backupthere

[backupthere]

This isn't what I'm "supposed" to be writing, but given that I've not been writing at all recently I was happy to have this fall out of my head fully-formed this morning while I was supposed to be working...

*

Number Seventeen flops angrily onto the wooden bench, and Elliot shuts and bolts the door before taking the half-step back to his usual position when the box is occupied.

Sometimes when the box is empty and the game is dragging he’ll sit on the bench himself, but right now that seat is taken up with-

Well.

Elliot considers Number Seventeen out of the corner of his eye. Sometimes the guys want to chat, but Elliot always lets them lead on that, and right now Number Seventeen is just… steaming.

Figuratively and literally. Harry “Sandy” Sanderton, Second Pair Defense, is steaming mad about the penalty call, as the guys so often are, but he’s also literally steaming because it’s cold in here and he’s just been putting a lot of physical effort into the play that landed him in Elliot’s custody. There’s a gleam of sweat on his exposed skin, but he’s also sniffing like he needs to blow his nose, and as Elliot pretends he’s not watching Sanderton spits onto the floor of the penalty box.

At least it was the other side to where Elliot is standing. 

Elliot glances up at the clock and turns his attention back to the game, trying not to breathe through his nose.

Most people don’t understand why Elliot does this, why he gives up his weekend evenings for a team of enormous disgusting hockey players, why he has a voluntary job which puts him in such close proximity to the kind of bodily ooze that has him reaching for his can of Crisp Linen Dettol Antibacterial Room Spray every time the box empties. (Lemon Breeze makes Elliot sneeze, and Orchard Blossom was vetoed by the timekeeper because it gives her migraines.) It’s hard to explain it, especially to people who don’t watch hockey, largely because the reason is because Fuck You.

Somebody made a joke about how boys like Elliot don’t like sport, expect for looking at the players, so Elliot found the sport with the best combination of violence and shapeless padding.

Somebody said that guys like Elliot are delicate and don’t like being uncomfortable, so Elliot spends every weekend freezing his balls off in an ice rink.

Somebody said that men like Elliot are fussy and demanding and have to have everything just so, so Elliot suffers through close proximity to the stench of warm hockey players who’ve never learned his name, on floors that have almost certainly never been mopped. (He’s keeping his Dettol. A man has limits.)

Because Fuck You.

And somewhere along the line he started accidentally enjoying the whole thing.

[backupthere]

I was tagged by @princesstillyenna to share the last six sentences of my current WIP. I’m currently actively ignoring two WIPS at the same time, so here are six sentences from the last paragraph of the current Back Up There WIP:

(the other WIP is in the Ditch or Date universe, if anybody wants that one too…)

~~

Thomas and Mark weren’t the only guys on the team who had some reservations when Mike announced their goaltending setup for this season. Boxer’s a solid nettie, a clear starter at this level, but his day job requires him to travel and he’s just not available for every single game. After the way that Fitzy crumbled under the pressure when Boxer was away last year, they needed a stronger back-up, and Mike was clearly trying to solve for this when he recruited not one but two new goalies. It’s just that they’re both still only sixteen.

They’re good, they’re both talented players who have great careers ahead of them, but the two of them added together are the same age as Thomas or Mark.

They also go to the school that both Thomas and Mark teach at.

~~

I am going to tag @swedishgoaliemafia and then as I have lost track of who has already been caught by this post, I would specifically like to invite anybody who feels (like I do) kind of awkward about picking up the tagged challenges when they haven’t been tagged - I want to see what you’re working on (and I’d love to know who’s up for being tagged in the future!)

[backupthere]

Hochzeitsfotographie

Daniela loves weddings.

[backupthere]

...what happened next...?

[February 2018]

“Where’s your mum, Lolly?” Craig’s looking around for Chelsea, and then realises that Dieter’s obviously heading right for them.

Lolly shakes her head, because she knows that Chelsea’s not there, but Craig’s half a step ahead. “Is this your dad?” He crouches down to Lolly’s height and points to Dieter.

Dieter braces himself for the usual round of explanations, but Lolly just nods, diverting the thumb that she was probably about to put in her mouth despite Chelsea’s efforts to get her to break that habit and reaches out for Dieter to pick her up.

“Hi, Mäuschen. Have you had fun?” He settles her on his hip and she grabs hold of the back of his hoodie, pulling the neckline against his throat.

“Ja.” Lolly buried her face against his shoulder, and Dieter tugs his collar back into a position that allows him to breathe, making eye contact with Craig as he does so. Craig looks like he’s been in Dieter’s position many times.

One day Lolly will be too heavy for this. One day she’ll be too grown up to want him to pick her up. She starts school in September.

“Are you going to say bye to George?” Dieter bounces Lolly a little to make her look up. 

“Bye George.”

“Finley!” Craig’s looking past Dieter into the crowd of kids. “Your dad’s here!”

Dieter turns around to find Finley. Finley’s looking confused, probably because he hasn’t seen his dad in over a year so far as Dieter knows, but then he sees Dieter and Lolly and he smiles and comes running over.

“I got one for Lolly too!” 

Dieter doesn’t ask one what? because Finley’s already passing him two plastic bags despite Dieter’s hands being full with Lolly. It’s probably more cake, as if they hadn’t had enough sugar already.

“Thank you for inviting us.” Finley covers being polite for both himself and his sister. Dieter’s proud of him.

“You’re very welcome.” Craig smiles, and then nods to Dieter and turns away to make sure that the rest of the kids are allocated to the correct parents.

“Ready?” Dieter checks with Finley. “Where’s your coat?”

Lolly’s tired enough that she lets Dieter carry her all the way to the car and do her seatbelt for her. Finley’s been chattering about the party all the way across the car park, but as he’s doing up his own seatbelt he suddenly switches topic mid sentence.

“Can we call you Dad?”

Dieter has no idea how to answer that. Chelsea should probably have some input here.

“Because you do all the dad things,” Finley continues, oblivious, “and when Timothy’s dad said my dad was here I’m glad it was you and not my real dad.”

“Uh...” 

“Papa.” Lolly interrupts, sleepily. “Deets ist Papa.”

Finley glances at his sister. “Okay. Then we always know it’s you and not any of our other dads.” He thinks for a moment. “Although I might call you Dad when my friends are there because it’s easier.”

Dieter’s still frozen to the spot.

“Can we go home now? I want to tell Mum about the party. Dad?”

“Papa!” Lolly corrects, on course for the early stages of a meltdown, and Dieter quickly shuts her door and gets into the front of the car. He still feels a tiny bit nervous when he’s driving the kids around, he’s only had his full licence for five weeks and he’s extra careful whenever he’s got Finley or Lolly with him.

The kids know that they have to be really quiet when Dieter’s driving, even if they don’t understand why. Sometimes it’s actually more unnerving, to have them be quiet.

Dieter’s just hoping that Lolly doesn’t fall asleep. If she naps now she won’t go to bed later.

“Bist du noch wach, Mäuschen?” There’s a sleepy ja from the back seat, which doesn't mean anything because she says that in her sleep sometimes anyway. “Mäuschen?”

“Ja, Papa.”

Dieter has to concentrate really hard on the road.

[backupthere]

...have you ever wondered...

[December 2017]

Dieter has been asleep for a maximum of five minutes when the bedroom door creaks open.

Maybe if he stays very still they’ll go away again.

“Mummy!” Lolly’s still not great at whispering. “Mummy!”

Chelsea tenses next to Dieter. They don’t need to make eye contact or even acknowledge being awake to share the thought pattern. Is it something that will resolve itself if they ignore her, like I-can’t-sleep or is-it-time-to-get-up-yet-?, or is it something that actually needs their input, like I-had-a-bad-dream or I-need-the-toilet?

Dieter still thinks that if Lolly can find the toilet at home, and she can find Dieter and Chelsea’s bedroom at Nan’s house, then she can find the toilet at Nan’s house too, but apparently you’re not allowed to apply logic to children at night.

They weren’t expecting a great night’s sleep, because they had to wait for overexcited children to go to bed and actually stay there before they could do stockings, and it was after midnight by the time they actually got into bed themselves, and it’s Christmas so it’s really understandable that Finley and Lolly won’t sleep in, but Dieter was hoping to last past…

“MUMMY!”

Nobody should be able to whisper that loud. He gives up and checks the time. 

Five thirty.

Ugh.

Dieter moved, though, and that makes him target #1 now.

“Deets? Deets!”

“Was willst du?” Dieter’s not doing English before 7am except in emergencies. This is not an emergency.

“Santa’s been!”

Dieter is well aware that Santa has been, because he helped to make sure the stockings were in the right places before he went to bed, five hours ago.

The stockings will still be there in an hour, or an hour and a half. Some more sleep would be an ideal Christmas gift.

The door creaks again, and Dieter lifts his head enough to see Finley standing in the doorway.

He drops his head back onto the pillow in frustration.

“Deets is awake.” Lolly whispers. “Mummy’s still asleep.”

Mummy is not still asleep, the big faker. Dieter pinches Chelsea, but she’s so good at this that she doesn’t even flinch.

There won’t be the same magic for much longer, she’d said last night, most of the way through her second glass of wine. Finley’s going to figure it out soon, or some kid at school is going to spoil it, and I think he’ll pretend for Lolly but it won’t be the same. This might be the last year that they both really believe.

“Deets! Santa’s been!” As if maybe he didn’t hear her the first time.

Dieter takes a second to mourn the days when he used to sleep until ten, and then sits up. “Did he make coffee?”

[backupthere]

...after nine years...

[October 2017]

Deets’ phone buzzes in his pocket. It’s Chelsea.

Just finished work. Want me to pick you up on the way home? x

He texts back a thumbs up and the name of the bar.

Be there in ten mins. x

“That the boss?” Mickey takes the opportunity to redirect the chirping towards Deets.

“Yes.” Deets isn’t ashamed of his relationship. All these guys will go home to their house shares or their parents and he’s going home like an adult with his girl to their kids. “I have a lift home.”

“Boo.” Kiaran points at him, more aggressively than he intends to, probably. “Skipping out on us.”

“Yes.” Deets is going to be smug about it, too, because now he’s not going to be responsible for making sure that the drunk rookie gets home to bed safe. That can be Seth and Monty’s problem, they live with Kiaran. “Sorry, boys. Have to get home for the babysitter.”

The babysitter is Chelsea’s mum, and she’s not actually going to leave right away anyway, but if he’s got to play the boring grownup he’s going to milk it.

His phone buzzes again. Here x

Deets finishes his beer - which was pretty good, actually, he took a photo of the label so he can remember it - and stands up. “Later, losers.”

There’s a chorus of catcalls as he walks away, so he flips them off over his shoulder and turns to grin at them when he reaches the door. Addy’s shaking his head, like he’s disappointed in Deets, but he’s grinning back and Deets feels pretty good about life as he heads outside to find where Chelsea’s waiting for him.

[backupthere]

...this Saturday, 8th June 2024...

[August 2017]

The point is that Dieter isn’t the rookie any more. He’s practically a veteran.

Addy actually laughs at him for being a grown-up all of a sudden. And okay, maybe it is a big change from who he was when he first moved to England and didn’t understand how to work the washing machine without his Mama to show him, but that’s what happens when you get into a relationship with somebody who’s got kids.

Addy works with his uncle and lives at home where his mum makes all his meals, and Dieter’s spending Wednesday afternoon standing in the toilets in the shopping centre holding a cubicle door shut with his foot.

[backupthere]

...coming soon...

[April 2016]

“I should really go home.” Chelsea makes no effort to move. “It’ll be really late by the time the next game finishes, and I’m not looking forward to carrying the kids upstairs when I get back.”

“Stay.” Dieter looks vaguely surprised, like he hadn’t meant to say that out loud.

Chelsea casts a wary glance at her brothers, who look like they’re trying not to laugh.

“This isn’t going to finish until, like, two, or something. And I have to get the kids back in the car, and drive home, and get them into bed…”

She sounds like she wants to be talked into staying.

“You’re welcome to crash here, if you like.” Seb issues the invitation so that Dieter doesn’t need to. “The kids are already settled.”

“This is a pretty comfortable sofa.” Josh chips in, mostly teasing.

“I will sleep on the sofa.” Dieter’s firm on that point. Seb’s just amused by Josh’s expression, torn between protecting his baby sister from any possible advances, no matter how well meant and regardless of whether or not she wants them, and chirping his rookie teammate for being a gentleman.

“Fine, we’ll stay.” Chelsea didn’t need a lot of convincing. “We can debate who gets the sofa later.” She settles further into her seat. “Is there any wine left, since I don’t have to drive after all?”

[backupthere]

How it started:

[November 2015]

When Seb and Deets turn up, Finley goes up to the counter with Seb to “help”, and Deets drops into the space next to Jamie and smiles at Lolly.

“Hallo, Mäuschen!”

[backupthere]

Wrote a complete piece this afternoon so I guess I can close down all of my research tabs already...

[backupthere]

I've never written from the POV of a character I personally dislike before - normally even my less palatable characters have some redeeming features or an explanatory backstory, but this guy just needs to Do Better and it's surprisingly not as hard to write as I thought it might be... mostly because I know you're all going to hate him too.

[backupthere]

New ask game:

Reblog if you want your followers to tell you what your trademark ™️ is. Like, what’s that thing that really identifies you.

[backupthere]

of course a document entitled GLOSSARY OF SEISMIC TERMINOLOGY is necessary research for this scene about a junior ice hockey squad, what do you mean?

[backupthere]

What do you mean I'm a minor supporting character and neither of the major storylines are about me? I've got a nemesis!

You can’t really be mad at Aljaž for stealing a girl out from under your nose. It’s like being angry with a golden retriever for destroying one of your shoes. Yes, it’s very annoying, and yes, it’s something you’d hope to train them out of, but it’s just what they do. Just dogs being dogs, and Aljaž being Aljaž.

And you can’t really yell no! Drop it! Bad! when Aljaž is wheeling.

You know how sometimes a character just appears fully formed in your head and attempts to take over a story that's not actually supposed to be about them?

~~~

“It was so awkward.” Alex leans forward, both elbows on the table and eyes wide as he expresses just how difficult it had been. “I mean, every time I thought of something to say, she’d just put her hand in my mouth.”

Give him his due, Alex may be a hopeless romantic and a walking disaster zone, but he tells a good story.

***

An incomplete list of people Alexander Deroux has fallen in love with in the past month:

Kelly McGillis circa 1986, after Kyle realised that he’d never seen the original Top Gun and made him watch it on the bus

A girl he saw in the freezer aisle in Asda

A cocker spaniel named Lady, who stayed with his neighbours for a week

All three baristas in the new independent coffee shop near the station

Isaac’s sister in law Emily, who shut him down with a speed that suggested she’d been warned about him

And, as of 10:15 this morning, his dental hygienist.

***

“Still.” Alex sighs, slumping back in his seat. “At least she was impressed by my flossing.”

[backupthere]

OMG

We’re* 4-0 up at the end of the first period so the opposing team have sent out their spare goalie for the second and it’s only GORDIE

*my accidentally adopted team for this season

[backupthere]

Just discovered that the guy who was the original inspiration for Psycho Karl is going to be playing for one game only for a player’s testimonial game… on my mother’s birthday which I will not be permitted to miss 😖

[backupthere]

Once again it's Roster Generation time. I don't think I necessarily NEED to fill out a full roster for this team, but I currently only have three D and five F (goalies are fully accounted for) so if anybody wants to throw names at me, please do. Position and jersey number optional.