Lost and found | f. Andersen
Can you write a piece with Freddie Andersen about the reader and him being friends and the reader leaves town for a few months and while the reader is gone Freddie realizes he has feelings?
Summary: Freddie doesn't realize what he's missing until its gone
Scotiabank arena was far too quiet for Fred's liking. While there was a constant chatter and rustling of staff in the background of his surroundings, the building was missing the usual light hearted hum of laughter that he had grown to love. While there were members of the franchise running left and right, there was one missing. Y/N. The equipment manager's assistant had recently taken a leave of absence to further her career in Calgary. There was no telling when she would come back, or if she even would. But Freddie was hoping that it would be sooner rather than later.
In his time with the leafs, he had found out very quickly that it was hard to make friends. Toronto was a lonely place outside of his teammates, and when Y/N suddenly entered his life- well, she made that loneliness disappear for a while.
The first day Fred had ever met Y/N was engrained on the back of his memory like a tattoo. He had been running late after having some car troubles and through his haste of rushing through the catacombs of the building, he had ran into Y/N- Colliding with her frame and sending her crashing to the floor. "Shit I'm sorry!" He cursed, quickly backtracking and reaching out to help her up.
He noticed that she was wearing a royal blue warmup sweater with the leafs logo on the shoulder. He hadn't seen her before but at first glance he had noticed how beautiful she was. Her eyes were kind and her smile was contagious- she just had this positive energy that made him gravitate towards her.
"Uh- fans aren't supposed to be down here." He stuttered out. He couldn't figure out what to say and sadly that was the first thing that popped into his head, or rather fell out of his mouth.
Thankfully, Y/N didn't take offence to it. She waved him off with a smile, her eyes crinkling at the edges as her cheeks raised. "Its a good thing I'm not a fan than huh?" She asked. Immediately, her eyes widened at the realization of what she said. "Thats not what I meant- I mean of course I'm a fan, the team is great- but im not like A FAN-" she bit her lip realizing she was making it worse.
Quickly, the woman stuck out her hand and offered Freddie a nervous laugh. "My name is Y/N. I work here- please don't get me fired." She stumbled over her words.
The reddish haired man felt his entire world slow down, seemingly forgetting that he was late for practice. He couldn't help but think her nervousness was cute. "I'm Fred- its nice to meet you." He smiled, taking her smaller hand into his own- his calloused grip was rough against the woman's soft and delicate palm.
"Aren't you supposed to be on the ice right now?" Y/N asked softly, picking up her clipboard and duffle bag that she had dropped as her and the goalie started walking through the tunnels towards the rink.
"Yeah- I got some car troubles, took me a while to get the damn thing boosted." Frederick groaned at the recollection.
Pouting softly, Y/N nodded. "Same- I had to walk here. It was really cold." She shivered at the thought. She was not looking forward to having to walk home again later that afternoon. Maybe if she was lucky she could grab a ride from one of the other staff members, or perhaps have her roommate come pick her up.
Freddie shared in the woman's pain. "Well, If I'm still around when you're ready to leave- I can give you a ride." It was a friendly offer, one that Freddie didn't entirely mean- but he knew it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world- something about this woman had drawn him in. She wasn't fussing over him like he was a celebrity, in fact, she was carrying on with the conversation as if they had known each other for years. It was refreshing.
Smiling up at the man, Y/N shook her head. "I appreciate it, but I can walk- I wouldn't want to be an inconvenience." Now that was certainly something that Freddie hadn't expected, usually if he offered something, people jumped right to it just cause they thought they were getting something from him.
This woman intrigued him.
As they approached a fork in the hallway tunnels, Freddie sighed. He would have to leave now- part of him wanted to stay and talk to Y/N, but he knew that she had work to do as well. "I'll see you around?" He asked softly, gripping the strap of his duffle bag on his arm as he backed away into the direction of the rink.
Y/N was already on her way in the opposite direction, spinning around on her heel and offering him a laugh. "Sure!"
Before Freddie knew it, she was gone from sight.
Over time the two of them started seeing more and more of each other, whether it was because of a coincidence or purely because Freddie wanted to see her. He had started making extra trips to the equipment room, coming up with reasons to be there- such as, his skates felt off, or he wanted to see what new gear they had in.
No one was used to seeing one the the leafs star players down in the undergrounds so often.
But Y/N took it in stride, she was pleasant to Freddie and everyone else she came into contact with, a pure glow radiating from every interaction people had with her. It wasn't hard to be her friend- which is exactly why Freddie had asked if she wanted to go for coffee.
"Its not a date- I promise, I just think you're nice, and I don't have many friends." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. There was a grin toying at the side of his lips but he was far too nervous to let it fully develop.
Furrowing her brows, The woman of interest had given him a once over. "I find that hard to believe." She admitted. How was it that this incredibly nice man had no friends? Especially when he was a hockey player.
Freddie just shrugged. "Well- maybe if you let me take you for coffee, you can figure out why." He joked, the ring of Y/N's laughter in his ears made her nerves melt away instantly, she just had this alluring and welcoming aura that he loved to chase.
So going for coffee because a regular occurrence, before games or after practice- Freddie had started to make a habit of hanging out around the girl from the equipment room. If he wasn't able to make a coffee time, he always ensured that he brought one for the woman the next time he saw her, and in return she did the same.
Their coffee habits had translated into dinner and lunch once a week- and it wasn't long after that, that Freddie had started inviting Y/N over to his apartment in the city. They watched Netflix and he did his best to teach her words in Danish, or rather dansk. She wasn't great but she tried.
For the first time since moving to Toronto, Freddie felt comfortable. He knew his routine, he enjoyed it and it was safe. There were no hidden meanings behind anything with Y/N- if she felt something she would tell him. Sometimes she was blunt, but Freddie knew that he could over think things excessively, so having her honesty was for the best.
There were only a few occasions in which Freddie couldn't get a read on Y/N. After knowing her for over a year, she had become pretty much an open book to him. They talked about their dates together and laughed in the terrible outcomes of said dates- and Freddie learned about her family, knowing all about where they were from to even having met them on several occasions when they were in town.
But towards the end of their second year as friends, Y/N had suddenly grown quiet. She was unreadable and that bothered Freddie immensely. He hated that his safe space was suddenly changing. "Are you okay?" He asked her one night, they were sitting on her living room couch watching episodes of some Netflix original that he had long forgotten the name of. Each holding a container of take out in hand, he noticed that Y/N was extremely focused on stabbing her fork into a piece of meat.
Y/N suddenly glanced up and him and had tears in her eyes. Causing Freddie to drop his food on the table and turn to take her hands into his own. "Hey hey what's going on?" He asked worriedly.
He could see the torment in his friend's eyes, how glossy they were as she took a breath to collect herself. "I got a job in Calgary." She mumbled. And suddenly just like that, Freddie's safe space had been ruined. The warm and cozy bubble that he had created was suddenly popped.
It wasn't fair for him to wish that she would turn it down. But he did. Inside he was praying that she was going to say no and that she was going to stay there with him. He didn't know if he could go back to being alone after having her in his life. Even if it was as a friend, her presence had changed him. He finally knew what it was like to feel happy and comfortable- would all of that suddenly change when she left? Would she take his happiness away with her?
Y/N had been working so hard to advance her career. This was a once in a lifetime offer. She wouldn't just be the equipment manager's assistant anymore, she wouldn't be given runt work- she would be the one in charge- her status would change and so would her financials.
But was it worth leaving everything in Toronto behind.
All of her life she had been trying to find something meaningful, and suddenly her friendship with Freddie had provided that. But was it enough? There was no doubt that Y/N had slowly been developing feelings for the Red haired man. But he had shown no signs of reciprocation in that department.
He was good at hiding the way he felt, so he swallowed his pride and smiled. "Thats amazing! When do you leave?" He asked, trying to keep the rawness in his throat from becoming too noticeable.
Y/N took a deep breath. "Next week." She told him. Life in the NHL moved fast, almost too fast to process- but Y/N knew that if she wanted this job, she didn't really have time to hesitate and think about it.
Freddie knew that too.
"Well we best get packing then- welcome to the big leagues!" Freddie forced out a smile, trying his best to seem happy for her. He was... But not if it meant that he was going to lose her.
And so that night their time usually spent with takeout and trashy TV had been replaced with stacks of cardboard boxes and trash bags that were filled with clothes for the donation centre. Y/N was really leaving.
For the first month, Freddie was able to ignore YN's absence. He texted her as often as he could and she did the same. But once the season really started to get underway, it was harder to stay connected. On the rare occasions that Y/N would come to Toronto with the flames- they would meet each other for coffee and laugh just like old times, but it never really felt the same. At the end of their rendezvous, they had to say goodbye and each time that got harder.
Freddie was losing his mind. He missed Y/N dearly and it showed in his performance. His friends and teammates had sat him down and talked to him about it- causing Freddie to not only confess his feelings for the girl that moved away, but also causing him to admit that fact to himself. He loved her.
She was his person and he knew that the moment she told him she was leaving.
So day after day, Freddie did his best to pull himself together. He acted like everything was fine on their phone calls and he even made an effort to go out and try and date just to distract himself. But it never worked. He was fine for the first half of the date, but whenever it escalated to something more, he found himself coming up with reasons for why he didn't want to take the woman home-
Y/N had been trying to find her footing in Alberta, and while working with the team was fine, she was lonely. She thought that this major upgrade in her job would give her a sense of purpose, but she felt more empty than ever. She no longer had that smile and laugh that used to follow her around at the Scotiabank arena. Her exhaustion was getting the better of her and she was irritable all the time.
She spent most of her nights looking at pictures and videos from the leafs' instagram and social media, it was too hard to look at the pictures of her and Freddie in her camera roll. Y/N knew that she missed him, and she knew that she had feelings for him- she loved him too.
It took her an entire year to finally build up the guts to do something about it. And When Y/N wanted to do something, she never did it in a simple way- she was pretty dramatic like that. So saying goodbye to the flames and the saddle dome arena, Y/N quit her job and took a flight back to Toronto.
Y/N wasn't one to show up unannounced at her friends or family's houses. But she thought that this situation called for desperate measures. After all, who would turn down a heartfelt confession in the middle of the night?
It wasn't hard to get into Freddie's building which was slightly concerning. One glance at the security guard and she was in- Ernie was a nice old man and he had seen Freddie and Y/N together many a times. There was no reason for him to worry about her.
Taking the elevator up to Freddie's floor, Y/N's heart started pounding and she felt like she could hear her own pulse in her hears- her throat was suddenly achingly dry, as if she hadn't drank water in days. Her hands made themselves busy by picking at her coat sleeves, the nerves practically eating her alive.
But soon the doors opened and with them, Y/N's anxiety washed away. Freddie was standing at his apartment door with his duffle bag on his shoulders- the same blue one that he had used since the very first day they met. His curls were blazing hot red and his scruff was trimmed neatly.
Once glance at him and Y/N knew that she was home.
"Fred!" She called. Pushing through the elevator and making her way down the hallway.
Whipping his head around, Freddie was in full shock, barely processing what he was seeing before Y/N had crashed into his chest- embracing him tightly. Letting his bag fall the floor the man wrapped his arms around her. His eyes lit up like a thousand fireworks and he felt his heart clench. "Y/N! What are you doing here?" He gasped- "Are you okay?- did something happen?" He quickly pulled back and pressed a hand to her cheek to inspect her, if someone had hurt her he was going out for blood.
Y/N smiled brightly. "I am perfect... I am so perfect." She told him, unable to stop smiling- the light that Freddie had been missing in his life and that Y/N had seemingly lost was suddenly radiating off of her. "Im back Freddie..." she told him, her voice hanging above a whisper as she looked into his eyes.
Confusion flashed across the goalie's face, his features contorting as he took note of what she said.
"Im back freddie- I quit my job I left Calgary." Y/N spoke quickly. "I came back for you." She confessed.
And like that everything was out in the open.
There was no telling how long Freddie had wanted to hear something like that, he couldn't believe that it was really happening and he had to all but stop himself from pinching his skin to wake up from a dream. If this was a dream he certainly didn't want it to end.
"You came back for me?" He affirmed.
Y/N nodded, her hair brushing into her face as she moved closer to him. "I know that we have been friends all this time, and that when you first asked me to hang out- you swore it wasn't a date... But I cant be friends anymore Freddie. I love you- and I want to be with you..."
A giant smile stretched upon the man's cheeks, his arms reached ut and he brought her crashing into his chest once more- kissing the top of her head. "I love you too.... I love you so much." His days had been darker without her near, but she was back and she wasn't leaving him again. She was there for him and he would do his best to never let her go.
Pulling away, Freddie leaned forward and captured her lips against his, his hands grasping at her hips as he kissed her on the doorstep of his apartment. They were soft and moulded against his just perfectly.
They were the perfect fit, and Freddie knew that was exactly what they were. She was his missing piece and he was hers.