nhl one-shots | completed

xiv | david pastrnak

MORE THAN FRIENDS

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"How could you let me do that to you?"

David blinked at her as if he was having trouble understanding her words. Surely, it wasn't the reaction he had been expecting when he had confessed his feelings towards his best friend, who he had known since he had been able to walk.

"What?" he questioned, having trouble understanding her reaction.

"All this time I was hurting you and I didn't know," she told him quietly. She was utterly shocked by his confession. All the time she had spent listening to her friends talk about the two of them, about how they would be the perfect couple. The thought of him having to sit through all of that and hide his feelings hurt more than she could have ever imagined.

"You were happyーwe were happy. I didn't want that to change," he told her, his accent even thicker than usual -- a sign he was trying to hide his emotions.

She sat down, covering her face with her hands as she took a shaky breath. She didn't know what to do or say. All she could manage was, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" he questioned softly, moving to crouch in front of her.

"You deserve so much more than me," she said, clearly trying to hold back tears. "You are so amazing and I'm so lucky to have you in my life and you deserve a girl that loves you and I'm so sorry that I can't beー"

He interrupted her by taking her trembling hands off of her face, holding them with his. "I've been here this long haven't I?" he said, smiling up at her sadly. "I've been here through everything and I don't plan for that to change. My feelings aren't going to change anything, (Your Name)."

"I wish I could love you," she sobbed. She hadn't exactly been trying to control her emotions, but whatever effort she was subconsciously making had stopped working completely.

David hated seeing her like this. He hated that it was his fault. His dumb feelings had caused her to break down into sobs and he hated it. He wanted to be able to stop her from crying but he couldn't.

Instead, he stayed in front of her, gently rubbing her hands with his thumbs as she cried. He wanted to say something but he felt like he was unable to.

"I'm such a mess," she mumbled, managing to smile at him through the last few tears.

David didn't respond. Instead, he smiled before leaning up and kissing her forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow," he said softly before leaving the room.

They didn't see each other the next day. In fact, they didn't speak for a long time after that, and that hurt David more than anything she could have said that night. He wanted to know what he had done wrong. He had been with (Your Name) forever. For as long as he had been debating telling her about how he felt, he had had enough time to figure out that most-likely, nothing was going to change.

(Your Name), on the other hand, was confused. She didn't want to hurt him, so she left, as much as it hurt her to do so. She didn't want to continue to hurt him like that. Even though she cared about him more than anything, and his confession completely fucked with her emotions, she had to.

They didn't see each other until the day before David left for America to fulfill his dreams of playing hockey. When he spotted her, he stopped in his tracks. She was dressed casually but she still looked beautiful.

They got a chance to talk to each other near the end of the party, when many of the people had already left. (Your Name) found David alone, leaning against the balcony railing and looking up at the dark night sky.

"I'm proud of you," she said as she stood next to him. David glanced at her but didn't respond. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt you."

"Did you ever consider that leaving hurt me even more?" he questioned softly.

That quieted her very quickly. She looked down at his hand, which was resting on the railing. She reached out to grab his hand, intertwining her fingers with his. He looked down at their hands, then up at her.

"Are you willing to forgive me?" she asked quickly.

He looked at her for a few long moments before answering. "Of course, (Your Name). You're my best friend."

He turned towards her and she wrapped her arms around him, hiding her face in his chest. "I want to be more than that."

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08.06.17