#nico hischier x yn

[blakeswritingimagines]

Puck Bunny

Word Count: 2.9k

It started innocently enough – a chance meeting at a local coffee shop that led to a blossoming friendship between Nico Hischier and you. You, someone with a carefree spirit and a radiant smile, had caught Nico's eye from the moment you walked in. He couldn't help but be drawn to your vibrant energy and warm personality. As you struck up a conversation over steaming mugs of coffee, Nico found himself feeling at ease in your presence. The conversations flowed effortlessly, and you discovered shared interests and passions, creating an instant connection. As the days turned into weeks, your friendship deepened, with each conversation revealing another layer of Nico's character. He was kind and generous, with a hidden sense of humor that only appeared when he was completely at ease. But it was his eyes – a deep, soulful blue that held a mesmerizing intensity – that truly captivated you.

You and Nico sat on the couch in his cozy living room, the warm glow of the lamps casting a soft light over the room. The air was charged with a comfortable familiarity as you discussed various topics, the conversation flowing easily from one subject to another. It was during a lull in the conversation that the subject of kinks came up. Nico tilted his head slightly, his eyes meeting yours with a curious and intrigued expression. You shifted a bit, leaning back into the comfort of the couch, a small smile playing at the corners of your lips. You'd always been open with each other, and this conversation was no exception. "Well, I'll confess something right now," you said, a hint of mischievousness in your voice. Nico listened intently, his interest piqued by the playful tone in Blake's voice. He leaned forward slightly, his brown eyes locked onto theirs, eager to hear what confession would be shared. "Go on then, don't leave me in suspense," he encouraged, a gentle teasing lilt to his words. The dim lighting highlighted the strong lines of his face, his rugged features softened by the warmth of the moment you were sharing together. You chuckled softly, enjoying the way his gaze never wavered from yours. "I have a pretty adventurous side," you began, your voice dropping to a sultry murmur. You leaned a little closer, a hint of playful daring in your eyes. "And there's something I've been wanting to try."

Nico's eyebrows arched upwards, his curiosity growing with every word. He reached out, gently brushing a strand of hair behind your ear, his fingers lingering for a moment against your skin. "Oh? And what might that be?" he asked, his deep voice low and husky, filled with intrigue. His thumb traced a slow circle on your jawline, sending a shiver down your spine as he waited for you to reveal more about this secret desire. The intimate atmosphere between them grew thicker, the air practically crackling with anticipation. You leaned into his touch, your breath catching in your throat at the sensation of his hand against your skin. His gaze held you captive, and it took a moment for you to speak again. "It's something a bit… kinky," you murmured, your voice barely above a whisper. You could see the flash of curiosity in his eyes, the heat within them increasing with the thrill of the conversation. Nico's eyes darkened with fascination, his grip on your chin tightening just enough to keep you focused on him. "Kinky, huh?" he repeated, his voice a low rumble. "I like the sound of that." He leaned in closer, his warm breath fanning across your cheek as he spoke. "Tell me more. What exactly did you have in mind?" His words dripped with sensual promise, and you could sense the excitement building within him at the prospect of exploring these new depths of intimacy together.

You shivered, the combination of his grip on your chin and the heat in his voice sending a wave of desire through you. Your eyes locked with his, a mixture of longing and anticipation in your expression. "I was thinking… something a bit more intense," you answered, your voice slightly breathless. You bit your lip, your mind filling with the possibilities of what you wanted to explore with him. "Like something a little more like…. sensory deprivation." Nico's eyes widened, a spark of intrigue igniting within their depths. "Sensory deprivation, hmm?" he mused, his brow furrowing in thought for a moment before a sly grin spread across his face. "Now that's an interesting choice." He released your chin, his hands sliding down to rest on your thighs, applying gentle pressure as if urging you to lean closer. "I think we can arrange something… suitable for that kind of exploration." His voice was low and smooth, dripping with seductive intent. "But first, let's get a bit more comfortable, shall we?" With that, he stood up, offering you a hand to help you up from the couch. As you rose, he guided you towards the bedroom, the promise of forbidden delights hanging heavy in the air between you. You took his hand, standing up from the couch and letting him lead you to the bedroom, the anticipation building with each step. The room was softly lit, the warm glow casting flickering shadows on the walls. As you entered, the sound of the door closing behind you seemed to seal off the rest of the world, creating a private sanctuary for your exploration. With a gentle firmness, he led you to the edge of the bed, his hands holding your hips as he guided you down onto the mattress.

Once you were settled on the bed, Nico stepped back, his eyes roaming appreciatively over your form as he slowly pulled his shirt off, revealing the chiseled planes of his chest beneath. The dim light accentuated the contours of his muscular physique, making your mouth go dry with desire. He tossed the shirt aside, then reached for the hem of his pants, pulling them down to join his shirt on the floor. Now clad only in his boxers, he climbed onto the bed beside you, his body heat radiating against your skin as he settled in close. His hand found its way to your thigh, fingertips tracing idle patterns along your leg as he gazed at you with a heated intensity. "So, tell me more about this sensory deprivation idea of yours," he murmured, his breath warm against your ear. "What exactly do you want to experience?" You shivered again, your breathing becoming a little shallower as you felt the heat of his body against yours. The feel of his fingers tracing patterns on your leg sent tingles through your skin, and the huskiness of his voice in your ear caused a flutter in your stomach. "I… I want to feel completely lost in the moment," you admitted, your voice trembling slightly. "I want to feel the intensity of every touch, every sensation, but without the distractions of sight or sound. Just… raw, unfiltered sensations."

Nico nodded, a look of understanding and eagerness in his eyes. "I think I know just how to make that happen," he said, his voice low and reassuring. He moved to sit up, reaching for a black bag that had been hidden under the bed. Unzipping it, he pulled out a set of blindfolds, a few scarves, and some soft restraints. "These should do the trick," he explained, laying the items out on the bed beside you. He picked up a blindfold, holding it out to you. "Are you ready to take the plunge and fully immerse yourself in sensation?" His eyes gleamed with excitement and a hint of mischief, clearly thrilled by the prospect of guiding you through this intimate, sensory journey. You hesitated for a moment, your heart pounding in your chest at the thought of surrendering control so completely. But as you looked into Nico's eyes, you saw nothing but patience, understanding, and a deep desire to please you. Taking a deep breath, you reached out and accepted the blindfold from him. "Yes," you whispered, your voice barely audible over the thrumming of your pulse. "Let's do this." Nico's smile was warm and encouraging as he tied the blindfold securely around your head, the fabric soft against your skin. "Trust me," he murmured, his lips brushing against your ear. "I'll guide you every step of the way." He helped you settle back onto the pillows, his hands gently exploring your body, mapping out the contours of your form. Then, with deliberate slowness, he began to undress you, his fingers trailing over your bare skin as each article of clothing fell away. When you were naked he tenderly took your wrists and tied them to the headboard, he paused, his palms resting lightly on your hips. "You're beautiful like this," he breathed, his voice thick with desire. Slowly, he lowered himself onto you, his weight pressing you into the mattress as he claimed your mouth in a searing kiss.

Your senses were heightened, the absence of visual stimuli amplifying every other sensation. The feeling of Nico's lips on yours was electric, sending sparks racing through your veins. His tongue danced with yours, the taste of him flooding your senses. You moaned into the kiss, your body arching instinctively to press closer to his. The restraints on your wrists added a thrilling element of vulnerability, leaving you open and receptive to his touch. As he broke the kiss, you panted softly, your skin tingling all over. "Please…" you whimpered, craving more of his attention, more of those electrifying sensations. Nico's hands roamed your body, caressing every inch of exposed skin with reverence. He traced the curves of your breasts, teasing the hardened nipples between his fingers until you gasped and writhed beneath him. Lower still, his touch dipped between your thighs, finding your slick folds already swollen with need. "You're so responsive," he praised, his voice a low growl of approval. He rubbed slow circles over your clit, watching your reactions intently. Each moan, each tremor, fueled his own desire, stoking the flames of passion burning within him. "I want to hear you lose control," he commanded, his tone rough with lust. "Let go and give yourself over to the pleasure." With that, he plunged two fingers deep inside you, curling them to stroke that sensitive spot within as his thumb continued its relentless stimulation of your clit.

You cried out, your back arching off the bed as Nico's skilled fingers worked magic within you. The combined sensations of his touch and the lack of sight intensified every nerve ending, turning your body into a live wire of pleasure. Your hips bucked against his hand, seeking more of that delicious friction. "Nico!" you gasped, your voice ragged with need. "Don't stop, please don't stop." Your inner walls clenched around his fingers, drawing him deeper as your climax built rapidly, threatening to sweep you away. The coil of tension in your core wound tighter and tighter, your entire being focused on the point where he touched you most intimately. Nico's fingers pumped in and out of you with increasing urgency, matching the frantic rhythm of your heartbeat. He could feel your orgasm approaching, the way your pussy gripped his digits, the desperation in your pleas. "That's it, let go," he urged, his voice a husky whisper. "Come for me, baby." As if triggered by his words, your climax crashed over you, waves of ecstasy washing through your body. Your vision blurred behind the blindfold, your mind consumed by the sheer intensity of the pleasure coursing through your veins. You screamed his name, your voice echoing in the quiet room as your release shook you to your core. Through it all, Nico held you close, his fingers gentling their pace as you rode out the aftershocks.

Your body went limp, drained of energy as the last tremors of your orgasm subsided. Nico's fingers remained buried inside you, providing a soothing warmth even as they slowed to a gentle massage. You panted heavily, your chest rising and falling with each labored breath. The blindfold allowed you to focus solely on the sensations, the lingering echoes of pleasure resonating through your oversensitive flesh. After a moment, Nico carefully withdrew his fingers, bringing them to your lips. "Taste yourself," he instructed, his voice soft and tender. You parted your lips obediently, allowing him to slide his fingers past your teeth. The flavor of your arousal mixed with the musk of sex, a heady combination that left you wanting more. "Delicious," you managed to murmur, your voice still thick with post-orgasmic haze. Nico's eyes sparkled with satisfaction as he watched you savor the taste of your own essence. He loved seeing you so lost in the moment, so open and receptive to his touch. "You're exquisite," he murmured, leaning in to capture your lips in a gentle, sensual kiss. His tongue swept across the seam of your mouth, tasting himself on your lips before delving deeper to explore the warm cavern of your mouth. As he kissed you, his hands roamed your body once more, stroking and caressing, rekindling the embers of your desire. "I'm not done with you yet," he whispered against your lips, his voice a promise of more to come. With that, he shifted position, positioning himself between your thighs. The tip of his cock nudged against your entrance, seeking permission to enter the haven of your heat.

Your body responded instinctively, your hips tilting upward to welcome Nico's hardness. The anticipation of being filled by him again sent a shiver down your spine. "Please," you breathed, your hands straining against the restraints as you ached to touch him. "I need you inside me." Nico's entry was slow and deliberate, his thick length sliding into you inch by glorious inch. You felt every contour, every vein as he sheathed himself to the hilt. A low moan escaped you, your back bowing off the bed as he stretched and filled you perfectly. Once he was fully embedded, Nico paused, giving you a moment to adjust to the incredible sensation of being so thoroughly possessed. Then, with a subtle thrust, he began to move, setting a leisurely pace designed to draw out your pleasure. Nico set a steady, unhurried rhythm, savoring the tight, velvety grip of your pussy around his shaft. Each slow withdrawal and gentle push sent ripples of pleasure through your joined bodies. He leaned down to capture your mouth in another deep, passionate kiss, his tongue twining with yours as he lost himself in the sweetness of your lips. One hand slid up your side to cup your breast, thumbing your nipple as he continued to piston in and out of you. The other hand found purchase on your hip, guiding your movements in tandem with his. He could feel your inner walls fluttering around him, signaling your building arousal. "You take me so well," he groaned against your lips, his voice strained with the effort of holding back his own release. "I want to make you come again, feel you squeeze my cock as you do."

Your moans grew louder, more urgent, as Nico's words and actions stoked the fire within you once more. The slow, deliberate thrusts of his hips drove you wild, each penetration hitting that sweet spot deep inside that made stars explode behind your eyelids. Your nails dug into the sheets as you fought the restraints, desperate to grasp at him, to pull him deeper, harder. "Yes, just like that," you gasped, your voice high and breathless. "Fuck me, Nico, make me come again." Your climax built swiftly, propelled by the intense pleasure of being so thoroughly taken. Just when you thought you couldn't hold back any longer, Nico's fingers found your clit, rubbing firm circles that sent you hurtling over the edge. Your pussy clamped down on his cock as you came, wave after wave of ecstasy crashing through you. The rhythmic squeezing of your pussy around his cock was Nico's undoing. With a guttural groan, he thrust deep one final time, spilling his hot seed deep inside you. His hips jerked erratically as he rode out the waves of his own intense climax, prolonging your shared pleasure. Finally, spent and sated, he collapsed onto the bed beside you, careful not to crush you with his weight. He reached up to untie the blindfold, gently easing it from your eyes. As your vision cleared, you saw him gazing at you with a mixture of adoration and satisfaction as he worked on untying your bound wrists. "That was incredible," he murmured, brushing a stray lock of hair from your face. "You're amazing."

You basked in the afterglow, your body still humming with residual pleasure. As Nico freed you from the restraints, you flexed your wrists, then turned to gaze up at him. His expression was tender, filled with affection and admiration. You reached up to stroke his cheek, marveling at the closeness you shared. "You're pretty amazing yourself," you replied softly, a smile playing on your lips. "I've never felt anything like that before." Nico's eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled back, his fingers intertwining with yours. "There's nowhere else I'd rather be than right here with you," he said sincerely. "Let's just enjoy this moment, okay?" He pulled you closer, wrapping his arms around you in a warm embrace. You nestled into his chest, feeling safe, cherished, and utterly content in his arms.

[rowdyluv]

ɪᴛ’ꜱ ᴀʟᴡᴀʏꜱ ᴀ ʀɪꜱᴋ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴡᴀʀᴅ - ɴɪᴄᴏ ʜɪꜱᴄʜɪᴇʀ ❤︎︎

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: Nico is playing in IIHF Men’s World Championship and takes a nasty cut to the face. You are apart of the medical training staff for the Swiss Hockey team and end up treating Nico. But not before you nearly pass out from seeing him with all the blood.

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: second person pov, discussion of injury, heavily unedited, probably has terrible grammar, I wrote this while really really sick and it sucks im sorry ill fix it when im better

ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛ: ʏᴇꜱ/ɴᴏ

ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: Below the cut there is a picture of Nico from when he first got cut and there is visible blood. If you cannot handle seeing blood for whatever reason. I advise to skip right by the top section of the post below the cut.

Watching Nico glide up and down the ice with the puck at his stick or him being ready to receive the puck from a pass is one of the best things to watch. He is the happiest when he’s on the ice. It is even better when he scores or gets the assist. His passion for the game is immeasurable, just the same as his love and care for his teammates, friends, and family.

You first met Nico two years ago when you first started working with the New Jersey Devils as apart of their medical training staff. Having worked in the realm of sports while in school and being surrounded by athletes it was very easy to connect with the team. Quickly connecting with quite a few of the players it was only a matter of time before friendships developed, some closer than others. Nico happened to become your best friend in the program. The two of you entirely inseparable.

When Nico found out he would be playing for the Swiss National Hockey team for the Men’s World Championship, he did some work and got you on as a trainer. He didn’t want to travel Czechia and leave you back in the states. “Neeks, you really didn’t have to do that, I could go work at the college for the summer and be okay.” Nico shook his head and tsked. “Nope. You’re coming with me. Who else is going to tape my wrists just right?” He was scraping the bucket for an excuse. Nico didn’t even tape his wrists. Rolling your eyes you didn’t argue you back. You just nodded and accepted his decision.

ミ★☆彡

“Nico? How are you feeling about today?” You ask sitting on the edge of the bed while he’s pulling his shirt over his head. You have no lie to tell, you’re a little upset he has covered his toned upper body. “It’s just another game sweets. Nothing to be concerned with.” Nico answers as if he is still playing peewee hockey. “I don’t know neeks, I watched highlights from their last game, they play pretty rough.” You retort twisting your hands. Showing your anxiety.

Nico turned around from where he had been looking at you in the mirror to face you directly. “It will be okay. I promise you.” He walked up to you, grabbing ahold of your face softly. He was hoping to calm your nerves. Since arriving in Czechia your friendship had become more hands on, flirtatious, and a tad possessive. “If i felt an ounce of worry about this game, you would be the first to know. My little trainer.” He assures you and places a kiss on your forehead. “Let’s get going, shall we? You’ve got got ankles to tape and I’ve got ankles to break” Nico grins and holds his hand out for you.

You laugh a little at Nico’s attempt at a sports joke and follow him out the door holding on to his hand.

ミ★☆彡

It was deep into the second period when Nico and a defender clashed on the ice.

As an athletic trainer you’re supposed to be able to take on anything that’s thrown at you. But they don’t prepare you for when your best friend is down on the ice bleeding profusely. They don’t prepare you for when your mind reverts to all the other hockey players who had injuries from skates in the facial and neck region and just how badly they turned out.

It wasn’t until the entire bench of Swiss players are screaming your name that you realize Nico is off the ice and heading down the tunnel.

Reaching for your kit and quickly following after the officials that are escorting Nico down the tunnel to catch back up to them so the Slovakian team trainers are not the ones treating him. “I..I got it from here.” You tell the officials. They nod and head back the other way.

“Is it your face? Is it your neck?” You begin to ask him, but that entices him to move the towel. “OH! No you don’t. Keep that there until I have my stuff ready.” “It’s my cheek” he gruffed out.

It is like a million tons just came off your chest with just those few words. The feeling that your heart may stop at any moment has fled. A cut to the cheek, that’s an easy feat. A cut to the throat not so easy. Upon reaching the medical room, you sit him down on the first treatment table available and immediately get to work.

“You scared me neeks.” Taking a moment while getting his cut disinfected and ready for the sutures you tried to tell him but it only came out barely above a whisper. “I know, you didn’t move. You always move. You’re always out there with in seconds. That’s when I knew it was bad.” He gave an awkward chuckle and reached up to touch your forearm. “But it’s okay sweets. Sometimes we get scared. Like right now I’m scared because, this is going to hurt isn’t it?” He asked honestly giving his staple smirk that your swear he learned from Jack . “Well it isn’t going to feel good Neeks, but if you’re good I’ll give you a reward.” You say returning his a smirk.

“Hey Nico, why do you always play so hard?” You ask finishing up his last stitch. “It’s always a risk, but think about the reward i get after.” “A reward? You don’t always get a reward.”

“Oh yeah i do. I play as hard as i do because if im sore i can convince my trainer best friend to treat me. Which means i have her all to myself for just a few moment, I have happy teammates, happy fans.” He flashes a smile before licking his lips and then biting his lower lips. “And if I’m really lucky, one day my reward will be getting my best friend as my girlfriend. I’ve been dropping not so subtle hints this trip but I’m not so sure they’re working.” He’s standing now at the edge of the treatment table, he’s taken ahold of the waist holding you close to him. “Is that a possibility?” He asks dropping his forehead to touch yours. “I think if you asked her she’d say yes.” You blurt out so fast it’s almost embarrassing.

“Sweets, would you reward me by being my girlfriend?” Nico asks never breaking eye contact, his ton of voice so sincere.

“Yes, Neeks.”

ミ★☆彡

I’m sorry this is very rough, very unedited. I’ve been so sick this week. I’m hoping soon I can rework it and make it much better. Writing for Nico has proven to be extremely hard for me. 😩

[delayed-affection]

Spring break pt2

Back Series Next

Hughes!sister!

Y/n.Hughes

Liked by nicohischier, markestapa, and 12,328 others

Y/n.Hughes he’s better at hockey

Tagged: Jackhughes

View comments…

Jackhughes And you're better at being quiet

Y/n.Hughes and you wonder why I don’t like you 🤥

Jackhughes you love me 🙄

Nicohischier I knew he was bad at something

Y/n.Hughes he’s bad at a lot of things

User8 you two are always fighting

Y/n.Hughes it’s how we show our love

Trevorzegras visit me next

Y/n.Hughes no ❤️

Lhughes_06 when you coming back

Y/n.Hughes why you miss me 🤭

Lhughes_06 no

Dylanduke25 yes

elblue6 looks like you two had fun

Y/n.Hughes he locked me in the bathroom

Jackhughes she's lying

Jackhughes

Liked by colecaufield, subbanator, and 102,481 others

Jackhughes sour then sweet

Tagged: y/n.Hughes

View comments…

elblue6 wish it was sweet all the time

Jackhughes our fighting is what keeps the family going

Y/n.Hughes it would be no fun without it

Dawson1417 seeing you be nice to her is weird

Jackhughes you say that like I’m never nice

Y/n.Hughes there was no need for you to scream at me

Jackhughes we had to go and you were sleeping 🤷🏻‍♀️

Y/n.Hughes so you scream in my ear?

Jackhughes yes

_quinnhughes how many times did you fight

Y/n.Hughes just once surprisingly

Lhughes_06 give her back

Jackhughes she’s my twin now 😈

Lhughes_06 Attitude wise yes

Colecaufield 🫂

[brainddeadd]

Devils in Her Corner

Jack Hughes x fem!reader, Nico Hischier x fem!reader, Luke Hughes x fem!reader, Dawson Mercer x fem!reader, Trevor Zegras x fem!reader, Matt Rempe x fem!reader, Matthew Kines x fem!reader, Quinn Hughes x fem!reader

Drafted to the New Jersey Devils alongside Luke Hughes, a young, talented hockey player is determined to make her mark in the NHL. Having already survived the pressures of college hockey at UMich, she steps into the spotlight once again—only this time, the stakes are higher.

With old friends like Luke by her side and a newfound support system in Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Dawson Mercer, she learns that success on the ice is only part of the battle. Off the ice, she navigates growing bonds, locker-room banter, and the challenges of being one of the only women in a male-dominated sport.

Meanwhile, connections with familiar faces—like Trevor Zegras and Matthew Knies—blur the lines between friendship and something more, while Matt Rempe, once a friend, now a rival, ensures every game against the Rangers feels personal. In the midst of competition, camaraderie, and a spark of romance, she discovers that finding her place in the NHL might be her biggest challenge yet.

With the Devils in her corner, she’s ready to take on whatever comes her way—on and off the ice.

Day one of training

Someone hits her hard on ice

Bad day

Sick day

All Star

Summer with the Devils Boys: Lake House Shenanigans - summer shenanigans

Loss

Meeting Quinn

Haunted house

Popcorn and panic

Halloween party 2024

Halloween party 2024 no.2

Thanksgiving

Deck the Malls with Chaos and Hockey Boys

Lights, Chaos, Action: The New Jersey Devils Christmas Movie Marathon

Christmas Chaos with the New Jersey Devils

New Year’s Eve

Valentine’s Day

Rivalries and mixed feelings

Caught in the crossfire

Online hate

The interview

Yn's Birthday

Rivalries and dinner

Dropping gloves

Bar creeps and protection squad

Fights and firsts

First kiss aftermath

First Date

Secrets, Freak-Outs, and Confessions

Support and shovel talks

Between Rivalries and Romance: A Shovel Talk Initiation

Cuddles

Realisations

Through the dark

The cancer game

A Day With Trevor

Support

Halloween party 2025

// upcoming chapters //

[homestylehughes]

3 times nico wanted to kiss you and the 1 time he did.

pairing(s): nico hischier x fem!reader

summary: 3 times nico wanted to kiss you and the 1 time he did.

warning(s): absolutely none. pure sweet fluff :)

wc: 2.3k

an: hi loves! I'm so sorry for my lack of posting and staying on top of everything, life has been kinda kicking my ass recently BUT the show must go on! sooooo.. new nico fic! this is one of my favorite prompts of writing, so I hope you enjoy Nico's version! lmk if you'd like me to write anyone else to this! I loved writing this, and i hope you enjoy reading it! like and reblog if you do! I hope you all are healthy and well. much love as always<3

1.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Nico swore as he kicked the front door of his apartment. Today wasn't his day, first the devils lost their game in a shootout, a game that they should have won. Having to sit through mindless, annoying media after, putting nico in an even more shitty mood. Then he got stuck in traffic on his way back home, his phone died halfway home, and just as he got out of his car it started pouring causing him to get completely soaked. Just to top it all off, if his day couldn't get any worse, he somehow left his keys inside his apartment. Which led to the three kicks Nico gave to his door before dropping his head against the cold wood. 

Nico, too busy trying to wrack his brain on how to get into his apartment, didn't hear the elevator door open, as someone began to walk down the hallway. 

“Nico, are you alright?” a sweet voice says from behind him.

turning his head slowly to see yn, his attractive, sweet as honey neighbor standing next to him in the hallway. 

“Uh hi” he rasps put

“Hi” she replies sweetly, “are you okay?” she asks again

“Um, not really. I haven't had the best day, and I happen to lock my keys in my apartment.” 

“Oh no, im sorry” she says, a genuine look of empathy running along her face 

“Its okay, i'm just going to stand here until it magically opens” nico chuckles out sadly to her 

“If you'd like you could come post up in my place until you can get back to yours? I don't want you to sit out here by yourself all night.” she says softly

“Oh no, i don't want to be a bother”

“Nico you won't be a bother, and i'm offering so please” she says to him with pleading eyes

“Okay, thank you so much. I'll be out of hair as soon as i can” he smiles to her

“Don't even worry about it, you're more than welcome over at any time.” She smiles at him, turning on her heel to the other side of the hall to open her door, Nico following behind her, shutting the door after him. 

“I see you've changed some things, since the last time i've been here” nico says as he looks around her apartment

“I have! Changing it up a bit for the different seasons. Do you like it” yn asks shyly

“I do, its very..you” he smiles to her

“Thank you Nico, that's very kind.” 

“Oh! You're soaking wet, let me see if I have anything you can wear. Follow me” she says, turning away to make her way to what nico thinks to be her bedroom as he follows her.

“Yn you don't have too” he says, feeling bad that she's doing all of this for him 

“Nico please stop apologizing it's okay, i promise” her hands rummaging through her dresser as she speaks 

“Here! I have there huge sweatpants and shirt from my college days hopefully this works for you” she smiles, holding out the clothes in front of her

“This is great thank you” he smiles back, taking them from her hands. His gaze lingering a little longer than it should over her face, taking in the soft color of her eyes, as well as her smile, drinking each bit of her features as he could. 

“The bathrooms right down the hall, feel free to shower if you'd like. I'm about to get started on dinner” 

“Okay great, thank you so much again” nico says for the 15th time he thinks tonight

“Of course nico, whatever you need im always here” sending him another sweet smile, that almost makes him drop to his knees

“Well i'm going to get changed, i'll be down in a little” 

“Of course! I'll be in the kitchen, let me know if you need anything’’

Nico nods in response before finding the door to the bathroom, entering before closing the door behind him. Looking at himself in the mirror at his wet dog appearance. Sighing before turning around, opening the shower, turning on the water to the highest setting. Peeling off his wet clothing before getting in, the hot water is doing wonders for his sore body. 

The loss of the game, or being locked out of his apartment weren't on his mind anymore. The only thing he could think about was you, and how kind and sweet you were to him and how much he wanted to kiss you. 

2. 

Nico stands outside your door after delivering 3 heavy knocks in hopes that you're home. Since the night he spent in your place, you and Nico have gotten closer, meeting each other for coffee at least once a week, talking to each other in the hallway whenever you see each other, along with constantly keeping incontact over text. 

Nico who had been gone on a week and a half roadie is finally home, after learning one day when he was gone that you've never been to a devils game he decided that he wanted to change that, which leads him to where he is now. Holding a jersey with his number on it, in hopes that you'll wear it and 3 tickets for you and any two friends you'd wish to invite. 

Your door opens signaling that your home, nico perking up instantly once he sees your face.

“Nico! You're home hi!” you say, quickly pulling him a hug, pulling back quickly sending him a smile.

“I am, and i have a gift for you” he says with a smile

“Nico..what did i tell you about gifts” yn says sending him a slight pout 

“Oh shush, you're going to like this, here” he says holding the jersey and envelope in front of her to grab

Opening the envelope and looking at the jersey silently, pausing before looking up at him. 

“Nico this is so sweet” she says before pulling him another hug

“I hope to see you there, if you aren't busy” 

“Luck for you, im off that day” 

“Good, i can't wait to see you in my jersey” he says with a slight smirk on his face 

“Me neither..captain” she says sending him a wink 

Nico can feel his chest and his pants tighten at the nickname that rolls so smoothly off your tongue. 

“Well i'll let you get back to your night” 

“Right, thank you for this again, can't wait to see you in action in person.” yn says with a giggle

“I'll play my best just for you” 

“You better..captain. Goodnight nico” yn says, sending him another hollywood famous smile

“goodnight, yn” sending her one last smile, before turning towards his door, hearing her door softly shut just as he opens his. 

Entering his apartment, shutting it behind him, dropping his head against it. The only thoughts running through his mind is how would your lips taste against his. 

3. 

It's the night of the game you're attending and Nico couldn't be more scared as he steps on the ice for warmups. The whole team was already picking on him before the game in the locker room, when they found out a girl Nico was interested in was coming to watch the game tonight, thanks to jack. 

Making his normal rounds on the ice, practicing a few goals, passing a few pucks to jack and luke as he tries to settle his nerves. He spent the last two minutes of the warm ups looking all over for you in the stands, unable to remember where your seats are at, he hopes that you're somewhere in the stands. 

The warmups end as the team now gets ready for the start of the national anthem, lining against the blueline as the song starts. dropping his head, closing his eyes letting the song relax his nerves before the game. Once the song ends. He begins to skate off the ice, but not before he sees your face. 

There you are standing, in the stands with the brightest smile he's ever seen on your face. Your hair falls perfectly as you laugh at something one of your friends said, before turning back towards the ice where you lock eyes with him. Sending him a wave and smile, Nico flashing the same in return. His eyes taking over your jersey covered body, his jersey, his number, he can't help but feel a sense of pride as he looks at you one last time before making his way to the bench. 

“I know that look” jack says beside him, sending him a light shoulder push, “she's here isn't she?” he asks, already knowing the answer 

“She is, and she looks beautiful”

“You gave her your jersey didnt you?” jack asks a teasing smile on his face 

“ i did” nico replies meeting jacks eyes, his face now holding a shit eating grin

“Awwww little Nico's in love!” jack laughs 

“Shut up.” 

“When are you going to ask her out?” he asks 

“Soon, i hope” he replies 

“You really like her huh?” 

“I really like her” 

Really liking her as nico called it would be an understatement. He would give her the moon, and anything in between, if it would make her happy. He wants to know what it's like to take her on dates, wake up next to her everyday, and most importantly what it's like to kiss her. 

+1 

“Dinner at my place at 7?” reads the text from yn as nico checks his phone after practice, a smile spreading across his face as he responds sending, “i'll be there at 7:)” before setting his phone down, to finish getting dressed. 

“What's the smile on your face cap?” Jack asks from beside him, as he picks up his gear. 

“What, can a guy not smile anymore?” he replies 

“We know who put a smile on your face cap” Jack snickers to him. “So when are you gonna grow a pair and ask her out?” he asks, as he and Nico make their way out of the locker room.

“I don't know, maybe tonight? She invited me over for dinner. Sometimes i can't tell if she likes me or not” nico sighs out

“Dude.” jack says as he turns to look at nico

“You actually can't be serious. She's definitely into you. She literally came to her first NHL game and wore your jersey, AND she invited you over for dinner randomly. She definitely likes you.” 

“I hope so, i'll ask her tonight '' Nico says confidently, Jack's words finally knocking some sense into him. 

“You better, or I'll do it myself” Jack says with a smirk, Nico sending him a glare at his words causing Jack to let out a deep laugh as they make their way to their cars. 

“YOU BETTER DO IT!” jack says out his car window, as he pulls out 

“I WILL” Nico shouts back, sending him a thumbs up. 

As nick drives home the only thing on his mind is you, and how tonight he wouldn't back down, that tonight he'd ask you out, and maybe just maybe even kiss you. 

– 

Nicos hand slightly shakes as he goes to knock on your door, giving it a firm knock. His grasp on the bouquet of flowers tightens as he hears your footsteps on the other side of the door. 

“Hi” yn smiles at him as she opens her front door, stepping back quickly allowing nico to come in, closing the door behind them. 

“Hi, it smells wonderful in here. What's on the menu tonight chef?” nico asks as he follows yn into her kitchen 

“It's a surprise” she says, finally turning around to meet his eyes. Nico finally got a good look at her for the first time tonight. He can't help but stare at her, taking in all of her beautiful features, mesmerized by how effortlessly beautiful she is. 

“Nico?” yns sweet voice breaking him out his daydream

“Yeah?” 

“Are you okay? You kinda just stared at me for a sec” 

“Yeah yeah, I'm okay. Just got lost in thought. Oh! These are for you” he says trying to change the subject, holding the flowers out for her to take.

“Aw these are so cute! how'd you know these are my favorites?” yn asks, a bright smile on her face as she takes the flowers from him. 

“You told me” 

“Wasn't that like months ago?” 

“I try to remember everything about you. I know your favorite flower are tulips, and that you hate peas, how you only sleep on the left side of any bed." Nico cuts himself before he embarrasses himself anymore than he has. His face heats up with a deep shade of red as yn stands there staring at him wide eyed over his words.

“I'm sorry that was too much, and uncalled for.” he quickly says, in a miserable attempt to cover his tracks 

“No ones ever taken the time to ever know me like that before” yn says quietly  

“ I don't know why anyone would. Everything about you is perfect and beautiful” he says, finding her gaze. 

“Do you really mean that?” 

“I meant every word.” Nico says as  he continues to look at her. He can almost see the gears moving her head as she tries to find her words. Instead of speaking, Nico suddenly feels her soft lips against his. 

His body moving before his brain does, wrapping his hands around her face pulling her into his body, their lips moving in sync. 

“Wow” nico whispers, pulling away from her lips

“Why didn't we do that sooner?” yn says almost against nico lips, bringing her head up to look at nico whose hands are still around her face. 

“I don't know, but I think I want to do it again, '' Nico says before softly kissing her. 

[bratbarzal]

On Your Side (NH13) / Chapter Five

Pairing: Nico Hischier x Fem!OC Poppy Jensen*

*I say it's an OC, it's just a name and third person POV. I use minor character descriptions because I don’t get on with writing vague reader inserts/YN for long-form, story heavy fics, but I will generally try to avoid including race and body type or really any physical descriptors. I’m always open to feedback on my writing, or how to be more inclusive.

WC: 17k (holy moly)

Chapter Warnings: I tried to sprinkle some fluffy flashbacks and smutty references later in here just to lighten the mood but this is angsty!! probably cursing I honestly can't remember, and serious warnings rn mentions of hacking/gossip blogs/blackmail/cyber bullying/nudes being leaked, talia is her own warning tbh. I tried not to make a cliched ex comes in between them plot and idk how it comes across but yeah I was trying to toe the line between it being interesting/different and then going too far and not being able to write around it which is why the plot kind of fixes itself quick and is a leeeetle bit bad but there's some unresolved bitterness in that relationship for sure lmao she has a LOT 2 say!! did I mention there's angst in here? insecurity/self-doubt and miscommunication!!! in abundance!!! but!! luke is a cutey patootie in this I wrote his part with a lil smile on my face 💖 also a ridiculous conversation about huffing glue lmao

Series Masterlist

Previous Part (Chapter Four)

A/N: ok so in the grand scheme of things this is both a filler chapter and also like a pivotal point in the story to set something later up, but when I was planning this entire fic out, the only directive I gave myself for this specific chapter was insert angst. you wouldn't believe the amount of times I've written and rewritten and gone back and forth on what's in here. it's the kind of instruction only a complete melon would give themselves and I clearly just hate myself in ways that are spooky and strange to submit myself to this kind of torture.

and I hear your cries of hasn’t this fic just been angst so far??? yes!! you may be correct!! but you don’t get a rainbow without a bit of rain hun!!! grab an umbrella!!! I promise good will come of this lmao

I'm sorry this one took so long, it's the only chapter I didn't have any kind of plan or direction for obviously and I tried to come up with so many different options for the talia plot before I landed on whatever this is, but the next one I do have some scenes written out in my plan so shouldn't be as long in between. my goal has always been a chapter a week but like I said the other day work has been a lot for me the past couple of weeks so I am genuinely sorry for making you wait!!

you guys were very fun and very kind to me after the last chapter so please please please lets keep the good vibes going come chat to me about your thoughts about the fic about the weather about anything!! 💓

Nico

When Nico and Talia had first started dating, there had been an element of excitement to the dynamic. Nico hadn’t properly dated anyone in a while - had casual flings here and there, and for the most part spent his time swallowing down his burgeoning feelings for his best friend - and there was a novelty to starting something with someone new.

He had all the intentions of building something serious with her. She was fun, got on with his friends, had ties close to home that meant he wouldn’t be putting a wedge between the two of them should he want to travel back in his breaks, and sinking his teeth into the challenges of a relationship was something that actually intrigued him.

He liked planning dates, liked buying gifts to see that buzz of joy and gratitude it would elicit, and he liked the companionship - liked having someone there when he came back from a long roadie or a tough string of games. 

He liked it so much he never really opened his eyes to the fact that Talia didn’t. 

She didn’t like the dates he planned - didn’t like the restaurants he chose, the movies he wanted to share with her, the bars him and the guys frequented. She didn’t like America, didn’t like their coffee shops, thought their pastries were packed with too much sugar, their portion sizes were too large for her ever to enjoy going for lunch, always complaining about feeling bloated and sluggish after every meal. She hated Jersey - wanted to spend all her time across the Hudson, looking down on everyone she met and everywhere they went together. She didn’t make much use of the gifts he bought her - let every bouquet of flowers die a quick, careless death, said the watch he bought her didn’t go with enough of her other jewellery and turned her nose up at every effort he made to make his apartment feel more like her home. 

She wasn’t all that comforting when it came to companionship, either. Rolled her eyes when he came home aching and exhausted, went out without him on the days he was coming back from a roadie and returned home when he had long retired to his bed. She would always want to meet up with her girlfriends instead of hanging around the team, and only ever wanted to come to games if she could bring her own entourage - mostly to show off her connections and hardly ever to actually support him.

And so, despite the initial attraction, despite the excitement that first came with their blossoming relationship, Nico can only look at Talia with disinterest and frigidity now.

He barely greets her as he opens the door to his apartment, moving aside to let her in and waiting for her to trudge her small case in behind her before he closes it, leaning against the surface and watching her discard her bag and keys on the counter with familiarity.

When she turns to face him, running a hand through her hair and huffing out a big sigh, he takes in her dishevelled appearance.

Even when travelling, Talia usually takes great pride in her pristine exterior - hair blow-dried, outfit co-ordinated and steam-pressed to perfection, not a crease or stain in sight, and usually a light layer of makeup to cover the slight imperfections like the darkened under eyes and redness around her nose. This isn’t like her.

She looks like she’s been messing with her hair the whole 8 hour flight out and beyond, her eyes are rimmed-red with smudges of brown at the corners, her lips are chapped and swollen like she’s been crying, and her sweatpants don’t match her hoodie. It’s almost like she’d thrown on whatever she could find and caught the first flight out, fresh out of bed.

“What’s going on?” He cuts straight to the chase, losing all formality and courtesy. He should feel bad for his callous greeting, but she had broken up with him over text not even a month ago - she doesn’t exactly deserve outstretched arms and a warm embrace, he thinks.

“Hi Talia, how have you been, Talia? It’s nice to see you Talia.” She mocks, a frown overtaking her features immediately. “I’m absolutely amazing, thanks for caring, Nico!” Sarcasm spews from her tongue like pure venom, and his eyes practically roll into the back of his head.

Nico pushes himself off of the door, heavy footsteps leading him into his kitchen where he can make himself a coffee to get through this. His watch reads 6:05 - far too early for her antics - and rising to her nagging is only going to make things worse.

“Do you want a drink?” He asks, as he busies himself with his coffee press, unable to look at her too long without the pricks of guilt irritating him.  He doesn’t even know what he has to feel guilty about.

“I’ll get it myself,” she scoffs, venturing over to the fridge and pouring out some orange juice - her movements around his space eerily natural. She slams back most of the drink as he works out how to brew his coffee - but she sees right through him. He’s hardly ever used the press before, and he’s just doing so now to avoid her in whatever capacity he can. “I need money.”

Nico’s almost positive he hasn’t heard her right - that there’s some kind of mix up between her standard German and his Swiss - and he slowly turns to properly face her, brows slanting into a deep frown as he assesses her expression.

She has a hand on her hip, her jaw set and her eyes darkened and serious. 

“You have money.”

Talia comes from money - her father is some kind of film producer and her mother an artist, if Nico remembers correctly - and she makes good money, herself. She’s been a print model since she was scouted in some market in Munich since she was 15, has had her face plastered in ads in magazines and catalogues around the world. She’s hardly strapped for cash. She gets things gifted to her by whatever company she can get a hold of. What could she possibly need him to give her money for?

“Not enough.” Her tone is cold, her demeanour the same, and if Nico can still gauge her emotions correctly, there’s an element of blame that she is starting to shift towards him, and his whole body starts to feel tense.

“Not enough for what?”

He can’t quite tell what feeling washes over him - worry, at the thought she’s gotten herself into some kind of trouble, stress, at the thought this could be a recurring thing, and potentially pity, at the way she’s so clearly carrying the weight of something heavy - something she’s lugged all the way across the Atlantic on a long haul flight with her.

“Not enough to pay the guy who’s blackmailing me not to leak the videos that I sent to you.”

“What vide-“ he bites back, and the immediate arch of her brow tells him all he needs to know. “Oh.”

Shit.

“Oh? That’s all you have to say?” She sneers, fury in her gaze and dismay in her tone. “You’ve ruined my life, and all I get is an oh?”

“Whoa, slow down, I’ve ruined your life?”

Nico has never been one to shame any girl for sending explicit pictures - he’d been more than willing to receive them at the time - but he hadn’t ever forced her hand. He hadn’t even asked her for them, in the first place. 

She’d taken it upon herself to spice things up, as she had put it at the time, when the team had gone on the road in early December. It was just after he’d returned from his injury - a time in which he’d spent mentally distanced from her as he’d focused so much on getting back to the game, their relationship consisting mainly of not-so-passionate sex to avoid aggravating his injury and hardly of any kind of meaningful conversation - and she had thought that keeping him on his toes on a roadie would mean he’d come back more interested than ever.

If he’d been looking out for red flags at the time, he might have caught that blaring one; needing to try new things only a few months into a relationship to keep it fun and light.

He’d been in his hotel room in Seattle, freshly showered and ready to throw himself straight into bed when his phone had started to ping. It was suggestive texts at first, are you alone? And I’m thinking about you. Then it had been pictures, hands over lingerie and fingers between glossy, pouted lips.

And then videos, one after the other before he had any chance to respond - her phone set up far enough away that her whole body was in frame, touching herself while laying on his bed and calling out for him.

He had called her instead of sending anything back, and as he realises the severity of the situation, a selfish part of him is glad he did so.

“Talia, I didn’t even save those videos, and I definitely didn’t show them to anyone else.”

Nico could never. Not only for the fact that he was raised to be a decent human being, but he has a sister - if anyone ever did that to Nina, he’d tear them apart, limb from limb. 

“You’re the only person I’ve ever sent anything to.” She seems to have made her mind up, and Nico feels as if his heart plummets through his torso at the realisation. She’s travelled all this way because she genuinely believes he’s the cause of this - that he’s shared intimate videos of her without her consent, to someone who would extort her for them. “And he sent me some pictures as proof, had information about me like the address of this apartment.”

“Talia, I swear on my mother’s life, I wouldn’t do that to you - to anyone, not ever.”

Tears well in her crystalline eyes, and Nico waits with bated breath as she assesses the situation in her head. 

He isn’t a liar - he has never given her a reason to think he is one. In their time together, he had always been honest, always been loyal, and he hopes at the very least - despite her obvious distain for him now, and how little she ended up caring about their relationship in the end to cut it off in the way she did - she thought of him as kind. 

He can do nothing but be patient, let her come to whatever conclusion on her own, and it’s only when he spots the quiver in her bottom lip that he takes an apprehensive step forward, ready to console her if needed.

She practically throws herself into his arms, wrapping her own around his waist and bawling into his chest, and all he can do is hold her and wait. He tries to rub a soothing hand up and down her back, holding the other against her head as her body wracks with sobs. All he can feel is the pounding of his own heartbeat, pulsing throughout his entire body until it’s all he can hear, too.

Nico does his best to comfort her, shushing and cooing and whispering how it’s going to be alright, but it does little to help. She’s beyond relief.

“There’s a guy who said he can track whoever is doing this to me,” she sniffles as she pulls herself away. “He’s in Jersey City Heights, he’s some sort of ethical hacker, whatever that means, I’m going to meet him and he’s gonna go through my phone.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Nico doesn’t even hesitate to ask - if not to protect her, and make sure she isn’t unknowingly getting herself into an even more dangerous situation, then to protect himself too. If someone has Talia’s pictures, and she only sent them to him, there’s a possibility his phone had been hacked, and if this guy is as ethical as he says, maybe he can check Nico’s stuff, too, just to be safe.

She gives him an appreciative smile, eyes still glassy and cheeks flushed. “I’d really appreciate that.”

“I’m gonna shower, then we can go. You can grab whatever to eat while you’re waiting.” He backs away from her completely, only just able to acknowledge the ache in his muscles once the intensity of the situation has settled a little, and he just needs to stand under the steaming spray and clear his mind before he properly immerses himself in her company. 

He has a lot more than this whole mess that he needs to think about, and maybe a shower can bring him a little clarity on how exactly he’s going to explain himself to the beautiful girl whose bed he had abruptly left not even an hour ago. 

“Why are you dressed?”

Nico stops in his tracks.

When he had got back to his apartment, he’d made a little effort for it to seem like he’d been there all night. He’d gone through to his bedroom, mussed up his sheets to make it seem like he had been sleeping in them - and not with the anticipation that Talia was going to be entering his bedroom, but with her, he never knows - trying to retrace the steps of his usual routine before he goes to bed, he had closed all the blinds, had moved his gym bag by the door.

But he hadn’t changed.

Still adorned in his sweatshirt and jeans from the night before, the clothing feels all that much heavier on his body as she brings attention to it, and he quickly racks his brain to come up with a valid excuse that doesn’t rouse further suspicion.

“I fell asleep in these clothes.” As easy as the lie comes out, he doesn’t feel great saying it. Doesn’t feel like erasing the night he had shared with Poppy is for the greater good, even if it is just to Talia, but avoiding another difficult conversation is a must right now - especially when he’d already lied to her on the phone. “Was out late with the guys last night, Timo threw a party for my birthday.”

“Right,” she drags out, and when he turns back around, she casts a scrutinising glance over him, top to bottom. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“No worries,” he shrugs, genuinely not offended. She has no reason to remember his birthday. Not anymore. “Like I said, help yourself to whatever, I’ll try not to be long.” 

When he undresses for his shower, he’s thankful he hadn’t had the foresight to change in anticipation of Talia’s arrival. He probably would have donned a t-shirt and some shorts, oblivious to the visible indents on his thighs where Poppy had dug her nails in as she took him in her mouth.

His chest and torso are littered with scratches, some faint, some a little deeper, and he can’t get the right angle to see his back but he imagines they’re the same - the memory of her clutching at him as both of their climaxes approached is vivid enough for him to picture the marks she left behind.

He groans as the thought of her brings back that swirling feeling in the pit of his stomach, as he notices the blooming arousal pool there, and feels himself harden as he steps under the spray of his shower.

If his phone had been on do not disturb through the night, he could be in the shower with Poppy, instead.

He could have woken up to her in his arms, could have pecked at her sleep-swollen lips until it brought her out of her slumber, and spent his morning making up for lost time just like he had promised her last night. He could have made light work of the pleasure he had given her the night before - could have had her underneath him in her bed, tangled up in the mess of sheets and falling apart before they shared a morning shower, where he’d have held her up against the tiles and would’ve moved into her until they couldn’t tell where he ended and she began. He’d have made her breakfast, something sweet, so that as she sat and watched him atop the kitchen counter he had tasted her on for the first time not even 12 hours before, he’d press his tongue into her mouth after she had eaten and savour the flavour of strawberries that had settled between her lips.

Instead, he’s here, turning the temperature of his water down until any and all excitement in his body is dampened, and all he can focus on is the effect the cold has on all his other aching muscles.

Once he has showered and gotten dressed - and has come to the conclusion that any further thoughts about Poppy need to wait until the Talia problem is resolved and out of his hands, he finds his ex girlfriend sprawled across his couch, music playing from the speaker in the corner, and taking helping herself to a whole new level. 

Her case is opened where she had left it by the door, and she’s set herself a little vanity up on his coffee table, fixing her appearance before they leave.

She’s changed out of her mismatched sweats, has dressed herself in jeans and a sweater, and has found an extension cable long enough for her to plug in whatever hot tool she’s currently running through her hair.

“You take the longest showers in the history of man,” she rolls her eyes, not even casting a glance his way as she focuses on her own reflection in the little mirror she must have brought with her. “I do not want to know what it is you get up to in there.”

“I was barely 30 minutes, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah, almost,” she runs the tool through her bangs until they flick out at the edges on either side of her face, and it reminds him of all the times he had watched her while waiting for her to finish getting ready. It makes him feel uneasy how familiar it all is, how she’s so quickly made herself at home again in his space.

He wants to tell her she needs to pack her stuff back up, that she won’t be staying here and needs to give his keys back, but the weight of the situation at hand dawns on him before he can open his mouth.

He’ll wait until they get back later, his decision depending on the outcome of their visit to her hacker friend.

As much as he doesn’t want her around, he isn’t going to kick her out with no place to go if her life is still shrouded in unsafe circumstances. 

Talia unplugs her stuff, wraps the cord around the handle of the brush she was using, and places it on a mat she must have brought with her so it doesn’t burn through the surface of the table. “Kay, let’s go.”

She marches ahead of him, picking up her bag and keys on the way out and leaving him to lock up while she calls for the elevator. They wait together in silence, his heart thudding an anxious rhythm in his chest as he anticipates the arrival of the elevator - and thankfully, it arrives empty.

He tries to distance himself from her as they enter, him standing in one corner, and hoping she takes the other, but she doesn’t quite get the memo, standing obliviously in the centre as she types away to someone on her phone and he presses the button to go to the basement.

Nico watches the numbers go down with bated breath. His floor, the next, the next one after that, and he uses any good will he has left with the universe to hope and pray it skips the floor coming up - but, as is just his luck, the elevator comes to a stop with a soft thud, and the doors open to reveal the very situation he’s been hoping to avoid. 

Jack walks straight in, eyes cast down to the phone in his hands, distractedly typing away and not even noticing the button for the parking level has been pressed before he pushes it, himself.

Luke notices straight away, halting in his movements to enter the space as his gaze flickers between the two people already occupying it. 

He diverts his eyes when they meet Nico’s head dropping as he steps in and stands beside his brother, uttering a quick greeting of, “Hey, Cap.”

Jack’s attention is captured immediately, spinning at an almost dizzying speed to face his captain, phone disregarded into his back pocket. “Schao! I thought you’d be at-,”

He’s thankfully able to tune into his perception before he carries on with his train of thought, a subtle movement in his peripheral diverting his gaze to the figure stood to the side of Nico. 

“Talia. Hi.”

“Hi, Jack.” Nico cringes inwardly at how disinterested she sounds. “Luke.” Talia had never really cared for Nico’s teammates - especially not the younger guys like Jack and Luke. She was quick to pass judgement, making comments on their maturity, or apparent lack-thereof, and wasn’t the biggest fan of how close Nico was with the pair. Didn’t like the time or attention he gave them considering the close quarters they lived in, and had always been resentful. She always claimed her English wasn’t good enough to hold a proper conversation with them, but he’d seen her enough around her American friends to know it wasn’t true.

“We’re just meeting up with some of the guys for breakfast.” Jack says, cautiously, in an attempt to fill the silence. The invitation remains unspoken, but Nico can tell in the way the younger boy cocks his head and meets his eye that he’s gauging his current situation for the morning.

“We have plans.” Talia must be able to tell what he was getting at, too and Nico can see Luke’s eyes narrow as soon as the word resonates in his head. Plans. Pre-meditated. Made before she had sprung all of this on him within the last hour or two. Panic stirs within him, and his throat itches to speak the truth, but it’s just not the right time to do so with Talia stood beside him. If he starts getting defensive, she’ll start asking questions, and the boys will have to bear witness to him skirting around the matter of Poppy. 

It’s not a good look no matter which way he swings it. He’s stuck in a thick, dark, tarry mess of not wanting to hurt anyone’s feelings but making all the wrong decisions. A minefield of not knowing how to explain himself without raising a million questions on either side, and hoping one of the brothers might toe the line of the boundaries of their relationship and just straight up ask why Talia is here.

He knows he has fucked up without the way neither of them are looking him in the eye.

He knew it the second Poppy’s door had locked behind him this morning - he doesn’t need Luke refusing to meet his gaze, doesn’t need Jack’s shifting side eye to tell him he’s made a mistake. 

“I’ll text you later.” Nico says, mainly to Jack but still trying to meet his brother’s eyes with no luck. It’s an attempt to say something, without saying anything. A silent beg not to jump to conclusions about what they’ve seen - and, although he knows they wouldn’t, not to tell anyone else. Not whichever of the guys they are meeting up with, not anyone else on the team, and definitely not Poppy.

“Yeah, sure,” Jack mutters in a poor attempt to hide his discomfort, and an even worse attempt at masking his relief when the doors ping open on the parking level.

“Have fun with your plans,” Luke huffs out, his tone like a tight fist clutching at Nico’s chest despite his courteous choice of words.

“We will,” Talia forces a smile. Nico gets the feeling she isn’t as oblivious to the tension as he hopes she is.

The four of them separate into their pairs with mumbled goodbyes, Jack and Luke heading off to Luke’s car on one side of the garage, and Nico and Talia heading to his on the other, and Nico can’t even let out a sigh of pseudo-relief before Talia jumps on him.

“That was weird.”

“We broke up, they weren’t expecting to see us together.” He quickly excuses as he starts the car up, turning on the heat and hoping the soft buzz of the air will fill the silence enough that she doesn’t feel the need to talk. 

“It’s been like 3 weeks, most couples get back together after their first breakup.”

Has it only been 3 weeks? He thinks, shuddering at how little time had actually passed between her sending that text and him restoring balance to his life.

“We’re not most couples,” he shrugs, shutting that train of thought immediately as he starts to make his way out of the parking garage, ascending the ramp where the doors open up to reveal the dull beam of the winter morning sun. “You dumped me over text a week before Christmas, we’re not getting back together.”

“Oh yeah, I bet you were real cut up about it,” she jibes, sarcastically. “Probably landed straight in the bed of some desperate puck bunny more than happy to take your mind off of how awful I was to you.”

His mind immediately goes to Poppy, to last night, to her bed - and despite the complete bullshit Talia has fabricated in her head, despite how much he wants to tell her she has it all wrong, he can’t bear to twist himself even further into knots to skirt around mentioning the girl who did make him better.

“We’re not having this conversation right now.” He decides, tapping at the screen in the console of his car until he brings up the navigation. “Put in the address you need, we’re not too far from The Heights.”

The location she enters into the system is for an unassuming condo in a quiet, suburban area. The neighbourhood itself is picturesque, the buildings colourful, the paths lined with trees that seemed to flourish even in the midst of winter, and when Nico pulls up across the street, he notices the amount of families around - parents walking their kids to school and couples with dogs getting their morning steps in. It’s the last place he imagines some hacker to be shacked up, but maybe that’s the point.

He still doesn’t entirely understand the ethical part.

“It’s the one with the red brick and the balcony,” Talia points to the other side of the road as she unbuckles her seatbelt, and Nico looks over at the building as if he’s going to be able to see all the secrets stored within it.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, number 414.” She shows him the messages she has exchanged with the guy, and sure enough, the address matches up. “C’mon, the sooner we get in there, the sooner we can figure this out.”

He follows her across the street, adjusting the cap he wears atop his head and making sure it conceals his identity from anyone with eyesight good enough to catch it, trying to shrug off the discomfort of the whole situation as he waits for someone to pick up the buzzer Talia relentlessly presses.

He hears a different kind of buzz, lighter, like the manual zoom of a camera, and cranes his neck to assess their surroundings as they wait, before he catches sight of the device in the top corner of the porch, facing directly onto them.

He hears the click of a lock as soon as his eyes make contact with the thing, and cautiously tries the handle on the door until it pushes all the way down, letting them into the building. 

The door to the ground floor condo is open, and stood in the entrance is a guy no older than 20, dressed in all black with dark, beady eyes framed by wire-rimmed glasses. If Nico could find it in him to see the humour in the situation, he’d laugh at how he looks like Luke - a mop of curly brown hair, tall with a slim build and ever so slightly poor posture.

He straightens up as the two of them approach, Nico keeping Talia behind him as he assesses the safety of the situation. If they’re being lured into some kind of trap, he could definitely take this guy - he can’t even maintain direct eye contact, never mind manage to subdue a man of Nico’s stature.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone, Talia.”

He’s soft-spoken, his voice ever so nasally, and despite the fact that he’s talking to the girl behind him, his gaze has settled on Nico’s chest.

“My name’s Nico.” He introduces himself, holding out a hand to shake. He thinks he can write him off as a threat, for now, and if making him feel comfortable encourages him to help them, he wants to put him at ease. “

“I know who you are.” He doesn’t shake Nico’s hand. “I’m Myles. Come in.”

Myles doesn’t wait for the two of them, marching back into his place and leaving the door open for Talia and Nico to enter and close behind them. 

Nico isn’t surprised by the space - from his brief encounter with the resident so far, it fits him to a tee; neat, impersonal, furniture that looks fresh out of a catalogue. He follows him over to the corner of his living room, a PC set up with several monitors that he can’t tell are on until they’re standing straight in front of them.

Myles throws himself down into the large swivel chair, spinning until he’s facing the two of them and crossing his arms over his torso with disinterest. “So, nudes?”

Straight to the point. Nico can’t exactly be mad at it.

Talia steps out from behind him, handing her unlocked phone to Myles. “The messages started last week, just after New Years. Straight to my number, not in DMs or anything, but the number doesn’t even come up for me to call it from another phone or anything, just says unknown.”

Myles takes her phone and plugs it into his setup without even looking at whatever she has opened on it, and Nico watches as the screens come alive with mirrors of the device and some other apps that launch as soon as it connects. 

“That’s more helpful than you think, they have to use an app to be able to anonymously text you, makes it easier to identify them.”

The way Myles talks is monotonous and detached, but the way he works is anything but. His fingers move quicker than Nico’s eyes can track on his keyboard, typing away at whatever as different things flash up and leave his screen. It like something straight out of a spy movie.

“So we can find out who it is just from that?” He asks, arms folding over his chest as he watches in almost-awe.

“Not exactly. If it is a hacker, I could identify their signature. Doesn’t mean I could identify them, but we can work around it potentially.”

Talia throws herself down on the couch behind them exasperatedly, sighing loudly and making her displeasure known. “You told me you could track them down, that’s what I’m paying you to do.”

“I told you I could help you, I didn’t say I could specifically track anyone, that’s not how this works.”

“How does it work then?” Nico asks.

Myles wheels his chair to the side to make room for Nico to get closer, and starts walking him through the process, pointing through the different apps he uses and explaining how he uses them. One deciphers which app the person used to message Talia. Once that’s been deduced, he uses another to enter a backdoor into that app’s servers, perusing through them until he finds the account that sent the text, making sure the date, time and then content line up. Once he’s found the account, he can see the other texts sent from it, and a gallery spreads across two screens, with maybe hundreds of pictures, videos, messages and transactions all to or from that same account.

“You’re telling me you have the power to do all this and you don’t use it to like rob banks or something?”

“Ethical hacker, clue’s in the name.” Myles shrugs. Nico looks back to Talia, her jaw set as she picks at her nails out of boredom. It’s probably taken about fifteen minutes for this guy to work an absolute miracle, and she looks like she couldn’t care less. “We use all this information, and the access I have on the server, to shut this dude down and cut his con before he can do it to anyone else.”

“Whoa whoa,” Talia shoots up, “Won’t that make him mad? Make him just post all the photos?”

“I doubt it,” the hacker comments, bringing up a couple of the photos on the screens, some of Talia, some of another girl, making Nico divert his eyes. “They’re not even real.”

“I’m sorry?”

“Excuse me?”

Talia and Nico both question at the same time, leaning in to get a proper look to confirm what is being told to them. The other pictures Myles had brought up, the ones of other girls, are actually kind of the same. The same poses, the same backgrounds, the same outfits, or lack thereof, just different faces and different hair.

“They’re called deep fakes. Photoshop, essentially.” He has that aloof tone to his words again, and Nico can’t quite believe how simple it seems for him to say. “They put a bunch of your pictures into an AI generator and give it instruction, like put this face on a body posed like this or wearing that. I’d assume the video they have is the same.”

“How is that even possible?” Talia gasps, pushing herself forward and snatching the mouse from Myles’ grasp. She clicks into what she assumes is the video, and it starts playing before she can think better of it, thankfully without any sound. 

It’s Talia - that much is obvious from the initial close up of her face - but Nico doesn’t recognise anything else about it. He doesn’t recognise the room she’s in, the bed she’s on, the things she’s doing. He’s never seen this before. It’s definitely not one of the videos she had sent him, and when he looks closer, he realises the little moles on her ribs aren’t even there.

None of it is real.

“You said he sent you the photos? You didn’t realise they weren’t the ones you took?” He can’t conceal the bite in his tone, his brows furrowing as he looks at her in disbelief. She’s flown out here, disrupted his peace, blamed him for blackmailing her, and she can’t even recognise what is or isn’t her own body. 

“They looked real, I-,” Her shock disappears as quickly as it had come about, her mood shifting and a glare all of a sudden being directed at her ex boyfriend. “I wouldn’t have accused you if they didn’t look real, Nico.” She snaps, frowning at him like this is his fault. “You have no idea what it’s like to be threatened like that, I won’t have you blame me for panicking.”

Slivers of guilt seep into his subconscious, and he takes a deep breath, diverting his gaze uneasily and letting out a big sigh.

He knows he should be a little more compassionate, but there’s panicking, and then there’s this.

She had accused him of ruining her life.

“What about the rest of it?” Nico asks, “Like how did he get her number or have my address? You said he had other information?”

“He did,” Talia nods, looking over to Myles.

“The address he probably got when he got your number, and he could have got that from anywhere. Could be something as small as you ordering something online and the store having a data breach, or clicking a link that shared your IP address, and getting your phone information from that.” Myles starts his typing again, keeping a tight grip on his mouse so that it can’t be snatched again. “I could probably find out actually, they’re pretty easy to spot, do you clear your history often?”

“I wouldn’t even know how to do that,”

“Perfect,” Again, his fingertips work at lightening speed, and Nico watches as instagram opens on one of the screens. “Yeah, a DM sent to you from… Devils_tea. You opened a link to a shared drive to upload some pictures, the drive probably had malware and the pictures have location metadata.”

Nico rolls his eyes, that small ebb of pity washing almost completely away, and before Talia can stop him, Myles carries on. “Some of the pictures you sent them are the ones they used for the AI photos, look your face in this one is the exact same as this photo they threatened to leak.”

Nico recognises these photos. The ones that had been plastered all over social media when their relationship had leaked. Pictures of them back in Switzerland, on a weekend trip to Ibiza, selfies of them in his apartment, and even a picture of the two of them with his parents back at his family home in Valais.

He has been far too oblivious to Talia’s games for far too long, he realises. 

Of course she had been the one to leak everything - who else would have had those photos - but he hadn’t even considered it would be her; she had faced the harshest aftermath for it, why would she subject herself to all the subsequent grief that came with people knowing about their relationship?

Thank God for this guy’s lack of social cues, Nico thinks, or he would never have known that for as long as they had been together, she had been violating his revered privacy and trust.

“Nico, that wasn’t-,” Talia’s panic is evident, wide eyes, trembling hands raised in defence, “I must have been hacked,”

“Actually, there’s no-,” Myles begins to interject, fingers working again to fact check, but Nico doesn’t need him to validate what he already knows.

“Shut up,” Talia snarls, with a finger pointed at him, “You don’t know what you’re talking about, we’re done here.” She reaches forward to snatch her phone back, yanking out the wire that connects it to his monitors and throwing it onto the desk. “We’re leaving, and if you think I’m paying you anything, you’re deluded.” 

Talia marches past them and straight out of the condo, slamming every door she possibly can behind her. Nico can only cringe as the sounds of her stomping footsteps echo until they fade out - until she’s probably outside and waiting for him back at his car.

“Doesn’t she want me to shut this thing down?”

“I’ll pay you.” Nico sighs, reaching into his pocket for his phone and trying to push down the feeling that arises when he’s met with a blank lock screen.

Poppy hasn’t messaged him. 

Not that he deserves for her to make it easy, to let him off the hook and pretend he hasn’t royally fucked things up with her.

“If you stop him, does he still have all the photos? He could still release them?”

“Yeah, but they’re pretty easy to validate as fakes, especially when you have the source material. I don’t think this guy is sophisticated enough for a full blown hack into her phone for the real thing. I couldn’t find evidence of any breach of her cloud or her device.”

Nico nods, but the information does little to quell the anxiety that squeezes his chest in a vice-like grip. 

This whole morning has been nothing but a giant waste of his time. From the second his eyes opened, to this moment right now, he’s made nothing but mistakes.

Not putting his phone on sleep mode before he and Poppy went to bed had been a mistake. Taking Talia’s call had been a mistake. Not waking Poppy up had been a mistake. Leaving without a note, without a text, leaving at all - it had all been one error after another, and all he has left to do is face up to the fact.

He can’t do anything to dwindle the panic rousing in every fibre of his being, the scarring marks left by torturous lashings of regret that whip at his skin.

He’s never felt so ashamed of himself, in such disbelief at his own decisions.

Why didn’t he just wake her?

She’s the most level-headed, acceptable person he knows. She would have understood. He hadn’t had a reasonable explanation at the time, and he doesn’t really have one now - but she would have accepted it, whatever he could have told her, she would have listened, waited until he could give her more.

He needs to see her, to explain, before it’s too late.

If he thinks about the feeling settling in his stomach, if he can compare it to anything, it’s like running from a blazing inferno of doubt and insecurity, licks of fire racing to catch up to him, the soles of his feet pressing into the sizzling ground - and Poppy is the cool embrace of safety.

She is light cracking through a window he just needs to break through to make it out.

If he can get to her quick enough, if he runs, and runs, maybe he’ll make it before he’s jiggling at a red hot handle that won’t move, won’t give, won’t budge.

If he can just talk to her, maybe the morning from hell will be outweighed by the days of resilience, weeks of efforts, years of loving her in whatever capacity, and the promise of something better.

He just needs to get rid of Talia.

The car journey back to his apartment is carried out in a deafening silence. She had tried to talk to him when he’d made his way out of Myles’ condo, when he had found her waiting by his Mercedes with crossed arms and a sour look on her face, but he’d told her he didn’t want to hear it, that they’d deal with it in private.

He hardly wanted a showdown with her in the middle of the street.

And so, she sat in his passenger seat, jaw set, glaring out the window and letting out the occasional huff or puff for attention that he wasn’t entertaining.

The elevator ride up to his place had been the same. Silent, filled with the type of tension you could cut with a knife, and all he could do was ignore her continued petulance and take deep breaths to calm himself down. In through his nose, out through his mouth, overlooking the way she tapped her foot in his peripheral vision, and almost audibly rolled her eyes every few seconds. 

“Would it have killed you to defend me in there?” She scoffs as soon as the door closes behind them in his apartment, “You just let him accuse me of all that stuff and completely invade my privacy!”

Nico screws his eyes shut and pinches the bridge of his nose.

He can’t blow up, can’t stoop to her level. He won’t feel good after the fact. He knows how Talia operates, should have known she’d immediately play the victim card, and he isn’t falling into the trap of arguing to the point of being in the wrong.

He’ll say something he regrets and she’ll use it to her advantage, somehow.

“You asked him to go through your phone, Talia.” He sighs, making his way over to the kitchen and getting himself some water. Chugging at it does little to soothe the burning feeling prickling at the back of his mouth, or the itch of his tongue to spit out a scathing retort. “He’s shut down the guy behind it, he can’t message you or anyone else with any more threats, you should be happy.”

“I should be happy?” She follows him wherever he tries to get away, crowding his space and jabbing a pointed finger into his arm. “You have no idea what I’ve been going through this past week. I thought my career was over! How was I supposed to know it was fake?”

“You didn’t even look at the pictures-,”

“Because I was panicking! I was upset, you can’t expect me to be able to recognise what’s been photoshopped when I’m scared like that!”

“But you can fly straight over here and pin the blame on me for ruining your life? You weren’t too upset to point the finger, Talia,”

“Don’t be an asshole, Nico, it doesn’t suit you.” 

“I’m being the asshole? You don’t even care about the trail of destruction you leave behind you, do you? You send private pictures of us, of me, of my family to random people online who you don’t even know, for what, Talia? For money?”

“I don’t need their money-,”

“So it was just for the attention? You get to parade our relationship around like it means nothing more to you than a title, and once you get your fifteen minutes and a few more instagram followers, you just jet back home and dump me over a text?”

“Oh my God,” she cries, flailing her arms dramatically, following him yet again as he makes his way into his living room, picking her stuff up after her that she had discarded here before they left and throwing it into her travel bag. “Stop playing the victim, for Christ’s sake, you’re hardly heartbroken over it. I know for a fact you’ve been hooking up with someone, one of the girls messaged me that they saw you leave a party with her on New Years!”

“So that’s what this is?” Nico snaps, pointing to her, to her stuff, “You think I’m moving on so you fly back out here and spring this bullshit on me, try to make me feel bad?”

“You have some nerve, Nico,” Talia scoffs, folding her arms across her chest and levelling him with a darkened glare.

“I have nerve? You’re the one who broke up with me out of nowhere and think that you can just march back here and make demands, Talia, blaming me for something that was entirely your own doing.” He’s getting sick of walking on egg shells around the topic. If she hadn’t have been messaging people she wasn’t supposed to, this would never have happened - it’s no one’s fault but her own, and as harsh as it may be, he wants to wash his hands of the whole thing. “Calling me in the middle of the night, telling me I ruined your life, saying I need to give you money?”

“Out of nowhere?” Of course she would only pick up on that, he thinks. “My God, you are so self-absorbed.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you think that dating you is easy?” She questions with a measured step toward him. “Do you think I want to spend my life waiting around for my boyfriend, only for him to only ever come home grumpy,” another step, “Or whiny,” and another, “Or too tired and achey to do anything? And that’s when you do come home at all and aren’t half way across the country with the communication skills of a candle. It’s a constant uphill battle trying to get even a second of your attention, Nico, so God forbid I tried to gain some kind of advantage from being with you.”

Her words are starting to cut, but he tries not to react, tries not to bite back. He can count several ways in which she gained an advantage being with him, just off the top of the head - a girl like Talia is never shy of attention. Her courting gossip blogs and sending them private information is probably just scraping the barrel of the ploys she made for exposure while she was with him.

“I didn’t break up with you out of nowhere, I put up with you and the whole circus that comes with you for months, but God, is it exhausting being with you.”

“You knew what you were getting into, Talia. You knew my job, knew my life.” They had met initially through mutual friends - hockey friends of his back home, even - and she has other friends who happen to be wives or girlfriends of athletes. She can’t say she came into the relationship completely oblivious to the downsides of dating a professional player.

“Not really,” she shrugs, “All the other guys can find some sort of balance, but not you. All the other girls get a proper boyfriend, someone who spends time doing what they want to do, who sticks up for them when their psycho fans start to turn on them, who doesn’t keep them hidden away like some dirty secret.”

“That isn’t fair, I can’t control that stuff, Talia, it’s not my fault.” He wants to point out that she was the one engaging in their gossip and riling them up, but he can’t keep harping on about something she refuses to acknowledge. He doesn’t have the time, patience or energy for it anymore.

The initial ‘leaking’ of their relationship had caused their first major fight. Fans online had somehow - although Nico can now hazard a guess as to how - found out about the two of them, had dug into Talia, her background, her family, her job, and had found some pretty toxic posts on her social media. They had been old posts, and she had told Nico that wasn’t the kind of person she was anymore - and he had no reason not to believe her, had never seen or heard her act in the ways she had online in what she called her misguided youth - but someone in the PR department at the Devils had cottoned onto the topic, and had warned Nico of speaking out in her defence when the pitchforks started to raise.

He’d told her he supported her, but he couldn’t do so publicly - not without upsetting people within the organisation he had worked so hard to gain the respect of - and she had told him she understood. They hadn’t been together that long, it would have been a little unreasonable for him to put her above his work in the ways she was expecting, but she clearly doesn’t see it that way, now.

“Maybe not, but if I’d have known that being with you meant having my life invaded, my career ruined, I never would have followed you back here, Nico.” She sounds more solemn now - regretful, even - and as deep as her words cut, she says it like a piece of advice, “I just hope whatever poor girl you’ve got tangled up in your mess this time knows what she’s getting herself into.”

“And what’s that?” His throat feels tight as he speaks all of a sudden, his resolve in defending himself fading, and he tries to gulp down whatever lump is forming there but the feeling doesn’t budge.

This is what she’s good at.

Turning the tables. Reducing him to uncertainty of himself, of his actions, of his memory of their time together.

“A one-sided relationship with a guy who will never be able to put her first.”

There’s a point in every game he has ever had the misfortune of losing, as the seconds count down in the final third, where he has to come to terms with the fact that there’s no possible way for him to win. It’s sort of comparable to the way his insides churn when he’s on a plane and it drops into descent, like his body is falling at a different speed to his surroundings, or the feeling he gets in his gut when he’s hiking, and he dares to take a peek over the edge of whatever mountainside he’s trekking up, where his body can predict the fall, and his mind has set on there being nothing he can do about it.

This feels like all those feelings.

“Whoever she is, and I know she exists, she doesn’t deserve that. It’s not fair.”

Nico’s heart pounds in his chest, echoing and thrumming in his ears until all he can hear is the beat reverberating, ricocheting around his skull.

He can put Poppy first.

So many parts of their lives are intertwined, it would be so easy to make it work. They work together, they live close, he speaks to her more than he speaks to anyone else in his circle. They’ve spent more time together as friends than he has with any other girlfriend he’s had.

He’s wanted her for years, of course he can do it.

Except, deep down, he knows he can’t. Being in a committed relationship with someone is an entirely different ball game to a friendship, no matter how close he and Poppy have been over the years.

He knows there’ll come a point soon into the season where he has to knuckle down and focus, can’t let anything or anyone distract him, and he’ll close himself off. It’s what he has always done. He gets in his head, starts to carry too much weight that he can’t shift until that final buzzer blows - and he can only hope that it happens with his team in the playoffs. Winning, thriving, succeeding. And for that to happen, he can’t prioritise anything other than the game he’s already dedicated his life to, his training, and most importantly, his team.

It isn’t about what he wants.

What have you done? He thinks, his chest aching.

Talia is right.

Poppy doesn’t deserve that.

She doesn’t deserve him only being there in the physical sense, if she even gets that at all. Doesn’t deserve him getting snappy and stressed, doesn’t deserve him not being able to give her time, or give her attention or affection like he wants to, or like she’s worthy of.

“I need to go.” He manages to choke out with a shake of his head, shouldering past her to pick up his jacket - needing to be out of this conversation and away from Talia. “Leave the keys, I don’t want you here when I get back.”

He needs to see Poppy.

He never should have left her - he wishes with everything in him that he had soaked up the time he had with her before everything came tumbling down around him. And somewhere deep within him, there is a fragile, wilting piece of hope that clings to the belief he can make things right. He just needs her to hone in on it. If anyone can reach into the deepest cracks of his insecurities, can show him he’s overthinking things and everything is not as hopeless as he has made it out to be, it will be Poppy.

Poppy

The first time Poppy had ever fallen asleep beside Nico was at a movie night in Jack’s old apartment he shared with Ty Smith. Jack had invited more people round than could reasonably fit in their living room, and so everyone was smushed in - each chair and every inch of floor space used to its full capacity. 

Nico had attempted to save Poppy a space, to give him credit. He had scowled at each of his teammates who tried to throw themselves down in the tiny slot beside him - prime space, corner of the comfiest couch, facing the tv directly, a small table to the side where one could keep their drinks and snacks - only, by the time Poppy got there, he had barely gotten away with man-spreading to make room, so the small section of the couch between Nico and the arm rest had become her designated spot.

It was cosy, to put it nicely. He had to swing his arm over the back so that she wasn’t being assaulted by the hard dig of his shoulder with every laugh, and her closest leg was pretty much on top of his for most of the film.

She’d known the guys for almost a year - had been working in media, attending every game, home and away, and had integrated herself into the group pretty closely - and she felt pretty comfortable around everyone.

It wasn’t the kind of dynamic she had anticipated falling into when she first got the job with the Devils. She was supposed to start getting serious about her life - cracking down on mingling with co-workers and throwing herself into new social circles, and focusing on building a career for herself, climbing through the ranks and attaining the kind of success and happiness she could shove in her family’s disapproving faces - but the guys had charmed her.

Jack had been somewhat relentless in his pursuit of Poppy’s friendship. He rarely took no for an answer when it came to inviting her out. He was new to New Jersey - a much younger player in a slightly older team - and his rookie season had been rough, so it came naturally to Poppy to want to provide comfort. She introduced him to some of her friends, showed him her favourite spots close to his apartment, found him a decent barber, picked up extra fruit whenever she went to the farmers market near her parent’s house and took it over to his and Ty’s place when she came back home so she could mother him into having his 5-a-day as if he didn’t have access to the best nutrition coaches in the country. Despite her best efforts, Jack had weaselled his way under her skin in the way only a brother could.

Nico’s charm was entirely different.

Nico’s charm came in the form of convenience at first - in the oh I live that way, I can drive you and I have some time, I can do some media stuff for you type of way. Convenience blended into companionship - I haven’t eaten either, we should go for lunch together and I’ve been wanting to watch that movie, do you want to watch it with me?

It turned into grabbing food together, even on days neither of them were working - breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, even coffee or sometimes drinks if they could meet up with the rest of the team. It turned into him spending time at her place, whether it was helping her paint her apartment, putting up her new wardrobes, or just binging whatever crazy long series Poppy had decided to start over from the beginning - she provided him with a sense of familiarity and calm he couldn’t really find in anyone else he had met in his time in the states. She became his person, his home away from home, away from home.

And he became hers. 

There wasn’t as much she had to escape; her job not as strenuous, the expectations of her not as high, but when things built up for her - when her mother became overbearing, or her latest endeavour into a relationship crashed and burned - Nico was there. He’d make sure she had a distraction, made sure she was looking after herself, and, in turn, would look after her as well. He made sure she got home safe on nights out, or when they returned from a roadie and landed late - he would always make sure to see her off into the comfort of her own home before he went back to his own. 

And that first time she’d fallen asleep beside him, he’d done the same.

He’d wrapped an arm around her to make her as comfortable as possible for as long as he could, and when the movie had finished - when her face was burrowed into the side of his chest, soft snores falling from between her lips - he gently drew her back to consciousness with his hand stroking at her cheek.

She’d been a little startled, hand shooting up to wipe at her chin and thankful she hadn’t been drooling on him - although with the easy smile he was giving her, she had thought he of all people wouldn’t have minded. 

“Movie’s done, do you need a ride home?” His voice had been low and soft as not to worsen her apparent disorientation, and his hand was still lingering by the side of her face.

She had nodded, blinking away her sleepiness, and working her way up from the couch and onto her feet, stretching out her muscles as Nico did the same.

The two of them bid their goodbyes to the rest of the guys, made their way together to Nico’s car, and he had driven her back to her apartment, chatting on the drive about work and training. 

Poppy had been cramming to prepare for her interview for the Foundation at the time - had been getting herself seriously worked up, staying up late, getting up early, barely allowing herself any time for anything fun - and Nico had seen right through her. 

He’d stopped her before she got out of the car, had held her hand, rubbing at her knuckles with his thumb, and had told her that she should get some proper rest, and that she was going to absolutely rock their world in her interview in a few days time. And, knowing she was going to ignore any instruction he gave to make herself some decent dinner and go to bed early, had ordered her favourite Japanese takeout to be delivered a good half an hour after she got inside, with a text that followed telling her to sleep straight after she had finished.

She’d never expected to drift asleep with him on Jack’s couch - had never expected to open her eyes to the sight of his looking so warmly back at her.

And she hadn’t expected the same thing this morning, because, as her eyes drifted open to the intrusive light peaking through the cracks in her curtains, it wasn’t the first time she had woken up.

The first time had been to subdued movements, a slight groan of her bed frame, and the soft pattering of footsteps leading away. It had been to a hushed voice, the creak of her bathroom door, the flush of a toilet and the uttering of a name she had hoped she would never have to worry about again.

Talia.

The rest of his words had been uttered in his own language, but that she could understand.

She had acted purely on fight or flight instinct, laying back and pretending she was asleep - although as soon as she did, she regretted it, her mind racing at the million and one other possibilities she could have gone with. Sitting up, waiting for him to come out and asking him what was going on being the most rational.

But when had she ever gone with the most rational thought?

She tried not to react as she felt his presence, felt the soft press of his lips to her skin, or the placement of her bunny in her arms. Tried not to follow him as soon as he departed her bedroom, beg him to come back and whatever was going on could wait until the proper turn of the morning. Tried not to get up and go after him when the click of the lock to her main door echoed throughout the empty apartment.

And she tried not to cry as she laid in bed, overthinking herself back to sleep, thoughts racing to the point of exhaustion, and hoping when she woke up again it had just been a god-awful dream.

But it hadn’t.

The spot beside her in bed is empty, not even a crease in the pillow to prove he was ever there - only the t-shirt of his she still adorned, the one that when she takes a deep inhale, still smells like him, and the distinct aching between her thighs.

She finds more evidence of their night together in the bathroom, where she undresses herself with sore muscles and glances in the mirror to see the spattering of purple marks forming on her chest and neck. Her fingers trace over them lightly, her fleeting touch bringing vivid images forth of his lips pressing to her skin, practically able to feel the pressure of her flesh being nipped and bitten again.

He had been so attentive to her - so in tune with what she needed and wanted, and so ready to give her whatever that may be. He’d been gentle at some points, and purposeful at others, and every little thing he did, he did it with sweet disposition.

The kind of man who treats a girl like that doesn’t just leave her in the dead of night with no good reason, right?

Her mind races despite her body going into auto-pilot throughout her morning routine. Her shower is over in the flash of an eye, she strips her bed, starts her laundry, makes herself some tea and gets herself dressed - all the while weighing out all the possibilities of what could have taken him away from her, and what she would be able to understand. 

That quickly turns to her imagining the worst, and a tight, constricting feeling starts to consume her chest. 

There isn’t a single part of her apartment she can get away from the thoughts buzzing around her brain - her kitchen marred with the memory of what had happened on the counter, her couch, her bedroom, her bathroom - all carrying distinct memories of Nico that she needs to bench until she knows the truth.

She mistakenly thinks her escape might lie in her phone. There might be a text there waiting, explaining everything and relieving all the anxiety that has welled up in her very core.

Nia’s warnings from the night before don’t ring quick enough in her mind as the screen comes to life, the immediate barrage of notifications flooding in.

2 missed calls from Mom

Mom: Just calling to remind you of proper table etiquette in case it has slipped your mind, I won’t have you embarrass me in front of a Lyon.

Mom: Cutlery going from the outside in, hold your wine glass by the stem and dab with your napkin, don’t swipe!

Mom: Also let the man tuck your chair in and pay the bill, this 21st century woman nonsense is very unbecoming!

Mom: And I don’t want to have to bring this up but for the love of God, Poppy, have some class. I don’t want to hear mutterings of your promiscuity at the next luncheon.

Whoever taught her mom to text deserves a prison sentence, she thinks.

Tucker Lyon standing a girl up and ghosting her attempts to contact him is what’s unbecoming, not her trying to pay her half of the meal.

She can picture her mother as she reads the texts, sipping on her Manhattan on the couch in the great room, her dad already having retreated to bed at that time, and her having nothing better to do than sit and stew on her daughter’s sex life.

If she knew what was really going down last night, her mom would probably have a conniption.

Knowing she’ll no doubt be getting a call later that evening, Poppy swipes away at her text thread with her mom, immediately checking the notifications she hasn’t long received from her best friend.

Nia: hey if you happen to release yourself from Nico’s wandering hands at all today me and Kelsey are grabbing breakfast by my work!!

Nia: if you need refuelling we’ll be at Marco’s at 9 😘 

Perfect. Therein lies her escape. Breakfast with her best friends, where they can hopefully talk her down from the ledge she’s precariously placed herself on.

A catch up with her girls, and then she can distract herself with work.

Poppy: I’ll be there!!

“Hasn’t he text you or anything?” Nia asks, covering her mouth as she chews on her breakfast bagel, the three girls sat around a table inside their favourite cafe close to Nia’s office.

When Poppy and Nia had first moved in together, they rented an apartment in Hoboken, not too far, and their tradition of grabbing breakfast at Marco’s carried on despite Poppy living further down the river and working even further away in Newark. 

Kelsey had lived in Manhattan at that time, but she stayed over so often with the other girls that she practically spent majority of her week there, and so Poppy and Nia’s routine became hers.

Poppy had given the two of them a brief rundown of her night with Nico, a safe-for-work version of events, all leading up to the mysterious early morning phone call and swift departure.

“Nope,” she sighs, swiping to refresh her messages as if she hasn’t put her phone on loud just to be alerted when he does reach out.

“Have you text him?”

“Nope,” she repeats, putting the phone down and leaning back in her chair, running a hand through her already messed up hair. She’s going to have to throw it up if she wants to look any sort of presentable when she gets to work later.

“Is he usually this pathetic at communicating?” Kelsey asks, manicured nails swiping at a bunch of Sweet’n Lows like she’s trying to play Tetris with the packets. 

Kelsey hasn’t met Nico before, not that Poppy can remember.

Despite considering her one of her closest friends, their personal lives have never quite intertwined like that - not like hers and Nia’s.

In college, things were different. They were coming into their own together, figuring out just what they wanted their personal lives to be, and so Kelsey, Poppy and Nia would all share pretty much everything, just to have someone there to validate their feelings.

But that changed once they graduated.

Kelsey moved in with her boyfriend, Liam - who just so happens to be Poppy’s idea of hell-spawn.

The kind of guy her mother would probably love.

Liam worked on Wall Street, couldn’t go five minutes of conversation without talking about stocks or investment funds. His native language was risky money moves and belittling remarks, and he treated Kelsey like an accessory to parade around in public and discard in private.

Poppy had tried a few times to open Kelsey’s eyes to the way that it was, but it soon became apparent that she had to let her friend make her own mistakes, and some parts of their lives didn’t have to cross over.

They broke up around Thanksgiving, and Poppy had tried with all her might not to show her relief, but it has made her somewhat resentful when it comes to other relationships - like no one can be happy if she isn’t.

She knows it isn’t malicious, but she restrains from letting Kelsey all the way in, all the same.

“Not really,” Poppy lies, not wanting to clue her in on the Big Freezewhere he didn’t speak to her for months on end. It doesn’t entirely help her case. “I just don’t get why he’d sneak out to see her of all people, he told me they weren’t ever that solid, that he wasn’t happy with her.”

“Ooh, what if she’s pregnant?” Kelsey is entirely oblivious to the horrific realm of possibility she has just opened Poppy up to, evidenced by the casual chuckle and subsequent sip of her coffee. “Maybe she’s back to baby-trap him.”

Poppy thinks she would have to flee the state.

Nico is a family guy - if Talia is pregnant, he’d force himself to love her again, if he ever even stopped, for the sake of their gorgeous brown eyed, floppy haired baby, and push Poppy to the side just like he had before. And she’ll have to watch him from the sidelines, yearning for what she had just managed to touch the tips of her fingers to before it was violently yanked from her grasp. 

Maybe she’d have to flee the country even - move somewhere remote where she doesn’t even have the chance of being reminded of hockey, let alone of him.

Somewhere with no coffee shops that she’d enter, and the smell of fresh pastries would remind her of all the breakfasts they had together. No railways, where she’d be reminded of his love for model trains every time she came across the tracks. No weird club music that he loves so much, or dorky wizard franchises he chastises her for never having seen.

Maybe Antarctica. They only have penguins there. No real civilisation that she knows of. No brown haired, dark eyed Swiss Gods with deep, honeyed voices that make her knees weak and dimpled smiles that do even worse.

She wouldn’t be able to cope with losing him like that, living her life in an endless mental cycle of what ifs and maybes.

“Kelsey, I beg of you to read the room,” Nia chastises, swatting the girl on her arm before taking Poppy’s hand in her own. “Don’t listen to her, she just wants us all to be single at the same time.”

“Sue me for wanting to have fun! It would be just like college, you and me full-body plunging into the dating pool. Imagine the chaos, Pop, you don’t wanna be tied down to a guy hung up on his ex right now.”

“Dating pool?” Nia scoffs, turning to glare at her, “You’re hardly dry from your last relationship.”

“I’d rather be a grape than a raisin, Ni.” Kelsey chides back, and Poppy can’t help the twitch of her lips at the horrific comparison. 

“You’re really gonna listen to a girl who says that?” Nia asks, unable to mask the glint of humour in her eyes, and Kelsey bites back a smile, too.

Despite the ache in her chest at the thought of any of it - of Nico leaving her this morning, filling her up with empty words and false promises, potentially knocking up an ex girlfriend he is still secretly hung up on even though he told her otherwise - she manages to crack a full smile.

“You are terrible at analogies, Kels,” Poppy tries to hide the grin behind her cup, sipping at her tea and letting the warmth of it soothe the pain in her throat. 

“I’m trying to encourage you to be a strong, independent woman here!”

“She is a strong, independent woman,” Nia defends, “She also happens to be a chronic over-thinker with a deep seated fear of confrontation.”

“I don’t fear confrontation.”

“Then why are we here chit-chatting about hypothetical scenarios when you could just text him and ask what’s up?”

“Maybe ‘cause that’s scary?” Poppy scoffs, only half joking. “What am I supposed to say, hey I just so happened to eavesdrop on your private conversation before you fled my apartment this morning, and despite me not understanding most of it, I definitely heard you mention someone, so could you just let me know if your gorgeous model ex girlfriend is pregnant with your perfect specimen baby?”

“Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out, you don’t even need us.”

Poppy rolls her eyes.  

She could text him. Could be casual about it, a good morning or even an are you okay? Those don’t warrant the alarm bells she’s afraid of raising - the ones that blare out with the siren sound of run, this girl is unhealthily attached to you already!

But she doesn’t want to be the pathetic girl chasing after the guy sending her clear messages that he doesn’t want her.

It’s easier said than done not to overthink the whole thing - not to second guess everything he had said, or everything she had done last night.

She feels like she had rushed things. It was so impulsive, so charged, and after spending the majority of her week away from him, she just hadn’t been able to help herself. And that makes her feel like a hypocrite. She had told him that night he had first kissed her that things between them had gotten intense. It had been the whole reason for spending a few days outside of each other’s company, and in the first possible instance, she had thrown herself at him.

It was desperate.

And maybe that scared him.

It sure as hell scares her.

“I don’t know what to do,” She groans, throwing her head into her hands and scrunching her eyes shut to try and drown out the endless doubt. 

She feels two hands rub at either sides of her back, “Listen, Pop,” Nia is the first to attempt to console her, as always, and Poppy holds her breath for the harsh reality check she’s about to throw her way. “You know I am the one person who would usually be trying to convince you to cut your losses and run when it comes to guys who are no good, but this is Nico. I’ve watched the two of you ignore your feelings for far too long to let you get in your own way, now.

“And you’re forgetting I saw him last night, before you got there, there isn’t a chance in Hell he would have left you like that without a good reason. I don’t for a second think he’s still hung up on her.” Nia casts a side eye to Kelsey.

The only problem is that Poppy isn’t sure there’s a reason good enough. Not when it comes to Talia. Not when the memory of those months of radio silence is still so fresh for her.

“I have to go to work in a building where his face is plastered everywhere, Ni, I can hardly forget his entire existence until he deems me worthy of an explanation. Who leaves after a night like that without even a note or a text?”

“An idiot,” Kelsey mutters around her drink, rolling her eyes when Nia sends her another death-glare.

“I’m not asking you to forget, I’m telling you to wait.” Nia frowns, but her tone remains consoling and warm. “You need to stop letting what this thinks,” she flicks at Poppy’s forehead, “Get in the way of what this knows.” She points to her chest on the left side. “You know him. You know how much he likes you.”

She does.

She knows Nico, she trusts him.

She can only judge him based on his actions so far - the ones that tell her that he cares. He leads with his heart, it’s his most attractive attribute. He’s gentle and loving and she needs to focus on those things over anything else.

“Ugh, corny,” Kelsey drags, and despite her repeated efforts to discourage her, Poppy knows she isn’t being entirely serious. “If he has any non-stupid hot athlete friends though, I’m first in line when the two of you kiss and make up for double dates.”

Guilt pricks slightly at Poppy’s chest - for making her recently single friend sit here and listen to her complain about something so monumentally small compared to the breakdown of the long-term relationship Kelsey had just endured. Even if it was perceivably toxic.

“You’d make such a good WAG, Kels.”

It’s a poor attempt to make up for it, but it seems to console her friend all the same, a giant grin breaking out and flashing her perfect pearly whites.

“I know.”

Poppy tries to distract herself with work. Tries to make her way through her inbox of seemingly never ending emails and her list of ever-growing tasks. She types up lengthy responses, puts together a presentation, makes a bunch of phone calls she’s been putting off for God knows how long, sorts all her invoices out - she even sends a fax. In the year 2024. It’s her most productive work day she thinks she’s ever had.

She zeroes in on the ground every time she moves through the building. Ignores the pictures that line the walls of the Rock, pushes down the memories of all the times she’s walked these very halls by Nico’s side, and she thinks she’s done just about enough to clear her mind for the time being.

She hasn’t thought up some heart wrenching scenario in at least an hour by the time she’s wrapping up for the day.

She’s making her way back to her office after dropping some files off for Elaine when she catches sight of a mop of curls over the top of the chair by her desk.

Luke is sat in her chair when she enters, swivelling around and staring at the ceiling.

“You’re gonna make yourself sick doing that, you know.”

“You’re such a mom,” he scoffs, standing up and clearly trying not to sway, “You ever tried having fun? I think I saw a glue stick on a table out there,” he points through the door into the wider office space, where there are a few, less private cubicles and a common area. “We should go sniff them, let loose a little.”

“Is that why you’re here on your day off? To huff glue?”

“Yeah, I don’t get to let loose enough. Being a rookie in the NHL is hard, Poppy,”

“Bummer for you.” She pouts, mockingly, swerving past him as he rounds her desk and sits on the other side, flicking at the bobblehead version of his older brother that stands by her computer. “If you’re chasing a high can you do it with one of the other departments, it’s not a good look for the Youth Foundation.”

“I won’t tell if you don’t.”

When Luke had first joined the Devils, she hadn’t expected that she would warm to him the way she has - but, surprisingly enough, considering the fact they’re brothers, their relationship recently has started to mirror her and Jack’s.

Luke is funny. He’s sarcastic and a little silly, and it can be nice to have him around when work gets a little stressful. He doesn’t let the pressures of his own career outweigh those of hers, and, despite the gap in age, she actually enjoys his company.

But he never seeks her out like this.

Their interactions have always started through other people. Group conversations that dwindle to just the two of them, or he usually accompanies Jack to bug her and carries on when Jack’s ever-so-busy schedule takes him elsewhere.

She can’t think of another time he’s just shown up in her office alone.

Especially on his incredibly rare day off.

“Why are you actually here?” She asks, casting a suspicious but half-playful glare his way as she starts to pack up her things. 

“Came to see if you wanted to join us for dinner.”

“Aw Lukey,” she reaches over her desk to pinch his cheek, “I’m flattered and all but I’m a little too old for you.”

“Ha ha,” he swats her hand away, “Us. Me and Jack. Maybe a couple of the others if they’re free but you can pick where we go if you make a decision quickly, we were thinking a steakhouse.”

She narrows her eyes at him, expecting him to crack a joke about her being old, but he just looks back at her awaiting a response. “Why?” She drags out the question, her movements stopping completely.

“Maybe ‘cause humans need sustenance to live? What do you mean, why?”

“Why would you want me to tag along on your bro date?”

“Don’t call it a bro date,” Luke cringes, “Just remembered you were working today and we were in the area, don’t know why you’re being weird about it.”

“You’re being weird. You guys never let me choose where we eat. Don’t you remember that time we grabbed dinner when you guys drove me home and Jack told me to stop being a pussy about my seafood allergy ‘cause he wanted sushi.”

“Don’t blame me for the crimes of my brother, Poppy, he was obviously joking.”

“I had to eat tofu, Luke, I don’t find that very funny.”

“Are you coming or not?”

“That depends, how do you have your steak?”

“Well done.”

“Oh! Then absolutely not.”

“Remind me never to try to be nice to you again.” He scowls as they make their way out of her office, and she locks up behind the two of them.

“Gladly, it’s creeping me out.” She grabs at his elbow before he can carry on, stopping him in the otherwise empty common area where she knows no one is around to listen in. “Is something going on, seriously?”

Luke rolls his eyes, but she knows him well enough that it’s only done in an attempt to avert from her gaze. 

Bingo. He’s hiding something.

“I just thought you might want some company.” He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets and twisting his lips to keep from saying much more.

“Why?”

If Poppy wanted to spend her life getting a straight answer out of people for a living, she’d have become an interrogator. What is it with these guys and their inability to answer a simple question?

“Jack said you left the party last night with Nico.”

Poppy’s eyebrows scrunch so close together that she can feel a deep crease form between them. What on earth does that have to do with asking her to dinner? Or being overly nice to her?

Unless-

“You’ve seen him?”

“This morning.”

“Oh.”

All of her efforts from throughout the day seem to have been for nothing - an immediate rush of insecurities flooding her mind.

Where did he see him? What did he say? Was he okay? Was Talia there?

She feels like she can gauge an answer from the way Luke looks. Sheepish, almost, like he doesn’t want to say something he knows will hurt her feelings.

She had to have been with him. He wouldn’t just show up to her office like this if it wasn’t something that would seriously hurt.

She wishes she wasn’t the kind of person who did this - who filled in the gaps of conversations and always came out with the worst possible outcomes - but she can’t help it. She’s been doing it all her life, and there’s rarely ever an instance where her instincts have led her astray.

She knows it’s some weird part of her mind protecting her, but she needs to do something here. Nia’s words from earlier ring like a warning. Don’t let what her brain thinks get in the way of what her heart knows.

Her heart knows Nico wanted her. Knows Nico liked her. Knows Nico wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

She needs to figure things out for herself and stop running, stop letting her mind fill in the gaps of a situation it can’t even comprehend to begin with.

She reaches her arms around Luke’s shoulders, stretching up on her tip toes to pull him into a hug before rubbing her knuckles into his curls, affectionately.

Luke Hughes is sarcastic and silly, and he cares enough about her to not want her to be alone if she’s going through something.

“Thank you for the offer, Luke, but I’ll be alright.”

“Are you sure?”

She nods, a tender smile tugging at the corners of her stubborn lips. It takes over her face, eyes glinting fondly and cheeks warming. 

“Yeah, you can walk me to my car if you’re that worried about me though.” She loops her arm through his elbow as they make their way to the parking lot, and when they get there, he makes sure she’s in her car and has set off before him and Jack leave.

As if her day can’t get any worse, the elevator in her building is cordoned off with tape and a sign when she gets home, and she has never regretted moving up a floor as much as she does when she’s trudging up 6 flights of stairs.

She’s exhausted. Emotionally and physically, and she just wants to throw herself into bed and pretend the last 24 hours were a terrible dream.

Only, as she rounds the final corner to get to her door, any hopes of that go straight down the pan when her eyes land on Nico, standing in front of her door with his hands buried in his jacket pocket.

He looks tired too - hair messed where he’s no doubt been taking his cap on and off for however long he’s been stood here, running a hand through the tresses until they’re all askew. 

His shoulders are slumped, and he doesn’t even greet her with that pretty smile he usually gives her.

His lips do curve up a touch - limp and half-hearted, not even enough for a dimple to form - but it doesn’t provide the comfort she had thought it would.

She feels anxious. A culmination of the day’s emotions washing over in one go. Sad, regretful, nervous, disappointed - all things she shouldn’t be used to feeling when it comes to Nico, but are all too familiar when she takes the last few months into account.

“Hi.” She gives a weak smile of her own.

“Can we talk?”

She wishes he’d have just said hi, back. That might have relieved the tightness in her chest just a little.

Nothing good ever comes of can we talk?

He steps aside as she approaches, maintaining a safe distance as she opens the door and enters her apartment.

The Nico from yesterday might have brushed past her, the graze of an arm or a lingering hand, but this Nico doesn’t. He barely even meets her eye.

He closes the door behind himself, watching as she discards her bag and keys to the console table on the side, and while she’s turned away from him, she tries to let whatever emotions need to come out cross her features where he can’t see them.

She needs to be cool about this, she thinks.

If she doesn’t get her back up, doesn’t get agitated, she won’t scare him off.

“Are you okay?” She asks once she’s turned to face him, not liking how he stands unmoving by the door. He hasn’t made any effort to settle in - his jacket still on and his hands still hidden in the pockets.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”

She realises now that she can get a good look at him that the expression he wears is one of shame. Guilt. Apprehension. She needs to be careful and toe the line before he gets consumed by it, she realises.

She steps toward him a little, and he doesn’t back up - not immediately, not obviously - but he hardly welcomes her approach, either.

She doesn’t like feeling this way when it comes to talking to him - feeling uneasy and unsure, but there’s a part of her that’s tired of having to prompt him for answers.

He had been the one to leave this morning. Why can’t he just come out and tell her why?

“I’m alright,” she shrugs, not wanting to scare him off with the truth. “Super tired, though, can we sit?”

She wonders if he thinks about the same things she does as they make their way to the couch. Wonders if he can feel the scratch of her nails on his torso, or the brush of her lips against his, as they sit in the spot where not even 24 hours ago, their bodies had been intertwined.

He doesn’t sit right beside her as he normally would, and she finds herself missing the way his thigh usually brushes against her own.

She doesn’t know where to start or what to ask, and so she basks in the silence for a little - finding comfort in the fact that, despite the mess they’re currently in, they aren’t quite at the end yet.

But a part of her feels it coming.

She’d known it this morning if she lets herself listen to the rational voice in her head. As soon as she’d heard him say her name, as soon as he’d left, a part of her knew that was it, and maybe if she’d let herself believe it at the time - hadn’t talked herself down and convinced herself she was being irrational - she could have protected herself from all the ways this is going to hurt.

“I’m sorry.” He says, and when she looks up, he’s looking down where his large hands are now clasped together in his lap.

“For what?” She manages to choke out.

“Last night, I,” she digs her nails into the palms of her own hands to stop herself filling in the gaps as he figures out what he wants to say, but it’s no use.

He’s sorry for last night.

Last night, he made a mistake.

Last night, he was drunk, he was confused, he was just looking for something or someone to keep him occupied.

“I care about you so much, Poppy.”

That sentence shouldn’t be the one that fills her with dread, but it is.

“You’re my best friend, and I love you,” he does look up as he says this, eye meeting hers in an attempt to convey his honesty, but she sees more of the truth in his glassy gaze than she hears in his words. “This morning, I panicked, and I just needed some time to figure out what I want.”

No, no, no.

She’d rather he tell her what actually happened than do this. Than pretend he left because he doesn’t want her.

“I love you-,”

“You said that, already.” She can’t help the bite in her tone as she prepares herself for the hit. The I love you, but.

“You’re so important to me. Being your friend, it’s like it’s what keeps me sane lately.”

She chews at the inside of her cheek as she feels the tears start to well at her lash line.

“Poppy, I don’t want to mess up what we have,” he shakes his head as his gaze drops, dark eyes darting to focus anywhere but on her own, pleading and watery as she watches him slip away. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You don’t think this is hurting me?” She feels weak as her voice breaks, “You don’t think this is already messy?”

She reaches out to take his hands in hers, digging in to unclasp them, to try thread her fingers through, but he doesn’t make it easy.

“Nico, I love you, too, you know I do, we can figure it out, you don’t have to run away from me.”

It’s a desperate attempt and she knows it is, but she needs to know she tried. When she’s sobbing into her pillow and crying herself to sleep tonight, she needs to know she didn’t just let him go without a fight.

“I can’t give you what you want, I can’t be in a relationship, I’m no good at it.” 

Regardless of what she had told herself earlier, about taking what he says at face value, and trying not to fill in the gaps like she does so often with everyone else, she can’t help herself. When he says, I can’t be in a relationship, he means with her. He can’t be with Poppy. He would be no good with Poppy.

“Why are you doing this?”

“I told you-,”

“No, you said before that you’ve wanted this for as long as you’ve known me, you don’t just wake up and change your mind, not after-,” Poppy starts to feel panic building within her like a flipped over sand timer. Rising and rising until she starts to feel nauseous, getting harder with each second not to jump to conclusions. 

The voice inside her that tells her he got what he wanted and decided it wasn’t for him sounds caustic and bitter, and if she hadn’t wound herself up so much about this whole situation over the course of the day - the past week, even, or the months before - she might have been able to fight off the way it so easily convinces her.

“I have to put the team first, it doesn’t matter what I want, I have to focus on them, on hockey.”

She’s too caught up in her own emotions to notice how weak he sounds - glassy eyes unable to catch the glint in his. All she can hear, all she can see, is the minute hints of a cover-up - that she isn’t getting the whole story, that he’s lying to her, and that the excuse he’s giving is cowardly.

He still hasn’t mentioned the call, hasn’t mentioned Talia, hasn’t explained why he left her, why he didn’t say anything, why he didn’t come back.

“And you didn’t know that before?” She scoffs, pushing herself up off the couch and stepping away from him, “I can’t believe you would do this to me.” She wipes the tears from her cheeks as soon as they fall, but she can’t rid her skin of the feeling that they were there, her flesh damp and sore.

“I know we took things a little too far last night, but that doesn’t mean-,” She almost thinks he notices how bad that hurts her, referencing the night they shared as a mistake - an instance where they got carried away, and not where they followed through on years worth of built up tension and adoration for one another. She doesn’t even have to fill in the gaps, this time. Took things a little too far is clear enough. “We can still be friends. I want to be friends.”

“Friends?” Poppy jeers in disbelief, turning completely away from him now and missing the tears that drop from his own cheeks - missing the way his chest cracks and stretches open in a last ditch demonstration of his vulnerability, his desperation not to lose her completely. “You should go.”

“Poppy,”

“I can’t,” she tries so hard not to cry, knowing she won’t be able to stop, but the words come out in a choked sob, and her voice carries on in the whiney way she always hates. “You told me you wanted more, you said I was yours, and I’m supposed to just act like it never happened? Just accept you didn’t actually mean the things you said?”

“I meant them,” he says, defiantly, so sure of himself that it makes her head spin. “I wouldn’t-,”

“No, you didn’t. You’re a liar. You were either lying then, or you’re lying now. I don’t know which is worse. I can’t be your friend. I can’t pretend like you can that I don’t feel the way I feel.”

“Please, Mohn,” His fingertips just manage to reach out to land on her forearm before she shucks him off, wincing as if his touch has pained her.

“Don’t.” She takes an immediate step back, arms crossing over herself as a defence mechanism, body language screaming at him to go away, and she watches his pleading eyes drop to her arms just as she feels the cold of the metal there - so in tune with her every thought despite his denial of their true connection. Her arms move before her mind can make the decision, before it can remember what even sits on her skin, and her shaking fingers fumble to unclasp the jewellery adorned on her wrist. “You should take this back.”

Nico shakes his head, stepping back and away from the outstretched hand that holds her gemstone bracelet like it’s an actual danger to him. “No, that’s yours, Poppy.”

“I don’t want it.” She knows she’s the one that’s lying now. She wants the bracelet. She wants him. She doesn’t want him to leave. She wants to be his friend over being nothing. 

But she doesn’t want to hurt.

Looking at him hurts.

Remembering last night, remembering their kiss, the things he has said, the things he has done, it all hurts, and she can’t keep hold of a constant reminder of the pain, can’t wear it on her person at all hours of the day just to know deep down that the man who gave it to her will never want her the same way.

“I want you to leave.”

“Please,” he begs again, head tilting as devastation floods his features, brows pushing together, tears welling at the corners of his eyes, “We need to talk about this-,”

“No, you were right, we went too far, it was a mistake.” Her voice breaks as she says things she knows she doesn’t mean, but he’s already put it out there, so she doesn’t see the harm in echoing his own opinions. “There’s nothing more to talk about.”

She can’t look at him anymore, and so she drops her gaze to his hands, stepping and reaching forward and forcing him to take the bracelet from her before she rounds the couch and heads to the door.

If he isn’t going to give her the whole truth, she isn’t going to entertain part of the story, and she needs him gone so she can give in to the way her body wants to fold in on itself.

It takes him a minute to gather himself, but she refuses to look his way, waiting by the open door to her apartment and staring at the floor in front of her until his shoes appear.

“I do love you, Poppy. I’m leaving because I don’t want to upset you any more than I already have, and I’ll give you space if that’s what you need, but I’ll be here when you want to talk about this. I mean it when I say I can’t lose you.”

 She doesn’t say anything. She can’t say anything.

There’s a stabbing pain that’s building and building in the centre of her chest, and she doesn’t even think she can breathe in his presence.

He clasps a hand around her upper arm, and leans into her, his lips pressing a firm kiss into the crown of her head, and he lingers there for a moment before he retreats. 

She manages to push the door closed behind him, the click of the lock louder than ever, and waits a good few minutes in silence before her body is wracked with a silent sob.

The one time she had tried to be brave and fight her own intuition, and this is where it gets her.

So much for Nico wouldn’t do anything to hurt her.

Next Chapter

Taglist: @alwaysclassyeagle @bunbunbl0gs @idgaf-if-youre-here @youflowerr-youfeast @thearchersstuff @bellsdi0r @wonderheartz @jjgsunflower @butterflies35 @kenziepickle @josierosie @laheyxlover @mrsmattytkachuk (sorry if your tag hasn't worked btw)

[marnerparty]

baby hughes

Jack Hughes x reader

ynhughes

Liked by colecaufield, yourbestfriend and 57,826 others

ynhughes surprise! baby Hughes coming in September :)

View all 198 comments

_quinnhughes IM GETTING A NIBLING

jackhughes come again?

_quinnhughes like sibling but for nieces and nephews

_eliaspetterrsson there’s no way this is a real word

jackhughes someone confirm please

ynhughes after a quick google search, Quinn is definitely right

jackhughes I’m so excited for this next chapter with you 🫶🏻

ynhughes i love you with my whole heart jackypoo

colecaufield you guys are gross

jackhughes it’s called love Cole. don’t be mad that you’ve never felt it

colecaufield 🖕🏻

user1 I wish I was yn hughes

nicohischier you guys!! congrats!!

jackhughes thank you cap!

ynhughes thanks Nic!🥰

lhughes_06 this is extremely mid

jackhughes that’s what I said

ynhughes and what was your idea?

jackhughes no comment

nicohischier did it have to do w/ hockey

ynhughes oh jeez

jackhughes YES! AND SHE VETOED IT!

ynhughes why’d you have to bring it up 🤦🏼‍♀️

elblue6 I’m so excited for my grand baby!! this is amazing news. congratulations yn 🩷🩷🫶🏻

ynhughes I love you Ellen!! thank you 🥰

jackhughes MOM!?

elblue6 yes?

jackhughes CONGRATULATE ME TOO!!

elblue6 congrats jack.

lhughes_06 lowercase and a period. yowzers.

trevorzegras congrats you guys!!

ynhughes thanks Trevor!!

jackhughes Uncle Trev 😎

njdevils excited for a new Jr. Devil!

Liked by ynhughes

user2 doesn’t yn know the whole world is in love with her husband? how could she do this to us?

user3 tf? it’s yn > jack any day

_alexturcotte my money would’ve been on Quinn being a dad first

jackhughes Quinn who can’t get a girlfriend?

ynhughes Jack! rude!

_quinnhughes she’s only with you cuz she’s pregnant

jackhughes she has my last name

ynhughes Quinn’s too bub

_quinnhughes HA!

jackhughes yn who’s side are you on!?

ynhughes no comment

tmeier98 congrats!

jackhughes thanks timo 🙌🏻

dawson1417 thank god, this was a hard secret to keep

jackhughes you knew??

ynhughes he was the second to know 😳

jackhughes after me right?

ynhughes well …

jackhughes WHAT!?

jackhughes who the hell was the first

ynhughes Luke …

jackhughes HUGHES!?

ynhughes yes.

lhhughes_06 I can explain

jackhughes

Liked by _alexturcotte, trevorzegras and 101,871 others

jackhughes 36 weeks & counting 🫶🏻

View all 317 comments

ynhughes babe I’m literally huge in this, I told you I didn’t like this one

jackhughes yn, honey, you’re pregnant, your belly gets big

_quinnhughes jackson you don’t know a thing about comforting a pregnant woman who’s feeling self conscious

jackhughes enlighten me then Quinn

_quinnhughes yn, you look perfect. you’re doing the hardest thing a woman could ever do and you’re making it look easy. cut yourself some slack 🫶🏻

ynhughes quinny I love you so much 🥹

_eliaspetterrsson this man has such a way with words

elblue6 I can’t wait for my grand baby!

ynhughes she’s ready to meet you Ellen!!

user1 GENDER DROP

lhughes_06 uncle Luke will be her favorite

_quinnhughes good try bud

lhughes_06 it definitely won’t be you

_quinnhughes uh, it 100% will

ynhughes boys, why are we arguing? you can both be the favorites

_quinnhughes no

lhughes_06 no

jamie.drysdale maybe it’s gonna be me

trevorzegras absolutely not

user2 this baby is gonna have so many uncles

nicohischier still can’t believe you’re having a kid

jackhughes I can’t either it’s crazy

nicohischier it’s a good thing you have yn

ynhughes Nico Hischier, always a charmer

nicohischier 😉

jackhughes hey back off you Swiss

ynhughes be kind to your daughter’s godfather

nicohischier her WHAT!?

jackhughes uh oh

ynhughes Jack Rowden Hughes you never told him!?

jackhughes yep, this one’s on me.

nicohischier you guys are serious?

ynhughes yes, Nico! we would love it if you were her Godfather :) there’s a whole gift that goes along that my incompetent husband forgot to give you, but don’t worry, I’ll mail it today

user3 yn already seems like the best mom

Liked by ynhughes

ynhughes

Liked by adamfantilli, user1 and 77,871 others

ynhughes 9.9.23 Layla Quinn Hughes 🩷

View all 229 comments

lhughes_06 this is the best birthday gift ever! I love her already

ynhughes we love you! & happy birthday Moosey :)

jackhughes perfect like her mama ❤️

ynhughes I love you Jack Hughes

jackhughes I love you yn Hughes

user1 I think Jack’s officially gone

trevorzegras MY BABY’S HERE! I’M SO EXCITED TO MEET HER

jamie.drysdale your baby?

ynhughes you like kids that much?

trevorzegras uh, yes. especially when it comes to my niece

_quinnhughes that’s seriously her name?

ynhughes yes!

_quinnhughes why??

jackhughes Quinn you’re so important to us, & you’re my older bro! it was only right

lhughes_06 now we have to battle out favorite uncle

lhughes_06 they probably named her after you because they didn’t want you to feel bad we share the same date of birth

_quinnhughes what’s more important, a name or a birthday?

colecaufield oof got him there

lhughes_06 you pick a name, you can’t pick a due date. what are the odds we’re born on the same day?

_quinnhughes actually Luke, September 9th is the most common birthday

ynhughes this is true Lukey

lhughes_06 okay, but what are the odds my niece is born on the same day as me, regardless of the statistical significance

jackhughes why are you using such big words?

edwards.73 the baby will think he’s smarter and choose him as a favorite uncle

edwards.73 his words not mine

elblue6 my first grandbaby! my heart is so full 🥰

jackhughes love you ma!

nicohischier my goddaughter is perfect 🫶🏻 congratulations you guys

ynhughes thank you Nico 🩷

jackhughes you’re the best cap!

user2 the name is adorable

tysmith_6 Jacky boy grew up, eh?

jackhughes damn right!

tysmith_6 congrats man! and congrats to you as well yn!

ynhughes thanks Ty!!

nhl another Hughes to play hockey! congrats!

Liked by ynhughes and jackhughes

dawson1417 Layla 🥹

ynhughes s/o for the suggestion !

jackhughes are we crediting Dawson for the name?

ynhughes no, but we loved this name and he was just another person who said they also liked it

jackhughes 🤨

jackhughes you’re the one that always loved that name …

ynhughes okay maybe Dawson helped a little

jackhughes

Liked by _quinnhughes, jamie.drysdale and 102,871 others

jackhughes my 🌎

Comments have been disabled

ynhughes

Liked by lhughes_06, edwards.73 and 75,887 others

ynhughes round 2!

View all 271 comments

trevorzegras NO WAY

ynhughes yes!

jackhughes so excited 🫶🏻

ynhughes nobody I’d rather have by my side 🥰

user1 jack needs to stop having kids. he’s losing his sex appeal

ynhughes speak for yourself 🤷🏼‍♀️

jamie.drysdale maybe I’ll be the favorite uncle now!

trevorzegras no, it’s my time to shine

lhughes_06 we should probably give it to the real other uncle this time @_quinnhughes

_quinnhughes fuck off

ynhughes boys! behave

lhughes_06 yn is younger than you and still putting you in your place

ynhughes Luke, I don’t care you’re one of my daughter’s favorite people I will kick your ass

lhughes_06 yes ma’am 😳

nicohischier TEAM BOY 🩵

nicohischier and congrats again :)

ynhughes you say team boy like you’re not obsessed with our Layla

nicohischier oh I am, but another Hughes to the NHL would be phenomenal. specifically to the devils

jackhughes oh yeah? and you’ll still be there playing?

nicohischier I’m playing til I’m 50

jackhughes sure bud. sure

elblue6 grandbaby x2! congrats my loves 🫶🏻

ynhughes love you mama Hughes!!

rutgermcgroarty CONGRATS!!!

ynhughes thank you! miss you Ruts!

jackhughes get outta here Michigan

rutgermcgroarty & this is why yn is superior

user2 I hope it’s a boy and that he has Jack’s smile

ynhughes hopefully w/out the missing tooth

jackhughes really? we bring the tooth up now?

ynhughes I loveee youuu

jackhughes mhm

ynhughes jackson!

jackhughes baby I love you, you know this

tysmith_6 I have name suggestions, but only for a boy (which I KNOW you’re having)

ynhughes lay ‘em on me

tysmith_6 Ryan Jackson

tysmith_6 Bradley Luke

tysmith_6 Finnegan Ty

lhughes_06 thanks for the recognition

ynhughes these are really cute actually

tysmith_6 yeah, I’m awesome, it’s whatever

jackhughes who’s gonna tell him

tysmith_6 tell who what

jackhughes tell you something

tysmith_6 ????

ynhughes we already know it’s a girl!

tysmith_6 NOOOOOOOOOOOO

tysmith_6 I mean, yay, of course. but no :(

colecaufield most of the time these comments are just one on one conversations

ynhughes and what about it cole

jackhughes he’s just jealous

jackhughes

Liked by bauerhockey, tmeier98 and 130,761 others

jackhughes baby girl #2! meet Olivia Ellen Hughes!

View all 229 comments

nhl Layla & Olivia! congrats Hughes’ on the new addition!

njdevils another Jr. Devil! congrats!

edwards.73 CONGRATS!! miss you yn!

ynhughes thank you E! love & miss you!! 🥰

trevorzegras she’s so perfect 🥹

ynhughes Trev 🥺

lhughes_06 YN Hughes: baddest bitch I know

ynhughes Lukester 🫶🏻

jackhughes now she’s crying, you made her cry

ynhughes it’s just the hormones, Luke is so sweet to me 😭

nicohischier another favorite human to add to the list! congrats jack & yn!

ynhughes thank you Nico! we love you!

tysmith_6 well, if you find yourself pregnant again, you know where to find me for names

ynhughes will do sir 🫡

tysmith_6 oh and conrgats too!!

user1 and the family keeps growing

elblue6 love you guys! so excited for you & your new bundle of joy 🩷

jackhughes thanks mama

colecaufield the cutest lil mama’s boy

jackhughes shut it Caufield

ynhughes Jack be nice. Cole’s a good one

jamie.drysdale need to meet her IMMEDIATELY

jamie.drysdale please & thanks :)

trevorzegras no me first

jamie.drysdale we live together idiot

trevorzegras okay but I get to open the door

jackhughes who says we’re bringing her there??

ynhughes I already yes.

jackhughes babe wtf?? bringing our newborn to what’s equivalent to a frat house?

trevorzegras woah woah woah, it’s nothing like that at all

jamie.drysdale that’s insulting Jack

ynhughes I can’t say no to Jamie

_quinnhughes congratulations you guys

ynhughes thanks Quinny!!

jackhughes 🫶🏻

user2 I still think they break up

ynhughes it’ll happen soon. I’ll just trap him for his child support

_alexturcotte LMAO

_quinnhughes oh yn

luca.fantilli congrats!! I’m a lil behind on the life updates 😬

ynhughes don’t worry Luca, you’re forgiven :)

jackhughes why are you friends with all these Michigan hockey kids

lhughes_06 from the umich football game?

jackhughes the what?

ynhughes oh shit

jackhughes when did you go to a football game with all the boys????

ynhughes you were on a 10 day roadie! what else was I supposed to do, wait for you at home??

jackhughes that’s not what I said! I’m just shocked I was never told

rutgermcgroarty yeah we love yn

adamfantilli facts

ynhughes

Liked by elblue6, nicohischier and 73,981 others

ynhughes these girls sure love their daddy ❤️

Comments on this post have been limited

njdevils our favorite Hughes posting our favorite Hughes’ :)

lhughes_06 HEY

nicohischier oof that’s tough

_quinnhughes is Layla kicking him in the face?😂

jackhughes it’s unknown what she was trying to accomplish

lhughes_06 she takes after her favorite uncle.. always kicking Jack’s ass

jackhughes at least the devils don’t hate me

ynhughes Jack that’s mean

user1 the most gorgeous family

elblue6 my girls minus one!

ynhughes mama e >>>>

jackhughes MA!? I’m in the photo too!

elblue6 I can’t lie and say you’re my favorite boy Jack

colecaufield oh shit

jackhughes I’m running away

trevorzegras it’s that karate she’s learning 😎

ynhughes she’s been BEGGING to see uncle Trev so you can watch Kung-Foo Panda. you’re the only person she let’s watch it with her

trevorzegras 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 I love her so much

jackhughes maybe Trevor is the favorite uncle

jackhughes love you & our creations 🫶🏻

tysmith_6 that makes it sound like they’re paintings

jackhughes well then I’m fucking Da Vinci

trevorzegras then who are you?

jackhughes …

jackhughes Da Vinci

trevorzegras no that’s yn

jackhughes what???

trevorzegras you said you’re fucking Da Vinci ?

jamie.drysdale OH MY GOD

ynhughes TREVOR NOT THE VERB

_quinnhughes Jesus Christ

trevorzegras oh I’m embarrassed

user2 it wouldn’t be a yn Hughes post without a hectic comment section

Liked by ynhughes

ynhughes

Liked by nsuzuki_37, biznasty and 88,719 others

ynhughes our secret baby :) Caroline Florence💕

tagged jackhughes

View all 309 comments

luca.fantilli NO WAY

ynhughes WAY

luca.fantilli CONGRATS!!

ynhughes thanks Tilly 🥰

elblue6 so glad the secret is out!! I love my babies 🥰

ynhughes & they all love you Ellen 🥰🥰🥰

jamie.drysdale I already knew about this but I can’t believe it’s real. big congrats guys 🩷

jackhughes thanks kid!

ynhughes love you mucho jimbo!

njdevils we’ve said it once & we’ll say it again, congrats on the new addition!!

Liked by ynhughes and jackhughes

jackhughes officially a girl dad :)

ynhughes I love you Jack Hughes always 🫶🏻

lhughes_06 ew

_quinnhughes grow up

lhughes_06 you’re never on my side these days what’s up w/ that??

ynhughes guys why are we fighting in a comment section?

rutgermcgroarty because they’re children

biznasty you got this kid whipped

ynhughes boy don’t i

biznasty congrats yn & Jack! enjoy this time!

ynhughes thanks Paul🩷

trevorzegras how come you were never this nice to me

biznasty get outta here Zegras this isn’t your kid

trevorzegras it’s my niece, basically the same thing

jackhughes oh not at all

ynhughes not close Trev

lhughes_06 he’s so outnumbered

ynhughes that’s what he gets for growing up in a house of all boys

jackhughes hey that’s Ellen’s fault

elblue6 whose fault?

trevorzegras DAMN

_quinnhughes caught

jackhughes love you mom 🫶🏻

elblue6 mhm

_alexturcotte Jack’s been busy

ynhughes “busy”

jackhughes hey I do a lot!

_alexturcotte not what I meant guys

ynhughes ohhhhh

jackhughes ah he meant sex

colecaufield your parent radar is very censoring

user1 I think Jack’s officially officially taken

ynhughes the marriage wasn’t enough?

jackhughes the first 2 kids weren’t enough?

edwards.73 who knew what we needed was these two hanging up on haters?

nicohischier congrats guys! I’m proud of you kid

ynhughes ❤️❤️❤️

jackhughes cap 🥹

tysmith_6 CONGRATS!!!

tysmith_6 but something’s missing …

jackhughes yn I swear to God

ynhughes Caroline was all me …

ynhughes Florence may have been a Ty suggestion

jackhughes sometimes I feel like I’m just married to Ty

nhl can’t wait for these girls to run the hockey world someday like they’re dad & uncles! congratualtions!

ynhughes well this is just adorable

lhughes_06 *like their uncle Luke

jackhughes omg this little shit

_quinnhughes for real what went wrong with him?

elblue6 I wish I knew

lhughes_06 MA

[ohmyeyesmyeyes]

best game in the league

nico hischier x actress!reader

warnings: swearing, mentions of drugs, not proofread

liked by madelyncline, charles_leclerc and 472,973 others

ynofficial: hot girl shit w/ jimmy fallon tonight

view all comments

fan1: slay bestie

fan2: you literally never miss

charles_leclerc: ferrari admin thanks you for repping

liked by ynofficial

fan3: charles?

fan4: i always forget they're friends

madelyncline: u make me question things about myself

ynofficial: i mean, if you ever need help with that...

liked by ynsuperfan, maddiebaby234 and 1,292 others

enews: Days after announcing she's officially off the market, Daisy Jones and the Six's y/n l/n and Glass Onion's Madelyn Cline spotted leaving the New Jersey Devil's NHL game tonight. The two have a history of flirting on Instagram and many years of friendship under their belts - could Madelyn be Y/N's beau?

view all comments

fan5: pretty sure madelyn has a bf?

fan6: y/n swings both ways but madelyn does not unfortunately

fan7: does enews not know what friendship is?

fan8: they always go to hockey games together lmao it's nothing new

liked by sukiwaterhouse, reneerapp and 592,163 others

ynofficial: 13

and no, enews, madelyn is not my gf (she's my wife)

view all comments

enews: interesting

njdevils: blasting red rn because of you

ynofficial: taylor's version?

njdevils: only ever taylor's version

fan9: i think that women-

madelyncline: ur my good looking girl

fan10: mommies

fan11: i need you to do vogue's 73 questions in your new house

ynofficial posted to their story

liked by ynofficial, charles_leclerc and 213, 186 others

britishvogue: a sneak peek into y/n's new home as requested...featuring a familiar face in a photo frame

view all comments

charles_leclerc: of all pictures ynofficial you have that one?

ynofficial: it was the only one i had where you didn't look like a goblin

fan12: the mat!! the mirror!! charles!!

fan13: they knew each other when they were babies???? I HAD NO IDEA

fan14: probably to avoid dating rumours :/

fan15: not yn out here having a frame photo of charles like a proud mum

liked by charles_leclerc and ynofficial

fan16: what if it's charles?

fan17: she said in an interview she still lives in america, and charles lives in monaco

fan18: they're completely platonic

liked by jhughes, madelyncline and 48,173 others

nicohischier: swipe for a soft launch

view all comments

jhughes: NICO??? I THOUGHT WE HAD SOMETHING???

trevorzegras: dude you have the best game in the league

fan19: honey we agreed not to tell anyone

fan20: and another one bites the dust

liked by nicohischier, gracieabrams and 629,123 others

ynofficial: i might not do crystal meth in the bathroom but i definitely do a hockey captain

view all comments

fan21: OH MY GONWJ

fan22: i need to know if she's sober is she sober

madelyncline: absolutely not no

charles_leclerc: LMFAO WAS THIS SUPPOSED TO GO ON YOUR MAIN?????

fan23: icon behaviour

fan24: NICO???? OH

ynofficial: that's what i say too

fan25: fuck ok

jhughes: nicohirschier

nicohirschier: wOw she's hot

jhughes: you're just as wasted aren't you?

nicohischier: yah

fan26: literally how did no one get this???????? all the twitter threads and no one thought the reason she was such a devils fan was because she was dating their captain?????

fan27: GUYS TWITTER CRASHED WTF

liked by charles_leclerc, ynofficial and 123,862 others

nicohischier: i'm the captain in case you didn't know

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ynofficial: yeah you are

charles_leclerc: oh we knew

nicohischier: oops

ynofficial: wait this means people know i have feelings

nicohischier: feelings? ew

madelyncline: are we in fifth grade or something?

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ynofficial: i'm a wag now, and as a wag i'm going to create a little (emphasis on little) list of things i've learnt over the last 2 years: if he bleeds he's not going to die, he might just need extra cuddles for a few days; fighting is BAD, it is definitely not something to encourage *wink*; nico will feel physically ill if he doesn't have a glass of orange juice each morning; roadies suck but the sex is phenomenal; jack is like our pet dog - feed him, give him shelter and love him unconditionally

also, i'm now gonna log off social media for a while because this is all the simping i'm comfortable with this month sorry

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nicohischier: am i a wag too?

ynofficial: omg you ARE

nicohischier: oh my god i love the wag lifestyle

_quinnhughes: i'm gonna frame that analogy of jack

ynofficial: i can send you a print i already did it

jhughes: rude

charles_leclerc: from one red guy to the other, can i be best man?

ynofficial: you can be my man of honour, madelyn's would be my maid

madelyncline: when is the wedding

fan28: WEDDING? WTF

fan29: i love how yn went from completely avoiding all questions about a romantic relationship and now she's hibernating because she's been figured out

[luvhughes43]

tornado warning | nico hischier x reader

summary: every summer nico comes back home to Switzerland and resumes his fling with yn even though she knows it’s not good for her.

lyrics: "don't understand how quickly we get right back in our rhythm without missing a step, and logically the last thing i should have on my mind but i want you there sometimes"

"i guess maybe thats why im lying to my therapist, i keep saying things like "i never saw him and we never kissed"

word count: 1.1k

you and nico were kind of a thing before he moved to the us for hockey. it was the average high school relationship, hand holding and late night talks on the phone. it was never supposed to be how it is now. you weren’t together, but every time off-season hit, Nico was back in Switzerland and you were suddenly calling out for him and he was there, every single time. 

Don't understand how quickly we get

Right back in our rhythm without missing a step

And logically, the last thing I should have on my mind

But I want you there sometimes

he had just gotten back in the country less than 24 hours ago, and your mind was already reeling with how quick everything was already going. he was in your bed shirtless, arms slung around your waist as soft music played in the background. you could feel the rise and fall of his chest against your side, and you could feel his soft hair against your fingertips as you let them brush across his scalp.

“Ni?” you whispered, unsure if he had already fallen asleep.

“Yes?” he replied groggily, not bothering to move so he could look up at you.

you debated on asking him what the two of you were, what you were even doing. you knew that when he inevitably left you again at the end of the summer you would be a wreck, and despite yours, your friends, and your therapists advice, you couldn’t quit Nico. 

I guess maybe that's why 

I'm lying to my therapist

I keep saying things like 

"I never saw him and we never kissed"

your lovely therapist knew all about your relationship with Nico. It was a topic that came up regularly during your hour-long sessions. 

“I just don’t know what i’m going to do about this, like… we always fall back into how things were, and i just don’t know if i can do it anymore,” you went over your dilemma for what seemed like the hundredth time. your therapist nodded her head slowly as she listened to you once again reiterate your issues. 

she set her pen down against her notepad before looking into your eyes, “be honest, have you seen him since he came back?” she questioned and you tried to still your fidgeting. 

“No, i never saw him. I’ve just heard from friends who’ve seen him around,” you lied smoothly, shifting a little on the couch you were sitting on. If your therapist knew you had kissed him too… multiple times… you knew what she’d say. she wants you to move on but how can you when Nicos at your doorstep and is asking for you? you just can’t seem able to get over him.

I think he's onto me every time I say

"I'm over that son of a bitch"

“I am so over him,” you slur to your friends who all give each other side glances. you’ve been telling them the same thing for years, and it seemed like Nico had a sixth sense when it came to you trying to get over him. Every time you declared you were over him, he was calling or doing something to pull you right back in.

“yn honey, why don’t you-” your friend started but you eagerly cut her off.

“no like seriously this time, how dare he come back to me! like he thinks he can just come back into my life every damn time!” you practically shouted, getting up off the couch to really make your point clear. You pointed in the directions of each of your friends and continued, “next time he calls, guys i swear just take my phone and block him because i am never, and i mean never! talking to him again!” you slurred your words and your friends just nodded at your new attempt to rid yourself of Nico.

not even a minute later he was calling your phone, your ringtone blaring through the material of your jeans as you urgently fished it out. “yn who is it?” one of your friends asked as she moved to stand next to you. 

a goofy smile took over your face once you saw Nicos contact. The rest of your friends didn't even need to peek at your phone to know who was calling. “i’m just going to answer it,” you giggled a bit, pulling away from your small group of friends.

“yn no! you just said you were never going to talk to him again!” your friend jumped off the couch and rushed over to you, trying to grab your phone out of your hand before you accepted the call. 

she was too late. you shielded your phone from her and quickly accepted, smiling into the phone once you heard Nicos voice on the other end of the call.

“Ni!” you giggled into the call, all of your previous sentiments ignored the second you heard his voice asking for you to come over. all of your friends watched you walk out the door and into his car, all of them groaning when you two drove off.

I'll drive you home

You drive me crazy

But that's not gonna stop me

I'll call you out

You call me "baby"

it was nico’s last night in switzerland before he was catching a flight back to jersey. you were driving him home after a late night at your apartment, not having the urge to turn him away when he called saying he wanted to properly tell you goodbye.

“you drive me crazy, Ni” you sighed, watching him unbuckle himself out of your passenger side. 

“what are you talking about baby?” he asked, seemingly unaware of the effect his words had on you. 

“I’m not your baby” you admitted softly, turning around so you can face him full on. his brow furrowed at your words. you desperately wanted to say something to him, bring up your feelings or how conflicted you were about this whole relationship-that-wasn’t. but you guys were never the ones to sit and chat about all your feelings, so you let it all go. 

“I’m sorry, i think i’m just tired” you tried laughing it off but it sounded a little strained. 

“well we had a busy night,” Nico laughed as you felt your face heat up, turning around so he could face you properly too.

you smiled at him, painfully aware that this was the last time you’d be seeing him in months. you felt the lump grow in your throat, and you painfully swallowed it back as Nico reached for the door handle. 

Nico opened the door. he halfway outside before he seemingly realized something and leaned back inside, kissing you softly on the lips over the middle of your console. 

he pulled away too soon, and then you sat watching him walk away. The lump in your throat getting more painful with every step he took. you had no idea how you were going to get him out of your mind this time.

[brainddeadd]

Injury

Nico Hischier x Hughes!sister reader

Jack Hughes x sister!reader, Quinn Hughes x sister!reader, Luke Hughes x sister!reader, Trevor Zegras x platonic!reader, Jayden Williamson x ex!reader (OC)

(smau, text and written)

warnings: BLOOD IN IMAGE, injury mention

nicoynfan: nico injured at today's game

tagged: nicohischier, ynhughes

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ynhughes: WHAT

user: not this being how yn finds out her man is injured

nicoynfan: nico with stitches in his cheek after his injury at the game

tagged: nicohischier, ynhughes

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ynhughes: NICO WHAT

user: shes losing her mind

Arriving at Nico's, you ran from your car, rushing out a 'hello' to Sam on the door before you're frantically pressing the button to his floor. Tapping your foot impatiently, you sigh in relief when the door dings and opens, rushing out and down the hallway to Nico's apartment. Banging on the door, it takes only a few seconds before the door swings open and you're dragged into warm arms and a firm chest.

"Hi, Sunneschi," he coos, his hand falling to your hair, good cheek pressing to the top of your head.

"Neeks," you sigh into his chest, relaxing into his hold. Nico shuffles you along the floor so he can kick his door shut, arms holding you close as he leads you over to the couch. He untangles himself enough to lower into the couch, pulling you into his lap as he moves, your weight settling onto his thighs comfortably. Your eyes run over his cheek, taking in the damage made, a frown forming as you fully take him in.

"Not too ugly for you?" He jokes but your eyes widen and your head shakes, hands flying to his face.

"No Nico," your voice is rushed and panicked. "Baby, I don't care what you look like, I'm worried about you."

Nico smiles softly, his thumb brushing over your cheekbone.

"My Sunneschi," he sighs happily, "I'm ok, I promise."

He leans in, pressing a soft kiss to your lips.

jackhughes: came to check on neeks and found this 🤢

tagged: nicohischier, ynhughes

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ynhughes: WHAT WHEN HOW

user: poor yn being put through it today

nicohischier: we're cute

[brainddeadd]

Engagement

Nico Hischier x Hughes!sister reader

Jack Hughes x sister!reader, Quinn Hughes x sister!reader, Luke Hughes x sister!reader, Trevor Zegras x platonic!reader, Jayden Williamson x ex!reader (OC)

ynhughes: Yesterday I said yes to the love of my life

tagged: nicohischier

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nicohischier: She said yes, and now I get to love her for the rest of our lives

tagged: ynhughes

liked by _quinnhughes, lhughes_06, and others

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jackhughes: I guess they're cute

tagged: ynhughes, nicohischier

liked by trevorzegras, lhughes_06, and others

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lhughes_06: took you long enough nicohischier

tagged: ynhughes, nicohischier

liked by trevorzegras, jackhughes, and others

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_quinnhughes: I'm so happy for you both

tagged: ynhughes, nicohischier

liked by ynhughes, lhughes_06, and others

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trevorzegras: I wasn't there for the proposal (rude btw) but I was there the entire time you guys were falling in love. I was there to watch you make each other the happiest any of us have ever seen. I was there to watch Nico hold Yn as she felt like the world was falling apart, and I was there to watch Yn glue Nico back together when his world crumbled. I was there for all of the sickeningly sweet moments and all of the fights and the days when nothing was going right. I was there for the days that felt like they were pulled from a fairytale. I was there to watch them meet and fall in love. I am so happy for you, Yn and Nico. You guys are perfect together and perfect for each other.

tagged: ynhughes, nicohischier

liked by ynhughes, nicohischier, and others

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[brainddeadd]

Soft Launch.. Kinda

Nico Hischier x Hughes!sister reader

Jack Hughes x sister!reader, Quinn Hughes x sister!reader, Luke Hughes x sister!reader, Trevor Zegras x platonic!reader, Jayden Williamson x ex!reader (OC)

ynhughes: summer 2024

liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes, and others

user: GIRLY WE ALL KNOW ITS NICO

user2: wait nico hasn't liked it..

user3: oh god user4: it is not nico ?!?!?!

user5: THE HAND PLACEMENT

nicohischier: summer 2024

liked by _quinnhughes, trevorzegras, and others

user: YN ?!?!?!?

ynhughes: i love you

liked by _quinnhughes, jackhughes, and others

user: OH THATS SWITZERLAND

user2: AND NICO

nicohischier: ich liebe dich, sunneschi

liked by lhughes_06, jackhughes, and others

user: OH MY GOD

[brainddeadd]

young player x devils are so cute🥺🥺

okay maybe she’s sick and jack becomes mother hen and nico is just a very worried captain

Sick Day

It was a rare day off for the New Jersey Devils, but instead of relishing the free time, Jack Hughes found himself fidgeting as he checked his phone for the hundredth time. Yn—his teammate, and someone the boys had practically adopted as a little sister—had been under the weather for the last couple of days, and Jack wasn’t having it.

Jack, ever the mother hen, had texted her first thing in the morning: "How are you feeling? Need anything?"

The response, though, wasn’t immediate. Jack frowned, and Nico Hischier, the ever-worried captain, noticed his unease. “She hasn’t answered yet?”

“No, and that’s not like her. She usually replies right away,” Jack muttered.

“She’s probably just resting,” Nico said, though the furrow in his brow gave away his own concern.

Luke Hughes, Jack’s younger brother, and Dawson Mercer were sprawled out on the couch nearby, equally aware of the situation. They had grown protective of her too. She was the youngest player on the team, and from the moment she joined the Devils, they’d all taken her under their wing.

“She’s tough, Jack,” Dawson said, trying to reassure him. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. Probably just tired.”

“But what if she’s too sick to take care of herself?” Jack shot back, pacing around the room. “I should just go check on her.”

“You’re overreacting, man. Just give her some time,” Luke said, though he was starting to glance at his own phone more frequently now.

Nico sighed, pulling out his car keys. “I’m driving. Let’s go check on her, just in case.”

Jack’s face lit up, while Luke and Dawson exchanged glances, knowing they couldn’t just sit back now either. So, all four of them piled into Nico’s car, with Jack already texting her, "We're coming over."

When they arrived at her apartment, Jack was the first one out of the car, practically sprinting to the door. He knocked, a little too urgently, and the door creaked open after a few moments.

She appeared, looking pale and wrapped in a blanket, but she gave them a small smile. “You guys didn’t need to come over.”

“You didn’t answer, we got worried,” Jack said, his voice gentle but his eyes scanning her face for any signs of distress. “Have you eaten? Drank water? What’s going on?”

Nico gave her a look that could only be described as 'captain mode,' his protective instincts kicking in. “You should’ve told us if you were feeling this bad. Have you seen a doctor?”

She waved them off with a weak laugh. “I’m fine, really. Just a cold. I didn’t want to bother you guys.”

“Bother us?” Luke chimed in, crossing his arms. “You’re part of the team, you can always tell us.”

Dawson shot her a warm grin. “Yeah, we’d rather you bother us than sit here alone feeling like this.”

Jack, already moving around her kitchen, started rifling through cabinets. “Alright, you need tea, something warm to eat, and rest. I’ll make some soup or something.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Since when do you know how to cook?”

“Since right now,” Jack said, determined, and Nico let out a small chuckle as he sat down next to her, still watching her carefully.

“You’ll be back on the ice in no time, but until then, we’re here,” Nico said firmly. “No arguments.”

She looked around at the four of them—Jack, hovering around like an overprotective mom, Nico with his captain’s watchful eye, and Luke and Dawson looking just as concerned. It was overwhelming, but in a way that made her feel like she truly belonged.

“Thanks, guys. Really.”

“No thanks needed,” Jack called out from the kitchen. “Just promise me you’ll tell us next time. Now, who wants some terrible soup?”

The room filled with light laughter, and for a moment, she forgot she was even sick, surrounded by her boys—her team, her family.

[brainddeadd]

Off Limits

Hughes!sister Masterlist

Nico Hischier x Hughes!sister reader

Jack Hughes x sister!reader, Quinn Hughes x sister!reader, Luke Hughes x sister!reader, Trevor Zegras x platonic!reader, Jayden Williamson x ex!reader (OC)

Posted out of order

Summary:

Y/n Hughes, international popstar, moved from Michigan to New Jersey to start fresh after ending things with her cheating ex-boyfriend, Jayden Williamson. The escape brought not only a new career path but a chance to reconnect with her twin brother, Jack Hughes, when he was drafted by the Devils in July 2019.

Living with Jack and later their younger brother Luke, Y/n quickly became part of the Devils' family. She developed a strong friendship with the team members, including Nico Hischier, the Devils' captain, who also lived in the same building. During quarantine in 2020, Nico and Y/n grew even closer, their friendship blossoming into something more—but there's a catch: Jack declared his sister off-limits the moment he arrived in the city, and their older brother Quinn, always protective, sent his own warnings from Vancouver.

With Jack and Quinn guarding the line between friendship and romance, Y/n and Nico are stuck between their growing feelings for each other and the brothers’ overprotectiveness. As the tension builds, Y/n is faced with the dilemma: risk her brothers' wrath for a chance at happiness with Nico or keep her feelings buried?

Meet the characters

2019

Jack and Trevor's draft (smau)

2020

Jack and Yn's 21st birthday (smau)

2021

Yn's new album (smau)

Better be tough (smau)

Summer (smau)

2022

Sand (smau)

Fan interactions (smau)

Twin time (smau)

Summer '22 (smau)

Best friends (smau)

Woman like me (smau)

In the crowd (smau)

Hate and conversations (smau and written)

The one with the stories (smau)

2023

Risk it all (smau)

Fan posts (smau)

Secret love song (smau)

2024

Sunny (smau)

Worries (smau)

Worries pt 2 (written and smau)

Worries pt 3 (written)

Worries (bonus text/smau)

Soft launch.. kinda (smau)

Injury (smau, text, written) (please check warnings before reading)

Timezone (smau)

Strip (smau)

Tattoos (smau)

Engagement (smau)

[brainddeadd]

https://www.tumblr.com/brainddeadd/765134623052349440/for-young-player-x-ndj-devils-in-her-corner-are

waittttttt her with matt is so good.

maybe matt and her have crossed paths before she was a devil and now she’s a devil and he’s playing with the rangers and he seems to be fighting all of her teammates and she ain’t sure what to feel as she remembered meeting him and he was so sweet and now everyone in the team is hating him

ok look.. i love the idea of her with matt.. so much. i thought i wanted her with trev, but something about rivals to lovers tugs at my heart

Rivalries and Mixed Feelings

Being the youngest player—and the only woman—on the New Jersey Devils came with its challenges, but it also came with a massive bonus: the team had her back no matter what. Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Luke Hughes, and the rest of the guys treated her like their little sister. They chirped her relentlessly, sure, but they also protected her fiercely, both on and off the ice.

However, things got complicated when Matt Rempe entered the picture.

Yn had met Matt before she joined the Devils—back when she was still finding her place in pro hockey. Back then, he had been sweet, easygoing, and quick with a laugh. She remembered thinking how rare it was to meet someone in the league who was so kind. But now, things were different.

Matt was with the Rangers. And not just with the Rangers—he seemed hell-bent on making Yn’s teammates hate him.

The first time it happened, Matt dropped the gloves with Jonas Siegenthaler in a close game at MSG. She hadn’t thought much of it—fights happened all the time. But then, in the next game, Matt had tangled with Kevin Bahl, and by the third time they faced the Rangers, he was jawing at Jack and Nico on nearly every shift.

Yn stood on the bench, chewing her mouthguard anxiously as Matt chirped Nico during a faceoff. “Dude, what’s your problem with my team?” she muttered under her breath.

Jack leaned over beside her, his jaw tight. “Rempe’s a giant pain in the ass, that’s the problem.”

Luke shot her a look too. “If he comes near you, we’re jumping him.”

She rolled her eyes, but the truth was, the tension gnawed at her. Matt wasn’t just fighting the Devils—he was fighting her people. The guys who had welcomed her, supported her, and treated her like family. And it felt… weird. Like betrayal, almost.

The final straw came late in the third period of their latest matchup. Yn was trying to get open in front of the net when she felt someone behind her. She turned—and there was Matt, towering over her.

“Rempe,” she muttered, catching her breath.

“Hey, Yn,” he said, his voice low. For a second, there was that familiar softness in his eyes—the one she remembered from before. But it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

“You good?” he asked, as if they were catching up at a coffee shop instead of standing in the middle of a heated rivalry game.

Before she could respond, Nico skated in, shoving Matt away with a glare. “Back off, Rempe.”

Jack followed right behind, practically growling. “Go bother someone else, man.”

Matt raised his hands as if in surrender, smirking slightly, but Yn saw the flash of frustration in his eyes. As he skated off, Luke leaned down next to her, muttering, “He’s lucky we didn’t deck him.”

After the game, Yn sat in the locker room, her mind spinning.

Why was Matt acting like this? Why was he picking fights with her team when she knew—deep down—that he wasn’t a bad guy?

Jack plopped down beside her, snapping her out of her thoughts. “Forget about him,” he said. “Rempe’s just another Ranger. No point wasting your energy.”

But it wasn’t that simple. She couldn’t just switch off the part of her that remembered Matt’s kindness, even if he was doing everything possible to become public enemy number one.

Later that night, as she scrolled through her phone, a text popped up.

Matt Rempe: Hey. You okay?

She stared at the screen, conflicted.

After a moment, she typed back: Why are you fighting everyone on my team?

His response came quickly. It's just hockey, Yn. Doesn’t mean I don’t care.

Her heart twisted at the words. She knew she should hate him—he was the enemy now, after all. But somehow, she just couldn’t bring herself to.

And that? That was going to make things complicated.

[brainddeadd]

Tattoos

Nico Hischier x Hughes!sister reader

Jack Hughes x sister!reader, Quinn Hughes x sister!reader, Luke Hughes x sister!reader, Trevor Zegras x platonic!reader, Jayden Williamson x ex!reader (OC)

nicoynfan: yn was seen with a '13' tattoo, which is nico's number !!

tagged: ynhughes, nicohischier

liked by user, user2, and others

user: oh that's.. ok

user2: didn't they only just get together

user3: they only just made it public, we have no idea when they got together

user4: oh.. creepy ngl

user5: that's weird

user6: CUTEEEE

nicohischier: I love you, endlessly, my Sunneschi

tagged: ynhughes

liked by ynhughes, jackhughes, and others

ynhughes: I love you, eternally