#penalty box series: imagines

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Cruel Weather (End)

story/original request based off this ask: Reactions to Sissy Getting Hurt

warnings: swearing, accident, mentions of injuries, surgery, mentions of pain medications, crying, anxiety, overall angst

word count: ~7.9k

General Series Masterlist

part one — part two — part three — part four

a/n i did not edit this much at all so excuse all typos!

THERE WILL NOT BE AN EPILOGUE! THIS IS THE HAPPY ENDING! IT’S STILL SAD BUT THIS IS WHAT WE GET!!

————————

You started to hear quiet voices, and then a really pissed off Quinn. You drowned it out, but you couldn’t drown out the pain that shot through you when Trevor was shaken awake. Everybody was suddenly on guard when you cried out in pain. Trevor slowly sat up and smacked Quinn on the arm, “Look what you did!”

“Sissy, I’m–”

“Not your fault,” you grunted out through twinges of pain. You gripped Trevor’s hand with all your might, trying to breathe through it. Your body felt heavy against the pillows when the pain finally dulled. You took deep breaths to relax as Trevor rubbed circles on your hand with his thumb and ran his fingers through your hair in a calming motion. You nodded at him with your eyes closed when you felt better.

“Go back to sleep if you need, sweet girl,” Trevor whispered. “We’ll still be here when you wake up.”

You opened your eyes to look at Quinn, who looked scared out of his mind.

“Come here,” you told him. Quinn carefully stepped towards you, and once he got close, you could see the tears forming in his eyes. “You didn’t know. It’s okay. I’m okay.”

Trevor relinquished your hand so Quinn could hold it, “You’re awake.”

“Something like that,” you said drowsily. You turned your head to look at everyone else that was in the room, and you were surprised at how many people were actually here. Your mom, dad, Jack, Luke, Cole, Alex, Jamie, and Matty. “Hi.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. No one could believe it. Luke shoved his way through the small crowd to the side where Quinn and Trevor were and sat down on the edge of your bed. You looked at Quinn, and with that one look he knew that your big sister mode was kicking in. He let go of your hand and you reached out to Luke, who gripped on with both of his hands.

“I’m here,” you said softly. “I’m okay. Okay? I’m not leaving you.”

“You–” Luke got too choked up.

“I know, come here,” you said. “Lay your head down on my chest. Trevor did it last night, it doesn’t hurt.”

Luke was taller and lankier than Trevor, but with Trevor and you guiding him, he got settled. You took some deep breaths and told him to feel your heartbeat, just as you did for Trevor.

“See? My heart’s beating now. I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere,” you whispered as you ran your fingers through his curls.

“Promise?” Luke squeaked. He was crying and it broke your heart.

“I promise.”

You couldn’t fight being asleep anymore, and everyone could tell.

“Luke, let’s get off of Sissy so that she can sleep,” Jim said.

You shook your head, “He’s fine. Trevor did it last night. I’m okay.”

And with that, the drugs pulled you under.

– – –

Luke was letting silent tears fall, “Trevor?”

“Yeah, bud?”

“You sure she’s okay?”

“She’s okay,” he assured him.

“Then why do you have an IV again?” Jamie asked him.

Of course Jamie would be the first one to notice. Or the first one to call him out at the very least.

“I uh… they made me step out of the room while they were doing tests and the thing attached to her finger that reads her heartbeat got knocked off. I lost it when I heard the flatline again and couldn’t see her, so I got sedated again,” Trevor explained. “It wasn’t real, it was just…”

“You’re going to be going through this a lot, aren’t you?” Jamie asked him. Trevor sighed and nodded, “Probably.”

Jamie walked over and put his arm around his friend, a simple motion that let Trevor know that that was okay. That they’d get through this together. Not just between everyone, but them specifically. They live together. They’ll be the ones majorly helping Y/N when she’s released from the hospital. Jamie will be the one with him when they have to go on their first away game. Jamie and Trevor will be each other’s rocks.

“You doing alright, Lukey?” Jack asked his brother.

“She’s here,” was all he said.

Quinn patted his back in an attempt to comfort him, “She sure is, Lukey.”

“Mom? Can you go talk to a nurse to get some updates?” Jack asked. She smiled and told the pack of boys that she’d be right back.

The weight of the world fell off everybody’s shoulders. Seeing her awake and hearing her speak was a marvel of a sight. Not a soul in the room could believe it. Not a soul in the room didn’t feel relief.

Ellen came back with a nurse who could update the room on Sissy.

“Everything is looking good for her. Her vitals are great, and we’re keeping her on high, but safe, levels of pain medication. That’s why she’s in and out of consciousness. And all of the medication that affected her from waking up from the anesthesia is out of her system, so she’ll be just fine when it’s time for her shoulder surgery,” she said.

“Woah, woah, woah– next surgery?!” Trevor shouted. “She almost died after your last one and you want to put her under again?!”

Trevor felt like he couldn’t breathe again. He almost lost you to a surgery that was supposed to be no big deal, and they wanted to do it to you again?

“Z, breathe,” Jamie said to him, but Trevor yanked his arm away from his touch.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no,” Trevor repeated. He was slowly backing up against the wall.

“Trevor,” Quinn tried. He wanted to calm him down, but him freaking out was freaking him out, too. Everyone almost lost you. Not just him. “I don’t like the idea either, but she needs this surgery. You don’t want her to be in pain, do you?”

Quin was treating him like a child, but Trevor was looking like he was close to another freak out.

“Z, we can’t sedate you every time you’re feeling like this. You need to learn how to get through this so that you can do it at home. Now, look at me, and breathe with me, okay?”

It took a few tries for Trevor to actually get it together, but he was still crying.

“I don’t want her to be in pain. I love her, but I can’t lose her,” Trevor said.

Quinn nodded and brought him into a hug, “I know. Us, too.”

Since Quinn was able to calm Trevor down, he asked for the IV to be removed since it had drained out anyway. Trevor was exhausted and Ellen told him to go lay down again in the recliner. Luke remained attached to Sissy and was slowly drifting off, too.

“Is anyone not scared about Sissy going in for another surgery?” Jack asked, keeping his voice down for Luke and Trevor.

“I’m trying to focus on the fact that she needs it,” Jamie answered.

The consensus was clear, everyone had at least a sliver of concern for the possibility for things to go wrong. Jim and Ellen remained strong and comforted the boys with the fact that the doctors now know what to use for her so that she wakes up safely and in a reasonable amount of time this round. But even they were worried for the girl that has become their only daughter.

“Remember when we first all played against each other when I was in college?” Quinn piped up, looking for any means to distract himself.

“She wore a shirt that said ‘I just hope both teams have fun!’ How could I forget?” Cole laughed.

“I’m just glad she doesn’t do that now,” Jack said. “Although, for once I’d like her to wear my jersey when we play against the Canucks or Ducks!”

“That’s not going to happen and you know it,” Alex teased him.

“She wears your jersey when we play against you,” Cole offered.

“Yeah, but she wears mine whenever we play against any of you,” Matthew smirked. “Except against Quinn or Trevor. Then it’s theirs.”

“What does she wear when we play against the Canucks?” Jamie asked.

“Z and I have to play air hockey to decide it,” Quinn told them, sending everyone into a fit of laughter. “But she might add you into the mix.”

“She’s something else,” Jamie said.

“You have no idea, Jamie. She’ll get worse,” Jack told him. “But it’ll only make you love her more.”

“Now that, I believe.”

– – –

You woke up to the muffled sounds of your friends talking and laughing. It brought a smile to your face that now that you were awake, your friends could relax a bit. You just hope it sticks.

What is sticking, however, is the dull pain. A dull pain that’s growing. You never tell Luke to let go or to go away if he needs you, but it was too much right now. You felt extra guilty because you were pretty sure that he was still asleep.

“Quintin,” you said. Your voice was strained and so quiet that you weren’t sure that he heard you. You tried again, but when you did the dryness of your throat made you cough, which just added to the pain and you cried out. That got everyone’s attention. “Quintin, I need you to get Luke off me, it’s starting to hurt.”

You were visibly in discomfort, and trying to move was not your friend. Ellen stepped in and eased you while Quinn carefully woke up Luke.

“It really hurts, mom,” you whimpered. She gave you a sad smile and brushed back your hair, “I know, Sissy. It’ll pass. Quinn’s waking him up.”

Luke felt tremendously guilty, and it took you multiple times to assure him that he was completely fine before the pain medications slowly started to wear off. And because you were on such high doses, it wasn’t time for you to safely have another round. So you had to wait.

“Can I get you anything, little mouse?”

You looked over and smiled at Matthew over the nickname, “Water?”

Matthew got up to find you some water, and you looked around the room to try and get a gauge of everyone’s emotions. You were pretty good at reading your friends and family, but the one who stuck out the most to you was Alex.

“Turc? Do you need a moment alone?”

“What?” he asked, caught off guard. “No, I’m fine…I’m–”

“Hey, can I get a second with Alex?” you asked the room. You could tell Alex was embarrassed, but no one else said anything as they left. “Come here.”

Alex got up and moved to the chair that was right next to you. You grabbed his hand and smiled at him in an effort to let him know that it was okay.

“You need another surgery,” he blurted out.

“That’s not all of it and you know it,” you said. You knew him too well.

Alex sighed and bounced his leg, trying to calm down enough to actually tell you what was on his mind.

“Yesterday when you were still in the coma, I couldn’t come talk to you alone. Everyone else did it days before. Yesterday Cole and Matthew did, but I couldn’t. It felt like I would be saying goodbye to you, and I didn’t want to face that,” he admitted.

“So tell me what you would’ve said.”

Alex took a deep breath, “I would’ve told you how much I miss you. And that you mean the world to me and have ever since high school. I would’ve told you that the first time I met you, and I saw how you and Trevor were acting, I knew you were going to be in my life forever because you two are perfect for each other and I knew it before he admitted his feelings to us. I would’ve told you how much I love you. How much I was trying to keep it together but was slowly failing to. And I think I would’ve told you goodbye just in case you flatlined again in the middle of the night and I wouldn’t get a chance to.”

You squeezed his hand when you noticed his tears, “Good thing you get to say hello then.”

“Hello,” he breathed out a small, forced laugh.

“Hi,” you said right back. “You’ll be okay. I’m okay. We’ll all get through this together, alright? And I love you, too.”

– – –

It wasn’t fun hearing what everyone else told you while you were in a coma, but you felt like it needed to be done. Maybe it shouldn’t be your job to help everyone, but you would get the help you’ll need in return. It broke your heart hearing that Luke couldn’t figure out how to be the strong one like everyone was telling him to. It broke your heart hearing that Jack was trying to hold it together for everyone and that he was terrified of having to go back to Jersey before you woke up. How Jamie felt guilty for being one of the reasons you were in the car in the first place. How Quinn was losing his mind and felt so defeated when you squeezed his hand and he learned it was nothing. How Matty was sent here by his coach because he wasn’t playing well. How Cole told you that his life changed forever when you came into it and that his break was hard because he held it in.

Trevor broke your heart the most. It broke you that he was plagued by nightmares when he was only sleeping because he knew you’d want him to. It broke your heart that he went catatonic for a few hours. It broke your heart that he watched your heart flat line. It broke your heart how guilty he felt. You couldn’t bear the thought of your forever getting cut short with him. Trevor almost had to experience that.

You didn’t get much time to be with everyone as a group before a nurse and a doctor came in and asked for everyone but “your emergency contacts” to leave. That meant that only Trevor and your parents could stay in the room.

The doctor began to go over your next surgery with you for your shoulder. It was a shoulder replacement surgery, and you didn’t really pay attention to any of the details. All you knew was that the fractures were bad enough to need it, and that it was scheduled for tomorrow at 1pm.

You just woke up from a roughly two day coma post a surgery and now they wanted to put you under again? And they were just going to hope that if they used different sedatives and started the treatment they used to wake you up immediately it would be okay?

You felt terrified. But you knew everyone else did, too. Probably more than you were, since they were the ones that had to sit idly by while you were unconscious.

You held all your fears in.

For Ellen.

For Jim.

For Jack.

For Cole.

For Alex.

For Matty.

For Jamie.

For Luke.

For Quinn.

For Trevor.

For Trevor. For Trevor. For Trevor.

You could do anything for Trevor, and this will just have to be one of those things.

“Are you okay?” he asked you. He sat on the edge of your bed and held your hand, rubbing circles with his thumb on it. “Do you need a minute before we let everyone else back in?”

You shook your head, “No, I’m alright.”

Trevor eyed you suspiciously, “Don’t lie to me, sweet girl.”

“I’ll be okay, and having everyone in here will help,” you told him. It wasn’t a lie. You will be okay, eventually. And everyone in this small little room will be a lovely distraction. Your surgery isn’t until tomorrow, so all you had to do was make it through the day.

“Sissy, I got someone who wants to talk to you,” Luke said smiling as he came back in.

“Who?” you asked, smiling back. Luke said nothing and just handed you his phone. “Duker!”

“Hey, Sissy, how are you? I’ve been worried sick,” Dylan said.

“I can definitely say I physically haven’t been worse,” you told him.

“That’s the most Y/N answer I’ve ever heard,” he laughed. “Glad the coma didn’t change you!”

“It’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than that to change me,” you assured him. And the rest of the room. And yourself.

Mainly yourself. Lord knows you needed it.

“I’m coming tomorrow, okay? I know you miss me!”

“I really do,” you laughed. “Be good, Duker.”

“I think I can make that promise for once,” he joked.

You were getting tired again after finally being given more pain medication. You made grabby hands towards Quinn and motioned for him to lay next to you like Trevor did before visiting hours started.

“Are you sure this doesn’t hurt?” Quinn asked as he cautiously laid down next to you.

“You’re just next to me, Quintin. I promise you, it’s okay,” you told him.

You kept motioning for him to come closer to you until you could comfortably lay your head against his shoulder.

“You haven’t called me Quintin in a while,” he said low. “Not much since you left middle school.”

“Middle school was hard,” you mumbled sleepily. “This is hard.”

Quinn turned his head and kissed your temple, “Quintin it is.”

– – –

Jamie cautiously stepped towards the bed when he knew that Y/N was asleep. He slowly sat down in the chair closest to the head of her bed, right next to Quinn.

“Can I?” Jamie asked him. He took her hand in his when he nodded yes. “I know I haven’t known her as long–”

“That doesn’t matter to her,” Quinn cut him off. “The day she met you, she called me and said I should be worried about you taking my place as her best friend. Sissy loves you, and she knows that you love her. She doesn’t care that you met what, three months ago? She loves everyone fiercely, and you’ve been deemed lucky enough to make that list.”

Trevor got up and placed his hands on Jamie’s shoulders, squeezing them supportively, “It was her idea to move you in.”

“Really?”

“She probably would’ve moved your stuff out from Lindholm’s with or without your permission,” he laughed.

“I’ve even heard about you from her,” Matthew told Jamie. “You’re here for her. You’re going to be one half of the two people taking care of her most of the time. And trust me, she cares about you. As long as you never wrong her, she’s going to be there for you for life.”

Jamie looked down and tried to hide a smile as he played with her fingers. He didn’t know what it was about her, but the second she met somebody, they loved her. Her charm, her humor, her boldness. Sissy is something special. And when she lets you in, truly lets you in, she makes sure you know you’re loved and that she would drop everything for you if you need her.

She loves being needed.

She loves being wanted.

Not everyone knew that this was killing her. Not everyone knew that her needing help and barely being able to do a thing for anyone else was going to be detrimental for her. But Jamie does. He hasn’t known her long, but he knows her. He knows that he might need to act like he needs her for something, even if he doesn’t, just to make her happy.

Jamie would do it for her. He will do it for her. Because everyone was right, once you know her, she’d drop anything for you, and he intends to do the same thing for her.

“Is she scared, Z?” Cole asked. Trevor pursed his lips. He didn’t want to expose her, but he was a terrible liar.

“She won’t tell me, but I saw the look in her eyes. I could feel her fear. I asked if she needed a moment and she told me that she’s fine and everyone back in the room would be a good distraction, but I know she’s petrified.”

“That’s a big word, Mr. Boston,” Quinn teased him. Trevor rolled his eyes and flicked him, not being able to do anything else since Y/N was laying against his shoulder. “She has you, Z. You’ll get her through it.”

“She has you, too. She has all of us,” Trevor added.

“And we have her,” Luke said. He still looked scared.

Jack threw his arm around his little brother, “And we have her.”

— — —

Today’s the day.

Today’s the day you have to go under for another surgery.

And everyone had the same fear. For some, it was slight. For others it was more than slight, but they know she needs the surgery. But the rest? The fear had taken over their entire being. And who are they? Trevor, Quinn, Jack, Luke, and you. They were internally losing their minds. They felt sick. And every tick of the clock made their chests feel tighter and tighter.

Trevor hasn’t done well with you out of his sight and he knows it’s going to be worse this time. He’s determined to not have to be sedated. He’s going to have away games. He’s going to have roadies. He’s going to have to learn how to cope. He can’t be eased into it. You’re going to be gone for hours, and he’ll have to sit by your bedside and wait for you to wake up again. He knows you’ll wake up, but that quiet voice deep inside his head telling him that you won’t is eating him alive.

Quinn had taken over the “Sissy” role. Jack had practically snapped, Luke was a mess and was dead silent when he wasn’t, Trevor couldn’t breathe half the time, and you need him, too. He’s the oldest. He feels like it’s his job. He’s always stepped up. He’s always been the big brother. He’s always done whatever he can and more for you. There’s just no one helping him.

Jack feels like he’s useless. He can’t do anything for you, and he’s going to have to go back to Jersey eventually. Scratch that— he’s going to have to go back soon and he won’t get to help you. He feels like you don’t need him when you have Quinn. You always need him. He’s your best friend, your better half, you’re everything to each other. You won’t need him when you have Trevor. Your boyfriend, your entire world. The person you live with. The person who needs you just as bad as you need him. The person you’ll get through this with. The person who’ll be there for you the entire time. Hell, you won’t need him when you have Jamie. You love him, and you barely know him. And he’s going to be with you the whole time. He doesn’t have to leave.

Luke could barely wrap his head around it. Everything was going too fast and he could barely keep up. He just got you, his sister, back and in a few hours he was going to have to go back to wondering when you’re going to wake up. He couldn’t hold on to your hand. He couldn’t fall asleep on you. He felt like he couldn’t be vulnerable. Not when everyone else is screaming, too. He just told his best friend that you’re going to be okay. He just told his best friend that he’s okay. One of those is a lie. The other one could be, too, only he doesn’t know that answer, yet.

And you? You don’t know that’s how everyone is feeling, because you can’t think of anything else other than your intense fear of not waking up. You couldn’t escape the cage the thought of dying was putting you in. You need this surgery. You need to get better. You know the doctors are prepared this time. You know that your medication has more or less left your system and that everything should be okay. But you don’t want to see everyone’s faces when you wake up again. Full of shock, almost as if they were seeing a ghost. And you know that a couple days after this surgery, you’ll be released. Which means everyone will have to leave you again. You’ve never had to experience anything this traumatic without your brothers. Never. You didn’t want them to go most of all. You’re beyond grateful that you’ll have Trevor, and Jamie told you he won’t be leaving you, but you need your brothers. Facetimes won’t be enough this time.

You were pulled out from your thought prison by a nurse informing you it was almost time for surgery and that everyone will need to clear out so that they can prep you. Everyone said their goodbyes, some longer than others, and Jack was the last one walking out the door. The heart monitor signaled that panic was taking over you and you felt like you couldn’t breathe.

“Jack!” you screamed. Tears were streaming down your face and your free hand was shaking. “Jack don’t–”

Jack pushed aside the nurse in the room and sat on the edge of your bed and gripped onto your hand.

“Sir–”

“She just needs a minute! Please,” Jack begged her. The nurse saw how close you were to a major freakout before Jack got to your side and left to stand outside the door. Jack took your hand in both of his and squeezed it tight, “It’ll be okay, Sissy. It will be. We all asked the surgeon every question possible. He’s done this surgery countless times.”

“Will you be here when I wake up?” you asked shakily. “Right here. Holding my hand. Not Trevor or Quinn. You.”

Jack smiled and leaned over to kiss your forehead, “In the chair, or on the bed?”

“On the bed,” you answered.

“Then on the bed holding your hand is where I’ll be the second you open your eyes, Sissy,” Jack assured you. “I promise. Now you gotta be strong for us. Don’t fight the lovely nurses and doctors and surgeons that are here to help you. Just breathe, and now I’ll be sitting right here when it’s over.”

The nurses that came to wheel you off to the surgery unit told Jack he could walk with you until you reached the double doors, so he did. He held onto your hand and called out once again that he’ll be right next to you when you wake up when the doors came. You held back your tears. You wanted to be able to tell Jack that you were strong.

– – –

“Where did you go?” Luke asked Jack when he finally joined them in the waiting room.

“Sissy called out for me, so I calmed her down and walked with her to the surgical unit,” he explained. “I don’t know why–”

“She loves and needs you, too, Jack,” Ellen interrupted her son. “Just like everyone else.”

Jack smiled slightly, semi hating the fact that his mom knew exactly how he was feeling.

“She asked me to be sitting on her bed holding her hand when she wakes up,” he said softly, still happy that she wanted him. That she needed him.

“I’m only allowing that because she asked,” Trevor teased him.

“Of course you are, bud,” Jack laughed.

Jack sat down between his brothers and leaned back in his chair. All that there was to do now was wait. Something that was way too familiar to everyone here.

– – –

It was a long surgery, over four hours. But Jack was true to his word and parked himself on the edge of your bed and held your hand as he waited for you to come to. Every minute passed was agonizing. The doctors told everyone that you’d be waking up within an hour but that you’ll be very out of it and might not be awake for long. At the forty-six minute mark, everyone let out a breath.

Your groans caused all ten heads to snap towards you. Jack inched closer to you and used his free hand to pet your hair in the same way he used to do when he had to wake you up for school when you were sleeping through your endless alarms.

“Sissy?” he whispered. “Are you with us? Can you open your eyes for me?”

You tried to pull away from him but felt a surge of pain when you did. Jack worked to settle you back down and looked to Trevor for help.

“I normally kiss her to wake her up,” Trevor told him. “She calls it ‘waking up Disney princess style.’”

“Be my guest,” Jack laughed.

Trevor softly placed his hand to cup your face and bent down to softly kiss you, “Good morning, sweet girl. Can you open those pretty little eyes for me?”

You clenched your eyes once more before opening them up.

“Are you a Prince?” you asked dreamily. Luke had to hide into his mom’s shoulder to keep from laughing out loud.

“Sorry, sweet girl. I’m just your boyfriend,” Trevor replied.

You looked down when you noticed a hand was holding your hand. You followed the hand to the owner, and it was not the man who just told you he’s your boyfriend.

“Then who are you?” you asked the hand holder.

“I’m Jack, your brother. You asked me to sit on your bed and hold your hand for when you woke up,” the hand holder told you.

“I don’t have a brother,” you said, shaking your head.

Jack’s grip on your hand tightened and you could feel his fear.

“You– you don’t?” he asked tentatively. He was worried that the drugs had temporarily taken your mind back to before you moved in. Before you were old enough to know that family doesn’t have to be blood.

“No. I’m a cloud, I can’t have any brothers,” you said seriously.

“But you can have a boyfriend?” your boyfriend asked.

“You’re a cloud, too,” you told him. “You have fluffy cloud hair, Prince.”

“Trevor,” he told you with a soft laugh.

“No,” you shook your head. “I’m pretty sure your name is Prince. Prince of the clouds. And I’m Princess of the clouds.”

“Clouds can have brothers,” Jack insisted. “You have three.”

Jack was starting to make sense. As you looked around the room at everyone else in the room, you saw two familiar faces that matched Jack’s story.

“I do have three!” you gasped. “Quintin, Jacky Boy, and Lukey Moosey!”

Jack lifted your hand and leaned his head against it, shaking his head and laughing, “I’m Jacky Boy, Sissy. Look at me.”

You looked at him again and really focused this time, “Jacky Boy! I missed you!”

“I missed you, too,” he laughed.

You looked around the room and your smile grew exponentially at every person you saw. You couldn’t believe your whole world was here.

“Hi Mom, and Dad, and Coley, and Turcs, and Quintin, and Lukey Moosey, and Jamie Baby, and my rat! Matty! You’re here! You’re never here!”

Matthew moved over to the end of your bed and placed both hands on the edge of it, “I was worried about you, Little Mouse. That’s why we’re all here.”

Quinn came over next to Jack and Trevor, “You got hurt, remember? You just had another surgery.”

“No, Quintin,” you argued. “I’m a cloud. I can’t get hurt.”

“Well then you’re a medical marvel,” he said. “Because you got super hurt. Are you in pain?”

“Quintin, listen! I just told you, I’m a cloud. And Prince is a cloud. And Coley. I don’t know what the rest of you are, but we’re clouds.”

“What type of clouds are we?” Cole asked you.

“You and Prince look sad, so you’re nimbostratus clouds. But me? I’m a cumulus,” you told them, full of confidence.

“Did she just… use scientific cloud names?” Alex asked, laughing in disbelief.

“I think she did,” Luke said.

“We look sad because you’re hurt, Ms. Cumulus Cloud,” Trevor said. “But I’m really glad you don’t feel it.”

“I’m just doing my cloud thing,” you said as you yawned.

“Sleepy?” Ellen asked.

“Yeah, I’m a sleepy cloud,” you nodded. “But Jacky Boy needs to lay next to me so I can nap.”

“And why’s that?” Jack asked.

“You’re holding my hand. You need me. So you need to sleep next to me to fix that,” you said matter-of-factly.

Trevor and Quinn stepped out of the way so that Jack could carefully lay beside you.

“I’ll protect you,” you told him. “I need everyone to give me a kiss goodnight! Do you need any, Jacky?”

“I think I’m alright,” he smiled.

Jack leaned over and kissed your cheek. You smiled and nodded your head side to side in a dance-like motion as you made everyone else kiss your cheeks and forehead goodnight.

“And you, my Prince, need to kiss me on the lips four times,” you told him. “Because we say something to each other with four words. I don’t know what, but I know there’s four words.”

“I–” kiss. “Love–” kiss. “You–” kiss. “Forever.” kiss.

“What do I say?”

“You say ‘I love you, always,’” he smiled at you.

“I love you, always, Prince!”

“I love you, forever, Princess.”

– – –

The second time you woke up, you were much more lucid and aware of the situation. You weren’t in agony, but you weren’t exactly having fun. You lifted your head off of whoever’s shoulder you were laying on and groaned at the brightness of the room.

“Somebody needs to turn off the sun or I’m going to shoot it down myself,” you grunted with your eyes squeezed shut.

You didn’t know who, but someone fixed your problem, and you were able to slowly open your eyes. You looked out to see the window’s curtains were open and that it was actually dark outside.

One new face was in the room, Dylan.

You smiled at him, “Hi, baby boy.”

“I was kind of hoping I could see you shoot down the sun, but seeing you awake works, too, Sissy,” Dylan joked.

“Are you still a cloud, Princess?” Trevor asked you.

You turned your head to look at him, also acknowledging the fact that it was Jack next to you by a simple squeeze of his hand, confused.

“Cloud?”

“You were still out of it when you first woke up,” Trevor laughed. “You called me Prince, and you were hellbent on the fact that you were a cloud and that you couldn’t possibly be injured because of it.”

“Were we… all clouds?”

“I wish,” Quinn joked. “Only Z and Cole were clouds. Nimbostratus, to be exact. Not sure why you remembered the types of clouds.”

“Clouds are fucking cool, that’s why,” you sassed him.

“You’re lucky you’re hurt,” Quinn said in a jokingly warning tone.

“Or what? You’d lightly shove me? I’m so scared,” you teased him back. “You’re just jealous because I didn’t deem you a cloud. Suck it.”

It was nice finally feeling calm for the first time since you woke up. No one was terrified about the upcoming surgery now that it’s happened. No one was worried that you wouldn’t wake up again now that you have. It was almost fun being with everyone, it was just calmer than it normally is when you’re all together.

You shoved Jack aside so that Dylan could lay next to you because “you’ve missed your baby boy.”

“I’m your twin!” Jack protested.

“You’ve been laying with me,” you told him. “I’ve gone without seeing Duker longer and he’s my baby boy bestie brother!”

“I’m her alliteration,” Dylan said, smiling cheekily.

“Yeah, he’s my alliteration,” you copied his grin.

“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” Jack countered.

“You’re just jealous,” Dylan stuck his tongue out at him.

“Alright, alright,” you cut them off. “You’re both my boys, so calm down. You’ve had your turn.”

“Do we all get a turn?” Luke asked jokingly.

“Do we have to reserve times?” Jamie asked, laughing.

“You and Z will get me all season, but the rest of them? Yes. Someone make a list and play rock paper scissors for the order.”

“You’re a mess,” Trevor laughed. “My beautiful mess.”

“Damn right,” you jokingly smirked.

– – –

It wasn’t too long before visiting hours ended and you had to tell everyone goodbye. Trevor now had a bigger blanket for you two in the bed since you’d been cold and he wasted no time crawling in next to you when Quinn (the last one on the list to be next to you) got off the bed.

“Be good!” Quinn called out.

“We physically have to! Otherwise we would not!” you shouted back.

“I didn’t want to know that!”

“You’re welcome! I love you, bubs!”

“I love you, too, Sissy!”

“I’ll never understand you two,” Trevor laughed.

“Quinn and I are something I’ve never seen before. Not even in movies,” you said fondly. “I’m gonna keep it that way.”

“Are we?”

“My love, we’re everything.”

Trevor took your hand and brought it to his lips, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to it. When he dropped it, you tapped four times on your lips. Trevor smiled and repeated what he did when you first woke up.

“I–” kiss. “Love–” kiss. “You–” kiss. “Forever–” kiss.

“I love you, always,” you whispered to him. “How did you do while I was under?”

“Jamie helped a lot. I don’t know why watching The Hunger Games helps, but it does,” Trevor admitted.

“Because it’s my favorite series, obviously,” you smiled.

“No, I think it’s because there’s a lot of Katniss in you,” he told you. “You’d do anything for those you love, especially your brothers. You stick up for what’s right. You’ve been through hell and you’re still surviving. You’re Katniss.”

You blushed and played with his fingers, unsure of what to say to that.

“Does that make you Peeta?”

“I was thinking I’m more like Finnick,” Trevor laughed.

“Well, he was my first love. So, I guess that’s fitting.”

“Your first love?” Trevor teased you. “Am I nothing to you?”

“Hey! Quinn officiated a wedding for me and Finnick!”

“Then I guess he’ll have to officiate ours,” Trevor smiled.

“Trevor Zegras, are you talking about marriage in a hospital?”

“Not right now, but if this experience has taught me anything, it’s that you’re the one.”

“Sap,” you smiled.

You were beat, and surprised that you’d stayed awake for so long with all the pain medication in you. But now that it was only Trevor with you, you felt safe. You felt at peace. You felt at home. You laid your head on his shoulder and let yourself drift off to the sounds of Catching Fire in the background. You weren’t scared to fall asleep tonight. You weren’t scared that something was going to happen to Trevor. For the first time in three days, you felt good.

– – –

At 9:34am, all of your paperwork was finished and you were free to go home. You, Jamie, Trevor, Ellen, and Jim were all given a breakdown of how to take care of you, pain medication times, and other stuff like that. Jim and Ellen would be staying a little longer with you in the beginning before they’ll have to go back home. Trevor and Jamie would be the ones doing it the most after your parents left, and they needed to be fully prepared to teach Dani when she’d come to help you on roadies. Ellen volunteered, but Dani was quite persistent.

You were sent off with some strong sedatives to help with the car ride home. You were glad, too, because even with them you were still in some major discomfort. You couldn’t imagine what it would be like without them.

Everyone was staying one more night before they had to go back to their own teams. You really didn’t want to have to be moved much, so Trevor and Quinn got you situated in yours and Trevor’s room and everyone would be in there until you decided it was time for bed.

First thing first, however, was a nap. The medication had made you so tired and you couldn’t keep your eyes open anymore. You had to lay pillows in between you and Trevor, which was terrible, but you could lay directly next to him while you napped since he would be staying awake. Everyone else went to the living room while Trevor gently held your hand and kissed your forehead to send you off to sleep.

– – –

Quinn didn’t wait too long before slipping back into the bedroom, “How’s she doing?”

“She hasn’t had to have the lower pain medications yet, so she's okay,” Trevor told him. “I’m not excited about that.”

“I’m not excited about leaving her,” Quinn said softly.

“Trust me, she isn’t either.”

The two boys talked quietly for a while to distract themselves from the predicament. Trevor couldn’t imagine what Quinn must be feeling. Trevor gets to stay with you; Quinn doesn’t. That’s been a common feeling throughout all of this.

“You’ll take care of her, right?” Quinn asked Trevor with tears threatening to fall out of his eyes.

“I’ll do everything I can and more for her. Always,” Trevor assured him.

“You better,” Quinn said softly.

All Quinn could do was look at you. Your bruised face looked better, but you still looked so frail and small that it hurt him. He had to make tonight and tomorrow count, but he knew that you’d be sleeping through a lot of it.

“Um… listen, if Luke needs her, she will kick you out of this bed. Same if she needs me or Jack or Luke or–”

“You can sleep next to her until you have to leave,” Trevor cut him off. “I know that’s what you really want. I’ll take the floor.”

You roughly heard the last of their conversation as you were slowly waking up, “Did you say Lukey needs me? Trevor, move your ass for him.”

“See?” Quinn laughed. “He doesn’t need you, but I’m sure he’d love to lay with you. Do you want everyone back in here?”

You sleepily nodded and continuously held your arm out until Luke came in.

“Lukey!” you cheered when he entered the room at the end of the herd of your loved ones. Luke laughed as he crawled into the bed and snuggled up close to you, “Good nap, Sissy?”

“Very,” you said.

“Oh! I want in on cuddles!” Dylan shouted. You laughed even more as he settled next to Luke and laid his head on his shoulder.

“You two are a mess,” you shook your head. “I love it.”

“This gonna be us when everyone leaves, Z?” Jamie joked.

“It better be!” you exclaimed.

Because you’d been in a coma for your weekly movie night with Cole and Alex, you decided that you’d watch the movie with everyone in your room. Blankets and pillows were handed out and people were all around the room. Jack and Jamie brought in the two arm chairs from the living room for Jim and Ellen to sit in, and everyone else was roughing it on the floor.

You sent Matty, Quinn, and Cole to get snacks and drinks for everyone, and Alex set the movie up.

“What movie have you deemed worthy enough to watch that’s not The Hunger Games, girly?”

“Top Gun,” you said with a grin.

“Yes! Finally!” Trevor cheered.

You barely watched the movie. You watched your friends and family instead. This experience is just as hard on them as for you, if not more. They deserve peace. They deserve a moment of calm, a moment of happiness. Before they all had to leave and, undoubtedly, worry.

“You okay?” Luke whispered to you.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” you whispered back.

And for once, you were.

– – –

The goodbyes were hard, because they lasted all day. First Matty left, then Cole, then Dylan and Luke, then Jack, then Alex. Alex could’ve stayed, and he’ll be back frequently, but Quinn leaving last meant a lot to you. It was needed.

“You’ll call every day, right?” you asked him. Your lip was wobbling and you couldn’t stop the tears from falling.

“Every minute that I can. I promise,” Quinn answered. “Be good to Trevor and Jamie.”

“Now that, I can’t promise,” you tried to joke.

Quinn kissed your forehead and squeezed your hand one last time before he left with your parents to go to the airport. You immediately started to sob when the door closed. You couldn’t hold it in any longer. You’d been crying all day as people left, but Quinn made you lose it. Trevor hated it because he couldn’t pull you into his arms and hold you to comfort you. You hated it for the same reason. You had to settle for leaning against his chest with his hand holding your right, and his other petting your hair.

“It’s alright, sweet girl,” Trevor cooed. “He’ll be back soon. We play against the Canucks the first week of November. I know his coach will let him stay here instead of at the hotel. It’s gonna be alright.”

“Say it,” you cried.

“Say what?” he asked, confused. “I love you?”

“No, my name. Say it,” you choked out.

Trevor felt a pang in his heart. This has never happened. You never needed Quinn so much that you wanted Trevor to call you by your nickname.

“It’s gonna be alright, Sissy. I’ll make sure of it,” Trevor said low. “I promise.”

“Do you need anything?” Jamie asked you warily. He’d never seen you cry this hard.

You rapidly shook your head no as you clung to Trevor as much as you could.

“Some ice water,” Trevor said. “With a straw, please.”

Jamie got up and went to the kitchen while Trevor continued to try and sooth you. Jamie was back quick and Trevor gently guided the straw to your mouth.

“Drink for me, sweet girl. That’s all you gotta do.”

The ice always helps. The sudden coldness triggers some slight pain receptors to pull you out of a panicked state, so it was a quick fix when you weren’t too far gone.

“There’s my girl,” Trevor cooed. “It’s okay.”

You calmed down, but some tears were still falling.

“I’m sorry,” you sniffled.

“What for?”

“I need you, too. Not just Quinn. I really need you and I don’t want you to think that I–”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Trevor interrupted. “I know you do. Quinn’s been with you for the hardest parts of your life. You always cry when he leaves. This isn’t any different. I love you, okay? Forever. You needing Quinn isn’t going to change that.”

“I love you, always,” you whispered.

You were worn out and were falling asleep against Trevor’s chest.

“Jamie Baby,” you weakly called out. “Come to bed. It’s nap time.”

Jamie smiled and slowly got into the bed next to Trevor. He leaned over and kissed your forehead, something you once again demanded, before laying against the pillows.

“I love you, Jamie Baby,” you said. “So, so much.”

“I love you, too, Y/N/N,” Jamie said back.

“And I love you, too, Trevy. Always.”

Trevor tilted your head towards him, “I–” kiss. “Love–” kiss. “You–” kiss. “Forever–” kiss.

———

reblogs appreciated! it helps spread the fic <3

#penalty box series #penalty box series: imagines #trevor zegras #trevor zegras imagine #trevor zegras fic #trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras angst #quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #quinn hughes angst #jack hughes #jack hughes imagine #cole caufield #cole caufield imagine #alex turcotte #alex turcotte imagine #dylan duke #luke hughes #luke hughes imagine #matthew tkachuk #hockey imagine #jamie drysdale #jamie drysdale imagine

[01zfan]

first | j. sc

sungchan x fem!reader | 3.8k words

thank you for all the support on the first installment of the bases series, i really wasn’t expecting all the praise i’ve received on this account. i want to continue writing good things if you guys are willing to stick around!

also MERRY CHRISTMAS.

first base - the act of kissing, mainly with tongue (otherwise known as french kissing).

contains: kissing, pda

base series: first | second | third | homerun

you watched from the sidelines with a camera at your side. the weight of the equipment resting on the strap behind your neck would bring you stiffness later. as you watched the stationary camera recording the game you rubbed the back of your neck to relieve some pain. you couldn’t care less when it came to sports, you found it to be too boring. the irony of hating sports while being the person in charge of taking pictures on said sports was so ironic it made you laugh. of course at the end of the day, this was your job and the pictures sold well, so how could you really complain. plus, there were moments of pure exhilaration when your finger rested on the capture button, lifting up and down like a trigger. seeing the athletes leap in the air in celebration, embracing each other when a play was executed perfectly was amazing, but being able to capture it was otherworldly. you loved being a photographer being able to capture moments in time where emotion flowed through the picture. you also couldn’t complain too much because having any proximity to your boyfriend made your day. sungchan being on the hockey team was a plus.

when you signed up to be on the photography committee you didn’t know about the requirement to take photos of a select sport. there was a sign up sheet you weren’t aware of, until the president of the committee emailed you a link of a google sheet all filled up.

you looked through the document mad at all the sports you had found a little interesting. if you didn’t have any events, how would you be paid? then you saw that almost all hockey events were open. desperate for the money you bit your tongue and put your name, email, and phone number. after that it was history. the head coach got you in touch with the sports team staff since you became the de facto hockey photographer for the season. you got acquainted with the team, learning their names and numbers to yell out for a photo opportunity. you even reluctantly taught yourself about the sport, just in case you had to know something.

during the first practice for the season is when you first met sungchan. you had shook his hand at the first meeting looking up at the tall man who had way to pretty of hands to be playing sports. you imagined his soft hands in those comically large hockey gloves, pushing people down on the hard ice. his hands on his knees while he watched the game attentively from the penalty box. you were thinking about his hands when he went to the sidelines to the team manager, taking out his mouthguard to politely ask for his water bottle. he was just as kind as he was pretty, smiling and saying thank you after he was done taking a drink. before skating back to practice he turned towards you.

“you take really nice pictures by the way.” he said it simply a shy smile etched across his face.

the comment caught you by surprise. you very rarely received compliments for your work outside of the occasional “this turned out well” when you showed your clients the finished photos of an event. anything to you at all. very rarely would the subjects of your photos ever be able to thank you since it was shown by the organization anyway. most of the time there was an unspoken custom of treating the photographer like they’re invisible, an omniscient viewer of the event.

the team manager looked at you expectantly and brought you out of your reverie.

“oh, thank you.” you smiled back at him. sungchan looked at you intently and went to rest his hands on the railing of the rink.

“seriously. i looked at your portfolio not just your instagram. thanks for agreeing to take pictures of the team this season. you’re gonna make us look really cool.” sungchan continued his piece, complimenting you a little too much.

more often than not you had no idea what to say to compliments. most of the times you would just mumble an awkward thank you or try and give a compliment back. each exchange always ended making you feel awkward by the end. but sungchan just kept going. your face was burning not used to the praise of someone with such a pretty face and such pretty hands and such a soft voice. it was too much, entirely too much. all you could do was nod at him in the most sincere way.

“i’ll do my best.” the smile came naturally, giving your words a slightly flirty tone. you couldn’t help it, looking at someone so cute kind of made you giggly and bubbly for no reason. when sungchan smiled in response you couldn’t help but look down.

“okay. i’ll talk to you later,” sungchan looked to you and the team manager. “bye yunjin.” 

when he turned around to skate back to his team you couldn’t wipe the smile off your face. yunjin tried to be silent, to not bring up the tension with a girl she barely knew. but she couldn’t help it. only a beat passed before yunjin was smiling knowingly at you.

“he was on your instagram?” yunjin elbowed you teasingly. 

your cheeks were hurting from smiling to hard. you bashfully shook your head.

“he’s just being nice.“ you say shyly, but you hope he’s not just being nice. you hope he’s being flirty, and that he wants to hold your hand inside of his pretty ones.

“i’ve known sungchan for years and he’s probably the nicest on the team but that was not just nice. that was something just a little different.” yunjin held up her fingers inches from each other for emphasis.

“what do you mean?” you asked. 

“hopefully you get better at picking up hints when he talks to you later.” yunjin laughed at your aloofness. 

you actually didn’t pick up the hints. sungchan walked with you to your car after practice everyday without fail. you thought it was him being a gentleman. he would walk with you to class, holding your books. you thought it was because he was nice. when his teammates would coo at you and tease him when you walked by you thought it was them being silly. this went on for months. at first you had thought that he was flirting with you, but after a few weeks of him not even touching you, you began to condition yourself to only be his friend.

it wasn’t until you stayed late after practice one day learning how to skate on the ice with sungchan skating backwards facing you. he had that same smile on his face when you would get extra flustered around him. you skated on the ice with your arms stretched out, freaked out by the thought of falling and breaking something.

“sungchan!” you said his name after almost losing your balance “i’m gonna fall!” 

“i won’t let you fall. don’t be scared.” sungchan said teasingly. his smile only got wider.

“if i fall it’s your fault.” 

“bend your legs to stop.” sungchan demonstrated the proper form and you copied him. you bent your legs and you could feel your already slow speed get slower. when you finally came to a stop, sungchan skated forward closer to you. you tried not to freak out, being so close to him.

you guys were like that for a moment. him in front of you and you slightly wobbling on the ice. you couldn’t bring yourself to look up at him, because you knew he was already looking down at you. when he looked down at you a certain way, you forgot that you were only his friend. to keep your sanity you stared at his chest, usually covered in his hockey gear but now he wore his casual clothes. you couldn’t look at his puffer jacket too much, because you might start to think what’s underneath. you shift your focus to his hands that are picking at the seams of his jeans.

“are your hands cold?” you asked, still not making eye contact.

“what? oh no. i’m just kinda nervous.” sungchan said truthfully. his hands stopped picking at the seams and now rested at his side.

“am i that much of a hazard on the ice?” you laugh slightly trying not to take to much focus off of trying to balance. 

you look up at him now. sungchan looks at you the same way he would be on the ice, thinking about his next move. his brown eyes are still so piercing but so soft. he looks directly into your eyes as he places both of his hands on your shoulders.

“i don’t know how to make it anymore obvious that i like you.” sungchan says it simply. you can feel your legs wobbling on the ice. you try extremely hard to not collapse right in front of him. you grab onto him to find some stability.

“i like you too.” it comes out meek. you curse yourself for being such a coward.

“no i like really like you. like more than a friend. i don’t know if you feel the same way. you’re just so cute and talented and smart and funny and nice and—“ 

sungchan is running off at the mouth. you have never seen him so shy, rubbing your arms up and down in tandem with his words. 

“i really like you too. i was too nervous to i thought you were just being nice. i didn’t want to assume.” you smile at him, trying not to focus too much on his lips. you grab his hand, wondering why they were so soft and warm in yours. you partially hold his hand for stability from the ice.

“can i kiss you?” he asks.

you simply nod and lean forward. you see sungchan bend down to get closer to your lips. you close your eyes. months of pining and waiting were leading you to this, holding sungchan’s hand while he leans in to kiss you. you were too busy being on cloud nine that you forgot in reality you were on ice. when you got on your tippy toes to match his height, you lost your balance completely. you went face first into sungchan’s chest. he partially kept his promise to not let you fall, holding you up. you were so frantic and caught off guard by the change in your equilibrium that you put all your weight on him at the speed of light. this made sungchan lose his balance, and he fell on his ass, bringing you down with him.

you kept your head in his chest, mortified by how you managed to embarrass yourself so quickly. sungchan’s loud and boyish laughter pulled you from your embarrassment. you looked up and saw his big smile, head thrown back as he laughed. you joined him, giggling into his jacket. sungchan laughed the whole time he got up, and still laughed as he pulled you off the ground. 

“i haven’t fallen like that since i was first on the ice.” sungchan dusted snow off of you before he dusted it off himself. you knew sungchan started ice hockey at a very young age, so you didn’t dare to ask him when he first stepped on the ice.

when the ice resurfacer came into the rink sungchan carefully led you off the ice, instructing you to put your hands on his hips as he skated towards the exit. 

you two left the rink long after everyone else. sungchan walked you to your car, one of the three left in the parking lot. he opened the door for you as you climbed into the drivers seat. he closed the door for you too. after turning on your car sungchan folded his arms to lean on the open window of your car. he put his head in the palm of his hand, looking up to smile at you.

“thanks for trying to show me to skate.” you wanted to bring up the kiss you two almost had. the look in sungchan’s eyes was the same as when he went in the first time. you waited patiently. 

”thanks for making me laugh.” 

you two sat like that for three extremely fast heartbeats.

“are you going to wonbin’s christmas party?” sungchan asked quickly. you shook your head. 

you were friends with the goalie of the ice hockey team. wonbin was funny, quiet, and good at his sport. when he said that the annual christmas party he throws for his team and friends was always fun, you never stopped to consider this an invitation. when yunjin said she was going with anton as “friends”, you didn’t dare to impose on the relationship that was blossoming.

“it’s tonight, isn’t it?” you looked at the clock on your phone. it wasn’t late by any means. 8:30 PM on a saturday was prime party time. 

“i’m going there right now, actually.”

“i hope you have fun.”

“i would have more fun if you went with me.”

“i don’t know where wonbin lives.”

“i can text you his address. or you can follow my car. or i can drive you there and then drop you back off here. he lives only like five minutes from here.”

you thought about your options. sungchan gave you three, but there was definitely a fourth one floating around in your head. you could’ve said no and drove yourself home. you thought about all the regret you’d have if you didn’t go with him so you rolled up your window and took your keys out of the ignition. sungchan opened the car door for you with the biggest smile on his face. his car was only parked one space over, so he opened the passenger seat for you as well. sungchan smiled all the way to wonbin’s house. he was right about it being only five minutes away.

sungchan ran around his car before you could even take off your seatbelt. he opened your door for you, reaching in the back of his car for something. he was looking intensely, half his body in the passenger seat. it was unfair how even his backside was pretty, long and tranquil like a daydream. 

when sungchan came out of his car, he had a christmas sweater and a santa hat. sungchan was already decked in his gear, a simple christmas sweater underneath his puffer jacket. you quickly realized the apparel was for you.

“wow, you really thought ahead.” you pulled the sweater over the shirt you had. you didn’t want the hat, so sungchan put it on his head instead.

“didn’t want you to feel out of place or anything.” sungchan said. 

you two walked side by side to wonbin’s door. it was a large house, probably the largest one you’ll ever be in. you look at the hedges and the trees and the window. anything to get your mind off of how dangerously close your hand were to sungchan’s. just by walking side by side your knuckles were grazing his. he was so close, but so far away. half way up wonbin’s driveway, sungchan grabbed your hand.

you froze. you wanted to be cool, to take it all in stride and to try and seem as unaffected as possible. this was impossible. you were smiling uncontrollably when sungchan looked down at you.

“is this okay?” he asked. you nodded your head, squeezing his hand for emphasis. sungchan rang the doorbell, texted wonbin, and knocked on the door all with one hand.

wonbin came to the door pretty fast, swinging it open. it caught you a little off guard, but not as off guard as wonbin was when he looked down at you and sungchan holding hands. shotaro comes to the door and so does sohee. you feel a little shy seeing them all focus on your hands.

“i thought you guys would be doing your little dance forever.” sohee says.

you see anton’s phone before you see him, taking a picture of you two awkwardly standing at wonbin’s door holding hands. 

it was less awkward when you got into wonbin’s house. his house was still packed. you recognized the people on the ice hockey team, but other than that and a few familiar faces you had no idea who any of these people were. you hold onto sungchan’s hand tightly as he navigates you through the crowds of people to the drink table. 

“do you want anything?” sungchan asks, opening a bottle of sparkling grape juice. you grab a glass and point at the bottle. sungchan pours you both a glass. it doesn’t go unnoticed that he poured you more after hearing you exclaim it’s your favorite thing to drink. 

you both mingle and walk around the party together. sungchan is nice enough to tell you how he knows the people he knows, telling you something about them that would help you keep a conversation going naturally if needed. you mostly trailed behind him and you guys talked in various places of wonbin’s house. 

by the drink bar you talked about how wonbin stalked your social media when he first heard your name. he was intrigued by your pictures and wondered how his team managed to snag someone so talented to be their photographer for the semester. sungchan holds back using the word “fate” when you tell him how you ended up in your current situation. he even showed you his favorite photo of yours, the one where the man sat in front of two children hugging, sketching their picture on paper for them to have forever.

in wonbin’s kitchen you told sungchan how you thought he only saw you as a friend. you talk about moments where you thought he was going to make a move, and sungchan tells you he thought he was making a move. you shake your head as you two have two completely different perceptions of the same moment. sungchan saw moments of brushing your hand, holding your books, and walking to your car as trying to make you his girlfriend. you saw those moments as sweet things to remember, to keep a mental checklist of the type of person you want your boyfriend to be.

you two were on a lazy boy when you start talking about how you got into photography. you sit in the seat while sungchan is perched on the arm rest. you were in the middle of talking about your first camera when you are approached by yunjin, holding something behind her back.

“heyyyy you two.” yunjin is a little louder than usual. she is so obviously trying to hide something.

“hey yunjin,” you look at the big smile on her face. she has a little bit of her lipstick rubbed off and you make a mental note to corner anton later. “what’s behind your back?”

“oh this?” yunjin coyly says bringing out a full branch of mistletoe. she dangles the end of the mistletoe in between you and sungchan. sungchan laughs out loud, bringing a hand to cover his face. you smile, your face getting hot. 

the attention from the rest of the party is on you two in a second. people come from the kitchen and the living room to huddle around you and sungchan. your cheeks heat up and sungchan holds your hand while laughing.

“you are insane.” you say to yunjin.

“i am being a good wingwoman. now please kiss your man, my arm is getting tired.” yunjin smiles and the faces of the ice hockey team light up realizing you and sungchan are finally about to put an end to the months of pining. 

the party was two seconds away from chanting “kiss” when you feel sungchan staring at you. you turn to look at his smiling face. you smile too, and smile even harder when his hand slides against your cheek. he takes your other cheek is his hand and you put yours on his forearms. he bends down from his perch on the armrest to press his lips to yours. the kiss is feathery and light, his lips soft and smooth. just as quickly as he goes in he pulls away, but you felt like you were held in that moment for millennia. when sungchan pulls away, the entire room erupts in cheers and claps. you feel awkward only for a moment until sungchan stands and pulls you from the lazy boy. he bows like he just gave a show and you do too. this makes you feel less awkward for some reason, making light of a situation that could’ve been mortifying. you are almost amazed your mind didn’t immediately go to the worst case scenario, playing out the situation with a level head.

after the crowd disperses, sungchan grabs your hand and leads you upstairs, away from people.

sungchan opens the door to a dark room, and turns on the light. you know it’s wonbin’s room by the medals and framed jersey on the wall. when he closes the door, he looks at you worried.

“i should’ve told you they do that. i completely forgot i’m sorry.” sungchan looks at you, sad for putting you in that situation.

“sungchan it’s okay. it’s all lighthearted and fun,” you grab sungchan’s two hands and move them back and forth. “plus i liked it. i want to keep doing it.”

sungchan freezes the same way you did when he grabbed your hand. he looks at you with wide eyes and then smirks.

you and sungchan spend the next half hour in the others arms. the kisses start light, the sound of you two breaking apart bouncing off the walls. you both take turns caressing cheeks and feeling exposed skin. sungchan takes his time kissing you, only breaking apart to breathe or to tell you how pretty you are. he kisses you all over your face, a flurry of pecks that doesnt leave a single part of your face unkissed. when sungchan’s says he can’t believe he finally gets to kiss you, you smile and nod in agreement. you can’t stop yourself from telling him about his soft hands and soft demeanor, how gentle he is towards you. but you have to remind him that you are not glass and you will not break if he pulls you in a little harder and kisses you a little rougher. months of pining and thinking about kissing him could not be sated with gentle pecks and hand holding.

he pulls you in again desperately others, and you bunch up his christmas sweater to show him how pent up you are. you both take turns tilting your heads and deepening kisses. he places a kiss to your neck feeling butterflies spring from the imprint of his lips. sungchan grips your shoulders when you do the same to him. his saliva is sweet like sparkling grape soda and his tongue is as soft and gentle as his hands.

#seriez: bases #01zfan: sungchan #sungchan smut #riize smut

[eimids]

Game day shenanigans

Lionesses x reader

Part 3 of the mini series about lionesses

(Let’s just imagine that Leah is playing again)

warnings: Vomiting, blood, angry Lucy

The game had went relatively well till the half time. It was aggressive and the Italians were really throwing some tackles in. It was all good though because you were on the lead. You’d already scored 3 goals while they had only one. It was you, Lessi and McCabe who had scored.

The Italians were especially rough on you. Sliding tackles every time they could. Lucy did not appreciate that at all. You were skilled and got good chances but they were ruined by the opponent. Most of the tackles were on the thin line of legal and illegal. Still usually they were ruled as legal. It pained you to be so much on the ground with the opponents getting away with it.

During half time Lucy suggested that you should be subbed off because they were clearly targeting you. Like you had an X in your back.

“I’m not going to be subbed just because they tackle me. I can handle it Lucia!” You said a little annoyed. Just like she had not trusted your skills.

“I think y/n can handle it for now. If they keep getting more reckless with the tackles, you will be subbed off” Sarina said as the last decision.

You took a sip from your water bottle as you tried to calm yourself. You went to Lauren James to get away from people (Lucy) who annoyed you.

You chatted for a while before your skipper Leah gave you a pep talk before going to the second half. You walked back to the pitch through the tunnel and warmed up a bit. When the whistle was blown you quickly got the ball to you. Running with it as you got closer to the penalty box. When you got inside of it, you were quickly tackled. Someone sliding straight towards your legs which had you tumbling to the ground. Your head got collided with someones boot.

First thing you saw was blood on the hand. The next was Lucy coming running towards you and the two opponents who caused this. She was yelling at them. Next came Leah with the big hand chestures. They had some pushing and pulling before the referee intervened. Giving a yellow card to the woman who tackled you.

“Fuck off” You heard Lucy yell.

Lucy still wasn’t happy about it and kept mouthing the referee and opponents which got her a yellow card. Leah kept talking to the referee, more calmly than the older woman.

You on the other hand had been surrounded by your teammates. They were motioning for a medic to get over to check you out. You felt dizzy and Georgia was hovering over you to shee if you were okay. You didn’t really know what happened, all you knew is that you were bleeding and in pain.

You could walk off the pitch by yourself which led to the crowd to applause for you. When you got to the medical room you could feel something turning in your stomach and quickly your that days food was on the bin next to you. You knew after vomiting that it was a concussion. The medical staff gave you some pain meds and sent a message to Sarina that you wouldn’t be able to continue.

The medical staff started to clean the cut on your forehead and then stitched it up.

“It’s going to leave you a little scar but nothing major. But you do have a pretty bad concussion which means that someone is going to have to look after you for couple of days. We’ll give the person some advice when you know who’s looking after you” The woman said to you after stitching you up and examining you.

After that you were allowed to leave the medical room to the changing room to get some more clothes off so you could watch the rest of the game.

To your surprise, Lucy was sitting in the changing room.

“What are you doing here?” You asked her confused.

“That stupid referee gave me a red card” She said sounding angry. You just started at her angrily.

“Lucia what did you do” You asked sternly.

“Well the woman who tackled you kept laughing about it so I just showed her hoe to tackle properly” She answered casually with a smirk on her face.

“Well I believe if you got carded it wasn’t exactly a legal tackle?”

“I was clean but the referee has something against us” She answered rolling her eyes.

“God your so stupid” you said while sitting next to her.

“I wasn’t going to let them hurting you just slide. I had to do something” She said defensively.

“Yeah but getting a red card isn’t the way. You are like Katie McCard” You joked.

Later on you would see the video of Lucy tackling the girl. It was not clean tackel, you knew it and she knew it. But for that you invited yourself to her house so she (and Kiera) would have to look after you.

—

#leah williamson #wlw post #woso x reader #woso fanfics #woso community #lucy bronze #lucy bronze x kiera walsh #lionesses

[hongjoongsart]

Teaser - Cold Hands | Song Mingi

⛸️ IMPORTANT: Re-upload from my deleted account! (hongjoongspoetry)

⛸️ Summary: You and Mingi have been going at each other's neck for the past six months. The latter finds big enjoyment in spurring you on while you just want to make it to graduating without being charged with murder. Things take an interesting turn when your crush and fellow figure skater shows interest in you resulting in a fistfight, a confession and heartbreak.

⛸️ Pairing(s): Hockey Player!Mingi x Figure Skater!Reader, Figure Skater!Hyunjin x Figure Skater!Reader

⛸️ Genres/Tropes: College/University AU, non-idol AU, rivals to lovers, angst, fluff, smut...

⛸️ Warnings/Tags: f!reader, no use of Y/N, swearing, a handful of movie references...

⛸️ Wordcount: Estimated 15K-20K

⛸️ Author's note: Sneakpeak for my Hockey Player!Mingi x Figure Skater!Reader oneshot. It's the first out of eight parts of my upcoming oneshot series; Puzzle Pieces.

AO3 Click on me!

This is all fiction and not meant to represent Mingi in any way or form.

The sound of blades against ice and the smell of a freezer minus the food brought you great comfort, and it continued to do so for a century and half. The ice rink was your second home – not school or your grandma’s house – heck, you could manoeuvre the place better than your own house.

Abel Korzeniowski’s Charms blasted pleasantly through the speakers in the hall. You stood in the middle of the rink with your hands raised and knees slightly bent, while facing forward. The arena was completely empty which wasn’t anything weird considering it was six AM on a Monday. You slowly moved across the ice in sync to the music, leaving all your thoughts and worries in the parking lot outside. There was only you and the ice. 

As the music gradually picked up its pace you began doing light spins and jumps. You imagined the arena to be packed with people, excited eyes following your elegant figure and cheers going off like cannons after every stunt. 

In tune to the music reaching its turning point you propelled yourself up and spun in the air only for the melody to be abruptly cut off. A short static echoed in the hall as the AUX was rather harshly unplugged from your phone, resulting in you losing your footing and falling on the ice. 

“Majestic as always Swan Princess, but I’ll have to deduct ten points for that eye captivating fall.” 

Chorus of laughter and gloves pounding against the plexiglas averted your attention for a split second and the picture of an audience watching wasn’t much of an imagination as the whole hockey team stood by the entrance of the rink. 

With a curse, you got up and threw a glare towards the music booth planted between the penalty boxes. Scratch that, you threw a glare at the guy inside the music booth.

If there was anything figure skating couldn’t help you with it was Song Mingi, left winger of Red Tigers and the biggest douchebag known to man-kind.

The man-kind in question was you.

“Piss off, Song. The rink is booked until 10 am.”

The large man leaned into the mic, a smug grin on his stupidly handsome face, “Can’t do sweetheart. We have an upcoming match against the Blue Wolves so we need to practice.”

In three slides you reached the worn out glas separating you two. 

“Listen here asshole,” you breathed out a cloud of fog, “I don’t care what you have or when you have it, the rink is booked so take your little pack of chihuahuas and fuck off!” 

Mingi made himself comfortable on the chair, hands intertwined behind his neck and long legs perched up on the desk. He was not going anywhere unless it was on that ice.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait til you’re done.”

© HONGJOONGSART 2023 - All rights reserved. Copying, editing, reposting or translating my work is not allowed

#[🐣] HONGJOONGSART #used to be hongjoongspoetry #song mingi x reader #song mingi oneshot #song mingi imagine #song mingi scnenario #ateez x reader #ateez oneshot #ateez imagine #ateez scenario #fuff #angst #smut #ice skating au #hyunjin x reader #figure skater hyunhjin #hockey player mingi #writer #kpop x reader #kpop writers #kpop fic #ao3 fanfic #ao3 writer #fanfiction #fanfic writing

[harry-hollands]

my boyfriend’s boyfriends

(a potential au stemming from ‘who does it better?’)

a part two to ‘who does it better’ but can be read as a stand alone.

part 1

alex turcotte x fem!hockey player reader

*PICTURES ARE FROM TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, AND MY OWN PERSONAL ONES I TOOK (10-28-2023)*

(inspired by faithlynn’s @babydollmarauders series media management and kaylin’s @starsandhughes series penalty box. if you haven’t checked them out, PLEASE DO THEYRE AMAZING)

yourusername

liked by quintonbyfield, _alexturcotte, and 42,752 others

yourusername: on today’s episode of “i had a day off at work and my boyfriend and best friend and son had team bonding today so i was left alone because my other roommates had a game tonight”, i decided that i, was going to support my boyfriend’s boyfriends—i mean roommates!

how generous of me right? i was in the upper bowl to watch the game so no one saw me but as is my job to be a professional nuisance to centers and defenders to keep the lethal flying piece of rubber out of my pretty net, i had to humble them somehow during warm ups.

for those wondering why i’m wearing my boyfriend’s boyfriend #2’s jersey, i lost a bet with him. for those also wondering what the bet was, it was on my boyfriend. i THOUGHT my boyfriend was a sweet person but apparently he took a page out of the enemy of silence’s book (@/trevorzegras) and got TWO penalties last game.

turcs was not impressed as you can imagine, and neither was homewrecker (@/jordanjs224) because apparently “homewreckers need to stick together and that comes with wearing my jersey” idk man im just their roommate that willingly has pieces of rubber shot at me at lethal speeds

despite my works of art, i also included other works of art from the professionals. (im legally obligated to make them look good like 3.8% of the time)

as much as i’d love to say that the boyfriends came out victorious, they did not 🥲

my boys played v*gas and lost in shootout but at least we got a point!

my cutie patootie laffy @/alaf14 (kings’s version, not to be confused with the rags’) SCORED HIS SECOND GOAL OF THE SEASON ON HIS TAYLOR SWIFT BIRTHDAY! you made me so proud 🫶🏼

next up, the infuriating maple leafs; auston matthews, I HAVE BEEF WITH YOU (i will be watching from home because it’s where my job is)

buckle up babes, turcs baby (@/_alexturcotte), my son (@/brandtclarke55), and my best friend (@/francesco.pinelli71) play tomorrow against the baby canucks and i don’t know if i’ll have the right mental state to watch them (i have to im their emergency goalie 🤠)

(ps m*rk st*ne, nicolas hague, brayden mcnabb, and ivan barbashev i hope you all suffer a 10 game losing streak you fucking bitch babies. DONT GO AFTER MY CUTIE PATOOTIE!!!)

tagged quintonbyfield, jordanjs224, lakings, anzekopitar, kevinfiala22, duber18, alaf14

view comments

quintonbyfield: WHY DO YOU HAVE THAT PICTURE OF ME?? HOW—?!

yourusername: @/quintonbyfield oh q baby, it’s all over twitter

quintonbyfield: @/yourusername oh, so you got it from twitter, got it

yourusername: @/quintonbyfield how do you think twitter got it? 🤭🫡

quintonbyfield: @/yourusername YOU LITTLE BI—

jordanjs224: oh my god. i look ATROCIOUS

quintonbyfield: @/jordanjs224 good. suffer.

jordanjs224: @/quintonbyfield alright listen here you little asshole—

_alexturcotte: @/jordanjs224 @/quintonbyfield babes, there’s no need to fight! cant we all just get along?

jordanjs224: @/_alexturcotte shut up, this ain’t about you

_alexturcotte: @/jordanjs224 🥲

quintonbyfield: @/_alexturcotte i would never treat you this way

yourusername: @/_quintonbyfield @/jordanjs224 if y’all are gonna fight, at least do it when y’all get home please? i need some entertainment in my life

francesco.pinelli71: @/yourusername am i not enough for you? 🤨

yourusername: @/francesco.pinelli71 YOU’RE LITERALLY LEAVING FOR COLORADO MONDAY 🤠

fan23: she’s feeding the jordan girlies 🤭

fan55: oh my god?? q?? holy fuck y/n KNOWS what she’s doing taking these photos

alaf14: y/n you didn’t need to threaten them, im okay 😭

yourusername: @/alaf14 you were practically thrown to the ice like a ragdoll and then you got HIGH STICKED and were BLEEDING and you’re telling me you’re “okay”??? dude…

alaf14: @/yourusername it’s hockey it happens. besides, YOU WILLINGLY HAVE PUCKS FLYING AT LETHAL SPEEDS AT YOUR FACE AND YOU STOP THEM WITH YOUR BODY

yourusername: @/alaf14 why are you YELLING?? im making sure everyone knows that if they hurt you that they are on my hit list. i will do what flower did to bedsy and trip them up

alaf14: @/yourusername that’s a sure way you don’t make it in the nhl

yourusername: @/alaf14 i will trip you up if you don’t shut the fuck up

alaf14: @/yourusername YOU’RE DOING GREAT SWEETIE KEEP DOING YOU 🫡

yourusername: @/alaf14 that’s what i thought <33

fan15: wait y/n is their emergency goalie?? how did i not know this information?

yourusername: @/fan15 it’s not widely advertised but im tryna be a big girl in the big leagues 🫶🏼

fan15: @/yourusername OMG THANK YOU

francesco.pinelli71: thank you for humbling them. clarkey and i have been dying of laughter for five minutes and turcs is looking at us like a disappointed father

yourusername: @/francesco.pinelli71 i live to serve, but i think it’s been established that turcs is disappointed father and im eccentric mother

francesco.pinelli71: @/yourusername YOU’RE SO RIGHT

_alexturcotte: @/yourusername @/francesco.pinelli71 i regret introducing the two of you

francesco.pinelli71: @/_alexturcotte i dont !

yourusername: @/_alexturcotte @/francesco.pinelli71 i don’t either!

fan12: y/n’s friendships with alex’s best friends >>>

brandtclarke55: MOM I WANNA BE LIKE YOU WHEN I GROW UP

liked by yourusername, francesco.pinelli71 and _alexturcotte

_alexturcotte: thank you for humbling my boyfriends. they’re not allowed to have their egos inflated.

yourusername: @/_alexturcotte of course, my love! expect nothing less!

quintonbyfield: @/_alexturcotte @/yourusername FUCKING OFFENDED???

jordanjs224: @/quintonbyfield @/_alexturcotte is this what betrayal feels like?

quintonbyfield: @/jordanjs224 fuck you.

jordanjs224: @/quintonbyfield time and place

_alexturcotte: @/quintonbyfield @/jordanjs224 without me?

quintonbyfield: @/_alexturcotte @/jordanjs224 never babygorl

yourusername: @/quintonbyfield @/jordanjs224 @/_alexturcotte 💀

_alexturcotte: i love you, my darling <33

yourusername: @/_alexturcotte i love you more, my love <33

~

a/n: i hope you enjoyed this little installment! i have a halloween one planned and am working on a blurb about worlds!! there will also be hopefully a blurb on turcs introducing her to the boys. I LOVE YOU ALL AND THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING

as always, reblogs, likes, and comments are always appreciated 🫶🏼

~soph <33

#alex turcotte x reader #alex turcotte #alex turcotte social media x reader #nhl x reader #alex turcotte fluff #alex turcotte imagine #la kings #ontario reign #nhl #nhl fic #alex turcotte blurb #nhl blurb #nhl imagine #soph’s writing 🫶🏼 #social media imagine

[oyesmendes]

love is just a word - the shorts

a/n: SURPRISE! thought i'd end this series off (finally), with a little sweet, tooth rotting blurble of my favourite duo <3 this series has been one of my favourites to date, and im so glad for all of your support and love over all my pieces. enjoy this one ;-)

love is just a word masterlist

main masterlist

our love was made for the movies

Circuit Paul Ricard, France 2023

It almost felt like a Hollywood dream. To wake up in a different city almost every weekend, to travel the world with no worries;  

-

Two years went by and here you are, still Head of Media for Scuderia Alpha Tauri, sitting in your office in the hospitality building; watching as Pierre raced on his home soil. Slowly, but surely, climbing his way into P5. 

He had taken a 10-grid penalty, setting him back from his originally qualified P7 to P17. But he had been so determined to climb up the finishing order, he was outdoing what anyone thought of him. 

In fact, after 2022, Pierre had outdone himself in every single way - proving to everyone he deserved this seat more than anyone else. 

"C'mon Pierre." You whispered, biting on your nails as you watched on the tiny screen in your office. You had been stuck here, dealing with articles that had come out at the last minute. And as he passed Lando, pushing himself up to P5, you squealed happily, making your way down to the garage after shutting of your laptop. 

Pyry hands you your set of headphones as you walk in, and you join the rest of the engineers and mechanics to watch the nail biting finish. 

Cheers and shouts were heard all around the garage as he crossed the finish line to P4, and everyone could hear Pierre's shouts for joy over the broadcast. 

"Another one for you guys. Thank you everyone, and thank you to my beautiful girl - this is for you." You blushed when everyone turned to look at you, hiding your face in your hands. During the two years, Pierre had done all sorts of romantic gestures as you both travelled the world. Some would say he's cheesy, but you enjoyed every little moment of it, from the small little magnets he bought because 'it reminded me of you', to the ridiculous bouquets of flowers he had delivered to the hospitality building. You were both, utterly in love with each other.  

-

You were doing your post race duties, checking on instagram posts, the boys recordings and reports for the race. While both drivers were still in the media pen, attending to post race interviews. You stood in the busy garage as the team began to pack, Pierre's race engineer engaging you in a conversation when you hear someone call out to you from behind. 

"Chérie!" You whipped around, Pierre running towards you and lifting you off the ground. It caught you off guard and you yelped, giggling like a school girl with your feet off the ground. 

He had a bunch of the team following behind him as well, which made you suspicious as to what antics he was up to. 

When he puts you down, Pierre dips his head down so his lips met yours, and you could here the 'oooh's from the people around. You hid your face on Pierre's chest, the public display of affection making you embarrassed, two years on. But then he pulls away, reaching behind him, to pull out a velvet box. 

Then you put two and two together. 

Pierre was going to propose. 

He got down on one knee, in the middle of the pit lane still in his race suit, and opened the velvet blue box. A crowd had already gathered around the both of you, and your heart was racing out of your chest. 

"Mon chérie, mon amour, my everything." He sighs, a sweet smile on his face, "Without you, I wouldn't be here today. And I couldn't imagine a life without you being my forever. So will you, marry me?" 

There's a pause as you choke on your tears, but you quickly nod your head, lunging towards Pierre. You squish his face in your hands, kissing him so passionately it knocks the breath out of the both of you. He steadies you by placing his hand on your lower back, and when he pulls away, he slips on the ring - your dream wedding ring, onto your finger. 

"I love you, Pierre Gasly."

"I love you too, soon-to-be Mrs Gasly." 

taglist: @primadonnasdream @dr3lover @chicadelapartamento512-blog @thebagginsofbaggend @starlightoctavia @d0ntjudgemy50shades @cowspew @justthatgirlxox @ggaslyp1 @fromthedeskofjoii @lorenakaspersen @words-4u @o0itsjustme0o @ambrosialilly @totowolfff @gulsolsikke @enjoymyloves @rmaddenns @care2703 @katcontrreras @tattered-tales @luvrboygaslys @piceous21 @shristi-jaluka @kyomihann @sgkophie @jpotterdilf @guardians-ofthe-lastyoungkilljoy @lovingroscoee @monte-carlando @bigdiccricc @organasith

let me know if you would like to be in the taglist!

#pierre gasly #pierre gasly x reader #formula one x reader #formula 1 x reader #formula 1 #formula 1 one shot #formula one

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 11 (SPOILERS)

Sorry for the pause in updates. (I feel like I'm jinxing myself because every other time I say that or see someone else say that, a much longer pause in updates or an indefinite hiatus immediately follows.)

So far, Leo and Calypso feel like Disney Princesses in crossover merchandise. You know that thing where Disney Princesses aren't allowed to look each other in the eye or speak to or acknowledge each other whenever they are featured together in merchandise or media? Leo and Calypso have hardly talked to each other in the ten chapters so far. I hope it's tied into the fights they've been having so there's a canonical reason rather than just author neglect. I'm here for Caleo content! Eleven-year-old me wants to see her OTP!

Admittedly, I don't remember reading too many rocky relationships in the previous series once the couples got together, so this is getting interesting to watch. Preteen me might have to cry in the corner while I break out the popcorn, 'cause if any relationship's gonna be rocky, it's going to be the one that started as a whirlwind romance that jumped into a six-month-long action adventure starring The Guy Who Was On The Run His Whole Life and The Girl Who Hasn't Left Home In Four Thousand Years.

"Four beheaded dudes" I thought we just had the one?

"flecks of feldspar glittering like stars." FELDSPAR (n.): an abundant rock-forming mineral typically occurring as colorless or pale-colored crystals and consisting of aluminosiliactes of potassium, sodium, and calcium

"It was Trophonius. My son." Fuck. Okay, that makes sense why he'd have the gift of prophecy, probably having inherited it from Apollo. Is Brieanna his half-brother or whole brother? Imagine if you were a ghost and your dad doesn't even know you or recognize you (admittedly a difficult task without a face or a head present). Speaking of the cheese ghost, someone needs to get Nico or Hazel here to exorcise him and lay him to rest. What's he been doing hanging out in the living world all this time? Do his deeds as a ghost count when being judged in the Underworld? So many questions.

"Agamethus--Trophonius's half brother. He was no son of mine." He said that so maliciously! I'm sure it wasn't meant to come out that way, but at least we have an answer now. "The poor boy had the misfortune of being the actual offspring of King Erginus" No need to insult him like that, holy moly!

"We built the temple at Delphi." Y'all're princes and famous architects. You're doubly rich. WHY DO YOU NEED TO STEAL.

"Make sure my body can't be identified." Awwww so Trophonius didn't behead him to kill him or have any malicious intent. This is heartbreaking. "You brought this upon yourself." Tbf he did, but that's no reason to let someone else die. They both brought it upon themselves. After all, Trophonius says "we" when talking about architecture and the temple and they both are princes. Still, thievery and wasted potential are not good reasons for the death penalty.

"video clips of a bearded man with curly brown hair, perfect teeth, and brilliant blue eyes . . . Not many emperors can look imperial wearing only lion-skin swim trunks, but Commodus managed." My friend showed me Commodus's character art and lemme tell you he is HOT. No, like, seriously. I'd simp. He might be hotter than Britomartis is pretty.

"very close to threatening his nearest advisor's anatomy." threatening ___'s anatomy is a good phrase. Might borrow it in the future.

"I still found Commodus attractive after so many centuries" And you'd be right. "we had a, er, complicated history" *sigh* Add another lover to Apollo's Bad Decisions Box. Apollo's "complicated histories" seem to always involve some sort of betrayal and at least one death.

"a portly man in a crimson business suit" I wanna know who this advisor is. It would make sense for it to be Trophonius, especially with his gift of prophecy, but that doesn't sound like him. The way he's described is similar to Nero, but it's obviously not him, though we can't discount relatives. "capable servants of the Triumvirate lost a little girl." Meg or Georgina? Probably Georgina 'cause Meg wouldn't run away again so soon.

"Lord Cleander" Nvm, never heard of this guy and his name doesn't sound Greek or Roman at first glance.

"any sort of plant" Wait, it could be Meg! I wonder if she had a plan all along. It doesn't seem like it. "You let a daughter of Demeter near a plant?" Jeez, they're literally, like, everywhere. What did you expect him to do, blowtorch every inch of the sidewalk before they stepped on it? Even in the city, plants are everywhere.

"Which is all she needed to teleport away!" ...Can Meg teleport? Like Nico? Honestly still not as OP as Percy, so we're all good.

"Gods only know where she is now!" "Actually . . . I'm a god. And I have no idea." I love this guy. He has my heart and soul and he has spoken nine (9) words so far.

"If she reaches Indianapolis" Are they not in Indianapolis? Are they maybe on the outskirts around where the caves are, then?

"And you're boring me . . . which is punishable by death." Okay, maybe Trophonius and Brieanna's thievery was a more severe crime by ancient standards. If this is what Cleander and Commodus are like, I truly wonder how Cleander has stayed alive so long. He isn't the most entertaining fella. "Do it, then." Oh, I guess we have our answer. He isn't lasting long at all.

"That was very entertaining, Lityerses!" LITYERSES! Midas's kid! I saw character art of him after reading The Lost Hero and I was like, Why does he have character art? He was there for less than a chapter??? So I figured he must be in TOA somehow and HERE HE IS MY BOYYYY.

"Manage all that for me, and I won't kill you. Fair?" Some pay would be nice.

"Unless you want to wait around here for morning chores." Now that's a threat that will get him moving.

I just realized the four beheaded dudes are the combo of Brieanna, Lord Cleander (Does that mean Lityerses has been promoted to Lord Lityerses?), Marcus, and Vortigern. An uncanny amount of beheaded people in one chapter. New record.

#reading trials of apollo #reading the dark prophecy #reading toa #reading tdp #toa spoilers #trials of apollo spoilers #trials of apollo #the dark prophecy #percy jackon and the olympians #apollo pjo #apollo #lester papadopoulos #caleo #team caleo #brieanna the cheese ghost #agamethus pjo #agamethus #trophonius pjo #trophonius #commodus pjo #commodus #emperor commodus #meg mccaffrey #lityerses pjo #lityerses #pjo #toa #pjo hoo toa #rrverse #riordanverse

[cellythefloshie]

As it’s game day, I came to ramble about Sunday’s game. I was able to go in person again and holy shit do I tell you those men out for the capitals! Patty & Belly both fought, Vasy didn’t let goals slide until like period 3, Sergey was scoring left and right, Perbix & Koepeke were on top of it, and Hagel got pissed when sent to the penalty box.

Basically being said, their energy at the game gave me the feeling of what I read with the excitement that you talk about in the Road Wifie series!

I am so jelly that you got to be at that game! It was such an incredible one to watch on TV so I can only imagine how it felt to see it all go down in person because there is nothing like watching a game at the arena and that's coming from someone who has only had the pleasure of watching the Bolts once a year when they come to play in my city! I knew after what happened to Cal that it was going to be a rough game - honestly surprised it wasn't worse, but we beat them in the best way possible by coming back and getting the W. Sergy was absolutely the star of the show that night! And Koepeke came in and scored his first NHL goal OMG I felt a little bad because no one really noticed on the ice! Did the fans know in the stands? Honestly had to check in on Hagel fans that night, knew that feistiness was going to be too much! Just an all-around stellar game from the boys, let's hope they can keep that excitement going! I literally can't wait to get to see the boys in January when they make their way into town for their annual visit. It's all I look forward to every year!

#celly answers

[the-penalty-box-imagines]

omg you all pls read this headcanon

My cousin and I were talking about this like last night and i literally shed a tear. You know how when they come off the ice they’re cheeks are all pink and cold and sweaty? And then you go up to hug them and when you do your cheeks are pressed together right? But like to him, your cheeks feel warm cause you’ve been all bundled up in the stands, but then also his cheeks feel warm cause he’s been searing and stuff but then they’re also cold and idk i have a cheek kink i guess lol

Also TBH i’m highkey envisioning Nolan, carter, and cale for this cause my red-faced bois have the most precious and magical cheeks

#carter hart #cale makar #headcanon series #nolan patrick #The Penalty Box Imagines #team canada

[kerwritesthings]

Waiting

Summary: “Forget me nots, second thoughts live in isolation. Heads or tails, fairytales in my mind...” ~ Are We The Waiting (Green Day) 

Word Count: just about 1.2k

Warnings: little bit of sad panda, lot of fluffy fix it feels

Author Note: I have been damn well sunk and soft on this boy for a good while now, but never wrote anything for him. I had wanted to, but the muse and I still haven’t come to a steady agreement. Well, this decided to show up after the Avs/Blues game 4 out of nowhere, and I mean after the game all of a sudden the words vomited out and just wouldn’t stop until it all came out. All from one simple camera pan that sent my stomach into loops. I haven’t had a chance to proof/check it until Friday night (ya girl is back working a full time legit slightly important job now) but wanted to get it posted before they kick of the next series, so this is being scheduled to hit before the game. 

Now I really need to get my hockey fics organized and start a new masterlist...

Tyson’s face after the call is bad enough, it pulls straight at your heart. The look he has while he’s in the box is a whole other level of sad. However, his face as they open the penalty box door after the Blues score on the power play sends your stomach plummeting. 

You know well enough how much he’s beating himself up on this. You could tell when the pre-game interview hit on Twitter, how he had such focus and seriousness. More so than you’ve seen since last year before the last game against Dallas in the bubble. They’re so close to that sweep, you can feel it; you can’t even imagine how they’re all managing the emotions.

Thankfully, the boys bounce right back, both into their systems of play and on the scoresheet to finish off the series in a clean four straight sweep. You briefly catch glimpses of him in the last few minutes of the broadcast, congratulating Phillipp with a quick tap to his helmet and then again on the handshake line when he has a moment with Brayden Schenn. You know they’ll celebrate some, Gabe would want them to relish a little in this success before getting back into focus and moving on for their next round. With the early puck drop, they’re flying back tonight so you shoot off a quick text.

4 up, 4 down. Each one well deserved, well earned. You’re a big part of the reason why. Congrats Tys, fly safe <3

It gives you enough time to get a few things pulled together and ready for when he gets home. Freshly washed linens for the bed straight from the dryer, baking off a batch of those oddly good yet slightly weird protein brownies he recently found, icing off a couple of different drink options depending on the mood when he gets through the door, a few other things in the bedroom based off the same thinking. Your phone pings off just as you flip the bedding from the washer to the dryer.

You always know exactly what to say. Stop taking lessons from Gabe. Took off a little early. See you at home, love.

You hear his keys in the door as you’re walking out of the kitchen. You lean against the arm of the couch as he opens the door. Tyson’s in one of your favorite game day looks of his, the jet black suit with the crisp white shirt open at the collar with no tie. He looks just the right side of rumpled mixed with a little tired, a little happy, a little frustrated, curls all askew.  He doesn’t say anything as he parks his bags to the side of the door, tosses his keys into the bowl on the side table and shuts the door carefully. He leans back against it, head tapping the wood and he audibly sighs with his eyes closed. You can see the tension start to seep out from his shoulders. You want to go wrap him up in your arms and kiss whatever doubt is simmering still within him, but you also want to give him the time and the space to excise whatever he brought back home. He opens his eyes at the tail end of a deep breath and heads right to you.

“C’mere,” he says softly, reaching for you when he’s just a few steps away.

You go willingly, easily sliding into his arms.

“I know what you’re going to say,” he whispers, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of your head.

“Am I that predictable?” you kid, tilting your head up off his chest to look up at him.

He cracks a bit of a smile, nudging your head down with his chin before he tugs you closer. You stay there for a few moments, just wrapped up in each other.

“Wasn’t it you who told me a time or two hockey is just a game of mistakes and it’s who makes the least that comes out on top?” you tread carefully. “You didn’t go in wanting to use your stick as a deadly weapon, Tys. It was heat of the moment in the play, an accident. It happens. You didn’t do it purposely. They were a desperate team, you guys had them pushed against the wall. Look what happened. You and the boys came out on the other side of it, on the right side of it.”

“I made it too fucking close of a call,” he bites back. “I know better. I put us…”

“Hey, look at me,” you pull back enough to take his face in both your hands. His eyes refuse to meet yours.

“Tyson,” you plead. “Please.”

He looks right at you, his eyes softening slightly.

“You did everything right afterwards. You played hard, you pushed, you had shots, your defensive side of the game was on point. They were fighting for their playoff lives, but this team of yours was better, is better. You guys are poised for it,” you explain, thumbs shifting across his cheeks. “Because of that, you won. You fucking swept them. Handedly. All four games. O’Reilly’s bullshit be damned. You showed them.”

“You really could give Cap a run for his money on these pep talks,” he chuckles. “Thank you, for all that, for being here. This one, this team feels different you know? I don’t want to be the reason to fuck it all up.”

“You have the biggest heart of anyone I know,” you start. “That’s driving you forward and I damn well know it means a lot to that motley crew in the locker room, especially your team dad. Take this in, expel the bullshit and it’s on to the next one. I have all the things ready for you, depending on what you’re in the mood for from those oddly good high protein brownies, Netflix queued up, fresh sheets on the bed.”

He shifts, dusting his lips over the pad of your thumb before leaning his head down into your neck with a massive exhale. You wrap your arms around his waist and just let him breathe, not minding how his curls tickle you.

“I need a shower, preferably not alone,” he murmurs against your skin. “Maybe a brownie, definitely those fresh sheets and our bed. And you. I want to get a little lost in you.”

His eyes clear now as he lifts from your shoulder and leans in to kiss you soundly, sweetly.

“Thank you,” he whispers just a breath away from you before pressing into your lips again. “I know it’s a lot, that I can be a lot, but I appreciate you and all of this. Really.”

“You do the same for me, we’re there for each other. Because I love you,” you respond, tangling your fingers together and tugging him towards your room.

“And I’m damn lucky for that. I love you too,” he squeezes your hand before tossing you over his shoulder to walk down the hall, both of you breaking out in laughter.

#tyson jost #tyson jost fic #tyson jost imagine #tyson jost fanfiction

[thegirlwhobrokeintothetardis]

Tricked Into It (Greg Gerwitz x Reader)

Word Count: 1,957

Pairing: Greg Gerwitz aka Mouse x Reader

Summary: Ever since your last breakup with someone who cheated and abused the love you had for them, you have been wary of dating. And it doesn’t help when your friend Kim Burgess won’t stop pestering you about some cute techie guy at the 21st District.

Warnings: talk of bad relationship (cheating, emotional abuse, PTSD from the relationship), descriptions of what might be an anxiety attack (I described feeling anxious but it ended up bordering on what could have almost been an attack.)

A/N: So I am working on a Kelly Severide Imagine, but I’m a but stuck on it so I came up with the idea that I take the last imagine I wrote, the other Mouse Imagine and make it into a little series of one shots, mainly cause I wanted to explore the relationship of Mouse and this librarian!reader. So this is a sort of prequel to the first Mouse imagine, how they first met which is talked about in the other imagine.

HERE is the first Librarian!Reader fic if you want to check it out!!

If you want to be added to my tags, just ASK!!

“Kim, I swear to god!”

You slammed your book shut with a snap and looked up at the Chicago police officer, aka Kim Burgess aka your best friend, in front of you. She looked almost as annoyed as you felt, rolling her eyes and sitting down on your couch across you in your reading chair. Kim had come over after her shift at the 21st District ended, and only after a couple of minutes of peace, Kim started up on her latest crusade; your love life.

“Y/N...”

“No! I get that you care, believe me, but I don’t need you trying to set me up with someone.” You said with a heavy sigh. 

Kim scooted closer to you and leaned forward, trying to catch your eye which was avoiding hers, “Hey,” She paused and waited for you to look her in the eye, “I just want you to be happy. And I think this guy is a good match for you. Much better than -”

“Don’t say their name.”

“...Fine. But Mouse is so your type!”

You were about to start arguing again when her words actually registered into your head, “His name is Mouse? There is no way that this cop’s name is Mouse.”

“Okay one, he isn’t a cop. He is a tech expert that works with Intelligence, a civilian hired by the unit and the department. And two, Mouse is just what everyone calls him, its a nickname from when he was younger.” Kim explained.

“Tech guy?” 

“Yeah, crazy smart when it comes to hacking and stuff like that. He got the job after hacking into Voight’s cell phone in like a couple of seconds. And he was in the Rangers with Jay, plus he is pretty funny and cute.”

You looked away from Kim as you thought it through. Clearly Kim was just looking out for you, but there was no way this guy, this super-smart-tech-genius-ex-ranger, could ever be interested in someone like you. You were just a simple librarian at Chicago Public Library, living alone aside from your cat companion, Geraldine. You hadn’t done anything extraordinary with your life, and as your thought process started to spiral in an anxious tizzy, you started to shake your head.

“No, no I can’t see this guy. He wouldn’t want to get stuck with some boring librarian.” You said, your body shrinking in on itself as your self confidence crumbled. All the comments your ex significant other made to you while you were still dating came popping up into your mind one after the other after the other. Comments on your weight, your looks, how you were boring and that was why they stepped out and cheated on you any chance they could. Tears were misting in your eyes and you tried blinking them away, not wanting to cry in front of Kim.

“Y/N-”

“I mean it Kim. Drop it.”

Kim looked you over and saw how you had retreated into yourself, clearly looking uncomfortable with the topic. That’s when she sighed and nodded, forcing a small smile on her face, “Okay.”

                                                        ---

A week has passed since the confrontation with Kim about that techie guy, and you were slowly trying to purge the whole instance from your head and get back to your quiet life. Every once in a while, the conversation would slide to the forefront of your mind, along with your anxiety-fueled spiral about your ex, and you would try and shake away the ordeal. It had made you feel small and disgusting thinking about your ex and how your self worth was diminished because of them, and you never wanted to go back to that place again. Even if that meant never being in another relationship again.

On Friday, you had gotten a text from Kim around midday about having a girl’s night and heading out to have a drink at Molly’s, this pub which had become pretty popular with the cops of the Intelligence Unit. You had been once before, and one of the owners, Gabbie Dawson, was really nice to you when Kim introduced her. So you agreed, excited to go out and hang out with Kim. 

Once you got out of work around 6, you got back to your small one bedroom apartment and fed Geraldine before retreating to your room to figure out what to wear. You settled on a pair of slender black pants and a long sleeved dark green blouse matched with a pair of green heels. Once you showered, dried and got your hair the exact way you like it, added a little makeup and got dressed, it was time to head out and meet Kim at Molly’s. You drove to the neighborhood where the pub was, some cars already lining the streets letting you know that Molly’s would probably be busy.

You parked, and hurried to get inside, pulling your winter coat around you a litter tighter as a gust of wind tried to chill you to the bone. The November night air was lung chilling and while you weren’t dressed like those young twenty-somethings with short dresses and no coats, you still did not want to waste another second with the wind chill. Once you got in, you saw that your assumption about the pub being busy was right, many people scattered around the bar, others in groups were seated or standing next to tables against the other wall. You looked around, trying to catch Kim’s face in the crowd but having trouble with how crowded. You pealed off your coat and made your way to the bar where you saw an older man behind the counter, cleaning off a glass. 

“Excuse me?” You said, slipping into the space in front of the bar, and accidentally grazing your arm against the guy sitting down to your right, “Oh sorry.” You said quickly to the guy, not really looking in his direction so you didn’t notice when he started staring at you in awe.

“What can I get ya?” The older man said as he put the glass down and gave you his full attention.

“I know this is probably a long shot, but my friend comes to this bar a lot and I was just wondering if you’ve seen her tonight? Kim Burgess?”

“Ah! I know Burgess. From the 21st District?”

“Yeah! Yes, that’s her.”

The man smiled before turning around and grabbing something from behind the bar and then turned back to you, “I haven’t seen her, but she called about 5 minutes ago saying that her friend would be stopping by tonight. She also said to get her a vodka cranberry on her and to give her this.”

He handed you a napkin and then turned away, most likely to get your drink ready. You looked down at the napkin with a rough note written on it, reading out loud the note, “Hey, something came up super last minute, have a drink on me and enjoy the night. Sorry, --Kim.”

“Sorry about that, kid.” The man said as he returned with your drink, giving you a warm smile that also had a hint of pity in it. 

“No problem. It’s not your fault.”

With one more smile he headed towards the other end of the bar, leaving you with your drink. You let out a sigh and brought the drink to your lips, trying to figure out what you were going to do next when a voice from next to you started speaking.

“You’re friends with Burgess?”

Looking over, it was the guy you had apologized to earlier. Now that you weren’t in a rush to find Kim, you got a good look at him. He had brown hair, you could almost consider it floppy-like if it didn’t also have a clean-cut feel to it. The man’s eyes were bright blue, and they looked at you with a mix of intrigue and surprise. He was wearing a blue button-up which matched his eyes, the first few buttons undone.

“Yeah, do you know her?” You asked. He nodded and looked down to his beer bottle, his fingers anxiously playing with the paper label.

“I-I work with her at the district.” He explained. “Are you one of her flight attendant friends?”

“No, god no. I’m a librarian at the Chicago Public Library.”

“Oh, that’s cool.”

“You don’t have to lie. I know it’s boring..”

“No! I genuinely think it’s cool. I-I mean I’m not a huge book guy myself but-but I did read a lot of Shakespeare in school and that was really cool, especially the-the one about the guy who dressed as a woman to hide from a mob or something and everyone thought he was a witch?” The guy rambled, his face flushing as he tried to save himself. You smirked at the clumsiness of his words and took a drink of your cocktail.

“The Merry Wives of Windsor?” You offered, and the guy snapped at the name.

“Yeah, yeah. The whole play now that I think about it went over my head at 16. But I was too interested in the Blackhawks and code. Like-Like the game that happened the other night, I was invested until that left winger from the Rangers totally checked Hartman and they put-”

“Hartman in the penalty box! Yes!! With only 3 minutes left on the clock and the take out the best right winger on the ice.” You jumped in, a smile growing on your face as the topic of hockey came up. “If he was still playing the Blackhawks would have got at least 2 more points and would have won instead of losing to the worst team in the league.”

The guy sputtered his drink and starts laughing, and immediately think its cause you had embarrassed yourself and he was laughing at you, not what you said. That was until he smiled at you and nodded his head. 

“I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

You felt a small fluttering in you chest when he smiled, something about him not making you nervous or anxious which was a change. With a smile on your own face, you put your hand out to him, “I’m Y/N by the way. Y/N L/N.”

“Greg Gerwitz.” Greg took your hand and shook it, lingering for a couple extra seconds before pulling away. “Or you can call me Mouse.”

You froze as he said that, your eyes widening in shock. He seemed to see your reaction and frowned, “Or not?”

“No, sorry.” You said quickly, trying to recover. “It-Its just that Burgess has been trying to set me up with you for the last few weeks.”

“Wait...oh! You’re that librarian! Burgess has been telling me about you too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, says how you are the best person ever and that I would like you the minute we met.” He chuckled. Greg smirked and turned more towards you, “And she wasn’t wrong.”

You flushed, feeling the heat of your blush against your cheeks as his smirk widened. It was quiet between the two of you as the pub continued with it’s noise like it wasn’t watching the start of something amazing. Greg then spoke up, getting your attention again, “Hey, I know this might seem fast but I really like talking to you.”

“I really like talking to you too.”

“Really?” He asked, his face getting red again as his smirk melted away into a nervous smile, “Well, what would you say about a date? Maybe the Blackhawks game tomorrow?”

It took quicker than you thought, but all your anxiety from the week before seemed like a long lost bad dream and you just wanted to spend some time with Greg Gerwitz.

“I would love to.”

ONE CHICAGO TAGS: @carnationworld​ 

NORMAL TAGS:  @l4life​ @ithoughtiwasflying

#one chicago #chicago pd #district 21 #21st district #intelligence unit #greg gerwitz imagine #greg gerwitz #mouse #greg gerwitz x reader #librarian!reader #greg gerwitz x librarian!reader #first met #imagine series #kim burgess #jay halstead #christopher herrmann #hank voight #chicago police #chicago fire #molly's #fluff #thegirlwhobrokeintothetardis writing #gerwitz #mouse gerwitz #meet cute #cut #mouse x reader

[starsandhughes]

Penalty Box— Cruel Weather (Part Three)

requests based off this ask: how the boys react to sissy being physically hurt

warnings: panic attacks, crying, swearing, mentions of injuries, mentions of dying, mentions to throwing up, coma, mentions of medication, lmk if i missed anything!

word count: ~4.5k

General Series Masterlist

part one — part two — part three — part four

a/n this chapter is mostly trevor centered

— — — — — — —

Trevor woke up in a leather recliner in the back corner of Y/N’s hospital room with an IV in his arm, presumably filled with sedatives to calm him down. The weight of the world fell off his shoulders when he heard the now comforting steady machine beep of his girlfriend’s heartbeat. He looked over and softly smiled when he saw that the breathing tube was out and replaced with a nasal canal.

He slowly got out of the recliner and dragged the IV pole with him to the chair next to Y/N’s bed. He bent down and softly kissed her forehead before sitting down and grabbing her hand.

“I never thought I’d be so happy to see you laying in a hospital bed,” Trevor whispered. “I’d like it better if I saw those pretty eyes of yours, sweet girl.”

Trevor sighed and felt his eyes watering. He missed Y/N. An unbearable amount. There was only a small period of time where they went without seeing each other. Or, talking, since he does go on extended roadies.

It was killing him.

Trevor didn’t get too long alone time before the rest of the worried mob rushed in. Quinn was ahead of everybody, but Jamie was a close second. Quinn joined Trevor on the side of Y/N’s bed, and Jamie positioned himself at the foot of her hospital bed with both hands on the rail. His head drooped down and tears began to fall.

“I thought I lost her,” Jamie spoke through tears.

Trevor got up immediately to comfort his friend. Quinn took his place in the seat next to Sissy, but not before noticing the IV bag following Trevor.

“Z?” he spoke up. Trevor turned to him and Quinn motioned towards his IV.

“Oh… I uh… apparently had such a severe panic attack and was fighting with the nurses that they had to sedate me instead of giving me an anxiety pill,” Trevor explained. “I’m glad they called you when I asked. Actually, that was all I was asking.”

Everyone had filed into the room by now, so Ellen went to find a nurse for Trevor to check him over one last time before removing the IV. Trevor was glad to be rid of it, but he wasn’t glad about the nasty bruise it left behind. It was tender, but it wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to.

“How are you guys?” Trevor asked the group.

“We made it through the night,” Alex said. That answered Trevor’s question perfectly: not well.

“Barely,” Quinn admitted. He spoke so low that Trevor barely caught it.

“I couldn’t hear anything after Quinn said that Y/N died. I guess it was an anxiety or panic attack… I don’t know. I’ve never really had one. All I know is that Jack had to stop me from running out of the house,” Jamie opened up.

“I threw up,” Quinn added to the sharing.

“I cried on the roof,” Cole said.

“I just… felt numb,” Luke said.

No one really wanted to open up, but it needed to be done. They were all in the same boat.

“At least she’s breathing better on her own,” Jack said in an attempt to shed some light on the situation. The monstrously fucked up situation. A nightmare.

The second official day of Y/N in a coma was proving to be worse than the first day. Especially since her heart stopped the night before. Every moment there was a fear that it would happen again, and that she wouldn’t pull through that time. Every beep on the machine was like a sigh of relief. It meant she was alive. It meant there was a chance that she would wake up.

After a while, Cole asked if he could have some time alone with Y/N. He and Alex were the only two that had not gotten a chance to speak to her in hopes that she could hear them. They were the only two that hadn’t gotten a chance to get everything out without everyone being around.

“I don’t know how everyone else did this,” Cole huffed out a fake laugh. “I guess it’s not too different from when we’re talking to you and you’re too distracted to listen to us.”

Cole sat on the edge of her bed and brushed her hair back, despite the fact that it was already tamed and perfectly in place.

“It was weird not watching a movie with you on facetime last night,” Cole continued. “Turc and I didn’t know what to do. Z offered to show us the list of movies you have planned for us to watch, but I said I wanted to keep the surprise. So you have to wake up before next week, okay? I know you wouldn’t want to get too far behind.”

Cole closed his eyes to keep himself from crying. He knew he should get serious. He knew that he needed to get everything out just in case something like last night happened again. He wished he didn’t have that fear. He wished he didn’t feel like he was holding his breath every second waiting for something to happen.

“My life changed when I met you. All of ours did, but I’m not here to talk about them, am I? I’ve known Jack for a while, but I didn’t meet you until we all went to NTDP, and I wish I met you sooner. You’re like… Wonder Woman. You’re compassionate, yet stubborn. And you will go to battle for the people you care about, which is honestly everyone you meet.

“I can’t think of another person less deserving of this than you. Especially because of the time of year it happened. Only Z and Jamie will be with you until we play against the Ducks, and I think that’s what gets me the most. Besides the whole… well, you know. I love being your best friend number two, and no matter what happens, no one can ever take that away from me. From us. I hope you know half the league asks us about you every day. Suzy demands that he gets hourly updates.”

Cole was saying anything and everything to keep from breaking down, but it was no use. He couldn’t get any words out now from how hard he was crying. He climbed off the bed so that he could lay his head down on the mattress and sob. Jack tried to run in, but Cole turned him away. He needed to cry it all out. Y/N’s constant saying that “the break will be harder the longer you keep everything in” was proving to be correct. He hadn’t let his feelings out all the way, yet. And the break was brutal.

The person that Cole did eventually let in was Trevor. Trevor got it. Trevor got him. Trevor sat down quietly next to him and waited to be needed. It didn’t take long for Cole to need a hug, and Trevor was happy to give it to him.

“We’ll make it through this,” Trevor told him. “I promise. No matter what. We’ll all still have each other.”

“But we might not have Sissy,” Cole sniffled.

“Careful, or I’ll tell her you used your once a month Sissy passes,” Trevor tried to joke. It fell flat, unsurprisingly. “I’m choosing not to think about losing her. I know our girl. I know my girl. She’s randomly flown to Van Couver to see Quinn and forgot to tell me. It scared the living shit out of me, but she came back. She always comes back.”

“She always comes back,” Cole repeated, more to trick himself into believing it.

“That’s right, buddy. She always comes back.”

– – –

Right outside Sissy’s hospital room, Alex was freaking out. He was struggling so hard at the idea of talking to Y/N like it might be the last time he’d ever talk to her alone again.

“I can’t! I can-” Alex was cut off by him choking down his own cries. He felt like he needed to scream. Jack and Quinn sat on either side of him and did their best to comfort their friend. “I can’t talk to her like I’m going to lose her. But if we do, and I don’t, then…”

“It’s alright, bud,” Quinn said, putting his arm around him. “She knows. She always knows.”

Quinn was interrupted by his phone ringing, so he stepped away and let Jack continue to help Alex. He was better at playing Sissy anyways.

“Matthew?” Quinn answered, confused. “Did I forget to update you?

“I’m outside the hospital,” Matthew said, not really answering his question. “I couldn’t stand it anymore. I kept hoping that she’d facetime two days ago, even though I knew she wouldn’t. I already talked to my coach. I wasn’t playing well with her on my mind. I need to be here.”

Quinn understood. He more than understood. He understood more than Matthew did.

“It just… it wasn’t a call I was expecting to ever get. And I really didn’t want something worse being told to me over the phone,” Matthew elaborated. “Can you come get me?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in a couple minutes,” Quinn said before he hung up.

Quinn told Jack that he was going to get Matthew so that he could subtly let Trevor and Cole know. He really hoped that him being here won’t take away anyone’s ability to be vulnerable, but Matthew was just as important to her as almost anyone else, despite him not being in the “group,” for lack of a better term.

When Quinn returned with Matthew, Cole and Trevor were out in the hallway.

“We thought you might want a moment alone with her,” Jack told him.

“Just don’t confess your love to her. She might leave me for you,” Trevor joked. He was proud of himself for getting a small smile out of the clearly distressed man.

“I’ll hold back, just for you,” Matthew countered before entering the room.

Matthew’s breath hitched when he saw Y/N. Not so much as a picture was sent to him. Quinn told him that she looked worse with a tube down her throat, so he was glad that she was just left with a nasal canal now. He sat down next to her, but he didn’t hold her hand. It didn’t feel right to him. It felt like it would solidify the idea of her dying.

“Hey, little mouse,” he sighed, tearing up. “It’s uh… your rat. Or I guess sometimes you call me Ratty, or Matty, or Matty Rat, Matty Ratty, anyways– whatever you’re in the mood for calling me, it’s me. Fuck, this is hard.”

He was crying silent tears now. Y/N really was in a coma. He knew it before, but seeing her makes it a hundred times worse. He’d known her for five years. He played along to her silly little school girl crush. He bought her flowers for her sixteenth birthday because she asked him to come to her party! He watched her go through her teenage years, hell– she still is one, and now he’s praying that she’ll make it through the night. He’s praying that she’ll wake up.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here. I was trying to still be a leader for my team, but even the coaches knew I wasn’t playing like my usual self and let me come here. I can’t even imagine the pain everyone else out in the hall for you is in. Especially Quinn and Trevor.

“You don’t deserve this. I’m sure if you can hear, you’ve heard just about everyone say it, but it’s true. I don’t think anyone else would drop everything and fly to Calgary just because I’m playing against one of your friends, and I know you do that for everyone else, too. You’re a light, little mouse. For everyone. It’s getting too dark without you, so you need to wake up, okay? You’d do anything for the people you care about and that’s what we all need. You.”

Matthew finally caved and took a hold of Y/N’s hand. His tears were dropping more fiercely now, and her touch helped a little. He smiled when she squeezed his hand. Quinn told him that she might do that and it’s all subconscious, but Matthew couldn’t help but hope it was because she heard him.

– – –

The parents went to acquire lunch for everyone, and while they were out, the boys all went into the hospital room. Cole, Alex, and Jamie didn’t really know Matthew, so they were happy for the distraction of younger teenage Sissy stories from before they met her. Jamie especially, because he didn’t meet her until a few months ago. And yet, they already loved each other. That’s how special Y/N is.

“Wait, so she actually fell over the couch trying to talk to you?” Cole laughed. “How have I not heard this?”

“Because Mr. Boyfriend here doesn’t like discussing the little mouse crush era,” Matthew laughed.

“That sucks, Z, because I need to know everything,” Alex said.

“You know some of it,” Trevor mumbled. “Even when she moved to Michigan and met all of us, she still fawned over him at first.”

“Wait, you’re the Matty she couldn’t stop talking about?!” Cole shouted. “This makes so much sense!”

“She practically begged him to come to her sixteenth birthday party,” Quinn told the group.

“She tripped when he came through the door,” Jack snicked.

“You went?” Jamie asked. “Weren’t you in the league by then?”

“I was playing in Calgary,” Matthew explained. “It wasn’t too long of a plane ride and the date worked out, so I couldn’t bear to say no to her.”

“He bought her flowers and I got nothing,” Jack added, jokingly sounding bitter.

“I could go buy you something from the vending machine down the hall; would that help? Clearly, you’re still upset over your lack of a sixteenth birthday present,” Matthew teased him.

“It would,” Jack said. Matthew laughed and pulled out his wallet to give Jack his card. “Thanks, Matty!”

Silence lingered for a bit when Jack left. It started with Trevor. He stopped smiling and brought his girlfriend’s hand to his lips and lightly kissed each knuckle. Everyone saw it and just couldn’t find a reason to laugh anymore.

“She squeezed my hand,” Matthew said. “I know it doesn’t mean much, but there’s hope, right? It was after I finished speaking. So who knows? Maybe she’s getting closer.”

Trevor sent him a small smile and nodded his head, which was the best he could offer.

“I hope she can hear us,” Trevor said. “I hope she knows how loved she is.”

“She knows,” Alex said, mirroring Jack’s words to him. “She always knows.”

What Trevor didn’t tell the group is that Y/N squeezed his hand after Alex finished talking. Maybe Matthew was right, maybe she is closer to waking up.

– – –

After everyone left, Trevor was too drained to stay up. Luckily, the nurses were kind enough to keep the recliner in the corner of the room for him, so he laid it back and tried to get settled to get some sleep. He stayed on his phone scrolling aimlessly for a while before eventually passing out.

Sleep wasn’t kind to Trevor. He was plagued by endless nightmares, none of them allowing the sweet release of waking up. Over and over again he saw and heard Y/N dying. One mirrored the actual event of her flatlining, in another she woke up and died in his arms, and another she didn’t even make it out of the car. After a second showing of the actual event he witnessed the night before, he finally shot himself awake. He was panting, and he was sure that a scream escaped his lips. He wildly shook his head to try and find Y/N, and the sound of her heart beating steady brought him some ease.

He walked over to her and sat down to grab her hand, “Just keep that heart beating for me, okay, sweet girl? That’s all you gotta do.”

Trevor smiled to himself when she squeezed his hand again, but he tried to not get his hopes up. It didn’t mean anything. It was mere coincidence.

What did mean something was the soft groans that escaped her lips.

“Y/N?” he asked urgently, standing up. Nothing. “Sissy?”

His hand was squeezed again and he heard muffled sounds coming from her. He swore he heard her say “don’t call me that.”

“If you’re awake, I need you to open those pretty little eyes for me, sweet girl,” Trevor said softly as he stroked her hair. “I know it hurts, but I need to see them.”

She groaned heavily, but began to flutter her eyes open, “you’re bossy.”

Trevor collapsed into his chair and heaved the biggest sigh of relief. He took her hand in both of his and held it up to his lips, pressing a firm and lingering kiss on them and allowed the tears to fall.

“You’re awake! Oh my god, you’re awake!” Trevor said through tears.

— — —

Your mind was muddied, but you knew the sound of your boyfriend crying well enough to know that that is what you were hearing.

“Why wouldn’t I be awake?” you slurred. Your vision was less cloudy now and you could see the situation you were in.

Hospital bed. Leg suspended in a sling. Shoulder wrapped and on a pillow-like thing. Feeling extremely groggy. In pain. Trevor’s crying.

Trevor’s crying.

Trevor’s crying.

You brought your hand up to Trevor’s face and cupped his cheek, wiping a tear away with your thumb, “Why are you crying, my love?“

“You- you… you,” he was starting to get worked up.

“Shhhh,” you cooed. “It’s okay. I’m okay. What happened?”

“I saw you die! Your heart stopped beating and the world ended and I couldn’t do anything and I keep hearing the flat line and–”

“Okay, okay, it’s okay,” you said. “Come here.”

“You’re hurt, Y/N/N. Bad. I don’t need to be in this bed with you,” Trevor said.

“Is anything on my upper body besides my shoulder injured ?”

“No, but–”

“So come here.”

Trevor slowly crawled into the small space between you and the bed rail.

“Lay down on my chest,” you whispered to him.

He carefully laid down on your chest, being mindful of your IV, and wrapped his arms around you.

You took deep breaths as you rubbed his back. Yeah, you were the one in the hospital, but your boyfriend just told you he saw you die and you weren’t about to let him suffer.

“See? It’s beating now,” you said low and you stroked his hair with your good arm.

“It’s beating now,” Trevor sighed in relief.

“It’s beating now,” you reaffirmed.

“I need to tell a doctor that you’re awake,” Trevor said.

“We can tell them tomorrow,” you said back. “I just want to lay with you before the real pain sets in. We can talk about whatever happened tomorrow.”

You didn’t know how long you’ve been in the hospital, but you did know that Trevor was incredibly tense and terrified. You were worried out of your mind about him. It didn’t matter how much pain medication was surely in you, even your clouded mind could tell your boyfriend wasn’t okay. You rubbed his back up and down until his tears ceased and you felt him relax against you.

“I thought our forever was going to get cut short,” he said sleepily.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” you said.

“I love you, forever.”

“I love you, always.”

— — —

You woke up early the next morning to a nurse going near Trevor to probably tell him off.

“Don’t touch him,” you scolded her.

“You’re awake!” the nurse jumped. She wasn’t expecting her coma patient to be awake. “Unfortunately, this does mean we’ll need to run some tests, so he will need to get up.”

“Can you give us an hour?” you pleaded with her. She gave you a playfully scolding look, but agreed. She gave you another dose of pain medication when you said you were in some pain, making sure to emphasize that Trevor was not that source, and left. Trevor slept through it all.

You found yourself humming and slipping your hand up Trevor’s shirt to softly scratch his back. You had an hour before chaos began and you were going to cherish every second of it.

“I love it when you sing,” you heard him mumble into your chest.

“Good morning to you, too, handsome,” you laughed lightly. “Thank you.”

You felt Trevor nod his head and cuddle up closer to you, placing his head back over your heart. You had a feeling he might need to do that a lot.

“My love, can you check what time it is? The nurse gave us an hour,” you said sleepily.

Trevor groaned but he carefully got off of you to check his phone. His sleepy eyes were soon filled with panic, “Oh shit! Shit!”

Alarmed, you tried to sit up, but you felt a jolt of pain and cried out. Trevor rushed over and eased you back down.

“Are you okay?! Do you want me to get a nurse? I should–”

“Z! Why did you say oh shit?” you cut him off.

“I didn’t immediately tell Quinn that you woke up, and when he finds out that I didn’t–”

“Quinn’s here?” you asked.

Trevor sat down on the edge of your bed and grabbed your hand, “Everyone’s here, sweet girl. They all flew in. Half the league’s been asking for updates. You’re famous, kid.”

You didn’t know how to take that. You were in pain, sure. Apparently you died which was already too much to think about. And now virtually everyone you know is asking about you? It wasn’t fun to think about. It wasn’t fun to think about how many people have worried over you. Trevor was a mess, and you couldn’t even begin to think about everyone else.

You’re the go to person. You vow to make every single person you hold dear, every single person you love, feel safe and loved. You’re the person people go to for support. You have people to go to, but who do you go to when everyone else is struggling with you?

Eventually your hour alone with Trevor was over, at apparently five am, and he had to be kicked out for testing. He freaked out a tad— okay a lot— but he settled for waiting outside in the hall with the door open and you periodically telling him that you were still there. That didn’t last long. A nurse accidentally caused your heart monitor to fall off your finger, causing the flat line to sound again, which caused Trevor to scream. You tried to call out to him, but your voice was too weak and his voice was too strong.

“Help him!” you shouted at a nurse.

You hated what happened next. Trevor’s cries and screams died down, and you were told that they put him in a room after being lightly sedated to calm him down. They explained to you that it happened two nights ago, as well.

“If he stayed in that recliner last time, he needs to be brought in here again. Or he’ll wake up and freak out again,” you told the nurse. “Trust me on that.”

She ended up listening to you, since he did spiral himself into a panic attack just because you were out of his sight. You didn’t know he actually had one, you thought it was just screams. You wished you were right.

You had just enough energy left in you to wait for Trevor to be placed in the recliner. He was out of it, he barely classified as a human at this point. You watched as he got settled and the nurses left, and when his eyes closed, so did yours.

You didn’t know how long you were asleep, but Trevor had drug his IV to your bedside and parked himself in the chair next to you.

“Are you okay?” you asked groggily.

“What? I should be asking you that” Trevor said, dodging your question.

“Z,” you said seriously.

Trevor just looked at you. He looked so guilty. He looked so broken.

“Jack told me that the second you open your eyes, I need to be strong for you if none of them are here. None of them are here yet today and instead of being strong, have an IV with sedatives to not have a panic attack,” Trevor said quietly. “Not even pills, Y/N! An IV bag!”

“Okay, okay,” you got out quickly. “Trev, what you saw is scarring. You never should have seen that, and I’m so sorry that you did. We’re gonna be a bit of a mess for a while it seems, but we’ll be a mess together. We can take turns being the strong one.”

“I need to take care of you,” Trevor said. “You’re hurt, Y/N/N. Bad. You’re going to need help doing everyday things. I can’t be a mess when you need me.”

“Yes you can, Z,” you told him, rubbing his hand with your thumb. “I don’t want anyone holding in anything for me, because that’ll make the break so much harder. Just because I’m going to need help physically doesn’t mean we can’t help each other mentally.”

“I hate to break it to you, but I think all of us are going to need help mentally,” Trevor admitted.

You gave him a sad smile and squeezed his hand, “Good thing I’m awake then, huh?”

Trevor smiled back, but you could tell he really didn’t mean it.

“Jack was playing your part, don’t worry. He held us together for a while.”

“It’s a twin thing,” you joked.

“That’s what Jack said,” Trevor laughed lightly, making you actually smile.

You could tell Trevor was still uneasy, so you had him lay down with you again, but this time he got next to you. You couldn’t lean against him, because moving was agonizing, but the touching of shoulders and your unbroken leg between his was enough for you. He caught you up on everything. He didn’t like it, but you needed it. You needed to know what happened to your friends and family while you were out. All of it absolutely broke your heart, but you were ready to heal with everyone. Physically and mentally. Together.

He told you that almost everyone had a moment alone with you. You wished it was like the movies because you wish you could’ve heard them.

“Do you remember what you said?” you asked Trevor.

“You want to know what I said?”

“I want to know what everyone said. It might help us all get through this.”

Trevor checked his phone, “Visiting hours start in an hour. Why don’t we just lay here together until they come and at some point you can hold one on one therapy sessions?”

It was a reasonable request. You were exhausted, and Trevor had already been through so much in the last three hours. Trevor put a movie on his phone, The Hunger Games, and you laid your head on his shoulder and drifted off to sleep again.

———

reblogs appreciated! it helps spread fics <;3

#penalty box series: imagines #penalty box series #trevor zegras #trevor zegras x reader #trevor zegras imagine #trevor zegras angst #quinn hughes #quinn hughes imagine #jack hughes #jack hughes imagine #cole caufield #cole caufield imagine #luke hughes #matthew tkachuk #matthew tkachuk imagine #quinn hughes angst #hockey imagine

[classicalmonuments]

Temple of Allat

Palmyra (Tadmor), Syria

1st century CE

3D MODEL

The sanctuary of Allat included a temple which is clearly younger than the temenos itself. The same is true of the temple of Ba῾alshamin, and the two are very similar to each other, even if that of Allat is preserved only in its lower courses. Both are prostyle of Roman type with a Corinthian porch of four columns in front and two intercolumnia deep, facing East, both are articulated on three other sides with pilasters, both stand on low podiums and had plain pediments in front and back. 

The Lion of Al-lāt is statue that adorned the Temple, of a lion holding a crouching gazelle, was made from limestone ashlars in the early first century CE and measured 3.5 m (11 ft) in height, weighing 15 tonnes. The lion was regarded as the consort of Al-lāt. The gazelle symbolized Al-lāt's tender and loving traits, as bloodshed was not permitted under penalty of Al-lāt's retaliation. The lion's left paw had a partially damaged Palmyrene inscription  which reads: tbrk ʾ[lt] (Al-lāt will bless) mn dy lʾyšd (whoever will not shed) dm ʿl ḥgbʾ (blood in the sanctuary).

The temple of Allat can be dated from the internal evidence of two incomplete inscriptions as having been built in CE 148 or slightly later, barely twenty years or so after the cella of Ba῾alshamin. It is also clear that the same families were involved in the two sanctuaries. The fragmentary text from the doorway of Allat mentions two buildings: “this naos” and “the old hamana”. The latter term is Aramaic and applies to some sort of shrine. Here, for the first time, it can be ascribed with practical certainty to material remains. 

These remains consist of the foundations of a small rectangular building, broader than it is deep (7.35 through 5.50 m), with very thick walls around a narrow room, barely large enough for the door wings to open inwards. This shrine has been piously preserved within the second century temple in such a way that the new walls enclose the old, leaving between them a space averaging only 6 cm wide. Stone of a different kind was used in each case. As the floor of the old building was laid practically on the ancient ground level, and as it continued to be used, the internal level of the new temple was lower than expected: the front columns set on a bench around the porch and the floor of the cella a few steps down from the porch. 

The foundations of the new building also go deeper into the ground, which would have been no easy affair: they would have had to undermine the old shrine partly while keeping it intact at all costs. The cella is thus nothing more than a box containing the ancient tabernacle which remained in use as the adyton, the inner sanctum and seat of the goddess. This is apparently the only known case of such survival in Syria: usually, the adyton is built together with the temple, even if it may take the aspect of an independent building, as the two adytons of Bel, or incorporate some elements taken from the older phase, as in the case of Ba῾alshamin. 

The exterior changed radically and became Classical in inspiration, Hellenistic for Bel, Vitruvian for the other two. In each case, however, these Corinthian temples were meant to impress the viewer and proclaim their belonging to the modern Roman world, but they were just a disguise. All three keep in different ways the memory of smaller, simpler tabernacles dedicated to the same godheads in the same places, but only the temple of Allat actually preserved its predecessor intact. 

As the hamana of Allat remained complete, it would be pointless to roof the new cella above it. Indeed, there are good reasons to believe that the place was left open: not only has an outlet been arranged for rainwater, but more importantly, the pre-existing altar was left in front of the tabernacle but inside the temple, standing on a stone pavement not linked to either building; it could be used only if open to the sky. On the other hand, the porch should have been covered in the normal way. The narrow room inside the primitive shrine could not have any windows, as its walls are over 2 m thick. It was closed with two-winged doors which, when opened, revealed a statue inside a niche. 

We have recovered several fragments of the framing, consisting of jambs covered with vine-scrolls and of a lintel featuring a spread eagle. The slab on which the statue was placed is preserved in place and bears a series of grooves and mortises suggesting a graphic restoration. This is possible thanks to several small replicas of the enthroned goddess, seated between two lions and holding a long sceptre. The statue was probably not of one piece but composite, and could perhaps have been moved from the throne to be carried in processions. 

This is in sharp contrast to rituals that we can envisage for the relief images of other temples. But then, the idol of Allat was much older than the appearance of frontality in the art of Palmyra, and with it the possibility to represent the gods on a flat surface offered for viewing and veneration in other temples. Dated monuments allow us to fix the advent of frontality in the brackets between 15 and 30 CE. For its part, the idol of Allat (called “Lady of the House”), was offered by a certain Mattanai, being an ancestor of someone who mentioned the fact five generations later in 115 CE. This would bring back the original foundation to about 50 BCE at the latest (Gawlikowski 1990: 101–108). 

By the same token, the first shrine of Allat becomes the oldest known in Palmyra and the first of which some remains are still in place. Another inscription found nearby mentions a hamana built in 31/30 BCE for the solar god Shamash. A square foundation 4 m to the side is still to be seen there, exactly on the axis of the Allat temple. It could have once contained a small inner room and the inscription could once have been placed in its wall, though we cannot establish this with absolute certainty. Another similar foundation was found a few years ago very close to the Allat temple. Possibly, the original temenos contained several such chapels, each for a different god. The Vitruvian cella had intruded in its midst about 150 CE without changing the character of the cult and scrupulously keeping the old installations in place. 

The temple of Allat was destroyed twice: it was sacked once in 272 by the Roman troops of the emperor Aurelian and again, definitely, by a Christian mob at the end of the fourth century. In the meantime, the sanctuary remained in use within the limits of a legionary camp for over a century. One may imagine that access to it was restricted as far as the civilian population was concerned. The temple’s interior was radically changed during this time. Indeed, the old tabernacle contained within the cella had been destroyed together with the statue on the first occasion, while the walls of the cella seem to have remained intact. 

At any rate, a restoration effort occurred very soon afterwards. Instead of trying to rebuild the shrine, its foundations were left in place and covered with a kind of platform including some sculptured fragments, which were thus piously preserved. We could recover some votive reliefs of the first to third centuries and some elements of the niche once framing the seated statue of the goddess. The cult image itself had to be replaced. Four short columns were brought in and set up in front of the masonry preserving the broken remains to support roofing in the form of a square canopy or perhaps a shelter from wall to wall over the whole ruin of the primitive shrine. 

Under the canopy a new statue was fixed. Fallen and broken during the second sack, it has survived for the most part and could be reassembled. The statue is a second century copy of a statue of Athena, executed in Pentelic marble. It is clear that the original was Athenian and conceived in the circle of Pheidias. It has replaced an old and venerable, but no doubt primitive statue, and this in a time right after a military disaster and economic collapse. It could hardly be imported from Greece in these conditions, but could rather have embellished some profane public building in the city before receiving divine honours in the restored temple. The late restoration was probably an initiative of a Roman legionary legate under Aurelian, who wanted to reconcile the destitute local goddess, seeing in her no doubt Minerva, one of the standard Roman army cults. If so, the statue does not provide evidence for the cult of Allat, but is rather one of a series of Classical marbles imported to Palmyra for adornment of public buildings.

Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

#art #Architecture #travel #history #temple #tetrastyle #prostyle #merlon #corinthian #ionic #temenos #1 ce #2 ce #3 ce #athena #allat #al lat #nabatean #palmyra #tadmor #tadmur #lion #statue #roman #roman art #roman architecture #minerva #mythology

[weirdcanucks]

Today I’m sharing the 50th episode of The End of Sport podcast: Harm and Hockey with Rick Westhead. Westhead’s documentary "The Problem of Pain" reveals how pervasive pain is for hockey players and how complicit the league is in concealing that harm through the use of medication that ultimately only compounds the damage done. 

This is a super informative podcast episode and I highly recommend a listen!

[00:10:42] Documentary: The Problem of Pain

[00:16:41] Pain and injury in the NHL. 

[00:19:29] Has players voiced concern over the role of fighting?

[00:21:58] There is a Price To Pay promo

[00:25:55] Did players sign up for the role of Enforcers?

[00:31:47] The hockey’s team-first culture and being afraid of speaking out

[00:47:07] Sports media’s responsibility of asking harder questions and demanding transparency

[00:56:20] how to negotiate the fandom in hockey while uncovering the dark sides of the sports?

Excerpt:

Q: You said pain and injury is a feature, not a bug. I'd love to hear you elaborate on how you understand pain and injury in that way in the NHL experience.

Westhead: The NHL makes money off this. This is a league that has always marketed violence. The New York Rangers owner years ago would park ambulances outside of the arena to draw fans in. The NHL has had multiple opportunities to study the health, physical, mental health of retirees. And every time they've had this opportunity, something's happened and they've just either passed it on or it just doesn't happen. 

But that's remarkable to me because it's a league that loves research. In recent years I uncovered a series of internal NHL emails. The NHL was the defendant in a class action lawsuit which ultimately failed. And I went to court to ask the judge to unseal a huge cache of internal emails. One of the things that was unsealed was an email string from 2009, and it showed a PowerPoint presentation from the meeting of NHL GMs. This presentation outlined how there was music in at least five percent of the fights in the NHL games, so they looked at some of the different techniques that the teams had for getting fans more into the game during fighting: boxing bills being run before the punches were thrown, drums or cymbals every time a home player landed a punch. Which songs did the best job of whipping people up: Sunday Bloody Sunday from U2, We Salute You from ACDC, Fight for Your Right from Beastie Boys. And this was not done casually or just for fun. This was market research that the NHL was doing to try to figure out what was the best technique to have their fans more invested in what they were trying to sell them. 

Some of the other emails that I found from the NHL, you have high-level executives like Colin Campbell in the NHL talking about how the league is sick and tired of being over-doctored. Imagine that the head of the Canadian Medical Association, neurologists with decades of experience that want to offer insight into how you can better keep your players safe. And the response from these executives is get lost. We're tired of being over doctored.

You have former players who are general managers in hockey saying, “we shouldn't be bringing the stretchers out on the ice to take off players. It looks too dramatic.” You've got a former player who's a general manager saying, “I wonder if these guys when they're clutching their heads after a hit in the corner, if they're just trying to draw a penalty and maybe get two weeks off during the season.”

It's almost hard to believe. How could a former player, one of the guys who was part of this pack, say things like that. It's just hard to fathom.

#change hockey culture

[kikiskeysgame]

Although the Blackhawks were close to getting a bounce back victory after Tuesday night's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they ultimately lost to the Florida Panthers 4-3 in overtime.

It wasn't a bad game for the Hawks and they worked hard tonight, but there's still some things that need improvement.

In the first period, the Blackhawks scored the first goal of the game as Adam Gaudette scored his first goal with the team (assisted by Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik).

However, the second period, Alexander Wennberg tied up the game with a power play.

Vinnie Hinostroza broke the as he scored his third goal of the season with assists by Brandon Hagel & Kirby Dach, giving the Blackhawks a two-goal lead, but Anthony Duclair tied the game back up.

In the third period, Brandon Montclair broke the tie to give the Panthers  a 3-2 lead, but late in regulation, Alex DeBrincat scored his 24th goal of the season (assisted by Patrick Kane & Wyatt Kalynuk) which sent it to overtime.

Although the Blackhawks were able to pick up a point in regulation, Sam Bennett won the game for the Panthers in overtime, giving them a 4-3 victory.

Like I mentioned before, it wasn't a bad game for the Blackhawks, but they need to improve on some things such as maintaining the lead goal, keeping themselves out of the penalty box and try to capitalize on their power play chances. At least they were able to get one point tonight which is better than getting none at all.

Even though Kevin Lankinen didn't get the win tonight, he made some big saves to help keep the Blackhawks in the game, finishing the night with 35 saves. It was good to see Lankinen get another chance as the starting goaltender after being pulled twice in his last two games.

I hope that tonight's loss doesn't get him discouraged because he did well tonight and I hope the outcome of the next game for him will be better.

Alex DeBrincat was very noticable tonight when it came to trying to score a goal during the first & middle half of the game. I can only imagine how happy he was when he was able to score a goal late in the third period. 

DeBrincat has been fantastic this season and with his 24th goal of the season, he is now tied for 6th among goals in the NHL.

Vinnie Hinostroza has been adjusting very well in the Blackhawks' lineup since his trade to Chicago from Florida and his on-ice chemistry with Brandon Hagel has been great. 

Ever since his trade, Hinostroza has gotten 10 points in 11 games. I hope that he continues to keep up the good work.

I thought that Kirby Dach was quite noticable tonight when it came to faceoffs; he won 10 of his 12 faceoffs for a win percentage of 83.3. He got an assist on Vinnie Hinostroza's goal and was also noticable during overtime. Overall, I would say that Dach had a pretty good game tonight.

After tonight's game, the Blackhawks will face the Florida Panthers one more time this season on Saturday night. I hope that the Hawks will have another chance to bounce back and end their season series against the Panthers on a good night.

Until then, go Blackhawks!

#chicago blackhawks #florida panthers #post game review #adam gaudette #vinnie hinostroza #alex debrincat #kirby dach #kevin lankinen #dylan strome #dominik kubalik #brandon hagel #wyatt kalynuk

[gotham--fc]

Yeah the whole fighting thing in hockey is a weird one but like I like it cause it makes your actions have more consequences and holds players accountable when the league doesn’t (like I think you said you didn’t watch the NHL so I apologise) but after Wilson (Caps) basically tried to kill Panarin and Buchnevich (NYR) and the player safety board only fined him and didn’t give a suspension , it turned into an entire line brawl the next match up (which I think was like a couple days later) between the two teams as a way of saying ‘don’t do that again’ and sort of enforcing the rules in a way because the league didn’t ?

But I agree it’s mad you can fight in hockey (like imagine that happening in football, could imagine a couple rivalries there just becoming a fight rather than a footy match (the entire two teams gets sent to the penalty box for 5 mins ) 😂), but it is entertaining when there is a fight in hockey. The crowd gets properly fired up and the team seems to as well.

Also the only better thing than a fight in hockey is a goalie fight in hockey. 😂

(Hockey boi back again😂)

Yeah I agree it’s like players enforcing rules or justice or something when the refs/league won’t do anything. It’s kinda like how Ross stripling said he was gonna throw at the astros the next time he played them after the cheating scandal came out (old if you watch mlb but for context, the astros won the World Series in 2017 but it was later revealed that they were stealing signs and banging a garbage can to let their batters know what pitch was coming and the league pretty much suspended the manager for a year and he’s back coaching again and I don’t think anything happened to the players and if it did it was a fine, and stripling was on the dodgers in 2017 the team that lost to the astros in the World Series). Like players themselves have their rules and they enforce them and that’s what hockey fighting is

But yeah it’s wild that two players can just be like let’s fight and everyone let’s them. Like if you’re pushing each other the refs come break it up but as soon as the gloves come off the refs are like oop my bad carry on and we all just watch two guys duke it out. As my brother once said, bare knuckle boxing is banned in actual boxing but it’s okay in hockey

But I agree when goalies fight 👀 that’s what I’m here for baby

#asks #anonymous #what’s even funnier about the astros thing #is George Springer was on the astros in 2017 #and he’s now on the blue jays with strip #the locker room must be 😶 #🙃🙃🙃 we love baseball