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Jordie swears it happens in slow motion. He’s across the ice from Tyler and barely manages to turn around in time to see Drew Doughty slam him into the boards. Tyler is blindsided by the hit, facing away from Doughty and looking for the puck.
Tyler’s body crumples after he hits the boards and Jordie is already halfway to him. He skates past Tyler and slams Doughty into the boards, throwing his gloves off in one motion and throwing punches left and right. Pure rage fills his body and he swears the whole arena has gone silent: the only sound he hears is the crunch of his hand against Doughty’s face.
Jordie feels someone pulling on him, but he fights against them, still hammering into Doughty’s face as hard as he can. He’s only connecting on about half of his hits, but he doesn’t care. He feels the arms tighten around him and he gets hauled away from the fight, still trying to hit Doughty as he gets pulled away.
Jordie turns to see Jamie holding him, a worried look on his face.
“Jesus Christ, Jordie, are you trying to kill him?” Jamie hisses.
“Maybe.”
Jamie rolls his eyes as the linesman comes up to grab Jordie.
“You’re done here,” he says.
Jordie had expected it; there was barely a minute left in the game, after all. The linesman guides Jordie off the ice and sends him down to the locker room. It isn’t until he is heading down that he realizes he didn’t see Tyler on the ice anymore.
He gets to the locker room and immediately starts looking for Tyler, asking anyone he sees where Tyler is. Someone points in the direction of the training room and Jordie starts to head there before he feels someone tugging him back. He whirls around to see Jamie, followed by the rest of the team.
“Hey, I know that hit on Tyler was fucked up, but you can’t just wail on someone like that.”
“I’ll listen to the lecture later, captain. I need to find Tyler.” Jordie sidesteps Jamie, but Jamie follows him, pressing a hand to Jordie’s chest.
“He’s being taken care of. You can go see him in a minute.” Jamie’s glaring daggers at him.
Jordie pushes him away. “No, Jamie! I need to see him now!” The room falls silent and everyone is very pointedly looking away.
Jamie puts his hand on Jordie’s shoulder, his voice going soft.
“Calm down. He’ll be okay. Get your gear off, get a shower, and then you can go see him, okay? They probably won’t let you see him yet anyway.”
Jordie wants to protest, but he knows Jamie is right. He nods stiffly and walks over to his locker to start undressing. Jason looks up when he walks over and gives Jordie a pat on the back.
“Don’t tell Jamie, but that was kind of awesome. The way you stood up for your boy out there.” Jason grins.
“You’d do it for Jamie, too,” Jordie points out.
A blush paints Jason’s cheeks.
“Not like that. Well, at least I don’t think I would. You were like an angry momma protecting her cub. It was kinda scary, but like, in a good way.”
Jordie raises his eyebrows.
“I don’t know, man. It was cool as fuck, but remind me never to piss you off.” Jason grins at him.
“Just don’t hurt Tyler and you’ll be fine,” Antoine jokes, elbowing Jordie in the ribs.
“Ha ha. Very funny.” Jordie rolls his eyes and heads for the showers. He cleans up in record time and gathers his gear quickly.
Jamie stops him. “Daddy and I are gonna go get lunch.” He hands Jordie the keys to his truck. “Be careful and get my liney home safe, okay?” He grins at Jordie before jogging after Jason.
Jordie makes his way down to the training room, nervous about what he might find when he gets there. The last thing they need is for Tyler to be seriously injured.
When he gets there, he knows it’s not good. Tyler is lying on a table, wincing as one of the trainers grabs onto his shoulder. They see him come and the trainer motions for Jordie to come over.
“Hold him down. We need to put his shoulder back into place.” The trainer shows Jordie where to hold onto Tyler.
Tyler attempts to smile at Jordie, as if to reassure him that he’s okay, but Jordie can always tell when Tyler is hurting. Jordie puts his weight on Tyler, rubbing soothing circles into his other shoulder as the trainer carefully snaps Tyler’s shoulder back into place in one quick motion.
Tyler groans at the pain and the trainer gives him a sympathetic look.
“You’ll need to wear this sling for a while. We’ll have to rehab your shoulder a bit once the swelling goes down.” The trainer helps Tyler get the sling on his arm.
“How long will I be out?” Tyler’s voice is hoarse, sounding almost like he’s been crying.
“A few weeks, at most. You’re lucky nothing is broken.”
Tyler sighs, but nods. Jordie knows Tyler is already thinking about how he’s letting the team down.
The trainer looks to Jordie now. “Can you get him home okay? He really shouldn’t be driving.”
“He can’t drive even when his shoulder works properly. I’ll get him home.” Jordie gets a slap on the arm for his joke, but it gets a smile out of Tyler, so it’s worth it.
Jordie shuffles Tyler out of the training room and manages to get him into Jamie’s truck with no problem. Tyler is quiet on the drive home, staring out the window as he leans on his good shoulder. Jordie clicks on the radio to fill the silence.
They reach Tyler’s house soon enough and Jordie grabs their bags as Tyler makes his way into the house. He immediately heads for the living room, probably to go mope on the couch. Jordie grabs his good arm and steers him towards the stairs.
“Come on. You’re still wearing your sweaty clothes and you didn’t shower.”
Tyler just nods and follows Jordie up the stairs. They head into the bathroom and Jordie helps Tyler get undressed, desperately trying not to jostle his injured shoulder and failing miserably. Tyler’s jaw is tight when Jordie is taking his shirt off and he sighs in relief when he’s finally naked.
“You okay to shower on your own?” Jordie asks, even though he already knows the answer.
“Please.” Tyler sticks out his lower lip and gives Jordie puppy dog eyes, making it impossible for Jordie to say no.
Jordie sighs and quickly strips off his own clothes. He follows Tyler into the shower and wraps his arms around Tyler’s waist as he positions his shoulder under the hot water. He winces, but Jordie can feel him relaxing as they stand there.
Jordie starts pressing kisses on Tyler’s neck, careful to steer clear of his shoulder. He runs his hands up and down Tyler’s sides, lightly massaging his undoubtedly sore muscles.
Tyler pulls Jordie’s face to his, lightly kissing him on the mouth once, then again and again before sliding his tongue into Jordie’s mouth. They make out for a while, until Tyler throws his arms on Jordie’s shoulders and Jordie feels like he’s supporting all of Tyler’s weight.
Jordie breaks the kiss.
“Come on, you still haven’t washed up and you’re dead on your feet.” Jordie pokes Tyler in the side.
Tyler gives Jordie another begging look and Jordie just rolls his eyes before grabbing Tyler’s shampoo off the shelf. The shower fills with the light scent of lavender and vanilla as Jordie scrubs his hands through Tyler’s hair carefully. Tyler presses into the touch, sighing and moaning softly as Jordie massages his scalp.
Once Tyler’s got the shampoo rinsed out of his hair and Jordie has helped him wash the rest of his body, Jordie reaches around Tyler to turn the water off. He climbs out of the shower and quickly towels off before grabbing a fluffy towel from the closet and coming back to wrap Tyler in it. Jordie helps Tyler get out of the shower and begins to towel him off when Tyler makes no moves to do it himself.
“Are you gonna make me do everything today?” Jordie asks lightly.
Tyler makes a mock wounded face. “I’m hurt, Jordie.”
Jordie slaps his butt. “Last time I checked, a shoulder injury didn’t prevent you from moving all of your body.”
Tyler shrugs and immediately winces.
“Karma,” Jordie taunts.
Jordie leads Tyler to his bedroom and plops him down on the bed before heading over to Tyler’s dresser.
“Which pajamas, babe?”
“The pink ones with the bows on it.”
“Tyler, it’s 85 degrees outside and you want to wear a onesie?”
“They feel like a full body hug, Jordie. And anyway, the AC is turned up high.” He sticks his tongue out. “I’m the patient here. Just get me what I want.”
Jordie puts his hands on his hips. “Pushy pushy.”
He grabs the pink pajamas and a pair of boxers anyway and heads over to the bed to help Tyler put them on. He gets Tyler’s boxers on with little struggle, but pauses before putting the pajamas on.
“Why did you have to pick the hardest thing to put on? This is gonna kill your shoulder.”
“I need them, Jordie.” Tyler says matter of factly.
Jordie gets Tyler’s legs in the pajamas easily, but they struggle to get his arms in there. Jordie somehow figures out how to get his injured shoulder in the onesie without moving Tyler’s arm. He’s pretty sure he almost rips the pajamas trying to maneuver them onto Tyler’s other arm, but in the end, Tyler is snug in his pajamas. Jordie is basically sweating from the effort, so he opts to just put on a pair of sweats.
“We shouldn’t sleep yet, you know. Let’s go watch a movie, okay?”
Tyler nods and stretches out his good arm towards Jordie.
“Uh uh. I draw the line at carrying you down the stairs. Knowing me, I’d trip and we’d fall down the stairs and you’d end up even more injured. And everyone on the team would kill me.”
Tyler pouts.
Jordie rolls his eyes. “Come on, you big baby. If you’re good, maybe I’ll paint your toenails for you later.”
Tyler grins and gets up to leave, but Jordie tuts at him.
“Put your sling on. You know you’re supposed to be wearing it.”
Tyler lets out a heavy sigh but grabs the sling anyway and Jordie helps him put it on.
“I can’t believe I have to wear this ugly blue thing. Look at how horrible it looks with my pajamas!”
Jordie pats him sympathetically. “I’ll see if I can find a prettier one, okay? But you still have to wear this one.”
Tyler looks at him for a moment before shaking his head. “What did I do to deserve you?”
Jordie laughs, “Guess you drew the short straw.”
Tyler punches Jordie. “You know that’s not what I meant.” He looks down at the ground. “You put up with my…everything.” He waves his hand around.
Jordie tilts Tyler’s chin up with his finger. “I like putting up with your everything.”
He places a soft kiss on Tyler’s lips before grabbing his hang and dragging him out of the room and down the stairs. Jordie grabs a blanket from the closet and Tyler’s painkillers from his duffel. He makes Tyler take the painkillers with a glass of water.
Jordie settles himself on the couch, spreading his legs open to leave space for Tyler. Tyler nestles himself in between Jordie’s legs and lays back against Jordie’s chest, carefully positioning himself.
Jordie turns the TV on something quiet and settles in, pulling the blanket over Tyler and himself. He runs his fingers through Tyler’s hair, slowly brushing it back and forth. Jordie is pretty sure Tyler is asleep until he suddenly speaks, whispering quietly.
“Thanks.” He pauses. “For everything.”
Jordie kisses the top of Tyler’s head. “Anytime, baby. Anytime.”
He feels Tyler drift to sleep not long after that and Jordie falls asleep listening to rise and fall of Tyler’s breathing.