Breaking The Ice

Do It

"Here, guys." Rex said as he headed over to the table with a plate full of eggs. "I made breakfast, eat up before it gets cold."

"Thanks." I said as I awkwardly pulled at the bottom of Harry's t-shirt, walking toward the table as Shawn pulled out a chair for me.

Our entire table was full of food, spinach and egg white omelettes, fresh fruit, toast and turkey bacon everywhere as the boys all loaded their plates like they were never gonna eat again. Mac was whipping up protein smoothies in the blender as we all dug in, delivering them one by one as they were ready.

"I could get used to this." I smiled up at Rex as he set a glass of juice down in front of me, never having been waited on in my own apartment like that by anyone but Harry.

Rex just chuckled as he headed back to the kitchen and started washing up the dishes, and the room was relatively quiet despite the sounds of chewing and dishes clanking. I suspected they were all doing their best to mentally prepare themselves, making sure they were focused, the weight of it all sitting on top of our shoulders. It was a strange thing for me, on one hand knowing it was just one game and we'd already accomplished so much just by being there, but on the other knowing how bad we wanted it and feeling like if we lost nothing else we did would matter.

We were competitors, through and through, and we would settle for nothing less than what we deserved. We all knew we could do it, and the only thing standing in our way was ourselves.

***********

The locker room was silent.

We'd all quietly put on all our gear, laced up our skates and thrown on our jerseys, and there was nothing left to do but play.

I looked around the room, a room that used to be full of so much chaos and animosity, and I was overcome with a sense of peace. I don't know that I'd ever seen it so quiet, where everyone was just taking a few minutes to gather themselves, and it brought a small smile to my face at how far we'd come not only as a team, but individually.

Niall was anxiously bouncing his leg up and down as he held his stick in his hand, looking down at the ground. Chase had his eyes closed as he silently prayed to himself, clutching his necklace in his hand as he asked for whatever help the universe could give us. The room was full of lucky charms, little rituals we all believed were good luck, and we all seemed to be doing our best to make sure that none of us did anything to mess up our juju.

Rex had put his gear on exactly the same order as he had the last 15 games, Liam hadn't washed his socks since the playoffs started, which was unfortunately a price we were all paying. Shawn carried his lucky mickey mouse keychain that he got when he was four at Disneyland everywhere he went, tucked safely into his glove for the game, and I had taken my pregame nap in my grandpa's red wing jersey.

I looked over at Harry, who had multiple pre-game rituals he'd already completed, but I knew he always saved his most important one until right before we left the locker room. He was clutching his cup of tea in his hand, looking rather relaxed, and I smiled as I reached over and tucked a piece of his hair behind his ear.

He turned to look a me, a soft smile crossing his lips as he took my hand and kissed the back of it, before he laced his fingers through mine and rested our hands on his leg. He gave my hand a gentle squeeze, his own way of letting me know we were in this together, before my brother entered the room and took his place in the middle while Coach Bell stood behind him.

"Well, guys." He smiled. "This is it."

We all nodded quietly, thankful that our pre-game speech was being delivered by one of our own, someone we loved and respected so much. Louis knew what this moment meant to all of us, he was one of us, and he'd led us all back to the top when we needed him. Coach Bell had been there for us of course, but Louis had really taken the reigns, relieved some of the pressure off Harry, and allowed us to focus on hockey again.