Chapter Text
When Hughes woke up, he wasn’t quite sure where he was. As the bright lights of the stadium attacked his orbs, everything started to come back to him. Before the world went black, he was on the ice.. playing as usual… When a young player from the opposing team lunged at him viciously. Finally his vision was back, and leering over him was his attacker, 19 year old Macklin Celebrini. Hughes gulped in fear, he was already so frail and nimble, who knows what that young bloke could do to him.
Before he could even react to anything, Macklin had spit straight onto his face, thankfully his visor made it so none of the goop got into his eye…
“Get up, Punk!” Macklin spat more, damn! How much salvia does this guy have?
“W-Wha-!” Hughes tried to respond, but Macklin grabbed him by the jersey and pulled his weak body up from the ice. His mouth hung open, almost in awe, as he panted from pure fear. Macklin holds up with such strength that his skates hover over the ice.
“W-what I do!” Hughes exclaims frantically. He cannot believe this is happening!
“I don’t know, your tragic demeanor pisses me off…” Mack growls, getting all up in Hughes face.
“Mack!” another voice comes from behind Hughes' antagonizer. Oh man… It's Mack’s lap dog, Will Smith. Not the French Prince from Bell air, the hockey one.
“Get off him, man!” Will says, trying to pull Mack off of Hughes. “This isn’t like you!” Will looks like his eyes are about to drip salty tears. Mack shrugs Will off of him aggressively, he’s not backing down… gulp!
“Just frick off, Will… This isn’t about you…” Mack growls, not taking his orbs off of Hughes once.
“Macky… Baby… Please…” Will lowers his voice, saying words not meant for anyone else to hear…. But… he heard… Hughes knew what was going on… but he wasn’t homophobic so its ok.
“JUST FRICK OFF WILLY, OK? LET ME HANDLE THIS.” Mack said really loud, finally looking back to Will, but only briefly. It echoed throughout the silent crowd. Why did no one gaf about Hughes' abuse???
When Mack turned his hard gaze back, Hughes swore he saw the young boy's eyes flash red from rage. Without any hesitation, Mack let go of his jersey and Hughes fell on his bottom, Yeouch! That wouldn’t be the last yeouch, unfortunately for the unfortunate Quinn Hughes…
He started scrambling on the ice, trying to back away from Mack, but he followed him and loomed. Without warning, Mack kicked Hughes in the gut with the not skate part of his foot, he wasn’t a monster afterall… or was he…?
Hughes choked out a noise only an abused animal would be able to make. The wind left his lungs after another kick followed… and another… and another… Hughes saw his career flash before his eyes… he could see it now, the headlines… Quinn Hughes battered and bruised on the ice, everyone is going to laugh at his failures… His mother would disown him and never talk to him again out of embarrassment. A tear drop started to slip from his eyeball down his cheek. It’s so over.
“Get off my ice, Faggot,” Mack projected his voice loud enough for the boys on the ice to hear, all the fans in the crowd watched his beating without a care. Was this entertaining to them??? Maybe Hughes should become a professional punching bag instead!
“Mack!” Will whines from behind him, “That's like, so not cool, dude!!!”
Before Mack could get another kick to his gut, someone starts to skate over with fervor.
“Back. The FUCK. UP!!!!” Faber, Hughes' savior, yells as he speeds to the scene.
Hughes' eyes lit up, and both him and Mack’s heads shot over to see the beast approaching them.
“RAHHHHHH!!!!!” Faber, Hughes’ good pal, screams with rage with his hockeystick held up high… ready to attack… maybe Hughes won’t have to kill himself now!
It all happened so fast, Faber slamming into young Macklin, the following events were shocking and horrifying. The crowd gasped at the collision. Will tried to jump in to break up the violence, but Faber shoved him so hard he flew back and slid on the ice with a grunt.
“No one…” Faber breathes heavily, “and I mean NO ONE…” he enunciates with purpose, “... gets to hurt our Quinny and get away with it!” He chuckles, almost like a little cycle path. Even though Hughes is new to the Wild, Faber is protective like a knight in shining armor. Hughes thinks he might be passing out again!
Faber seriously crosses a line, but no one is able to stop him… Like lightning he snaps his hockey stick in half on his knee like it’s nothing. He threw one half of it away on the ice, and he kept the sharp, stake-like, end in an offensive position… he couldn’t possibly be thinking about… no…
Hughes tried to jump up, but he was bleeding from his mouth all over himself and everything hurt so bad he couldn’t move an inch. When he tried to yell out to Faber to stop, it was only gurgling that could be heard…
Faber didn’t even wait a second before he tackled Macklin on the ice, shanking him in the gut with the broken stick. Holy shit. Holy shit this can’t be happening. Faber is risking everything to defend Quinn… How honorable, but horrible!
Thick red blood starts to ooze all over the ice from Mack's wound, bubbling from his mouth too… nonononoNO! Quinn can’t handle this burden, maybe suicide is still on the table…
Finally the refs run in, after standing still and just watching the whole time for some reason idk, and they grab a hold of Faber and pull him off of Mack, who is coughing on his blood. Will finally gets up and slides over to his maybe-boyfriend and sobs into his chest, folded over.
“No! Damn it, Macky!” he wails and snots all over Mack who is kind of dying. “I tried to stop you… I tried! Why!!!!!” His hysterics don’t cease as Mack is put onto a stretcher by the medical people nearby idk he’s taken away.
Hughes looks around stunned, with a billion eyes in the crowd staring at him bloody and bruised. He must be dreaming… this couldn’t be real… There is no way. But the pain is pulsing in every inch of his body, even his toes, so he knows its all too true…
What the fuck!
Faber is being put in handcuffs while he’s pinned down the ice, not even struggling or anything… he knows what he did… and he’s smiling… What a little freak! But he saved Quinn, he couldn’t be more conflicted on how to feel. He felt like his head was swimming, but that could also be from the blood loss.
When Quinn looks up, Middleton is there extending a hand out to him, smiling wide, despite his lack of front teeth. Maybe he should ask for them for Christmas? Anyway, the warm aura from his teammate makes him smirk back a smile, admiring his glistening mustache. Hughes slaps his hand and latches on, and he’s pulled up from his bottom. He almost stumbles and falls back down on his butt from how wobbly and weak his legs are, but Middleton gracefully holds onto him and makes sure he is okay.
Over the big speakers The big hockey in the sky tells everyone in the audience to leave and evacuate because of the incident. As everyone funnels out of the stadium, one man remains behind the protective glass. It’s no other than Kevin Gorg. His lips are pressed together, pained, as a single tear drop starts to fall from his bald eye. Hughes' smile leaves his face as he locks orbs with Gorg, suddenly feeling the guilt fill him up. When the guilt makes him feel like he’s about to throw up all over Middleton, he breaks eye contact swiftly, as his teammate guides his limp body to exit the rink.
Stay tuned, how will Quinn make it back from this?!
