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jackhughesismyhusband · 2 years

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Michigan Move pt. 3

Send in requests with anything you’d want to see out of this series. Thank you for the love!

“Luke move!”

“Bro what?”

“Get your nasty elbows outta here, it’s messing up my shot!”

You smile to yourself at the continuous noise from the basement as Jack and Luke play Fortnite after the long day.

You had spent the past two hours writing in your journal about the events of the day. You read back your notes at the top of the entry with a little fun fact section:

Alex goes by Turcs

Trevor is a little goofball, but sensitive deep down

Yorkie and Spencer have a goalie handshake

Danny Weight’s laugh makes everyone smile

Writing the entry had been easier than you thought it would be at the memory of the chaotic, yet perfect first day.

The boys had been adorably tired after their day of activities, but pushed through with excitement for their first official class with you.

You heard running and laughing approaching as you finished tying on your ballet slippers. Some of the boys came toppling in with a motive. You yelped as they sprinted towards you. You scrunched your eyes closed and shoulders up with the sudden rush to you. With a sudden tap on your shoulder, you opened your eyes to see Henry Thrun cheering with arms up in the air.

“I won! Ha!” He pointed to Marshall, Vlasic, McCarthy, and Owen Lindmark who were surrounding you.

“I should hide next time to make this bet harder for you.”

They dropped their jaws in disbelief at your tease.

“Noo, I have to beat Thrun and I can’t do that if I can’t find you,” Lindmark slightly whined.

You waved them off and instructed them to take their shoes off and stretch while the rest of the group straggled in.

“Man, I don’t know how you guys have the energy for that right now,” you heard Caufield mumble as he slid off his shoes and looked at the five boys jumping, clearly on a high.

“How was your lunch, guys?”

A few “good”s and “fine”s were handed out. A “fantastic” was thrown in there by Henry as he stuck his head out to his neighbor, Marshall. Thrun was an outlier of excitement.

“Wow. Loving the enthusiasm here.”

“Sorry, y/n. We’re just really tired,” Pat Moynihan responded for the group which earned heads to nod.

“We were so excited for this, but coach really went hard on us after a tough game two days ago. It was basically two hours of conditioning,” Matt Boldy added.

“Aw, I’m sorry, guys. Well, we’ll be doing a little less hands on today and a little more observing with our first lesson. Let’s move around a bit, and then I’ll let you lay down.”

Content flooded through the room at your offer.

They stood up dramatically slow, with inclusion of grandpa grunts and lots of “help me up”s.

“Let’s all spread out a little and take up the perimeter of the room.”

Each person was about four feet apart in a square shape. Most were leaning against the mirrors with their heads tilted back.

They looked wiped out.

You kept that in mind, and decided to do more speaking and demonstration than you had originally planned for the day.

“Any soccer players here? Former soccer players?” A few head nods. “How many of you have done grapevines before?” A few less head nods.

“Alright. I’d ask you to come help me with the demonstration, but the people have spoken, and y’all are tired. So, just watch and feel free to stop me with any questions.”

You showed them the footwork pattern and some started to do it out as you went. Once they seemed to have it down, you all did in the makeshift circle - more like square - very slowly. You had them face the mirrors, so they could see themselves and their moves.

“Ok. Now, that we have that down, someone give me a song.”

“Sweet Home Alabama!” Trevor yelled out. The guys laughed.

You told them to face out, so they weren’t looking directly at the mirror anymore. You knew this would be fun for them because they could watch each other. And by the participation earlier in the day, you knew they wouldn’t be embarrassed or shame each other if they messed up.

You headed over to your phone already connected to the speakers and started playing the song.

“Alright,” you yelled over the speakers. “We’re going to step on the beat. I’m going to count you in with 8 beats. After 8, you step to your right. Listen for me to call out left. When I do, we’ll switch directions and go left.”

You headed over to your spot. You choose a slower tempo that matched the rhythm of the song and counted, “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - go!” You cut yourself off halfway through 8 to ensure they’d start moving on beat 1.

Cackles and confusion filled the room. Johnny Beecher had started going to the left instead of right, crashing into a giggling Trevor. Ryan Siedem started on the wrong foot and tripped over himself. Matt Boldy was being sassy and and leaned into his hip with every step, which then caused Alex Vlasic to go into a fit of laughter.

It was chaos, but it was sweet chaos. They were good boys and they cared, even if they weren’t always the best at what they were doing.

They eventually got the hang of it. Once the bridge started, you called out, “left!” to the group that had forgotten they were going to switch directions.

The chaos that had calmed down, came raging back.

The first thing you noticed was Jack practically eating the mirror next to him as Dom Fensore ran into him and caused a one-footed, mid-step Jack to plunge into the mirror. You toppled over in laughter, but kept up with the beat.

As the song died down, the guys seemed to have their energy back, yelling over each other and pointing with one hand on their head at disbelief with what their fellow converser said.

You went over the shut off the music and told them they could sit down again.

The group took a minute to settle down as they were still laughing at what they had done and seen.

You didn’t mind. It was nice to see them so carefree and young in a sport that forced them to be tough.

“We’ll be doing more of that almost every day. We’ll speed it up and eventually add more tricks and coordination to it.”

“Does that mean we can do it to ‘It’s Everyday Bro’?” Danny Weight called out.

You nodded and laughed with the rest of them.

“Ok. I promised you could lay down after we moved around, but just bear with me for a minute, and then we’ll relax.”

“I wanted to talk about footwork.” You look to see all eyes on you, intently looking up at you like you’re Gary Bettman offering them a spot. You continue with a soft smile, “The exercise we just did is super important because it’s directly linked to footwork. Some of the most important exercises we’ll do in here relate back to footwork because the more grace on your feet, the better you’ll be against your opponent.”

“I’m going to play a video I threw together about the introduction of this program. You can lay down now and it’ll play on the ceiling.”

Some seemed confused, but awe took over their faces like children at the projections on the ceiling. The NTDP had added that feature because you’d realized there was no where to project anything with all the walls being mirrors and the other wall having a window and cubbies. It came in handy today with the worn out boys.

You watched them watch the video you had put together when you were jet lagged at the airport, on one of your trips back and forth to NYC and LA. You had gone back and forth 5 times in the span of 2 weeks then.

Clips from “The Game Plan” show with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson winning the Super Bowl due to his ballet technique. Your voice could be heard as you explain the importance of controlling your own body.

You take this opportunity while they were enamored with the presentation to slip out and grab a clipboard with paper, the roster, and a pen from your office. You take off your ballet slippers with the decision of skipping ballet today and focusing on logistics. You return to see the video almost ending and some of the guys resting their heads on another’s arm or chest for comfort. You slyly picked up your phone from your shelf and snapped a picture of the group casually cuddled together.

The video ended and claps echoed through the room from the center as they twisted their heads around to find you in admiration.

You smiled wide.

“I had planned to do more active work today, but I guess it works out that we chill a little more because we did have some technical things to get through.”

You continued.

“I have to get some information regarding sizing and what not, so I’ll ask you individually to meet in my office while you do a breathing exercise I made. It’ll help any time you’re sick, anxious, or just need to catch your breath. I find myself using this video before every audition and it helps a lot. If you enjoy it, maybe you could watch it before a game to get in the right mindset. Whether you use it or not, I think it’s important to give you the tools to take care of not only your physical health, but your mental and emotional health.”

Some eyes lit up at the mention of taking care of mental health. You knew you’d have a deeper conversation about that in the future when they became more comfortable.

You played the technique video you had made years ago. After researching the mind and the body at age 11, you decided to write research on your discoveries and create videos to aid your findings. The mind and body were connected in endless ways, so taking care of one takes care of the other.

Cam Rowe follows you as you call his name. You go in order of the roster.

He sits in one of the chairs across your desk and gets comfortable.

“Ok, Cam. How are you doing?” You make eye contact and smile to let him know you meant the question with sincerity.

“I’m okay. Pretty tired and I’ve been missing home a little bit lately, but the guys make it better.”

You give him a sympathetic look, “I know how you feel. I’m really proud of you for coming out here and making these sacrifices for your dream. Everyone back home and here is so proud of you. If you ever need anything or want to talk, I’m always here.”

His shoulders relaxed and a new person was in front of you, “Wow. Thank you so much. I-I didn’t realize how much I needed that. Thank you.”

More smiles were sent his way, “Of course.” You reached out to touch his hands on the table as a comforting gesture.

“So, we are going to be dancing, obviously, which means you’ll need the proper attire. Don’t worry, the program is taking care of all of it, I just need to know your sizes and shoe size.”

“Oh sick. Okay.” Rowe told you his sizes and left after you asking him to grab the next person on the roster, Cam York.

After about 45 minutes and plenty of genuine discussions, your roster ended with Cole. The two of you walked back in to the room to find the boys connected to the speakers and dancing with each having a partner and swinging each other around with linked arms. The video was only about 10 minutes long, so after the third person of Henry Thrun, you had him tell the guys they had this time to relax in whatever way they wanted - as long as they stayed in the studio and didn’t wander too much. Despite their low energy, they decided to spend that time goofing around. It made you happy to see them like this. You stopped at the observation window and took a quick video of them as Cole walked in and became a group of three with Jack and Spencer.

You walked in to quickly be pulled into that group. The four of your held hands and jumped around in a circle. The circle expanded to the whole group holding hands and jumping around the perimeter of the studio. Jack on your right and Cole on your left. The song ended and boyish cheers and giggles were highlighted with no more music to cover them.

You strode over to the phone connected and turned down the next song, so they could hear you.

“Well, I was going to end with an upbeat song to move around to, but I think that did it.” A few looked disappointed at the realization of the end of the class. “Thank you all so so much for making me feel so welcome and participating. I feel like I’ve known you for a month and it’s only been a day. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!”

They headed over to their shoes while a chorus of “thank you”s rung out. You thought you were going crazy when you heard a few “love you”s slip through the gratitude. You weren’t complaining - you haven’t known them for long, but you already love the guys.

“Please please please don’t hesitate to reach out for any reason at all! It doesn’t have to be class related, I’m here for you!”

More gratitude was sent your way and promises of taking you up on that offer were sent your way. You were slightly surprised at first when Trevor came up to hug you, but it felt natural the second he embraced you.

“Thank you so much, y/n. You really helped me today,” he whispered in your ear. You thought back to the conversation in your office about his anxiety coming to the program so far away from home and always having to be the ‘funny guy’.

“Of course, T. No matter where we are in life, never be a stranger. I’m always here.”

He smiled and squeezed your arm as he walked off with Jack.

Jack waited for Trevor as the latter put on his shoes.

“You good? I’ll meet you at home?”

“Yeah. I drove here, thank you.”

He nodded and smiled with a wave as they walked out.

You let out a sigh and a little giddy noise at the success of the day.

You quickly tidied up your office and got ready to leave. The job didn’t require you to stay outside of the boys’ hours and you got all the work you wanted to get ahead on done.

You locked up the office and studio. Bidding a good day to Martha at the front desk, you headed out into the sunlight. The clock read 4:08 when you got in your car.

You decided to lay down for a minute after watching Jack and Luke fight over their video games. Dinner would be ready in about 45 minutes and you wanted to be feel fresh to answer the questions you’re sure you would receive about the day. You placed your journal in the drawer of your bedside table and turned your body to the side to look out at the lights of the suburban Michigan night. You closed your eyes and tried not to think about your successful day because you weren’t able to rest with all the smiling it produced.

Bro. I’m a hoe for asks. Please. I’m so lonely.

I know it was shorter, but the last was unnecessarily long because there was a lot of intro info. This has more content of the guys.

Thank you for the support! <3

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penaltbox · 3 years

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two can play - roman ahcan

this fic belongs to @puckyess just as much as it does to me, if not more! if you like it you have to make sure you tell her thank you just as much as you tell me, which we both really need you guys to tell us what you think because this one was an absolute gem to write and create for you guys. if you like it, reblog it, let us know. thank you!!

word count: 14k (uh holy shit lol)

The bar is busy when you get there, but you manage to get in and get your drink. What you don’t understand is how you ended up flirting with this cute boy that’s all smiles and curls. He seems completely enamored with you and you even notice his friends checking on him every now and again. It’s one of those friends that catches your attention even more than the boy vying for your attention though.

You keep looking over at the other brunette, exchanging glances that feel like you’re getting away with something. It’s almost like a challenge to the other boy. He’s getting to look at you and exchange flirty smiles and smirks all while his friend has no idea it’s going on. It seems like a fun game to you and you let it continue the rest of your night. The friend you’d gotten to entertain in the meantime is plenty cute enough though so when the curly haired boy, Owen as you’d found out, had asked for your number you had no reason to tell him no. In fact, you gladly agreed.

You exchange numbers, thinking you’ll probably never see the cute boy whose attention you managed to hold while never exchanging a word, but oh would you be wrong. You’d be so wrong and it would turn into a game that almost ruined things for you between multiple boys. The initial realization that things were trouble comes when Owen invites you over to his apartment a few days later to hang out.

Unbeknownst to you, Owen had been raving to his roommate about how interested in you he was. Roman knows Owen is oblivious to what happened that night and he has no reason to pop the younger boy’s bubble, so he lets him ramble on. Roman gets annoyed, wishing he’d talked to you even a little bit that night, but he hadn’t so now he had to sit and listen to his friend have the time of his life with you. He really thought he’d missed his chance at you, but oh would he be wrong.

Roman had done the bare minimum that night and he kicked himself for it now as Owen showed him pictures on your Instagram. He’d honestly thought you’d maybe come talk to him after all the glances that had been exchanged that night but you were apparently just as stubborn as him. You’d also found him on Instagram through Owen and you’d be a liar if you said you hadn’t looked through his pictures a few times just to see that sly little smirk again.

As you get to Owen’s apartment the last thing on your mind is the possibility of his cute teammate being there. Owen practically breaks an ankle getting to the door when he hears a knock and Roman is two seconds from chirping him when he catches sight of you. You lean in to hug Owen and Roman immediately smiles at the sight of you. When Owen steps out of the way you two make eye contact instantly and he sees how your eyes go wide, but you match his smirk once again. The energy picks back up right where you two had left it at the bar. Owen offers a polite introduction of the two of you before offering to grab you a drink.

He leads you over to the couch and pats it before heading off into the other room. You mind your own business, thinking Roman was in the other room with Owen, when two hands press into the couch on either side of your shoulders. Roman leans down, his lips hovering near your ear when he lowers his voice so only you can hear.

“So you like to play games, huh?”

Your jaw drops for a second, skin practically buzzing at how close he was to you. You can feel the heat radiating off him, but you quickly pick up your jaw, turning to look at him with a proud little smile, “I sure do and I absolutely hate losing.”

Your response makes his blood boil with the anticipation of a good challenge. He had expected you to back down. He doesn’t get the chance to shoot back though because Owen comes back into the room with impeccable timing.

“What’d I miss? Are you two playing nice in here?” he asks, completely oblivious, but his question couldn’t be more fitting.

Roman laughs and it’s a sound you think you could drown in. He’d pulled away so fast you swore you felt a breeze and you can see him chewing on the inside of his cheek from across the room. Owen is all smiles as he sits next to you, handing you a bottle of water. Roman sticks around the entire time you hang out, continuing to steal looks and heated glances with you. He made no effort to hide when he’d check you out and something about it only fueled whatever it was the two of you had started.

He behaves, more or less, the rest of the night otherwise and Owen seems none the wiser. He slips up slightly when Owen slips an arm around your shoulders and he lets out a cough, but he quickly covers it by claiming he needed a drink of his own. Owen gives you a confused look and mentions that he found it weird, but he doesn’t bring it up any further than that. By the time you’re set to leave you can’t even look at Roman for fear of breaking into a grin so he gives you a simple nod when you get up to go but you know he watches you on the way out.

You’re left with a constant thread of thoughts that involve Roman once you leave rather than the boy who had initially invited you to hang out. You get home despite the daze you’re in and get ready for bed. When you crawl under your covers that night there’s a notification from Instagram and then suddenly another. You have a new follower notification, but more than that, you have a message waiting in your DMs.

‘Game on. I don’t play fair.’

You roll over and press your face into your pillow, letting out a little scream. You can’t wipe the smile off of your face from those five words and you know right then that Roman Ahcan really might be the death of you. He already knew the power he held over you so you leave him on read to send him a message that two can play this game.

It haunts Roman for the next three days that you leave him on read. He thinks about it constantly and the couple times he’s seen you are like an endless movie reel that plays in his brain. He’s pretty sure Owen has no idea, which he’s thankful for, because even at practice you manage to find a way to distract his thoughts. He was guilty of taking the frustration of trying to chase someone else’s interest out by checking his teammates a little too hard, but he had to do something to calm his mind down. He makes a note to himself after their last practice of the week to push the game along that weekend at the party. He knew you’d be coming but you, and Owen, had no clue what Roman had planned for the two of you.

When you show up to their apartment again that Saturday you feel his eyes on you the moment you step inside. You find him in the sea of people first, eyes meeting as usual, and smirking at each other. It was almost routine at this point even with the party in full swing. You throw him a wink and move your attention elsewhere, needing to find the boy you’d actually shown up to see. It worries you a bit when you have to actively look for Owen after so easily finding Roman in the busy space.

You manage to find Owen eventually and you give him a big hug. He really was a sweet boy and you had a lot of fun whenever you were with him. You get introduced to his teammates that are around and he easily hooks an arm over your shoulders to pull you into his side. Roman tries to shake his thoughts off as he realizes he’d been watching the door most of the night until you got there. When did he get like this?

He decides to try and distract himself by flirting hard with the first girl that comes up to him, but he finds himself looking over at you when he leans down to hear the girl talk. You’re already staring at him and you raise your eyebrows at his actions. You shake your head and quickly turn your attention back to the conversation you’d been in. He was bold, that was for sure. You were sitting on Owen’s lap, playing with his curls, and Roman still had the guts to try and get you worked up. Unfortunately, it worked too. Roman almost instantly lets the girl go once he loses your attention though, claiming he needs another drink despite his being half full.

He catches you out of the corner of his eye as he pretends to dig through the fridge, watching as you head for the bathroom. He follows you, waiting until you’re opening the door to back you up and shut the door behind you two. You’re surprised, but you recognize what he’s doing right away. He knew he had to catch you off guard and honestly, you gave him credit. This gave you both a bit of privacy for a second without seeming suspicious.

“Uh, personal space?”

He smirks, of course, at your question and pins you against the counter. It’s instantly much closer than he’s ever been, but his only question is “so what are the rules for this game?”

“Rule #1 is you can look but you can’t touch,” you say glancing down to where his chest is practically touching yours. You take your finger and poke his chest, pushing him away from you and trying to move around him in the small place.

He pouts as you poke his chest but steps back. You don’t expect him to give in so easily and you smile, thinking you’d earned another leg up on him. That is until he leans back against the door, blocking you in once again.

“I don’t really like that rule,” he shrugs, “so good luck getting out of here with that one.”

You’d never backed down from a challenger before and you weren’t going to start now, even if you should so you cross your arms and say fine and sit yourself on the edge of the tub scrolling through your phone as if you weren’t completely bothered by his presence. He’s shocked when you just sit on the tub and act so nonchalant. He’s supposed to be making you more fired up so he can win.

He frowns for a second but flips the lock on the door handle and walks over to you, “what if I break the rules? I don’t lose technically because one of us has to give up to lose, right?”

You’re lucky he has to turn his back to flip the lock on the door handle so that he doesn’t see you swallow hard when he does it. Just being in a small space like that with him had you on high alert but ready to give him back whatever attitude he was dealing out. It was an addicting feeling to have around him. He doesn’t hesitate to hover close to you after he asks the question and you pretend to think about it.

That is, until he picks a spot on the floor that’s dangerously close to your thigh to stop, but finally you say, “Actually, I believe you’re the one who can look but not touch, but there’s no rule saying that I can’t touch, right Ro?”

You stand despite the extreme lack of space between the two of you still and start to comb your fingers through his hair. You watch his jaw tense when you all but press against him and run your hand through his hair. As hard as it is to tear your eyes from the muscle twitching in his jaw, it’s totally worth it when you bring your eyes up to meet his and you see the fire that’s there. You have to play it cool because he looks so good when he does it, but you lose your composure when he grabs your wrist and tugs you the rest of the way against him.

“Remember when you said you don’t play fair? I think I may have to take that line and borrow it. Your rule then is that you can’t kiss Owen in front of me.”

When he grabs your wrist, you’re thankful to have somewhere else to look for fear that you might lose it right there in that bathroom. He manages to leave you speechless and walks out the door like he didn’t just rock your world. You have half a mind to storm right after him but that would mean he was winning and you couldn’t have him thinking that. Instead you walk right back out there and announce to Owen that it was probably time for you to go. When you see Roman catch your eye, you add “back to my place” just loud enough for him to hear.

Roman’s glad he’s thrown you off enough and he can tell you’re flustered when you finally come make your announcement about leaving for the night. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t enjoy spending time with Owen and (most of) his friends, but you were all out of sorts after the bathroom incident and you needed to clear your head. Owen is surprised to hear you say that and when he falters for just a second Roman steps in.

“I can walk you home and make sure you get back safe. I was just about to head out too” he smiles nicely and you feel like your eyes are about to pop out of your head.

Owen happily, to your chagrin, obliges, “oh perfect! I was just about to start a game of fortnite here otherwise I’d take you so this works for everyone.”

And yeah technically it did but now you and Roman were about to really be alone for once. Your thoughts are already racing as you look between these two boys. The options weren’t bad really, but could you survive this? Was it worth finding out who was better? Maybe you could see a relationship with Owen, he was sweet, funny, smart. Maybe you could see it if Roman and his big ego wasn’t in your way. You’re completely unsure at the moment, though you know there’s a little extra something when it comes to Roman, and you catch the eye of the older boy and his seemingly permanent smirk is turned on you.

Roman can tell he’s got you right where he wants you when you demand to leave. Admittedly, he thinks you’re inviting Owen back with you when you first say it and he starts to panic that he pushed you in the wrong direction so he’d stepped up with the offer to walk you, and only you, home. You have no reason to be mad at Owen, he has no idea what’s going on between you two, but your irritation with Roman shows in your tone when you snap a “fine” to Owen.

Walking out the door without a goodbye leaves him confused, but he figures maybe something is wrong since you’re leaving so suddenly. Roman has to move quick to leave when you suddenly do but he’s hot on your heels. You barely glance over your shoulder to see where he’s at but when you have to wait for the elevator he stands next to you as close as possible.

“You better behave,” you tell him, looking up at him.

“Scout’s honor” Roman says holding up his hand, but with that smirk you know there is definitely no honor there.

When you step in the elevator you expect him to stand as close as he possibly can without touching you like he did in the bathroom, but instead he leans his back on the opposite wall, seemingly collected and cool while your blood runs hot. The stare down he gives you is intense and makes you wish that he actually was close enough to run your hand through his hair again. You hate how easily he can cloud your judgement after being around him so few times. You weren’t sure how the connection between you two was so strong, but it had a way of getting to you before you even realized it.

“Are you undressing me in your head?” He crudely questions you.

Before you can argue back Owen shoots you a ‘let me know you get home safe’ because of course he’s sweet like that. It throws you off for a second before you scoff at Roman’s question in the small space but you do let yourself look, “you’re awfully bold, you know that?”

“That’s not a no,” he boasts, and almost on purpose you swear, runs a hand through his hair. He has no problem telling you, “but I definitely have undressed you in my head. I prefer to do it in front of your boy though.”

Owen’s text gets a second glance as you roll your eyes and try disregarding his comment. You figured Roman was done, but when he realizes he’s being ignored and seeing you smile at your phone, who he presumes to be Owen, that’s when Roman kicks it up a notch and puts the emphasis of his last sentence on “your boy”. You shrug, trying to not let him see how much it affected you, how much you wanted it… or him?

“Well I guess that does follow the rules....and here I thought you were a rule breaker, Ahcan.”

The elevator doors open for you to waltz out of, karma on your side for the moment. You can’t help but feel like you won that round despite him seeming to have it taken care of with his out of pocket comment. He’d noticed you let out a little laugh at the phrase he called Owen though and that lets him know you and Owen were definitely still getting to know each other and nothing close to official.

“I break rules at the right times though,” he follows you closely, tucking right against your side as you walk, “when it helps me win.”

You give him a confused look but head for your apartment. He breaks his one and only rule when you open the door to the complex and he lays his hand on the small of your back as he holds the door open with an arm over your head. His remark about winning has you starting to think about what exactly it would mean to “win” but don’t have much time to give it more thought because the feeling of his hand is burned into your back and the act of holding the door is also not lost on you. The touch gives you a little shiver that he doesn’t miss but he behaves the rest of the way to your apartment. When you put the key in the lock though he speaks up, “aren’t you going to invite me in?”

You’re not sure whether to laugh or cry at his question. You could either send him on his way with a ‘try again next time’ or you could go against your better judgement and let him in, surprising yourself and him. It would practically be a crime to shut the fun down after he walked you all the way back so a simple “if you swear you’ll behave” and a smirk as you walk into your place and leave the door open is what you give him.

He had hoped you’d say yes, but he hadn’t actually thought you’d agree so when you do he’s a little puppy scurrying beside you before you change your mind. You try to go about your business as if he wasn’t there, changing out of your party clothes into sweats and throwing your hair up. Padding into the kitchen, you grab a glass and turn around to see him standing in the middle of the room watching you. He looks totally out of his element now that he’s on your territory. He had just kind of tapped away on his phone as you went about what you were doing but you don’t miss the softer smile he gives you when he sees you come back to the kitchen in your comfy clothes.

“Are you planning on staying a while or?” You ask motioning to him with another glass in your hand.

“I think you already know the answer to that,” he says with a smirk. He’s slick though, so he grabs his glass and comes around the counter to stand much closer to you.

You snort a little at his response but pour the wine into his glass anyway and set it on the counter for him to retrieve it. You boost yourself up on the counter and watch as he leans his hand next to your thigh and decides that’s the best place to start a conversation.

Your brain speaks for your heart though when you suddenly have an idea, “I have another rule. For both of us this time though. No one gets hurt. We can be all fun and games with this, but you don’t hurt me and I won’t hurt you. Deal?”

He tried to busy himself and figure out what the heck he was doing here. Yeah he wanted you, he had already made that clear but what was his end game and what was he going to do now that he had you all to himself tonight? His proximity is so close you don’t know how he’s not touching you and the weight of your request hangs heavily between you two. It feels both natural and charged to have him this close, but he knows if anything, he’ll make sure to keep you safe no matter what. When you state that rule, all of his cockiness from before dissolves and it’s a surprise to you.

“I would never hurt you” he promises.

You’re probably a fool to believe him but the way he looks at you, you do. He feels comfortable though so you trust him, and how close he is, even with the added alcohol. Things only get more flirty and before you realize it he’s standing between your legs to talk to you, free hand on your thigh as his thumbs rub circles.

“So really, you would pick Owen over me? I mean he’s nice and all but I’m way more fun,” he says, and the smile he has is so genuine that you’re both starting to forget the game that was at stake.

You hadn’t exactly given in but you’d let him a whole lot closer than he was expecting to get already. You were both just tipsy enough to know exactly what you were doing and also not give a damn. His question, from what it’s asking, to the way he words it to the tone of his voice is intriguing. The smile is genuine, there’s no smirk. The way he chews his lip after he asks lets you know he’s a little nervous about what you might say. You said he couldn’t hurt you and he was pretty sure you wouldn’t hurt him but he didn’t want to be made a fool of either. It’s almost like he’s staying it as a fact, but there’s a slight waver to his voice, something in his tone that lends itself toward insecurity- truly wanting to know if you would pick Owen over him.

Does he think about what your answer could lead to? No. Do you have to think, even a minute before you respond? No.

“It doesn’t matter who I’d pick, the real question is would you pick me?”

You both knew there was an imaginary line drawn and both were working on seeing how far they could push that line. Roman has to take a minute to think of his response, but he’s sure of it.

“I would pick you, but maybe not the same way Owen would.”

You swallow hard realizing your request to not get hurt may be more difficult for him than you originally thought. In his mind, he stayed true to the rule of not hurting you by being as honest as he could in his answer. When he watches the way you swallow hard and sees the flicker of hope in your eyes vanish, replaced by a mischievous gleam he knows he’s in for it. You had to think quickly to defend your heart. He’s suddenly more defensive of his own heart than he thought when he sees the quickness of your shift in emotions. He swears it’s because he doesn’t want to lose, but there’s also a small part of him that could see you two together. He has to squash that down though or he’ll be in too deep, too fast.

You know you have to protect yourself so you go on the offensive, “I guess I just really need to step it up then. After all, you’re the one with the no touching rule you can’t follow.”

He frowns, wondering what you mean before you down the last of your wine and put the glass down. You turn your attention to him and slip your arms around his shoulders and start to play with the ends of his curls as you pull him closer. The fact that he has to chant “win the game” in his head to stay focused should be a good indicator that there’s more to it than that. You have to protect yourself because he had already warned you that he doesn’t play fair and his admission that his intentions were far from the warmth and safety that Owen provided was proof of that.

The frown on his face shifts into a look of content as he leans into your touch. Your fingers continue their movements as you still pull him closer and closer, gauging his reaction. You can see his mind working overtime trying to figure out his next move.

“What’re you doing?” He mumbles, not making any move to halt your actions. Instead of answering his question you lean in so close your lips are almost touching, his eyes fluttering closed.

You give him credit for not closing the millimeter of distance, “do you think you could handle sleeping in the same bed without touching me, baby?”

You’re both in deep trouble and you’re well aware of it but there’s also no chance either of you give in yet. It’s nice to have the chase though, the attention so solely focused on you. You have to watch it when you start to think how easy it feels to be so wrapped up and close with him even if your stomach hasn’t stopped flipping since he stood between your legs. He immediately opens his eyes at the question and you realize how close you two are suddenly. It makes your cheeks burn hot and the smirk on his face doesn’t help.

“Aw, do you need me to stay and make sure you’re safe? Or is this your way or getting me into bed with you on day one?”

You refused to lose and he shared that same mentality. You told yourself the contact was to get him worked up but was that really true when you felt your own heart race with every inch being closed between the two of you? Your cheeks were already flushed and you were 100% blaming it on the wine and not the devilish smirk he was giving you.

“Funny, I don’t recall actually asking you into my bed? Just if you could handle it, but I guess we both know the answer to that one. Now, why don’t you see yourself out.”

He raises an eyebrow at you, shocked at the move you’d managed to pull on him, “oh yeah?”

“I have a date with Owen in the morning” you smirk. Your eyes automatically flick to where, as you predicted, his jaw was clenched.

“Well then”, he says pushing himself from you, “I’ll be sure to remind him of that when I get back to my place.”

He wastes no time heading for the exit and he’s closing your door maybe a little harder than necessary without so much as a goodbye. Without him in your space you can finally breathe for what feels like the first time that night, but you suddenly feel lonely. You reach for your phone and finally respond to Owen’s text from when you first left and ask him if he wants to get brunch with you in the morning since now you had to make good on your lie.

The whole way home Roman curses himself for not just taking you up on your offer of sleeping with you, even if he couldn’t touch you. Who knows when he would get that chance again? He never let his guard down like that and got walked over but you’d done it so easily. He considers going back to your door but he can’t. Not the first time anyways. He gets to breathe too when he’s not all wrapped up in you with your hands in his hair.

Owen almost too easily agrees to brunch and you find yourself missing the fight that Ro puts up. You try and talk yourself out of it but it’s pretty obvious who has your attention now. In your haste to get to bed to end the previous day you had left your’s and Roman’s wine glasses on the counter. Owen seems to find them almost immediately upon arriving before your impromptu brunch date.

“Did you have someone over last night?” Owen asks you, his brows knit together.

You were in your room still trying to make yourself not look like last night had ever happened when you heard his question from the kitchen. You pretend to not hear him and pray that he doesn’t repeat it. What were you supposed to say? ‘Yeah, I almost slept with your roommate? And then invited you to brunch because I wanted to make him mad’? You had made Roman promise to not hurt you but you begin to realize Owen could be a big piece of collateral damage and there needs to be another rule about keeping him safe, too.

Owen brushes the second glass off, thinking it’s probably your roommate who had it. As you walk to brunch, he takes your hand and smiles over at you, “Roman got you home safe then last night?”

You keep your eyes on the ground as a little wave of panic runs over you but you manage a response somehow, “yeah he made sure I got here. Dropped me off at the elevator and headed out.”

Owen buys it when you give him a little smile. He seems happy knowing his friend did what he assumed was a good thing. At hearing your response though he starts to think maybe he should take that next step and ask you to officially be his girlfriend. You seemed to fit in his life nicely and he liked you enough that he couldn’t imagine you being with someone else. You make a mental note of mentioning that new rule to Roman and you wonder why it even has to be a rule at all. Why can’t you just let Owen go, harm free why were you still holding onto him?

Roman is so worked up that he manages to avoid you for the entire week but once again, there’s a party that next Saturday and you’re stuck locking eyes with him as soon as you walk through the door. The night is a shit show, to say the least. He’s got a girl trying to hold his attention and he gives it to her once he sees you. It makes your blood boil but you retreat to Owen’s side. It’s full of those loaded looks and his games are working, why couldn’t he pick less obnoxious girls at least? But he chose the ones with tiny waists and loud voices, ones that draped themselves all over him, their fake nails raking over his arms, gripping his thigh and running through the same head of hair that yours had been in last weekend.

Well, two could play that game. You made sure to be sitting on Owen’s lap and twirling the ends of his hair again, like you had with Roman’s. You even went as far as pretending to be cold so that he’d offer his sweatshirt, the one with his number branded across the sleeve. While you could tell Roman noticed, his eyes hardly left you all night even though he pretended not to care, he still made no move.

You wait for him to acknowledge you at all, or even talk to you, but it never comes. You’re one of the last people there when you make up your mind about your next move.

“I should probably head home now.”

You know he hears it and you leave it as an offer for him to repeat his actions from the last week, hoping he’ll step up again. When even your announcement to leave has no effect you take what’s left of your dignity and get up to go home. Owen pulls you back down for a kiss and as if on instinct you immediately turn your head to the side, his lips making contact with your cheek. ‘You can’t kiss Owen in front of me’ rang through your head. You feel bad as you stand up and see the hurt look on Owen’s face, his hands falling from your waist.

“I’ll, uhm,” he clears his throat, “I’ll walk you home.”

You don’t offer him any explanation for your behavior; you just nod, not catching Roman’s expression as you turn for the door. Your walk home is silent. O drops you off at your door, his hands hesitantly come up to brush the hair off your face from the wind.

“I’m not sure if I did something to upset you tonight, but if I did I’m sorry,” he tells you with a frown.

Your heart squeezes and you know how in the wrong you are. You shake your head, sighing. “you didn’t do anything, O. It’s me. I’m just having a night and I’m tired. Can we talk about this tomorrow?”

Of course he agrees because he’s Owen and you’re thankful that he’s so patient with you. He, again, is hesitant as he leans down to place a kiss on your forehead this time before he leaves. You give him a smile and he waits to hear you get inside and lock your door before heading back to his own apartment. You head right for your room and fall onto your bed, completely frustrated with everything when you hear a knock on your door.

You hesitate for a second at the noise, wondering if you were hearing things. There’s no way it was him. He doesn’t say anything when you first open the door either. Just leans against the frame and gives you that same small smile he’d given you the first night when you changed out of your party clothes.

You almost debate not opening the door at all, knowing nothing good can from him being here this late, but you know him well enough to know that he’d wake your neighbors in his pursuit before he gave up that easily. Your annoyance with him that night disappears the second you see the expression on his face. He’s grateful you open the door and don't curse him out the second you see him, he deserved it. Your stomach gets butterflies just seeing him there and instead of saying anything either you hold your hand out and let him take it before pulling him inside.

He grips your hand, well aware that it could be breaking rule #1, but he just doesn’t care. Right now he needed your touch and the fact that you were offering it after the way he acted tonight was reason enough for him to let go of the rules and give in. You lead him to the couch, not a word yet to be spoken between the two of you. You study him curiously, he’s chewing on his lip a sign that something was on his mind. You’re also aware of the way he takes you in as well. You were tired he could tell, but you also looked serene. Your body was facing his, your arm resting along the back of the couch like his, fingers tracing patterns on the back of his hand. He takes note of the fact that you’re still in Owen’s sweatshirt and makes a comment on it.

“Ya know, 13 would look a hell of a lot better on you” he says and immediately your fingers stop tracing and you pull away. ‘Fuck,’ he thinks ‘why did he start with that.’ He sighs running a hand over his face.

“You-”

“I know, I know; that was uncalled for,” he says, cutting you off, “I didn’t come here to start anything.”

You swallow the rest of your retort, not expecting an apology, “why are you here, Ro?”

You’re a liar if you said you’d rather wear the 18 on the sweatshirt you had on versus wearing Ro’s. You had a feeling it would just fit right like he seemed to on your couch with you. He’s so quiet when you ask that and it starts to make you nervous. Why ask that? There was no rhyme or reason to anything that was going on between the two of you. It was all based on feelings rather than any sort of logic. He turns to look at you then, wasn’t that the million dollar question? What was he doing here? His brain immediately goes to what he’d heard in practice earlier in the week and he remembers why he had to chase you down and get more time with you.

“I mean,” you start to ramble, “it’s so late. You could have just gone home. I know you were plenty busy tonight so there had to be someone who would have gone with you. Why end up here? Why are we even still doing this?”

“Owen is about to ask you to be his.”

Your heart sinks at his words and the pained look on his face is even worse. He can’t look at you when he says it and he’s back to chewing on his lip.

“He’s what?” You whisper, but you both know exactly what he’d said. Your mind starts to race over it. You had no reason to tell Owen no. He was sweet, thoughtful, and always asked you to hang out.

“You can say yes to him. We’ll have to call off the game but I don’t want to get in the way of you being happy,” Roman shrugs, though you can easily tell it’s hard for him to say as you watch his jaw clench immediately. It was a tell that you’d learned already about him that showed you easily that he was frustrated.

“I don’t know if I want Owen,” you tell him honestly.

Owen’s gut tells him not to wait apparently and he ends up bringing up that he wants to ask you to be his in the locker room one day. The words make Roman’s heart drop even though he doesn’t show it and it puts a panic into him. You two had just started the game. It couldn’t be over already. But he still didn’t know what it meant to win and neither did you, so should he really be interfering with you being happy?

Owen doesn’t want to make you wait but he also wants to make it perfect so he thinks maybe after the road trip next weekend he’ll do it. Roman’s head snaps up from his skates, but luckily doesn’t draw the eyes of anyone. That means he had about a week to figure his shit out. His mind kept going back to the night that he had mentioned Owen as your boy and the little laugh you let out. You didn’t seem serious about it then, were you now? Were you happy with Owen?

Maybe it was the fact that you’d thought the same thing about 13 looking much better on you, or maybe it was the fact that Owen’s sweatshirt just didn’t feel right suddenly you needed to take it off. Based on his demeanor toward you at the party this was the last place you expected him to be and his confession had you reeling. His words, the look on his face, the prospect of what Owen was offering, it was all too much. You went from tired to completely wired.

“Well you can’t have us both, and he’s giving you no reason to not say yes” he says. His nice guy act was coming at the worst time.

“I don't get you, ya know? One minute you’re doing everything you can to win my attention and steal me away from your friend and the second you actually have my attention and the opportunity you’re trying to push me into his arms again. This really is all a game to you isn’t it?”

Roman thought about whether you’d say yes to Owen more times during that week than he wanted to admit. He replays the night at your place even more often and he knows he’s fucked no matter what you choose.It seemed to consume him. How exactly had you managed to have a hold on him like this when he really only had one short lived weekend with you? He can hear how frustrated you’re getting with him and he hates it. He liked the flirty and playful way you two usually were, but he knew there wasn’t much time left for that with Owen making up his mind so fast.

“It is a game, but it’s not. It started as one but now it’s real and it got real so fucking fast. I’m not pushing you back to him. That’s the last thing I want to see happen but I don’t know if I can be what you want either. I don’t think I’m cut out to be a boyfriend or something,” he defends himself. You scoff because of course this was how it was going.

“You just come along and mess with my feelings then run away, huh? Must be nice to get out of this so easily without getting hurt,” you say, suddenly feeling too close to him.

You stand up quickly and head towards the kitchen just to try and get some distance between him and all the thoughts swimming in your head. Roman is damned if you say yes, he barely handles seeing you with Owen as it is, but he’s damned if you say no too because what would that mean for the two of you then without Owen in the way?

He shoots up after you knowing this was just the beginning of the conversation that so desperately needed to happen in that moment.

“Now wait just one fucking minute. You think this is easy for me huh? Always watching you with one of my friends?” he questions, moving closer and closer despite you trying to keep space between you both, “What about you coming along and messing with my feelings? and then going on dates with someone else? I haven’t had anyone else this whole time, but you, how do you think it makes me feel knowing you’re in the room next door kissing my best friend? Or showing up in my apartment unannounced, knowing you’re there for someone else? Or knowing I only get your attention when it’s part of a game? If you think I’m getting out of this easily and I’m not hurting well you’re wrong.”

You feel your confidence waver as he backs you against the counters but still keeps a few steps of space. You’re not sure if you’d rather have him completely in your face or across the room but something in you wants to pull him closer.

“Roman, I-“ you mumble, trying to figure out how to digest it all at once. You really thought it was all a game to him but the tone of his voice tells you he’s serious.

“You what? You get it now? You see what it’s like from my side?” He says, his voice dropping lower than it had been.

“What am I supposed to do now? If I drop him then what? Are you going to seriously go for me or are you done once the game is?” You ask, looking him up and down.

He sighs and moves closer, leaning his hands on the counter on either side of you. “Who do you want?” He whispers.

It makes your head spin and your stomach flip with the way he’s boxing you in but still giving you an out. You most definitely wanted to pull him closer and show with your lips the words that you couldn't get your brain to form. The thought of losing him if you picked Owen hurt you more than you wanted to admit, but the idea of looking like an idiot by following your heart and taking the chance on Roman just for him to decide it wasn’t as fun as the chase was warring in your head.

“I want-“ you hesitate, and it’s a moment too long because he cuts you off before you have a chance to say his name.

“Well,” he says, again pushing himself off the counter like he had last weekend “if you have to think about it, then there’s my answer”.

You feel defeated as you whisper his name but he’d already retreated into himself.

“No, it’s fine,” he says, stepping back. He blinks like he’s awoken from the stupor he was in yet he still looks lost, “I don't know what i’m doing here anyway”

He shakes his head and you don't miss the frustration and wholehearted truth in his voice. Whether he was talking about physically being at your place or his lack of control of the situation, you weren’t really sure.

“I’ll see ya around I guess”, he mumbles before he heads for the door.

Having Roman close felt right, that much you were sure of. You feel safe and excited and it feels the way you think it would with someone you trust, but he’s so quick to pull away sometimes and it stresses you out because you don’t want to be the one reaching but you want the comfort that having him close causes. You knew Owen wasn’t who you wanted. You’d pick Roman if you had to. Ro knows too but he won’t push you one way or another so when he walks away you freeze, but a little cry bubbles out when the door closes. You rush over and open it, looking for him.

“Wait!” You call, thinking he’s farther but he’s smugly leaning against the wall next to your door.

“Yes?” He asks, a little smirk on his face. He knew you’d come after him, or at least, he hoped.

Good Lord this boy was dangerous, but he also held some kind of home in him for you too. You knew you needed to swallow your pride and go after him, to save everyone the pain, but your confession disappears from your lips as soon as you see the smug look on his face.

Nope, you shouldn't do this, you really shouldn't and yet the words tumble from your mouth “Tell Owen I said yes.”

The smirk falls from his face immediately and so does his heart when he hears you say those five words. You had to be bluffing.

“You think I believe that? You wouldn’t even kiss him tonight because I told you not to. You’re not fooling me, honey”, he sneers.

You try not to grimace, remembering the exact reason you had dodged Owen’s lips tonight. By now he had pushed himself from his position on the wall, invading your space once again.

He leans down and in a low voice that sends shivers down your spine he says, “you’re all mine.”

It takes everything in you to not grab a hold of his shirt and shove him back against the wall. Instead you grab a fistful of his shirt and pull him down so that he’s face to face with you.

“Try me” you challenge him, holding his gaze a second too long.

Before he even realizes it, you shove him back, slamming the door in his stunned face. That would be one message he would not be delivering. Roman can’t help but laugh at the way you sent him off. He’s not even mad that you slammed a door in his face because the energy between you two was back and that gives him hope. He’s fired up, but in a good way this time. He felt like himself again, this was his element.

You, on the other hand, were still trying to process what the hell just happened. Everything from how close you had been to just giving in, the tone of his voice, those three words would never leave your mind, you were sure of it. You had to lean on the door and get your bearings back though after the way everything had gone. Your emotions were a mess and your thoughts were even messier.

You see him only a few days later too when you’re over at Owen’s and he comes barging into the apartment. The smirk he throws you when he sees you is enough to get you worked up and he’s well aware of it. At this point he shouldn’t be surprised to see you, parked on his couch and his stomach shouldn’t be doing flips either. But he’s excited all the same. He tries to play things off as friendly when he comes and sits next to you on the couch, thigh right against yours, but he turns his attention to Owen.

“What did you think of that last drill at practice?” He asks, looking across you to Owen and the slight turn of the corner of his lips lets you know he’s ignoring you on purpose.

“Oh you mean the drill where Coach said no contact and you cross checked me into Robbie? It was so much fun,” Owen says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

You raise an accusatory eyebrow at Roman who just holds his hands up in defense.

“Cole pushed me into you, and you could’ve, I don't know, been a little stronger in front of the net and stayed on your feet.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Now my back hurts,” Owen pouts.

Roman just shrugs, examining his nails like he’s suddenly bored with the conversation. You, however, see the perfect opportunity in front of you.

“Awh, O. Why don't you take off your sweatshirt? I’ll massage you and then we’ll get you the heating pad,” you offer with a sweet smile.

Owen accepts easily, smiling as he slides off his sweatshirt and laying face down on the floor, “that would be amazing, you’re the best.”

You smirk as you straddle his hips and lock eyes with Roman, “I know”.

Roman just shakes his head at you, you knew exactly what you were doing. You frown as your eyes catch the long horizontal bruise that was already forming across Owen’s back. He wasn’t kidding when he said Roman roughed him up. You’re careful to press around the bruise, forgetting for a second about the man sitting feet away watching you as you felt Owen’s muscles flex beneath your touch. Roman on the other hand was completely focused on you and the way your hands were touching his teammate. When Owen lets out what’s pretty close to a moan along with an ‘oh my god’, you shift your gaze back to Roman with a smirk.

“That feel good, baby?” you ask, staring at Roman.

At this point he was chewing on his cheek so hard he was surprised he couldn’t taste blood. He was so fucked.

“So fucking good,” Owen breathes out, oblivious to the exchange going on above him.

Roman can’t take anymore of this show and he’s way too turned on. You swear you hear him growl when he pushes himself off the couch and storms past you.

Apparently Owen hears it too because he lifts his head to ask, “what’s his problem?”

You just laugh and shake your head, “no clue.”

Your eyes follow him to his room, amused that your spur of the moment idea had worked so well. Later on as you’re in the kitchen, about to start doing dishes with Owen, Roman takes an opportunity to pounce when the younger boy mentions he needs to plug his phone in as it dies from playing music through the bluetooth speaker. You roll your eyes as you see him approach, popping the last bite of your dinner in your mouth before shuffling around the counter to put the plate in the sink.

“You really came to play today, huh?” he smirks leaning on his elbows on the counter across from you.

His question, well not so much the question itself but the way he says it and looks at you has you choking on your food.

His smirk grows as he slinks around the counter to stand close behind you. “Ya know”, he breathes, his lips finding your ear, “that’s one of the few times I’ve made you speechless,” his arm snaking up your front until his hand is just hovering around your throat, “want to see if another way works just as well?”

He’s got you all worked up he knows it, forcing you to drop the news, “you better behave because I’m spending the night and he doesn’t need to find out.”

“I’m not breaking any rules here, am I?” He challenges.

You hate that he’s not, that you can feel him just barely touching you, but can’t actually feel his hand around your throat.

You can’t help but laugh a little, your senses working on overdrive with how close he is, “kinda wish you would but I don’t think O would appreciate that.”

He gives in, wrapping his hand around your neck and leaning as close as he can, “just remember whose you really are.”

You gasp at the feeling of his hand on your throat and just as fast as he’d shown up, he’s gone. Your cheeks are bright red and Owen gives you a concerned look as he comes back into the room.

“Are you okay? You look really warm. Maybe you should go sit down and I’ll finish cleaning up.”

You nod, giving him a tight smile, and head for the couch. Luckily Roman stays in his own room for the rest of the night but you do bump into him as he’s leaving the bathroom and you’re heading in. He’s changed into some shorts for bed and nothing more, giving you plenty to look at. He leans against the doorframe, keeping you from going in and you make no effort to move him.

“It’s rude to stare,” he smirks, “but you’re welcome for the show.”

“Oh get over yourself,” you say, but the playful eye roll you give him makes him smile. You, maybe on purpose, bump into him as you walk past each other in opposite directions. You knew you’d be thinking about how good he looked later despite sharing a different bed in that apartment.

You both lay there that night, thinking about each other without being any wiser of the other’s thoughts.

You, of the feeling of his hand, the warmth of his body even as you just bumped into him and the little “show” he’d put on just for you.

Him, of the sight of his hand around your throat and the way your eyes instantly fluttered closed at his grip, the way you took him in when he stopped you from entering the bathroom, and the playful eye roll that still brought a smile to his lips even was he lay in bed with you in the next room sleeping with his teammate.

It’s the middle of the night when you swear you hear your name. Owen is sound asleep next to you but you hear it again and this time it’s accompanied with a “please don’t go” and it sounds so distressed. The tone of it makes you nervous and you pick your head up, trying desperately to hear it better. You thought you knew who it was but you swear you must be wrong.

You get up and figure out that it is, in fact, coming from Ro’s room next door. You open his door and are so taken aback by the glow of the stars being thrown across his ceiling from the light projector on his dresser. It catches you off guard, making you look all across the room. Something about it makes your heart tug in a way it hadn’t before with him.

You almost forget why you were in there until he whimpers again, the words “don’t leave me” and your name again tumbling from his lips. You make your way towards his bed to try and wake him from his nightmare, making sure to shut the door behind you. You didn’t need Owen stumbling in on whatever would happen next.

“Ro, baby, wake up,” you whisper, trying to shake him awake without startling him.

He finally comes to with a jolt, reaching out and gripping onto your arms for dear life. The wild, terrified look in his eyes shifts to relief when he sees that you’re really there with him unlike in his dream and he starts to relax. He swallows hard and focuses finally, looking up at you.

“You’re here,” he whispers and pulls you onto the bed with him.

You instantly crawl into him, wanting nothing more than to comfort him. The same as it was on the couch other nights, he just fits his body with yours seamlessly. You end up holding him, your fingers brushing his hair off his forehead that was covered in a thin layer of sweat. His chest was still heaving up and down, breathless from whatever it was that had him so distressed.

“Shhhh, it was just a nightmare, Ro. I’m here,” you whisper to him.

He sighs into your chest and mumbles, “not for long.”

You wonder if he can feel the way his words make your chest squeeze.

“Do you want to talk about it?” You ask him gently. You feel him shake his head against your chest, still tucked in against you.

“I just want you to stay with me” he says softly, peering up at you and who are you to say no to that?

“Whatever you want, Ro”, you reassure him, and when you think he’s finally asleep from you rubbing his back you add “I’m all yours.”

It’s easy for you to end up falling asleep and you’re completely alarmed when you wake up in his room. He’s not there next to you though and you hate that you automatically frown. Last night was well past the standard of how the game had been going and it had to break every rule you’d both set out. When you go into the kitchen though, there’s already coffee and a bagel waiting on the counter for you along with a very sheepish looking Roman.

“I, uhm, figured you might want this since I kept you up last night,” he says rubbing the back of his neck. He looks slightly embarrassed and you have to admit it looks cute on him.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” you mutter under your breath, trying to bite back a grin, or at least you think you do.

He chuckles and a smirk forms on his face, “and it won’t be the last.”

He winks at you when you glance over at him, making you nearly choke on your bagel just as Owen emerges from his bedroom.He eyes the coffee and bagel suspiciously but Roman has a lie ready and waiting.

“I got sick last night and she stayed up with me,” he explains, looking over at you with a soft smile. You can’t look at him or you know you’ll start blushing so you opt for a sip of your coffee.

“Oh okay,” Owen says but you all know he doesn’t believe it.

Your nerves start to kick in that he’s going to call you out but instead he kisses your cheek and asks if you want to hang out longer or go back to your place. The question seems loaded. If you go back to your place and Roman leaves for any reason then you’ll both seem guilty. If you stay then you’re still subject to being around him and with the way he was pushing boundaries with Owen only a room away was getting dangerous.

You pretend to think about it for a second before deciding you probably needed some fresh air, “I’ll probably head out in a few minutes. I have some cleaning I need to do at home.”

The answer seems to tide Owen over more than you expected and when he turns to grab a water from the fridge Ro shoots you a wicked grin. For once you credit Roman’s quick thinking, though since Owen doesn’t even bother asking how Roman’s feeling now, you can tell he doesn’t buy it. It’s the second time he’s ever had that gut feeling and both times it’s been associated with you, but you wouldn’t actually stand here in his kitchen and lie to him, so he brushes it off. You do the, obviously, mature thing and stick your tongue out at Ro and it’s so playful that he breaks out into a real smile, one that makes your heart skip a beat. Owen turns back to you and asks if you want him to walk you home to which you accept.

“Yeah, I'd like that,” you say, hoping on the way he’ll charm you out of thinking about the boy whose smile has fallen behind him.

Roman wants to kick himself when you and Owen leave. He’s stuck watching someone else get you when he’s trying so hard to win you over. His mind keeps flashing back to you waking him up from the nightmare and he can’t shake how good it felt to have you there when he needed you. He swears he can still feel your fingers brushing the hair off his forehead and he hates that he couldn’t just pull you into his arms again that morning.

You always left him in a whirlwind. One second he’d be throwing some flirty line at you for sake of the game and the next thing he knows he’s thinking about waking up in your arms while you walk out on him with someone else, just like in his dream. You had shown no judgement of him and it was like you already knew him so well when you didn’t push him to talk about it. You were so gentle with him, so comforting.He figures he has to give it one last effort. He hated losing and there was a lot more than usual on the line with this one.

Owen holds your hand the whole way back to your apartment and even holds the doors open. You want it to have the same effect as when Roman did it, but it just didn’t. You let out a big sigh in the elevator, making Owen give you a worried look.

“Everything okay? I’m sorry you didn’t get much sleep last night,” he says, an admittedly adorable smile crossing his face.

You return the smile and shrug, “I’m okay, just tired. I think I’ll probably take a nap before I get going on some stuff.”

“Did you need someone to stay and keep you company?” He asks, his smile turning to a smirk and really you had no reason to say no.

Except this nagging voice in the back of your head that sounded exactly like a boy you’d just spent the night with. It sounded so similar to Roman asking ‘do you need me to stay and make sure you’re safe?’ except this time there was no ‘or is this your way or getting me into bed with you on day one’ attached to the end. He really had a hold on you. Maybe Owen had just what you needed to shake that, even though you doubted it.

“You better behave,” you tell him, pulling him inside.

You hate that that line is recycled too and it just doesn’t feel right when it’s directed at the wrong boy. When Owen doesn't return home from the 8 minute walk back from your place right away Roman starts to worry. That would mean he’s still with you, at your place. Had you just wanted to get away from him he wondered? No, you seemed just fine before you left. But he had crossed a line last night, had he gone too far? It was eating away at him. What if Owen chose to skip ahead in his plan and ask you to be his now instead of waiting until after the road trip this weekend instead of after? His heart was racing as he began to think of that possibility.

Against his better judgement, he pulled up your contact and hit call. Your phone ringing has Owen pausing his pursuit of leaving marks all over your neck and you whine, pulling him back to you.

“Just hit ignore” you groan and he agrees, reaching for your phone.

He hovers over you again with a weird look on his face, “Uhm, why is Roman calling you?”

You want to hide even though you don't know why he's calling, but you do know that Owen is close enough to hear whatever he’s about to say to you as you pick up the phone.

“Uhh, Ro?” you answer nervously.

He sucks in a breath when you answer with his nickname. You also sound out of breath and he tries to make his mind dance away from whatever the possibility is for the reason behind that.

“Hi,” he says and you swear you can see the smirk on his face. You have to stop yourself from smiling as Owen watches you closely.

“What does he want?” Owen mouths to you, getting annoyed.

“Did you need something?” you ask him.

Shit. In his haste he hadn’t even thought about what he was going to say, but he bluffs enough to make something up, “yeah, uhm, I just wanted to know if Owen was with you?”

You can tell that there was more to that question but you can't get into it with Owen right there so you hand the phone over.

“Are you serious, dude? I'm kind of in the middle of something. Can you just check the schedule or call Ty or something?” he snaps and he hangs up. You curiously raise your eyebrows at him, you’d rarely seen him snippy like that.

“He literally wanted to know what time we leave for Minny tomorrow. Like, I don’t know. We got the schedule last week, go check it. Why is he calling you of all people to ask about the schedule? He’s been acting so weird lately,” Owen huffs.

But you had a feeling as to why he called. To let you know that time was just about up.

Your stomach sinks when you realize how close things were to you having to make a decision. Sure the game was still going but you still had a rule of not letting Owen get hurt and that was starting to seem harder and harder. You suddenly feel too overwhelmed by having him there and when he leans down to kiss you again you press your hands to his chest.

He freezes and gives you a weird look, “one phone call and you’re not in the mood anymore?”

“Owen...” you sigh, not wanting to argue.

“No, it’s okay. I won’t make you, you know that,” he rolls off you and sits on the edge of the bed. His head hangs a little and you sit up next to him, rubbing his back gently.

“Good luck in Minnesota, by the way. I know you guys can win those games,” you try and reassure him of at least one thing in his life.

He looks over at you with a little smile, “thanks. If we sweep them I promise I’ll take you to a nice dinner. Or I’ll take you either way. How does that sound?”

You know exactly what that dinner would be for and you have a feeling he wouldn’t be getting the answer he wanted to hear.

You nod in agreement though, “that sounds really nice.”

He leans over and presses a kiss to your lips before standing up, “okay I should go. I have to pack for tomorrow and you had stuff to do. I’ll see you later.”

You walk him to the door and say your goodbyes, wishing him luck one more time. You lock your apartment after he leaves and go on a deep cleaning spree to keep your mind as busy as possible.

Owen was obviously frustrated as he left, but not with you. He never was and that, in some sick way, seemed to be your problem. His mood instantly picked up with your good luck wish, realizing how close he is to asking you to actually be his. He had the feeling now more than ever that he needed to be quick to officially lock you down. His head was swimming with thoughts as he made the short walk back to his place. That was weird for Roman to call you, right? Did he actually need to know what time the plane leaves? Then there was what he thinks was a lie from this morning. He was finally starting to put it all together.

He walks in to find Roman flipping through channels on the tv and he eyes him suspiciously. “Did you figure it out?” he asks.

Roman doesn't move his eyes from the screen, “figure what out?”

“The plane, jeez. That conversation was all of 10 minutes ago,” Owen says rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, uh, I did. Thanks,” Roman answers absentmindedly.

“So what time do we have to be there?” Owen asks, taking a drink of his water and leaning against the counter.

Roman struggles to come up with any kind of time to give him and Owen curses under his breath. He hated being right in that moment.

“She’s pretty great huh?” he says trying to be as nonchalant as possible. It works and Roman finally meets the eyes of his friend, “I knew you didn’t give a damn about the plane time. I don’t know what you think you’ve got going with her, Ahcan, but she’s mine.”

Owen’s tone lets Roman know that it’s a threat and it catches him by surprise. Even though hearing those words terrifies him, Roman doesn't back down.

“Right, right because which one of us did she spend last night with? And who did she send back home after one phone call? She may not be mine, but she’s definitely not yours.”

Hearing the confirmation of his suspicions does shake his confidence a bit, but Owen sticks to the one thing he has on Roman, “she’s a good girl and she doesn’t need you fucking her up. So go ahead, play your games and have your fun, but when she’s mine, there’s nothing you can do about it.”

You keep rolling from one project to the next until your whole day has flown by somehow. With pajamas on and a glass of wine next to you, the couch gets your attention before bed. Or it did until a knock on your door startles you. Confused, you check the peephole and see Roman on the other side.

You open the door and shake your head at him, “this can’t be good. It’s awfully late and you leave early tomorrow.”

He has a serious look on his face though that levels you almost immediately. “I needed to see you before we left. I can’t get last night out of my head and I can’t get you out ever anymore. I don’t want to win the game if it means I lose you.”

You’re so shocked when Roman stands there in front of you, his confession still scrambling your thoughts. He carefully steps forward, taking in your blank stare.

“Please say something,” he whispers, his gut twisting over the possibility he could be too late to tell you how he felt.

“I, uh...” you stutter, feeling all thrown off.

He knows he’s not good at any of this and when you’re silent he panics even more than he already was but he’s trying not to show it. What if Owen had somehow gotten to you before he had the chance to come over? What if he was too late and your mind was already made up.

You need to ground yourself so you reach for him and he immediately grabs your hand. A little squeeze and a deep breath help you think straight again. Even in your overwhelmed state, you took note of the fact that you reached for Roman for comfort. It was kind of funny how you both went to each other when things got to be too much.

“The couch,” you say, “we should probably talk.”

He nods, closing the door and following you back to where you had been starting to relax. That was thrown out the window now however. You let go of his hand as you sit down and he frowns at the loss of contact. When you turn towards him though, legs pulled up under you, and get in his space on the couch, he relaxes. It’s easy for him to reach over and rest a hand on your thigh, and you’d be lying if you said it didn’t calm you down a bit.

“Owen knows I’m going after you,” he says, giving you yet another shock.

As soon as you feel his hand on your thigh you feel so much better. And then his confession sends you right back over the edge.

“What- what do you mean he knows? You’re going after me?”

Your head was spinning. Like you always seem to do, you pull a smile from Roman.

“What do you think I’ve been doing this whole time? Of course I’m going after you.”

“But do you really want me, Roman? Or do you just want to win?” You held your breath waiting for your world to come crashing down around you.

“I want you.”

“Ro, you can’t lie to me right now. You realize that right? The rule is you don’t hurt me since you never have listened to that first one about no touching,” you laugh a little.

You’re so worried he’ll break your heart but you know you’ll pick him over Owen. You just need him to be honest and get you to trust him.

“I stopped caring about the game after last night. Sure it’s fun but... I don’t know how to explain it even. Something about you being there when I woke up just changed things,” he admits, feeling a little embarrassed about it.

He’s pretty sure you feel the same so he just lets it out. You soften at his confession, realizing he really had been worked up when you woke him.

“So does this mean we both win or what?” You ask, needing to turn the mood up.

You could deal with Owen later. Knowing you and Roman were on the same page was priority number one at the moment. He laughs at your question, because of course you were worried about the game.

“I’ll lose if it means we don’t keep beating around the bush about what we want here,” he smiles, a blush taking over his cheeks.

You shrug, not actually minding either, “I think we both win. It’s not like we’re actually losing anything here.”

“You have a point there. But what about Owen?”

“Well, I have until you guys get back to really make something happen,” you say, “especially if he already knows. He’s pretty smart so he’ll probably figure it out.”

Roman agrees, something he finds far too easy to do with you. He checks the time and realizes he came over much later than he thought. He sighs and gives you a rueful smile.

“I should probably go. I have to get stuff packed up still before tomorrow,” he stands slowly, reaching a hand out to pull you with him.

You easily follow him, not ready to let him go after the revelation you’d both come to. He stops at the door and turns around, pulling you close as he wrapped his arms around you. You feel your cheeks heat up as you hold on tight to his waist and smile up at him.

“You behave while I’m gone, okay?” he asks, a hint of a smile dancing on his lips.

“Mmm,” you pretend to think, tapping your chin, “I guess if you asked nicely.”

He laughs and grabs your chin, “If you please behave I’ll make you an offer you can’t resist when I get back.”

You’re ready to argue back somehow when he leans down, gently kissing your forehead. Your breath catches in your throat and you swear your heart begins to hammer twice as fast as it should. Roman offers the most polite goodbye you’ve ever heard from him before he lets you go, leaving you with a whole weekend to get your life back together from the mess he’d made in it.

It’s only a few hours into their road trip that you get a snap from Roman letting you know they’d landed safely in Minnesota. You don’t wipe the grin off your face for a few hours after as he keeps up a bit of conversation going.

You get the contrary from Owen the next morning as he holds a wrist up in his snap to you, showing off a big bruise with the comment ‘tell your boy to stop being a dick during practice so I don’t get hurt so much’. Your jaw drops a little at the sight of the nasty purple and blue bump that had taken over on his skin. You know you should probably say something to Roman, but you leave it. There were some things they’d just have to sort out themselves.

You’re practically falling asleep Saturday after watching their game when your phone lights up with a FaceTime call. You see Roman’s contact pop up and sit up quickly, answering as fast as you can manage. You hardly expected the call but you didn’t mind one bit.

“Hi,” he says, the smile on his face contagious as you match it.

“And to what do I owe this honor?” you ask, trying to play it cool. You knew him so when did you get so excited to talk to him? You try and take a deep breath to calm down, but it hardly works.

He shifts in his seat, angling the phone towards the wall of the airport they were waiting in, “just wanted to check in with you. Did you watch the game?”

“I did. Someone on the team had a pretty good weekend, too. Maybe he’ll still hang out with me after he gets back,” you tease, knowing he’d played really well during both games.

“Ah yeah, he might have some time. I don’t know. He could be busy,” he pretends to think about it, looking around the room before looking back at his screen, “I’m just kidding. I’ll be there as soon as you want me over.”

You soften up, “good because if you showed up right away I wouldn’t even mind.”

“Someone else definitely wants to talk to you first and I’m okay with that. We all know you’re all mine anyways,” he smirks, giving you a wink.

He has to hang up much sooner than you’d like but you’re left knowing he’s on his way back and there were things for the two of you to catch up on when he returned.

You nervously play with your fingers, pacing around your apartment. Owen had sent you a text asking if he could stop over and talk. You were pretty sure your stomach had wound around itself ten times over in the time it was taking him to get to your place. When he finally does knock you jump, scuttling over and pulling the door open with a bashful smile.He returns the smile and you know it’s not a full one.

He doesn’t attempt to step in and instead starts off heavy, “you like him, huh?”

The words sit heavy on your chest as you try to figure out how to word things. Eventually you settle for a simple answer, “I do. I’m sorry.”

“I kind of figured,” he shrugs, “I can’t say I’m happy with it but I can’t really hold it against you either. Everyone deserves to be happy, right?”

“Owen, I’m really sorry. You deserve the whole world and then some,” you apologize, starting to feel guilty suddenly.

“Look at me,” he says, putting his hands on your shoulders, “does he make you happy?”

You nod, not able to meet his gaze, but he puts a finger under your chin to make you look at him. You give him a more certain nod and he hugs you suddenly. It’s warm and it’s tight, but it doesn’t feel like a goodbye. It’s more like a truce and you hug him back just as hard.

“Just make sure he treats you right otherwise I have no problem kicking his ass.”

You laugh, swearing he’ll be the first to know if Roman makes any such mistakes. He gives you a kiss on the head before letting you go and heading back the way he’d come from. You watch him all the way until he gets into the elevator, exchanging a little wave as the doors close. Your heart feels so much lighter and you go back to your couch with a whole new set of issues on your mind. Did Roman still want you? Did he know Owen was already there to see you? What if he’d changed his mind in the time it took them to get home and then through the day? You close your eyes and try to pull it all together when a loud knock on the door startles you.

You mumble under your breath about reprimanding everyone you knew for constantly scaring the shit out of you with the way they came over to your place but the anger dissipates when you see who’s waiting. You open the door and smile, about to ask what he’d been waiting for, when he interrupts by stepping in and shutting the door behind him right away.

“Remember when I said I break rules at the right times? When it helps me win?” He asks you.

You’re ready to claim some sort of win from the game, but right before you can, his hands come up on either side of your face as he smashes his lips against yours for the first time. It takes your breath away and you grab onto him like your life depends on it. He lifts you up, your legs wrapping around his waist as he heads for the kitchen. He sets you on the counter before finally pulling away as the two of you smile at each other like idiots.

When you finally manage to catch your breath all you can manage to say is, “all I remember is you saying you don’t play fair.”

“And I remember you telling me that two could play this game so as far as I’m concerned we’re even here. Time to make some new rules though because this is a whole different game now, and you and I are one game I don’t ever plan on losing.”

#roman ahcan #wisconsin hockey #mine #my writing #hockey writing #hockey fic #college hockey fic #owen lindmark

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