#unintentionally set in the same universe as katies ficlet i guess lol!!!

[sam-montembeault]

okk uhm imma go for monty/doby too and uhh

knee injury?

If you're a goalie in the NHL or any level of professional league really, it becomes inevitable that you spend a lot of time stretching, and if you're lucky and you're both friendly or at least in détente, you spend a lot of time stretching with the other goalie on the team.

Jakub likes getting to stretch with Sam. They each have their own routines, but sometimes on practice days they'll shake it up, trying each other's peculiarities. 

He likes getting to watch; he shouldn't. But he does. 

They're running through a battery focused on internal hip rotation, and Jakub really shouldn't be watching the patient tightness of Sam's core, the slow swivel of his inner thighs as he switches 90s. Sam's leaned back on his arms, chin doubled up as he stares at some point indiscriminately in the flooring. 

He's not seeing Jakub watching.

The thing is, unless Jakub wants to replace his hips before 25, he has to stretch too, and actually focus on it, so he doesn't notice that Sam's stopped until there's a very light hand hovering under his right knee. 

And Jakub's paused, balanced on his fingertips and other knee with his ass hovering over his heel, rocked back into a careful, controlled loosening of his adductors.

Sam's fingers brush like feathers.

"Don't let this twist while you stretch," he says unusually softly. "Don't lock it either. You know this."

He does. His leg had barely drooped. 

Sam's hand is on him anyway, warm and for a moment, leaving heat like a stain.

"Have a good pratique today," Sam says as he gets up. Now Jakub's the one staring at the floor, red faced. 

"You too."