#the way mitch puts his water bottle in the holder n auston immediately picks his up

[3416]

girl you okay? 😭

absolutely fucking not klfjsdklfjsdkl. look at these gifs and tell me you are

[hockeylvr59]

Promises part 4 || Auston Matthews

Requested: [ ] yes [x] no

Authors Note: Welp...here’s part 4 yinz. Ft. Morgan Rielly (hope this satisfies you for now anon) with mentions of Mitch Marner, Frederik Andersen, and Zach Hyman. Let me know what you think.

Warnings: none

Word Count: 2224

Taking care of Owen was honestly the brightest part of each and every day. He was the happiest baby and watching him grow was such a blessing.

The day before he turned two months old you’d asked Auston to bring you a puck home. Though he was confused, he had complied, leaving it on the island so you’d find it. The team had left for a road trip early the following morning and Auston was at dinner with a few of the guys when you’d attached him into a group chat with his parents and sisters as well as some of the guys whose numbers he’d insisted you needed if you were going to be taking care of Owen frequently.

Since you weren’t there to see it, you could only imagine Auston’s reaction when he saw the photo of Owen lounging on the couch with his Carlton stuffed bear next to him and the puck with a silver ‘2’ written on it laying on his stomach. Things had been too crazy for anyone to think about documenting Owen’s first month development but it was something that you wanted to make sure happened from here on out. Especially with Auston on the road so much, you thought it would be a good way for him to reflect and look back on Owen growing up.

The photo received glowing comments from Auston’s family as well as some of the guys who loved that you had included hockey into the theme. You already knew what you were going to do at months three and four and you were sure Auston would love those as well.

____

You’d officially been helping to take care of Owen for a month the first time you’d met any of Auston’s teammates. With the boys having an off day besides an early practice you weren’t even supposed to be over at Auston’s that day since he could take care of his son when the nanny left.

Plans changed though when the nanny, Maria, called you around 3pm because Owen had been screaming his head off for nearly two hours. Nothing she did would calm him which was strange because you’d seen her with Owen and he had taken to her well.

Since you were done with class for the day, you’d told her that you would head over and see if you could get him to sleep. Within five minutes of you taking Owen, he’d stopped his tantrum and was curled against you sound asleep. Maria murmured something about how he’d just missed you and while you hated to admit it, it seemed like she had a point. She seemed exhausted and seemed like she had a headache so you assured her that she could head home and you would stay with Owen. As she left she informed you that Auston had mentioned having the guys over around dinner time.

You were dancing around the kitchen with Owen watching you from his swing when Auston came home. He was talking loudly with Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, Frederik Andersen, and Zach Hyman and you rolled your eyes.

“Don’t you know you’re supposed to be quiet in case the baby is sleeping…” You called out scolding them teasingly, honestly thankful that Owen had woken from his nap shortly before because you would be annoyed if they had woken him after how long it had taken you and Maria to get him to sleep.

“Y/n, what are you doing here?” Auston asked when he came around the corner to find you layering noodles with pasta sauce, ricotta cheese, and a mixture of italian sausage and ground beef. If the guys were going to be here for dinner you figured homemade lasagna was better than them ordering pizza out.

“Maria called me when Owen wouldn’t stop screaming.” You declared with a shrug, turning to grab a bag of italian cheese out of his fridge. “And before you ask or insinuate, no she wasn’t doing anything wrong, she was super patient with him, he just was being fussy and evidently missed me.” After adding the final layers to the lasagna, you popped it into the oven and set the timer before looking back at him. “And she had the start of a migraine coming on so I told her to go home and that I’d stay here.”

“Oh.” Auston murmured and before he could say anything else his teammates had descended on the kitchen.

“There’s the little man…” Mitch declared spotting Owen and seeing the baby crinkle his face up you chuckled to yourself as you turned to fetch a bottle as Owen’s cries echoed through the room. Mitch immediately jumped back declaring that he hadn’t even touched him and after running the bottle under hot water and testing it on your wrist you held it out to him.

“He’s just hungry. If you pick him up and feed him I’m sure you’ll be his new best friend.” You assured him. Once his teammates helped him get a handle on Owen, you handled the bottle over to let Mitch feed him and then turned back to the kitchen to cut up some vegetables for a salad.

“You don’t have to do all that…” Auston whispered softly from beside you.

“I don’t mind, but if you want me to leave so you can have boys night that’s fine.” You stated, wiping your hands on a dish towel as you glanced over your shoulder at him. The last thing you wanted to do was interfere with his life. You were friends and you watched Owen but that was all and so if he wanted some time alone with his teammates you certainly couldn’t fault him for that.

“No. No. It’s fine.” He assured you. “I just...you already do so much. You don’t have to make dinner for all my teammates too. We could have just ordered out.”

“Yeah because that’s good for you…” You stated smirking. “I’d rather you guys not be sluggish tomorrow because you ate unhealthy take out with way too much sodium. It’s not like throwing together a lasagna is hard Aus…”

Throwing his hands up in defeat he murmured a thank you before heading to chat with his teammates and supervise his best friend feeding his son. It wasn’t long before the empty bottle was being placed beside the sink and you called out a reminder to bump Owen because otherwise getting him to sleep tonight would be as difficult as it was this afternoon and you really didn’t want a cranky baby tomorrow because he didn’t sleep enough today.

With dinner completely prepped, you slipped back to the guest bedroom where all your things were in order to relax for a few minutes while the lasagna cooked. With your door cracked, the noise was muffled and you were able to flop down on the bed to try and get some reading done for your classes the next day.

With your focus on your reading material you didn’t look up until there was a rap at the door and Morgan Rielly popped his head into the room.

“Um..y/n the timer on the stove went off and no one was sure if it meant food was done or…”

Sliding off the bed after marking your spot in your book you followed him back to the kitchen.

“It’s almost done, I just need to pull the foil off and put it back in with some garlic bread.” The bread was homemade as well, a loaf of french bread with fresh garlic butter. It didn’t take long for the oven timer to be set again and once everything was taken care of you grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

Looking toward the couch, Freddie now had Owen cuddled into his chest while the baby slept again and the rest of the guys had started to play NHL 19. All of them except for Morgan who had followed you and was watching as you finished making dinner.

“Did you want some help getting plates and stuff out?” He asked you, hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans.

“That would be great. Do you know where everything is?” You responded sure that he probably did but not wanting to leave him hanging if not. The fact that he proceeded to all of the correct cabinets to get out six sets of everything answered your question.

Morgan set everything on the counter in the form of a buffet line, even grabbing the salad you’d made from the fridge. Then he’d disappeared to the living room for a moment before he was back pulling bottles of water and a few beers from Auston’s fridge. Seeing you already had your own he just smiled at you and winked causing a slight blush to unconsciously grace your cheeks.

Soon after, the timer on the stove went off again and as you pulled things from the stove, Morgan set out a few more pot holders onto the counter so that you could rest the lasagna there while the bread stayed on the stove.

“Thanks for the assist.” You told him before going to call the rest of the team in to get some food.

When you returned to the kitchen he was offering you a plate and after raising an eyebrow at him you took it gratefully.

“You cooked, it’s only fair you get the first serving.” He explained. “Also assists are kinda my thing.” His reference made you laugh and you tipped your head to him in acknowledgement.

“Fair enough.” You mused, heading to sit down on Auston’s loveseat, ready to dig into dinner since you hadn’t really eaten since breakfast. The baby monitor on the coffee table showed Owen in his crib and you sighed grateful that the baby was getting the sleep he’d missed out on this afternoon. Hopefully it didn’t mess his schedule up too badly.

Each of the guys stumbled back into the room, plates overloaded with food and you were grateful that you had seemingly gone overboard worried that it wouldn’t be enough. Morgan was the last to return and the only seat left was the one right next to you so he lowered himself into it trying not to topple the plate balanced on your lap.

Apparently all it took to shut a group of hockey players up was to provide food for them to shove into their mouths. NHL network played on the tv and while you were sure they were watching it, no one seemed too invested. Seeing as you had a normal person’s amount of food compared to their heaping servings, you were the first to finish and you placed your dishes in the dishwasher before tossing your now empty water bottle into the recycling bin.

The guys had pretty much decimated the food so you consolidated what little was left to one tray before working on cleaning up everything else. Having turned some music back on quietly, you sang along as you cleaned and after about fifteen minutes the sound of footsteps approaching finally appeared. Again it was Morgan, now carrying a stack of plates. When he reached you, he bumped you to the side with his hip.

“You cooked, we can clean up.” He insisted. You really didn’t mind but the look on his face told you not to argue with him. “Also, thanks, that was probably the best meal I’ve had in months.” The sincerity behind his compliment surprised you. All of the guys had thanked you for dinner and the way they were inhaling it told you it was good but Morgan was taking the compliments to the next level.

“You’re welcome. It really wasn’t anything that special.” You stated, downplaying your efforts as always. You knew that you could have just left them to fend for themselves by ordering pizza or chinese and maybe it was silly but you felt like Auston deserved better than that. He’d been balancing a lot on his plate and you knew he wasn’t eating the way he should most nights.

“Hey, I’m serious.” Morgan insisted as he finished rinsing each dish before adding it to the dishwasher. “Auston is lucky to have you as a friend. He’s told us everything you’ve done for him and we both know you didn’t have to. Shit we’re his teammates and I’m positive we haven’t done a fraction of the things for him that you have.”

Auston had thanked you time and again so you knew he appreciated you. At the same time though, Morgan’s acknowledgement felt different. Almost like he was really seeing you. Seeing you in a way that Auston never had.

“I’m gonna go check on Owen and then get back to my reading. Thanks for finishing up dishes.” You whispered, taking in one more glance at Auston’s teammate before slipping down the hall to the nursery. Owen was still asleep and you ran your fingers over his cheek before going into the spare bedroom and closing the door.

There were a million things you needed to do and you knew you should sit down and start reading again. Instead you took a moment and leaned back against the door, your eyes falling shut as you let out a shaky breath. “What the hell was that Morgan Rielly?”