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1.
Travis couldn’t help but fidget, eyes continuously flicking over to the elevators. The team was waiting for Nolan so they could head out. They had a day off in NYC tomorrow and they planned on hitting a couple bars, maybe a club or two, and everyone was gathered in the lobby.
Everyone but Patty, who never took this long to get ready. Right as he was about to go up to her room to get her, the elevator opened and a Patty-shaped person stepped out, but she was not dressed like the Patty he knew.
And his mouth was definitely hanging open. Because this Patty was not wearing the button up and jeans she would normally be wearing.This Patty was wearing a black mini-dress that seemed to cling to every inch of her that it covered (and it didn’t cover as many inches as TK was used to her covering) and it seemed to shimmer when she walked. She had her hair and make-up actually done… like DONE. TK didn’t even know she could do more than braid her hair and the most makeup he had ever seen her wear was maybe some eyeliner and tinted chapstick. And on her feet were heels that looked like they could kill him. Her peacoat on, but unbuttoned.
“How do I look?” Patty asked, looking so unsure of herself, the look getting more unsure when her teammates continued to look at her in a mix of awe and horror at the revelation that only girl on their team was hot and was actually dressing like it.
“You look great.” Carter was the first one to talk and she seemed to relax a little at it, “Where have you been hiding this get up?”
“It’s new.” Nolan replied, biting her lip, “Seggy spent her day off in Philly taking me shopping and teaching me how to do my hair and make-up. She said I was too cute to still be dressing like an awkward high schooler.”
“You look really good.” Travis heard the words leave his mouth in a rush and felt much more at ease when he got a small smile from her. Because he would do anything to get a smile from Nolan Patrick. From the first day he met her and promptly ran into a wall.
“G,” JVR hissed, trying to knock their captain out of whatever father-realizing-his-daughter-is-all-grown-up trance he had fallen into.
“It’s cold out.” G finally managed to find his voice, “Maybe you should -”
“Ryanne told me not to let you convince me to change.” Patty cut him off, smirking a little as her captain processed the fact that his wife was in on this.
“But it’s so… And you’re… And…”
Kevin patted G on the shoulder pulled him toward the door as Travis slid up to Patty’s side.
“You do look good.” Teeks said, “Trying to pick up?”
Patty wrinkled her nose and Travis laughed, but then remembered the conversation they had had a couple weeks back when Provy and Sanny were giving Patty trouble for never picking up when they went out. It was a different world for her. She had so much more to consider than they did.
“Just...wanted to look nice.” Nolan mumbled, “I don’t…”
“You don’t have to explain.” Carter smiled, “Now, let’s go.”
Travis slipped an arm around Patty’s waist because she was never going to admit that she needed extra support to walk in those shoes. And he tried to hide his surprise that she was actually pretty good at walking in them.
“It’s not like the guys will let anyone near you, anyway,” Travis shrugged.
And that was true. It was rare that Patty got approached when she was out with the team. And when the rare idiot did approach, he didn’t last long - G’s glare usually chasing him off. And Travis. TK tended to monopolize her attention, had from the get-go, and didn’t like sharing it with anyone. Much less some idiot who saw the body but not the girl. And if G wasn’t there, TK could chase them off on his own. He was scrappy.
Patty pulled her coat tighter around her, but didn’t make a move to button it up.
“If it’s done up, I look like I’m not wearing anything.” she mumbled when TK opened his mouth. She definitely looked like she was trying hard not to pull at her dress.
“And that’s bad?” Provy laughed, throwing his head back and laughing hard when she just flipped him off.
Thankfully, they entered the bar shortly after and G put Nolan in the middle of the large corner booth the team had taken over, Travis crawling over various teammates so that he could stay at her side. G rolled his eyes as he slipped back into the booth on the other side of Patty as she shouldered off her coat, protective-father glare already in place.
“Give it a rest.” Nolan rolled her eyes, elbowing him, “The only guy I’m leaving here with tonight is Teeks.”
And if Travis had been taking a drink at that moment, he would have choked on it. As it was, he choked on his own spit and made a highly unattractive and definitely not quiet noise that had Patty looking at him with wide eyes and his other teammates outright laughing. He attempted to recover by looking over the drink list at the table.
“Where’s mine?” Travis asked as a Cosmo was sat down in front of Patty by Riemer. Not that he wanted a Cosmo but it was a the fact that Patty was getting her first drink not just bought for her but delivered. And if he was a little upset that he wasn’t the first to buy her a drink that night then that was nobody’s business but his own.
“Ry insisted Pats have a Cosmo tonight.” G responded amused as Patty gave the pink drink an almost offended look, “And since we all knew she would never order it herself, Riemer took the liberty. By the way, she wants to take you shopping when we get back.”
“But I just went shopping with Seggy. I have enough new clothes. Why do I need to go shopping again?” Patty asked, completely serious.
And Travis was hit with the reminders of another conversation with her where she had almost broken down because she wasn’t good at being a girl, about how she had never had girlfriends. And he felt so bad for her in that moment, but seeing her utter confusion over a shopping trip made him feel worse. And a little offended because G was looking at him like her confusion was all TK’s fault. He doesn’t know why G seems to blame him whenever Patty is confused by all things socializing and girl and really anything but hockey. He doesn’t know how it could possibly be his fault.
“Knowing Seggs she probably didn’t think normal clothes, jeans, sweaters,” G shrugs finally, “Ry wants to do that with you. She’s basically adopted you as her daughter, so please, let her have this.”
“Fine.” Nolan relents, not putting up any fight because she loves the Girouxs and knows that they would adopt her in a heartbeat, draining the last of her Cosmo.
Travis ducks under the table, yelling “seat check!” over his shoulder as he heads to the bar - returning with two beer bottles in each hand, placing them on the table and crawling back under it to get to his spot. He grins over at Patty as he slides two bottles of her favorite over to her, which she accepts with what TK likes to think of as her smile that’s just for him.
Several drinks later (and dances and glares at idiots supid enough to think it was okay for them to approach Patty), they’re heading back to the hotel, TK helping support Patty a little bit more than he had been on the way there.
“Okay, stop!” Patty huffed, letting go of Travis to take the shoes off, “Never listen to Seggy’s advice when it comes to shoes!”
“Noted.” Travis grinned at her as he dangled the shoes on two of her fingers and contemplating throwing them away but deciding against it.
She tucked herself back up against TK as they continued back to the hotel, walking improved greatly.
“How’d you learn to walk in those?” TK found himself asking.
“I have two sisters.” Nolan shrugged, “Every chance they could, they tried to teach me how to be a girl. When my Juniors team did a photoshoot and charity fashion show, the organizers wanted me to wear more than just what I would have worn to games. I was the girl, they could have fun with what I wore. They wanted me in heels. My sisters came over for a weekend and held ‘Heels Bootcamp’. Give me any pair of heels and I can walk in them. I’ll hate it, but I can walk in them without breaking my neck.”
“You really do look amazing tonight,” Travis responded, “like a supermodel with those legs.”
“Thanks,” Nolan’s voice was quieter than it had been all night and when he glanced at her, she had this look that he wanted gone immediately.
“But I like what you normally wear.” TK pressed on, “This can be special occasions, but I think you look great when you’re wearing that ratty hoodie and jeans. You could wear rags and I would think you look great.”
That seemed like a good thing to say, because she huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes but was definitely hiding a smile as well.
“Come on,” TK smiled, looping his arm back around her and starting back walking, “Let’s get back so you can get out of that dress.”
“You making a pass at me?”
“Trust me, Patty, you’ll know when I’m making a pass at you.”
She laughed and he knew he had a stupidly proud smile on his face.
“Nolan Patrick!” G chided as he walked up behind them, “It’s freezing and the sidewalk is disgusting. Put your shoes back on.”
“But they hurt.” she whined back at him.
And that is how Travis ended up giving Nolan a piggyback ride back to the hotel, Claude looking exasperated at both of them.
2.
Patty hated shopping. With a capital “H”. And Travis wished there was a way to save her but he’s pretty sure that’s why Claude had invited him over at the same time Ryanne was picking Patty up for the day, so he can’t show up and save her. Because he would totally be Patty’s white knight. He would white knight the hell out her if she needed him to. Right now, he was sitting on G’s couch with his Captain looking at him like he may have said that last thought out loud.
“You realize this is getting ridiculous, right?” Claude finally asked.
“What is?” Travis responded because apparently he was deciding to play dumb.
“Patty is never going to make the first move, not in the position she's in, so the ball is firmly in your court. You can either man up and ask her out or you can back down and give her the option of meeting someone new.”
“You’re as bad as I am about people approaching her.”
“You’re missing the point. Either you’re interested in her or you’re not. If you are, make your move. Because she’s not going to wait for you forever.”
“.....If I were to make a move, what would you suggest?”
“You know her best. What do you think she would like?”
“I don’t know...Flowers?”
“Does Patty seem like the flower type?”
“G, I don’t know what I’m doing here. Patty’s not like any other girl I’ve ever liked.”
“Teeks, you know Patty. You know Patty better than anyone. What would she want?”
“That’s just the thing! I know everything about Patty. Ask me anything! Her favorite movie, her favorite song, her favorite meal, I could tell you anything. Except what she wants for a boyfriend. We don’t...she never talks about it.”
“Because you’ve never asked her or because she avoids the topic.”
“She’s so insecure, G. When it comes to being a girl, she’s totally lost. She refuses to talk about anything under the topic of relationships.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” Claude gives him a smile, “She likes you, too.”
“She said that?” TK asked doubtfully.
“Not in so many words. Ry implied that Patty may have said something to her.”
TK hummed in response, eyes narrowing as he stared down the wall of pictures in G’s family room like it held all the answers.
Maybe it did, but he wouldn’t be able to act on it tonight night because Patty was gonna be surly and pouty after having to spend the day shopping and she wasn’t going to tolerate anything more than Netflix and Thai.
When Travis gets home, only being released when Ryanne walked through the front door, Nolan is already on his couch, hair in a messy bun and wearing leggings and what is definitely one of Travis’s hoodies.
“I ordered Thai,” she greeted him, “it should be here soon.”
Travis grinned and threw himself down onto the couch next to her, “What are we watching?”
“Planet Earth.”
“Sweet.”
“Don’t get too comfortable. You have to go get the food when it gets here.”
“Why me?”
“Because I ordered it.”
“I think that means you should get it.”
“I spent all day shopping. With Ryanne Giroux. Who wants a daughter more than anything. I’m not getting up for the rest of the night.”
That started them into bickering but Travis did end up getting the food when it arrived.
3.
The first thing that should have clued Nolan in that something was going on was when Ryanne called her on a day off, around 3pm, and told her that she was coming over in a couple hours. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for Ryanne to decide that she was going to hang out with Patty, the older woman claimed that Nolan needed a “female influence” in Philly and it was easier to go with it than fight it. The woman was married to Claude, she had a high tolerance for stupid shit and a highly tuned bullshit meter. She had agreed but told her that she had plans with TK at 7.
“I thought this might take longer than I thought,” Ryanne greeted, breezing through Patty’s door at 4:30 thanks in part to the copy of her key G had.
“What might?” she asked as Ryanne carrolled her toward the bathroom and thrust a bag into her hands.
“Take a shower, use the shampoo and conditioner in there, and wash your face.”
Patty sighed but did as instructed, not at all surprised when Ryanne entered the bathroom shortly after she had stepped out of the shower and barely had her robe on. The older woman then nudged Nolan so she was sitting on the edge of the bathtub and began putting ten thousand different hair products in Patty’s hair before blowing it dry and putting several other items in it, talking Patty through everything like she was going to do this routine on her own.
Nolan was then ushered back into her bedroom and into every combination of clothes Ryanne could think of before being told to put the first outfit back on. Patty made a face, the v-neck of the white sweater a little lower than she ever liked and the sweater itself seemed to cling to her, same of the skinny jeans Ryanne apparently wanted her to wear.
“So, why are you doing this?” Nolan finally asked as Ryanna sat her on her bed and dumped out the bag of makeup she had made Patty buy on their shopping trip that Patty hadn’t even looked at since.
“Because, just once, I want Philly to see you.” Ryanne responded.
“Ry.”
“Fine, Claude told me that you and TK were going out tonight and I wanted you to look good.”
“It’s not like it’s a date.”
“I think he wants it to be but is too stupid to just tell you that.”
“But why? I’m just…”
“Nolan, that boy has been head over heels for you from the moment he saw you. Claude told me that he thought TK’s brain stopped working when you debuted your first Night Look. And he already thinks you look good normally.”
“Then why do I need to do this?”
“Because we’re bringing out the young woman you try to hide under your hoodies and sweatpants. And he loves that you. But I want him to see something else. Because he clearly didn’t tell you this is supposed to be a date.”
“I just… I don’t know why he would want to go on a date with me.”
“Because you, Nolan Patrick, are an amazing young woman. You’re fierce, you can keep up with those boys and often pass them up, you keep TK in check, and - the icing on top of your awesomeness - you’re beautiful. Now, get that confused look off your face because it’s making me sad and let me finish your make-up so I can do your hair.”
It took another hour and a half, but Ryanne finally finished, grinning proudly when she showed Nolan her reflection. She kept her make-up so light that Patty honestly didn’t know what took her so long and Patty’s long hair was pleated into a fishtail braid.
Ryanne looked at Patty’s reflection in the mirror and placed her hands on Nolan’s shoulders, “He won’t know what hit him.”
She left shortly after, instructing Nolan to wear the brown ankle boots, and a minute later TK was letting himself into Nolan’s place.
“Hey. Why was G’s wife -”
And Travis cut himself off when Nolan entered the room, felt the breath leave his lungs as he took her in.
“So...Ryanne may have blown your plan to take me on a date and not tell me it was a date.” Nolan bit her bottom lip and her natural blush was hidden under the various crap Ryanne had applied.
“I didn’t want to risk you saying no.” Travis shuffled his feet.
“I wouldn’t have.” Nolan shrugs like her saying that didn’t mean the world to TK, “Did G help you get dressed?”
Nolan gestured to the actually nice flannel and jeans.
“Nah, just told me not to wear anything weird.” TK replied, “He DID offer to get us reservations at one of the fancier places in Philly but I’m pretty sure he just did that because he’s adopted you without tell you. But I had something else in mind.”
That something else was apparently WaWa? Travis told her to wait in the car while he ran inside, returning with two sodas and a couple soft pretzels. Nolan smiled softly, Teeks knew her so well.
They as TK drove, bickering back and forth about his music choices, Patty asking if TK actually knew where he was going after he missed the turn he was supposed to take on two separate occasions, before he pulled into a parking lot in front of a small outdoor rink.
“Teek?” Nolan looked over at him, but he was already getting out of the car so she followed.
“Stay here.” TK grinned over at her before heading to the booth set up for skate rentals and payment.
It really was cute. Small, didn’t have glass up, definitely one that really just the surrounding neighborhoods used, with Christmas lights strung around the tops of the walls.
“Here you go!” TK grinned, handing her a pair of well-worn white figure skates.
“How come you get the hockey skates?” she scowled even as she sat down and started taking her shoes off.
“They didn’t have them in your size.” Teeks grinned in response. Sitting down next to her, he started putting his own skates on.
“And we couldn’t bring our own skates, why?”
“Because, tonight, we are two young adults on their first date and I, in my desperate need to impress you, managed to sweet-talk the owner to stay open for an extra hour so we can have the whole rink to ourselves.”
Patty just shook her head, wishing she had her hair down so that she could hide the fond smile on her face, the one that Travis also seemed to get out of her. She did take his hand and let him pull her up and lead them on to the ice, TK lacing their fingers together with that ridiculous grin - like he had accomplished something everyone thought was impossible, the same one he used when he made Nolan smile or laugh.
And, yeah, they spent most of their lives on ice. But there was something to be said about being on the ice together, just having fun. No pressure, just enjoying each other’s company.
“I did figure skating for a year.” Nolan offered up voluntarily.
“You didn’t.” TK responded, because she would definitely say that just to mess with him.
“I did!” She replied, “I did that and hockey at the same time. My mom wanted me to give it a try because it would instill a ‘sense of poise and grace that a young lady should possess’. My dad and uncle thought she was crazy for trying to make me do it.”
“Were you any good?”
“Well, if I was going to be forced into it, I was going to be the best. I knocked all the ice princesses out of the water. I swear my mom is more proud of those medals than anything I’ve brought home for hockey. But hockey was my priority, so after the year I promised my mom, I quit.”
“Can you still throw tricks?”
“Probably.”
Nolan had shrugged but TK let go of her hand and propelled her forward a little, grinning as he demanded, “Show me!”
She gave him a look like he was the most ridiculous person in the world but took a few strides to gain speed and launched herself into the air, bringing her arms in and twisting at least twice before landing on one foot effortlessly. And TK cheered like it was the most impressive thing he had ever seen before demanding she teach him. And that didn’t go well, but he didn’t break anything - so that was good!
As snow started falling lightly around them, Travis spun Nolan into him, grinning widely at her as she laughed, pressing a kiss to her cheek.
“Coward.” Patty grinned, eyes sparkling as TK scowled for a second.
“I’ll show you coward.” Travis growled, pressing his lips to hers and deepening it as she responded immediately.
The owner of the rink telling them he needed to close up was the only reason they separated. They quickly returned their skates and made their way back to their building.
TK walks her to her door because he’s a gentleman.
“This was the best first date I’ve ever been on.” Nolan bites her lip to try to stop the smile from spreading across her face.
“So does that mean there’s a chance for a second one?” TK smirks.
Nolan smirked in response, leaning forward and kissing his cheek, “Probably.”
She then turned around and entered her apartment, hiding her smile while TK grinned stupidly.
4.
Games against Pittsburgh where always chippy and Patty was Hornqvist’s favorite target. He would usually stick to just pulling her hair and taunting her, but tonight he was doing it loud enough for her team to hear. She could handle him calling her a whore, but calling her a whore loud enough for the guys to hear was a whole other story. She knew it was getting under their skin, especially G and TK’s. But as he ran his mouth as G was taking a face-off against Crosby, Patty could only listen and watch as he talked about how she probably let the whole team fuck her, about how easy she probably was for everyone who wanted her, about taking her back to his hotel room that night to have his way with her, about how much she would like it. And G had had enough, Ghost was already gripping TK’s jersey to keep him from jumping the board, and as soon as the puck was dropped, G launched at Hornqvist.
The pair was eventually broken up by the refs and G continued yelling at Hornqvist, the refs for allowing him to talk about Patty like that, and at Crosby for just standing there and letting it happen.
The game ended and Patty was out of her gear and in the shower before anyone could say anything to her, and they ignored the sounds of her punching the wall and the sounds that they knew was her trying to cover up any noise that would give away that she was crying. The second pissed TK off even more. Hornqvist didn’t deserve anything from Patty, much less her tears.
When G was asked about the incident, he responded, “If that’s how Crosby wants to run his team, if that’s how he wants to let his team act, then he’s not the Captain everyone thinks he is.”
Patty didn’t say a thing until they were back at TK’s. She hadn’t even complained about TK’s playlist, had just stared out the window as Travis drove them. Now, she was out of her Game Day pantsuit (and really TK thought she was the only person in the universe who could make a pantsuit look good) and was in a pair of leggings and one of TK’s shirts, curled up under the blankets on Travis’ bed.
“What can I do?” Travis asked, leaning against the doorframe, “Tell me and I’ll do it.”
“Just hold me?” Patty’s voice was so soft, Travis thought he was making it up.
But Travis was quick to comply, after all, Patty would kill him if he tracked down Hornqvist. He shucked his suit off and climbed into the bed behind her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, she remained facing away from him. He heard her sniffle and clenched his jaw. Hornqvist was gonna pay for this.
When Nolan couldn’t prevent the tears from falling, she rolled over and pressed her face into TK’s neck and made herself as small as possible, and ended up crying herself to sleep and TK held her tightly and whispered words he hoped were comforting.
“I love you, Pats,” TK whispered into her hair, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, “You’re my world.”
That’s a line that she would normally glare at him for, he would probably get chirped for it when she was feeling better, but right now he needed her to know that she wasn’t what Hornqvist had said she was and that he knew that. That the team knew that.
“I have you,” he told her as she continued to cry, “I will always have you.”
Eventually, she cried herself to sleep and TK rolled just enough to grab his phone, tightening his arms around her when he rolled back into place. He lowered the brightness on his phone quickly before opening his text messages to see that pretty much all their teammates had texted him. He sent a “Patty’ll be okay. She’s sleeping” to the GC rather than respond to everyone individually, but responded to G and Carter with more details, knowing G would pass it on and that Carter deserved the full truth since he and Patty were pretty close.
He then threw his phone somewhere down the bed and closed his eyes, pressing his nose into Patty’s hair, planning on attempting to make breakfast for them in the morning - him attempting to be a functioning adult tended to amuse Nolan and he was nothing if not obsessed with amusing Nolan, even before they got together.
5.
Carter grinned widely as Patty huffed and went back into the dressing room. She had been told she needed a dress for a team event - like, a dress dress, not one of the night out dresses that Seguin had made her buy. So she had bashfully asked Ryanne to help her and then forced Carter to come with - glaring him into submission, not that he had been planning on saying no since he didn’t have anything else to do and he was her bro.
She was regretting this in the moment, but she knew it was only a matter of time before Ryanne turned her attention to Carter and the God-awful suit she knew he was planning to wear to the Event.
“How about this one?” Carter asked, holding up a long, nude dress with matching lace and rhinestones.
Ryanne gave him an unimpressed look.
“What?” Carter’s face scrunched in confusion as he looked at the dress for any sign of what garnered that reaction.
“We’re going for color.” Ryanne rolled her eyes like he should have known that.
And, really, he probably should have since she has ranted about Patty expanding her color pallet every time Nolan pulled out a black dress.
“This one.” Ryanne thrust a lacey, emerald green floor-length dress into her hands and pushing her into the changing room, turning back to Carter to continue giving him the unimpressed look, “Put that away. When I’m done with Nolan, you’re next.”
Carter quickly hung the dress back up and shoved his hands in his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to make anymore suggestions. He did feel his jaw drop a little bit when Patty emerged from the changing room. The dress clung to her and the color was amazing on her. TK was going to lose his mind when he saw her in it.
“Why are you making that face?” Patty asked, fidgeting with the end of her braid, “Does it look that bad?”
“No!” Carter was quick to assure her, shaking his head and ignoring Ryanne laughing at him, “You look amazing. Teeks is gonna lose it when he sees you in this!”
“Yes, definitely this one.” Ryanne nodded in approval, spinning Patty around as she blushed darkly at Carter’s praise, “Now, go change and we’ll take care of Carter.”
“Why?” Carter asked, “I have a suit I’m going to wear.”
“Oh, honey…” Ryanne shook her head and ruffled his as and Patty down-right cackled as she went back into the changing room - Ryanne had been waiting to get her hands on the opportunity to make Carter replace his go-to suits.
Carter finished the day with a new found respect for Patty - who he had laughed at on multiple occasions when she had to go on shopping trips with Ryanne - and Ryanne - who now scared him. He had left with several new suits, all left at the shop to be tailored along with Patty’s dress.
“Has Teeks had to do this yet?” Carter whispered to Patty when Ryanne wasn’t listening.
“No, but she has plans.” Nolan replied.
“You gonna warn him?”
“What do you think?”
Carter laughed in response. If she wasn’t giving him a heads up, then he wouldn’t. Solidarity and all that. And payback for all the pranks TK had pulled on him. Karma was a bitch after all.
6.
Nolan usually made a conscious decision not to look at her mentions or read the comments on her Insta, she definitely avoided her DMs. Nothing good came from it. Sometimes, there were some positive comments. But most of them were gross or hurtful. So she didn’t know what persuaded her to look at them.
She had posted a couple pictures from the Calendar photoshoot. She and TK had been given the month of February and they did a whole couple spread. She had been given some of the behind the scenes photos, mostly candids, that she had posted because she liked them and she and Teeks were fucking cute. Her absolute favorite was, naturally the first in the series of ten photos she had posted, was Teeks holding from behind, both of them laughing unabashedly. Another one was of Nolan rolling her eyes at whatever TK was saying, one was of Patty watching TK trip over nothing with a look of fond exasperation, one was TK looking at her in awe as the photographer worked with her on a solo shot, one of Patty hiding her smile behind her hand as TK stumble through his own solo shot, one of TK kissing her cheek and getting a full laugh from her (his favorite laugh, the one where her face scrunched up and her eyes burned brighter), one taken mid-bicker, a couple others that were just so them that she couldn’t help but post them.
But then she fell into the comment/mentions wormhole, comments about her looks, about her skill, about whether Hornqvist was right about her, about how she hadn’t scored in a couple games, about how she wasn’t good enough to be second overall, multiple comments that if TK saw them would send him into a rage, multiple comments that she should report because they definitely crossed the line - from people she definitely didn’t ever want to run into alone.
She didn’t notice G plopping down into the seat next to her in the video room until he was plucking her phone out of her hands.
He ran his eyes over the comments briefly, jaw clenching as his eyes scanned her phone, and Nolan couldn’t do anything but fiddle with her hair, unbraiding it and rebraiding it a couple times because Claude said anything.
“You get this shit a lot?” his gaze turned to her.
She just bit her lip and averted her gaze to the ground.
“Pats,” G said in his Captain voice that she always responded to, “do you get this shit a lot?”
“Yeah.” she finally responded, eyes still focused on the ground.
“You talk to Travis about this?”
“It’s not important enough to talk to him.”
“There are threats, actual threats against you and your person,” G fired back, tapping on other posts and briefly going through those comments to see more of the same, “These are disgusting.”
“Comes with the life of being a female in the NHL.” Nolan shrugged, “Just ask any of us. Why do you think the youngest Staal isn’t in the League anymore? It’s certainly not because she couldn’t make the jump and it wasn’t because she decided retire to join the WAGs and start popping Skinner’s babies.”
“It shouldn’t be.” G growled, “You shouldn’t have to deal with this shit.”
“What do you expect me to do, G? Report every since negative comment? I don’t have enough time in my day to do that. I mean, it sucks, but I just have to live with it. I can’t control what people say from behind the safety of their phone screen. They don’t know me, so they feel like they can say anything they want to say. That it doesn’t matter because I’m a professional athlete who plays the impassive bitch to the cameras. I’m not human to them.”
“Nol, you don’t have to deal with it. Say the word, and I will ask a PR intern to go through your comments and block people. In fact, I may do that whether you want it to happen or not. You don’t deserve this.”
The team was starting to trickle in and Nolan noticed TK sliding into the room and heading toward them.
“G, I don’t wanna talk about this.” Nolan replied.
“I’m setting up a meeting with you and PR. I can’t control what people type to you, but I can control what you can see. We’re having this meeting to figure out what we can do to help. And maybe getting you one of those on call therapists.”
“What’re you two talking about?” TK’s asked, flopping down in the chair on the other side of Nolan, picking on the Serious Conversation vibe immediately.
“Nothing.” Nolan replied.
“Patty’s comment section.” G replied at the same time, “There’s some concerning things there. I’m setting up a meeting to deal with it. And don’t let her go anywhere alone until we figure something out.”
“G, it’s not the first time I’ve gotten those threatening comments.” Nolan glared.
“Yeah, well, you should have told someone about them then.” G glared. He sighed and softened instantly, pulling Patty in for a hug, “I’m just worried about you. You’re so young. I don’t want you to have to be looking over your shoulder constantly. Just...talk to me when it gets like this. Or, at the very least, talk to Teeks.”
Nolan huffed out a laugh at Travis’ offended huff, “Fine.”
“I’ll let you know when the meeting is.”
Nolan rolled her eyes, but didn’t argue.
7.
Travis didn’t always watch Nolan sleep, mostly because it was a little creepy. But there were times when he couldn’t believe she was his. That she chose him and continued to choose him every day. He tracked his eyes over her face, taking in every detail as he got lost in his thoughts.
“Stop staring at me like a creep and go to bed.” Nolan grumped, not even opening her eyes.
Travis laughed and made himself comfortable again, smiling when she rolled over and put her head on his chest, breath evening out again.
“I love you, Nolan Patrick.” Travis breathed out, eyes slipping shut and he drifted off to sleep.