NHL Imagines

Hello |Mitch Marner|

The city was gorgeous in the fall. The sun reflected off the tall buildings and the air was slightly cool, a breeze blowing through my hair. I was heading from the harbour towards the university when I saw you. You were leaning outside the ACC with a few of your teammates. My heart stopped at the sight of you. 

You hadn't changed at all.

It had been months and I was still drawn to you. To the way your hair sat messily on top of your head. To your smile that was always genuine and always present. To your inviting demeanour. And to all the memories that came flooding back to me every time I saw you.

And then you looked up. 

Our eyes met and recognition flashed in your eyes. You were remembering everything I was. Our friendship. Our memories. Our past.

The building looked terrifying. The bright colours and cheerful pictures did nothing to make my four year old self feel more comfortable. My mom pushed me towards the door gently, the other kids already lined up to go inside. I clutched the straps of my little pink backpack tighter, hoping my mom would take me home and never bring me back. Looking back towards my mom, she gave me a comforting smile and nudged me ahead once more. I sighed and turned around to be face to face with a little boy who was grinning from ear to ear. I gave him a small nervous smile in return. He grinned even wider, pushing his shaggy brown hair out of his face. 

"Hi! I'm Mitch, what's your name?"

"I'm-uh- (Y/N)."

He ignored my timidness, "Cool name! Do you want to line up with me? It's my first day."

I nodded and he grabbed my hand, pulling me along with him towards the door. His backpack seemed much to big for him, hitting him just above the back of the knees with every step he took. This quickly became routine and we did the same thing until the end of kindergarten.

You were still standing in the exact same spot, your eyes still meeting mine. You looked almost in disbelief. Almost as if you had seen a ghost.

Mitch had decided to hang out with his friends from hockey during lunch so I sat on little bench by our school alone, reading a book I had gotten from the library. It was pretty warm outside for June and I had decided to throw my hair up into a ponytail to keep it off of my neck. Reading was something I had always loved so I got lost in my book quickly. While I was distracted, one of the boys from my class, Devin, had run up behind me and yanked my hair. Devin always picked on me when Mitch wasn't around. No one would dare pick on me when he was around. Even at 12, he like to make sure no one was bothering me. I decided to ignore Devin and went back to reading my book when I felt another sharp tug on my hair. I whipped my head around to see Devin standing there laughing at me. 

"Can you please stop pulling my hair?" I asked politely, hoping he would leave me alone.

"Why should I?" 

"Because it hurts and isn't very kind of you."

"Why would I be kind to-"

"Hey (Y/N), what's going on here?" Mitch walked over, immediately standing in between Devin and I.

"It's nothing Mitch. Go back to your hockey friends." 

"No. Devin is obviously bugging you and he needs to quit it." Mitch stared at Devin with an intimidating glare.

"I'm sorry, Mitch. I-I-I'll leave her alone." Devin ran off towards the other side of the schoolyard.

Mitch turned to me with a serious look on his face. I knew he would be mad at me for not telling him.