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1
Will learns to skate on the meadow behind their house, flooded by his dad and his uncles in the winter. The ice is uneven and cracked and at some places there’s plants breaking through. The skates he’s wearing were his brother’s before him and an older cousin’s before that and the stick he has is wooden and stiff.
He plays with his brother, and the neighbours’ kids and the cousins, whenever the weather and their schedules allow it – until one year, he gets a new blades for his birthday and joins the local-ish kids’ team – his parents alternate with one of his uncles and one of the neighbours to get them all to practice regularly.
The first time he gets to go to practice, he is basically vibrating out of his seat the whole way.
And then he finally, finally steps onto the rink the first time, the ice freshly made, his skates freshly sharpened and
– it’s like flying.
He ends up taking a lap, two, three around the ice, just going, going, going, before he starts crying, inconsolable, because it’s just so… perfect.
In the end, his brother bullies him back into shape, and if the other kids look at him a little funny, well.
He knows how to throw his weight around to make them stop.
2
It’s quiet in Faber when they come to kiss the ice, and none of them speaks. It’s mostly just them, the seniors, and none of them even wear skates.
Will kind of wishes he was, just so he could take one last lap around the rink.
Instead, they all shuffle towards the center circle and awkwardly go down on their knees to kiss the ice.
There’s a tear running down Will’s cheek, but the others don’t look much better and they all hug and clap each other on the back and promise to stay in touch before shuffling back towards the bench.
Jamie is waiting for Will there, leaning against the wall towards the locker room. He doesn’t say anything, just offers Will his hand. Will takes it, wipes away the tears with his other hand, and smiles at Jamie.
3
After Samwell, he plays a year in Chicago. Then, a year in Dallas.
He’s been half a year with Seattle, when the coach announces the starting line-up and fuck , that’s his name being called, he’s an NHL starting player .
He doesn’t quite believe it, not when his teammates jostle and chirp him, not when he’s making his way on the ice, exchanging his usual fistbumps with the usual people.
He starts believing when he skates onto the ice with the other skaters, the lights dim, and he lines up with the other starting players, taking off his helmet.
And then the first notes of The Star Spangled Banner start and he needs a second, closes his eyes.
Hopes none of the cameras are turned on him when he opens his eyes again and a stray tear falls out of his lashes.
4
He gets to lift the Stanley Cup after his third season with the Schooners. Not only that, but he gets it second and Jonny says “You deserve it, man.”, when he gives the Cup to Will and yeah, Will thinks, yeah.
He takes his victory lap around the rink, the arena mostly a blur because of the tears in his eyes and after, he gives the Cup to Cosy, the second A and there’s a lot going on, but there’s Jamie, and Will can kiss him.
So he does.
He’s crying, and Jamie’s crying too, but they’re laughing as well.
5
It’s not even a particularly bad hit, or intentionally dangerous.
It’s just – bad luck.
Bad luck, that they fall the way they do, all tangled up in each other.
Bad luck, that it’s Will’s leg that gives first.
When they carry him off the ice, his vision is blurry, and he isn’t sure if it’s tears or if he hit his head as well.
The pain hasn’t caught up with him yet, but he knows as well as everyone else does that he’s not coming back from this one.
+1
The day that the Schooners retire his number, everyone is there – Nursey, Chowder, Ransom and Holster and some of the others from SMH, some of the guys he played with on the Schooners, his mother, his brother with his family, and Jamie, all of them gathered around Will.
And then there’s Jack , giving the speech and Will cannot believe that they would bring Jack here, for this, but there he is, making Will sound like a saint and also possibly halfway to being Wayne Gretzky.
Will glares a little, but Jamie squeezes his hand and sniffles, and his mother is dabbing her eyes and even his brother’s eyes look suspiciously wet. Ransom and Holster are openly sharing a handkerchief. They’re ridiculous, but Will loves them a lot.
Jonny and Cosy are the ones who actually pull his jersey up into the rafters, and then there’s Chowder, hugging him from the side and what he guesses are Nursey’s arms wrapping around him from behind, and they’re all here because of him .
Later, after the game, Jamie takes him down to the ice one more. They don’t step on the ice, because Dex doesn’t trust his leg on the ice, and they can see his jersey just fine from the bench.
“You miss it?” Jamie asks, and Dex doesn’t need to check in to know he means playing, being on the ice. Dex brings their joined hands up, kisses the ring he put on Jamie’s finger the year after he won the Cup.
“A little,” he says truthfully, “but there’s so much more to do instead.”
When they turn around and leave, he isn’t crying.