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Joel was an observer. He had plenty of time in the net to notice and think about little things he noticed about his teammates. He was the first to realize there was something between Torpo and Walker. He noticed when Snuggy had a rough time adjusting to the NHL. He mostly kept his observations to himself. There was no reason to tell anyone unless it was hurting someone.
He enjoyed watching his teammates interact and piecing things together. It gave him something to do between saves. It was Joel’s way of getting to know his friends better. The one person he never paid such scruitinous attention to was Jake. He already lived with the guy. Jake seemed to slip under his radar. He seemed so open and friendly that it didn’t occur to him that he knew next to nothing about the guy.
It wasn’t until he heard Tucks talking about him to Fowler that he thought deeper about Jake’s behavior. Apparently he’d been more distant recently with everyone and Tucks was worried about him. Joel put his attention on his roomate.
He was busy skating by himself in circles, staring down at what should be his shadow. Joel whipped around to stare at Tucker, specifically his feet. There was in fact a shadow under the defenseman. Joel narrowed his eyes.
“Hof? Why are you staring at my feet like that?” Tyler’s confused voice broke Joel’s concentration.
“Your blade looked chipped.” Joel answered quickly, praying that the goalie reputation for being strange would be enough to keep Tucks from asking anything else. He shrugged and skated off with a side-eye.
Joel looked back to where Jake was but he’d disappeared.
***
The locker room was crowded. Not crowded enough to now be able to see the opposite wall but enough that being in full goalie gear made walking around the room a nightmare. Usually Joel liked to chill in his stall until the team had dissapated a little. However, Jake was nowhere to be found. He was somewhere a few minutes ago and now Joel couldn’t see him.
He glanced in the corner and could’ve sworn that Jake just walked out of the wall. Joel got up and squeezed his way to the wall. He touched both sides of the corner, inspecting the paint like it would yield its secrets. He scratched at one spot with his nail.
“What’s with the wall staring?” The sudden question was accompanied by a hand on Joel’s shoulder. He turned to see a very confused Kyrou.
“There was a bug.” Joel attempted to cover his behavior. He pointed at a spot on the floor. “See?” He pressed his foot over the speck before smiling at Jordan. Jordan gave him a weird look and walked off.
***
Clearly doing this indirectly wasn’t going to work. People were starting to stare at him when he did something weird.
Joel decided to take the direct approach. He was driving Jake home and pulled into a random empty lot. He locked the doors and windows before turning to face him.
“Okay. We have to talk,” He started, “You don’t seem to have a shadow, you appear out of nowhere, you keep copying everyone and you stopped talking to everyone. What the hell is happening?”
Jake looked like he would rather sink into his chair. He looked around frantically. Joel continued his silent staring. Secretly he almost hoped Jake was some kind of vampire. He smiled internally at the thought of JAKE of all people, being a vampire.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” was Jake’s answer. That shocked Joel. Was he not trustworthy enough? He placed his hand onto Jake’s shoulder.
“You can tell me anything. I’m a great secret keeper.” He promised. Jake sighed.
“I’m what’s called a Shadeling. I’m not technically from this realm. I was born in the shadow realm. In this world I can change my appearance to match anything. I’m pretty good at copying people.” He spoke quietly.
“You what? That- huh?” Joel stumbled through his reply. “Prove it.”
Jake blinked at him for a few minutes. Suddenly Joel’s own face was staring up at him. It smiled. Joel screamed in surprise. His reflection recoiled. It twisted into a whispy shadow, reminicent of the Jake he thought he knew. Joel tried to calm himself. This was still his best friend. It was still Jake. Right?
He reached out to try to touch it? Him? But his hand when right through it.
“Jake I’m sorry I freaked out. I’m not used to uh…seeing myself anywhere other than a mirror or on camera.” He said trying to stabilize his breathing. Jake reformed.
“Really? You don’t think I’m a monster? That I have an unfair advantage?” He asked, almost shyly.
“What? No. First off: that was fucking cool. Second: if you’re gonna have an unfair advantage I want you on my side. Third: how would that be unfair?”
“My species is a kind of reflection. If I wanted to I could easily have Wayne Gretzky or Sidney Crosby or Ovechkin’s skills and completely dominate.”
“And you’re not doing this why?”
“It would be unfair.”
“Dude. Jake. This is sports. Having advantages over other people and rubbing it in their faces is like…the point.”
“So you’re not mad I’ve been stealing people’s skills?”
“It’s not stealing if they still have it right? At least in this context.”
Jake laughed. He snorted and hugged Joel.
***
The next few weeks consisted of Joel covering for any weird behaviors Jake had, as well as Joel becoming almost obsessive with learning everything about Jake as possible. It was weird.
Jake seemed happy to show him everything. The way the shadow portals worked, how he could turn the shadows into physical objects and control them.
Joel watched from the couch as Jake preformed a story from his cultures mythos via literal shadow puppets, occasionally asking questions and writing things down. This was facinating. Jake finished the story and sat with Joel. The goalie grabbed him, continuing to ask him things. He wanted to know everything.
Joel was falling. Hard. He was constantly thinking about his roommate. He wondered endlessly what pieces of him Jake had come up with on his own and which bits he borrowed from other people. He knew for a fact that those eyes were a slightly modified version of Schenner’s. Jake had told him so. He avoided thinking about the fact that the body Jake happened to piece together was almost exactly his type. Jake’s personality was already irrisitable. Knowing he’d specifically chosen every detail of his appearence and it happened to be Joel’s type?
Joel hated to admit it but his mild obsession with Jake got worse. He was constantly trying to be right next to him. He told himself that this was in case something happened to Jake. He didn’t stop asking him about everything. He wasn’t entirely sure what was appropriate to ask a living shadow about so he just asked everything.
Jake noticed. He noticed how clingy Joel was. He saw what was happening. He tried to distance himself. Maybe he could avoid becoming a story told to ward off other Shadelings from the Light Realm. Maybe Joel was just trying to get to know him better and wasn’t trying to kill him, or study him like an animal, or expose him, or abuse him in some way. Joel was a good guy right?
Except Joel was literally following him. He was always there even when Jake just wanted to be alone. It seemed like anytime Jake tried to relax and stop holding together his human form, Joel was right there asking questions. It was getting genuinely scary. Maybe Jake hadn’t made the right choice deciding to live in the Light Realm and be an athlete. Maybe he’d be safer at home. Away from humans who just wanted to hurt him or keep him as a pet.
He kept trying to avoid Joel but he kept showing up. The only relaxation Jake got was inside the shadows. In his room, in the portal under his bed.
Joel cornered him again at breakfast.
“You’re avoiding me. Why?” He asked. His voice was unintentionally intimidating. Jake felt himself shrink under his scrutiny. All of Jake’s fears and worries exploded out of him at once.
“You’re following me and I think you’re trying to hurt me and I’m scared you’re gonna get me locked up somewhere and I don’t think I even wanna be a Blue anymore but I can’t just disappear but you’re scaring me and I don’t wanna die!” Jake shouted before slipping under Joel’s arm and running to his room and promptly hiding under his bed.
Jake let the shadow under the bed consume his body as he hid in his home realm. He watched from the portal as Joel searched his room.
Joel sat on Jake’s bed after he realized he couldn’t find him. Tears brimmed as he finally recognized how he had hurt his friend. His best friend, his crush, his teammate, was terrified of him. It was his fault Jake didn’t want to be a Blue anymore. Jake genuinely thought Joel was going to hurt him and it was entirely on Joel for causing that.
He sobbed as he laid on Jake’s bed. He held Jake’s pillow close to his chest.
“Jake” He whispered to the silence. “I’m sorry. I just- I don’t know. There isn’t really an excuse for what I did. I didn’t mean to scare you. I wanted to get to know you and your species and culture better but I crossed a line. You’re just so cool and fun to be around and I wanted to be as close as I could. I’m sorry. I love you, Jake. I’m sorry I scared you.” Joel sniffled. He was pretty sure Jake couldn’t hear him or would even care if he could but he had to say it. He had to verbalize everything.
He wiped his tears and looked around the room. The posters on the walls and the clothes peeking out of the closet. Everything was exactly the way Jake liked it. The bed was made, the floors were cleared but the room was so inherently lived in. It was warm and cozy. Joel couldn’t handle seeing everything that reminded him of his roommate but he also didn’t want to leave. He closed his eyes and laid back on Jake’s bed.
The mattress dipped under something’s weight after a few minutes. Joel opened his eyes. Jake was crawling close to him. Joel sniffled as Jake cuddled up to him silently.
“Jake,” He started. The winger cut him off.
“I heard. I forgive you. I love you.” Jake smiled. Joel cupped his face and kissed his forehead. Jake nzzled into the crook of Joel’s neck, placing a soft peck over his pulse point. Joel rested his head on his teammate’s, inhaling the scent of his shampoo. His arms wrapped around Jake, creating a safe cocoon for his boy.
***
Joel worked on learning to back off as Jake readjusted to existing as a human. Jake was more outgoing with the team knowing that he would have his boyfriend there to defend him if anything went wrong.
The nights they went out after games turned into Jake getting drunk enough to justify kissing Joel. He got endlessly chirped by Holloway about it. Joel cuddled his boyfriend closer as he laughed it off. He loved Jake. He’d do anything for his shadeling. He kissed the top of his head.
“I love you.” he muttered into Jake’s hair, holding him close.
“Love you more.” Jake slurred as he attempted to kiss Joel. He missed entirely which ended up leaving Jake slobber all over Joel’s cheek. Joel laughed and kissed Jake for real.
He loved his boyfriend and wouldn’t dream of having anyone else. It was a sweet realization that he was immensely in love with Jake. He held his boyfriend closer and kissed him again.