Off The Ice | NHL Imagines

Stanley Cup

Nico Hischier/Jack Hughes
Not requested
738 words

(Mercer was drafted in 2020, but for the sake it's 2018)

Teammates are off limits. That's what Jack was told as a joke, but is it really a joke anymore? After he was drafted in 2019 he met his team and unfortunately the team captain. The way jack was hypotized by Nico was instantly brought to the teams attention. His new friend Dawson Mercer, who was drafted just a year before him, kept making jokes about Jack's new "crush". He kept taunting him and saying teammates were of limits, but it was all a joke to him. Dawson really just thought that being picked 1st overall and then meeting a new team all at once was a lot for him. It was, but meeting Nico is what sent him over the edge. Nico's dark brown hair and beautiful accent made Jack's head spin.

To Jack, Nico was perfect. Other than the fact that he has a girlfriend. Which Jack found out the day they met, when his girlfriend walked up to Nico mid-conversation and kissed him. Jack's heart visibly shattered, but that went unnoticed to everyone, especially Nico.

A season later Jack is with his team before the season, just playing hockey for fun. Jack skates around with everyone when the doors to the ice rink open. In walks Nico and Jack skates over to him.

"You coming to play?" Jack asks Nico. He shakes his head no with a smile on his face.

"Just here to watch." Nico responds. Jack keeps looking up at Nico and Nico keeps looking down at him. Going unnoticed by the two, Dawson picks up on their gaze. He elbows his teammate next to him and nods at the two. He turns and whispers to Timo Meier.

"You see it to right?" Dawson whispered. Timo shrugged.

"If you're talking about Nico coming to check up on his team, yeah I see it." Timo responds in a whisper. Dawson shakes his head.

"I mean the fact that it's obvious they like each other? Jack atleast?" Dawson whispers with a little bit of sass.

"Jack's always had some kind of admiration for Nico. It's nothing big." Timo says as he skates away. Dawson doesn't believe that, and he's going to get Jack to admit it. Be little does he know, Jack's not even admitting it to himself.

Later that night Jack's scrolling through social media when we comes across one of those "player update pages". This one was specifically about Nico. There was a photo of him and his girlfriend during the summer of last year with the caption, "Nico and his girlfriend seem to have been on the downlow ever since the season ended. Could he be single now, or could a certain player have taken his heart?" The tags of the post is what really got his attention. His name was tagged. Was he the player? His heart started racing as he scrolled past the post. After that he couldn't get to sleep.

Later into the season Nico and his girlfriend, well ex-girlfriend, have publicly called it quits. The playoffs are coming up and the Devils actually have a shot of winning. Nico didn't seem disrupted by the breakup, which isn't only good for the team, but for Jack.

It was the final game in the stanley cup championship and the devils are up 3-2. The clock slowly runs out and the devils win the game. (being delulu is just for the plot I promise) Sticks and gloves are thrown into the air as the team huddles together on the ice. Everyone is smiling and yelling.

Jack skates around to different players and as he turns around his eyes catch onto Nico's. Nico and Jack smile and skate at each other, pulling each other into a hug. Jack gets butterflies in his stomach and his cheeks aren't red from playing on the ice. As they pull away Nico slides off his helmet and pulls Jack's away from is head. Nico leans into the younger boy and crashes his lips to Jack's. Jack instantly melts into Nico. In the distance there's a scream. Dawson was shaking Timo and pointing at Jack and Nico. Nico laughs at him and Jack rolls his eyes. Nico looks back at Jack and Jack looks back at Nico.

"This is a really good day you know?" Nico chuckles. Jack nods in response.

"It really is."