Independent Together
Title: Independent Together
Author: sherlockelly
Pairing: Joe Thornton / Patrick Marleau
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Real people, fake story. Also I don't own Rudolph, so.
Summary: Patty loves the holidays, Joe loves Patty. Joe doesn't love the holidays, Patty doesn't love Joe. Uh oh!
Author's Note: I kinda got tired of poor Joe being an evil manwhore, so I gave him a little bit (but really only a little bit) of depth and let him get his dang heart broke. That oughta human him up some. Italics are quotes from Rudolph.
Word Count: 793
This engagement thing. It was his idea, yes. Joe knew as much. But it wasn’t something that he was really actually thinking about doing. Ever.
But then, one evening, in the middle of watching some silly Christmas movie, on TV way too early, Joe found himself on one knee.
Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?
“Marry me.”
He didn’t even ask.
He didn’t even have a ring.
“What?”
“Marry me.”
He did it to shut up the guys, his family, his head.
Tabea wasn’t nagging him about it, but whenever he took her out to a quiet restaurant, away from the hockey friends and the sports bars they normally visited, and after he’d paid the tab and they got back in the car and everything was quiet between the two of them all the way back to the apartment, he felt her sadness radiating.
Four years together and he’d never even talked about the future. She’d bring it up, he would nod along, change the subject, all but forget it had ever been mentioned.
Joe didn’t know why she stayed around.
“Joe!” Even her voice was smiling.
+++
Patty loved the holidays. He would start wearing a Santa hat around the locker room immediately after Thanksgiving. JR was the only one that really gave him a hard time about it, but he'd seen the other guys roll their eyes the first day their captain strolled in wearing it, knowing they'd have another month of it before he'd finally put it away.
Joe learned, the one Thanksgiving he’d spent with Patty and Christina, before things got too painful, watching him be so domestic, that Patty even wore his Santa hat then, too. He’d scooped mashed potatoes and HO-HO-HO!ed and makes jokes about a bowl full of jelly while wiggling the cranberry sauce, still lumped together in the shape of the can.
When they were on the road, Patty would bring it along, wearing it around their hotel room like it was nothing, an accessory to his suit, to his jeans-and-t-shirt, his pajamas.
Two years ago, on the road in Calgary, the two of them were getting ready to go to bed. It was snowing out, which made Patty beam. He was on his bed wearing his silly hat and reading, singing softly to himself. Joe could tell the season was already getting to him, the way he kept reaching up from a page in his book to touch the white trim, smiling wider.
You wouldn't mind my - red nose?
“I love you, Patrick.”
Patty stopped humming Jingle Bells and looked over at Joe, sprawled out on the other bed. Joe looked at the book in Patty's lap instead of at his face.
"What?"
"I'm in love with you."
His heart raced and his palms were sweaty. He was stuck in a stare that he couldn't break, and when Patty got up and came to sit next to him on his bed, Joe was still looking at the book, abandoned in the spot where Patty had just been.
"Joe," Patty started, his tone already giving his intentions away.
+++
Joe didn't know if he was angry or relieved that Patty acted like nothing had happened.
The only sign that he even remembered the confession and the ensuing three hour conversation, Patty trying to be both a captain, a friend, and definitely not a heart-breaker throughout, was the fact that he'd forgotten his Santa hat at the hotel.
JR did a victory dance, Pickles worried that Patty would jinx the game, and Patty reached up and touched the top of his head, looking to all the world like he'd just realized he was naked in public.
That night, after a celebration out at a bar, Patty put his Santa hat back on, exclaimed that he'd missed it that morning, and kissed Joe against the hotel room wall.
The white puff at the end tickled Joe's cheek.
Not if you don't mind me being a dentist.
"What are you doing?"
Joe pushed Patty back gently and shrugged out from between the warm body and the freezing wall. He shivered.
"What?"
"Stop that, Patty."
Joe crawled in his bed and closed his eyes against the tears welling up. He hadn't cried in years and years, not even the night before when Patrick let him down slowly, but casually, and told him that he couldn't.
He obviously could. He just hadn't wanted to.
"Sorry." Patty took off his hat and set it on the television.
+++
Joe'd never felt like this before. Like his happiness was entirely in the hands of someone else.
Patty packed up his suitcase. The sound of the zipper cut though the silence. Joe rolled over towards the wall. He briefly tried to remember what it felt like, his back against the cold, Patrick's lips warming his like a shot of brandy slipping down his throat.
Patty sighed. Joe coughed.
It's a deal.
It wasn't.
+++
Joe watched Tabea twist the ring he bought her.
It had begun to make a groove in her finger, she had tanned around it in the summer, it looked like it belonged there, gold and diamonds sparkling by the light of the television as she flipped through the channels.
She stopped on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
"No. It's too early for Christmas." Joe took the remote from her and watched with satisfaction at the image closed in on itself with a pop.
The crackling of the television as it powered down was the only sound in the room.
Author: sherlockelly
Pairing: Joe Thornton / Patrick Marleau
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Real people, fake story. Also I don't own Rudolph, so.
Summary: Patty loves the holidays, Joe loves Patty. Joe doesn't love the holidays, Patty doesn't love Joe. Uh oh!
Author's Note: I kinda got tired of poor Joe being an evil manwhore, so I gave him a little bit (but really only a little bit) of depth and let him get his dang heart broke. That oughta human him up some. Italics are quotes from Rudolph.
Word Count: 793
This engagement thing. It was his idea, yes. Joe knew as much. But it wasn’t something that he was really actually thinking about doing. Ever.
But then, one evening, in the middle of watching some silly Christmas movie, on TV way too early, Joe found himself on one knee.
Hey, what do you say we both be independent together, huh?
“Marry me.”
He didn’t even ask.
He didn’t even have a ring.
“What?”
“Marry me.”
He did it to shut up the guys, his family, his head.
Tabea wasn’t nagging him about it, but whenever he took her out to a quiet restaurant, away from the hockey friends and the sports bars they normally visited, and after he’d paid the tab and they got back in the car and everything was quiet between the two of them all the way back to the apartment, he felt her sadness radiating.
Four years together and he’d never even talked about the future. She’d bring it up, he would nod along, change the subject, all but forget it had ever been mentioned.
Joe didn’t know why she stayed around.
“Joe!” Even her voice was smiling.
+++
Patty loved the holidays. He would start wearing a Santa hat around the locker room immediately after Thanksgiving. JR was the only one that really gave him a hard time about it, but he'd seen the other guys roll their eyes the first day their captain strolled in wearing it, knowing they'd have another month of it before he'd finally put it away.
Joe learned, the one Thanksgiving he’d spent with Patty and Christina, before things got too painful, watching him be so domestic, that Patty even wore his Santa hat then, too. He’d scooped mashed potatoes and HO-HO-HO!ed and makes jokes about a bowl full of jelly while wiggling the cranberry sauce, still lumped together in the shape of the can.
When they were on the road, Patty would bring it along, wearing it around their hotel room like it was nothing, an accessory to his suit, to his jeans-and-t-shirt, his pajamas.
Two years ago, on the road in Calgary, the two of them were getting ready to go to bed. It was snowing out, which made Patty beam. He was on his bed wearing his silly hat and reading, singing softly to himself. Joe could tell the season was already getting to him, the way he kept reaching up from a page in his book to touch the white trim, smiling wider.
You wouldn't mind my - red nose?
“I love you, Patrick.”
Patty stopped humming Jingle Bells and looked over at Joe, sprawled out on the other bed. Joe looked at the book in Patty's lap instead of at his face.
"What?"
"I'm in love with you."
His heart raced and his palms were sweaty. He was stuck in a stare that he couldn't break, and when Patty got up and came to sit next to him on his bed, Joe was still looking at the book, abandoned in the spot where Patty had just been.
"Joe," Patty started, his tone already giving his intentions away.
+++
Joe didn't know if he was angry or relieved that Patty acted like nothing had happened.
The only sign that he even remembered the confession and the ensuing three hour conversation, Patty trying to be both a captain, a friend, and definitely not a heart-breaker throughout, was the fact that he'd forgotten his Santa hat at the hotel.
JR did a victory dance, Pickles worried that Patty would jinx the game, and Patty reached up and touched the top of his head, looking to all the world like he'd just realized he was naked in public.
That night, after a celebration out at a bar, Patty put his Santa hat back on, exclaimed that he'd missed it that morning, and kissed Joe against the hotel room wall.
The white puff at the end tickled Joe's cheek.
Not if you don't mind me being a dentist.
"What are you doing?"
Joe pushed Patty back gently and shrugged out from between the warm body and the freezing wall. He shivered.
"What?"
"Stop that, Patty."
Joe crawled in his bed and closed his eyes against the tears welling up. He hadn't cried in years and years, not even the night before when Patrick let him down slowly, but casually, and told him that he couldn't.
He obviously could. He just hadn't wanted to.
"Sorry." Patty took off his hat and set it on the television.
+++
Joe'd never felt like this before. Like his happiness was entirely in the hands of someone else.
Patty packed up his suitcase. The sound of the zipper cut though the silence. Joe rolled over towards the wall. He briefly tried to remember what it felt like, his back against the cold, Patrick's lips warming his like a shot of brandy slipping down his throat.
Patty sighed. Joe coughed.
It's a deal.
It wasn't.
+++
Joe watched Tabea twist the ring he bought her.
It had begun to make a groove in her finger, she had tanned around it in the summer, it looked like it belonged there, gold and diamonds sparkling by the light of the television as she flipped through the channels.
She stopped on Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
"No. It's too early for Christmas." Joe took the remote from her and watched with satisfaction at the image closed in on itself with a pop.
The crackling of the television as it powered down was the only sound in the room.