❝𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐒!❞ (HIATUS!)

𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐤𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞?

.・゜゜・　　・゜゜・．

everyone had a nickname. you couldn't escape having one, especially in sports. julie was promptly titled "the cat" because of her inexplicable goalie skills, and dean portman and fulton reed faced the world with their brute strength as "the bash brothers." now, there were a few nicknames that weren't necessarily hockey related. dwayne was consistently called "cowboy," because that what he was and he wouldn't label himself as anything else. adam went by "cake-eater" and "banksie," charlie conway was dubbed "spazway" as a clumsy seven year old on skates. as for y/n l/n's nickname? crybaby.

a crybaby, in its definition, is a "person, especially a child, who sheds tears frequently or readily." if you asked any of the ducks their definition, they'd just point to y/n. it wasn't her fault! she was the youngest child in her family, with all of her siblings being much older than her. she was quite used to being, well... coddled. the day of her first hockey practice at eight years old, she slipped and fell face first on the ice. immediately, y/n began bawling her eyes out, causing her new teammates to laugh at her. except for one. jesse hall was known for being a bit of a loudmouth. he was the oldest of three boys, and his younger brothers were utterly annoying. terry made it his mission to pester him any chance he got, (only to deny it when parents were involved,) and all baby anthony did was steal cookies from the jar and blame it on him! to be honest, jesse did not have the time for liars or crybabies. but, watching y/n cry while she massaged at her sore nose, it almost hurt to laugh at.

so, jesse stormed over to where she was, and stood tall. "hey! just because she fell don't mean nothin'! and, you shouldn't even be laughing, goldberg. you can't even play goalie right. so, leave the crybaby alone!" he shouted, a fierce glint in his dark eyes. y/n sniffles, as she glances around at the kids. with guilty frowns, the district five team mumble apologies to her, and then go off to skate.

y/n seemed to be stuck the ice, she was still in shock. the pain in her nose subsided a few seconds after she fell, but the laughter from her teammates only made it worse. how could an eight year old have so much influence? jesse notices her state, before reaching out his gloved hand. "c'mon, crybaby. it's time to get up. how's your nose?" normally, y/n l/n despised being called a crybaby. it's just jesse didn't make it sound so horrible. latching onto his hand, "it's okay. thank you for sticking up for me," pulling herself up from the ice. she wiped away any stray tears, mustering up the nicest grin she possibly could for someone who just cried in a mix of pain and humiliation. jesse's little eight year old heart felt much better seeing her up right, not crying and not hearing any laughter because of her crying. the boy shrugged, "we're all teammates, we look out for each other. so, i'm gonna look out for you. let's go, crybaby. i'm makin' you my partner for drills."

from then on, it was known to every kid who ever graced the ducks that jesse wasn't afraid to go against his own friends for y/n. that being said, it was somewhat of a warning to watch your back. you never saw y/n without jesse by her side, ready to mouth off at anyone who tried to make her cry.

it wasn't until the junior goodwill games came around that y/n realized that she might like jesse a little deeper than she thought. ever since that day, they'd been best friends. he always made her laugh, and he was really cute! most of all, she realized that he never made fun of her for her crybaby ways. most of their teammates had, particularly averman, (who received plenty of punches to the ribs from a fuming jesse.) as for the new recruits? a little bit; dwayne and kenny were just too innocent to make fun of people, and julie was just happy to have girls on a hockey team. luis mendoza picked at her a couple times, not before jesse tore him to shreds for not being able to stop. "seriously, how the hell are you gonna play hockey and not know how to stop? that's like being a swimmer and not knowing how to breathe!" jesse insulted, causing y/n to giggle underneath the tears as he held her close to him. oh yeah, if the constant verbal protection wasn't enough to make y/n's heart go to mush, the physical protection could've killed her then and there!