#nathan mackinnon one shot
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empty cups | n.m. | 18+
Pairing: Nathan MacKinnon x Original Character
Word Count: 6.2k
Warnings: drinking, mentions of underage drinking, swearing, smut (fem. oral receiving, protected sex)
A/N: inspired by empty cups by charlie puth. basically all smut so you were warned
tagging: @harlowhockeystick @bitchinbarzal @matbaerzal @taking-shots @fallinallincurls @jostyriggslover96 @burkymakar @flashyfucker @capsvsducks @xsyntheticsensation @double-j @hockeylvr59
Despite being explicitly invited, Chase Bauer felt incredibly out of place at the house party. Should she really call it a house party? It felt like a house party, with all the people milling around, the loud music, the kegs of beer strewn about, but not a house party she’d ever been to. The beer wasn’t the cheapest shit college guys could manage to purchase, the people she partied with were nearly all millionaires, and they held their liquor much better than college guys.
Gabriel Landeskog walked up to her in her little corner, a big grin on his face and a bottle of fancy beer in his hand. “Bauer, why’re you all alone over here?” he asked, patting her on the shoulder.
“I was waiting for EJ to pick some better music,” Chase replied. “Some songs from this century would be great.”
“It’s not for lack of trying on our part,” Gabe laughed. He pointed to her empty hands and continued, “You need a drink.”
“I don’t like beer.” Chase scrunched her nose.
“We’ve got a lot more than just beer. C’mon.” Gabe turned around and began to walk into Erik Johnson’s kitchen, so Chase followed him, making herself smaller to maneuver through the large bodies in her way.
The kitchen was brightly lit in comparison to the rest of the house with shining bottles of every kind of alcohol Chase could imagine. There were brands she’d never heard of peppered in with bottles of Grey Goose and other top-shelf liquor she vaguely recognized.
“What do you usually drink?” Gabe asked her.
“I like sweet drinks mostly,” Chase said. She reached for a familiar bottle of lemon vodka.
“I think EJ’s got something if you want a mixer to make it sweeter.” Gabe began rummaging through EJ’s cabinets as Chase looked around the party.
Erik Johnson’s home was always the party house. He owned a huge, isolated home with the most gorgeous views imaginable, and more guest rooms than anyone could count, which worked well for the wild parties he threw throughout the year. He always invited the whole staff, all the coaches and equipment managers and Chase and her coworkers, the athletic trainers, but this was the first Chase had chosen to attend, to celebrate the Avalanche winning Western Conference Final and going to the Stanley Cup Final.
Chase cracked a small smile as she looked over at Josh Manson sitting on a couch against a wall, waving a glass of something dark around and loudly telling a story to an apathetic Sam Girard. Mikko Rantanen sat across from them, his girlfriend on top of him, straddling his legs as they passionately made out like no one else was in the vicinity.
Small groups of wives and girlfriends littered the walls, holding delicate glasses of wine and champagne, though Chase knew they could put back as much alcohol as their significant others. Other groups of players were interspersed around, some chatting lowly, some loudly, and others barely at all. Alex Newhook and Logan O’Connor had started an enthusiastic game of beer pong in the middle of the wide living room.
“How the fuck does EJ only have Crystal Light packets in this huge fucking house?” Gabe said, returning to Chase’s side and making her turn around.
“That strangely makes sense,” Chase laughed. Gabe handed her the small box of lemonade packets and she immediately took two out. She filled a Solo cup to the brim with lemon vodka and mixed the two packets in. Taking a sip, she gave Gabe a thumbs up.
“If I see you back in your corner, I’ll drag you to the dance floor instead,” Gabe warned.
Chase took another long, burning sip of her drink. “Got it, Cap.”
Gabe rolled his eyes and wandered away, over to one of the pods of players, leaving Chase alone with her cup to gaze around the party again. EJ was dancing with his fiancée on the “dance floor,” which was just an area of the room that was wide open. The enormous Darcy Kuemper, his wife, Kurtis MacDermid, and his girlfriend all danced with them. Chase thought they all danced like dads.
“Looking for someone?”
“Jesus!” Chase jerked around and found herself face to face with a serious looking Nathan MacKinnon. Beer in hand, he gazed at her, blue eyes a little icy.
“Shit, sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It’s all good, I was kinda zoned out,” Chase admitted. She drank her lemony drink again, trying her hardest to finish it soon.
A drunken Mikko bumped into Chase before Nate could say anything, dragging his girlfriend behind him and giggling as they went upstairs, but earning a sharp glare from Nate. Nate protectively put an arm on Chase’s shoulder and pulled her out of the middle of the room, out of the way of his drunk friends and teammates. Her feet were beginning to ache in her heels, so she took the chance to sit down on a barstool. To her surprise, Nate joined her, pulling a barstool over for himself as well.
Chase was convinced Nathan MacKinnon hated her. She didn’t know what it was; maybe the serious passion he played with, maybe the intense specificity he demanded with his equipment and his body, maybe the high standards he held himself and everyone else to. If and when she had to treat him, like she did recently when he got in a fight with Dumba for Minnesota, his body tensed up and he pulled away from her touch, which made her job as an athletic trainer much more difficult. She thought it might’ve been the fact that she was a woman, but he fiercely protected her at games, practices, and really any time someone tried to make a comment about her gender. When she’d first been hired, he and the rest of the team had been asked numerous times how they felt about it, and his response made her feel the most welcome and the most at home: “She’s part of the team and we treat her that way. We really only care about getting our job done and making a run for the Cup and she’s going to help us.”
“I’m not gonna lie, Bauer, I was surprised to see you came,” Nate said, fiddling with the bottle in his hand. He looked up at her and anxiously scratched his beard.
“You were?” Chase asked incredulously, puffing herself up a little bit.
Nate winced at her tone. “Good surprised,” he clarified, and she relaxed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you at one of EJ’s parties.”
“I usually don’t come, but this one seemed special,” Chase shrugged.
“You didn’t come to the President’s Trophy party last year. God, that one was a mess,” he chuckled low in his throat and half-smiled at her.
“So I take it I missed a lot of fun?”
“Oh yeah,” Nate laughed again, the ice in his eyes beginning to melt a bit. Chase was pretty sure in the two years she’d worked for the Avs, she’d never spoken more than a couple words to him, but here they were having a conversation like old friends.
“Who was the drunkest?” She asked, swigging her vodka and trying not to react to the burning in her mouth and throat.
“Honestly, a lot of guys were pretty close. Josty was so fucked up he fell outside on the porch, broke his nose, and ended up just sleeping there.”
“Jesus,” Chase breathed with a small laugh. “I’ve never been that drunk in my life and don’t wanna be.”
“I have,” Nate said, pressing his lips together to hide a smile. “In juniors and at World’s.”
“Wow, in juniors? Nathan MacKinnon, under age drinker?” Chase smirked.
Nate rolled his eyes. “You’re gonna sit here and tell me you weren’t an under age drinker too?”
“Genuinely, I wasn’t. I had my first drink on my twenty-first birthday. I know, how painfully boring of me.” Chase had heard it all, every comment under the sun about her dislike of drinking.
“That’s not boring,” Nate said immediately. “If you don’t like it, it’s not boring.”
“I don’t like the taste, unfortunately. Plus my tolerance is sky high, so I’ve only really been drunk twice in my life.”
“Really? What are you drinking now?”
Chase took a sip of her drink, almost to show Nate she wasn’t boring. “Don’t laugh, but it’s lemon vodka with lemonade packets. It’s surprisingly good.”
Nate cracked a smile. “That sounds ridiculous.”
“It is,” Chase conceded, “but I do wanna get drunk, so this is how I have to do it. Straight vodka.”
“Hold on.” Nate got up and retreated to the kitchen. While he looked through the bottles of liquor, Chase people-watched.
Cale Makar was drunkenly singing to the ABBA song playing over EJ’s sound system with his girlfriend, André Burakovsky had apparently decided to only speak in Swedish for the rest of the evening, and JT Compher stood with his chest against his girlfriend’s back while having a conversation with Darren Helm, tugging his girlfriend far too close to him.
“Goddamn,” Nate said as he returned clutching a partial bottle of vodka with a bar-style top that allowed for better pouring. “Cale is wasted.”
“Good for him, he deserves it.”
“He does.” Nate offered Chase the bottle. “I snagged this. EJ’s got a whole distillery over there, so he won’t miss it.”
“Oh shit, thank you,” Chase said. “What about you?”
“This isn’t just for you,” Nate grinned, then threw his head back and poured vodka straight into his mouth.
Chase tried not to drool as she watched him. She was starting to feel a bit fuzzy, and she could feel her reservations about Nate slipping away by the sip. There was no denying he was incredibly attractive, a fact she was painfully aware of every moment she spent close to him.
“Now my turn,” Chase said. She surprised herself, but she tilted her head back and opened her mouth.
Nate’s grin widened as he began to pour vodka in her mouth. She always thought vodka tasted like hand sanitizer, and the burning taste engulfed her mouth and throat. She tugged away, mouth full, and Nate accidentally got a bit of vodka on her chin. She swallowed and wiped her mouth with her sleeve, watching Nate’s eyes glaze over as she did. Fuck, was he into that like she was?
Chase shoved the thoughts out of her mind and chugged the rest of her lemonade combo. The liquid burned all the way down to her stomach, but the heat continued down her body and between her thighs as she watched Nathan tip his head back and pour more vodka into his mouth.
The song over the speaker changed. Cale clearly didn’t know it, but he looked over at Nate and Chase and waved enthusiastically. He came over to join them, creating a triangle with a third stool.
“You don’t know this one too?” Chase chirped.
“I’m too drunk,” Cale shrugged, holding his hand out to Nate and motioning for him to hand over the vodka bottle. Nate did, and Cale barely leaned his head back, just moving the bottle, not unlike the way he drank water on the bench during games. He paused, swallowed with a scrunched nose, then poured more vodka in his mouth. Swallowing again, he shook his head and handed the bottle back to Nate.
Chase took it and drank from it again. She could feel the alcohol she’d already drank slowly lowering her inhibitions, slowly loosening her mind, and she knew she had to continue to drink if she wanted it to stay that way.
“I’m impressed you’re here, Bauer,” Cale said as Chase drank.
Chase wiped her mouth again and handed the bottle back to Nate. “Thanks, me too. I’ve always been afraid to come to one of these things.”
Cale’s rosy face frowned in concern, his eyes trying to focus on her. “Afraid?” he asked sadly. Nate looked at Chase too, but the concern looked different on Nate’s face. Almost more protective? She couldn’t tell, and with how fuzzy her whole body was starting to feel, she was even more confused.
“Well yeah,” Chase started, feeling her mouth run without a filter of any kind, just words spewing and spewing. “There’s a lot of men here and some of you I don’t trust to not do weird things to me while I’m drunk and I don’t trust myself to not do weird things and fuck, I’m drunk.”
“Weird things?” Nate asked.
“Weird things like Mikko and Susanna do. Like right now, Nathan, I want to kiss you so so bad, but I know I can’t, because you hate me but I’d still kiss you.”
Fuck. What the fuck just came out of her mouth? She couldn’t stop it.
“But that would also be weird because I don’t just want to kiss you I wanna do so much more than kiss you but I’ve never had sex before so I’d be bad at it.” Chase sighed and gazed at Nate, who looked incredulous. His blue eyes were wide as he drank from the vodka bottle, finishing off what little was left in it.
“I’m definitely too drunk for this,” Cale said, shaking his head. He got up and returned to his girlfriend.
“Shit, Nate, I didn’t mean—fuck,” Chase said. Her body was floating and swimming and felt like static on an old television.
“I don’t hate you,” Nate said softly. “Why do you think that?”
“Well, you never talk to me, you flinch away from me if I have to treat you during a game, you don’t want me to tape you up before practice, you don’t want me to put the dumb pressure leg things on you, you always glare at me when I smile at you, you don’t smile back at me.” Chase paused to take a deep breath. “So you hate me.”
“Bauer, I—,” Nate cut himself off with a chuckle. “Oh god, I did not imagine tonight being like this.”
“What do you mean? You didn’t imagine having to hang out with me because you hate me and I suck and I’m annoying?” Chase pouted.
“No, listen, I—,” Nate shook his head, “I don’t hate you, Chase, it’s the exact opposite, in fact.”
“You called me ‘Chase,’” she said, blinking in surprise.
“I mean, that’s your name.”
“Wait.” Chase held a hand up, having processed what Nate said. “It’s the opposite? The opposite of hate is love and you definitely don’t love me.”
Nate shook his head again. “Never mind, Bauer. I’m going to get a drink.” Nate got up and stalked off to the kitchen, leaving Chase alone.
The opposite of hating her? Nathan MacKinnon couldn’t possibly like her like that. He was much too, well, him. He liked teeny, blonde supermodel types, not loud former hockey players whose job it was to keep him healthy. No, not Nathan MacKinnon, who kept his specific regimens of health, kept his body in top tier condition, who demanded excellence from everyone, including her and her team.
Gabe appeared in front of her, clutching a new bottle of beer and a tall glass of clear liquid. “Can I join you?” He asked. Chase nodded, so he sat down where Nate had just been and handed her the glass. “Nate asked me to bring you water.”
“Because I’m drunk and told him I wanted to have sex with him but that he hates me?” Chase clarified.
“He didn’t give me specifics, but I’m sure that has something to do with it,” Gabe laughed.
“Now he definitely hates me,” Chase mumbled. She sipped some water, but she didn’t feel any less fuzzy. In fact, she could feel the rest of the vodka starting to hit her and the idea of going over to Nate, who now stood chatting with Nazem Kadri, and kissing him was becoming more and more appealing.
“He acts like that to all of us. That’s just Nate. Whatever he told you is the truth,” Gabe explained.
Chase hummed. “Well, he didn’t say he wanted to kiss me and have sex with me too,” she said, her words beginning to slur together the tiniest bit, her brain working hard to put letters together. “He was stuck on the hating me part.”
“I can guarantee he doesn’t hate you.”
“You can’t read his mind!”
“Neither can you. Look, Bauer, I’m guessing he said he had feelings for you, right? I can guarantee you he does. The amount of things I’ve heard him say about you matches what you’re saying.”
Chase looked at Gabe with wide eyes. “Nate wants to have sex with me too? Even though I’ll be bad at it because I’ve never had sex? He wants to—.”
“Bauer, go talk to him.” Gabe used his captain voice on her.
“I’m even drunker than I was before,” she commented. “Even with the water. And we can’t have sex when I’m this drunk. I’ll be even worse at it. What if I puke on his dick when I try to blow him? God, maybe then he’d hate me.”
“Okay, Bauer? Go talk to him.” Gabe got up and walked away before Chase could say anything else.
Chase took a deep breath and stood up. Her legs felt like jelly and she could’ve sworn she was leaning to one side. She giggled at herself, at the fuzziness coursing through her veins, at the thoughts coming to the forefront of her mind. She made her way over to Nate, shoved herself in between him and Naz, grabbed his arms and looked up at him.
“Hi,” she said, realizing how close her face was to his face.
Naz excused himself, and Nate looked down at her over his crooked nose. God, Chase wanted that nose in between her legs.
“Hi,” she said again.
“Hi,” he replied shortly. His tongue darted out to wet his lips.
“I’m still drunk and I’m sorry I thought you hated me and that I said I wanted to have sex with you because I know we can’t have sex I’m drunk and you’re famous and we work together and you’re good at sex and I’m very bad at sex.” Chase squinted to try and focus on Nate’s face but it was very difficult. When did he have two faces?
“I actually do want to have sex with you,” Nate said straightforwardly. “I think you’re smart and cool and hot and yeah, I like you. But I don’t think this is exactly the right time to do this.”
“That’s why you didn’t want me to treat you? Cause you liked me?” Chase put together.
“Yeah,” Nate laughed. “I tried to keep you away so I could focus, but having you around the past two seasons has not been a distraction at all, it’s helped me focus.”
“Oh,” Chase said, standing there. “Oh.”
“So we’ll have this conversation again when you’re sober,” Nate said. “I think I’m gonna leave anyway, actually.”
“Wait,” Chase frowned. “Don’t leave yet. We haven’t even gotten to dance. I don’t want you to leave. I’m drinking water now and it won’t take me too long to sober up. Please don’t leave.”
Nate sighed. “Okay, let’s go dance.”
Chase grinned, took his hand, and led him over to where Cale and his girlfriend had resumed their dancing and loud singing of random songs that came up. A rap song came on, definitely one Nate had introduced EJ to, because it was on their warm up playlist.
Chase turned around, facing Nate, pressing her chest into his. Nate’s eyes glazed over again as he put his hands on her hips, dangerously close to her ass. Chase wrapped her arms around his neck and tugged his forehead down to touch hers, demanding his blue eyes meet hers. She ground her body into his, and relished in the small buck of his hips he responded with.
Nate let his hands slide down her body to grip her ass. His breathing was slowly quickening, his touch slowly tightening, as the song changed to another rap song and they continued their dance.
Chase gasped when Nate pushed her away slightly and nudged his thigh between her legs for her to grind on. She immediately did, dragging the seam of her denim shorts along the length of his thigh. Feeling herself clench around nothing, she clutched harder to the back of his neck.
“You like that?” he asked, eyes still drilled on her, a smirk dancing across his lips.
“I’m drunk and you’re hot and I like everything you do,” Chase replied softly. “Please don’t leave yet.”
“When we’re dancing like this? Not a chance.”
She had no idea how long they danced, but by the time they stopped, she was sweaty and desperately craving more water. She and Nate separated and she hurried to the kitchen to chug water. Chase felt herself sobering up, the fuzziness beginning to fade, and with it, the confidence that had been flowing through her quickly dissipating.
Nate came to join Chase in the kitchen to get water, too. He filled up a cup and drank long sips. Chase stared at his Adam’s apple as he swallowed. He put his cup down after he finished, his lips glistening from the water, and Chase made a split decision.
Chase stalked over to him and kissed him.
Her hands found his cheeks, tracing his playoff beard with her fingertips. His hands rested on her ass again, tugging her closer as she pinned him against the counter behind him. His lips were soft and wet and warm and tasted like beer. His tongue gently made its way into her mouth, softly dancing around hers.
Chase pulled back and looked up at his red, puffy lips. “Fuck,” she said.
“Mmhmm,” Nate replied, then pulled her in for more. Nate kissed her like she was his tether to the ground, like he was floating and the only thing that could keep him down was her lips. His fingertips dug into her ass, and she was sure she’d have bruises tomorrow, but she didn’t care. She traced his bottom lip with her tongue, then pulled away again, just enough to speak to him.
“Let’s go upstairs,” Chase whispered.
“You’re still drunk,” Nate whispered back.
“I’m sobering up.”
“The guys will have something to say. They’ll never let us live it down.”
“So? I don’t care what they think. They won’t even notice.”
“Chase…”
“We don’t need their permission. We’re both adults.”
“You’re still drunk.”
“And I’m still sobering up. Nathan, I’m good. I’m probably like, the equivalent of two shots drunk now.”
Nate bit his lip and looked over her head at his friends. Chase turned around too, and she was right. No one was paying attention to them. Everyone was in their own worlds. It was the perfect time to sneak away.
“Fuck it,” Nate muttered. “C’mon.”
Chase giggled as Nate clung to her hand and dragged her away, upstairs to one of EJ’s spare bedrooms. There were solo cups strewn everywhere, and Chase didn’t care to know whose they were. She fell onto the bed with more giggles as Nate turned on the T.V. hanging on the wall in front of the bed.
“Why the T.V.?” Chase asked.
“Well, not to brag, but I’m about to blow your mind, and I don’t want to get chirped for how loud I make you moan,” Nate said, his eyes darkening with lust.
Chase shivered, but said, “Well, the only competition you have is my vibrator, but I’ve learned to be pretty quiet.”
“Oh really?” Nate raised his eyebrows, then flopped on the bed next to her. He rolled on top of her, positioning himself in between her legs and said, “I take that as a challenge.”
Nate leaned down and kissed Chase sweetly, with none of the previous fervor from downstairs. He kissed his way down her clothed body, bunched her shirt up around her stomach, and kissed the soft skin as he unbuttoned her shorts and dragged them down her legs. She wore her only pair of sexy panties made of a comfy lace, and Nate dragged his thumb across the band.
“Nice,” he complimented. “Who’d you wear these for?”
Chase smirked. “Mikko.”
“That’s a lie and we both know it.” Nate kissed her covered core and she jumped, making Nate chuckle.
“Nathan,” Chase said softly. “I’m nervous.”
Nate laid his head on her thigh, gazing up at her. “We can stop any time, you just say so.”
Chase took a deep breath. “Just, uh, go slow?”
“Hang on.” Nate hopped up and left the room, returning a few moments later. He tossed an unopened box of condoms and a brand new bottle of lube on the bed next to Chase, then shut the door behind him.
“Where did you get this?” Chase sat up and grabbed the lube, examining it.
Nate shrugged, “I know where EJ keeps his shit. I’ll buy him more.”
Chase’s heart pounded as Nate repositioned himself between her legs. He wrapped his strong arms around her thighs, pulled her to the edge of the bed, then kissed her again through her panties, making Chase shiver.
“You ready?” Nate asked. He kissed her again and looked up at her through his eyelashes.
Chase took a deep breath and nodded, then Nate tugged her panties down in a swift motion, threw them on the ground behind him, and gently dragged his hands along her thighs. Chase watched him with bated breath, thinking he was going far too slow but also could go never fast enough. He ghosted kisses along her thighs, teasing her even more, and she pouted.
“That’s some mind-blowing head you’re giving me,” she said, rather annoyed.
Nate looked up at her, grinned, and rolled his eyes. He stuck his tongue out and traced it on the lips of her pussy, and she nearly leapt out of her skin. Nate chuckled, then let his tongue dip into her folds.
“Holy fuck,” Chase yelped.
Nate swirled his tongue around near her entrance for a bit, clearly avoiding her clit, but Chase didn’t care. The simple gesture sent heat waves and ice through her entire body. Finally, Nate softly wrapped his lips around her clit.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Chase yelped again. Nate’s tongue massaging her clit felt incredible, in a way she’d always imagined but could never have imagined, in a way she had started to believe she’d never feel. He looked up at her through his eyelashes and gently sucked on her clit. Chase’s legs began to shake and she could already feel how fast her orgasm was racing toward her.
“Use…use your fingers,” Chase gasped breathlessly.
Nathan unlatched his mouth from Chase, then shoved his middle finger into his mouth. He slowly teased her with it, gathering up more of her wetness, and slid his thick finger inside her, lips returning to her clit. He curled his finger to massage her walls, keeping pace with his tongue.
“Oh fuck,” Chase moaned, “oh fuck, I’m gonna come, oh fuck, fuck, Nate, fuck!”
Chase went sailing over the edge as her orgasm raked through her. Despite her legs shaking and her back arching, Nate kept his mouth on her as she fell apart for him. The constant stream of “fuck” that came from Chase’s mouth was so loud that she was grateful Nate turned on the T.V..
She finally came down, panting, and Nate slid his finger out of her and released his mouth from her. She grabbed his shirt and dragged him up to kiss him hotly, tongue immediately invading his mouth, tasting herself. Jesus Christ, he did what he said he would, and she was impressed.
“Where the fuck did you learn that?” she breathed.
Nate chuckled. “You did say earlier I was good at sex, if I remember correctly.”
“Jesus.” She was still trying to catch her breath when she realized Nate was still fully clothed, so she said, “You’re wearing clothes still. Let’s change that.”
Grinning, Nate stood up and pulled his shirt over his head. He unbuttoned his jeans and shoved them down his legs, along with his underwear, so he stood before her in all his glory. He was already semi-hard, and he clambered back onto the bed overtop of her.
“Do you want me to like, do anything for you?” Chase asked.
Nate quickly slid his arms under her and pushed her up on the bed, closer to the headboard. “Nope,” he said as he moved her. “I’m good. Are you good?”
Chase nodded nervously. “Y-yeah, I think so.”
Nate reached over for a condom and the bottle of lube. He stroked himself several times before he opened the condom wrapper, then slid the condom on. He grabbed the bottle of lube.
“Okay,” he said, opening the bottle. “If it hurts, tell me. If we use enough lube, we should be fine.”
“Yeah,” Chase agreed. “I’ll tell you.”
Licking his lips, Nate squirted lube on his dick, which he then spread around with his other hand. He squirted some onto Chase’s pussy, and she jumped.
“That’s cold, what the fuck?” Chase yelped.
Nate chuckled. “It’s not that cold.”
“Maybe through latex it’s not.”
“Alright, alright,” Nate conceded. “Do you want more lube or is that good for now?”
Chase brought her fingers to her pussy, spreading the lube around and inside her. “I think that’s good for now, but I’ll stop you if I need more.”
Nate leaned down and kissed her lips sweetly. “Please do. Are you ready?”
Chase nodded, biting her lip nervously. “Go slow, please.”
“I will.”
Nate straightened up, then guided himself into Chase. Her mouth fell open as he stretched her, slowly inching deeper and deeper. She flailed her hand until it found his so she could tangle their fingers together. His pelvis bumped hers, and she knew he was all the way in.
“Oh fuck,” Chase muttered. “Just stay there for a second.”
Nate did as she said, patiently waiting, looking amused as Chase tried not to squirm. Having him inside her felt so intimate, so delicate, and she never wanted him to stop.
“Okay,” she said after a moment, “move.”
Nate readjusted his position on the bed so he was laying overtop of Chase. He rested on one elbow, keeping his hand intwined with hers, then rolled his hips back so he slid out of her, then rolled them forward to thrust into her.
“Oh my god,” Chase moaned.
Nate established a slow, steady pace, thrusting in and out of her so she could feel every inch and ridge of him. She felt pressure, but not pain, and it was delicious, especially as Nate’s breathing became heavier and heavier on her neck and lips.
“Does it feel good?” he breathed, nipping at her earlobe.
“Fuck yes, it does,” she moaned back.
“Good,” Nate replied, straining a little. “Me too, it, oh, fuck, you feel so good.”
He kept the same pace and before long, they were both panting and sweating.
“Nate,” Chase gasped, “more, I need more.”
Nate obliged, attaching his lips to her collarbone and sucking hard as he increased the speed of his thrusts slightly and thrust harder into her. He released her hand and began to rub her clit. Chase’s free hand dug into his bicep, leaving tiny crescents on his skin.
Suddenly, Nate sat up, grabbed Chase’s legs, and pushed them out wider, stretching her hips, but also allowing himself to hit a different angle inside her. Chase’s mouth fell open and she couldn’t even moan; the pressure of Nate inside her felt so good it overwhelmed her senses and she couldn’t think clearly.
“Oh, fuck, Chase,” Nate grunted. “Oh fuck, I’m getting close.”
“I’m not sure if I’ll come,” admitted Chase, “but I don’t care.”
“I care. I’ll take care of you, okay?” Nate’s blue eyes were warm and lustful and genuine.
All Chase could do was nod in response. Her head lolled over as she scraped her nails from his bicep to his back, digging so hard she nearly made him bleed, and dragged her nails down his back as he fucked her. She swore she could feel him in her stomach, but then it began to hurt.
“Nate,” she breathed. “Nate, stop.”
Nate froze and brought his hands up to cup Chase’s face. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
“I think we need more lube. It’s starting to hurt a little. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize,” Nate said, kissing her forehead. Chase watched, eyes hazy. He reached over to grab the bottle of lube again, squeezing some onto his fingers, which he then slid inside Chase. He spread the lube around and pulled his fingers back out of her. He squeezed more lube on his dick, stroked it to spread it across himself, then closed the bottle.
“I’m ready when you are,” Chase said and reached out to hold his forearm.
“Okay,” Nate replied. He spread her legs again, then gripped himself and guided his dick inside her. Chase’s back arched as he slid into her. She relished in the feeling of him, pressing her lips together. Nate leaned back over her and began to re-establish the rhythm he’d had.
“I’m sorry,” Chase breathed again. “I know you were close.”
“Shut up, Chase,” Nate breathed back, hungrily kissing her as he snapped his hips against hers. “I’m basically back where I was, oh, fuck.”
Chase placed her hand on the back of Nate’s neck. “You gonna come for me, Nathan?” she teased.
“Shit,” Nate said through clenched teeth. “Shit, I’m gonna come for you.”
Chase pulled Nate’s face close to hers and whispered, “Come for me.”
“Oh,” Nate moaned loudly, spilling into the condom, “oh, fuck, oh my god, fuck!”
Nate’s hips stuttered to a stop and he closed his eyes, panting. He kissed her sweetly as he pulled out of her, making her whimper from the loss of heat and contact. Without a word, he kissed his way back down her body to settle between her legs again. He licked Chase’s clit and she jumped.
“Shit,” Chase squeaked.
Nate slid his tongue down through her folds to her entrance, then pushed it into her. Chase moaned, hands grabbing at him until he offered her one of his hands. He moved his other hand to her clit, softly circling it, and within moments, he had her coming on his tongue, his name spilling out of her mouth.
“Oh fuck, Nate,” Chase breathed. Her body was exhausted and spent, and she didn’t know if she could move.
“Are you good?” Nate asked, laying next to her and pushing her sweaty hair out of her face. “Can I get you anything?”
“Fuck, maybe a Gatorade?” Chase laughed.
Nate chuckled, “I bet I can do that. Let’s get cleaned up first, though. You know you should pee like, soon, right?”
Nodding, Chase said, “Yeah, but I don’t know if I have the energy to walk right now.”
“Need help?”
“I think so.” Chase was embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”
“Quit apologizing,” Nate said sharply. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
Nate helped Chase sit up, then helped her to the bathroom. He pulled the condom off carefully and threw it in the trash, then took turns using the toilet and washing up. Nate went back into the bedroom and picked up Chase’s panties and his shirt.
“Here,” Nate said, handing it to her. “You can sleep in my shirt.”
Chase’s eyebrows furrowed. “Sleep? Here?”
“I’d, uh, I’d like to wake up with you, but I think we’re both too tired to go home.” Nate smiled softly.
“Oh.” Chase looked up at Nate. He was dead serious. God, he really did like her, huh?
“I mean, I can take you home if you want,” Nate added quickly.
“No no no. Let’s stay.” Chase stood on her tiptoes and kissed his nose. “But I definitely need that Gatorade.
Nate laughed, “I gotcha. Lemme get dressed.”
The two of them padded back into the bedroom, Chase pulling on her panties and Nate’s shirt, Nate pulling on only his boxers. Chase settled into the bed under the covers, grabbed her phone, and caught up on her notifications while Nate retreated downstairs for Gatorade.
Nate returned with his arms full of Gatorade, snacks, and phone chargers. “I thought you might be hungry,” he explained as he dumped the contents onto the bed, “and I know my phone is dead, so I stole a couple chargers too.”
���Thank you, Nate,” Chase giggled. “You’re very thoughtful.”
“Don’t tell anyone else that,” Nate joked as he climbed in bed with her. He grabbed one of the Gatorades, cracked it open, and drained it. He grabbed another and handed it to Chase, who opened it and took a few gulps.
Exhaustion hit Chase. “Oh shit,” she mumbled. “I’m fucking tired.”
“Me too,” Nate yawned.
“Can I, uh, can we cuddle?” Chase asked.
Nate smiled at her. “I was hoping we would.”
Chase grinned, put her Gatorade down, and scooted into Nate’s body, laying her head on his chest. His soft heartbeat was like a lullaby, and she knew she would be asleep soon.
“Nate?” she said sleepily.
“Yeah?”
“Please don’t let this be a one night thing.”
Chase felt Nate kiss her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Can I take you to breakfast in the morning?”
“Bold of you to assume I’ll be awake for breakfast.”
Nate chuckled. “Brunch? Lunch? Whatever meal we want when we get up?”
“That sounds perfect,” Chase giggled. “Goodnight, Nathan.”
“Goodnight.”
#nathan mackinnon#nathan mackinnon imagine#nathan mackinnon one shot#nathan mackinnon smut#nhl smut#nhl#colorado avalanche#nhl writing#hockey writing#hockey smut#colorado avalanche writing#colorado avalanche smut#avs
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you always did feel just like home - nathan mackinnon
summary: valorie hadn't meant to be away from nova scotia for so long, and she hadn't meant to immediately insert herself back into nate's life. mysterious how the universe works.
word count: 11,365
warning: not exactly healthy alcohol consumption
note: it is finally time for me to put my money where my mouth is and post my exchange fic instead of just bothering everybody else! this is written for the winter fic exchange 2k23 and i wrote it for cait (hey @blueskrugs that's you)! i hope you like it! thanks to @matthewtkachuk, @comphy-and-cozy @farbutnevergone & @laurenairay who have all provided feedback as this grew to be a lot longer than anticipated.
playlist: | looking back - parachute | wait - knuckle puck | longshot - catfish and the bottlemen | selfish - the kite string tangle | i'm in love with you - the 1975 |
Valorie hadn’t intended to be late and it meant that she was immediately the centre of attention when she walked into the café. She spotted the table of her friends that was discretely to the side and out of the way, though that discretion flew out the window when Amber and Valorie squealed as they saw each other.
They rushed to close the distance, throwing their arms around one another in a hug that only remained upright because Mike was standing close enough by to keep them that way. Valorie, after pulling away from Amber, greeted Mike with a more subdued but no less friendly hug.
Neither Mike nor Amber were who she’d noticed first, though, because the third person at the table was Nathan MacKinnon and he was a man who was impossible to miss.
Despite how much she wanted to step forward and greet him in the exact same way, Valorie wasn’t sure where the boundaries were, so she opted for saying, “I would have thought you’d be far too good to hang out with us lowly commoners.”
Nate smirked, looking as if he’d been expecting it, but it wasn’t him who spoke next.
“We haven’t seen you half as much as him in the last seven years,” Mike said, thumping his hand across Nate’s broad chest. Valorie was momentarily distracted by just how broad it was; those years had been very good to him.
Mike continued, “Dogg knows where he came from.”
“Yes, yes, I’m the worst,” Valorie said with an eyeroll as she pushed everyone back to their seats. Nate paused for long enough that Valorie greeted him with a hug and a lingering kiss on his cheek.
Valorie sat opposite Nate, tucking her legs underneath her own chair to avoid accidentally entangling them with his—the length of his was a memory firmly engrained in her mind.
Immediately it became clear that the conversation was not going to trend towards the Cup like she’d been hoping. It was far and away the most exciting thing she could think of for any of them to talk about, but she supposed that everyone had had the same thought since Nate arrived back in Nova Scotia.
Instead, Amber lifted Valorie’s wrist to get a closer inspection of the bracelet she was wearing and the boys leant in, too.
“Got to keep the jewellery, I see,” Amber said, her voice slightly awed. Valorie couldn’t blame her.
“Everything but the car,” Valorie said. “It would have been useless up here anyway. Definitely not meant for winter tyres.”
“You should have kept it and flipped it,” Mike said, tapping against the table in thought. “An Audi, wasn’t it?”
“Porsche.”
Mike whistled low and impressed, Nate’s eyebrow twitched—Valorie almost missed it—and he leaned back in his seat. Valorie could only imagine what cars Nate was driving around Colorado or Nova Scotia. As nice as her Porsche was, she was sure it paled in comparison.
Valorie pulled back her hand, hiding it away under the table to stop Amber playing with it any longer.
“You still wear what he bought you?” Nate asked, his voice curiously tight as his eyes flicked between her face and where the bracelet was hidden under the table.
Valorie thought for a moment, cataloguing everything she had put on that morning. “I think everything I’m wearing was a gift from him. It wasn’t a bad break up; no bad memories associated with any of it.”
Until that moment, Valorie had been perfectly comfortable with the idea of it—her entire wardrobe had been bought by her ex so she didn’t have much choice anyway, but under Nate’s careful gaze every inch of fabric felt suffocatingly heavy.
“Why did you break up?” Amber asked. “It sounds perfect.”
“I wanted to come home,” Valorie answered simply, one shoulder rising in a shrug as she tried to casually avoid eye contact with her friends.
“He had enough money; you could have come home whenever you wanted.”
“What? You think I’ve been back, like, twice in seven years because that’s what I wanted?” Valorie asked, somewhat viciously, directing her words and the accompanying glare at Mike. “There was always someone to meet, something to do, somewhere to be and I couldn’t ever get away. I missed home.”
Mike, rightfully chastened, lowered himself down in his chair just enough to let Valorie know he regretted what he’d said. Nate and Amber were sitting in an awkward silence and Valorie had to speak just to move them along.
She continued, “And I was bored as hell. I was asked if I’d be interested in the Real Housewives of Miami reboot and if I stayed much longer I would have said yes just to have something to do.”
Amber’s laugh was raucous, eliciting the same from Valorie, and she said, “You’re too young to be on that show.”
“That’s most of the reason I said no!” Valorie shrieked, still laughing. “That and I was actually a housewife? The other women on that show have, like, careers and are important and aren’t just sitting at home complaining about doing yoga.”
“I’d watch a show that was you doing yoga.”
Three heads turned to Nate, all barking out surprised laughs at his deadpan voice accompanied by the casual expression that remained on his face—almost as if he hadn’t said anything at all.
Mike thumped Nate across the chest, as he’d done earlier, and said, “We all know you would, Nate.”
“That’s really it, though?” Nate pressed on, not even looking at Mike as he thumped him back, “You couldn’t come up with a schedule where you got to come home more?”
“It wasn’t going to work,” Valorie said firmly. Nate tilted his head but was kind enough to not press her any further.
Despite all the talk of Valorie living a lavish lifestyle, when it came to ordering food she was conservative with her money. She didn’t have a choice when that money was coming out of her own, not very large bank account. It didn’t matter in the end, because Nate quickly took over and promised that he’d pay after ordering a ludicrous amount of food all the while flicking his gaze to Valorie every few seconds.
After they’d finished eating—having spent so long that it was clear they were only being allowed to stay because they were with Nate—Mike and Amber hurried off before they were late to see Amber’s parents, leaving Nate and Valorie on the sidewalk out the front.
“Where are you living?” Nate asked, his keys twirling in his hands. “Do you want a ride?”
Valorie nodded, surprised but please, “Oh, yeah, thank you. I’m staying with my parents. They haven’t moved.”
He didn’t say anything as he started moving towards the parking lot behind the café. It hadn’t changed much since they were 16, slowly walking back to Nate’s second-hand truck after a date neither of them really wanted to end.
“You’re back with your parents?”
“I haven’t had a job in seven years, nobody will hire me, and nobody will let me lease a house without pay cheques so…”
“That’s rough.”
“It’s fine,” she insisted. Nate’s face screwed up, so she added, “I still get on with my parents so it’s really fine.”
The Porsche Cayenne he led her to wasn’t so much a surprise, given the dealership that would have jumped at the chance to have one of their vehicles driven by Stanley Cup Champion Nathan MacKinnon—it was, however, a reminder of the 911 she’d left behind in Miami.
Of everything she’d left behind in Miami.
They were sitting in the Cayenne out the front of Valorie’s parents’ house, her hand on the door handle, when Nate said, “I’ve got room at my place if you want it.”
“That’s really sweet of you, Nate,” she smiled back at him, appreciative, “but I don’t have any money to pay rent.”
Valorie opened the door and looked back into the car when she was standing upright, to thank Nate for dropping her off.
“I don’t need rent from you.”
“Nate.”
“Just say the word, Val.”
Moving into one of Nate’s spare bedrooms was easier than Valorie had anticipated; Nate picked her up a few days after he dropped her at her parents’ home in Crichton Park, loaded some bags into the trunk and unloaded them into a bedroom with a lake front view in Grand Lake.
He’d declared that everything in the house was hers if she wanted it and raised a challenging eyebrow when she walked into the wine room and declared that she’d start with the most expensive bottle and work her way down—she knew exactly which one it was, too, even with a cursory glance at the bottles lining the walls.
“It’s probably not as nice where you lived in Miami,” Nate said as he finished the tour.
Valorie laughed, “The lovely Mediterranean Revival home that he gutted and turned into a Hypermodern nightmare so the inside and the outside clashed? The one that didn’t even have a view of the beach? I’ll miss a lot of things about Miami but that house is not one of them.”
“I didn’t know you cared about that stuff.”
“Architecture?” she clarified, waiting for Nate’s slow nod before she shrugged. “I had a lot of time to kill.”
Valorie spent most of that first day on the deck overlooking Grand Lake, it wasn’t quite warm enough for her to venture into the pool, but it was perfect to just sit and watch the water and the occasional jet-skier zip past.
Nate left her to her own devices for what might have been a few hours before he joined her and started asking questions about what she’d like for dinner so that he could head to the store.
“You gonna cook for me, Dogg?” Valorie asked, tilting her head over the back of the chair so that she could see Nate properly. “What if I want risotto?”
There was a brief moment where it looked like Nate’s brain short-circuited before he collected himself and said, “I can offer you steak or chicken breast. Salad or vegetables.”
“So many options,” Valorie said, a small laugh in her voice, as she pushed herself off the chair. “If you cook the steak, I’ll make the salad.”
“Sorry, there aren’t more options.”
“Two more than I’d be able to offer.”
The admission didn’t seem to surprise Nate, who just accepted what Valorie had said without question—Mike and Amber had surely passed on a few things about Valorie’s time in Miami and the chef she had was one of their favourite thing to bring up.
Valorie used Nate going to the store as an opportunity to wander through the house. It wasn’t as large as she was expecting, so it didn’t take very long at all—especially not when she avoided Nate’s bedroom out of respect for his privacy. She opened every cupboard in the kitchen, just to make sure she knew where everything was kept, and then unloaded the dishwasher when it beeped at her incessantly. In the fridge was an open bottle of sparkling red wine, so Valorie helped herself to a glass on the balcony while she waited for Nate to return.
The calmness of Nova Scotia was something Valorie had forgotten she’d missed until she was back; even in the height of summer, with the excitement of the Cup coming back, she was more relaxed than she’d ever been in Miami.
When Nate returned Valorie greeted him with a big smile as she raised the wine she’d poured herself—her second of the afternoon—and he returned it without hesitation.
She continued to drink as they made dinner, her easy and boring salad taking no time at all, and Nate cracked a beer while he grilled and then opened a new bottle of wine for them as they ate on the balcony overlooking the lake as the sun slowly began to set.
Despite the view she had—she’d been staring at it all day, after all—Valorie couldn’t help but watch Nate as he ate, mostly scrutinising the lines of his face that were so much different to what she once knew.
“You keep looking at me like you don’t believe I exist,” Nate said. Valorie didn’t even flinch; another two glasses of wine making her particularly carefree.
“I don’t know if I do,” she admitted, sighing as she realised that even his voice had changed. “I’ve seen you on the TV and in photos and everything but for the past seven years the image of you in my head has always been you the last summer I saw you. You were a kid and now you’re a man and I really don’t know how to deal with that.”
“Yeah,” Nate agreed, his voice a lot softer and more serious than it had been. “I know. I get it.”
Amber and Mike came over to spend time on the lake not too long into Valorie’s time with Nate. It was a perfect day, which Valorie had come to expect, and being out on the Sea Doos was the perfect way to spend it.
It was nice to have company.
Nate had taken to visiting his parents’ house if he was going to see them. He always offered for Valorie to join him, but that felt like it was encroaching on boundaries she wasn’t even sure they’d set. She’d tried, though, to get him to invite them over only to be met with a shake of the head—maybe he was worried about different boundaries being breached. Valorie didn’t know.
Amber and Mike were good company, at least. Valorie was always happy that Amber had stuck by her even when she wasn’t around. Mike… Mike she could take or leave depending on the day.
“Why’d you really leave what’s-his-face?” Mike asked, apropos of nothing and a few beers deep.
Amber glared at him, though it went unnoticed. Nate sat up a little straighter and Valorie couldn’t work out if it was Mike-related or Nick-related.
“I already told you,” Valorie said, forcing a polite twinge into her voice even if she was dreading whatever might come next.
“Yeah, but there’s gotta be more to it,” Mike argued.
“Why?”
“I love this place, but if Amber wanted to move to, I don’t know, LA and never come back I’d do it in a heartbeat. And with the money you had? Easiest decision I’ll ever make.”
“He doesn’t want kids,” she relented, though it was not without steeliness as she tried to put a definitive end to the topic. “No amount of money was worth not being a mom.”
“That’s some serious self-control,” Mike said, shaking his head almost as if he was in awe. “I can think of a lot of things I’d give up for the life you were living.”
“It’s all Valorie ever wanted,” Nate said, his voice deep and low. “She was born to be a mom.”
Valorie’s gaze moved slowly to Nate as she replayed the words in her mind. He hadn’t moved from how he’d been sitting at the start of the conversation, hadn’t even looked away from Mike. She wanted him to look at her, to make eye contact to be able to get a read on him; to see if the skip it caused in her heartbeat was for an actual reason.
“It took you seven years with this guy to work out you were on a different page?” Mike asked incredulously, earning a half-hearted shrug from Valorie who looked back to him with hesitation.
“He said he was undecided. I loved him, you know? I was willing to wait it out in the hopes that kids would be on the table.”
Mike then agreed, “I’d wait seven years if I spent the entire time being a trophy wife.”
“It wasn’t about all the material possessions,” she snapped. “I know that’s what it looked like, but I’m upset you all think I’m a gold digger.”
“If the Louboutins fit,” Mike said with an eyebrow waggle.
“We know you aren’t a gold digger,” Amber said, finally, and firmly, contributing to the conversation, “or you wouldn’t have come back.”
Mike leaned back in his chair, pointed up at Nate’s house watching over them and said, rather loudly, “Right into Nate’s sweet digs.”
His loudness was met with silence, thick and tense, and the three people that stared at him didn’t seem to bother him at all.
“Do you even like me, Mike?” Valorie asked, tired.
“Come on, Val. I’m just joking around.” He added, after a hearty hunk across the back of the head courtesy of Nate, “I’ll cool it.”
The weather had turned quite quickly and quite dramatically—what had been the perfect weather the week prior had turned so miserable that Valorie was looking out the floor to ceiling windows as if her death stare could part the black clouds.
Nate was somewhere on the island doing something hockey related that he’d told Valorie about the night before while she was half asleep on the couch, so she was, once again, left in the house to her own devices.
A second car had appeared in the garage a couple of days after her arrival and Nate had assured her that she could drive it whenever she needed; Valorie was going to avoid driving it as long as she could.
The wine room was taking more of a hit than Valorie had expected when she’d joked with Nate about drinking it all; she had very few places to go, and her mother was more than happy to drive to Grand Lake to pick her up if there were family plans so she rarely had to drive, so the day drinking was getting more out of hand than she wanted to admit. It was a similar problem to Miami, she was realising, but Nate’s house wasn’t filled with quite so many time-wasting objects and there was only so much baking she could do when Nate rarely had any visitors.
Her response to the door opening had become Pavlovian, especially since being confined inside by the rain. Valorie was on her feet, pretending to walk to the kitchen to refill her glass of red, so that she’d be able to start a conversation with Nate when he walked in.
Only, it wasn’t Nate.
“Uh… Sidney. Hi. Nate’s not here. I’m Valorie—Val,” she said, all in a rush, putting her glass on the counter and desperately hoping she didn’t have red teeth.
“Nice to see you again, Val,” Sidney said, polite and friendly. “Nate told me to let myself in; he’ll be back soon.”
The shock and awe Valorie felt being around Sidney—Sid—had disappeared after exactly one summer of learning that he was nowhere near as cool as she had built him up to be. That being said, she had not expected him to remember her for a second.
“Do you want some cookies?” she asked, quickly, noticing that Sid was hovering uncertainly. “I made way too many.”
Sid smiled, nodded, and sat down at one of the bar stools on the other side of the counter while Valorie plated up an assortment of ginger snaps, Florentines, sugar cookies and Afghan biscuits all while trying not to let the wine she’d been drinking rattle her.
“Killing the boredom of being stuck inside all day?” Sid asked, drawing the plate towards him and inspecting his choices as if she was going to stop him at one.
“It’s what I do and what I’ve done for years now.” Valorie shrugged. “I drink and I bake.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I say that sounds… underwhelming.”
“Oh, no!” Valorie gasped instantly. “I mean, I got really into yoga and reading, too. I wasn’t just some boozy housewife. I love to bake, though. I could do it all day. Wine?”
Sid agreed to a glass, and Valorie pretended that she didn’t know he was doing it so she wouldn’t be drinking alone.
“Are you happy to be back here? Back home?” Sid asked around a not-yet-finished mouthful of ginger snap. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
It was, to say the least, unnerving to have Sidney Crosby—anybody, really—sitting across from her and calling her out for being gone. They weren’t friends, like Amber and Mike, or whatever else, like Nate, and she couldn’t wrap her head around why he would care to bring it up.
She took a healthy sip of her wine, savouring the taste for longer than was strictly necessary and said, “I was always trying to get back. It just never… It was hard to get away. I’m glad to be back.”
“I’m sure the island is happy to have you back,” he said, removing the unease in Valorie’s stomach flawlessly as he looked out over the deck to the lake. “Sorry the weather didn’t hold up for you.”
“It was nice for a while,” she conceded, following Sid’s eyes, “and at least it’s the same all day. I was really not impressed by Miami deciding there was a torrential downpour every afternoon after the perfect morning. Seven years there and I never got used to it.”
Valorie moved their conversation to the couch, carrying the wine with her while Sid carried the cookies he was slowly making his way through. She let Sid talk about his off-season plans, to what he’d already done since returning to Nova Scotia, noting that he was absolutely downplaying the vacation he and Kathy had taken and skipping over the extraordinarily nice or expensive parts. She loved Antigua, knew it inside and out, but was happy to let Sid tell her what he thought was appropriate—he may have been happy to ask her why she’d been gone so long but it was clear not much more information than that had made it his way.
By the time Nate was home—his definition of ‘soon’ stretching Valorie’s just a little—she was desperate to just be anywhere that wasn’t near anyone, not just Sid and the way he knew too much yet absolutely nothing. She excused herself within moments to use the bathroom, heading downstairs to her ensuite.
On her way down the staircase, she heard, the beginning of their conversation:
“Val was just filling me in on her time in Miami.”
“She really enjoyed it, right? It sounds great.”
“That’s… one way to put it.”
Walking through Halifax with Nate by her side was an experience. He’d mentioned it in passing, that people were more interested in him than normal, but Valorie hadn’t taken it to mean it was quite so relentless.
Kids wanted their jerseys autographed, everyone wanted a photo and every other person wanted to stand there on the street with Nate and listen to him recount his entire career from Bantam to what training he’d been doing since he got back to Nova Scotia.
Their trip into Halifax had been for no reason other than the sudden realisation by Nate that Valorie hadn’t left the house in an alarming amount of time outside of her new part-time job at one of the local hobby stores, so it wasn’t like the constant stopping was preventing them from doing anything in particular.
It was, however, resulting in Valorie entering a lot of stores that she otherwise had no intention of going into just so that people could gush over Nate. And at least one purchase of a dress she didn’t need.
One person who stopped them was a classmate from high school who stopped them to question Valorie about her disappearance just as much as she stopped to gush over Nate. Valorie didn’t even remember her name and the woman hadn’t taken the time to introduce herself.
“It’s so cute that you’re back for Nate, though,” she said. “I always knew you guys would end up in the same place.”
“Well, that place is home for us, so.”
“Oh, I know, but I heard all about you in Miami and obviously Nate’s making magic in Denver so it’s just nice to see you two in the same place again.”
“Yeah, it’s great,” Nate said, nodding even as he was subtly moving out of her way and directing Valorie in the same direction. “We’ve gotta head off, though. It was great to see you again.”
“Of course, sorry! You must be so busy! We should definitely catch up!”
There was more nodding and agreeing as they walked past her, Valorie checking back over her shoulder quickly in one last attempt to help her remember?”
“What was her name?” she asked Nate when they were well out of earshot.
Nate admitted easily, his face lighting up with a guilty smile, “No fucking idea.”
Valorie walked into him as she laughed, unable to control herself as it erupted from her mouth. Nate laughed, too, the guilt shifting from his face and they were holding each other up on the sidewalk as they struggled to breath.
The laughter continued, albeit subdued, as they made their way to the one thing they’d agreed upon getting: ice cream. It was an otherwise peaceful work, seemingly already having run into everyone who wanted a few minutes of Nate’s time.
Being out in public with Nate was different to being alone with him at home, Valorie noticed, and it was different to how they’d been as teenagers. He always carried himself with a confidence that was beyond him in years, almost a quiet arrogance as he always knew where he was going to end up—Valorie would have given anything to know when the arrogance disappeared. Was it because of the Cup win? His accomplishment proof enough that he was everything he ever said he was going to be. Was it seasons earlier when it didn’t look as clear?
At the ice cream shop, Nate ordered Butterscotch ripple and then laughed under his breath as Valorie ordered Maple Walnut.
“Why is that funny?”
“You’re so Canadian.”
Noting the children around, Valorie glared at him, mouthing ‘fuck you’ before she continued out loud, “I’m going to enjoy all the maple flavoured things. You can’t stop me.”
“I wouldn’t dare. I will laugh at you, though.”
They sat on a table out the front, Nate saying hello to a few starstruck kids as they did so.
“What are you staring at?” Valorie asked, her cheeks warming up under Nate’s watchful eye.
“Just wanted to see if you were still a psycho who bites their ice cream.”
Valorie made direct eye contact with him and bit into the top of her ice cream, causing Nate to shudder dramatically.
Halifax was bustling in a way that Valorie had never seen. The decision to not have the parade in Cole Harbor was purposeful, a clear differentiation from Sid’s parades and a nice thank you to Halifax for his time with the Mooseheads.
She made her way through the crowd unimpeded, even as she headed towards the rooftop she’d been told to head to near the end of the parade route, overlooking City Hall.
Nate had let Valorie know that it was where Sid would be, hidden out of sight—a decision he’d made himself. He hadn’t even relented when Nate, drunkenly, begged him to be beside him; Valorie was grateful that Sid had the awareness to decline.
Sid was already at the rooftop with Kathy, set up with a table, chairs and some food and drink to get them through the parade and the speech Nate was going to give after.
“I hope it’s okay that I’m here,” Valorie said sheepishly, unsure if Nate had told them she’d be there. “This is where they sent me.”
“More than okay.” Sid pulled up a chair from the group of them nearby. “You didn’t want to be down there with him?”
Valorie stepped to the edge of the roof, taking in the swathes of people lined along the streets. Sid and Kathy were both watching her curiously as she turned back to them and took a seat, putting Sid in the middle.
“It wouldn’t feel right. Nate and I aren’t anything, you know.”
“That’s not true, though, is it?” Sid asked. “Or you’d be in the crowd, not up here.”
Valorie froze in her seat, only her eyes moving to follow Sid’s hand as it disappeared beside him and came back with a cooler bag that he pulled wine from.
“Do you moonlight as a shrink?”
“For Nate, yeah, I feel like I do.” He carried on, no beats missed, “I don’t have red, will white do?”
It played in her mind as she drank her wine and ate from the platter that had been set up. Nate hadn’t offered for her to be by his side—she would have turned it down immediately even if he had—and when he’d suggested she sit with Sid it felt, to her, that was the next best thing.
She wasn’t overly talkative during the wait, choosing to just stare out over the edge of the roof at the other side of the street and the people who were in nearly chaotically good spirits. She was hearing vague parts of the conversations Sid and Kathy were having, and answering questions when asked, but for the most part she was lost in the magic of the Stanley Cup being back in Nova Scotia.
Valorie had been in Cole Harbour for Sid’s 2009 Cup Parade as a small and spindly 13-year-old, watching the Cup from a distance.
That morning she’d been able to run her fingers across the engraved names.
“Is it the happiest you’ve ever been?” Valorie asked, not even bothering to quieten her voice so that Kathy wouldn’t hear. “He doesn’t talk about it as much as I thought he would.”
Sid shifted his entire body to face her and Valorie immediately felt like she was about to get a talking to; she forced herself not to shrink.
“If you want him to talk about it you have to let him know he can. I promise you he won’t shut up about it.”
“Oh. Does he think I don’t care? That’s not true,” she said, worried. “I don’t want him to think I don’t care.”
The timing was on point for the parade to enter their vision, no longer just the distant sound of the band. Even as Valorie continued to think about the possibility that Nate didn’t know how much she cared about what he’d achieved, she couldn’t help but be delighted by the sight of Gabe and Cogs very, very drunk in the first carriage that came through.
When Nate came clearly into view, the Cup held high above his head, Valorie felt her heart swell and tears prick the corners of her eyes.
“It is,” Sid said, barely audible over the band and the crowd. “The happiest I’ve ever been.”
Nate had a million things planned for the rest of his day; had a lot of people to introduce the Cup to. Long after he had disappeared from the parade and after the streets of Halifax started to clear, Valorie remained on the roof with Sid and Kathy, swapping stories until their skin was turning pink.
The fact that Sid remembered her, let alone willing to talk with her like an old friend, was still very much blowing Valorie’s mind but it wasn’t something she was going to draw attention to lest it ruin the chill vibe they’d settled into.
They walked to the bar where the party would really kick off, Sid easily blending into the small crowds still milling around Halifax—the occasional person shouting at him, at everyone near them, at the wind. The excitement felt like it was never going to leave.
Waiting for Nate felt like an age, somehow felt even longer than all seven years Valorie had been away. Maybe it was sitting beside an already very drunk Mike, or maybe it was the intense anticipation coursing through her because she knew that Nate could walk through the doors with the Stanley Cup at any moment.
Maybe it was that she was pulled into a conversation with Gabe Landeskog who looked only marginally more sober than he had in the carriage; the beers he was double fisting were sure to fix that.
“Long time no see, Valorie,” he said, his tone giving no indication whether that was good or bad. “All the way back at Nate’s first game, right?”
Valorie was hesitant to respond, and opted for an honest, “That was the only one I got to, yes.”
“He missed you a lot that year.” Gabe paused to drink from one of his beers and Valorie waited for the rest of the thought. “The year after, too, but different.”
“I missed him, too,” Valorie admitted readily; that wasn’t something she’d ever been shy about.
Gabe nodded at her, then raised his chin to say hello to someone who had just walked into the room—it wasn’t Nate, Val checked—and then put his beers down on the table between them so that he could collapse into the empty seat.
“It’s good you’re back together. He’s really happy about it.”
“We’re not—he’s happy because he’s done the one thing you guys aim to do. He’s beaten the final boss. The Elite Four were no match for you guys.”
“No, no, sure he’s happy about that.” Gabe insisted, “It’s a different happy now. A more complete happy.”
“I don’t think you’re making any sense. You should go drink some water.”
Gabe protested, downing one of the beers in a matter of seconds as if that would prove he didn’t need water. Her lip quirked up at the action, both from amusement and bemusement.
Nate finally walked in, well after everyone else was a few drinks in and getting rowdy. His arrival increased the already loud bar enough to make Valorie cover one of her ears while raising the other into the air as she joined the hollering.
Nate finally walked in, well after everyone else was a few drinks in and getting rowdy. His arrival made it worse in that the noise levels were high enough to make Valorie cover one of her ears while raising the other into the air as she joined the hollering.
He and the Cup were moved around the room like he was in a pinball machine, from person to person, from shot glass to shot glass, until at last he was in front of her. The Cup had been deposited somewhere else in the room and Valorie didn’t care enough to locate it; after all, she wasn’t there to see the Stanley Cup.
With a lack of hesitation that couldn’t even be passed off on any drinking she’d been doing, Valorie threw herself at Nate, overcome by the need to make sure he knew she cared about what he’d achieved.
Nate wasn’t immediately ready for it, Valorie’s arms around his neck as she pulled him closer, but he soon realised what was happening and moved his arms around her waist to pull her off the ground.
“I’m so proud of you,” she said, breathless and rushed into his ear. “You’re so good at—at hockey and at knowing me and at taking care of me. But hockey, Nate. I want to hear all about it, okay? Probably tomorrow so I can appreciate it, but I do. I watched it. All six games. I cried I was so proud of you. I am so proud of you. You’re so good.”
“You watched?” he asked back, his warm breath brushing over her own ear and causing her to pull back with her head tilted and her face contorted.
“Yes, Nate. Of course. I thought you knew. I didn’t think I had to tell you.”
Nate pulled her back in, his face buried in her neck. The room may as well have been empty with the way all of Valorie’s senses honed in on Nate—he’d showered before coming, put on cologne that made her head spin, and his warm breath fanned across her neck which made the spinning worse.
If a loud, roaring round of applause hadn’t broken out, Valorie could have stayed pressed against him all night. As it were, though, she pulled back in a dramatic fashion and put a reasonable distance between them before contributing to the clapping—putting gross enthusiasm into it.
Nate laughed, then made a few embarrassed gestures of acknowledgement, before accepting a beer that was being handed to him.
Valorie disappeared, leaving Nate to be bounced around the room again, and hid away with Amber and Mike. They were good and spoke to their other high school friends, all of whom were surprised to see Valorie in the flesh. Luckily for her, the Cup was more than enough of a distraction from any of them asking her what she’d been up to while she was gone.
As the night grew later, it became very clear that Nate’s long day was catching up with him. He was trying, valiantly, to be the last person kicking at the bar, though his demeanour was getting progressively testier as time passed.
“I’m gonna head out. Do you want to come or stay?” she asked, brushing her hand gently over Nate’s shoulders.
“You’re leaving?” he asked, sullen, his arm snaking around her waist and pulling her towards his chair. “You should stay.”
“Amber’s driving me home—if I leave you here can you get home?”
“You should stay,” he repeated, eliciting a laugh from the group he was sitting with.
Valorie laughed with them and ran her hand over his head, insisting that she was leaving whether or not he was coming with her. He hummed, resigned, but let her go so that she could follow Amber outside.
Valorie waited against the wall outside, her head resting back against the cool brick, while Amber went to get her car—Mike went with Amber, mostly because Valorie refused to be the one responsible for him keeping to the sidewalk and off the road.
The door opened and Valorie turned her head, expecting to just wave to somebody as they left, and was surprised to see Nate stepping out.
“Everything alright? You coming home?” she asked, reaching out to him without a second thought. Nate went to her easily.
“I’m going to stay for a bit longer,” he said, standing in front of her. He wasn’t boxing her into the bricks but he was definitely close enough that it wouldn’t take much at all to get there—Valorie thought it would be nice if he did.
“Why are you out here, then?” she asked, her fingers resting in his belt loops.
“I need to…”
Nate didn’t finish his sentence, just lowered his head little by little. Valorie tilted her chin up, pushing back against the wall to get a bit more height.
He wasn’t the same Nate she’d kissed at eighteen—he was broader, bigger in every sense and it was intoxicating to be pressed against the wall by the Nate she’d come to learn. In her mind she was expecting desperation, a need to make up for lost time. It didn’t come, though, and yet Valorie still felt lightheaded when he broke their kiss.
“Will you be in my bed when I get home?”
Valorie scoffed, a little disappointed, “Nate.”
“Not for like—I just want you there. I always want you there.”
She breathed out an “okay”, and kissed him again before sending him back inside to be with his lingering friends.
When he was gone and her head was clearer, Valorie opened her eyes and jumped off the wall at the sight of Amber’s car in front of her and Mike hanging out the passenger’s window.
She pushed Mike back into the car on her way to the backseat, asking before she even sat down, “How long were you there for?”
“Saw it all, babe,” Amber said, beaming into the rear-view mirror. “Never been happier to roll up on two people hooking up outside a bar.”
Valorie knew the second she woke up that things were different. The most immediately apparent difference was the snoring coming from beside her, accompanied by the warmth of an arm over her waist and a chest pressed against her back. Even the mattress underneath her felt different.
Then there was the fact that Nate had kissed her the night before, the catalyst for the other changes she supposed.
It wasn’t a bad different was her first major takeaway, and she relaxed back into the mattress. She couldn’t just lay there forever but she could for a little longer and enjoy the all-encompassing presence of Nate.
She had a fair idea of what time he usually woke up but couldn’t translate that into what might happen when he was hungover—which he was sure to be, and she couldn’t begrudge him that—so after lying in long enough that an ache started to settle in her sides, Valorie pulled herself out of Nate’s embrace and decided to start making breakfast.
Nothing fancy, of course, but she could whip up bacon and eggs and put some pods in a Nespresso machine without too much hassle. She hoped that the smell of food would wake him up, whether he was up to eating it or not and her hope was fulfilled when he wandered out while she was eating her own plate.
“You told me you couldn’t cook,” Nate said, dropping an easy kiss onto Valorie’s head as he passed her to the kitchen.
“I can use a fry pan.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
Eating across from Nate, with him smiling at her in a way he hadn’t since her return, was exactly what Valorie had been after and hadn’t known. Listening to him tell her all about the things she’d missed when he was off doing Stanley Cup things and filling him in in return. Everything he said was perfect and when he moved into telling her about the Cup win itself—“You have to do it again so I can be there.”
“I’ll give it my best go.”
Valorie grinned, picturing it all in her head. She held the image in her mind as she cleared the table and it all came crashing back down when she looked at Nate over the kitchen counter as she realised that their future relied on them talking about the new state of their relationship.
“We probably need to have a conversation or two,” Valorie said hesitantly, eyeing Nate over her coffee to check for any reaction at all. When he didn’t so much as blink, she added, “It’s just been like… six weeks and I don’t actually know what we are to each other.”
He wasn’t pleased, mumbling, “Do we have to have that conversation?”
“If we’re going where I want us to, then yeah, Nate.”
That caught his attention enough to have him properly look at her, no longer buried in his coffee. His question came slow and unsure, yet simultaneously hopeful, “Where do you want us to go?”
“I want us to be together again.”
His previously wary face transformed into a smile, small and barely noticeable. Valorie smiled back at him as she continued to drink her coffee. She didn’t know how to start whatever conversation it was that they needed to have—conversations were one of their strong suits as teenagers, Valorie was able to frame things in the perfect way or ask just the right questions to get Nate talking.
Just as she was trying to come up with a way to get him talking, Nate was the one who spoke first.
“Why’d you move to Miami with him?”
Valorie froze. It made sense, in hindsight, that Nate would be the one leading the conversation when she was the one who’d left, and yet it was still like being doused in cold water to have the question asked of her so directly.
She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat, and provided the simplest explanation she had, “I thought I was going to marry him.”
“I thought you were going to marry me.”
“Obviously that didn’t happen, Nate.”
“Yeah,” he said, because it was entirely obvious that it hadn’t happened and the look on his face showed that he didn’t like to be reminded of it. “And I’m still trying to work out why.”
“Nate, it was seven years ago.” She added, stressed, “We were kids.”
“I still don’t know why you broke up with me, Valorie.”
“Valorie?” she all but screeched, her full name coming from his lips sending a horrible quake down her spine and through her body.
Nate powered on, “You broke up with me and you left and to this day I don’t know why that was.”
“I wasn’t happy, Nate.”
The abrupt silence was worse than the conversation. Valorie sat there, wishing she could take back those four little words—she would if she’d known just how instantly Nate would close up.
His entire face, which had at least been showing his unhappiness and discomfort, was no longer telling her a single thing about how he was feeling. Except with that, she knew exactly how he was feeling.
She opened her mouth, ready to try and do damage control, to try to take it back so that he wouldn’t look like that, except not a single word came out.
Nate beat her to it, though, the sadness gone from his face but still very present in his voice. “Why didn’t you talk to me? I know that the long distance wasn’t great—why didn’t you talk to me?”
“None of it was your fault, Nate,” Valorie stressed, reaching across the table towards him even though he was out of reach. “You were the best thing I had going at the time. I couldn’t keep a job and I couldn’t continue with college because I kept failing the classes and I needed to leave so that I could work on all of that and not drag you down with me.”
“Did it work?”
“Yeah, over the next twelve months I learnt a lot, I grew a lot. I actually was going to ask if you wanted to try again when we were both back here the next summer, but you brought a girlfriend.”
“Rachel.”
“She was lovely,” Valorie said, truthfully.
“Why didn’t you talk to me?”
“And fuck up the thin hold you had on your mental health by dragging you down with my problems?”
“Breaking up with me and then ghosting me did a pretty good job of that.”
Valorie finally pulled her hands back to her lap, knowing that that one sentence was a sure sign that Nate wasn’t going to hold them. Him leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest made it even clearer.
She didn’t know what to say, no amount of explaining was going to be enough and she didn’t want him to think she was making excuses. At the time it had felt like the right thing to do, breaking up with him without any real reason, in the years that had past she’d come to her own realisations that maybe it wasn’t.
Nate’s voice was gruff when he asked, “When did you meet Nick?”
“The first year I was gone…” Valorie said with a sigh. “Sometime in early 2015. Before I came back that summer. We weren’t together at that point because I thought… I thought we—” she gestured between herself and Nate “—could try again. But you know…”
“Rachel,” Nate filled in, uncrossing his arms.
“Rachel. So I went back to Miami, I found Nick because he’d been good to me while I was there but we’re here now anyway. You and me.”
He nodded, still expressionless. Valorie’s leg twitched under the table, up and down repetitively, as she tried to will herself to let Nate be the next person to speak.
“You and me?” he asked, after a long silence.
“If you still want me.”
Nate sighed, pushing his chair back and standing. Valorie watched him, worried that he was going to walk away from the table—from their conversation. He walked around the table towards her, though, and Valorie didn’t have to be told to stand and meet him halfway.
Nate didn’t have anything special planned for his birthday, much to Valorie’s horror. He was going to see his family for lunch—with an invite extended to Valorie which she was more than happy to accept. She couldn’t help but laugh when she arrived and saw Sid and Kathy sitting at the table on the back porch.
“You’re almost like a second father,” Valorie joked, in lieu of a proper greeting. “You’re just everywhere. All Nate’s big moments.”
“I’m really not that old,” Sid argued.
“I was thirteen when I watched you bring the Cup to Cole Harbour. That makes you pretty old.”
He scoffed, “I turned 22 that year.”
Valorie hummed and nodded knowingly, “Old.”
She watched him roll his eyes, noting the affection on his face, and moved on to greet Kathy properly.
It was, otherwise, an uneventful lunch. Valorie was appreciative of the invite, more than pleased to finally be with Nate’s family—back with Nate’s family, and being treated as if she’d never left in the first place. Her smile was ever present, only growing as she watched Nate shift uncomfortably while Happy Birthday was sung at him. Especially when she knew she was going to sing it at him again that evening.
They stayed there until late in the afternoon and Valorie tried not to let her impatience show because she liked spending time with his family, with Sid and Kathy, but she had plans for dinner that she didn’t want to mess up. Nate knew, though, at least vaguely, so they left early enough that Valorie could relax.
When they got home, she banished him to his bedroom so that she could start to cook and set the table with the fancy table setting she’d bought the day before. She was meticulous about their dinner, returning to the recipe far more than was probably necessary to ensure that it was exactly how it needed to be, and felt a true sense of pride as it all came together.
“Can I come back out?” Nate asked, still hidden behind the wall.
Valorie looked around her, taking in the pan she was using and the cleanliness of the kitchen before she told him that he could.
He bypassed the set table, walked straight towards her, and peered over her shoulder to see what she was cooking. His laugh was gentle and sincere.
“Are you making me risotto?”
“I’ve been practising,” she admitted. “When I went to Amber’s the other day we did a test run and it was actually pretty good!”
She giggled as Nate pulled her back from the stove and turned her around, kissing her so sweetly that she nearly melted into a puddle at his feet.
The whole shop stood still, except for the large bouquet of roses that was being walked to the counter; a deep red expertly pruned and assembled. Valorie knew exactly who they were from before they had even reached her.
Everyone huddled around the vase, customers included, as it was set down on the counter in front of Valorie. She knew who they were from without even looking at the note they came with, but there was a sudden hush when her co-worker read out the note on the card: Happy Birthday, mi amor. Love always, Nick.
“You sure that says Nick?” one of their customers asked—Valorie vaguely recognised her from school, though she was positive they hadn’t been in the same year. “Not Nate?”
“I mean—”
Valorie snatched the note more aggressively than she’d intended, saying, “Nick is a friend.”
The side eyes she got from both the customer and her co-worker were far from subtle but Valorie just buried the note in her pocket and carried the vase into the back room.
They—like everything Nick bought her—were gorgeous. He had somehow managed to send her the most perfect roses from Florida and she didn’t want to think about how much money had gone into them. Every day with Nick was filled with unnecessary luxuries and that only increased tenfold on her birthday.
Until the roses came along, Valorie’s day had been uneventful. She woke up early enough for her half-day shift at the hobby store—granted to her by her boss who was horrified that she hadn’t already asked for the whole day—and discovered that Nate was already awake and making her breakfast, and he planned on driving her into Halifax.
It was the most thoughtful gift she’d received in years.
He picked her up after her shift—and after her co-worker tried not so slyly to ask more questions about the roses—and Valorie was met with a bouquet of flowers as she opened the passenger’s side door. She rushed to sit in the car, pushing the vase of roses between her feet on the floor and reaching for the pink hydrangeas Nate held.
“Oh, they’re beautiful,” she gushed, hugging them to her chest as she inhaled. “Did you have to ask someone about my favourite flower or did you just remember?”
Nate mumbled, “Remembered.”
“I can’t believe it, that’s incredible.” She leaned across the centre console to kiss him and got his cheek when he turned his head but she was too distracted by the flowers to notice. “Should I look into the meaning behind these or are they just beautiful?”
Nate started the engine, keeping his eyes firmly on the road in front of him, and Valorie tried not to read into his tense jaw. Or the way he moved his hand to the steering wheel when she tried to hold it over the gearshift.
“Who did the roses come from?” he asked as they pulled into his garage after a painfully silent car ride.
She answered, cautiously, “Nick.”
“How does he know where you work?”
“I don’t know? Insta? I don’t care about the roses, you bought me hydrangeas.”
Nate only said, “okay” before he got out of the car and left Valorie sitting in it by herself. She watched him walk into the house with slumped shoulders and an aching chest before she tried to manoeuvre herself out of the car with the vase of roses and the very large bouquet of hydrangeas.
She put the roses on the kitchen counter and then scoured Nate’s cupboards for a vase so she could put the hydrangeas at the centre of the dining table. She passed Nate on the couch as she walked to the stairs, leaning down to kiss the top of his head and thank him as she did so.
Valorie tried to put it to the back of her mind as she got ready for her birthday plans—Amber had planned a whole afternoon and evening for her and Valorie had been planning her outfit for a week. It wasn’t going to be as extravagant as anything she’d done in Miami, which she’d assured Amber was more than fine, but it was her first birthday in Nova Scotia in years and her first birthday back with her best friend so she was going to make the most of it.
Putting it to the back of her mind worked well until she ascended the stairs and saw that Nate hadn’t moved from his position on the couch.
“Amber and Mike will be here soon—are you ready?”
Nate sunk further into the couch, his arms crossed tightly over his chest and his chin nearly buried into them which led to a mumbled, “I’m not really feeling it; you have fun.”
“You’re not feeling it?” she asked, hating the way her voice cracked in time with the crack in her heart. “It’s my birthday?”
“You go have fun,” he said, still into his arms. “Don’t worry about me.”
Valorie had never felt more pathetic, standing behind Nate when he wouldn’t even look at her, dressed up in one of the nicest she’d brought with her from Miami and had taken so much care with her make-up—not dressed up entirely for Nate but she definitely wanted him to at least look at her. Maybe even appreciate the effort she had gone to.
“Nate, I—I want you there,” Valorie said weakly, moving closer to him to see if she could get him to turn around. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just don’t want to go out again today.”
Valorie gave up with one last desperate look at Nate and she walked immediately through the front door to wait on the doorstep for Amber and Mike. She wasn’t going to cry about it, even if the furious blinking was barely stopping her—before Amber and Mike pulled up she pulled on her sunglasses and took some deep, centring breaths.
When Amber and Mike did pull up, this time with Amber hanging out the passenger’s side window and jumping out to pull Valorie into a tight hug as she screamed Happy Birthday in her ear, Valorie’s smile was genuine.
At least, it was until she climbed into the passenger’s seat at Amber’s insistence and they sat in the car for a few moments in silence.
“We can go,” she said, hoping that the crack in her voice wasn’t noticeable to anyone but herself.
“What about Nate?”
“I don’t want to talk about Nate.”
“I’ll fight him if you want me to,” Mike offered, completely sincerely, reaching down to unbuckle his seatbelt. “Can’t promise I’ll win but I’ll give it a go.”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into him and I don’t want to think about it for the rest of the day.”
Not thinking about it for the rest of the day was much easier said than done. It put a clear damper on the mood despite the smile Valorie was forcing into her face. For a few blissful moments she did forget, was able to just enjoy the company she was with and the drinks in front of her—and then it all came crashing back down on her with a heartbreaking thud.
Amber tried to talk about, to get an explanation as to why Valorie was upset and Nate wasn’t around and each time she was shut down by Valorie repeating that she didn’t want to talk about it and that she just wanted to enjoy her birthday.
There wasn’t much enjoyment happening, though, with Valorie staring morosely into every rum and coke she was drinking. They’d had Happy Hour cocktails, eaten some of the best steaks Valorie had ever come across and moved on to another bar to continue their night—it was everything Valorie hadn’t realised she missed and it was still being ruined by Nate.
Amber tried again, waiting until Valorie’s glass was empty, and Valorie reacted by standing up and saying that she needed some fresh air. When Amber tried to follow her, Valorie insisted that she was going alone.
Although Valorie had decided to go outside just to get away from any more questions, the fresh air did help. She hadn’t quite realised just how much the alcohol had gone to her head until she was confronted by the breeze coming off the river.
She rested her forehead against the cool bricks of the external walls, her arms crossed above her head, and counted her breaths in and out.
“Val?”
Valorie whipped around, her forehead and forearms scraping against the bricks, and was met with Nate’s concerned face.
“Thought you didn’t want to come out again today,” she said tersely, inspecting her forearms quickly and cringing at the grazes.
“I’m sorry,” he said, readily, without prompting. “That’s pretty up there with the most asshole things I’ve ever done.”
“You made me feel like shit.”
“I know. I didn’t—I’m sorry. I don’t have any excuse that’s good or justified.”
Valorie shuffled her feet, getting to the point where she was regretting her heels, and lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug.
“I’d like to make the rest of your birthday better,” Nate said, visibly shrinking in and making himself smaller and less intimidating. “If you’ll let me.”
“I really don’t feel like I should forgive you, you know?” she huffed, throwing her hands in the air.
“Okay, that’s fair. I can go home.”
She sighed, “No, I don’t want you to go home. I—I’m really happy you’re here even if you weren’t before.”
The corner of Nate’s mouth lifted tentatively, “Yeah?”
Valorie nodded, and broke the rest of the tension between them by stepping into his space and wrapping her arms around his shoulders. She relaxed into him, at the feel of his arms around her and the smell of his cologne filling her head. It was going to warrant a conversation, she knew that, but if she could enjoy the rest of her night she would do just that.
She led him back into the bar by the hand, having already been subjected to a brief twirl as Nate told her how good she looked, much happier and lighter than she had been when she’d walked outside.
Valorie, never one to be held down by a hangover, woke bright and early the next morning. Nate was still dead to the world beside her, a pillow pulled over his head to block out whatever noises he’d heard that she hadn’t.
It was bright outside when she left his room with her clothes bundled in her arms, unable to lie there and wait for him to stir, though the clock near the staircase told her it wasn’t even seven.
She had a quick shower—the hot water tap barely turned—and changed before she went in search of her bag, keys and phone and left a note on the kitchen counter for Nate that she was heading out but wouldn’t be long.
The roses had never left her mind, not with the weirdness they’d caused, and seeing them standing tall and proud on the kitchen counter made her know that she was making the right decision.
She wrote another note, tucking it into the flowers and made her way to her parents’ house to leave the roses and the note on their doorstep.
Mom, I think you can take better care of these than I can. Love you xxx
The round trip didn’t take overly long, so Nate wasn’t moving about the house when Valorie returned. She made herself a coffee and sat on the balcony, the caffeine working in combination with the slight breeze to keep any hangover symptoms at bay.
“Where are the roses?” Nate asked, startling Valorie when she hadn’t even heard the door slide open.
She waited until Nate was sitting sidewards on the recliner beside her before she said slowly, “With my mom. She loves roses.”
“You didn’t have to get rid of them.”
“I’m not attached to them… They were clearly making you uncomfortable, so it’s fine.”
Nate hummed, then said softly, “Thank you.”
Valorie smiled at him, grateful for the admission no matter how vague. She stood up, only to sit back down on Nate’s recliner after moving him so she could sit between his legs and relax back into him. She reached for his hands and wrapped his arms around her body.
She didn’t expect him to say anything else, happy to push the conversation they had to have to later in the day and just enjoy a quiet morning. Nate didn’t have the same desire, though.
“A guy doesn’t just send you roses on your birthday if he’s not trying to get you back.” He was speaking into her hair and if he hadn’t been so close Valorie wouldn’t have heard him at all.
She squeezed his arms and said, “If I was going back to him, I would have any of the half dozen times he’s already asked.”
She hadn’t mentioned it to Nate—to anyone—that Nick was sending things to her parents house, not many, but enough that she’d had to call him to put her foot down. The earrings he’d sent that matched the bracelet she’d been wearing the first time she’d seen Nate back in Nova Scotia were the final straw there. She’d never worn them and hadn’t put the bracelet back on, even though it was her favourite piece of jewellery.
Nate’s hesitation was evidence enough of his worry and was only amplified by the way he was holding her close and still speaking into her hair. “He’s not wearing you down?”
“Not in a good way. He seems to think that if he throws more money at me and reminds me of the life we had together and the future we could have; that I’ll just forget that I want kids.”
“Promise?”
“Remember that conversation we had? After the Cup Day? It’s you and me. I’m not going back to him.”
Nate’s forehead came to rest against the back of her head; Valorie could feel his relieved sigh.
The summer was dangerously close to ending. Valorie was counting down the days until she and Nate got on a plane to Denver, excitement and trepidation filling every ounce of her body and only getting more and more intense whenever she saw him.
There was something on her mind, though, the cause of the trepidation. A question she’d been holding onto for far longer than she intended and a question she knew she needed to ask before they left for their new life together—it couldn’t be another conversation that happened after the fallout.
Nate had just finished up his last training session with Andy, and Valorie smiled at him and only briefly cringed when he leant down to kiss her despite the sweat rolling off his body.
Andy followed Nate in, greeting her happily, none the wiser to her inner turmoil—though how could Andy be if Nate didn’t have a clue? He said goodbye to Valorie, that he’d see her when Nate was back in Canada, and she waved at him as he left.
She sat on the couch, staring blankly at the television, and listened to the shower in Nate’s ensuite turn on. With a quick inhale and in an unexpected moment of courage, she decided to join him.
“What a surprise,” Nate smirked, watching Valorie drop her clothes as she entered the bathroom.
The water was nearly unbearably hot though she didn’t falter, immediately wrapping her arms around Nate. He followed suit without missing a beat and Valorie relished in being able to rest her head against his chest and hear his steady heartbeat over the water.
“What’s brought this on?”
“You did an interview a few years ago and I can’t forget it,” Valorie said, taking a deep breath. She was thankful that the shower was hiding the wetness in her voice. “That you don’t like kids? And I—I need to know if that’s still true before… I don’t know.”
“I was never sure about having kids, I’ll be honest,” Nate said, slow, measured, and most definitely confused. “But I always knew that if I was going to have kids it was only going to be with you.”
“Okay. That’s—okay.”
Her relief was immeasurable—she had known it was causing her a lot of inner stress but to have it roll off her shoulders was nicer than she ever could have imagined.
“I love you.”
Valorie pulled away from Nate’s chest, blinking through the fall of water over her face, another sigh leaving her body. She pressed up on her toes to kiss him, unable to express herself in any other way.
Please consider leaving feedback—reblog and write in the tags or send an ask, I’m not fussed. I just want to know what you’re thinking!
tag list: @fallinallincurls @spine-buster @2manytabsopen @xcicix @sorryjustafangirl @senditcolton @shinyfalcon4 @guesswhoispathetic @laurenairay @ripepeach @jarmorie
add yourself to the tag list
#nathan mackinnon fic#nathan mackinnon imagine#hockey fic#hockey imagine#nhl fic#nhl imagine#homemade fic#the winter fic exchange 2k23#fic: Avs#one shot
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jo's nhl fic rec list !
hi - welcome to my attempt at being a fic writer again. i have a wip list in the works but first things first: my fic rec list of all the works i've found and adored.
if you don't know yet, you will know soon that i am such a sucker for angst. i hope you find something new to love from the list below !
i will aim to update this weekly with new additions have NEW tagged next to it. additionally, if any fics become archived / deleted i will also tag it as such.
* updated thursday 25 april 2024 *
weekly note: so, i've sadly had to remove summaries of each fic to make way for new fics. i'm going to think of a solution to work around this, but whatever i do, this will still remain the masterlist for my fic recs!
like my selection of fic recs? have a player who's not been featured? let me know and i'll go on a deep dive for you!
ANAHEIM DUCKS
better man (trevor zegras) by @starry-hughes
hard to forget (trevor zegras) by @hockey-fics
something about the sunshine (trevor zegras) by @huggybug
word count: 3k
last night in anaheim (trevor zegras) by @itsjusthockey
word count: 2.3k
CAROLINA CANES
do i really have to tell you (brady skjei) by @senditcolton
this is how it ends (sebastian aho) by @silverstonesainz-archive
i could love you with my eyes closed (sebastian aho) by @matthewtkachuk
finish line (sebastian aho) by @silverstonesainz-archive
lover boy (seth jarvis) by @sydnikov
being bold (seth jarvis) by @sydnikov
9PM in Vancouver (andrei svechnikov) by @thewintersoldierdisaster
in five (andrei svechnikov) by @sydnikov
NEW - sunkissed: pt 1, pt 2 & pt 3 (andrei svechnikov) by @sydnikov
NEW - all the pretty girls (pyotr kotchetkov) by @unluckyhoneybee
COLORADO AVS
summers back home (nathan mackinnon) by @happer08
crushes with beefcake (nathan mackinnon) by @ohmyeyesmyeyes
i didn't have it in myself to go with grace (nathan mackinnon) by @mattyanonwrites
monday morning (nathan mackinnon) by @matthewtkachuk
colorado (for the first time) (nathan mackinnon) by @withwritersblock
FLORIDA PANTHERS
subtle (matthew tkachuk) by @hockey-hoe-24-7
word count: 3.1k
you say you hate me (matthew tkachuk) by @pucksnsticksnhockeyboys
all for you (4 times you tried to tell Brady you loved him, and one time matty did it for you): pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4 & pt 5 (matthew tkachuk) by @comphersjost
4 times you fake a relationship + 1 time you didn't (matthew tkachuk) by @hockeywhy
4 times you didn;t find the one + 1 time you did (matthew tkachuk) by @hockeywhy
homecoming (matthew tkachuk) by @doc-pickles
NEW JERSEY DEVS
gin, tonic, and tequila shots (jack hughes) by @hockey-fics
stay the night (jack hughes) by @eyesthatroll
everybody wants you, but i don't like a gold rush (jack hughes) by @sunkissed-zegras
invisible string (luke hughes) by @hugshughes
tidal wave (luke hughes) by @babydollmarauders
drops of jupiter: pt 1 & pt 2 (jack hughes) by @youunravelme
breakable heaven series: pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4 & pt 5 (jack hughes) by @chewingcyanide
hey, i can be your boyfriend (nico hischier) by @theemporium
second best (jack hughes) by @chewingcyanideA
my heart's racing, and it isn't the exercise (luke hughes) by @sunnyskiesscareme
head start (jack hughes) by @youunravelme
first rule of fight club (jack hughes) by @thatintrovertedwriter
valentines (nico hischier) by @hischierdevils
reaching out (jack hughes) by @bedsyandco
clumsy (jack hughes) by @babydollmarauders
a walk down memory lane (jack hughes) by @letsgetrowdy43
lover of mine (nico hischier) by @ohmyeyesmyeyes
you're not the one (nico hischier) by @ladylooch
moth to a flame (jack hughes & trevor zegras) by @itsjusthockey
when the party's finally over: pt 1 & pt2 (jack hughes) by @itsjusthockey
NEW - off limits: pt 1 & pt 2 (nico hischier) by @hischierhoney
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
five times everyone knew mat loved you & the one time mat realized himself (mathew barzal) by @idontgiveaflyinggrayson69
bad luck charm (mathew barzal) by @matwith1t
show you (mathew barzal) by @islesnucks
to all the girls you've loved before: pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5, pt 6 (mathew barzal) by @youunravelme
the word wing-woman (mathew barzal) by @youunravelme
this is how you fall in love (mathew barzal) by @youunravelme
it's nice to have a friend (mathew barzal) by @youunravelme
we've come so far baby (mathew barzal) by @mendeshoney
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
cause i'm not ready (auston matthews) by @misshoneyimhome
3 times people asked you if you an auston were together + 1 time you finally are? (auston matthews) by @bedsyandco
we're parents? like actually parents? (auston matthews) by @austonwithan-o
moth to a flame (auston matthews ft mitch marner) by @marnerparty
VANCOUVER CANUCKS
lucky (quinn hughes) by @43-hugs
4 times everyone else caught on before the 1 time you and quinn finally did (quinn hughes) by @mrsensitive
5 times Quinn wanted to kiss you + 1 time he finally did (quinn hughes) by @bedsyandco
friend's don't (quinn highes) by @hischierdevils
third time's the charm (quinn hughes) by @thatintrovertedwriter
fearless (quinn hughes) by @theemporium
plus one (quinn hughes) by @bagopucks
growing up is (quinn hughes) by @adoristsposts
NEW - home (brock boeser) by @bedsyandco
NEW - nothing but love (quinn hughes) by @starry-hughes
NEW - can i be close to you? (quinn hughes) by @43-hugs
#nhl imagine#nhl fic rec#nhl fic#hockey imagine#trevor zegras fic#trevor zegras imagine#brady skjei fic#brady skjei imagine#sebastian aho fic#sebastian aho imagine#andrei svechnikov fic#andrei svechnikov imagine#seth jarvis fic#seth jarvis imagine#nathan mackinnon fic#nathan mackinnon imagine#matthew tkachuk fic#matthew tkachuk imagine#luke hughes fic#luke hughes imagine#jack hughes fic#jack hughes imagine#nico hischier fic#nico hischier imagine#mat barzal fic#mat barzal imagine#auston matthews fic#auston matthews imagine#quinn hughes fic#quinn hughes imagine
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Masterlist
Updated as of: March 6, 2024. Please let me know if any of the links don't work/are incorrect.
(Listed in alphabetical order by first name)
Colton Parayko
Neighbours
My Forever
Brock Boeser
Is There an Us?
Not Overstepping
Rather Forgive You Than Lose You
A Perfect Celebration
Next Summer
Jack Hughes
Gin, Tonic, and Tequila Shots
Something About Red Wine
Jamie Oleksiak
Two Too Many
Broken Promises and Forbidden Relationships
Jeff Skinner
Seeing Other People
Joel Farabee
Three Wishes
Josh Anderson
Like Having You Here
The Magic of Weddings
Kevin Hayes
Crossing Paths
A Long Month Alone, Together
Still Regret It
Mathew Barzal
Missing Piece
Matthew Tkachuk
Hockey Players are Bad News
Does He Know
Always You
Me or Him
One Drunk Night
Then Everything Changed
One Big Charade
Nathan MacKinnon
When We're 25
Nico Hischier
A Love Worth Changing For
Nolan Patrick
Swipe Right
Hot Chocolate and First Kisses
Rather Be in Philadelphia
Final Sumer at the Cabin
Travis Konecny
Prove You Wrong
Do Better
Trevor Zegras
Hard to Forget
Quinn Hughes
No Flirting at Trivia
That Night in Michigan
That Week in Vancouver (pt. 2 of That Night in Michigan)
Rose Coloured Glasses
The Summer It All Changed
Vince Dunn
Just Once | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four |
Not Enough
Fresh Start and a Familiar Face
Perfect Night
Should Have Seen it Sooner
Sick of It
Instagram Official
Misc:
Andre Burakovsky and Tyson Jost
Soy Lattes and Red Wine | Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Choose Your Ending: Tyson Jost | Andre Burakovsky
Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Jost
Couples Trip
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I’m curious because of how you rank Cale, who do you think are the top 10 players in the league? (We can exclude goalies because they’re such an entirely different skill set but would love to hear their separate ranking)
oooh ok this is. an inchresting question... under the cut bc dashclog Et Cetera.... the cody sergeifyodorov unoffishul players rankings at This Very Moment In Time. get mad at me if u want idk let's dance
number ten: sidney crosby. Old Man Still Has It, More At Ten
number nine: david pastrnak. arguably -- and i am going to argue it -- the best pure shooter in the league. the reason hes not like theee goalscorer of all time is bc he generally lacks puck carriers/space creators/isn't much of a puck carrier or a space creator of his own, but like. based off shot alone? hundredth percentile.
number eight: elias pettersson. two way centre... the usual vancouver oish% boost but also just a fantastic dual threat AND a legit lady byng candidate with a penalty differential big enough to severely boost his value just based off that. like imho there's nothing that petey is specifically Good At (like how pasta is a pure goalscorer) but he's basically got no weaknesses. and hes gay
number seven: cale makar IS very good. conn smythe norris etc but most importantly he did win a hockeyblr babygirl of the year award so theres that too. some crazy bobby orr pointgetter. real good defensive results too. like hes crazy good and they say hes crazy good for a reason
number six: ill concede. leon draisaitl
[GAP OF PRETTY SIGNIFICANT SIZE]
number five: quinn hughes. i don't know what fuckass magic this sad little man has. decent finisher. great playmaker. best power play quarterback in the league. makes anyone who plays with him appear to be "oh shit, this guy's a great partner for hughes!" (i have seen this with at least 5 diff players, not one of whom anyone would consider Quite Good on their own.) L + ratio + oish% + makar has devon toews + youngest captain in the league + you bet that conn smythe and norris combo is his soon enough
number four: nathan mackinnon. best dual threat in the league (no one who's a better passer than him is a better goalscorer, and no one who's a better goalscorer is a better passer.)
number three: nikita kucherov. i want you to do something for me. i want you to go to espn dot com. i want you to go to espn dot com slash nhl. i want you to go to espn dot com slash nhl slash team stats tampa bay lightning. it should be sorted by points for you. there's dearly beloved creepy eyes keeta right there in first. 94 points as of me writing this. crazy number for right now. wolfboy of all time brayden point should be in second. take a look for me rn at the difference between those two in points. what the fuck
number two: auston matthews. is this leafs bias? sure. im a leafs guy. im just saying that he's a better goalscorer than ovi in his prime, and he's a centre and great defensively too. i could tell you that he is fifth all time in goals per game, and two of the four guys ahead of him were born in the 1800s. i could tell you that he has 48 goals in 52 games right now, and 0 empty netters. i could tell you that if you only counted goals he scored when the leafs were down one or tied, he'd be in the top ten in goals this year.
[GAP OF PRETTY SIGNIFICANT SIZE]
number one: connor mcdavid. he has almost as many assists as the second-best in his draft class (mitchell) has points. he has 930 points in 620 games. he is the only player in the salary cap era to have a 150-point season. idk there's just fuckin . no one like him. like generally an untrained eye can't really see how much better or faster any given player is than the rest but like. you can with him. he just Looks a step ahead of the pack. top five all time, and he's in his prime rn!!!! lets go connie all my homies love connie
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Everything you need to know so far about the NHL all-star weekend ↴
[article: NHL All-Star, this is just a summary]
📍Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, CANADA
🗓️ February 1-3
FAN VOTE IS BACK: you will get to vote for 12 players, 8 skaters and 4 goalies. You can submit a ballout 10 times.
FEBRUARY 1: PLAYERS DRAFT
A player (the captain) will be paired with a celebrity. They will pick 11 players (9 skaters and 2 goalies)
Entertainment
Man of the Year will be announced
PWHL (Professional Women's Hockey League) will have a 3-on-3 (more information below)
FEBRUARY 2: SKILLS COMPETITION
12 Players will compete in 8 events. The player with most points takes home $1 million (USD) (or $1,329,136 in CAD). Each player will compete in 4 of 6 events. THE EVENTS:
Fastest Skater
Hardest Shot
Stick-Handling
One-Timers
Passing
Accuracy Shot
Top 8 point-earners will advance to the 7th event: the SHOOTOUT-> each player will choose a goalie to shoot against.
The top six point-earners will advance to the 8th and final round: the OBSTACLE COURSE-> points doubled.
FEBRUARY 3: ALL-STAR GAME
3-on-3 tournament between 4 teams, winning team receives $1 million (USD)
There has already been a player chosen from each team (here are the players): [Name, team, position]
Frank Vatrano, ANA, F
Clayton Keller, ARI, F
David Pastrnak, BOS, F
Rasmus Dahlin, Buff, D
Elias Lindholm, CGY, F
Sebastian Aho, CAR, F
Connor Bedard, CHI, F (injured)
Nathan Mackinnon, COL, F
Boone Jenner, CBJ, F
Jake Oettinger, DAL, G
Alex DeBrincet, DET, F
Connor McDavid, EDM, F
Sam Reinhart, FLA, F
Cam Talbot, LAK, G
Kirill Kaprizov, MIN, F
Nick Suzuki, MTL, F
Filip Forsberg, NSH, F
Jack Hughes, NJD, F
Mathew Barzel, NYI, F
Igor Shesterkin, NYR, G
Brady Tkachuk, OTT, F
Travis Konecny, PHI, F
Sidney Crosby, PIT, F
Tomas Hertl, SJS, F
Oliver Bjorkstrand, SEA, F
Robert Thomas, STL, F
Nikita Kucherov, TBL, F
Auston Matthews, TOR, F
Quinn Hughes, VAN, D
Jack Eichel, VGK, F (injured)
Tom Wilson, WSH, F
Connor Hellebuyck, WPG, G
Vincent Trochek (New York Rangers) and Kyle Connor (Winnipeg Jets), to replace Connor Bedard (Chicago Blackhawks) and Jack Eichel (Vegas Golden Knights).
FEBRUARY 1st ENTERTAINMENT
PWHL 3-on-3 showcase
There will be 2 teams 12 players on each, 10 skaters and 2 goalies.
Team King (Cassie Campbell-Pascall): named after Billie Jean King
Team Kloss (Meghan Duggan): named after Ilana Kloss
MASCOT SHOWDOWN
Thursday 1st, 6:00-7:00 p.m: Dodgeball
Friday 2nd, 5:00-6:00 p.m: Skills Competition
Saturday 3rd, 12:00-1:00 p.m: Street Hockey Game
Sunday 4th, 1:00-2:00 p.m: Musical Chairs
2:00 PM: Championship Trophy and "Most Valuable Mascot" Belt Presentations
THE FAN VOTE RESULTS: [name, team, position, votes]
Thatcher Demko, VAN, G: 1,398,699
William Nylander, TOR, F: 1,393,578
Cale Makar, COL, D: 1,065,367
Elias Pettersson, VAN, F: 976,716
Leon Draisaitl, EDM, F: 967,975
Mitchell Marner, TOR, F: 946,154
J.T. Miller, VAN, F: 839,215
Morgan Rielly, TOR, D: 830,480
Brock Boeser, VAN, F: 762,378
Sergei Bobrovsky, FLA, G: 712,100
Alexandar Georgiev, COL, G: 584,071
Jeremy Swayman, Boston Bruins, G: 578,739
10 players have been selected and you can vote for 2 more skaters:
Auston Matthews
William Nylander
Nathan MacKinnon
Cale Makar
Connor McDavid
Leon Draisaitl
Nikita Kucherov
Jack Hughes
David Pastranak
Elias Pettersson
Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller were voted in to participate in the All-Star skills competition.
NHL All Star Jerseys:
🔴Pacific Division
🔵Atlantic Division
⚪Metropolitan Division
🟡Central Division
THE CAPTAINS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED!
Team Matthews: Auston Matthews, Justin Bieber. Assistant Captains: Morgan Rielly.
Team McDavid: Connor McDavid, Will Arnett. Assistant Captain: Leon Draisaitl.
Team Mackinnon: Nathan MacKinnon, Tate McRae. Assistant Captain: Cale Makar.
Team Hughes: Quinn & Jack Hughes, Michael Bublé.
#update: jack Hughe is out due to injury and will be replaced with Jesper Brett and Matthew barzal took his place in the skill comp#and Elias petersson will be Quinn’s assistant captain#if i missed anything add it in the tags also this used to be reblogged when new info came out so i decided just to put it into 1 big blog#nhl all star game#nhl all star 24#nhl#quinn hughes#jack hughes#sidney crosby#cale makar#nathan mackinnon#connor mcdavid#auston matthews#leon draisaitl#jeremy swayman#nick suzuki#sam reinhart#morgan rielly#william nylander#brady tkachuk#cecilias nhl post
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NHL Recommendations
Fic recommendations that you guys should definitely check out.
(series) Road Wife - by @cellythefloshie 18+
(series) Unresistable ;; jack hughes - by @luvmmarner
(one-shot) Fan Girl ;; michael bunting - by @luvmmarner
(one shot) you were right ;; jack hughes - by @luvzegras
(one shot) baby, baby ;; quinn hughes - by @luvhughes43
(one-shot) keep your glasses on ;; owen power - by @powermakar
(one-shot) roughed up ;; sidney crosby - by @drewsbuzzcut 18+
(one-shot) illicit affairs ;; sidney crosby - by @blueskrugs
(one-shot) Along for The Ride ;; auston matthews - by @woah-were-halfway-there
(series) Impact ;; mitch marner - by @callsign-denmark
(one-shot) Take Five ;; mitch marner - by @mattybenierss
(one-shot) I miss you like the very first night ;; cale makar - by @mattyanonwrites
(one-shot) you always did feel just like home - nathan mackinnon - by @wyattjohnston
#fic rec#nhl hockey#hockey#hockey imagine#jack hughes#nhl imagine#mitch marner#mitch marner imagine#series#cale makar#nathan mackinnon#quinn hughes#nj devils#tampa bay lightning#ross colton#anthony cirelli#steven stamkos#sidney crosby#owen power#michael bunting#nhl smut#smut#18+#auston matthews
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alright. haven't done one of these in a while. here's my top players in each area. (not just this season, but CONSISTENTLY the best in said area)
goal scoring: auston matthews. this one really shouldn't be hard to answer i mean, come on.
points: connor mcdavid, but some others i think are close depending on the season. good point getting is going to come from his play no matter what though.
well-roundedness: nathan mackinnon; he's an excellent passer, scorer, play maker. just all around such a top tier player. both physical and speedy. he is THE blend
defense: cale makar. another obvious one lol. he's just generational. you can't stop him.
goaltending: i'm going to go with andrei vasilevskiy still. just consistent and reliable from what i've seen. he gets the praise for a reason. many goalies are very close though. it's hard to really weigh this one because of how much tending fluctuates year to year
speed: connor mcdavid/nathan mackinnon. both are incredibly quick and actually have a lot closer numbers on average and for their top speed than a lot of people know. their play style is very different but both deserve to be known as the fastest guys out there.
pest behavior: now i'm not talking rat behavior. i'm talking about the ability to propel your team to glory by absolutely irking the opponent. so i'm going to go with matthew tkachuk mostly because he's a better player and pest combo than marchand is. marchand is more rat, matthew has higher playing level.
playoff performance: i'd love to put crosby here, but right now it's wire thin between nathan mackinnon and leon draisaitl. as far as pure scoring and points in the playoffs, it goes to leon. when it comes to the ability to drag a team to a win? i give that part to nate. i always talk about both of them together when mentioning this topic though, so i suppose it's a tie
passing: now THIS one goes purely to leon draisaitl. don't get me wrong there's guys that are close, but holy fuck ain't no one out there passing the way he is. he's excellent at it.
shot (speed/hardness): elias pettersson no comment it's insane argument over
shot (deadliness): david pastrnak, probably :]
defensive forward: patrice bergeron... probably aleksander barkov now, from what i've seen. i'm not very educated on this topic but he seems to trend into this category when talked about often.
defensive defenseman: i'd say devon toews, my favorite underrated king. sorry if this pisses some fans of defenseman off but he doesn't get the credit he deserves. he's very good defensively.
offensive defenseman: either erik karlsson or cale makar. they're always putting up good numbers. it's hard with the regression in ek's season but in his prime? idk. i'd probably still give this one to cale though.
offensive forward: connor mcdavid. shocker lol
skating: there's so many but this also trends in cale's direction for me. i don't think i've genuinely ever seen better edges. maybe datsyuk? either way lmk if there's better skaters out there but.. i'm picking cale again apologies apologies
best player: controversial but this one is a very tight race between mcdavid and mackinnon. again lol. it just depends what you're looking for. they're so much closer than people think but it's hard when their styles are so different. i say mcdavid still for this one, but nate deserves his spot at that "number two" because it's sooooo close. they're both incredible
bonus silly ones now :)
bitchiness: leon draisaitl
hair (not flow, just general amount of hair) : mika zibanejad
shit at media: everyone. congratulations you all get blue ribbons of participation!! you.. you tried!!
goober levels: mitch marner
inseparability: sidney crosby and evgeni malkin and kris letang
weirdness in goalie terms: marc-andre fleury but also all of them
honorable mention picks...
best veteran: we all know. it's sidney fucking crosby and don't even get me STARTED on him anyway
best captain: gabriel landeskog. truthfully but also i'm biased hence why it's here not mixed in with alllllll the others lol
hope you enjoyed my mania
*honorable mention players include mikko rantanen, quinn and jack hughes, adam fox, roman josi, more goalies than i can mention, ovechkin for goal scoring, andrei svechnikov, and so many more because guess what! this league is insane! i could talk about the talent of them all for hours! seasonally or consistently. i love raving about them all. it's very hard to just choose A guy for each category. not enough people see how close many players are to each other in skill levels in my opinion, but then again this is just for fun lol. feel free to debate me i don't mind
#colorado avalanche#nathan mackinnon#cale makar#pittsburgh penguins#sidney crosby#edmonton oilers#connor mcdavid#leon draisaitl#auston matthews#matthew tkachuk#elias pettersson#david pastrnak#andrei vasilevskiy#devon toews#erik karlsson#gabriel landeskog#aleksander barkov#nhl#hockey
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monday morning - nathan mackinnon
the boys win the Stanley Cup and you end up in bed with one of them
pairing: nathan mackinnon x reader
warnings: mention of alcohol, mention of sex (not quite explicit but more than implied - yk my brand by now), sex that takes place after both parties have been drinking (if this is a trigger feel free to skip! take care of yourselves my loves)
word count: 1.2k
a/n: hey besties long time no see, hope yall are doing well. one week ago, the colorado avalanche won the stanley cup and you know a bitch couldn't resist a post-win fic <3 s/o to @antoineroussel for being the only one awake and telling me when i'm being pretentious
Monday morning you wake with the feeling of cotton balls stuffed down your throat and a heavy body weighing you down into the mattress. For a moment you can’t quite figure out where you are or how you got here—it’s quite difficult to make sense of anything as you burrow your head back deeper into the pillows and keep your eyes squeezed shut.
Wiggling your toes, you assess the damage, but it’s almost impossible to move under the weight on top of you. Said weight starts to shift a little in its slumber you assume, and that’s when you come to realize whoever is on top of you is one, naked, and two, very very heavy. One of his wandering hands slides from its place by your side up to rest on the underside of your boob and that’s when you realize a third thing—you’re naked too.
The night before comes back to you in bits and pieces—the longest five minutes of your life at the end of the third period, someone screeching in your ear at the final buzzer, placing your hands on the ever elusive lord stanley and then drinking shitty beer out of it with the half naked team who’d won it half an hour before. Linking arms with some of the better halves and stumbling out of a hostile arena into an even more hostile city, and yet finding a club/bar more than willing to take your—well, not yours specifically—”dirty” money.
Shots and then more shots and then more shots. If you think hard enough, you vaguely remember doing a body shot off André. Somebody pressing a water into your hands and you pretending to take a large slip before leaving it on the closest bar top when they turned around. Sliding in real close into… someone’s embrace shortly after and then staying there for the rest of the night. You can picture their muscled shoulders and feel the heat of their calloused hands and yet their face remains beneath a dark cloud in your mind.
“You wanna go back to mine?” whispered in your ear and wandering hands and giggles turned whines turned moans turned toes curling and nails dragging down backs. Chapped lips and a bearded face and praise shared like an oath.
But who?
You’re afraid to open your eyes, afraid to face whoever is in your bed or maybe whose bed you’re in, afraid you won’t like who you find or afraid you will and they won’t want you too in the fresh morning light. You know it’s a hotel room—or at least you’re pretty sure it’s a hotel room based on the feel of the sheets beneath you and the too fluffy pillow that’s got your neck at an uncomfortable angle.
If you had it your way you’d never find out whose hotel room it is, but ultimately you don’t have much of a choice. Not when the mysterious not-quite-stranger presses a chaste kiss to the skin of your neck before rolling off of you with a groan.
“It wasn’t a dream,” he says, punctuated by a small exhale of breath that can only be indicative of disbelief.
The feeling of your chest constricting is timed perfectly with the way the rest of the night flashes by—EJ leaving a sloppy kiss on your cheek, Mel crying into your shoulder, one too many Jägerbombs.
And then Nate.
Nate lifting you into his arms on the ice and shouting about how they finally fuckin’ did it, Nate’s everlasting eye contact as he tips the Stanley Cup so that the alcohol falls into your awaiting mouth, Nate’s front pressed to your back on the dance floor, Nate’s arms feeling like home when you didn’t know which direction was left and which direction was right. Nate leading you to his hotel room, fingers brushing the 1787 numberplate before turning their attention on you.
Stumbling into Nate and kissing him and running your fingers through his hair and along the beard on his jawline—”this is so sexy”—getting your hands on him and pressing and pulling and prodding until his naked body covered yours on the neatly made bed. You’d teased him for it, asked him if it was a superstition or just his good manners that had him making the bed on the most important morning of his hockey career yet. He’d only kissed you quiet.
And then a moment of clarity in the drunken, lust-fuelled haze where he’d pushed back the hair from your face and asked if you were sure. When you’d told him you’d never wanted anything more, he’d told you without shame that it was a tie between you and the cup, and he’d ‘already won the cup tonight.’
It sends tingles down your spine to remember the way he looked at you last night. A look you’d previously seen hours earlier, looking around at the boys after the final buzzer, and then pushing his captain towards it only to hold it minutes later. Like you were the Stanley Cup, like you were the culmination of two and a half decades of hard work and perseverance and overcoming adversity, like you were the thing he’d spent his entire life waiting for.
“The cup and the girl...fuck am I ever lucky,” he speaks again before pulling you so that you lay half on top of him this time. You finally open your eyes to see that very same look still on his face. “Good morning.”
“Hi,” you say, suddenly very shy and wanting to disappear into the covers. You push down the urge to run for the nearest hill, tentatively placing your hand on his chest above his heart. When he covers it with his own you find the courage to speak again. “How did you sleep?”
“I think I’m still drunk,” he admits with a laugh, “but I’ve never slept better.”
“Better than Landy?” you ask. “Bet he slept naked in EJ’s hotel room with the cup between them.”
Nate laughs out loud at that and you preen under the sound. “We’ll get our turn to sleep naked with the cup.”
“We?” you ask hopefully, tentatively. Despite the look in his eye and the fact that he has yet to let you go, you’re not the kind of girl who makes assumptions or gets her hopes up. In fact, you’re the very opposite—more likely to assume the worst in any situation, and you in fact do so now.
“I think I made myself pretty clear last night,” he smirks and you remember the gentle way he regarded you during sex. “I’m not a man of many words, we both know that. But you have to know how I feel about you.”
His hand cups your face and his thumb gently skims your cheekbone before your lips are pressed together.
“Yeah, I think I do.”
#nhl fic#nhl fanfic#nhl fanfiction#nhl imagine#nhl imagines#nathan mackinnon x reader#nathan mackinnon fic#nathan mackinnon fanfic#nathan mackinnon fanfiction#nathan mackinnon imagine#nathan mackinnon imagines#shelb writes
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mackinnon trending on the bird app.. had to click...
twitter hockeymen going on and on about a "big strong man" being "too soft" and "clearly faking" being unable to keep his balance and deserving an embellishment/diving penalty is the cishet man's hrpf. writing a narrative to fulfill a daydream about why their team lost. and the most hilarious-- why they've "lost respect for mackinnon" 😂😂😂 oh noo the dogg is so sad and must unfriend the always honourable golden goal captain canada sid immediately
...something comes at your hand (not at the puck, but at your body) while you're receiving a pass and gearing up into a shot where you're positioning and weight is about to be shifted mostly onto a single foot in order to release. it jolts you out of your rhythm to have to push that intruding stick out of the way and have to overcompensate to reposition and regain balance and stay on your feet.
men: boo. so soft. what a performance.
listen here you stupid little gnat. nathan motherfucking mackinnon doesn't need a pity penalty call to make your team look like ass k. he and his boys did that with 4 unanswered goals. and he does it on the regular, singlehandedly, at even strength.
embellishment/diving calls are some of my most hated shit in this game. cale has gotten some of the worst in seasons past. like my goodness. he was just a little guy. obviously he's gonna twirl around a bit, not even fall, trying to regain balance and they throw that call on him. he's even called off penalties called on others bc he insisted they didn't touch him, that he fell of his own volition. one of the best skaters with incredible edgework technique falls on slippery ice sometimes. huh. who woulda thunk it.
the teams that do that diving shit on the regular as per their coaches' instructions, go after them you fucking idiots. entire teams have won stanley cups with award-winning performances you ate up. or hey, how about the refs who call simultaneous penalties along with dives?? which one is it? is it a penalty or is it a nothing and some dude falling on his own in order to frame someone?? nhl refs have bred mistrust in calls with their lousy performance record.
obvs I've nothing against van fans here. this is all aimed at nonsense twitter hockeymen and refs. sometimes... sometimes i just gotta vent before i can get back to regularly scheduled tumblr funsies with y'all. anyhow, dumb rant over. peace n love n lets objectify men in fully-covered attire
#annieQ hockey thoughts#nhl garbage league#hockeymen bs#embellishment / diving penalty calls#nathan mackinnon#cale makar
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all fic | universe | gifs | exchanges
(alphabetical order by team, then by player)
updated: 27 Jan '24
* = contains smut
boston bruins
charlie mcavoy
kiss it better now
buffalo sabres
erik johnson
only all the time (series of one shots)
jeff skinner
your eyes look like coming home
tyson jost
it’s me & you
out of ten
this is getting good now (series of one shots)
calgary flames
noah hanifin
the one who needs saving
carolina hurricanes
andrei svechnikov
kinda hope they catch us
colorado avalanche
gabriel landeskog
‘til you give me all your love
nathan mackinnon
the second time
you always did feel just like home
columbus blue jackets
nick blankenburg
need a little company
dallas stars
jake oettinger
the saddest thing i know
roope hintz
no sound worse than silence
tyler seguin
ain’t no sunshine (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, playlist)
edmonton oilers
leon draisaitl
lock in your love
florida panthers
matthew tkachuk
don't want to miss you like this
you gotta kiss somebody (sometimes)
los angeles kings
pierre luc dubois
never said a thing
montreal canadiens
josh anderson
what am i to you?
nashville predators
anthony beauvillier
into moonlight (series of one shots)
taylor hall
better at leaving* & i just keep coming back to you*
new jersey devils
dougie hamilton
i’ll bet you didn’t even know
jack hughes
make it weird
we all have our secrets
we don't have no time to waste (series of one shots)
nico hischier
late nights in the middle of june (series of one shots)
not perfect (but we were)
new york islanders
mat barzal
all eyes, they're on you (series of one shots)
uh oh
new york rangers
chris kreider
toward a feminine sea
philadelphia flyers
joel farabee
fell in love with you in stages
travis konecny
take me as i am (series of one shots)
pittsburgh penguins
ryan graves
never saw you coming
to hold your hand (would be the bravest thing)
seattle kraken
andre burakovsky
dreamer (just like you)
we look good together*
jamie oleksiak
my picket fence penguins
your eyes look like coming home
st louis blues
colton parayko
open your heart to me
kasperi kapanen
let's get these wheels in motion*
kevin hayes
got a hold on me* (series of one shots)
how those rumours fly
toronto maple leafs
mitch marner
give the stars something to watch
morgan rielly
sache que je serai la tienne (series of one shots)
william nylander
let's get these wheels in motion*
vancouver canucks
brock boeser
and i had silly dreams
take you one day at a time (series of one shots)
elias pettersson
been a long time coming
quinn hughes
let's finish what we started
until the light shines through
vegas golden knights
nolan patrick
found the cure for a broken heart
say that we'll be together (series of one shots)
washington capitals
nicklas backstrom
give up the game
tom wilson
in the shadows & still want more
winnipeg jets
adam lowry
breaking all the rules
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Writing Patterns - LAST Lines!
Rules: write the last line of your 10 longest fics. What patterns can you see, if any? Which ones are your favourites?
tagged by @phdmama in that she very generously tagged everyone. if you're reading this, and you want to, you are now tagged by me. please tag me, or reblog so i can see yours, too!
Thoughts here, lines below the cut!
apparently, i love a line of dialogue to end a story. but what i really see is that whether it's a line of dialogue, or a little sentence summing up the possible future, it's that: always an eye to the future and what might happen next. and so much gentleness.
Every Day I Wake Up and It's Sunday (hermione/oliver wood; 50514 words; this is my first fic, and let me down a 90s rabbit hole that my musical algorithm will never recover from)
Hermione and Oliver had each other, and they knew they made their own luck, and were unafraid.
Biological Imperative (jason todd/dick grayson; 29499 words; omegaverse, lazarus pit shenanigans, baby damian wayne!)
“Yeah,” Dick said. “Come on. Damian needs someone to play with.”
Making All Things New (tyson barrie/nathan mackinnon, and a little jamie benn/tyler seguin; 27432 words; omegaverse, inspired by the excellent oplopanax's feral nate chapter of bits and pieces)
And Tyson wasn’t naming that sweet bonny girl after EJ…
Bang Your Head (steve harrington/eddie munson; 23868 words; fix-it fic all based on the idea "What if Eddie saw Steve on MTV in his vest, hosting the Headbanger's Ball?")
They have all the time in the world.
The Flowers and My Love (jason todd/dick grayson; 22865 words; slowburn, mistaken identity hanahaki trope subversion that also benefited from my 90s music rabbit hole...)
"Yeah, Jason, I want it.”
Home Is Some Place (jason todd/dick grayson; 19302 words; this was supposed to be a one-shot based on high rent prices in gotham that turned into a batfam story. reverse robins! including big brother damian! good mother talia al ghul!)
"Nightwing!"
Containing Multitudes (jason todd/dick grayson; 18243 words; a 5+1 exploration of identity with a little Jason Dent thrown in for fun)
"Hey, Sugar.”
A Surprise To Be Sure (din djarin/luke skywalker; 16841 words; a modern AU focused on family, found or otherwise; just a corny fluffball; i listened to kacey musgraves' golden hour on repeat writing this...)
This is the Way.
Death's Silver Lining (sirius black/remus lupin; 16814 words; exploration of the black family relationship; good mother walberga black [no i'm not spelling her name with a u; she is mine and something entirely different])
They laughed quietly together, as Sirius’s hands inched up Remus’s shirt, and brought it up over his head.
We're in for a Bad Spell (jason todd/dick grayson; 13818 words; omegaverse; magic and time travel)
“K, babe,” Jason texted right back. “We’ll be right here.”
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hii sofi!! it's been such a long time and i miss our interactions :(
how are you? i hope everything is good!!
i came here to ask what are your expectations for this all star weekend, bc the time passed so fast for me that i didn't even realized we're already in this part of the season and i'm still shocked lol
lots of love <3
hiii li <3 it's so nice to hear from you lovely, i've missed you a ton! i'm so sorry i miss our interactions too :(
i'm doing sorta alright! my blog has been running on queue for a couple days bc i wasn't feeling great :/ but nothing bad dw and i'm feeling a bit better today, so i'm here to yap ! how are you tho? it's fr been a long time since we last spoke
i love this question sm and same!! i believe i became a proper fan around december or january of last year so i don't remember it feeling this fast, but this season flew right before my eyes 😭😭 i was having breakfast when i saw the announcement of quinn being captain and now he's about to finish his first season as one? that's still crazy to me.
but i feel like i haven't payed enough attention to it but here are my predictions for the skills rounds.
fastest skater: connor mcdavid
hardest shot: auston
passing: leon
one timers: mackinnon or auston
stick-handling: willy or petey
accuracy: auston or pasta
these might be all wrong and tbh as long as davo doesn't win every single one, i don't care as much 😭😭😭 would love it if there were more players involved in the skills thing but people aren't pleased with the 1 player per team rule so ig this is a way to keep everyone at peace ✨️
HOWEVER i'm super excited to see watch the draft with the celebrity coaches (go team aus & mo !!! but ... i have to root for tate and nathan too bc it's too iconic not to) and the cash prizes! i wish a lot of the guys who were selected and then got injured could have gone, but they're probably enjoying their break much more now so 👍
i'll be glued to my tv when the pwhl showcase happens tho. those are my favorite girls, that's my main event, my super bowl. as well as tate's performance 😭😭 i think that's going to help grow the league a lot this year and i'm really happy about that :)) can't wait to see bjorky and all of my leafs guys slay ofc ! but honestly my mind is a liiiiitle more focused on the trade deadline and then playoffs :(
this yap ended up being way longer than i intended it to be sorry li 😭😭😭 do you have any predictions tho? i would love to hear them <3 love love love u
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it's only a matter of time
nathan mackinnon // cale makar
1.7k, teen and up, one shot
It’s just that Cale doesn’t sleep with teammates. He doesn’t want to mess with the team dynamics or the locker room or their on-ice play.
It’s too messy, and Cale doesn’t like messy things.
read on ao3
#my fics#men's hockey rpf#hrpf#hockey rpf#natecale#829#wahooo#wrote this is basically one sitting#now time to not write anything again for four weeks lol#rbs appreciated <3
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Avalanche warmup routines: From Evan Rodrigues’ game with kids to Samuel Girard’s pauses - By Peter Baugh (The Athletic)
Erik Johnson
Johnson wasn’t particularly forthcoming about whether he has any on-ice routines.
“Nothing I would tell you,” he said.
But if you watch every game, you’ll notice that, ahead of line rushes, he flips a few pucks all the way across the ice and into the netting, where they drop toward fans.
“Just working on the flips,” he conceded when asked about the trend, though he insisted it’s not superstition.
His locker neighbor, on the other hand, certainly falls in the superstitious category.
“You should ask this guy,” Johnson said, gesturing to the locker next to him, which belongs to …
Mikko Rantanen considers himself superstitious, especially during the playoffs, but he’s quick to add that there are others who are worse.
“I’m not going to say names, he said. “But 49.”
That means Samuel Girard, the Avalanche defenseman who wears No. 49. He’s notorious among his teammates for his routines, and he doesn’t always like to share his secrets.
“You can talk to him, but he’s probably not going to say anything,” Rantanen said.
The star winger was correct. Girard declined to comment.
“I don’t want to start with that; it’s just too long,” he said last season, and he again didn’t want to speak on it this month.
Some Avalanche players are superstitious. Others just have habits. Nathan MacKinnon, for example, is almost always the last player skating during warmups.
“I feel like everybody follows similar sets of stuff,” defenseman Cale Makar says. “I don’t think there’s something that, if I changed it, it would make a difference. I feel like most guys are the same way.”
Some are, some aren’t. The Athletic conducted a dressing room survey about what players’ on-ice routines look like — and also tried to piece together what makes Girard’s unique.
Evan Rodrigues
Rodrigues’ pregame pattern is one of the most noticeable — at least when his two sons, Grayson and Noah, are in the building.
“Just getting them involved, it makes their day,” says Rodrigues, who came to the Avalanche from Pittsburgh this offseason. “It’s worked out for me, so I might as well keep doing that.”
Rodrigues shoots a maximum of three pucks at the camera hole in the corner of the glass. When he makes one of the shots, he stops.
“If I don’t, I’ll just pick it up and give it to my kids at home (games),” he says. “And then on the road I’ll try to find an Avs fan and give it to a little kid.”
He used to just have to give a puck to Grayson. But now Noah is old enough to want one, too.
Rodrigues has had a successful year on the ice, with 18 points in 27 games. His puck-shooting at the camera hole has been less successful, though.
“I’ve been really cold right now, not going to lie,” he said Dec. 30. “I’ve been bad. I’ve been close but I haven’t gotten it through. At the beginning of the year I was probably 50 percent, and now I don’t think I’ve gotten one since I’ve gotten back from injury.”
J.T. Compher
Compher is the designated puck distributor before line rushes. He gathers them in the net and then flings them to his teammates at the blue line. He’s not quite sure how it started.
“I’ve just always done it here,” he said. “It started when I was younger and now it’s just part of my routine.”
Andrew Cogliano
MacKinnon and Compher chirped the always-industrious Cogliano as he started to talk about how he handles warmups, repeating the question across the dressing room and saying he doesn’t do anything.
“I like to think I actually warm up for the games,” the veteran quipped back. “Comph is flinging pucks around. Mikko is talking to fans. … I use it as preparation.”
He said he potentially goes “a little too hard” at times, but he likes to take advantage of his last chance to prepare before the game.
Ben Meyers
“I don’t really have anything I need to do,” he said. “My only superstition is that I have no superstition. I’m that guy.”
Brad Hunt
The veteran defenseman has off-ice preparation he does before every game, including stretches and skipping. But on the ice, he doesn’t do anything particularly distinct. The journeyman has played on seven NHL teams, and only one for more than 100 games (Minnesota, exactly 100 games). He doesn’t want to be a disruptor.
“Especially being new, you don’t want to screw with anybody else’s routine,” he says.
Andreas Englund
The defenseman makes sure to stand on the right side of the blue line during parts of the warmups.
“Small stuff like that (becomes) a habit,” he said.
Alex Newhook
Newhook has two on-ice rituals. One involves an equipment manager. The other includes the glass.
During warmups, Newhook will go to the bench, where assistant equipment manager Donny White sprays him with a water bottle. The 21-year-old also makes a point to jump into the glass three times.
“Bit of energy, get the guys going a bit,” he said. “It’s funny: The place I do it, there’s always the same fan there every time. (She has a) cowbell. She puts it on the glass and it always falls over.”
Alexandar Georgiev
“I try to read the shots and then play with the puck a little bit,” the goalie said. “I try to be ready to play the puck behind the net. Couple passes. Forehand, backhand.”
Mikko Rantanen
“I have the routine I do at the rink, and it’s always the same,” he said. “You can argue it’s superstition. I just do it.”
Want to know exactly what his routines are?
“You probably can see them in the on-ice warmup if you watch two games in a row,” Rantanen said.
Logan O’Connor
“Normally, when we’re doing the half-moon shooting, I take my first shot and then I go to the bench and take 20 seconds and take it all in: what’s gotten me to this level and how grateful I am,” he said. “Just sort of reflect. Sometimes you get caught up in it, and it’s hard to appreciate it. I try to do that every pregame warmup for 10, 20 seconds.”
Erik Johnson
Johnson wasn’t particularly forthcoming about whether he has any on-ice routines.
“Nothing I would tell you,” he said.
But if you watch every game, you’ll notice that, ahead of line rushes, he flips a few pucks all the way across the ice and into the netting, where they drop toward fans.
“Just working on the flips,” he conceded when asked about the trend, though he insisted it’s not superstition.
His locker neighbor, on the other hand, certainly falls in the superstitious category.
“You should ask this guy,” Johnson said, gesturing to the locker next to him, which belongs to …
Samuel Girard
As mentioned earlier, Girard didn’t want to talk through his pregame regiment. But here’s what it looked like ahead of Colorado’s Jan. 2 matchup with Vegas:
Early in the warmup, Girard stops near center ice. He puts his hands on his knees and remains still for around 30 seconds. He stops at the bench, then skates quickly toward the net. Before line rushes, after circling the ice a few times, he stops once again to put his hands on his knees, this time at the center of the blue line. Later in the warmup, he stops on the blue line away from the bench and remains there for around a minute before taking a shot and doing some fast skating around Colorado’s half of the rink.
His routine remains the same. Night in, night out.
“Eighty-two times a year,” Rantanen said.
Added Girard simply when asked last season: “I like to have my routine.”
#colorado avalanche#erik johnson#ej 😍#sam girard#loganoconnor#mikko rantanen#alexander georgiev#alex newhook#jt compher#nhl#nhl hockey#nhl players#nhl2022-2023
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taylor's 2023 writing wrap up!
i want to do one of these last year but started it really late and got overwhelmed so i just didn't. so, instead, i'm starting this in february so it's not as much work.
i'm going month by month and putting down what i wrote and calculating how many words i wrote and adding it up at the end!
january! (6869 total words)
fics!
✷ second times the charm (juraj slafkovsky) - juraj and y/n were... something some years ago. but that was done and over with. so when y/n comes back as a medical team member, juraj knows there's only so much time to avoid all his problems. (6869 words)
february! (7404 total words)
fics!
✷ andrei "all star" svechnikov (andrei svechnikov) - the svechnikovs go to their first all-star game together. (2717 words)
✷ elias andersen goes to the winter classics (freddie andersen) - elias andersen experiences his first winter classic game. (1621 words)
blurbs!
✷ leo pettersson's great all-star adventure (elias pettersson) - leo pettersson has the time of his life at his first all-star game. (1327 words)
✷ cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater (roope hintz) - roope comforts y/n when she finds out her boyfriend is cheating on her. (489 words)
✷ the domestic life (justin herbert) - before early morning practice, justin's sure to say goodbye to y/n. (587 words)
✷ shot glasses (nathan mackinnon) - nate comes home from a roadie with a little gift for y/n. (349 words)
✷ the hoodie debacle (william nylander) - will loses a hoodie, but quickly finds it... on y/n. (314 words)
march! (7633 total words)
blurbs!
✷ special day (teuvo terevainen) - y/n and teuvo celebrate their first anniversary as a married couple. (450 words) *
✷ unexpected plans (frank castle) - y/n ends up in jail, frank bails her out, and after the whole ordeal, a romantic confession ensues. (814 words) *
✷ change of name (anthony beauvillier) - y/n steals (borrows) a hoodie of anthony's with his last name on it. (277 words) *
✷ the perfect teacher (jack quinn) - jack helps y/n get over her fear of skating. (412 words) *
✷ the darn couch (bowen byram) - bowen and y/n are in the process of moving in together, so when their couch arrives, they have to find a way to get it up the stairs. (428 words) *
✷ behind the tattoo (ryan graves) - ryan, ever the curious guy, asks y/n about all her different tattoos, then brings up getting a matching one. (198 words) *
✷ post-roadie ice cream (nathan mackinnon) - after every road trip, the mackinnon's get a treat to celebrate nate being back, and more often than not, it's ice cream. (540 words) *
✷ chicken tendies (tyson jost) - after a night of partying, tyson, the ever-caring boyfriend, takes care of y/n, per her request, gets chicken tendies. (452 words) *
✷ yours and mine (wade allison) - wade spots something of his on y/n, something that belongs to him. (680 words) *
✷ 900 club (erik johnson) - y/n throws erik a little party in honor of him playing 900 games. and a love confession ensues. (1082 words) *
✷ to pass or to fail (jimmy garapolo) - y/n's getting ready to take her driver's test, but she's anxious and nervous she's gonna fail, but jimmy is there to ease her nerves. (408 words) *
✷ horrible very very bad idea (mikey "fanboy" garcia) - mikey goes along with y/n and is worried he's breaking a law. (313 words)
✷ byram vs. boldy (matt boldy) - matt boldy, after promises not to fight his girlfriend's brother, gets into a fight with her brother's teammate instead. (551 words) *
✷ stupid oscar harrison (freddie andersen) - y/n hates being sick. freddie knows this. (427 words)
✷ not goodbye (bradley "rooster" bradshaw) - bradley gets called back in and both y/n and bradley are sad to say "see you later". (601 words)
april! (10,438 total words)
fics!
✷ mary's song (oh my my my) (quinn hughes) - a fic based on "mary's song (oh my my my) from taylor swift's debut / taylor swift album. (2494 words)
blurbs!
✷ 3am chicken nugget runs (joe burrow) - y/n gets hungry at 3am. luckily, joe is there scratch the craving. (350 words)
✷ bad flirt (morgan frost) - morgan watches another guy (badly) flirt with his girl. (300 words)
✷ light ice (nathan mackinnon) - y/n is injured and can't really move but is craving starbucks, therefore, nathan is sent out to get starbucks. (270 words)
✷ cupid's protegees (wade allison) - morgan and joel are proud of themselves for setting up their two best friends, wade and y/n. (295 words)
✷ mario kart battles (wade allison) - no matter how bad he is at it, wade keeps challenging y/n to battles. (509 words)
✷ dad's home (freddie andersen) - fred surprises his family after a roadie. (781 words)
✷ spoil (jess mariano) - jess spoils y/n ever morning with a pastry and hot chocolate, for which she is very grateful. (424 words)
✷ hospital jello (patrick moynihan) - after injuring himself and being confined to a hospital bed, y/n is there to support him with chicken wraps and red jello. (345 words)
✷ post clinch celly (jeremy swayman) - after clinching, the bruins go out to celebrate and jeremy gets a little drunk. (382 words)
✷ winston and sean = besties (sean kuraly) - sean and y/n's dog winston are best friends. (283 words)
✷ ryan "little spoon" lindgren (ryan lindgren) - after a roadie, all ryan wants to do is cuddle, but he wants to be the little spoon. (327 words)
✷ one week (pyotr kochetkov) - pyotr gets called back up to the canes, so he and y/n have to say their goodbyes to each other before saying goodbye for a long week. (591 words)
✷ jamie and miles (miles wood) - with y/n off on a girl's trip, that left miles alone with little jamie wood. (839 words)
✷ work sendoff (sidney crosby) - mornings are hard so sidney gives y/n the little push she needs. (362 words)
✷ love on the ranch (andrei svechnikov) - after the canes visit the y/l/n ranch, andrei can't get y/n out of his head. (454 words)
✷ disney adult (mat barzal) - mat goes to disneyland for the first time and becomes a disney adult. (345 words)
✷ not a normal routine (mat barzal) - mat has a day off and wants to stay home. y/n doesn't and has to go to work. even though he wants her to stay home, he helps her get ready. (500 words)
✷ naptime (andrei svechnikov) - theo falls asleep on the car ride home, so instead of waking him up, andrei and y/n make a little detour. (343 words)
✷ theatre kid (mat barzal) - mat barzal is secretly a theatre kid at heart. (244 words)
may! (8256 total words)
fics,
✷ i'm in love with you (ross macdonald) - y/n and y/l/n and ross macdonald being in love for 10 minutes straight, or some cute moments in y/n and ross' relationship. (3289 words)
blurbs,
✷ grand romantic apology gesture (mat barzal) - after getting into an (stupid) argument and they leave things on bad terms, y/n flys out to support mat for game 2 and to apologize. (828 words)
✷ #1 supporter (mat barzal) - at the first game of the series, y/n is there to support mat. (543 words)
✷ big slide (andrei svechnikov) - the only two options in a kids mind when it comes to vacation are theme parks or waterparks. (470 words)
✷ not the way we wanted (mat barzal) - after the loss, y/n does her best to comfort mat. (387 words)
✷ my lover (carlos sainz) - carlos and y/n go to a taylor swift concert where carlos has some tricks up his sleeve. (643 words)
✷ nurse tanev (brandon tanev) - after y/n sprains her ankle, brandon switches into nurse mode and takes care of her. (388 words)
✷ shopping buddy (pyotr kochetkov) - pyotr walks into a grocery store more confused than he's ever been and walks out for a girl's number a cart full of snacks. (396 words)
✷ work parties (clayton keller) - clayton hates work parties. every single one of them. but after a little spat with y/n, he realizes he has to be there to support her. (397 words)
✷ skating lessons (quinn hughes) - charlotte hughes is nervous to skate for the first time, but luckily, her dad is there to catch her when she falls. (300 words)
✷ y/n, mr. hockey man, and 3rd wheel vic (teuvo teravainen) - vic is y/n's best friend, and is always the 3rd wheel. (448 words)
✷ stick to the face (ryan mcleod) - ryan makes a promise to y/n to stop taking sticks to the face or else he'll have no teeth left. he tries his best to keep that promise, but sometimes, it's unavoidable. (267 words)
june! (5175 words)
fics,
✷ where you lead i will follow (mat barzal) - mat barzal is new to town, sort of. a town he didn't want to be in. after not so good press towards the end of the season in new york, during the off-season, the team decides to send him to ivory lake, a small town where his uncle lives, just until everything dies down. the first night he's there, his uncle forces him to go dinner at his not-girlfriend's house. there, he meet's her daughter, and he realizes he has more in common with her than he thinks. (5175 words)
nothing july-sep because i was on a break :)
october ! (10250 words)
fics,
✷ sorry (george daniel) - george and y/n got into an argument before the show, so as a way of apologizing to him, y/n surprises him at the show. (1317 words)
✷ the perfect father (elias pettersson) - y/n and elias manage to keep a hug secret from the world during quarantine. (3873 words)
✷ thank the donkey (ross macdonald) - poppy macdonald is upset her dad is working on halloween, her favorite holiday. her dad is even more upset he has to work. so, he does the best he can and make the night special for her. (1240 words)
blurbs,
✷ let loose (quinn hughes) - in y/n's eyes, quinn would be winning every award for dads out there. after hearing about a party, at first, quinn has no plans on going, but after some persuasion from y/n (and josh) he finally agrees to let loose. (499 words)
✷ winnie martin's favorite person (mat barzal) - y/n is winnie martin's favorite person. (1253 words)
✷ new patches (quinn hughes) - quinn hughes, the newest captain for the vancouver canucks, has a new jersey for the new season and a new letter on it. his biggest fan is the one to surprise him with it. (870 words)
✷ gag gift (lucas raymond) - lucas raymond and mortiz seider are best friends. and a person doesn't get rid of a gift their best friend got them. even if it's a gag gift. (559 words)
✷ i heart ny (alexis lafreniere) - alexis is just his girlfriend's ken doll to dress up every halloween. (639 words)
november ! (4601 words)
blurbs,
✷ superstitious (jj peterka) - hockey players are known. tobe very superstitious. jj is no different. (559 words)
✷ aunt and uncle duties (mattias samuelsson) - as the only people in your family and friend group, y/n and mattias are often tasked as babysitters. (765 words)
✷ y/n y/l/n's hockey boyfriend (sidney crosby) - y/n y/l/n, famous singer, plays in the city she calls home, and finally confirms a years-long rumor people had been speculating on. (573 words)
✷ one last time (roy kent) - after a years longer career, roy knows that the end is coming. he can feel it. luckily, when the end finally does come, y/n is there for him. (698 words)
✷ night time activies (frank castle) - frank never likes to involve y/n in his "night time activities" but this time, it was a necessity, and he regretted it when the bullets started flying. (511 words)
✷ birthday surprise (samuel ersson) - y/n surprises sam on his birthday after he gets home from a raodie. (733 words)
✷ granola bars (jeremy swayman) - during post game media, jeremy can't help but boast about his good luck charms. (762 words)
december !
fics,
✷ secret santa (ross macdonald) - when ross pulls y/n's name for secret santa, he wracks his brain on what to get her, until he remembers the one thing she talks about. (504 words)
✷ we went to winter wonderland (ross macdonald) - a bucket list thing for y/n is she wants to see new york city during christmas. so, before they all fly home for the holidays and their two month break, ross makes a special pitstop. (730 words)
✷ home sweet home (erik johnson) - for the first time is 13 years, erik johnson is playing against the colorado avalanche. (1516 words)
✷ what's in a name (jeremy swayman) - y/n surprises jeremy at practice with baby eli, where they then surprise linus (and the team) with eli's full name. (1159 words)
blurbs,
✷ hockey girl (owen power) - with the sabres not making it to the playoffs, y/n and owen go to a hockey game together back home where they get recognized. (825 words)
FINAL WORD COUNT: 65,360 words
thank you for all the love and support this past year. it has mean so much. i love you all and expect some banger stuff coming in 2024! :)
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