Sid was tired. He'd came off a road trip with two wins and a loss, the latter not something he was happy about . He was never happy when his team lost, because as the captain, he wanted to lead to his team to victory for every game. They got back to Pittsburgh pretty late and instead of going to bed, he'd ended up in his gym at home, smashing out a two hour work out before he finally took a shower and went to bed. He'd started working out more at home, especially when Kathy wasn't home. That was becoming a more frequent situation and he was lucky if he saw her once a week, they'd drifted apart quite a bit which was hard for him because she'd been with him so long, it was weird her not being so present anymore.
They barely argued, she had supported him through a shit load of ups and downs but over the last eight months or so, they just hadn't been on the same page. The sex wasn't there anymore, they'd tried a few times but he knew deep down it just wasn't working, it was still good sex but nowhere near what they were familiar with. It was just off.
He had texted her when he woke up, asking her if she was going to be home tonight because they needed to talk. He took another shower before getting dressed and packing up his bag, he was going to morning skate which was optional but since he was home alone with nothing better to do, he thought he may as well fill in his time.
"Hey Duper." He nodded a hello as he walked into the locker room, seeing his buddy already in his skates. "How's it goin'?"
"A little achey, my leg feels a little off."
"From that hit?" Sid put his bag down and removed his jacket, looking at Pascal as he just quietly nodded. "Shit."
"I gotta speak to coach, it's just not feeling right."
"Hopefully it's nothing, eh? Got my fingers crossed, buddy."
"See you out there."
Sid nodded, watching Pascal walking out of the locker room to the rink. There was an evident limp and he just knew he was getting scratched for the game tomorrow night, there was no way coach would let him skate with a limp and he wasn't confident he'd even skate through the morning skate. He checked his phone quickly to see that Kathy had texted him, he sat down on the bench to read it and she'd told him she was at her parents but would come home tonight to talk. He was already not looking forward to it, the last thing he wanted was for them to argue.
Twenty minutes went by before he was ready to head out onto the ice, he was looking forward to a few hours of drills and working on some power plays to get his mood up. That, followed by a late lunch with a few of the boys was going to hopefully mean a good day. He needed to keep himself busy until he could see Kathy tonight, he was really starting to miss her and he hoped tonight they could sort it all out.
Aly had been in a meeting all morning. The Pens were on target to clinch a playoff spot which meant the organisation was starting to prepare for a possible win and what would need to be done, just in case. The meeting consisted of several department heads and they were discussing everything from promotional merchandise, advertising, TV and Radio coverage and of course the parade if they won. The parade would be followed by a party at Mario's but he was going to take care of that and if they won, the party would be the day after they got the cup. Aly was tasked with getting ring sizes for all the players and their partners, if they won they'd be sent off to their jeweller and a ceremony would take place. The best part about it, she would get her own ring as part of the organisation and she really wanted the hardware, she had a good feeling about the season this year, they were on fire.
She'd gone down to the training rink because she was meeting up with Kiley who was in town, she was taking her out for lunch before she spent some time with her parents before heading back to Boston. She grabbed her thermal jacket before she headed into the rink, hearing Mike screaming at the guys as they ran a drill. It sounded like positive screaming so she didn't need to approach with caution, seeing there was only a few guys there. She saw Kiley sat on the bench and her heels made a clanking noise as she stepped up into it, making both Sullivans look at her.
"There she is!" Kiley grinned and stood up to give her a hug. "I know I only saw you a few days ago but I feel like it's been so long."
"Well I spent the night with Jeremy so I guess we really didn't see each other, huh?" She laughed as the pulled apart. "He's really funny."
"He told Charlie you were his dream girl but that you weren't interested, so he settled for being your friend." Kiley stuck out her bottom lip for a moment. "Is that not the cutest thing you've ever heard?"
"He's so cute. We're texting quite a bit, mostly just sending each other memes." She turned to watch the drill for a second, seeing Geno speed skating after the puck."
"And there's no chance of a hook up?" Kiley asked, making Aly's head almost fly off her shoulders as she spun back around. "Asking for a friend."
Her back to the rink meant she didn't see the play that was going on, nor did she see the trouble she was about to be in when Geno lamped the puck across the ice but hit it on a weird angle, causing it to go airborne and it was headed straight for Aly's head. Luckily for her, Sid was on it like a shot and although he wouldn't be able to stop it with his body, he could absolutely get his stick on it to stop it from hitting her. He just got his stick on it, with inches to spare.
"Kiley!" She laughed. "No. He's strictly a friend that--" A loud slap noise had her letting out a screech before she turned around to see Sid completely out of breath with his stick still in the air. Mike blew his whistle and the play stopped, it became pretty obvious something had happened.
"Nearly took you out there, eh?" Sid laughed as he put his stick down and leaned on the board. "You ok?"
"What happened?"
"High puck, I just managed to tap it with my stick before it hit ya." He swallowed hard whilst he was trying to stable his breathing. "Would have been a hospital job, that's for sure."
"Always coming to my rescue these days, Sid." She playfully slapped his shoulder before glancing at Kiley. "He felt sorry for me after our night out and made me a bowl of spaghetti to soothe my hangover."
"Oh." Kiley nodded as she grinned, she hadn't been sure what Aly was getting at. "Was she really rough?"
"Yup." He winked at Kiley before he gave a little wave and got back to running the drill with the guys. Aly shook her head because she was still mortified at how hungover she had been, especially for Sid to break his strict routine to give her food. They'd won that night, so it hadn't screwed too much up and Sid had even scored two goals.
"Mike? I'm stealing your daughter to take her to lunch." She called out to him and he nodded, giving them both a little wave. "Can you tell the guys to measure their fingers for potential cup rings? I'll be needing them."
"Sure." He nodded before blowing his whistle at the guys. "See you girls later."
"Bye." Aly gave a little wave before she pulled Kiley away so they could head out for food.
Mike called time and everyone gathered around the bench, it was the end of practice but Mike had some pressing issues to take care of. He'd noticed Pascal was struggling physically and Sid's head seemed to be elsewhere because he just wasn't concentrating and it had taken the risk of a fractured skull for him to get his head back in it, the only reason Geno made the shot was because of a stupid mistake from Sid in the first place which had sent it barrelling up the ice.
"Duper? You're benched. Go get that leg looked at, I'm not happy with the way you're skating on it and I can tell it's causing you some pain. Go on." He pointed his head in the direction of the medical room and Pascal nodded, slowly skating off the ice to a clattering of sticks from his team mates. They all knew he was probably not going to be in the game tomorrow, most of them were shocked he was even skating today.
The guys started to talk amongst themselves and were under the impression that it was over and they'd started heading off the ice when Mike blew his whistle, making them all stop what they were doing.
"Yeah, I'm not done." Mikes tone changed. "Frankly, I'm embarrassed. You guys keep making the same fucking mistakes every time we run a power play drill. This is why we can't kill them. We're heading for the playoffs boys!" He threw his play board down on the floor. "Buck the fuck up! If you wanna win that cup, fucking listen to me and implement what I'm fucking telling you." A muttering of 'Yes coach' and 'Lets go' filled the rink for a moment before Mike broke through it. "Get the fuck out of here, boys."
"Let's go guys, you heard the coach." Sid spoke up and Mike almost swallowed his chewing gum.
"Sid? Come see me in my office." Mike headed off to his small office and Sid started wondering what the hell he had done because you never got called to coach's office unless you'd fucked up and usually he would just call you out on the ice. Today was just going to be one of those days and he really just wanted out of the rink and to hang with some of the boys for a while before he had to have a talk with Kathy. It was a shitty day that was clearly going to get way more shitty for him.
Sid grabbed a shower and deliberately went a lot slower than the other guys, telling them he had to see coach and he'd meet up with them at the restaurant, he knew he'd been off his game today and that was definitely going to be something that Mike was going to pick up on. He would have probably still been absent minded if it hadn't of been for the rogue puck that almost took out Aly and Mike's daughter.
He headed along to Mike's office and lightly tapped on the door frame, making Mike lift his head up and beckon him inside. He closed the door over because it was one thing to get your ass handed to you by your coach but it was quite another for it to be in front of other people.
"What's going on, Sid?" He got straight to it.
Sid shrugged, shaking his head. "Nothing."
"Don't bullshit me, son." Mike closed his play book. "I can tell when you've got something on your mind and you fucked up half of those drills today. Honestly, I'm fuckin' shocked you managed to get to that puck before it hit Aly. Your heads not in it." He clasped his hands together and leaned forward on his desk. "What is up?"
"Nothing, coach." Sid shook his head. "Just had something on my mind but I promise it won't interfere ever again. I promise."
"What is it?"
"Nothing I wanna talk about right now." Sid let out a hefty sigh, immediately clearing his throat because he knew he wasn't doing good job of convincing Mike. "I'm dealing with something today. If it goes beyond today, I promise to tell you all about it. Can you just give me today? I just need today, coach."
"It's nothing bad is it?"
He shook his head. "Nothing that would have you concerned, coach. Just give me today, please?"
Mike thought about it for a moment. "Alright, fine. But you come to me if this is going to be a thing because what I saw on the ice today was nothing I wanna see again, especially from you."
"You got it." He smiled. "Am I ok to head out?"
"Yeah, get the fuck out of here." Mike nodded before he went back to making up plays for tomorrows practice. He quickly glanced up to see Sid nodding before he headed out and he just hoped that Sid was telling him the truth and that he was going to be back to normal tomorrow.
*****************************************
Sid wasn't often confused by things, pretty much everything around him tended to be very straightforward. Puck goes in goal. Leaning forwards makes you skate forward. Hitting someone with a stick puts you in the penalty box for two minutes. It was black and white with him.
Until this moment.
He was standing in the middle of his living room, staring at Kathy who was sat on the couch and neither of them were talking, he didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing. He started to sway, shoving his hands into the pockets of his sweats and when he got tired of doing that after thirty seconds, he moved to a different spot and did it again. Each time he moved, he could see Kathy getting more and more visibly annoyed by what he was doing.
"Talk to me, Sid."
"I'm trying to." He pulled his left hand out of his pocket and smeared it down his face. "I'm thinking of what to say."
"Well that doesn't sound good." She sat forward, a worried look washing over her face. "Are you ok? Have you got injured or--"
"Nothing like that."
"Then what is it?" She slowly stood up, walking over to him so she could put her hands on his waist. She tried to look in his eyes but he couldn't look at her, those chocolate orbs of his stared off into the unknown and she figured out what he was trying to say. "Oh, that's what you wanted to talk about."
Sid swallowed hard, finally looking at her. "Kathy, I--" He shook his head, he didn't know how to say it without it sounding like he'd given up or that he didn't love her because he definitely did. He did love her, he just didn't think he was in love with her anymore. "I love you, but--"
"But it's over?"
"I'm sorry, Kathy." He exhaled slowly and she removed her hands from his waist. "I just feel like we've drifted apart and whilst I know I love you, I don't know that I'm in love with you."
"Oh thank god." Kathy threw her arms around his neck, surprising him. "Sid, I've been feeling the exact same way."
"You have?" He had such a puzzled look on his face, more so when she looked at him and he instinctively put his hands on her lower back. "Since when?"
"A while." She tickled the back of his neck with her nails. "I was telling my mom today that I thought this was it for us, I think it's for the best. I'd rather have you in my life as a friend than to let our relationship run sour and lose you altogether."
"We're more alike than I thought." He grinned, pressing his forehead against hers. "You're an amazing woman, Kathy. You're beautiful and I want nothing but for you to be happy."
"You too, Sid." She pulled away from him and started to play with the thread on her cardigan sleeve. "I guess I should get my things together and give you my key?"
Sid nodded. He was kind of speechless about everything, it had gone a lot smoother than he thought and it was such a relief for him to know she'd felt the exact same way and now he was going to be starting a new phase in his life. He'd not been single in the longest time and he wasn't about to announce it to anyone either, if Kathy wanted to tell the WAGs, she could but it wasn't something he'd bet on her telling anyone. Not for a while at least and plus, he didn't need the puck bunnies zeroing in on him because they'd found out he was single.
Short and sweet. Sorry not Sorry
Fun Fact: I have a tattoo on my left forearm of a Jellyfish named Duper (Because of Pascal Dupuis). I love and miss Pascal being a Penguin ❤️
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