I wish you would write a fic where... Matthew and Leon knew each other as children! Enough to at least leave an impression on each other. (And at some point, anywhere from adolescence to the future, get together.)

hmmmmm i feel like there could be something to like. maybe some sort of international youth hockey camp! idk! lil baby tournament! idk if the timeline works for when they were in juniors for any kind of cross pollination and im too sleep deprived to find out. the point is:

zitty greasy teen leon encounters zitty greasy teen matthew at a youth hockey deal. they are both good. they are both obnoxious. over the course of the weekend or week in which they are in close proximity, they both have that strange, immediate fascination that comes so naturally to teens, where you see a person and something in your gut just goes, get closer. figure them out.

at first they come off too strong on either side. matthew's a little younger and that means trying a lot harder to seem cool and with it and together and being none of the above. he definitely follows leon around and irritates the shit out of him at first. not that leon's all that much better at the lofty age of 16. perhaps they connect over something like trick shots, or video games, something to cross the great divide of being on opposing teams, and then it's like summer camp -- suddenly you're living in the pockets of a total stranger, hanging out all the time, peeling away to explore or hang out or climb fire escapes or just --

they kiss on the second to last day. it's nervous and dry and short and leon's palms sweat and matthew has no idea what to do with his hands. it's not very good, but it has leon's heart racing all the same.

and then, like summer camp, they don't talk ever again. the rest of that week or so stays a memory, slowly blurring with time. leon doesn't think about it much after that, is distracted by the end of his time in juniors, the start of his time in the bigs. maybe remembers matthew vaguely during his draft year, remembers seeing him across the ice, but not very well. it doesn't take much to displace those old memories with new ones of matthew grinning at him smugly, matthew cross checking and chirping and being so annoying leon nearly blows his top every game.

that is, until the night they're in a dim corner of a crowded bar in st. louis. they ended up next to each other by chance somehow, and at first leon wanted to leave, but the longer he talks to matthew the easier it is to stay where he is. matthew's talking about the weekend, chirping leon about the shit he said to the media, passing leon drinks, brushing his forearm with his fingers. smiling at leon in a way that isn't so far from how he grinned at leon all those years ago, conspiratorial, pleased.

this time when matthew kisses him, it makes leon's heart beat just as hard in his chest. this time, it's good.