Excerpt from hockey fanfiction (Crosby x OC)
Sidney took Anthony to a pizzeria he loved (mostly because the food there was always free for him), and their conversation made him forget everything about the incident that had occurred back at the arena. Anthony eagerly talked about himself, and Sidney couldn’t help but think that it was really cute. The boy was passionate about things that weren’t hockey. For someone so good at it, it came off as a little unexpected.
“You like to sing?” he repeated, not even bothering to hide his amusement.
Anthony scratched his head, eyes wandering between his plate and his Coke. “I do. I was going to record an album, but it just never happened. School kept me busy. I write my own songs, you know. It’s really... fun.” He tapped his foot nervously. “What do you like to do, anyway?”
“I pretty much only play hockey,” Sidney admitted. For the first time in his life, he was nearly ashamed of it. Sure, it was great to pick up girls with single-tracked minds, or to impress distant relatives. But when it came to coming off as more than what he appeared to be – which he wasn’t, really – it was quite a failure. He didn’t sing, he had never touched a guitar, he barely knew the rules to any other sport, and his second favorite hobby was to watch tv.
“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense.” Anthony’s forced, quiet laugh made Sidney’s heart sink. “It really paid off. You’re one of the best... if not the best player in the NHL right now.”
“Until you get on the team, yeah,” he joked.
Anthony smiled bashfully, folding a corner of his napkin. “I’m not that good. You’ll really have to teach me everything you know.”
“Will do,” he assured him, and gave him a thumb up. “I already got your back, Ant.”
The boy raised his head. “Wow. It’s the first time you’ve called me by my first name. Can I...?”
“Dude. We’re practically teammates by now. Just... not exactly. Still. Pretty much the same thing. And we’re friends now.”
Anthony’s smile widened. “Okay, cool. Sidney.” He chuckled. “Wow, it’s so weird.”
And weird it was, indeed, because Sidney was abnormally happy to hear the boy say his name like that. To be fair, he hadn’t made new friends in a long time, and it was probably just confirming that he still had social skills back in “real life”. That alone was something to be glad about.
His mood stayed exactly that way – oddly cheerful – until he dropped off Anthony at his house.
“Thanks for everything, it was really nice to get to go out for a change.”
“No, thank you for accepting the invitation. I wasn’t sure you’d want to hang out,” Sidney confided.
“You mean, after I caught you being a creep in the showers?”
Anthony had spoken with disarming innocence, not even trying to make Sidney feel bad. Except he did feel bad, and would have probably liked to be able to slide under the dashboard right then and hide from the world. Or just Anthony.
“I was only returning your towel,” he argued faintly, not sounding particularly convincing. “I wasn’t going to do anything stupid, I mean clearly, that’s Staal’s job and not mine, and I’m sorry if you –”
Anthony didn’t seem to want to hear the rest of it. Or maybe he did; but his instincts took over and he found himself leaning forward and planting a kiss on Sidney’s mouth.
Sidney wasn’t horrified. Or if he was, it was simply at the fact that he wasn’t horrified in the first place. That didn’t stop him from jerking away violently enough to hit the honk with his elbow.
“s**t. I’m sorry.” Anthony quickly unbuckled his seatbelt, so nervous and clumsy that it took what seemed like an eternity for both of them. “I’ll see you at practice tomorrow.” He opened the door and stumbled out. “Please just forget this. I have no idea why I did that. It was way stupid.”
Sidney watched him run to his house, drop his keys in the driveway, run back to pick them up, and finally making in inside. And even after several minutes spend staring at the door, with his car inconveniently still parked in the street, he had no idea what the ******** had just happened.
