NHL Imagines

Andrei Svechnikov - Break My Heart

Warnings: Swearing/language, light angst, insecurities, mentions of cheating

Word Count: 1.6k

After 15 minutes of standing in front of the Carolina Hurricanes locker room, you began to regret coming down. You felt so awkward and intimidated standing next to some of the players' SO's. Even though you had been dating superstar Andrei Svechnikov for almost two months, it wasn't official yet, so you didn't feel like you belonged.

"Earth to Y/N." Your best friend and roommate, Katie, elbowed you lightly in the side, and you turned your head to meet her expectant gaze. "What's going on in that maze of a mind of yours?"

"Nothing," you brushed off her comment, "I just can't wait for the reporters to get out of there."

"I don't know how to thank you for tonight. This is probably the best birthday present I've ever received!" Katie gushed.

You smiled for a moment before the frown returned. "I didn't technically get it for you, you know. It was Andrei."

"Gee, I had no idea." Katie's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Of course it was Andrei who got you the seats. But you're the reason I got here in the first place. If you weren't dating him, we'd be back in the nosebleeds and my epic chirps would get lost in the vacuum."

You couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of her spouting her mouth off earlier tonight in the rink-side seats. Katie was an avid Hurricanes fan, and instead of tuning you out, Andrei had apparently listened to you rant about not knowing what to get her for her birthday last week because he called you earlier today to let you know that the tickets would be waiting at will-call. It was incredibly thoughtful of him, but it just reminded you yet again of the uncertainty of your relationship. The two of you acted like boyfriend-girlfriend, but the label was missing.

Generally, you couldn't give two shits about labels. You thrived on doing things people didn't expect of you, like getting a purple clip-in streak for your hair when you were only 14. But this was different; Andrei was different. You were falling in love with him and needed to know that he felt the same way.

You occasionally wished you'd gone straight home after class because the minute you met Andrei at the coffee shop near campus, he had you hooked, and you feared he'd break your heart. There was no way a gorgeous superstar athlete like him could possibly be interested in someone like you. Not that you were ugly, but you were introverted and often preferred books to people. And yet, none of that seemed to matter to Andrei. It defied logic, and your insecurities were eating you alive to the point that you needed to either define your relationship or end it.

Katie snapped her fingers in front of your face, startling you. "That's it. What's wrong?"

You sighed. "I just wish Andrei would tell me if he sees this thing going anywhere."

"Are you kidding me? Everyone who's got eyes knows that the boy is head over heels for you, Y/N!"

"But he hasn't asked me to be his girlfriend."

Katie scrunched her face up in concentration, which you knew meant she was thinking of a solution to your conundrum. Her eyes flashed like a light bulb and she said, "Who says he has to ask you? Ask him." You started to protest, but she cut you off. "It's clearly bothering you, so you should be honest with him."

You were about to protest again when Andrei finally emerged from the locker room with Jordan Staal, Brock McGinn, and Justin Williams. "Hey, babe." He kissed you on the lips before turning toward Katie. "As an early birthday present, I thought you'd like to meet some of my teammates."