Off The Ice | NHL Imagines

Ceilings

Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk
Not requested
634 words

Meant to be read while listening to Ceilings (Lizzy McAlpine)

Matthew looks slowly over Leon, who's sitting next to him with Connor McDavid on his right. The brightness of his smile, the way he looks at the sunset in front of him, everything Matthew never got to notice when he was on ice with Leon. He sees the real him and Matthew can't help but believe he's kinda cute.

The three of them are sitting on a curb in the rain, their shoes filling with water. Matthew rests his head on his arms which are folded around his legs. Connor stands when the Sun dips below the horizon, saying his goodbyes to the two boys and Matthew suddenly feels like his 16 year old self, scared to be left with the boy he has a chest tightening crush on.

Leon catches his eyes in the golden light. Matthew's cheeks turn a soft pink at the eye contact between them. Leon smiles, his eyes shining as he looks at the boy with wet curls and water filled shoes next to him. He stands, reaching his hand out for Matthew to take and he leads them back to his car. Matthew doesn't make an effort to stay even if he doesn't want to leave.

When they're on the street in front of Matthew's house in Edmonton there's a moment of silence. Matthew looks over at Leon, not making a move to leave the car. Leon's already looking at him with bright eyes as he was not long before. Matthew's lips are parted when Leon leans in, planting his lips against Matthew's. They kiss in the car until Matthew really has to go. Matthew really feels as if this is the start of a movie he's seen before.

Then the bedsheets are tangled and Leon's sliding his hand into Matthews as he cries out from beneath him. Then Matthew's laying and looking at a sleeping Leon who's being caressed but the soft morning sun from through the window. Inviting Leon inside changed the way Matthew saw himself. Leon called him beautiful. No one else ever has.

Leon's eyes flutter open and looks right at Matthew as if he's hearing the words he hasn't said. Matthew doesn't want to ruin this, ruin the way Leon's hand comes up to caress his cheek and then slide into his hair, pulling Matthew close to him, Matthew's head pressed softly against Leon's chest. They both breathe deeply as if they're memorizing this moment for the rest of their lives. Then Matthew's eye close and he's asleep again.

There's a hand on Matthew's shoulder, shaking him awake and forcing him to lift his head from his folded arms. He looks up and Leon's smiling softly at him and asking him to get into his car so he can take Matthew home. Matthew goes willingly even if he doesn't want to leave.

He slowly gets into Leon's car, his water filled shoes making a puddle on the ground. He looks out the window as Leon drives them away, his eyes on the road and not on Matthew. Matthew sees his house in the distance and lets out a sigh only audible to him. The car stops. Matthew looks over at Leon, his eyes shiny like watercolor paint. Leon leans in to kiss Matthew, but it's not real.

Leon's waiting for Matthew to leave, his hand on the car door handle. Matthew sucks in a breath and pulls the door open, the sounds of the rain in front of him fill the car, pulling the two out of silence.

Then Leon's gone, his tail lights shining through the rain as Matthew watched him leave. Leon didn't kiss him, he didn't go inside, he didn't... Then he's crying, the rain disguising his tears. And it feels like the end of a movie Matthew's seen before.

A/N: this one was very tough to write. When i write with songs I use the lyrics in the story and dialogue and I tried not to do that this time (Other than two lines bc those r iconic). If you time the reading up perfectly you'll feel the  full effect when the plot twist happens yk? I loved this one because I didn't want it to comunicate emotion through words since the song is more inner emotions/realization (kinda idk what I'm yapping about). So I included no dialogue.

INSPO:
Ceilings (Lizzy McAlpine)
I Got A Bad Desire (Doughnutinthesky) (AO3)

The fic is about Matthew entering the league during the covid era (it focuses mostly on the bubble since covid isn't really mentioned much) making Matthew 19 and Leon 28. I wrote this with the intent of Matthew being young like that so his emotions aren't as mature as he believes. Also in the fic Matthew has a lot of emotion (SPOILER) about Leon leaving and I kinda wanted that much emotion. It's a really good fic y'all.