked.  Trust me.”

Elias did as he was told.  He poked.  And poked again.  Then he placed his hand on the spot.

He felt another kick.

Svea could hear a sharp intake of breath.  When she looked at him next, he was already looking at her with tears welled in his eyes.  “Svea…” he managed to get out, his voice cracking.

“I know, Elias.  I know.”

A tear fell down his face.

***

“Svea, can I touch your belly?” Violet Boeser looked up at Svea, swaying her dress from side to side.

“Me too!” Rose Boeser joined in.

“Me three!” Lily Boeser pushed her sister to the side.  

“Me four!” Poppy Boeser squeezed her way in.  “Svea can I feel the baby?”

“Be gentle!” Grace called out from the picnic table.  In the distance, Brock and Elias were barbecuing the hamburgers and hot dogs.  Coolie, Milo, and Stella were all sunbathing near the barbecue.  “Svea isn’t a science experiment!”

Svea snorted.  “Yes girls, you can all feel the baby,” she smiled.  Immediately, each of the girls’ hands covered her bump.  Rose even put her head against her bump briefly.  “The baby isn’t kicking right now but they might soon now that they feel all your hands,” Svea said.

“Are you having a boy or a girl?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know yet, Violet!  It’s going to be a surprise.”

“Baaaaaaaa!” Dukey Boeser yelled from the picnic table.  Once Grace set him down, he ran over to Svea as well, not wanting to feel left out now that his four older sisters were doing something he wasn’t.  He put his tiny hands on top of Poppy’s and looked up at Svea.  “Baaaaaa!  Ba ba baby!”

“Yes!  There’s a baby!” Svea grinned.

“And I’m gonna babysit!” Violet said.

“Me too!” Rose followed.

“Me three!” Lily joined.

“Me four!” Poppy finished it out, like she always did.

***

“Your placenta is a bit low, but it’s nothing to worry about,” the doctor said as she looked at Svea.  “Have you been feeling any changes lately?”

“A lot more fatigue, to be honest,” Svea confessed.  “I push through it because I’m still working, but when I get home I, like, barely move.”

The doctor nodded his head.  “That’s normal.  Fatigue in the second trimester is common.  We’ll continue to monitor symptoms and monitor your placenta but it shouldn’t be a problem.  But if symptoms get any worse, we’ll put you on bedrest.”

“Bedrest?”

“Bedrest.  For your health.  And the health of the baby.”

***

“Should we start thinking about names?” Svea asked as she lay on the couch, her head in Elias’s lap as he ran his fingers through her hair.  Stella was sleeping in between her legs, letting out soft snores.  “Do we want super-Swedish or super…something else?”

“This is going to be the hardest part, I think,” Elias commented before offering any suggestions.  “I think something that translates well into both languages is best, don’t you think?”

Svea nodded her head.  Whereas Fanny and Emil chose pretty traditional Swedish sounding names for their three boys, she knew they’d have to go the “translatable” route because of their Canadian/Swedish lifestyle.  “Do you like Linnea?” she asked.

“I do, but I think it’s too popular in Sweden.  I want something nice but something that stands out.  There will be five other Linnea’s in her class,” Elias mused.

“So that’s Milo down the drain too, then…” Svea giggled slightly.  “What about Freya?”

“Too…mythological.”

“Ivar?”

“No.”

“What about Astrid?  I was going to be named Astrid, you know.”

Elias nodded.  “I like Astrid.  Astrid is good.  Do you like Oskar?”

Svea nodded.  “What about Erland, like your grandpa?”

“That’s a good middle name.”

***

Babysitting Violet, Rose, Lily, Poppy, and Dukey was good practice for Elias and Svea.  They’d been doing it, really, since Violet was born, and then when Rose was added, and Lily was added, and Poppy was added, and Dukey was added…well, it all just became routine.  The girls were great, and they put frilly headbands on Elias and did his makeup more times than they could count now.  His favourite look was the blue and green eyeshadow they’d created, stolen from mommy’s collection in her room.  The Canucks colours, obviously.  He’d even posted the finished product on Instagram.

The girls also never had any trouble with bedtime, even when they were much smaller.  But nowadays, Dukey did.  Entering his “terrible twos” was proving to be quite the interesting time.  But with the girls already in bed, it was easy for Elias and Svea to deal with him separately.  

After tiring him out, Elias tried rocking him to get him to fall asleep, but he was still fussy.  He kept reaching out to Svea.  So Elias transferred him over, and Svea held him in her arms.  “Whatsa matter?” she asked him in a sweet voice.  “Does Dukey want to fall asleep?”

He fussed around for a bit more before settling down, laying his head on Svea’s shoulder.  He was looking down, his face in a pout.  “Baby,” he said, pointing lazily down to her bump.  “Baby.”

“Yes, there’s a baby,” Svea cooed, rubbing his back.  His eyes almost immediately began to droop.  “But Dukey is a big boy now.”

“Yaaaaa.  Dukey big boy.”

Elias watched as she continued to rub his back and coo sweet words to him as Dukey fell asleep in her arms.  His hands were almost shaking, thinking about how in a few short months, they’d be doing the same thing for their own child.  

***

Midsommar.  Svea’s favourite time of year.

And now time for an impromptu baby shower.  

Elias’s family tradition of renting a big tent on the lake was still going strong, and now, with so many new cousins and family members, the party was bigger and better than ever.  Svea’s family and Elias’s family decided to incorporate a small celebration for the impending baby.

With her flower crown adorned on her head and some special gifts already opened, Elias sat down beside his wife and held her hand underneath the table.  “Remember when we were young?  What you did to me on the banks of the lake?”

She side eyed him.  “Don’t even think about it.”

***

“Give me your hands, Svea, fuck,” Elias moaned as he watched her rock back and forth on top of him.  She did as she was told, grabbing his hands to brace against so she could keep doing what she was doing.  As she rocked herself back and forth, getting closer and closer to her climax, she tightened her grip on his hands.  “Does it feel good, pretty girl?”

Svea nodded.  “D’you still like what you see?”

“Always Svea.  Always.”

***

Grace had gone all out.  She was the perfect person to host Svea’s Vancouver baby shower when she returned from Sweden almost double the size from when she left.  She’d invited the Canucks wives and girlfriends to her house.  She’d had her sunroom and backyard decorated in the most adorable Peter Rabbit themed décor.  Stella was dressed up with rabbit ears.  She’d even thought of the cutest, most perfect party favours – mini champagne bottles with “She’s About to Pop!” adorned on it.  And not the cheap champagne bottles, either.  This was Grace.

Too bad Svea couldn’t have any.

Svea usually didn’t like being the centre of attention, but she was having the best time being the centre of attention at her baby shower.  She opened her gifts, she played the games, she laughed her head off at the game where the girls had to measure her girth.  

After pictures with the guests, Svea sat down in her chair.  “This was the cutest baby shower,” Holly Horvat commented to her, nibbling on the last bit of her cupcake.  “But you know what?”

“What?”

“Remember that movie Bridesmaids?  Remember how they had puppies as the party favours?”

Svea giggled.  “Yeah.”

“Grace should have gotten us all cute little bunnies.”

***

“So the rumours are true.  You’re pregnant.”

Svea looked up from her phone to see Trevor waiting down the bar for his coffee, staring right at her as she finished telling the barista her order.  From behind her, one of her co-workers muttered an ‘Ew’ at the sight of him.  With good reason, since Trevor was Svea’s political arch-enemy.  They came up in the political world at the same time, got promotions around the same time, and were forced to work in conjunction with one another – but never actually together.  And they never got along, ever.

“Yes.  I am,” Svea nodded her head once.  “Fancy seeing you here, by the way.  Isn’t your office on the other side of town?”

“We travel all over the city,” he said.  His smarmy smile made her blood boil.  He grabbed his coffee and made his way towards her.  “Congratulations, by the way.  I wish Elias a lot of luck.  He’s going to need it.”

“Just like you after we decimated you in the election, I assume.”

His smarmy smile left his face.  

***

The Boeser girls got so excited by the flashing lights in the arena, the season opener in full swing.  They were clapping and screaming and jumping around on their jerseys as the announcer began to announce the team, knowing that their dad would be near the beginning because of his number six.

“At number six, Brrrrrroooock, Booooeeeseeerrr!” the announcer roared, the crowd roaring as well as the girls screamed at the top of their lungs for their dad.  Dukey was clapping too, balanced on Grace’s hip and in his own little jersey.  Svea couldn’t help but smile.  

Eventually, when they got to Elias, she knew the camera would pan to her.  A member of the press corps had seen her earlier.  And while she and Elias never made a formal announcement on Instagram or anywhere else in terms of her pregnancy, it was now out in the open – especially since that reporter asked about it during the media scrum earlier that day.  “Your wife Svea is pregnant now; is the focus at the beginning of this season for you on hockey or on the things happening at home?”  

The audacity of that question being asked made her head spin.

Lily had already wrapped her arms around Svea’s legs, and like clockwork, they were shown on the jumbotron clapping.  At that point, the 20,000-plus fans in the arena could see she was seven months pregnant.  The bump protruded through the jersey.  And when the fans realized, they got noticeably louder.  Like, louder louder.  Cheering, whistling, smiling – so much so it sent shivers down Svea’s spine.  

She smiled from ear to ear.

***

“Happy birthday, my beautiful wife,” Elias mumbled against Svea’s lips.  He’d been kissing her, slow and sensual, but also quick and fast – every type of kiss, really – for the last fifteen minutes.  He’d just made her a homemade dinner, and now he was ready for, uh, dessert.  

“This time next year I’ll be a mom to a ten-month-old,” she mused.

Elias smiled.  “It feels like just yesterday that we surprised Grace and Brock,” he said.  

“It’s been twelve years.”

“Still feels like yesterday,” Elias kissed her again.  “My moon, my stars, my Svea.”

***

“I think it’s cutting it too close,” Elias mused as they lay in bed together, Svea’s bump widening the distance between them.  

“Elias, I’m only thirty-six weeks,” Svea rationalized.  “My mom carried Sigrid to almost 42 weeks and me right to 40.  This baby isn’t coming out anytime soon.”

“But you’ve…grown so much in the last few weeks,” he said, laying a hand on the bump.  “And you’ve been so tired, and the doctor’s appointments have to be weekly because of that and I just don’t—”

“Elias—”

“It’s fifteen days, Svea.  I’ll just let them know it’s too close.”

“Elias,” Svea said sternly.  “You’re going to the East Coast and that’s that.  You’re going to get back and we’re going to celebrate your birthday and then we’re going to have this baby.  In that order.”

***

If you looked, if you really looked at the video, you could see Elias being called off the bench at the beginning of the third period.  

The announcers mentioned it after the fact.  And when play stopped about two minutes later, they were able to show the replay.  They went through some major points of his shift, spoke about how good it was, and then showed how he skated back to the bench and sat down.  About fifteen seconds later, someone came barreling through the tunnel and was screaming Elias’s name, waving him over to get off the bench.  Elias complied.  The analysts wondered – there was no hit, no scuffle, no trip, no high stick, no fall, seemingly no injury, no penalty at all or anything even worth a penalty during the play, and a perfectly healthy Elias Pettersson was being rushed off the bench?  What was going on?

The camera stayed on Elias speaking to the man in the tunnel.  Nobody could lip read but everybody could see Elias run down the tunnel once the man spoke.

“What’s wrong?  What’s going on?”

“You need to get back to Vancouver.  It’s Svea.  She’s been rushed to the hospital and she’s lost a lot of blood.”

He was a six hour flight away in Florida.  

***

There was blood everywhere.  All over their bed.  All over their sheets.  

Svea called an ambulance.  She called Grace screaming and wailing into the phone.  She called her mom in Sweden crying.  The pain was almost too much.  The contractions were too.  When the paramedics came, she was loaded into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital.  “My husband.  You need to call my husband.  He’s in Florida playing hockey.  He needs to be here.  He—He—the baby—the baby—the baby—”

***

It was the worst six hours of Elias’s life.  Eight hours really, from leaving the rink to getting off the plane and rushing to the hospital.  Grace called in the last minutes before the flight took off to update him.  Svea had placenta previa.  That’s why there was so much spontaneous blood loss.  The doctors had stopped the bleeding, but she’d needed a blood transfusion.  It went fine.  But now she was in labour.  At 37 weeks.

“It’ll have to be a c-section,” Grace explained.  “There was too much blood loss and too big a risk for more blood loss for a vaginal birth like Svea wanted.  And I don’t – Petey – she will probably need a hysterectomy.”

“Hysta-what?  What’s that?”

“They’re going to have to remove her uterus, Petey.  This baby is going to be your only baby.”

***

Elias rushed to put on the scrubs provided by the nurses.  He rushed to get back into the delivery room knowing that Svea had already had a blood transfusion.  He rushed to be in the room to watch the doctor operate – literally operate on his wife – so that Svea could deliver the baby safely and have her hysterectomy.

***

Margot Pettersson.

They named her Margot Pettersson.

After all the blood, the fear, the frantic phone calls, the six-hour flight, the surgery, the operation – Margot was here.  And she was healthy.  

It took everything within Elias not to break down crying as he held her in his arms and lay in the hospital bed with Svea, who was recovering well considering the trauma and how much blood she lost.  They couldn’t take their eyes off their daughter.  She was perfect in every way, from the blonde hair on her head to her tiny, tiny, tiny little toes.  

She was finally here.  

***

It was a few days later when Svea felt confident enough to be in a photo – she didn’t “look like death” anymore, as she put it.  Elias sent it to his teammates.  He was on some brief phone calls with the powers that be on the Canucks for a statement and for some time off.  

When he rejoined Svea in their hospital room as she fed Margot, he sat on the bed and wrapped an arm around his girls.  “The bed,” she said suddenly, looking at him.  “We have to buy a new bed.  I can’t sleep in that bed anymore.  All I’ll see is blood.”

“Grace and Brock already took care of it,” he said.  “Everything is going to be fine when we get back home.  I promise.”

***

The Vancouver Canucks organization would like to extend their congratulations to Elias and Svea Pettersson on the birth of their daughter, Margot.  Mrs. Pettersson continues to recover in the hospital.  Elias will be a healthy scratch for the next four games to ensure the health and well-being of his family.  

***

Svea was on bed rest in their new bed, Stella’s snout resting on her post-partum belly.  Elias never wanted to let go of Margot unless it was to put her back in Svea’s arms.  He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, either.  Even when Svea was breastfeeding.  He found it to be the most beautiful thing in the world, watching his wife, who he loved so much, feeding and nourishing his daughter, who he loved so much.

He cuddled with them, snuggling into Svea’s side as he watched Margot.  The little sounds she was making brought a smile to his face.  He brought his hand up and caressed her head gently, the blonde hair atop her head perfectly combed.  

“I finally have boobs now,” Svea whispered.

Elias snorted and Svea had a cheeky smile on his face.  “I’ve always loved your boobs.  Big or small.”

“Hmm, don’t I know it,” she hummed, giving him another kiss.  She looked down at her daughter.  “She’s perfect, isn’t she?”

“In every way.”

***

Elias’s birthday was much quieter this year.  Well, quieter in the sense that there weren’t any friends in his house; quieter in the sense that he wasn’t at some hip restaurant downtown eating an incredibly expensive steak while sipping on an incredibly expensive glass of wine while he wore an incredibly expensive outfit and an incredibly expensive watch, watching his beautiful and sexy wife in an incredibly expensive dress sip sultrily on an incredibly expensive glass of wine as she eyed him up and grazed his leg with her heel under the table.  

But this was still his favourite birthday ever.

Sitting on the couch, a warm bottle of pumped breastmilk in his hands, feeding his eight-day-old daughter.

His life was perfect.

***

“She looks like Petey,” Brock said as he held a swaddled Margot in his arms.  

“They have to biologically, you know,” Grace jumped in.  “But my god you two, her eyes are so damn blue.  I mean I know that’s the Swedish thing and all, but they’re sooo blue.”

“I know,” Elias smiled.  “Even the doctor mentioned it during one of her checkups.  She’ll have a beautiful set of eyes, that’s for sure.  Just like her mom.”

Svea swooned.  She watched as Brock craned his neck down and placed a quick kiss atop Margot’s head.  “Getting baby fever again, Brock?” she winked at him.

“No no no, five is plenty,” he chuckled.  “I just love that newborn baby smell.”

Svea, Elias, and Grace let out the all-knowing “Oooooh” sound in agreement.  “You’re so right, babe,” Grace nodded.  “It’s the best smell in the world.”

***

“God, I missed this,” Svea said as she took a huge gulp of crisp, clean Vancouver air.  It was her first time outside with Stella in weeks, now that she was off bedrest and fully recovered from her c-section and hysterectomy.  Her doctor had okayed light physical activity, so she’d invited Grace and Dukey over for a short walk around the neighbourhood.  Grace had obviously agreed, and had brought Coolie and Milo along.  

“Me too.  You’ll be back running and doing yoga in no time,” Grace said, remembering some of their jaunts over the years where Grace would bring out Violet, or Rose, or Lily, or Poppy on walks or runs in their strollers too.  When she finished strapping Duke in, and made sure he had his snacks, she rose to her feet.  “You feel good?”

Svea nodded.  “We just have to go slow.  And I can do maximum half an hour.”

“I’ll go as slow as you want me to,” Grace said.  She peeked into Margot’s stroller and noticed she was already asleep.  Her son, on the other hand, was screaming about his grapes.  “Let’s hope Dukey’s grapes last the entire time.”

***

Did Elias and Svea go all out for Margot’s first Christmas?  Yes.

Did Svea dress her up in a red dress, green shoes, frilly headband, and reindeer antlers?  Yes.

Did Svea dress her up in an elf outfit, complete with curled shoes?  Yes.

Was there a portrait with the new family and Santa Claus?  Yes.

Did Elias and Svea send the pictures to their family members, co-workers, and every teammate?  Yes.

Did it get leaked to the media?  Yes.

***

“She’s gonna start her chubby phase soon,” Brock said as he held Margot in his arms, feeding her with a bottle, as Elias sautéed some mushrooms on a skillet as part of their lunch.  “She’s eighteen weeks now?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s the best,” Brock said.  “They got so chunky.  So squishy.  I swear I went crazy for every one of them.”

“Margot was born at 37 weeks though.  We might have to wait a little bit longer.”

“Well, call me the second you start noticing chunk,” Brock said.  “I’ll be over here in a heartbeat.”

***

“There was a lot of blood.”

Elias held Svea in his arms as they lay down in bed together after one of Margot’s middle-of-the-night feedings.  Margot had been really fussy and took a while to be put down and fall asleep again; Svea had been unable to go back to sleep herself once she was in bed, tossing and turning and not even being able to keep her eyes closed.  Even Elias’s cuddling wasn’t helping, which meant something was on her mind and keeping her restless.  So he’d asked her what was wrong.

And that’s what she responded with.

He knew immediately what she meant.  Ever since that day, when he was called off the bench and rushed back to Vancouver, he’d beaten himself up for not being there, as a husband should have been for his wife, as she went through such a traumatic event.  It traumatized him, but that didn’t even take into consideration how much it traumatized her.  That’s what really mattered here.  She still had to deal with it.  She still had to see it in her mind when she closed her eyes.  She had the memory, not him.  

It killed Elias inside knowing Svea had to carry that burden with her.  

“You were so strong, though.  And your strength gave us our daughter,” he said.

Svea nodded slightly before she looked at her husband.  “Were you scared?  When they told you, I mean.  When you were rushed off the bench.”

Elias nodded his head immediately.  “I was terrified.”

“Of what?”

“That I was going to lose you and the baby,” he admitted.  “Were you scared?”

“I was,” Svea said.  “Do you…are…are you angry we can only have one?”

“Why would I be angry?” he was beside himself at her question.

“I don’t know.  I just…are you angry we didn’t have a boy?  Or that we can’t have a son in the future?  Or another daughter?  Are you angry I wasn’t healthy enough to—”

“Stop it right now,” he ordered.  Tears were falling down his face at her words.  “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted and needed in my life.  Do you understand me?  Everything.”

Svea was crying now too.  “You’ve just been so good to me, Elias.  I want to give you everything too, like you always give me.”

“You already have,” he whispered, kissing her, feeling her tear-stained cheeks on his.

***

“You want to hold the baby, Violet?” Svea asked quietly as the Boeser girls looked at tiny Margot resting in Svea’s arms.  Violet nodded her head desperately and outstretched her hands automatically.  “You have to sit on the couch, baby girl,” Svea said, and Violet did as she was told.

Svea extended her arms and passed Margot to her slowly.  “Put your arm up,” she said.  “You have to support her head.”  Violet nodded.  Margot fussed a little bit, but once she was in Violet’s arms, she stopped.

Violet smiled.  “Hello Margot,” she said in a soft voice, smiling.  

“Hello Margot,” Rose mimicked in the same voice.

“Hello Margot,” Lily mimicked in the same voice.

“Hello Margot,” Poppy mimicked in the same voice.

All at the same time, the girls leaned forward and placed light kisses onto Margot’s face.

Svea couldn’t help but smile from ear to ear.

***

“Look at my beautiful baby girl,” Elias cooed as he finished changing Margot’s diaper, buttoning up her little onesie as she wiggled on the change table, looking up at him with her big blue eyes.  “Hällo Margot!  Hällo!”

She gurgled happily.  Elias chuckled as he finished the last of the buttons, eventually scooping her up in his arms carefully and holding her against his chest.  She settled in quickly, calming herself down as Elias walked from her nursery to his bedroom.  Just as he walked in, Svea walked out of their ensuite bathroom with a robe on, drying her hair with a towel.  When she saw her husband and daughter, she smiled automatically.  

“Hello my loves,” she whispered, approaching them slowly.  At the sight of Svea, Margot gurgled happily again, even waving her arms up and down once excitedly.  “Hello Margot!  Hello my beautiful baby!”

“Beautiful baby had a stinky diaper this morning,” Elias griped jokingly.  

Svea laughed, placing a light kiss on top of Svea’s head.  “Making daddy change the stinky ones?  Good baby.”

***

Margot’s first game, after she got all of her appropriate vaccinations, was against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  Elias and Svea made sure to go to the arena early so that his teammates could see her before the game.  Even Elias’s friend William Nylander from the Leafs was able to pop over and congratulate the couple.  Svea appreciated the gesture, since she knew how busy he was.  

“Oh my Gooooooddddd,” Holly cooed as she saw Margot dressed up in a little Vancouver Canucks jersey.  “The baby jersey!  The baby jersey!  Can Gunnar be this small again?!”

Svea laughed as Holly clutched at her heart.  Bo smiled from ear to ear when he noticed, too.  “She’s adorable, Svea.”

“Thanks, Bo.”

“Bo, remember when Gunnar was that small?” Holly asked her husband.  She then wrapped her arms around his one arm, looking up at him sweetly.  “Can we have another one, Bo?  Please?”

“Holly.”

***

Svea hauled some of the grocery bags – the lighter ones, at least – inside the house.  She would leave the other ones for Elias.  He’d probably get angry that she brought in the light groceries, anyway.  He always brought things in – ever since her surgery, at least.  But she was feeling almost back to normal now, and she wanted to start contributing more again.

“Elias?” she called out.  No answer.  She set the grocery bags down in the laundry room and made her way into their house.  “Elias?” she called out again. 

It was only then when he heard loud, screaming giggles coming from the family room.  Following the giggles, Svea heard the sound of raspberries being blown against skin, and an orchestra of loud, happy giggles again, this time from both Margot and Elias.

She smiled to herself.  As she walked further into the house, turning a corner, she looked into the family room to find Elias on his knees in front of the couch, Margot on the cushion in between his arms in just a diaper, and him blowing raspberries on her tummy.  Margot was laughing and wiggling in pure happiness.  And when Svea’s presence caught Elias’s eye, he looked up.  “Hey baby,” he smiled, before diving in one more time to blow raspberries.

Svea’s heart swelled.

***

“You and Elias deserve a nice Valentine’s Day date,” Grace said before taking a sip of her water.  “How about Brock and I watch Margot for the night and you two go out for a nice dinner?”

Svea loved the idea, but she was still a bit apprehensive.  It would be the first night away from Margot.  And though she trusted Brock and Grace more than anyone else in Vancouver with Margot, it would still be a lot for her, at least mentally.  She assumed it would be the same for Elias.  “I’ll mention it to Elias, and we’ll think about it,” she said.

Grace eyed her.  “Don’t think about it, just do it.  I know it’s hard to think about, but time away from the baby will do you both some good.  It’s necessary.  It’s healthy.  It’s hard but it’s healthy.”

***

“This steak is delectable,” Svea commented as she forked another slice of her filet into her mouth.  

Elias nodded from across the table.  “The wine, too.  It was a good choice,” he said before he took a sip.  He looked lovingly at his wife and smiled before he set his wine glass down.  “D’you miss Margot like I do?”

Svea giggled and nodded her head.  “I do.  But I’m enjoying our Valentine’s Day date,” she said.  “I wouldn’t be anywhere else in the world.”

“Me neither,” he reached across the table to grab her hand.

***

Elias and Stella walked into the bedroom quietly, Elias holding mugs of tea in both hands.  He saw Svea sitting up, looking down peacefully at Margot whom she was breastfeeding.  Svea grabbed the mug from Elias and took a quick sip before setting it down on the nightstand.  Elias climbed into the bed, Stella following, and nestled in close with his two girls, gently stroking Margot’s blonde hair.  

“Thank you for the tea,” Svea said softly, looking at him before pursing her lips slightly, signaling she wanted a kiss.  

Elias gave her one easily.  His lips lingered on hers, giving her small, quick kisses.  “You’ve given me everything I’ve ever wanted,” he whispered huskily.  “The least I could do is bring you tea.”

“Hmmm,” Svea hummed happily.  “Can I suggest some other things you can do tonight?”

Elias smirked.

***

“Look here little Margot!  Look here!” the photographer cooed as her assistant jingled some bells to get the attention of the baby, dressed up in the cutest little dress and tights.  Margot babbled slightly and smiled at the noise.  Elias could hear the shutter of the camera go off like crazy.

“Her eyes are showing up spectacularly on camera,” the photographer commented.  “What a beautiful colour they are.”

Elias and Svea continued to smile throughout the photoshoot.  Then, when they had to take a break, they changed Margot into a different outfit and went outside to take some more pictures.  After a second break, they changed Margot into her last outfit before going to their bedroom and finishing the photoshoot.  

“The photos should be ready for you in a few weeks, after editing,” the photographer said as she packed away her equipment.  By this point, Margot was fast asleep on Elias’s shoulder, her chubby cheeks amplified.  “She’s a cutie, you guys.  I mean, just adorable.”

Elias smiled, placing a soft kiss atop Margot’s head.  “She’s my little princess.”

***

At a cute little café in Yaletown, Svea pushed her stroller back and forth to rock Margot to sleep.  Svea hadn’t gotten any sleep last night thanks to her daughter, and Elias being away on a road trip didn’t help matters.  Svea knew babies went through sleep regression – Margot had been a fantastic sleeper, save for the last two weeks – but she wondered how long this would last.  She was trying everything she could, but Margot wasn’t sleeping.

When Grace arrived without any of her kids in tow, looking especially stylish with a cute hat and thigh-high boots, Svea waved her down.  Grace waved back and waited in line to order her coffee.  

“You look like you haven’t slept,” Grace commented as she set her coffee down on the table and sat in the seat opposite Svea.

“That’s because I haven’t,” Svea admitted.  She hadn’t even bothered to put on makeup this morning.  “Margot kept me up all night.  She was so fussy, Grace.”

Grace furrowed her brows.  “Do you have milk with you?” she asked.

Svea nodded.  “Of course I do.  In the bag.”

Grace nodded, getting up from her seat.  “Come on.  We’re going home.”

“Wait—what—”

“We’re going back to my house, and you’re sleeping, and I’ll watch and feed Margot.”

Svea could cry.

***

“Look.  At.  The.  CHUNK!!!!!” Brock practically screamed as he looked over Elias’s shoulder as Elias finished putting a new diaper on Margot, who was wiggling happily and cooing at seeing Brock’s face over her dad’s shoulder.  “Look at you!  Look at your chunk!  Look at it!” Brock kept repeating.

“Brock—”

“What’re you gonna do with all these rolls?  What’re you gonna do with all these rolls?!”

“Brock—”

“You gonna open a bakery?  You gonna open up a bakery with all these rolls?”

“BROCK!”

“WHAT?!”

“Get me her blanket!”

Brock moved to the side and reached over to get the soft blanket he knew Elias wanted.  “You don’t have to be so mean,” he grumbled at his best friend.

***

“Look, Svea!  Look!  Look!” Elias’s voice was frantic as he called Svea over from the kitchen.  He could hear her footsteps as she rushed over to the family room.  “Look!”

Svea looked at Elias on his stomach on the floor, a few feet away from Margot who was also on her tummy.  She’d hit the traditional milestone of rolling over a bit early – four months in, instead of five – and now, at just over six months old, Svea watched as Margot started creeping along the floor, moving closer and closer to her dad as he kept wiggling further and further away.  

“Eeeeeeh!” she would cry out in complaint of her seemingly not getting closer to her dad.  “Eeeeeh!”

“Come on Margot!  Just a little bit more!” Elias smiled wide.

She creeped some more, and when she was finally close enough, Elias began peppering her face with kisses.  She giggled at the feeling and screeched with happiness when he picked her up and held her in his arms.  “Baby’s on the move,” he smiled at Svea.

She nodded her head.  “We’re not gonna be able to sit down anymore.”

***

“Where do you think you’re going, missy?” Svea asked playfully as she watched Margot crawl along the hardwood floor of the kitchen.  Her chunky rolls filled out her avocado-printed onesie she was wearing as she made a beeline for the sunlight coming through the sliding door.  

“Aaaaaeeeeeeee!” Margot squeaked at the sound of her mother’s voice, looking back.

“Where are you going?” Svea asked.  

“Eeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa!”

“Eeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa!” Svea mimicked, knowing she should be mimicking the sounds for Margot’s development.  She grabbed her phone off the counter and walked around her, crouching down on the floor and opening her camera for a video.  “Come on Margot!  Let’s show daddy how you can crawl!”

“Aaaaaaaadadada!!” she said, continuing her babbling and crawling as she made her way against the hardwood floor and towards the camera.  

Later, when Svea held Margot on hip as she fixed a quick bowl of raspberries as a snack, she sent the video to Elias.  His response was almost immediate.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

***

“She’s cruising now,” Svea explained on the phone to Grace.  “Like, she can stand, but the second she takes a step she’s too wobbly and falls down.  But if she’s got the couch or the coffee table, she’s okay.”

“She’s going to be walking soon,” Grace said confidently.  “You guys think you weren’t able to sit down once she started crawling?  Well, good luck now,” she giggled.  

“I don’t know how you did this three times in a row while pregnant with the next,” Svea admitted.  “Crouching down, picking her up, over and over and over again…all that with a bump?  You’re superwoman, Grace.”

“I’m not superwoman, I’m just a mom,” Grace said.  “For going what you went through to deliver her, you’re superwoman too, you know.”

***

“Come to daddy, Margot.  Come to daddy,” Elias beckoned as he sat with his arms and legs outstretched about six feet away from Svea, who was holding Margot up by just her hands.  All of the videos Svea had sent him over the last road trip of Margot trying to walk and then falling made him want to practice once he got home.  He refused to see his daughter’s first steps over an iPhone video, and Svea understood that completely.

“Go to daddy,” Svea whispered in her daughter’s ear as she let go of her hands.

Margot wobbled a bit, took a cautionary first step, then a second, and at her parent’s excited voices, she smiled and continued with her steps, reaching Elias who was so elated with joy that he scooped her up in his arms and peppered her chubby face with kisses.  Svea could see tears escaping his eyes as he repositioned his daughter, holding her up again by her hands, and encouraging her to walk to Svea.  Some more wobbly steps and a mid-distance squat later, Margot was back in Svea’s arms, getting more kisses.

They had a walker.

***

“Your costumes are sooooo awesome, girls!” Svea cooed as she looked at Violet, Lily, Rose, and Poppy dressed up in their witch costumes as she entered the Boeser house.  “Are you girls ready to go trick-or-treating?”

The four girls nodded their heads excitedly.  “What’s Margot dressed up as?!” Violet asked.

“You’ll see when Elias brings her in,” Svea smiled, watching as Dukey, dressed up as Buzz Lightyear came running towards the door.  “Hi Dukey!”

“I Buzz Lightyear!” he screamed excitedly.  “Look!” he turned around to show off the wings of the costume.  He raised his hand in the air.  “Iffity and blonde!”

“To infinity and beyond!” Svea copied him.

Before they could go any further, Elias walked through the door with Margot in his arms and her diaper bag over his shoulder.  “Hello girls,” Elias greeted them.  “Nice costumes!  Look at Svea’s!”

The four girls cooed at her, admiring her in her cute little costume.  “Mooooooom!  Svea’s a strawberry!”

From inside the house, Elias and Svea could hear Grace scream in delight.

***

“Haaaaaappy Birthdaaayyyyy to you!  Haaaaaappy Birthdaaayyyyy to you!  Haaaaaappy Birthdaaayyyyy dear Maaaaarrrgggooooottt!  Haaaaaappy Birthdaaayyyyy to you!”

Margot was smiling from ear to ear as she giggled and clapped excitedly as everyone sang to her.  Her first birthday party was a hit – Irene and Torbjorn were able to come in from Sweden, Emil and Fanny were Zooming in with their kids, and practically the entire team and their kids were over the Pettersson house celebrating the big day.  

“Blow, Margot!  Blow!” Elias bent down so he was at the same eye-level as his daughter in her high chair.  He showed her how to do it before watching as she tried to mimic him.  “Blow!”

Instead, Margot made a loud fart noise with her mouth.

Everyone laughed hysterically.  Elias could hear Brock scream “I hope someone got that on video!”  Elias watched as Svea bent down to be at eye-level with Margot too.  “On three!  One, two three!  Blow!”

***

“Say mama.  Mama,” Elias said as he lay on his back on the couch and hat Margot sitting on his chest.  “Mama.  Mommy.”

“Dada.”

“No, no dada.  Mmmmmmmaaaammmmmmaaaaa,” he emphasized.  “Mama!”

“Dada!”

“MAMA!”

“DADA!”

“Elias!” Svea yelled from the kitchen.  “You can’t force her words.”

Elias grumbled.  “Mama,” he said, much quieter so Svea wouldn’t hear.  “Mama.”

“DADA!”

***

“Gröt,” Svea cooed as she spooned some more oatmeal into a spoon.  It was already all over Margot’s face and hands, Margot loving every spoonful.  Her big blue eyes looked at the spoon excitedly.  “This is gröt, Margot.  Gröt.”

“Do we really want Margot’s first Swedish word to be oatmeal?” Elias laughed as he joined his girls at the table, setting his mug of coffee down and placing Svea’s tea beside her on the table.  

“It’s at least a single syllable,” Svea mused.  She looked back at Margot, who had just swallowed the spoonful of oatmeal and was pointing at Elias taking a sip of his coffee.  “Gröt.  Gröt!” Svea repeated.  “Gröt!”

Margot pointed emphatically.  “Fika!” she said suddenly.  Svea’s and Elias’s jaws dropped.  “Fika!”

Elias snorted from behind Svea.  “Fika.  Of course her first Swedish world would be fika.”

***

“If I’m going to go back to work – I mean, I am, it’s not a question – we need to find a good daycare,” Svea said, eyes focused on her laptop screen as Margot was napping.  

“More important than the daycare, Svea, is if you’re ready,” Elias cautioned.  “Are you ready to go back to work?”

Svea had thought about it a lot – she really did.  Being at home with Margot was amazing, of course – it was the best thing ever, and she valued every millisecond – but she was ready to return to her career.  It wasn’t that she had a duty or an obligation to, or that she was feeling forced or pressured or put it on herself to be a do-it-all working mother.  She just…genuinely felt like it was the right thing to do for her.  Svea never saw herself as a stay-at-home-mother, even though she and Elias had boatloads full of money and she was told by co-workers, well-meaning-but-ultimately-offensive-friends, and random people that she didn’t need to work.  “I’m ready,” she nodded her head.  “I know it’s not going to be the same as it was before, that I won’t be working as hard, but that doesn’t matter to me.  I’ve already perfected my role.  I’ve already won an election for my party.  But I still…I still want to work.”

Elias nodded his head.  He knew Svea meant every word.  And who was he to say no?  There was no way.  He never held Svea back before, and he wasn’t going to start now.  “Then let’s look at daycares.”

***

“Every daycare we’ve been to, I haven’t gotten the best feeling,” Svea admitted to Grace as she was over her house for coffee.  Dukey and Margot were playing in their playpen in eyeshot as the women spoke about their lives.  “And it’s not me being…me.  I can’t picture Margot there.  I just can’t.  And it’s not me being picky either.  We even brought her to our favourite place to see if she’d like it and she was wailing the entire time.”

Grace was nodding in understanding, but the second Svea mentioned picturing Margot in a daycare, the lightbulb went off in her brain.  “Svea, why don’t I watch her every day?”

Svea was taken aback.  “W—What?”

“What if I watched her?  I’m already home with Dukey anyway.  And you know Margot is comfortable here at the house, and she knows me.  What if I watched her?”

Svea shook her head.  “Grace, no.  No.  I couldn’t do that to you—”

“You’re not doing it to me if I’m offering,” Grace said.  “You know how much I love kids.  It would be so fun for me!  And for Dukey!  And you know how much the girls adore her so when they get home from school you know they’ll be all about it too.  Will you promise me you’ll at least think about it?”

***

--- OFFICE OF THE PREMIER OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE ---

The Office of the Premier would like to formally thank Mitchell Maloney for fulfilling his duties as the acting chief of staff for the past eighteen months.  The office would like to formally announce that Maloney will be assigned the role of Deputy Communications Director, effective two weeks from today, as he transfers out of his position.

The Office of the Premier would like to formally welcome back Svea Pettersson from her maternity leave.  Pettersson will continue to fulfill her duties as the Premier’s Chief of Staff moving forward.  

***

“Oooooooooohhhhh fuuuuuuck, Elias,” Svea moaned, looking over her shoulder at Elias who had just slipped into her from behind.  “Feels so good baby.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Svea nodded.  “I love it when you fuck me from behind.”

She could hear Elias let out a low chuckle.  He began moving in and out of her slowly, almost too slowly, because Svea groaned, and Elias watched as she grabbed at their bedsheets, making her knuckles white.  “Fuck me, Elias.”

“What’s that, pretty girl?” he asked mischievously.

“Fuck me, Elias.  Fuck me harder,” Svea begged.

Elias bent over, placing kisses along her shoulders before nestling his head in the crook of her neck so he could whisper in her ear.  “I fucking love it when you beg.”

***

“Can you say bye-bye to Mama?  Bye bye!” Grace cooed as she bent down to be at level with both Margot and Svea who was already bending down, having kissed her daughter for a solid two minutes, unable to leave just yet.  “Say bye-bye!”

“Bye bye Margot!  You be good for mommy!” Svea cooed, her voice cracking as she began waving her hand so Margot could mimic her.  “Bye bye!”

“Bah-bah!” Margot clasped her hand open and closed.  “Bah-bah!”

“Bye-bye!” Svea wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye.  She stood up, and Grace followed, picking up Margot and balancing her on her hip.  “Please call me if—”

“I will, I will,” Grace interrupted.  “Please don’t worry.  I’ve got it.  Enjoy your first day at work knowing your daughter is safe and having fun.”

“I’m definitely gonna try…can’t guarantee it’ll happen,” Svea tried to joke.

***

“Go like this Margot!  Like this!” Elias said as he was on his knees, clutching a mini-stick, trying to show Margot how to hit the ball into the little hockey net they purchased months ago, which inevitably became the one thing that helped Margot learn how to walk the most.

Margot watched intently as her dad gripped the mini stick and hit the ball into the net, fetching to get it before placing it in front of her.  “Shoot!  Shoot!” he encouraged, making a swooping motion with the stick.

Margot looked down at the ball, and in one swift movement, she brought her mini-stick down and hit it straight into the net.  Elias went wild.  He began screaming and clapping and raising his hands in the air, causing Margot to start screaming and clapping and raising her hands up in the air too.  He swooped her up in his arms and gave her raspberry-style kisses, causing her to shriek and giggle loudly and controllably.  “Margot wins the game!  Margot wins the game!” he screamed in between kisses.

Svea could hear them from upstairs as she read over some work documents for tomorrow.  She felt her heart swell with love.  

***

“Who knew when we were twenty and lame that we’d be surrounded by this many girls,” Brock mused, cracking open a can of beer for Elias.  Both men looked out onto Elias’s backyard to see Violet, Rose, Lily, Poppy, and Margot all playing together, blowing bubbles and trying to catch them without popping them.  Margot was always unsuccessful, but she was having the time of her life.

Elias nodded his head.  “We’re a pair of pretty lucky guys though,” he commented.

Brock nodded his head, looking at his four daughters.  “The luckiest guys in the world.”

Later in the afternoon, when Margot had to go down for her nap, Elias was rocking her back and forth as she fell asleep on his shoulder.  Rose was quiet as she stood with him in the room, keeping a watchful eye and making sure Svea was falling asleep.  When Elias laid Margot down on the bed, Rose finally spoke.  “Uncle Petey?”

“Yes Rosey?”

“Can Margot be my sister?”

Elias smiled.  “I think she already is.”

***

“I’m actually gonna sob.  She looks so cute,” Svea commented as Elias finished putting on Margot’s toddler skates.  Margot was bundled up in a blue jacket with green tights, the colour of the Canucks, and her helmet was already placed securely on her head.  “You excited, Margot?”

“Yaaa!” she squeaked out, smiling at her mom.  “Skate!”

“Yes!  We’re going skating!” Elias cooed, picking her up and placing her on his hip as he and Svea began their walk towards the ice.  

Svea made sure to get her phone ready on video mode, knowing she’d been taking tons and tons of videos.  Most of the Canucks and their families were already on the ice, but Margot had had a mini meltdown when the helmet was put on, which delayed them.  Elias stepped onto the ice, keeping Margot on his hip as he skated around quickly, making her laugh hysterically.  Eventually, he carefully set her down on the ice, crouching down slightly behind her.  She began moving her feet as if she was walking, with Elias holding her hands above her head.

“Look at mommy Margot!  Say hi to mommy!” Elias said as Svea followed them, skating backwards slowly, filming a video on her phone.

“Hiiiiiii!” Margot said, smiling through the wire.  “Hiiiiii!”

“Hi baby!  Look at you skating!” Svea cooed as she continued the video.  “Look at you go!”

Margot squealed excitedly, looking back up at her dad who was smiling down at her as well.  “Skate!  Skate!”

***

“Let’s hope she knows how to blow this time and doesn’t fart again,” Brock commented as he helped Elias light the candles on Margot’s 2nd birthday cake.

“We’ll see,” Elias giggled.  “We haven’t practiced.”

Brock carried the cake so Elias could be beside Margot and Svea.  Everybody began singing happy birthday, and when he placed the cake in front of Margot, she clapped and wiggled excitedly.  Once everyone finished singing, it was time to see.  “Blow, Margot!  Blow!” Grace called out.

She took a deep breath in.  She looked like she was going to do it on her own.  And then…

Fart noise.

Everybody burst out into hysterical laughter.  “Two-for-two!” Brock screamed.

***

“Margot…Margot, look here,” Svea said as she balanced her on her knee, reading her a book since she’d requested it.  “Look here,” she pointed at the words at the bottom of the page.

Margot reached her hands out and pulled the book closer to her eyes.  Svea noticed her squinting until she brought the book really close to her face.  She put her finger above her mom’s and pointed to the animal on the page.  “Monkey!” she said.

Svea felt worry pool in the pit of her stomach.  She pushed the book back to its original distance away from Margot and turned the page.  “What’s this, Margot?” she asked again.

Margot reached out again to bring the book close to her eyes.  “Monkey in tree!”

“Good job, baby,” Svea cooed, closely watching her daughter.  Maybe she was overreacting.  Maybe Margot was just tired.  But Svea knew she was going to mention it to Elias when he got home.  “You’re so smart, baby.”

***

They were pink, naturally, because Margot got to choose and she was all about anything pink.  Elias was worried they would bother her, or she wouldn’t like them, or put up a giant fit once they were finally on and she realized she had to wear them all the time.  He’d shed a tear or two about it, worried like any father would be.  But Margot was taking to them surprisingly well.

“Look, Margot!” Margot’s optometrist smiled as she held up a mirror for Margot to see herself.  “These are your new glasses!  They’re for you!”

“PINK!” Margot exclaimed, swinging her feet excitedly as she saw herself in the mirror.  

“Yes, they’re pink!”

Margot looked up at her dad; she was sitting on his lap, after all.  Her giant smile with her little teeth caused him to smile too.  “Pink, daddy!”

“What’s this, Margot?” the optometrist had already opened a book and held it open a way’s away from Margot.  “What’s this right here?” she pointed to Big Bird on the page.

“Big Bird!”

***

Elias groaned as he finally slipped his hard cock into Svea.  They had been spooning in bed for what felt like hours that morning, waking up well before Margot usually did.  Elias could hear Svea groan at his length filling her up from behind, and she savoured the feeling of him peppering kisses on the backs of her shoulder blades.  “Good morning, pretty girl,” Elias mumbled coarsely in her ear as he thrust in and out of her slowly.

“G’morning, baby,” Svea smiled.  She felt Elias’s hand snake up from her hip to her breast, cupping it in his hand.  “I could get used to waking up with your hard cock inside of me.”

“Mmm, be careful what you wish for, pretty girl.”

“I know exactly what I’m wishing for.”

Elias began moving his hips more, making sure he was getting exactly the right angle even though their movement were still slow and purposeful; when Svea began moaning, closing her eyes when they rolled to the back of her head, he knew what he was doing was exactly what she wanted and needed.  “I love you so fucking much,” she mumbled out, putting her hand over his that was still cupping her breast.

“I love you too,” he placed a tender kiss on her neck.  “Thank you for giving me everything I’ve ever needed.”

Svea smiled at that, biting down on her bottom lip.  “The pleasure’s been all mine.”

***

On a beautiful, hot, and sunny afternoon in Ånge, Elias couldn’t help but smile as he watched his dad hold Margot as they swam in the pool together at his parents’ house.  Margot was having the time of her life in the water – after the baby swimming classes Svea had signed her up for, Elias figured she’d be happy and in her element.  His dad couldn’t get enough of being a grandpa to a little girl, and neither could his mom.  They spoiled all of their grandchildren.  Törbjörn had even bought Margot a little bucket hat with the Swedish flag on it to wear while they were in the pool.  

“Gillar du att stänka vattnet?” his dad cooed as Margot splashed the water with her hands.  “Tänk om jag gjorde det här?” he asked again, throwing her up in the air and catching her low enough so she could splash in the water.  Margot shrieked in delight, and that was enough reason for Törbjörn to continue.  

Elias laughed along with his daughter.  She had the best grandpa.  

***

“Look at all the pretty flowers Margot,” Svea said as she held Margot against her hip, watching Elias as he crowned her with a beautiful flower crown that Fanny helped him make.  

“Woooowww,” Margot said, grabbing at it because she was so excited.  

“Gentle!” Elias warned softly.  He didn’t want it to break after Fanny worked so hard on it.  “Be gentle, Margot,” he repeated as he made sure it was on snugly and properly before pulling his hands away.

“My flower!  My crown!” she smiled.  “Daddy, you have flowers too?”

Elias eyed Svea with a smirk on his face.  Svea knew he’d already crumbled.  All it took was that question from Margot.  He hadn’t exactly planned on wearing a flower crown, but he knew exactly where this was headed now.  “You want daddy to wear flowers too?”

Margot nodded her head enthusiastically.  “Mommy, daddy, me match!”

What Margot wanted; Margot got.  

***

“It would be the first picture we’ve posted of her since the Christmas card photos leaked,” Elias mused as he looked at the picture on his Instagram, almost, almost ready to hit the elusive ‘post’ button.  

“We didn’t release those – they were posted without our consent,” Svea clarified.  She was right.  They had no control over that and were actually really upset about it.  To this day, they still don’t know who did it.  “This would be the first photo you post of her willingly.”

Elias looked over at his wife.  “Do you think I should do it?  It’s so fucking cute,” he looked back at his phone, admiring the picture one more time.  

In it, Margot was in her pink fluffy bathrobe, her wet hair combed back, and she was sitting on Elias’s chest as they were in bed together.  Elias was holding her, pursing his lips, and Margot was putting lip balm on his lips.  A classic “girl dad” photo, he thought.  And if he was going to send any message out into the world about his child and the relationship he had with her, it was going to be what was encapsulated in this picture.

Svea snuggled herself into Elias’s side, bringing her hand up and pressing ‘post’ for him.  “There,” she said, smiling.  “All done.”

***

“When she blows out the candles, she better fart again.”

“You’re gross.”

“She’s gotta go three-for-three, Petey, or else this party is a bust.”

“You have a boy – can’t you go make fart jokes with him?”

“I have a boy who has grown up with four older sisters.  He isn’t exactly one for fart jokes.”

Elias shook his head at Brock, but he couldn’t help the smirk that grew on his face.  “You finally get a boy after four girls and you can’t even make a fart joke with him,” he shook his head playfully.  “Just your luck, eh?”

Brock shook his head.  “I have five healthy, beautiful kids.  I’ll take whatever I get.”

When Elias carried the cake in and Brock began recording on his phone, everybody began singing happy birthday to Margot – a happy, energetic but cautious, giggly but quiet, exactly-like-both-her-parents’-temperaments-it-was-kind-of-scary-three year old, who every day was looking more and more like Elias’s double.  She adjusted her glasses as everyone sang to her, and clapped along too.  When it was time to blow, she did.

No fart noises.

“Noooooooo!” Brock groaned loudly.  Elias pretended like he was going to backslap him over the head.  “No fart noise!”

“It was fun while it lasted,” Svea winked at him.

***

“Will they be in my class, mommy?” Margot asked as she looked into the classroom sheepishly, a little shy now that she was in a new environment.  Elias and Svea had started to talk to her about school, and how – now that she was a big girl – she needed to start going to school to learn, just like how Violet, Rose, Lily, and Poppy went to school.  

“Can I go to Poppy’s school?” she asked nervously one day.

Elias and Svea decided to take her there, knowing that it would make her feel more comfortable.  Knowing that Violet, Rose, Lily, and Poppy went there too put her at ease.  When they saw all the girls in the junior kindergarten class in their green plaid dresses, they could tell Margot recognized them from seeing them on the Boeser girls.  

“These girls won’t be in your class, but new girls who are the same age as you will be,” Svea said.  “Do you like that?”

Margot hesitated slightly before nodding her head.  “I like new friends.”

***

“She is out cold,” Svea smiled as she lowered herself slowly and gently onto the couch, making sure not to disturb the peaceful image before her: Margot, after an exciting and fun day of shopping for her new school uniform, completely knocked out in Elias’s arms, sleeping soundly on his chest as he rubbed her back.

Svea cradled her body into Elias, too, snuggling up against him and admiring her daughter.  From the blonde hair on her head, to her pink glasses on her face, to her cute little toes Elias still loved to pretend to eat, she was perfect.  As Svea thought this, she felt Elias grab her hand between them and bring it up to his lips for a kiss, holding on to it as his thumb grazed over her skin.  “We did alright in the end, didn’t we?”

Svea smiled and nodded her head.  “We did.”

“She’s perfect.  She’s just perfect,” he said, placing the lightest of kisses atop Margot’s head.

“I was just thinking the same thing,” Svea admitted.

Elias looked over at her, craning his head down to give his wife a kiss.  “I love you more than I know how to explain.  Thank you for giving me the light in my life.”

***

“Then all around from far away across the world, he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being king of where the wild things are,” Elias read to Margot as they cuddled together in the rocking chair in her room.  In her comfortable jammies and with her head on his chest, she was mouthing along to all the words of the book.  Elias could see her get progressively more tired as he flipped through the pages, though she kept trying to mouth along and kept trying to keep her eyes open.  

When they finished, Elias put the book on her bedside table as he cradled Margot in his arms and lay her down in bed, making sure to put the covers over her just how she liked.  Still struggling to keep her eyes open, he brushed some hair out of her face.  “Daddy?” she asked in her sweet voice.

“Yes baby?”

“I love you daddy.”

Elias smiled.  “I love you too, Margot.”

“Will you read to me always?” she asked.

Elias nodded his head automatically.  “Always.”

***

“Look at her go!” Grace exclaimed as she watched Margot zoom around the ice, chasing Poppy and Dukey around as they all giggled like maniacs.  “I mean, who am I kidding?  The daughter of Elias Pettersson?  Of course she’s gonna skate like that!”

“She’s definitely a natural,” Svea smiled as her eyes followed her daughter around the ice.  Brock and Elias both skated up behind their kids and scooped them up in their arms, giving them kisses before setting them back down on the ice together.  “Do you ever think about how far we’ve all come…based on where we started when we met each other in our early twenties?”

“All the time,” Grace nodded.  “We were so young!  We were kids!  Now there’s six kids between us!”

“A little skewed on your side, though,” Svea winked.

Grace elbowed her playfully.  “We did good.”

***

“Margot!  Margot!” Elias called out to his daughter who was already having fun with a new friend in her classroom as they played with a xylophone together.  Other parents were in the room doing the exact same thing as he and Svea: making sure everything was okay on the first day of school.  But the longer he and Svea stood there watching her, the more they realized she didn’t need them there; that she would thrive in the classroom and not have a meltdown about being in a new place.  

To her credit, Margot listened when she heard her dad call her name and got up from her seat to hop over to her parents.  “Mommy and daddy have to go now,” Elias said as he and Svea crouched down so they could by at eye-level with her.  She nodded her head in understanding.  “You listen to Mrs. Becker, okay?”

“I will.”

“Aunt Grace is going to come pick you up with Violet, Rose, Lily, and Poppy.  Remember?” Svea asked.

“Yes mommy.”

“And remember—” Svea choked up slightly, Elias putting her hand over hers.  “Mommy and daddy love you very much.”

“I love you too!” Margot said as she hugged her parents goodbye before skipping back to her friend and playing with the xylophone again.  

Elias and Svea said goodbye to Mrs. Becker and held hands as they left the school building and walked back together to their car in the parking lot, silent the entire time.  When Svea looked over at Elias once they were back in the privacy of their car, she could see tears streaming down his face.  “Now you’re going to make me cry,” she said, wiping a few tears that had fallen.

“She’s so good.  I’m so proud of her,” he said, wiping his own tears with the backs of his hands.  “No meltdowns!  Just walked right in there and started making friends.  She’s so good.”

“Don’t jinx it – she might have a meltdown tomorrow,” Svea joked, trying to lighten the mood.

It garnered a smile out of Elias.  He looked at his wife and placed his hand over hers tenderly.  “I love you so much,” he mumbled, bringing her hand up to kiss it before cradling it against his chest, above his heart.  All these years later, I’ve just grown to love you more, if that’s even possible.”

“I think it is, because I grew to love you more too,” Svea said softly.  “My Elias.  Always my Elias.

He kissed her hand again.  “My moon, my stars, my Svea.”

[tapedsleeves]

2 get 2 rec'd (get rec'd 2)

get rec'd week 2 is here!!!! I feel like I didn't read a lot of fic this week because. well. i was very tired and doing stuff, and also work was crazy. but i did read some new fics or reread some favorites, so it's not nothing!

if you read & like these fics, consider leaving a kudos or comment for the author.

i would stay forever (if you say don't go) by overturned goal

quinn hughes / elias petterson, E, 5110 words

the OTHER petey / quinn fake dating fic that i read and loved, but hannukah flavored this time. also they're fwb, and i just. this fic is just sooo full of the kind of angst that comes with FWB that i absolutely adore!

take it easy on me by @yamball (thepaperdolls on ao3)

vince dunn / adam larsson, E, 5655

a D/s AU where Vince needs a team-Dom, and Adam doesn't want to be just that. This fic is soo lovely. It balances the in the room stuff with the private subbing really well for my taste. I really had a good time reading it.

mountain sound by aliquis

jonas siegenthaler / nico hischier, E, 14,823

a mindscape au where Jonas creates mindscapes for Nico. this is such a unique au! I've never seen one like it, and it was sooo fun to read. the twist is too good to reveal in a summary, but it is just SO good, and well foreshadowed.

when you find out by @nymhciv (same username on ao3)

connor mcdavid / leon draisaitl, E, 10,779

a beer league connor has an only fans AU. I am NOT going to lie to you, this was a comfort re-read for me. Connor is just so into being perceived (unrelatable) and leon is just so into looking at him. Not to mention Matthew Tkachuk facilitating Connor & Leon getting together this fic is just. pacha meme.

[matsbarzal]

can I please request angst #14 with Petey??

angst #14. "are you going to talk to me or?"

pairing: elias pettersson x reader word count: 1.3k warnings: angst (happy ending)

Elias Pettersson knew he was good at lots of things. He knew he was a good person, a good friend, an even better hockey player. But the one thing he wasn’t good at? Understanding what he had done to upset you.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have a relatively good understanding of the stupid things he did, he knew he had made plenty of mistakes in your relationships, easily fixable ones, really. Except this time.

It had been almost four days of complete radio silence, no text, no call, no FaceTime’s, nothing. You had sent him a thumbs up the moment he landed and told you he had landed, and no response since. Elias could easily tell you had been on your phone, snapchat stories and twitter likes popping up on both his feeds every now and then, but he could not fathom why you hadn’t texted him in days.

You had fought hundreds of times before, little spats here and there, petty arguments that just turned into nothing when he brought home your favourite food, but never an argument to the extent that you wouldn’t even text him.

“You alright over there, Petey? Lookin’ a little queasy… oh shit that rhymed, look at me go,” trying to ignore Brock was even more difficult than trying to understand why you weren’t texting him, especially when said blonde was his best friend and could pick up on every social cue Elias was giving off.

“Fine, yeah.”

Shrugging his shoulders slightly, the Swede thumbed through his phone, bringing up your contact card and then exiting out every few seconds. “Y/N still not texting you? You sure you didn’t do anything before we left?”

Tossing the phone onto the table in front of him, Elias groaned as he tried to rack his head for what he could’ve done wrong before leaving Vancouver. There was a multitude of things it could be, there was a spat right before he left the apartment, an argument over moving the cars, which somehow turned into him suggesting that the two of you should get a dog.

The Swede couldn’t pinpoint an exact moment in your last two days with one another where he might have upset you to the point of not speaking.

Halfway across the country, your eyes had barely left the box you had found sitting in Elias’ top drawer since he left. It was all you could focus on, your eyes constantly moving to find the little black box that you had moved to the top of the dresser, its closed lid haunting you, taunting you the more and more your eyes peered to it.

Elias hadn’t made any indications that this was what he was pushing towards, you hadn’t even realized he was considering this. Two years into a relationship, you knew it was possible, but you just didn’t realize how possible.

You loved him, you’d be lying if you said you didn’t, but did you love him enough to get married? Maybe. But add in the constant bickering, the continuous fights, the never-ending spats that had no regular conclusion and usually just consisted of some form of idiotic makeup in the hopes the both of you would forget about what you were arguing for anyways.

The silent treatment may have been petty, all of Elias’ texts going unanswered, snapchats only being sent back every time the timer would appear next to your streak. You knew it was childish, and was probably terrifying your boyfriend, but your brain couldn’t fathom what to do, couldn’t fathom what you wanted.

The game against the Canadiens had been explosive, the Canucks losing horrifically, and Elias’ play just an even bigger catalyst to the team. It was the first game you had watched where he hadn’t played his best, the turnovers were consistent, his numbers were down, his penalty minutes were even higher than usually.

And you knew there was a large possibility you were the main cause for his deterioration of play.

Pulling up your phone from its spot stuffed under the covers, you scrolled until you reached his contact name, the little blue dot beside it just an indication of how many messages had gone unanswered in the last few days. Before you even had the chance to send a message through, his contact name appeared at the top of your list.

are you going to talk to me or am i going to come home to an empty apartment tn? not sure what i did wrong but this isn’t fair

You could feel the guilty instantly seep through your body at the text message, your eyes welling up with unshed tears at the message that came through. Elias was your best friend, the epitome of everything good in your life, and something about that just terrified you.

i’ll be here when u get home, ‘Lias. have a safe flight xo

A large sigh of relief left the Swede’s lips when the three bubbles popped up under your name, an even bigger sigh leaving his lips when you said you’d be home when he got there. He allowed his phone to drop in between his legs, his eyes focusing on the iPad in front of him, currently playing reruns of New Girl, your favourite show to watch together.

Almost six hours later, you heard the sound of the lock clicking, the door swinging open to reveal a dishevelled and thoroughly exhausted-looking Elias Pettersson.

“So, are we going to do this now? I told Brock to set up his guest bedroom, I’m not arguing all night so let’s just get this over with,” his keys were tossed onto the centre island, his eyes never leaving yours as you tried to rack your brain for what to say.

“I found the ring… in your top drawer.”

Your stomach turned as you watched the array of emotions fly across Elias’ face; confusion, frustration, anger, sadness, everything smoothing together before he placed a stoic look across his features.

“You freaked out and ignored me for almost five days, because you found a ring in my drawer?” The scoff fell from his lips almost beautifully, his features twisting into annoyance as he looked at you.

“I just… I didn’t know how to react. We argue about everything, ‘Lias. We literally fight about the colour of the sky, and you’ve already bought a ring?”

Moving so he was sitting on the couch opposite of you, the Swede turned so his entire body was facing you, the stoic look now turning into a look of concern.

“Y/N… we fight about everything because that’s just how we are. Our fights have never, ever turned into anything serious. We argue with each other because we both never want to be wrong, that shouldn’t be a reason for you to freak out and not want to marry me one day, my love. Just because I have the ring doesn’t mean I want to get married tomorrow. It’s my grandmother’s engagement ring, Emil let me have it for the day I eventually propose to you. I didn’t buy it, it’s been sitting in that drawer for ages.”

You could feel the embarrassment settling in your stomach at his words, your stomach turning as you tried to think of a response. The only thing you could muster up was an apology, your eyes never leaving your hands as they twisted amongst each other.

His body moved closer to yours, one arm wrapping around your back as he gently pulled you into his side.

“You don’t need to apologize, just maybe instead of going ghost, argue with me instead? Since when are you one to hide your feelings, especially something like that?”

Shrugging your shoulders at his words, you felt his lips press against the crown of your head gently, his hands squeezing your side as he did so.

“Pinky promise that you won’t do that again? Scared the shit out of me and Brock, and Brock never gets scared.”

Pushing your pinky finger towards him, he wrapped his own around yours with a smile small, his head pressed against yours as he squeezed your pinky with his own.

“And quit going through my drawers, nerd.”

“Don’t leave your clothes in the dryer then and I won’t have to put them away for you, Pettersson.”

note: thank you for requesting this!! i hope you enjoy, and it's everything you wanted. it's not too angsty, and it has a happy ending so hopefully that's perfect. <3

[puckinghell]

Acts Of Service | Elias Pettersson

Summary: When people have different love languages, sometimes it’s hard to understand what the other is trying to say. 4 times Elias shows you he loves you, and the 1 time you tell him.  Words: 7.5k (whoops) Note: This concept was very interesting to explore. Also yes, this entire thing was written because of that one picture of Elias in that blue sweater stepping out of the car like a fucking GQ model. 

----

(Some time ago)

“Didn’t you say there’s an apartment free in your building?” Brock asked as soon as you answered the phone, forgoing the “hello”.

“Hello, Brock, my very good friend, how nice to talk to you! How are you doing?” you deadpanned.

At least he had the decency to sound ashamed. “Ah, yes, hi. Sorry. I’m just in a hurry and it’s important.”

You frowned. “Why? Are you looking to move?”

“No.” Brock laughed. “Stetch would kill me. No, it’s about the rookie. Petey? I told you about him. Swedish, quiet, best fucking hands in the league.”

Yes. Brock had told you about the rookie, although you still thought it dumb to call him that. Brock was basically still a rookie himself.

“What does that have to do with my apartment building?”

“He said no to having a billet family but everyone on the team thinks it’d be good for him to have someone to kinda look out for him a bit. He’s never been to Canada before this, you know, and he’s never lived on his own either. His English isn’t that great and everything is new for him. And since you’re such a caring, loving person, we thought…”

“You thought I could babysit him?” you finished for Brock.

“It’s not babysitting. Just, being friendly if he needs anything. Obviously we’re there for that too, but it’d be nice to have you so close by.”

Close by would be an understatement: the free apartment was across the hall from yours.

You weren’t sure if this sounded like something that you would necessarily want to do, but you did feel a bit sorry for Elias: you’d met him at a team thing earlier that week and he’d looked completely lost in the midst of all the Canadian hockey slang that you barely managed to follow, even after having been friends with Brock for years. He mostly kept to Eagle, spoke in Swedish, and his eyes flickered nervously across the room whenever anyone else approached him.

“Fine,” you sighed, “I’ll talk to my landlord. But you owe me, Blondie.”

Brock was happy enough that he didn’t even call you out on the nickname.

1. 

“Have I told you lately how much of a lifesaver you are?” You lean across your desk, resting your chin in your hands. Elias looks mildly amused as he hands you the papers.

“Nearly every day,” he says, “but then I save your life every day, so that seems fair.”

You grab the papers from his hands.

“You’re a lifesaver and the love of my life, Petey.”

You think back to when Elias just moved into your apartment building, only because Brock thought he needed someone to look after him. You could laugh, now, thinking about how wrong he’d been.

Elias is the most self-sufficient, independent person you know. You don’t think he’s ever needed anything from anyone. Like in hockey, where he can make the play and score the goal all at the same time, Elias has his life together.

Unlike you.

Despite the fact that Elias hadn’t needed much help from you, you had become very fast friends. His quick witted sarcasm always managed to make you laugh and he liked how upfront and honest you were with him about things. It was easy, too, to spend time together. With him living just across the hall, you found yourself wandering to his apartment whenever you were bored, and he showed up at yours often when he didn’t feel like cooking.

Just because he could cook, didn’t mean he always wanted to.

And ever since the two of you had become friends, Elias had your back. When you needed someone to water your plants, or feed your cat Puck – Brock had named him – or, apparently, bring you the important work papers that you forgot at home after having worked on them all weekend.

You groan as you flick through the papers. “I thought I was going to die. Without these I can’t finish my presentation.”

“When is it?” Elias asks, eyes searching behind you. You know he’s looking out for your asshole of a boss, who will use any excuse to yell at you, especially the unannounced visit of a friend.

“Tomorrow. I got all the content in these papers here, but I still have to make the PowerPoint.” You sigh. “It’s still so much work.”

“Oh.” Elias’ face lights up. “Almost forgot. Brought you this.” Triumphantly, he reaches down and comes up with a paper bag from your favorite coffee shop.

The words fall off your lips in a gasp. “You didn’t!”

“Strawberry scone and a large caramel macchiato with soy milk.” Elias grins. “I also got you a chocolate chip cookie for later.”

“Marry me,” you proclaim, as you make grabby hands for the bag. The coffee is precisely what you need and your mouth is already watering at the idea of the food.

“Get me a ring, then,” Elias jokes, as he starts getting up from the chair.

Something tightens in your stomach, so you quickly take a bite of the scone: anything to push those feelings to the side. It works a little, and at the very least it tastes amazing.

You’re just friends. If you were gonna be anything more, Elias would’ve made a move already. Or, if you’d been brave enough, you would’ve: but he’s never said anything to make you think he’s interested and quite frankly, you’re not that brave.

“Thank you,” you say, mouth still full of scone, and Elias wrinkles his nose at that as you knew he would.

“I’m going to the store now,” he says, “anything you want me to pick up for you?”

“Wine?” you ask, hopeful. “I’m gonna need it after today.”

Elias rolls his eyes at you, but when you come home after the most grueling day at work there’s a bottle of rosé sitting in your fridge, next to a bag full of your favorite Thai take out food.

Love you, you quickly text Elias, even though you know he can’t answer because the game is about to start.

You take some time showering and putting on comfortable clothes, then situate yourself on the couch and put on the game. It has already begun, and you know it’s not gonna be an easy one, against the Bruins.

It’s not until the first intermission, when you check your phone, that you see there’s a reply from Elias waiting for you.

It’s just a simple heart emoji, but it makes your heart race anyway.

2.

“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I can barely hear you.” Fiona’s tone is disapproving, and you pull your mouth away from where you’d pressed it into your arm to scream.

“I said, this is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!”

She laughs. “It’s just a car, Y/N.”

You don’t necessarily like your job, but Fiona is one of the reasons you’re still putting up with it. She’s not just a colleague anymore, slowly turning into a friend and someone you confide into about everything – even about your Elias problem – and you love her, but sometimes you could murder her.

“It’s not just a car,” you bite. “It’s my only mode of transportation, because you know how much I hate taking the bus, and it’s broken, and I probably can’t even afford to get it fixed. And now I have to walk home, and it’s raining.”

“Well, when you put it like that,” Fiona admits.

After a long day at work, you couldn’t wait to get home and watch The Bachelor until you fell asleep, your cat in your lap. However, when you finally got away from the office and stepped into your car, it was clear the universe had different plans.

It didn’t start.

After trying approximately 15 times, you’d screamed, nearly cried, hit the steering wheel, and then went back inside to scream and cry a little more at Fiona’s desk.

“I just wanna go home, Fi.” You know you sound miserable, but you honestly can’t help it. Taking the bus always heightens your anxiety, so you avoid it at all costs: however, walking home in this pouring rain doesn’t seem like much fun either.

And Fiona can’t even bring you home, because she takes the bus to work like a normal person.

“There’s a simple solution to this, you know,” Fiona says. She starts to organize the papers on her desk, a clear sign that she’s getting ready to leave the office as well. “You could just call…”

“No,” you interrupt her, knowing exactly where she’s going with this. “I can’t call Elias. He’s got the boys over today and I won’t interrupt his fun with my misery. Besides, he does too much for me already, I can’t ask him for more.”

“Right,” Fiona drawls, “but when he hears that you were stuck here and didn’t call him…”

She doesn’t finish her sentence, but she doesn’t have to.

Elias would be furious.

One time, you were on a night out when you got a little too tipsy and didn’t realize your phone had died. By the time you noticed, all your friends had already jumped in their respective Ubers, but you had been too busy chatting with some girl you didn’t know to order yours, and now you couldn’t because you didn’t have a phone. 

You knew you could’ve asked any random person to order you an Uber, or at least to borrow their phone to call Elias – it’s not like you didn’t know his number by heart – but that felt like too much. It had been 3 am and he had a game the next day, so you decided to walk home.

When he found out the next day, he got so mad he didn’t talk to you for 4 days. Eventually, you couldn’t take it anymore and just sat on his couch pouting at him until he spoke to you again.

“Something could’ve happened,” he’d muttered, explaining to you why he got mad in the first place. “And I’m your best friend, and you should know me enough to know that I would much rather you wake me up than you walk home alone.”

You did know that, and he was your best friend, and you’d promised him you’d never do it again.

It’s only that promise, that causes you to reach for your phone.

“I’m texting him, but if he’s busy, I’m walking,” you tell Fiona stubbornly. She ignores you, which is probably fair enough.

Hey, you busy right now? Are the guys still there?

The answer comes right away. What’s wrong?

Damn, he knows you too well. You quickly explain the situation and before you know it, Elias is on his way to come get you, and Fiona is bidding you goodbye after you promise her you’re fine on your own for the twenty minutes it’s gonna take Elias to get there.

You’re just checking your email on your phone when you hear the bell at the front door.

“I’m coming!” you call out. You hurry to grab your bags and then walk quickly to the door, where Elias is standing with his car keys between his fingers.

“So Bella finally gave up, huh?” he asks, a sly little smirk on his face. He always teases you with the fact that you named your car.

“Yes, and I know you told me,” you sigh, and it’s clear that he immediately – and correctly – reads your mood.

Without a word, he opens his arms, and you gratefully fall into them, hugging him tightly to your body. There’s very little in the world that brings you more comfort than one of Elias’ hugs: although being on Elias’ couch wearing one of his old hoodies watching some stupid reality show might come close.

“Let’s go home,” Elias finally mumbles, and he holds out an umbrella when he lets you go.

It’s raining really hard, and you know he has to park his car a little bit away because there’s no parking in front of your office, so you take it.

“You could’ve just called, I would’ve ran out,” you tell him sternly, but he shrugs.

“But then how would you have gotten the umbrella?”

You would tell him you’re not made of sugar, but as soon as you step outside the rain clatters loudly against the fabric of the umbrella and you realize you would’ve really, really hated to not have it, so you stay quiet.

Instead, you walk after him as he runs to his car and opens the passenger door for you. It’s still running, and the heater is on: only then do you realize you’re quite cold.

This morning they said it would be nice outside, so you didn’t bother to take a coat.

It’s quiet in the car for a while, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s the silence that only comes when two people understand each other, and combined with the soft music that is playing on the radio it lulls you into a false sense of comfort.

Until you realize something.

“Oh God,” you groan, “I’m gonna have to call someone to tow Bella to a mechanic.”

Elias raises an eyebrow. “Well, you could just leave her there.”

Normally you would’ve at least playfully punched his arm for the sarcastic tone in his voice, but right now you’re too busy freaking out.

“And how am I gonna get to work tomorrow? Don’t you dare say you’ll bring me cause I know you’ve got morning practice and it’s super out of your way. Fuck, why did this have to happen to me?”

You let your head fall against the window. The glass is cold against your cheek and it’s enough to stop the spiraling in your brain at least for a second.

“Hey.” Elias’ voice has lost all sarcastic edge. It’s gentle now, and he’s speaking low as if not to startle you. “Don’t worry about it, okay? I’ll call the tow truck and the mechanic and get your car fixed. And Brock lives close enough that he can take me to and from practice and you can just take my car to work.”

It’s… a reasonable solution, but once again something that Elias has to go out of his way for, even just a little bit, and you feel something warm bloom inside your chest.

“Okay,” you answer, the stress already ebbing away. “Thank you. You’re the best.” You reach out and place your hand on his knee, squeezing slightly. “Seriously. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Elias mumbles something incoherent. You think you see some color on his cheeks, but surely that’s just because the heater is on, because there’s no way he’s blushing over something you said.

You turn off the heater, and let your thoughts wander as Elias drives you home.

3. 

Traveling is fun, but traveling for work is instantly a lot less fun. You really don’t know how Elias does it.

You’re feeling run down and jetlagged when you come back from your work trip, which is ridiculous cause you flew to Toronto, not to freaking Europe. But it’s late at night and the three days you were away were so busy you can barely remember sleeping at all.

Fiona slept on the plane, so she looks a little more alive than you when your feet touch the ground at Vancouver airport.

“Is Elias coming to pick you up?” Fiona asks, as you’re both walking through the gate.

You shake your head. “I’m sure he would’ve insisted if he could, but he’s in California right now. They played the Kings tonight and they’re playing the Sharks the day after tomorrow.”

“I wish I was in California,” Fiona says wistfully. It’s cold and wet in Vancouver and it wasn’t much better in Toronto. The tiredness doesn’t help: it feels as if the cold of the night is slowly creeping into your bones.

“Come on then, I’ll drop you off.” You thank Fiona and follow her to her car. Normally you wouldn’t have minded taking an Uber, but right now you just wanna get to bed as soon as possible.

“If I fall asleep, just let me sleep here,” you mumble, resting your head back against the head rest. Fiona laughs as she starts the car.

“No way, you’ll freeze to death.” She squints outside. “Do you think it’s gonna rain?”

“It always rains,” you say, despite the fact that it’s not raining at the moment.

Fiona turns onto the highway. “So, are you finally gonna put up that bookcase you bought?”

Involuntarily, you groan. “Stop, don’t remind me.”

Your old bookcase is big and ugly, and it has been a thorn in your eye ever since you moved in. The person that lived there before you left it there, and you only kept it because you couldn’t really afford not to.

Four weeks ago, you finally allowed yourself to buy a new, prettier bookcase.

But…

“It’s just so big,” you whine, repeating the excuses you’ve been giving Elias every single time he raises a judgmental eyebrow at the old bookcase still standing in your living room. “It’s gonna take forever to take it apart and then it’s gonna take me even longer to somehow get it all downstairs and get rid of it.”

“And then you have to build the new one,” Fiona nods understandingly. “And you’re not good with furniture.”

“Hey,” you protest, but it’s weak. You’re not good with furniture, which was proven when you tried to help Fiona move in and didn’t manage to help her put together anything at all. Instead she ended up with a table with three legs. 

You even tried to read the manual, but it’s just not your forte.

“I’ll do it,” you add, “I promise you I will. Just, maybe not this weekend…”

Fiona laughs, but she doesn’t call you out on the fact that it probably won’t happen during the week either.

Finally, you arrive at your building. You can’t wait to go to bed, and you thank Fiona multiple times before dragging your luggage upstairs. When you open the door to your apartment, Puck comes running up to you, meowing and weaving between your legs.

“Don’t be dramatic,” you tell the cat sternly. “Petey sent me many pictures of you sleeping in his lap and I know he feeds you chicken when he thinks I won’t notice, so you got spoiled this week.”

You lovingly scratch Puck’s ears, before flicking on the light and kicking the door behind you in the lock.

Instantly, you notice the difference.

Your apartment isn’t big: real estate in Vancouver isn’t cheap and your job isn’t great. You got this place mostly for the location, and you like the big windows in the apartment and how it manages to get in light even during the darkest of winter days.

One corner of your living room, however, was always darker than the others. The bookcase took away the entirety of the white wall, and it created a dim lit, sad looking corner.

Now, it’s open and bright, as your new bookcase stands proudly in its place.

There’s only one person who would’ve done that.

The phone rings a few times, but you know the Kings game ended a while ago so you let it ring. After a while, Elias picks up.

“Sorry for the background noise,” is the first thing he says. “We’re on the plane. Taking off in a few minutes, probably.”

In the background, you hear some yelling. Probably Jake.

“You put up my bookcase,” you blurt out, ignoring Elias’ statement. “You put it up and all the books are in it and the other one is gone.”

Elias sounds a little smug when he answers. “Well, it’s not like you were ever gonna do it.”

“Thank you.” To your own horror, you can feel tears burning behind your eyes. “Elias, seriously…”

“It’s nothing.” You can hear Elias’ smile even over the phone: you know everyone always makes fun of his deadpan tone when he talks to media but with his friends, his voice always betrays everything he’s feeling. “I know you were worried about it, and I know how much you hated that old one.” He laughs. “I get why now, by the way. It took me and Brock like four hours to get that thing out.”

“Brock helped too?”

“He did.” Elias is silent for a while, but in the background you hear another voice. “Brock says to tell you that I forced him. But that’s not entirely true.”

Entirely. You know Elias definitely did force him.

“Tell him thank you too.”

“He says you’re welcome,” Elias says, quick enough that it makes you think Brock didn’t say that at all. “We’re about to take off so I have to put my phone on airplane mode. But call me tomorrow okay? I wanna hear about your work trip.”

“Okay.” For some reason, you can still feel the lump in your throat. You didn’t notice it momentarily, while you were focused on Elias’ and Brock’s bickering, but now it’s back, and with a vengeance.

Fuck. You just…

“I miss you.” You blurt it out before you can stop yourself and if anyone would ask, you would blame the exhaustion and the fact that Elias can’t see how wet your eyes are over the phone.

“I’ll be back soon,” he answers softly, and his voice is gentle in a way that makes you think he knows about the tears, anyway. “And when I am, we’re gonna take a whole night to eat food and stare at that bookcase, because it needs to be appreciated after the effort I had to put in to build it.”

You laugh before quietly saying goodbye to Elias and hanging up the phone.

In the kitchen, Puck sits in front of the fridge. When you open it there’s a pan with chicken.

For Puck the note next to it says, and you send Elias a picture of Puck with his chicken.

“He spoils you,” you tell your cat. You decide to ignore the fact that he kinda spoils you, too.

4. 

When you open the door to your apartment, you’re met with the smell of garlic.

After yet another shitty day at work, you can already feel the lump in your throat building again. You didn’t even tell him, this time. In fact, you carefully avoided his texts because you knew he’d clock that something was wrong.

Fuck. That’s probably where you went wrong in the first place; usually you never ignored Elias’ texts.

“Hello?” you call out into your own apartment.

There’s soft music playing and there’s light coming from the living room, but the amazing smell that tickles your senses is clearly coming from the kitchen, so that’s where you go.

Elias is standing at your kitchen counter, chopping a carrot.

“Hey,” he greets, smiling your way. “I’m making dinner.”

It’s almost too much, how domestic it looks. And how right: like he belongs there in your space, waiting for you to come home.

Suddenly there’s the overwhelming urge to go towards him, so you do. His arm immediately lifts, creating space for you in the crook of his body, and you slip under his arm easily.

“How did you know?” you mumble into the fabric of his worn Canucks hoodie. It smells like him, a scent that reminds you of home as much as your mother’s signature dish.

“You didn’t answer my texts,” Elias hums. His arm tightens around your body. “So I figured you could use some good food and a bath.” His head motions towards the general direction of the bathroom. “I’m running it as we speak.”

God. You love him.

It hits you, then. You knew you had a crush on him, knew you wanted to kiss him and hold his hand and feel his hands on you. But it’s more than that, now.

It’s the realization that you want to share everything with him. The ups and the downs. The bad nights and the bright mornings. You want him in your kitchen, but more than that, you want it to be his kitchen, too.

Fuck. You’re so royally screwed.

Because he does this, and he does so much for you, but he’s never said anything, anything at all, to indicate that he wants that. Or has even considered it, thought about it.

Maybe it’s never even crossed his mind. Maybe he takes care of you like he would take care of a sister.

“Hey.” Elias’ voice is gentle as it pulls you out of your thoughts, back down to earth. “You’re shaking. Go take a bath, and I’ll finish dinner, and then we’ll watch How I Met Your Mother. I wanted to watch the next episode but I waited for you.” His grin is a little lopsided. “Isn’t that chivalrous of me?”

It is, and normally you would tease him for it, but you can’t really think or speak, so you just nod.

“There’s wine in the fridge, if you want a glass,” Elias says. He holds out a wine glass, already waiting for you on the counter.

And who cares that it’s only a Tuesday: you deserve it, damn it, so you open the fridge to find the wine.

You’re met with more than just that.

“You bought groceries?” you ask, your eyes traveling through your fridge. You hadn’t gone grocery shopping in like a week, and when you left for work this morning the fridge was basically empty. Now it’s so full you wonder how you’re gonna close the door.

“How else was I gonna cook anything? You only had cat food left,” Elias tuts. You’re not surprised to find Puck at Elias’ feet, waiting for him to inevitably slip him some human food.

“Did you get…”

“Your coconut yoghurt? Yes.”

He did, and he got basically all your staples, and nothing you wouldn’t buy yourself.

“Honestly,” you say, as you finally reach for the bottle and pull your head out of the fridge. “I don’t know what to say, Petey. Thank you. I had such a sucky day and now it’s already endlessly better.”

This time you know you’re not imagining the flush on Elias’ cheeks.

“It’s fine,” he says. “You should go take that bath before it goes cold.”

You want to say more: to tell him time and time again how amazing he is, how much he means to you, how thankful you are. But you know once you start, you can’t be trusted to not say the one thing you don’t think he wants to hear.

So you say nothing, and simply go to take your bath.

+1

But you think about it.

You think about it all throughout Christmas, where you don’t see Elias at all. You think about it during NYE, when you get a drunk SnapChat from Elias with his brother, right at midnight.

At least, you figure, he’s not kissing any girls.

You’re not kissing any boys, either. You’re at a NYE party with Fiona and it’s fun, it is, but it��s not the same as it would be if Elias wasn’t all the way in Sweden.

You miss him like a limb, and you know it’s not fair because he rarely gets time to go home to Sweden and he deserves that time with his family, but you can’t say you didn’t wish his time off ended already.

When it finally does, it’s not Elias you see first. Troy is throwing a late New Years party, just to welcome everyone back to Vancouver as they get ready to start the season back up, and when you arrive at his house it’s early enough in the evening that there’s only a handful of people there.

“Y/N!” Brock calls out, opening his arms to give you a big hug as you enter. “Missed you!”

You laugh. “Get off of me, you giant. I’m gonna drop the wine.”

“Not the wine,” Troy says dramatically, tearing it out of your hands. His eyes are sparkling when he thanks and hugs you, and then Brock is ushering you into the living room, where Jake is talking with Quinn.

Or talking at Quinn. To be honest, you never really know when Quinn is paying attention.

“Y/N!” Jake exclaims, much like Brock had. “I’m glad you’re here, we need your input on something.”

“Okay?” you ask, curiosity instantly taking over. Whenever Jake and Brock get together, it promises to be an interesting evening.

“We’re trying to decide Brock’s love language.”

It’s sudden enough that you laugh. “His what?”

“Love language,” Jake explains. “Like, how he shows people he loves them. He says it’s quality time, but I think it could be physical touch. He’s always touching people.”

“Jake is deflecting because his love language is physical touch,” Brock scowls. “I think I know my own love language, Tuna.”

“Hold on.” Unfortunately, you have to press the pause button on their discussion. “What options do we have?”

You’ve got no idea where they got this from, but it doesn’t really matter. You’re always down to share your opinion on stupid stuff with your favorite boys.

“There’s gifts, quality time, physical touch, words of affirmation, and…” Brock pauses, and you can nearly see the wheels in his head turning.

“Acts of service,” Quinn offers, which proves that he was actually paying attention.

“Mine is physical touch,” Jake says determinedly. “When I care about someone, I always wanna be touching them, and when I’m in love with someone that’s like twenty times worse.”

“Poor girl,” Quinn mutters, and the conversation gets paused in order for Jake to put Quinn in a headlock.

“I think yours is quality time, actually,” you tell Brock when Jake is done murdering the rookie. “Your ex was always on her phone during your date nights and I remember it drove you crazy.”

“See,” Brock says proudly. “Quality time baby. If I’m there I’m there.”

“What about yours, Huggy?” Jake asks. “Physical touch would make sense, since you’re called Huggy.”

“I’m not called Huggy,” Quinn deadpans. His face is devoid of any emotion, but you know him well enough to recognize the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He reminds you of Elias, when he does that. “And if we were going by nicknames your love language would be fishing.”

Everyone cracks up on that, and then the doorbell rings and Bo arrives.

The topic gets put on hold, then, because Bo is instantly talking about Gunnar’s first Christmas and Brock is talking about becoming an uncle again and you feel warm and happy on the couch with your wine, squeezed between Brock and Troy.

Until, a little later, you realize someone is missing.

“Where’s Petey?” you ask Troy. “Isn’t he coming?”

Troy shrugs. “Should do. But you never know with Pete.”

It’s not entirely true: if Elias promises he’ll be there, he will be there. But, to be fair, he usually doesn’t promise that to anyone but you, and you hadn’t asked him to come, this time.

You figured he just would.

“What about Petey’s love language?” Brock asks idly, not knowing he’s opening Pandora’s box for you. “Definitely not words of affirmation, huh.”

Troy laughs.

“Nah, Petey’s an acts of service guy. He’s always doing shit for Y/N.”

You would protest if you trusted your voice not to shake. As it is, you stay quiet and hope the flush on your cheeks gets mistaken for a wine flush, and not an Elias flush.

Brock brightens. “Oh, yeah! Getting her car fixed, making dinner, building her stupid bookshelf, feeding her cat… He is a typical acts of service guy.” He bumps against your shoulder playfully. “I hope you appreciate his showing of love, Y/N. He rarely does that shit for me.”

Troy snorts. “That’s cause he’s not in love with you, Boes.”

“He’s not in love with me either!” you squeak, unable to stay quiet any longer. You know if you don’t derail this trail of thought very soon, it’s gonna end badly for you.

Both Troy and Brock look unimpressed, at that statement.

“Yes, he is,” Brock says slowly, as if explaining something to an unruly child. “He drops whatever he has going on to do small things that make your life easier. That’s literally the same as him screaming I’m in love with you from the highest rooftop in Vancouver.”

“He’s not like you,” Troy continues, a little more gentle. “When people have different love languages, they don’t always understand what the other is trying to say. Your love language is words of affirmation. You’re always telling Petey how amazing he is. But he doesn’t see that as a declaration of love, or whatever. He thinks you tell everyone that they’re amazing.”

You do, to be fair, but not as often as you tell Elias. Because he’s…

Well. Amazing would be an understatement, actually. He’s everything to you.  

Things are starting to make sense, like puzzle pieces fitting into place. Suddenly, you start wondering if there’s more to his acts of service than plain friendship, or him being a good guy.

It’s not like he does stuff like that for all his friends. He helps them out, sure, but he always goes above and beyond for you, usually not even needing to be asked.

But he’s not in love with you, surely? He hasn’t said anything…

But maybe words aren’t his thing. Not like they are yours: the way you can’t stop yourself from gushing into Elias’ ear even when you know you should stop.

What if Brock and Troy are right?

You don’t get much time to think it through, because that’s when Elias finally appears in Troy’s living room, looking endlessly cool in his blue sweater, wearing his glasses. He’s sending death glares at Jake, who wolf whistles from the corner, but then his eyes meet yours and they soften.

“Hi there,” he smiles, reaching out to you. You immediately jump up and launch yourself at him, any previous conversation about the two of you momentarily forgotten as you curl your body into his, his arms tightening around your waist.

“Missed you,” you hum into his shoulder, and you’re rewarded with a grin you can feel against the skin of your neck.

“Are you sure hers isn’t physical touch?” you hear Brock ponder, and you would flip him off if you could be bothered.

You can’t. All you can be bothered doing is plastering yourself to Elias’ side and not leaving him alone even for a second, the rest of the night.

It works at least for a while, until he asks: “Do you want another drink?”

“I’ll go with you,” you say, not willing to part with him yet, and you ignore the knowing look Brock shoots you as the two of you find your way to the kitchen.

Elias immediately goes for the wine, because he knows you better than anyone else.

“I asked my dad about the job,” Elias mentions casually, as if it’s not a big deal at all. “He thinks he can get you an interview.”

“Wait, what?”

Suddenly your heart is ticking in your throat. Before he left for Sweden, Elias had mentioned that his dad knows a guy who works for a similar company as you’re working for now: apart from the shitty boss you have or the ridiculous low salary you get paid. It’s your job, but better, and Elias promised you he’d get his dad to ask if there were any open positions.

There were. And you sent in your application not thinking there was gonna come much from it, but now…

Something warm washes through your chest, like your heart grew three sizes. Of course he asked, of course he made it happen. Looking out for you, always and at any time, from any distance.

“It’s not a done deal,” Elias warns, oblivious to your mental breakdown. “But he said he thinks they’ll like you and he’ll put in a good word for you.”

You squeal and throw yourself in his direction once again. Elias laughs as he catches you, fingers curling in your hair where your face is pressed against his chest.

“Thank you,” you mumble.

“It’s about time you get rid of that dumb job.” You can hear the frown in Elias’ voice. “They don’t take good care of you at all, it’s not good for you.” The distaste is obvious and it’s adorable. You pull away.

“I don’t need them to,” you say, carefully. You can still hear Brock’s words in your voice, and you figure it’s worth a try, probably. “Because you’re always there to take care of me.”

Elias’ cheeks darken substantially.

“I mean it when I say I don’t know what I’d do without you, Elias.”

“You’d be fine,” Elias waves away the compliment as you figured he would. But this time you’re not backing down.

“Maybe I would be. But I wouldn’t be as happy.”

They say when you really love a person, you’ve got to show them. But you’ve never really known how to do that, instead you always use your words to tell them. But it seems like Elias isn’t believing you, not even now.

And you’ve got to fix that.

It’s not until you’re in Elias’ car on the way back home that you bring it up again. The party wasn’t really the time and place, but the conversation with Brock and the guys has been nagging in the back of your mind since it happened.

If you didn’t realize Elias’ acts of service meant something, maybe he doesn’t realize your words of affirmation mean something. And even if it doesn’t mean he’s in love with you – you’re really not that sure about that – you need him to at least know how much you appreciate him.

“You know I’m always there for you, right?” you start, carefully breaking the silence in the car. Elias shoots you a glance from behind the steering wheel.

“What?”

“Like, even if I’m maybe not as good as you are at realizing what you need me to do, if there’s ever anything I can do to help make your life a little easier or better I wanna do it. I’d do anything for you.”

It’s too honest, probably, and too much all at the same time. But Elias doesn’t look that surprised. In fact, there’s a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

“You make my life better by just being you, Y/N. You don’t have to do anything for me.”

Butterflies erupt in your stomach and you wonder how you’re gonna get through this conversation. But it’s one that needs to be held, so you press on.

“What is your love language, Elias?”

Now he frowns. “Have you been talking to Brock?”

Of course Brock talked to Elias before he talked to you. The traitor.

You decide to ignore that, for now. You’ll talk to Brock later.

“You know my love language is words of affirmation, right?”

Elias shrugs. “Brock did say that, but I didn’t know what you thought it was.”

“And yours is acts of service,” you hazard a guess. You keep your eyes firmly on Elias’ face, which is the only reason you catch the slight change in his expression.

Like a wall, crossing over his features. He’s trying to protect himself, although you have no idea why. Does he not get where you’re going with this?

“I can tune it down if you want me to,” he says, a little grumpily. He’s staring straight ahead at the road, stubbornly refusing to look your way.

And oh God, he’s truly not getting it, and this is going the exact opposite way you want it to go.

Troy did say that when people’s love languages don’t match, they don’t understand what the other is trying to say. But you honestly don’t know how you can make it any more clear to Elias.

Well, except…

“I love you,” you blurt out. “Like, in love with you love you.”

The words ring loudly in the quiet car. For a second, nothing about Elias’ expression, almost like he didn’t hear you. You can almost feel your heart sink into your stomach.

Then, he pulls over the car.

It comes to a stop at the side of the road, two wheels on the pavement and two still on the road. It is, objectively, not super safe, but it’s also 3am and there’s no other cars to be seen. Very carefully, without looking at you still, Elias turns on the hazard lights.

And then finally, finally, he turns to you and kisses you.

You weren’t expecting it but it doesn’t really matter: it’s like your heart and head both light on fire, and everything outside of the car simply disappears. It’s just you and Elias, and his lips on yours and his hands on your body.

It feels right. Like it was always meant to end up like this.

After what feels like ages, he pulls away. He’s smiling, and his eyes are bright blue in the dark car.

“I thought you said those kinda things to everyone,” he admits, quietly. His thumb is rubbing your side, his eyes fixed on that spot. Almost as if he can’t really believe he’s allowed to do that.

You don’t want him to ever do anything else.

“I thought you did those kinda things for everyone,” you shoot back.

Elias raises one eyebrow. “That bookcase weighed at least 300 pounds.”

You can’t help it: giggles are escaping your lips and suddenly you’re both laughing. The tension in the car dissipates instantly, and suddenly it’s just Elias again, your best friend.

Your best friend that you’re now allowed to kiss. So you lean in and press your lips against his again.

After all, kissing is a love language you think everyone understands.

(+2)

“I’m home!” Elias’ voice sounds through the empty apartment, and you immediately leave your spot behind the kitchen counter to run into the hallway.

With a squeal, you fly towards him, and he catches you easily as you knew he would.

“Hey, babe,” he laughs quietly, pressing a kiss into your hair before returning the hug fully. “Is that my sweater?”

“Maybe,” you admit, as Elias’ hands make their way under his own blue sweater, that you definitely steal from him most evenings. “Missed you. And I’m very proud of you.”

“I missed you too,” he answers. “Watched the game?”

“Obviously.” You roll your eyes, even though you know he can’t see it with your face still buried in his shoulder. “A hat trick, huh? I think that needs to be celebrated.”

“Oh?” Elias pulls away then, one eyebrow raised and a cheeky twinkle in his eyes.

“Not like that,” you scold him, lightly punching his arm. “Or, maybe like that. But first, I made Kalops.”

At the mention of his favorite Swedish food, Elias’ face lights up. A while ago, you asked his mom for her recipe and it’s one of the only Swedish dishes you can make, but you make it well.

“Also,” you continue, as you take his hand and start leading him towards the kitchen, so he can sit at the counter while you cook as he always does, “I called the electrician so the TV is already fixed. I know you could have done it, but I decided I’d much rather use that time to hang out with you. I took Puck to get his shots at the vet and I also used my free afternoon to take your car through the car wash.”

When you reach the kitchen, you twirl around towards Elias and his arms immediately circle around your waist.

“You didn’t have to do all that,” he mutters, taking the opportunity to kiss you once more. “But thank you. I love that you took the time to take care of that for me. And I love you.”

“Look at us,” you tease, lightly tugging at the ends of Elias’ hair. “Speaking each other’s love language like that.”

“Perfect couple,” Elias agrees, and you smile back at him.

Somehow, you and Elias managed to create a language of your own: one that you could speak with nobody else. But luckily, you don’t have to.

Cause he came home to your shared apartment like he always does, and well. That’s the biggest act of service he could do for you.  

[puckingawesomerecs]

boy with love by lilcrickee

brock boeser/elias pettersson (canucks) | 17k | teen

“Oh no,” Brock murmurs, the reality of the situation sinking in. It’s 11 o’clock in the middle of the offseason and he’s holding a baby. The baby is his. Brock is 22 and has a baby and the mother has run off to work on a cruise ship.

rec comments: So, this was my first Brock/Petey fic and I think I’m in love. I’m very picky about kidfic but this was adorable. The evolution of Brock and Elias’ relationship wasn’t over the top, the fic was well-paced, and the ending was satisfying. What more could you want?? - @bennsseguin​

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