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Hits were being thrown left and right. Guys on both teams were slamming into the boards and flying across the ice. Leon knew it was only a matter of time before one of the Flames needed his assistance. Everything inside of him wished that the Flames would calm down somewhat so as not to invoke the wrath of the Jets.
Leon was talking to his assistant trainer about a minor injury that Milan Lucic had sustained when the glass beside him crunched. Leon immediately focused his attention toward it and noticed Matthew Tkachuk laying on the ice, his left knee clutched between his hands. Leon quickly grabbed his medical bag and rushed over to Matthew.
Behind his back, Leon heard skates scraping across the ice and guys hollering obscenities at one another. Leon recognized some of the voices as belonging to Jets players Patrik Laine, Nikolaj Ehlers, and Connor Hellebuyck. Leon did his best to tune them out as he focused his attention on Tkachuk.
“Tell me where it hurts,” Leon said as he slid his hands into a pair of medical gloves.
Tkachuk clenched his teeth and let out a shaky breath. “Along the front; right on the bone.”
Leon held up his hands and looked at Tkachuk sympathetically. “Matthew, I’m going to touch it. I need to see how it reacts to pressure.”
Matthew nodded as he steeled himself.
Just as Leon went to touch Matthew’s knee, he felt something hit him square in the back. Leon jolted forward, holding his hands in front of him to brace his impact with the ice. Leon cursed in German as he felt a surge of pain shoot up his right arm. When Leon sat back up, he shook his arm and then massaged his wrist gently with his other hand. Matthew looked at Leon, rubbed Leon’s elbow, and then looked behind Leon to see Kyle Connor standing there, a look of sheer terror on his face.
Matthew gingerly stood, grabbing the boards to assist himself. “Come here, fucker. You’re going to pay for that.”
Kyle skated backward, hands up in surrender. Matthew skated limply toward him, hands up in a fighting gesture. Kyle skated into the back of one of his teammates which gave Matthew the perfect opportunity to grab Kyle by the jersey and drag him in for a fight.
Leon watched as Matthew struggled to accommodate his injured knee and fight Kyle at the same time. He was fumbling his punches because he was losing his balance. Part of Leon felt horrible that Matthew was risking further injury for a stupid fight. The other part of Leon felt honoured that Matthew was defending him like this.
As soon as the linesmen pulled Matthew and Kyle apart, Matthew fell to the ice and clutched his knee again. Leon scrambled to Matthew’s side and dragged his medical bag alongside him. Leon glared at Matthew as he put on a fresh pair of gloves.
“You didn’t have to do that, you know?” Leon held his hands up again and waited for Matthew to nod. When he did, Leon started putting pressure on Matthew’s knee. “You could’ve made everything worse.”
“So?” Matthew shrugged. “Kyle Connor hurt you. Nobody hurts the team trainer during a game. Even less so when I’m dating him.”
Leon felt his face heat up as he continued to place pressure on Matthew’s knee. Matthew smiled and ruffled Leon’s hair before patting Leon’s cheek with his glove. Leon took one of his hands and rubbed Matthew’s wrist. Matthew placed his other hand over Leon’s hand and squeezed as best he could while wearing his hockey glove. Leon looked at Matthew and saw a pure look of love in Matthew’s eyes. Leon squeezed Matthew’s wrist before he leaned in.
“I love you,” Leon mumbled so only Matthew could hear him. “Also, I think you have a bone bruise. You need an x-ray to be sure.”
Matthew burst out laughing and squished Leon’s face with his glove. Leon burst out laughing as well, squeezing Matthew’s shoulder.
“I love you, too, you dork.”