Chapter Text
DO NOT RESPOND
lmaoooooooooooooo
nice fucking homerun
you know we’re supposed to be playing hockey right?
[link]
Luca doesn’t click on the link because he doesn’t open the text message. He’s being good. He’s doing good! He swears! He went on a nice date with a cute boy he met at the figure drawing class Ilya encouraged him to enroll in.
His sister also told him not to be a fucking idiot and take the class, but he can admit in the privacy of his own mind at the very least that he would probably eat a bug if Ilya told him it was a good idea.
Louis was one of the nude models who sat for the class. He spent the first class Luca attended staring directly at him while Luca did an incredibly detailed rendering of the chair he was sitting on. His teacher laughed at him when she saw his piece, like, for a really long time. It took a couple of sessions for Luca to be able to look Louis in the eye and then a couple more for Louis to ask him for dinner.
It’s a cute story! It’s such a cute story. And the sex was…fine. Fun. Satisfying. Great! They already made plans to meet up again and Luca knows better now. You know, it was maybe Luca’s fault for having…unrealistic expectations. He knows what to expect so he can’t be disappointed. Let down. What’s the point of thighs like that if he can’t use them to make Luca cum????
Anyway, the text. He doesn’t read the text because he’s better now. He doesn’t need to respond. In fact, he should delete the contact. Block the number.
He doesn’t need to click the link because he knows where it leads. They had won their last game, but it wasn’t a pretty one and it wasn’t one Luca felt particularly good about. They had played against Buffalo of all teams so that was pretty embarrassing. It was overtime and Luca was the kind of tired that he could feel in his bones, in his fingernails, and he just kept thinking The next person who makes a goal is gonna be a fucking hero and I’m gonna be a fucking hero and also I would kill a man for a grilled cheese.
It was a sloppy pass and there were still four minutes left on the clock - not a lot of time, but it was still something - but Luca decided to go for broke and swung his stick as hard as he could. The puck sailed over the goalie, the goal, the glass, and resulted in a penalty that led Luca to cover his face with his hands in shame.
The guys didn’t give him a hard time about it, probably because they could see how hard Luca was being on himself. Ilya had come over to him once he was done with all the media stuff and patted him on the head, like he was Anya or Chiron, which would have been embarrassing if it didn’t work so well to make him feel better.
“There, there,” Ilya said, just like that dream Luca had once. Maybe twice. Maybe it never happened. “These things happen. I’ve done my fair share of stupid shit. It’ll be forgotten by the next game and you know what you did, so you won’t do it again, yes?”
And Luca nodded his head, “Yes, no, of course,” and went home to make a BLT. He didn’t deserve cheese.
But today was a good day and everyone did forget about Luca’s penalty because a defenseman on the Puffins got into it with the wretched abomination that is Philly’s mascot. He set up another date with Louis and he doesn’t respond to the text. What text? Luca doesn’t have a phone.
His phone buzzes and he doesn’t pick it up and he’s not even a little disappointed by what he sees because it’s his sister who texts him and he loves his sister and he loves hearing from her.
CLARA
i dont know how hockey divisions work
will you ever play the team that had the horrible abomination for the mascot
the orange thing
do you know what im talking about
the creature
i will go to a game if you play them
i think i could take him
LUCA
in a fight or?
also how do you know the creature is a he?
CLARA
yes
i think i could take THEM
that is my bad
i didn’t even consider the creature could be a woman
i need to reflect on my preconceived notions of horrible monstrosities and gender
i will do better
are you done wallowing in misery
it was not that bad
it’s not like your the first person ever to mess up like that
LUCA
yes i think im done now
im over it
everything is fine
CLARA
have you eaten any cheese lately
LUCA
yes
so much
CLARA
i don’t understand why you torture yourself like this
like in this specific manner
it’s strange
when i fucked up a jump i would drive into the woods and scream until i threw up
healthy? no, but at least it made sense
LUCA
it was very dangerous that you did that
im surprised you never got murdered
CLARA
the sounds of screaming and then vomiting scared away the murderers
also you need to call mami
she thinks you are avoiding her
LUCA
i am
CLARA
i know but she shouldn’t
ive been stalling for you
i edited a timezone map to make it look like ottawa is 7 hours ahead
or behind idk
but it’s not going to last forever
papi is saying she has been changing her sleep schedule so it will line up with yours
LUCA
she is just going to try to set me up with more boys
she downloaded grinder and has been sending me profiles of “nice young men” in my area
CLARA
no she got banned from grinder bc people were reporting the account
they think she was catfishing people with your pictures
which she kind of was
LUCA
god is real
CLARA
i think papi made an account to report her
i hope that is why he made the account anyway
LUCA
papi is real
CLARA
papi is real
shit
shit
sorry
incoming
Before Luca can ask what that was about, his phone lit up with an incoming call from his mother.
He should just throw his phone into the ocean.
People have learned to be very careful when describing Maria Haas in front of her husband and children because she is an insane person, but only they are allowed to say it. Everyone who meets her adores her, but then after she leaves, they have to sit down and say, “Wow, that was a lot, wasn’t it?”
She had met her husband, Felix, when they were teenagers and she had gotten pregnant with Clara and Luca a few months afterwards. With full support from both of their parents, Maria had dropped out of school to take care of the both of them while Felix finished school and then university and then law school. They had gotten married at some point in the middle of all of that, Maria assured her children when they asked if their parents were living in sin, because their grandfather would have killed Felix if they didn’t.
As far as teen pregnancies go, Maria’s had been incredibly successful. She’s enrolled into culinary school now that both of her precious children had fled the country, her words, and her life now revolves around pastries, Major League Hockey, and her children’s love lives.
Maria was a true romantic at heart. She had met the love of her life at fifteen and didn’t think twice about starting their lives together immediately. It maybe would have been good for their parents’ hearts if it was a little less immediate, but it all worked out in the end.
So because of her own success, she’s gotten it into her head that her own children need to pick up the pace in their pursuit for lifelong happiness. She’s leaving Clara alone, for now, because she still needs to finish university and she has just retired from figure skating.
Clara had a moderately successful, her words, competitive figure skating career that culminated at a bronze medal at the world junior championships. Then, she announced her retirement and decided to pursue a degree in cell biology and neuroscience in New Jersey of all places.
“The most appealing thing about New Jersey is how close it is to New York,” Clara said once, but she likes it there for some reason and as long as her children are happy, Maria is happy.
For reasons beyond Luca’s understanding, Maria is convinced that he is not happy, which is why she has been doing everything in her power to help Luca meet his “soulmate”, whether he wants to or not.
Which is why he has been avoiding her for about a month now.
Luca stares at his ringing phone and knows his mother will never hang up and takes her call.
“Luca,” she greets in their language, as if he didn’t leave her ringing for a full minute. “How are you? It’s been so long. I have been keeping up with your games. I hope you are not fretting about that penalty. You deserve all the cheese your big heart desires!”
“I know, Mami.” He wishes he wasn’t so predictable sometimes.
For about twenty minutes, their conversation is not about Maria's timeline for Luca’s ultimate happiness. He talks about the team and his training and this new protein he is trying that has a mysterious flavor. He has tried to describe it in every language he knows, which is many, but the closest description he’s been able to come up with is “It tastes.” That’s it.
“Have you been making friends, Luca?” Yep, there it is. “I worry about you in Canada all by yourself. It would have been nice if Clara had wanted to go to university in Ottawa.”
Luca agrees, but he tries not to think about that too much. “Yes, Mami. I have plenty of friends.”
“Friends who are not on your team.” This had been an ongoing argument in their household. Maria and Felix both wanted their children to have lives and interests outside of hockey or skating. It’s why they had enrolled Luca in art classes and Clara in guitar.
“I have friends outside of my team,” Luca insisted. “I’m taking arts classes and I’ve made some friends there. The barista at the local coffee shop remembers my name and order. I’m just busy.”
“You know I worry about you. You know, I really wouldn’t worry so much if you would call more often. I know the timezones are tricky, but we can figure something out. It’s good that you are able to call your sister, but she really shouldn’t be up so late.”
“Haha, right.”
“Tell me about your friends and the barista.”
Okay, so it’s really just one friend, who is also the barista, Ricky. Luca only knows their name because it’s written on their name tag. Luca’s not even really sure about the pronouns because Ricky’s androgynous in a way that makes a lot of well-meaning people very awkward.
(Luca personally witnesses this general interaction at least once a month:
“That’ll be $7.11.”
“Thanks, man, er, or, uh, woman? Or neither? Um, what- Can I ask-? I love gay people. Or…lesbians? Not to assume that- not that there’s anything wrong with that! I’m straight, but I’m an ally,” holds up fist, “I’ve got a gay cousin. She’s cool. She and her wife just got a divorce. My grandma’s real weird about it. But I’m not! Ummm. Thanks for the coffee! Happy Pride Month!”
It had been September.)
“And are any of them cute?”
“Mami.”
“Luca, I just want you to be happy. I’m okay if it’s nothing serious yet,” she lied. “But you’re young! You should be having fun!”
“I’m having plenty of fun. It is literally my job to play games.”
“You know that’s not what I mean. I know you think I’m being pushy, but I hate the thought of you being lonely. Maybe you could get a cat.” Great, his mom has skipped all the way to Luca becoming a crazy cat man.
It would be nice to have a cat, but he doesn’t have anyone who could take care of one while he was away.
His phone buzzes with another text and like a fool, he checks.
DO NOT RESPOND
6-3
do you know what a hat trick is?
they’re awesome
honestly top 3 feelings in the world
just above scoring any goals at all
you should try it some time
scoring a goal i mean
“Actually,” Luca does not know what possesses him to say this, but the next words out of his mouth damn him for eternity, maybe. “I am seeing someone.”
His mom shrieks so loudly that he gets a message from his dad asking Is Clara pregnant? What’s got her so happy?
“I didn’t want to say anything because it’s new.” There is an idiot possessing Luca’s body. A fool of some sort. “But I’m not lonely, I promise you.”
“Tell me everything about him!”
“Mami, I know you were lying when you said you didn’t care if it wasn’t serious. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. I doubt I’m going to be meeting my soulmate at twenty. I’m just…having fun.”
“Well, when will you be seeing him again?”
“Not for a couple of weeks maybe. We’re going to be on the road for a bit so…”
Mami sighs. “I guess that’s just how it’s going to be. Where are you going to be going?”
Luca lists off all the places they’re travelling to. Luca’s tried to explain this, but he doesn’t think his mom gets that he doesn’t really get to sightsee despite the fact he travels so much. He always tries to get her the cheesiest tourist stuff he can find in the airport, but he wishes he could get her something nicer from these places. Her birthday is coming up and he wants to get her something good this time. He at least wants his gift to be better than whatever Clara gets her.
Mami hangs up eventually because Papi gets up to convince her to come back to bed. He tells them both good night and sighs. The sound of it echoes throughout his empty apartment.
His phone buzzes.
DO NOT RESPOND
maybe you should ask mommy and daddy to show you where the net is?
GET LUCKY
Fuck off.
THEO
well since you asked so nicely
[pic]
Not to toot his own horn, haha, but it was a really nice picture of his dick. He angled the lamp to get good lighting and everything.
His roommate was out, thank god. He was a born and raised Ohio boy so he gets permission to stay with his family when they play the Drummers. Theo doesn’t get it really. He’s used every excuse under the sun to get out of going back home and he’s still there every other weekend.
Whatever. The important thing is that he’s alone, but it doesn’t mean he has to be lonely.
GET LUCKY
Was I asking nicely?
This is what I get for being nice?
Perhaps I should try being mean.
Hell. Fucking. Yes.
This shit he’s doing with Luca Haas is probably a really bad idea, maybe one of the worst ideas he’s ever had, but if every single one of his bad ideas had felt this good, Theo would probably be dead by now. So it’s probably a good thing this is the only bad idea that makes him feel like this.
He’d been half hard since scoring his third goal that night. They had been up by three at that point so Theo was just kind of fucking around. He’s coming for that Rocket Richard.
In more ways than one. Hehe.
THEO
yes please
GET LUCKY
Are you touching yourself?
THEO
yes
GET LUCKY
Of course you are.
Don’t you have a roommate?
THEO
he’s out
all night
i have the room to myself
GET LUCKY
You would be doing this even if he was there.
Stroking yourself under your covers while he slept in the other bed.
Could even get yourself off like that.
THEO
idk
GET LUCKY
No, you’re right. Probably not.
Did you bring lube with you on your road trip?
Or are you using the hotel lotion?
Is it wet enough for you? Getting the job done?
THEO
no
GET LUCKY
I’m wet.
Do you want to see?
THEO
yes
pls
facetime?
GET LUCKY
no, i don’t think so.
[pic]
“Fuck,” Theo whispers. Then he looks up to make sure no one heard him, no one can see, though he knows he’s alone. God, if anyone could see Luca Haas like this now, he thinks he might have to kill them. His baby face has them all fooled. He’s a demon, or something. A demon with a tiny waist and thick thighs and a biteable ass.
But he doesn’t see that in the picture he sent.
No, Luca sends him a picture of Theo’s best friend/mortal enemy, slick with lube, Luca’s long fingers wrapped around it.
It’s a flesh-colored dildo, thicker than Theo but more or less the same length. Luca likes to use this one when he wants to be mean, which means he always uses this one. Theo should be embarrassed to be so jealous of an inanimate object, but here he is, with his dick in his hand and ready to burst and he hasn’t even seen Luca yet.
GET LUCKY
I wish this dildo was bigger so it could go further down my throat.
THEO
fck
ft
pls
GET LUCKY
What was that?
THEO
Can we facetime?
Please.
Can I see you?
GET LUCKY
[pic]
It’s a picture of Luca’s face, a seemingly totally innocent picture of Luca’s face. If someone saw this picture, they’d say Aw, he seems like a nice young man.
But Luca’s the devil, actually, and they’ve been doing this long enough that Theo can recognize the look in his eyes, the flush in his cheeks. His mouth is open like he took the picture mid-sigh and Theo can see the pink of his tongue threatening to dart out between his teeth.
This is what Luca looks like when he is full. Devious. Victorious.
THEO
want to touch
GET LUCKY
You couldn’t even if you were here.
Feels good. Do you want to see?
THEO
pls
GET LUCKY
How much?
Theo sends a pic. Framed between his thighs, his dick is an angry red and rock hard in his hand. He tries to get his arm veins in the picture, he knows Luca likes them. He has to take a couple of pictures because his hand is shaking, but eventually Theo thinks he takes a picture that Luca would like.
GET LUCKY
Hmmm.
He takes a video. He should get a tripod or something because it takes some maneuvering and more hotel lotion, but he takes a clip of himself thrusting up into his hand like look, if you were here,this is what it would feel like. If you let me touch you, if you let me move, this would be inside you. Please.
Theo is rewarded with a video of his own. He doesn’t get to see Luca’s face in this one, but he can composite this together with the photo from earlier in his mind to get a full picture of what all of Luca looks like right now and he comes with that picture in his mind. Luca rolling his hips, riding Theo’s cock like it was made for his pleasure and his pleasure alone.
It takes a moment for Theo to come back to himself, but he does eventually and he sees Luca sent another text.
GET LUCKY
Never text me again.
Goodnight.
THEO
goodnight ;)
Theo doesn’t know why Luca even bothers. He knows he’ll text again. And Luca knows he’ll respond.
---
THEO
address for tonight?
CLARA BEAR
dont you have better things to do than go to college parties
THEO
no
i’m not old enough to go out with the other guys on the team yet
CLARA BEAR
I’m not going out tonight. It’s tuesday and ive got exams
THEO
booooooooooo
you’re no fun
you should drop out like me
CLARA BEAR
unfortunately my ‘fuck up my body forever for my career’ portion of my life is over
some people have to work for a living
not play games
THEO
i’m coming by anyway
CLARA BEAR
bring food
There was a time in Theo’s life where he thought Clara Haas was the one.
It was a very brief period of time. It lasted one night, but really it was maybe an hour or two. It was a classic boy-meets-girl story. He spotted her across some dingy frat basement and couldn’t look away for some reason.
He walked through a crowd of sweaty college freshmen and stopped in front of where she was leaning against a wall with a friend.
“Have I seen you somewhere before?”
“Is that the line you are going with?” She had an accent, but he couldn’t pin down from where. He’d heard it somewhere before, though. That he knew for sure.
“Depends. Is it working?”
“The line? Not so much.” Then she he looked at him up and down and made a real big show of it. She smiled because she liked what she saw. “The everything else works much better.”
They had left the party almost immediately afterward and went back to her dorm. They had a couple rounds of some inspired sex and then he left around 3AM. He had been nearly bowled over by her roommate, who had started yelling about being locked out and missing keys and didn’t they hear her knocking? He lingered for a couple minutes, unsure whether he should leave her like this, but Clara had waved him off and let her roommate yell at her until she got over it, naked and unrepentant.
He ran into her the next day in Expository Writing and he tried to get another invite back to her place, but seeing him in the light of day jogged her memory and she went, “Oh, shit, you’re Theo Torres. You were the number three draft pick. What the hell are you doing here?”
He tries not to let the number 3 dig bother him. It probably wasn’t a dig at all. Being a Top 3 Draft Pick sounds impressive to literally everyone except Number 1 and 2, but still. It stung.
What Theo was doing was playing one year of college hockey before starting his career with the New Jersey Angels. He had wanted to start right away, but the thought had barely finished forming in his mind before his Mama gave him a glare that said You are going to college or so help me God I will knock all your teeth out myself.
So here he is.
The Angels are kind of a so-so team and it is only his childhood loyalty to them that stops him from admitting they’re pretty shit. The social media team got a kick out of how many pictures existed of Baby Theo in the Angel’s white and gold.
“You a hockey fan?”
“Not really. I keep up with some of it.” Clara said in that already familiar blunt way of hers. She’s got the worst resting bitch face Theo’s ever seen in his life. It’s kind of incredible.
“Enough to remember the number three draft pick.”
“I have a bit of an advantage.” Then she stared at him for a minute like she was waiting for him to catch up. Eventually, she huffs. “I was there. At the draft.”
She was? Is that why she looked so familiar? Maybe Theo had seen her at the big party afterward. But why would she-?
Wait.
“Are you related to Luca Haas?” He realized it was a stupid question as soon as he said it.
“That is a stupid question.”
But really they looked exactly alike. Same pale, clear skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. God, she’d make a killing as an Instagram influencer.
Clara didn’t date hockey players, which is probably for the best. Theo’s got a little sister and he imagines what he would do if, in thirty years when she was allowed to date, he found out another player slept with Isabel. He’d probably do a crime to the guy or something.
But Clara was cool and he didn’t have a lot of friends outside of hockey so they became totally platonic, non-sexual friends and when he ran into Mr. Number Two Luca Haas at some ad shoot a couple months later, he walked up to him and said, “Hey, man, nice to meet you. Full disclosure, I slept with your sister, but-”
And then Luca Haas punched him in the face which, yeah, of course he did.
There’s a part of Theo - a part he’s kind of ashamed of, but not really - that kind of regrets becoming such good friends with Clara because sleeping with your opponent’s sister is kind of the biggest fuck you there is and he’d completely wasted it. He can’t say half the chirps he thinks of because Clara is his friend now and he feels kind of dirty saying them.
But, yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the end when it came to Theo and Luca. The media got wind of the fight between Theo and Luca and tried to make it into a thing, but their teams were in separate divisions so they’d maybe play once or twice a year and the whole thing kind of fizzled out. The MLH also probably didn’t want another Hollander-Rozanov situation on their hands and they figured an instance of off-ice violence would eliminate any potential clandestine secret romance.
Ha. Hahahahaha.
Well, about that.
(It’s not a romance. Just because they have unreal sexual chemistry that completely liquifies Theo’s brain until he is a body whose sole purpose is to give Luca Haas orgasms doesn’t mean it's a romance.)
---
“Sorry, Mama, I can’t make it,” Theo says in Spanish. He’s circled this block like 50 times looking for a parking spot and his mom called him around lap 30. He should have just taken the train. “My friend got last minute concert tickets and I really want to go.”
“What concert?”
His first instinct is to say Bad Bunny, but if he says that, she’ll want pictures and video. He tries to think. White band his mom doesn’t care about. “The Arctic Monkeys.”
“The what?” There’s a risk that she’ll look them up, but he’s willing to bet that she’s already forgotten the same and is going to look up ‘the cold apes’ or ‘antarctica chimps” or something and that’ll lead to to the Japanese monkeys that hang out in hot springs when it snows and there goes the rest of her night. “Ay, mijo, what is the point of you staying in New Jersey if you are never going to come home?”
In Theo’s defense, his mom and stepdad’s place is kind of a drive from Newark, but it’s still less than an hour away. As much as playing for the Angels was a dream come true for Theo, sometimes he wishes he got drafted by Anaheim or LA or something. Just so he’d have a good reason not to go home.
“I’m sorry, Mama. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Hmmm,” and she definitely doesn’t believe him. “Well, you’ll be home for Robert’s mom’s 80th, yes?”
“Yes, Mama.” He’s been trying to figure out a way to get out of that since Robert’s mom’s 79th birthday. Ms. Lydia never liked him and she’s made that abundantly clear over the years. She only tolerates Theo’s mom because she gave her grandchildren, but being her grandchildren’s brother doesn’t grant him even a percentage of that tolerance.
Theo doesn’t really care that the old bitch doesn’t like him, but he has the sneaking suspicion that, if Robert wanted, he could at least convince his mom to ease up a little and he hasn’t so… well.
It doesn’t matter. He’s always known where he stood. Whatever.
“I gotta go,” Theo says. “Love you, Mama. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight my love. Text me when you get home for the night!”
Theo sets an alarm for 12:54 AM to remind him to text his mom and walks up to Clara’s building.
Clara’s moved into an off-campus apartment after her freshman year. She has roommates, but she has a room all to herself, which is worth the additional $200 she pays in rent.
Gina is the one who opens the door, which was not ideal. He hasn’t slept with her, because of the Bro Code, but not for lack of her trying.
“Heyyy, Theo,” she says, and, look, she’s cute. She’s really cute, but she’s apparently been pretty catty to Clara about Theo already so actually sleeping with her will only make things worse so he tries to leave enough space between them for Jesus at all times. Once again, actually being friends with Clara has been fucking up a lot of things for him. “Clara’s busy, but I can keep you company.”
“Ah, no, that’s okay.” He squeezes past her, greets Clara’s other roommates, who are pretty normal about him, and then ducks into Clara’s room.
She nods at him in acknowledgement, but she’s on the phone and she’s speaking one of the Germans that she speaks, which means she’s talking to her mom or dad.
Or Luca.
So Luca knows that he and Clara hooked up and that they’re friends, obviously, but she doesn’t know about him and Luca. Luca was very clear about never, ever telling her about the situation and Luca really did not need to twist his arm to get him to agree. As far as she knows, as far as anyone knows, Luca Haas and Theo Torres are rival-ish hockey players who are vaguely aware of each other’s existence during playoffs and during the MLH awards.
So when Clara hangs up the phone and says to him, “Did you know that Luca is seeing someone?” Theo nearly drops the food.
He doesn’t, though, because his reflexes are too good and also this was expensive sushi.
“No, how could you know?” Clara says this mostly to herself, grabbing a California roll with her bare hands while pulling something up on her phone. “That was my mom. She is beside herself because apparently Luca said he had a boyfriend he was madly in love with.”
Theo is suddenly overcome with the urge to commit an act of great violence against someone.
“My mom tends to get ahead of herself with things like this so it’s probably just he went on a date with someone, but still he never said anything to me.”
Theo has the urge to commit a smaller act of violence.
“Ach, he could just be saying this to get her off his back.”
Maybe he’ll kick a rock or something.
“Oh, yeah, you said your mom’s kind of…insane?”
The glare Clara shoots him is so familiar he starts to get hard a little bit and he really, really does not want to unpack that one. “Or, intense? Stop looking at me like that.”
“She just wants us to be happy and find the love of our lives, like, right now,” she sighs, going popping another piece of sushi in her mouth. She talks with her mouth full, which is super gross. “Which is sweet! But it’s a lot.”
“So Haas isn’t seeing anyone?”
“I don’t know. He could be, but he hasn’t said anything and he’s not picking up his stupid phone.”
Theo runs through his mental calendar and says, “The Centaurs are playing Detroit today.”
“Oh, shit, are they?” Clara really is awful about keeping up with hockey stuff. She’ll watch a game if she remembers or if she gets tickets to go in person and she’ll look up scores every so often, but she usually just gets updates from him or Luca. It’s kind of refreshing. His family and Robert are usually at every home game and if they’re not there, he knows they’re watching at home. “Let me pull it up. So you can watch your favorite player.”
And, now, the joke she thinks she is telling is that she’s calling Luca his favorite player when he hates that guy and his favorite player is Shane Hollander.
The joke that’s actually being played on Theo is something…different.
She pulls up the game on her laptop and they watch it while stuffing their faces with sushi. Theo maybe bought too much.
The Centaurs are playing much better tonight than they had played against Buffalo. It really is insane how the Centaurs went from the absolute worst in the league to arguably the best and unarguably the most exciting to watch. Ilya Rozanov and Shane Hollander are on the same team. Like, that can’t be legal, surely. This isn’t fair.
Back during the draft, Theo consoled himself that at least Mr. Number One and Mr. Number Two were going to two absolute dog shit teams (leave the Angels alone, they’re doing their best). Then, Ilya fucking Rozanov announced he was going to the Centaurs and, yeah, Luca was still on a dogshit team, but at least he’d be near Ilya Rozanov. He’d get to watch, learn from, one of the greatest hockey players of all time.
And then Shane Hollander joined the Centaurs after a bunch of bullshit and now he gets to be on the same team as the greatest hockey player of all time? There is no justice in this world. Sometimes, Theo is so jealous he gets an actual, literal stomachache.
The score is all tied up 1-1 when Luca gets on the ice and then, barely 30 seconds later, the score isn’t tied anymore.
“Woo!” Clara jumps to her feet when Luca scores, nearly flinging another sushi roll in the air in her excitement.
The games continues and they get to see some beautiful fucking hockey, including another goal from Luca off an assist from Shane Hollander.
There’s a minute left in the game and Luca is still on the ice and Theo is suddenly hit with the realization that he’s going to fucking do it, the little shit.
And as much as he doesn’t want it to happen, it’s beautiful when he does. Luca Haas scores a fucking goal with ten seconds left after being tripped while in the middle of falling.
He recovers just in time to get fucking tackled by every single Ottawa Centaur. In the middle of all of that, Luca seems to find the camera and stares directly at it, at him.
Theo can see the unreal blue of his eyes even though the broadcast Clara pulled up is like four pixels and the fucking smirk he gives him, the camera, is devious. Victorious.
He’s gonna see that face in his dreams. Nightmares.
Whatever. With Luca, they’re the same thing.