Hockey Ficlets
“I don’t get it,” Beau said. Paulie sighed.
“You know how Sid gets about traditions,” he said grimly. “C’mon, kid, you’re up next.” Beau balked.
“I’m not going up there!” he hissed. Paul gave him a sympathetic look even as he put one hand between his shoulder blades and propelled him forward.
“You’re going up there, you’re going to perform, and you’re going to do it now, Sunshine,” he said. “C’mon, everyone has to take a turn.”
“Karaoke with costumes,” Beau moaned, but let himself be dragged away by Duper, who was already looking gleeful. James flopped down next to Paul, wearing a cowboy hat he’d brought with him from his time in Dallas and a truly heinous belt buckle. Paul sighed.
“You’re singing Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy, aren’t you,” he said, resigned, and James smirked and threw his arm around Paul.
“You betcha,” he said, doing his best imitation of Paul’s accent, which made Paul elbow him in disgust. “Ow, Paulie, c’mon. It’ll be great.”
"Your definition of great and my definition of great are not the same," Paul muttered, but just then Sunshine was pushed onto the stage wearing a pair of loose sweatpants, a purple vest with no shirt and a miserable expression, so he ignored James in favor of watching Sunshine’s unenthusiastic rendition of One Jump Ahead.
0o0o0o0o0
Beau is woken out of a sound sleep by an air horn being set off right next to his head.
“What?” he says, sitting up and looking around, still not entirely awake and pretty sure he’s dreaming. There’s no way that a bunch of guys in ski masks are standing around his bed, setting off air horns next to his face. That stuff just doesn’t happen, right?
“SURPRISE!!” They all scream, and the next thing Beau knows he and his bed are absolutely covered in silly string. Beau yelps and tries to duck back underneath the covers, but someone he didn’t notice was standing there at the foot of his bed and yanks them back down.
“What the hell?” he asks. He’s definitely not awake enough to handle whatever this is.
“We’re kidnapping you,” one of the guys informs him. “Go on, get dressed, and make sure to wear this.” He hands Beau a t-shirt as someone standing near the door flicks on the lights.
“What,” Beau says, still absolutely lost, because his parents are standing right there and seem to be stifling laughter. Which, kidnapping? What the hell? Why would his parents be laughing?
“C’mon, fishy,” another one of the guys says cheerfully. “Get dressed, let’s go.” Beau is still blinking up at them but he gets out of bed and starts getting dressed because he doesn’t know what else to do at this point.
“So I’m Nealsy, and this is Geno and Paulie,” says one of the guys once they’ve all gotten into the car. Beau’s carrying his trumpet case and wearing a shirt that says “This fish is the property of James Neal - if lost please return to Paul Martin or Evgeni Malkin” and feeling incredibly bemused by the whole thing. “We’re your big brothers. Welcome to the Penguin Marching Band, bro.”
0o0o0o0o0
“So no offense,” Pat Kane says when Sidney comes down out of the guest bedroom that he’s appropriated. “But why are you here?”
Sidney sighs. “I thought Jon told you,” he says.
Pat shrugs. “Jonny said you needed a place to stay and lay low for a little while, and I have more room than I know what to do with here so I said sure. He didn’t say why you needed to lay low.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Sidney says, although he’s bracing himself to have to because no one just has accepted that yet. But Pat just nods.
“Fair enough. Grab some plates and set the table, would you? I’m making stir fry.”
0o0o0o0o0
It doesn’t take long for Seth to figure out that something’s up.
Shea doesn’t ever smile, really - he’s not cold, exactly, but he definitely doesn’t open up to anyone. He’s a good captain, but it seems like it’s out of reflex, not something he’s thinking about. He’ll go out with the guys, but he stays in the booth instead of going out and picking up. He looks sad all the time.
Seth heard about Suter and Parise going to Minnesota to play together (everyone heard about that) but he hadn’t realized, at the time, what that had meant to Shea. Now he watches Shea play, and sees the distance that Shea keeps between them, and hates Ryan Suter, just a little for teaching Shea to expect everyone to abandon him.
“You know how Sid gets about traditions,” he said grimly. “C’mon, kid, you’re up next.” Beau balked.
“I’m not going up there!” he hissed. Paul gave him a sympathetic look even as he put one hand between his shoulder blades and propelled him forward.
“You’re going up there, you’re going to perform, and you’re going to do it now, Sunshine,” he said. “C’mon, everyone has to take a turn.”
“Karaoke with costumes,” Beau moaned, but let himself be dragged away by Duper, who was already looking gleeful. James flopped down next to Paul, wearing a cowboy hat he’d brought with him from his time in Dallas and a truly heinous belt buckle. Paul sighed.
“You’re singing Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy, aren’t you,” he said, resigned, and James smirked and threw his arm around Paul.
“You betcha,” he said, doing his best imitation of Paul’s accent, which made Paul elbow him in disgust. “Ow, Paulie, c’mon. It’ll be great.”
"Your definition of great and my definition of great are not the same," Paul muttered, but just then Sunshine was pushed onto the stage wearing a pair of loose sweatpants, a purple vest with no shirt and a miserable expression, so he ignored James in favor of watching Sunshine’s unenthusiastic rendition of One Jump Ahead.
0o0o0o0o0
Beau is woken out of a sound sleep by an air horn being set off right next to his head.
“What?” he says, sitting up and looking around, still not entirely awake and pretty sure he’s dreaming. There’s no way that a bunch of guys in ski masks are standing around his bed, setting off air horns next to his face. That stuff just doesn’t happen, right?
“SURPRISE!!” They all scream, and the next thing Beau knows he and his bed are absolutely covered in silly string. Beau yelps and tries to duck back underneath the covers, but someone he didn’t notice was standing there at the foot of his bed and yanks them back down.
“What the hell?” he asks. He’s definitely not awake enough to handle whatever this is.
“We’re kidnapping you,” one of the guys informs him. “Go on, get dressed, and make sure to wear this.” He hands Beau a t-shirt as someone standing near the door flicks on the lights.
“What,” Beau says, still absolutely lost, because his parents are standing right there and seem to be stifling laughter. Which, kidnapping? What the hell? Why would his parents be laughing?
“C’mon, fishy,” another one of the guys says cheerfully. “Get dressed, let’s go.” Beau is still blinking up at them but he gets out of bed and starts getting dressed because he doesn’t know what else to do at this point.
“So I’m Nealsy, and this is Geno and Paulie,” says one of the guys once they’ve all gotten into the car. Beau’s carrying his trumpet case and wearing a shirt that says “This fish is the property of James Neal - if lost please return to Paul Martin or Evgeni Malkin” and feeling incredibly bemused by the whole thing. “We’re your big brothers. Welcome to the Penguin Marching Band, bro.”
0o0o0o0o0
“So no offense,” Pat Kane says when Sidney comes down out of the guest bedroom that he’s appropriated. “But why are you here?”
Sidney sighs. “I thought Jon told you,” he says.
Pat shrugs. “Jonny said you needed a place to stay and lay low for a little while, and I have more room than I know what to do with here so I said sure. He didn’t say why you needed to lay low.”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Sidney says, although he’s bracing himself to have to because no one just has accepted that yet. But Pat just nods.
“Fair enough. Grab some plates and set the table, would you? I’m making stir fry.”
0o0o0o0o0
It doesn’t take long for Seth to figure out that something’s up.
Shea doesn’t ever smile, really - he’s not cold, exactly, but he definitely doesn’t open up to anyone. He’s a good captain, but it seems like it’s out of reflex, not something he’s thinking about. He’ll go out with the guys, but he stays in the booth instead of going out and picking up. He looks sad all the time.
Seth heard about Suter and Parise going to Minnesota to play together (everyone heard about that) but he hadn’t realized, at the time, what that had meant to Shea. Now he watches Shea play, and sees the distance that Shea keeps between them, and hates Ryan Suter, just a little for teaching Shea to expect everyone to abandon him.