Work Text:
Leslie loved coming to the rink at this time of night. It was almost always empty just before closing, and she got the ice to herself to practice.
Leslie Knope was something of a hockey prodigy. The Indiana wunderkind that got offered a free ride to the University of Minnesota, and the only starting Freshman on the entire team. While she missed Pawnee dearly, Leslie was proud to be a Golden Gopher.
She was working on her puck handling when a voice boomed over the speakers.
“We’re closed.”
She looked towards the booth and saw a bored looking young man with brown hair that seemed to defy gravity. He must be new.
“I technically still have five minutes,” she shouted back at him, but he only rolled his eyes and sighed.
“We’re closed.”
But Leslie refused to budge. She rink closed at ten, and dammit, she was going to stay on that ice until then.
She figured he gave up when she saw him hop out of the booth and out of sight.
She was working on her last lap around the rink when she heard the sound of an engine, and a large Zamboni made it’s way onto the rink.
Yup, same brown haired guy. Leslie was half inclined to lodge a protest and stay on the rink and dare him to run her over, but she didn’t. She just flipped him off and called him a stupid jerk as she skated past, .
If he heard her, he didn’t act like it.
Who the hell did this guy think he was? Great hair was no excuse to act like a total douche canoe.
With a huff, she grabbed her bag and stormed out.
~~~~~
She went back to the rink the next few days to practice, and thankfully, Zamboni Boy wasn’t there. But on the fourth day, she wasn’t so lucky. At 9:55 on the dot, his stupid voice announced over the intercom that they were closed, but she just ignored him.
When she saw him hop out of the booth, she waited for the Zamboni to run her off the ice again, but it never came.
“What?!” she screamed to the now empty booth. “Not gonna run me off in your stupid Zamboni again?”
“Someone reported me to my manager and I got in trouble for it. So, no.”
She jumped a little when she heard him, now off to her right leaning on the wall surrounding the rink.
“Well, you deserved it. That’s really unsafe, you know. Plus, I still had five minutes.”
Zamboni Boy looked down at his watch. “Now, you’re one minute over, so will you please get off so I can close up?”
Leslie narrowed her eyes and skated off, taking out her fiery anger on her laces.
~~~~~
Two weeks after her initial encounter with Zamboni Boy, they had reached something of a stalemate. He finally stopped announcing to her that they were closed. All he did was look at her angrily from his spot in the booth, and she relished in every spiteful stare.
Leslie skated until 10:00 on the dot when the alarm on her watch sounded, and she unlaced her skates watching the Zamboni drive across the rink.
It wasn’t ideal, but it worked, and she had the satisfaction of putting that smug jerk in his place.
“You’re pretty good, you know,” he said one day from the stands as opposed to his usual perch in the booth.
She scoffed. “Weirdo. You’ve been watching me?”
“Well, that’s literally my job, to watch the rink and make sure no one gets hurt, so yeah, I’ve been watching you. But not just that. I know who you are. You had a pretty good season.”
God, why was he even talking to her? Did he think his offhanded compliments were a good thing?
“Uhm, we had a great season. We’re shoo-ins for the Championship next year.”
Zamboni Boy just shrugged. “Maybe. You should probably work a little on your slapshot, though.”
She whirled around and stared at him, her hockey stick held up at her side. “Seriously? Do you have to be such a jerk all of the time? I didn’t ask for your opinion.”
He just smiled cockily at her and dear Lord, did she just want to punch him in the face. Granted, it was a cute face, but it’s a shame it was attached to a terrible personality.
“I don’t know how they do it over in Indiana, but in Minnesota, we live, eat, and breathe hockey. You’ve got potential, that’s for sure. Just giving you some helpful tips.”
“Oh, my, how kind and helpful of you,” she shot back. “If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it, okay? Why don’t you go build your own Ice Rink somewhere else and then you can criticize anyone you want.”
At that, his eyes narrowed, all teasing gone. He stood up quickly and turned his back just as Leslie’s alarm went off.
“Oh, by the way,” he said without turning around, “we’re closed.”
“You little–you distracted me on purpose, didn’t you?! Why are you such a jerk?!”
But he was long gone as she stomped off the rink.
~~~~~
This whole ordeal was getting tiring and seriously wreaking havoc on Leslie’s focus while she practiced. With her bag flung over her shoulder, she marched up to the booth door and knocked.
“What?”
Oh, being nice to him was going to be harder than she thought.
“Look, Zamboni Boy, I don’t like you and you don’t like me. That’s obvious, but can we at least just agree to stay out of each other’s hair and try not to piss each other off? I really need to practice and this whole thing is messing me up. I promise to leave at ten and not a second later, if you promise to just leave me alone. We both mind our own business and everybody wins.” She stuck her hand out. “Truce?”
He eyed her warily, looking between her hand and her face before sighing.
“Yeah, sure. Truce.”
They shook and Leslie tried not to think about how soft his hands were despite working in a cold ice rink all day.
“Perfect! Okay, I’m gonna go lace up and get on the ice.”
“Hey, Knope,” he called out and she turned around. “Your slapshot’s looking a lot better.”
She waited until she was out of sight before smiling.
~~~~~
“Hey, can I ask you something?” he said one day from the sidelines.
She’s not sure when it happened, but he started coming out of the booth more and more and just sitting on the bleachers, watching her between pages of his book. They never talked. He was just sort of…there.
“Is it going to violate the terms of our truce?”
“No.” He smiled. An actual, genuine, honest-to-goodness smile. It was…not terrible.
“Then sure. Go right ahead.”
“Why are you here? And I don’t mean that in a rude way. Just, you were always talking about how important your hometown is to you, so why didn’t you go back home for summer break?”
“Because as much as I miss home, hockey is really important to me right now, and Indiana is more of a basketball state than anything. We don’t even have a full-time rink in town. Just what’s at the rec center, and it doubles as about fifty other things. It’s not hockey season, so I doubt I’d see any decent rink time while I’m home. My best friend Ann and I decided to get a place off campus and work for the summer. She’s in the nursing program and is volunteering at the hospital.”
“And what about you? What are you doing?”
She’s stunned for a bit that he even cared to know. “Uhm, I’m assistant coaching for one of the local kid’s hockey leagues. The Parks and Rec department here actually sponsors leagues all year ‘round, which is great. It’s an all girls team and I’m kind of their hero, soooo.”
He laughed and shook his head. “That is pretty awesome.”
“Yeah, it is.”
Her watch beeped and she wasn’t the least bit upset that she missed out on an extra ten minutes of practice.
~~~~~
“You know what I just realized?” Leslie said one night as she was taking off her skates while he cleaned up garbage from the stands.
“What?”
“I don’t even know what your name is. I’ve been calling you Zamboni Boy for weeks now and you haven’t corrected me.”
“I guess I didn’t mind it after a while. Out of some of the nicknames given to me over the years, that’s a good one.” He grinned as he picked up a candy wrapper. “What? Don’t like that I know you but you don’t know me?”
She snorted. “You don’t know me.”
“Leslie Knope, born in Pawnee, Indiana and started playing hockey at six. You were the first girl to play in the league, and fought to have girls and coed leagues available. Made a name for yourself on your all boys’ High School team and got recruited by the good ole University of Minnesota to play for the Golden Gophers. You’re a history major with political aspirations, and your favorite food is waffles. The hardest part about going so far away for school is that you can’t get JJ’s whenever you want to. Your best friend is Ann.”
Her jaw dropped and she stared at his stupid, smirking face.
“I told you, we take our hockey pretty seriously here. That includes the players. You’ve got a pretty impressive bio there.”
“I’m trying to decide whether or not you’re stalker level creepy or just really into college hockey.”
He shrugged. “I’m not a stalker, so don’t worry. You’ve just made a pretty big impact around here. Freshman don’t become starters every day.”
“Even if they have sucky slapshots?”
“Hey, I never said it sucked. Just that it needed some work. And you took my advice, didn’t you?”
She crossed her arms. “Maybe, but only because I’m committed to making my game better. Had nothing to do with you. So, what? Are you just going to keep dangling it over my head how I know nothing about you? Can I at least get a name to call you?”
“I don’t know, I’ve kinda grown fond of Zamboni Boy. But I guess it’s only fair.” He stuck his hand out. “Benj–Ben. You can call me Ben.”
Leslie shook it with a cackle she didn’t think possible around him, and yet, there it was. “Pleasure to officially meet you. You’re not so bad when you don’t look like you’ve got a stick up your butt.”
“My, you sure know how to sweet talk a guy.”
“I try. So, I’m guessing you’re a local? Since you’re working on campus over the summer.”
“Eh, not too local. I’m from upstate, but…I’d rather not be home if I don’t have to be. I start classes this fall. Got a late start to college.”
“Ooo an incoming Freshman. You know now that means I’m allowed to rag on you, right?”
“More so than usual?”
She stuck out her tongue and he actually laughed again. She liked it.
“Have you declared a major yet? Maybe I can tell you which professors to avoid.”
“Accounting.”
She made a face. “Yuck. Sorry, but that sounds terrible.”
It looks like he’s heard that before. “Yeah, it’s not for everyone. But I like math and I feel like it’ll be good for me.”
“Well, to each his own, I guess.”
“Yo, Wyatt!” Ben cringed as the owner of that particularly loud voice came into view. “I don’t pay you to stand around and chit chat.”
Leslie peered over Ben’s shoulder and waved at the rink’s night manager. “Hey, Charlie.”
“Knope! Already practicing for next season. Very nice. We’re counting on you to carry us to the championship.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Charlie’s smile faded as he looked back at Ben. “Let the poor girl go home, already, okay? And get your ass in that Zamboni and resurface the ice. When you’re done there, some kid threw up in the bathroom and we need you to clean it up. Got that, Ice Town?”
Ben clenched his jaw but didn’t once turn around. “Yeah, I got.”
He brushed past Leslie without so much as a goodbye, and this time, it actually stung a little.
She pulled out her keys as she walked to her car. Ben Wyatt. Why did that name sound so familiar?
Charlie called him Ice Town. What the hell did that even mean?
Oh.
Oh.
Well, shit.
~~~~~
The next night she went straight to the booth and knocked.
“Okay, okay, I’m coming. Jeez. What’s up, Knope?”
“So I’m going to ask you a question and you don’t have to answer it but it’s been killing me for the past twenty-four hours and I just really want to know but no pressure.”
“Uhm, okay?”
She pulled the clipping out of her bag and thrust it at him. “This is you isn’t it. You’re Benji Wyatt.”
He barely glanced at the article, instead keeping his head down. Boy, now she kind of felt like a jerk.
“Look, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It just hit me all of a sudden and–”
“Where’d you get that?”
She paused. “What?”
“That clipping. Where did you get it? It’s my inauguration. Usually people only save the one of my impeachment.”
She pulled the paper back and looked at it. “Oh, uhm, well it definitely wasn’t on my wall in high school and then I put it in a scrapbook when I moved up here, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
He finally looked up, and he was smiling. “I definitely wasn’t, but I am now.”
“Yeah, well, don’t let it go to your head. I was jealous of you, that’s all. I mean, elected Mayor at eighteen? That’s amazing.”
“You shouldn’t be jealous. That whole thing ruined my life and no one will let me forget that I fucked up. And now I’m working at an ice rink. The irony is almost insulting.”
“Hey,” she said softly, sitting down next to him. Hmm, he smelled kind of nice. “So you made a mistake. A big mistake, but still. Jesus, we’re still practically kids. I mean, where was your City Council in all of this? You’re just a good Minnesota boy at heart and your love of the ice replaced all rational thought. I don’t know, I guess the point is that you at least tried something.”
He turned to face her, and she realized this was the closest to him that she’s ever been. And he had really nice brown eyes, too.
“No one has ever said that to me before. They usually just hurl insults at me. And also hurl actual things at me. Rotten food, mostly. Not too many people know about it here, but there are a few.”
“Like Charlie?”
“Yeah, like Charlie. I mean he can be a real asshole, but he gave me a job. Maybe he found the irony too good to pass up, too.”
“I think that’s sad. That people are so mean to you, I mean. You tried your best. That’s all anyone could have expected.”
He smiled again and nudged her shoulder. The goosebumps on her skin were definitely from the cold. “Thanks. Considering I tried to run you down with a Zamboni the first day we met, that’s really nice of you.”
Leslie hoisted her bag over her shoulder and stood up. “Yeah, well don’t get used to it. Now I gotta go practice before I get rusty and lose my scholarship. See ya later, Wyatt.”
That night, he spent most of his time out of the booth watching her.
~~~~~
She was dumping her fifth sugar packet into her blended mocha frappe with extra whipped cream when she heard his voice in her ear.
“No wonder you’re so fast on the ice. You’re blood is made up of sugar and caffeine.”
This was the first time she’d ever run into him outside of the rink, and it wasn’t as weird as she thought it might be. This was the closest coffee shop to the rink, so it made sense that he’d come here, too.
“Hey, when you can’t take steroids this is the next best thing. Wait, you know that was a joke, right? I don’t take or condone the use of steroids.”
“Yeah, I figured as much.”
“Well, judging by your very boring cup, I’d say plain coffee with just a little sugar and cream.”
“Oh, close. Coffee, black, no sugar.”
“Yuck,” Leslie gagged, “how can you drink that?”
“I might say the same thing to you. I don’t think there is any coffee in that thing.”
“We’ll agree to disagree.”
“I don’t know, I–”
The door to the cafe opened with a jingle and in walked about half of the men’s hockey team.
“Ice Town!”
Ben cringed, and Leslie had the overwhelming urge to punch every one of them in the face.
“If it isn’t Mayor Wyatt,” one of them said. Rodney, the captain, and probably the biggest dick of them all. “Whacha doing here, Wyatt? Trying to chat up our rising star, here? Hate to be the one to break it to you, but I don’t think you’re her type. Wouldn’t be all that good for her image. She does know that you ruined your hometown, right? How many people are out of jobs now because of you?”
“Leave him alone, guys. Seriously, he wasn’t bothering you or anyone else.”
“Leslie, it’s okay. Just leave it alone. I gotta go anyway.”
The other boys tried to block his way, and snickered as Ben pushed past them.
Rodney looked over at her and smirked. It wasn’t anything at all like Ben’s. “Now that we ditched the Ice Clown, how about I take you out and show you a good time?”
“Fuck off.”
She grabbed her things and ran out of the door, hoping to catch up to Ben and apologize, but he was long gone.
Suddenly her frappe didn’t seem so appetizing.
~~~~~
Ben didn’t leave the booth once that night, and Leslie didn’t realize until now how much she enjoyed having him around while she practiced.
She got off the ice ten minutes before closing and trudged up to the booth.
“Look,” she said, barging in without a knock and ignoring Ben’s shocked face, “those guys are the worst. They are complete douche lords who had no right to pick on you like that.”
He waved her off. “It’s fine. Rodney’s uncle is from Partridge. He’s one of…well a lot of people whose life I ruined. I understand why he’s angry at me. They didn’t say anything I haven’t heard before or that wasn’t true.”
“None of what they said was true.” He looked up at her with a small smile just as she remembered everything that they had said. “Oh, well, I mean, uhm, it’s not that, you know–”
His smile turned just a little bit sad. “It’s okay. I get what you’re trying to say. And thanks. But they are kind of right. Enough people around here know who I am that it might start some not so great rumors for you if people see us hanging out together. You’re pretty much The Golden Gopher, and I’m…well, the Ice Clown.”
“Ugh, would you stop calling yourself that! You’re not any of that. And no one gets to have any say in what I do with my life or who I hang out with except for me. If I want to be your friend, then I’m going to be your friend and they’re just gonna have to get over themselves.”
“Are we? Friends, I mean.”
“I’d like to think so. If–if you want to be.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
She was smiling at him when her alarm went off, breaking whatever it was that was happening.
“Uhm, I should probably get ready to close before Charlie chews me out again.”
“Oh, yeah, right.”
She got up to leave, but stopped when she felt Ben’s hand on her wrist.
“Hey, so, are you hungry?”
“Uhm, yeah. I’m starving.”
He wiped his palms on his jeans. “If I were to hypothetically ask you out on a date, what would you say? I know a place that makes a great waffle. Probably nothing compared to JJs, but they do make their own whipped cream.”
She swallowed and tucked her hair behind her ears. “Uh, I think I’d say yes. I’d like that a lot, actually.”
He stood up and walked towards her, licking his lips. “And, uhm, if I said that I really wanted to kiss you, would you let me? I know better than to mess with a girl who carries a hockey stick.”
Leslie’s pretty sure she forgot how to breathe, and her gaze flickered between his eyes and his lips. She wasn’t sure if it was her moving closer or him, but his mouth was definitely coming towards her.
“I’d say what the hell took you so long.”
His lips were chapped and he tasted like diet soda and Twizzlers, but for some reason that combination never tasted so amazing.
“He was wrong you know.”
His lips were kissing down her jaw towards her neck. “Hmm? Who was?”
“Rodney. You’re definitely my type.”
He kissed her again, laughing into her mouth, and yeah it was definitely the greatest feeling in the entire world. It was scoring the winning goal with only 2 seconds to spare kind of good.
Charlie’s bellowing of Ben’s name eventually tore them apart.
“You should go, Zamboni Boy, before you get fired. We have a date tonight, remember?”
“I don’t think I could forget if I tried. You can probably wait around in the lobby until I’m done. Charlie loves you. He won’t care.”
“’Kay.” She kissed him again, all smiles and teeth before pushing him out of the door.
He looked over his shoulder and grinned again as he walked down the steps. Yup, those were definitely butterflies making her stomach their new home.
She grabbed her bag and made her way to the lobby, stopping to wave at Ben as he rode by in the Zamboni.
Yeah, she missed Pawnee and couldn’t wait to go back, but so far, this summer was definitely turning out to be pretty damn amazing.