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nicohersheys · 11 months ago

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The Aftermath of Us - [Liv X Luca]

A/N: The ending of their angst... for now, because let's be real it's me. BUT! of my planned angst for them, this is the end. This was quite the rollercoaster both in the angst and for me to write. I hated putting these two through this. Because I love them, but felt they needed to have this break in order to grow into what is next for them ☀️

Word Count: 5.2k

She didn’t want to be an option. She wanted to be the only conceivable choice in this man’s life. And if that’s not what she was, she didn’t want a lick of what he had to offer down on his knees, begging for her to marry him after everything he had done to them.

With her chin in her hands, Livia Meier reads through the last paragraph of her writing. A lump settles into her throat, feeling the ache for these two imperfect characters she has been curating through written word for the last few weeks. This story, which had started off so discombobulated, has flown through her so well this week. The pieces her editors had balked at weren’t entirely without merit, but now that she isn’t running from things in her personal life, she sees exactly where she wants this all to go.

She just wishes her writing success would cost less.

Her chair creaks as she leans back, letting her sore shoulders rest against the leather of her desk chair. She rubs at her eyes for a brief moment, then glances at the clock below her monitor. She has five minutes to get downstairs.

With that in mind, she hauls herself into a standing position. She completes her stretching routine quickly to work the writing kinks out of her muscles, then walks towards her front door to grab her boots, jacket, and keys.

The cold New York winter keeps Liv inside her apartment building, scanning the street for the black Yukon that will be delivering her parents. Her mind should be here in New York, but instead it floats states away to the colder landscape of Minnesota and she wonders what Luca is doing at this exact moment. She hugs herself tighter, closing her eyes and willing the moment to pass. She doesn’t want to think about him right now. She doesn’t want to worry about how he is doing or if he is broken up about being traded from his hometown team. She wants to greet her parents and disappear in the comfort they will provide.

But it’s Luca. She should know after the last few weeks how impossible he is to forget.

Liv found out about the trade from her older brother. They had been out to dinner last night when Lio had snapped back from his phone, looking at her with cautious eyes.

“Uh….” He clears his throat. Liv froze. Her unflappable brother is never shook by anything. She resists the morbid thought that one of her family members has died.

“What?”

“I think you might want to see this.” He murmurs, then slides his phone, face up over to her. There she sees the trade announcement from the Minnesota Wild. Luca’s name is printed in white lettering on the forest green backdrop, announcing a swap between the team and the L.A. Kings. Liv’s heartbeat rushes through her ears. She looks at Lio who takes his phone back, looking over the details again.

“Damn, this is a good trade for the Kings. Luca will work well in their system. They need a little more grit with their flash. And he is tough to play against.”

Liv nods, maybe in agreement, but mostly in shock. Her hands itch to grab her phone in her purse. She wants to reach out, ask him how he is doing, if he needs anything. But… she also knows that isn’t her place right now.

But maybe, if he needed her, he would reach out. This would be when she would finally hear from him. She hasn’t since they got off the FaceTime call almost 5 weeks ago now. But this is huge, life changing. He won’t be able to resist hearing her voice.

Luca didn’t call last night. Nor has he in the 13 hours of the current day either.

Liv can’t quite believe how that is possible. Doesn’t he want to talk to her? Doesn’t he need her assurance that it is going to be okay? Or has he really already faded away that much from her?

A timeline of images rolls through Liv’s mind. All the moments that got them to this point. She second guesses everything, critiques all the ways she could have been better too and leaned in instead of out. But she got so tired of feeling like the only one who was holding on to them. She needed Luca to try harder, but had no words for how to tell this to him. She has them now. But if he was standing in front of her today, that’s not what she would say to him. She would tell him she loves him and misses him and is willing to take on the whole world again together.

The black Yukon comes purring to a stop in front of her apartment door. Liv feels her shoulders drop in an exhale. Finally, they made it. Their oldest may be in the next city over, but they are here for her, at her request, because she missed them. It’s that simple. And when she called her mom, asking for her and dad to come over, her mom didn’t hesitate.

“I’m booking our flights right now. Which weekend? How about at the end of February? We will celebrate your birthday- late of course, but better than never, huh baby?”

Her mom had no idea what happened with her and Luca, but she still managed to make everything okay, even if it was only for five minutes.

Now they are here, still unknowing about her and Luca as they step out of the SUV and gather her into their arms as quickly as their limbs will move.

“Hi Livy!” Her mom squeals when she sees her. Liv beams at her mom, rushing into her outstretched arms, letting her catch the full weight of her. Timo comes to the side, grabbing both women into his arms and squeezing hard. In the embrace of both her parents, Liv feels the first crack of her resolve.

“Mama, you’re blonde again.” Livy murmurs.

“Yeah, Auntie wanted to try some new products.”

“It looks good. Got that California glow.” Liv murmurs, looking at the strands of her hair, trying to ignore the growing tears in her water line. “Beautiful.”

Her mom pauses, cupping Liv’s cheeks. Liv chomps on her bottom lip, trying not to blink the tears down her face.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Her dad asks, never one to beat around the bush. His hand rests between her shoulder blades, rubbing soft circles there.

“Is it Luca? We saw he got traded this morning. Daddy texted him some encouraging words.”

“You texted him?” Liv gasps.

“Yeah… Was I not supposed to?”

“No, um… What did he say?” She asks, staring her dad down.

“... Thank you…” He trails off, confused.

“Oh. Just that?” Her parents share a glance. Liv swallows hard.

“Well, yeah. I’m not sure there was anything left to talk about at that point. I’m sure he is reeling from everything. It’s a whirlwind, even when you want it. How is he doing?” Liv’s shoulders sink and her tears spill over her lashes as she shakes her head.

“I don’t know. We um…” She struggles to get the words out. “Broke up.”

The shock on her parents' faces could energize the entire city for minutes. She looks down at her boots, then shrugs her shoulders. Her bottom lip wobbles, which breaks her dad out of his trance first.

“Baby.” He sighs, pulling her into his strong chest. She falls into him completely, burying her nose into his armpit, losing it completely. Her mom’s hand comes to her hair, smoothing it down as she steps into the otherside of her dad’s chest.

“It’s okay, honey.” She murmurs. “Daddy and I are here now. You don’t have to be strong anymore. We will take care of you.. Of everything.”

Liv nods. She may be grown, but there is something magical about your parents taking care of you when you need it most.

An hour later, Liv is curled into the couch with her mom, resting her cheek on her shoulder while her mom combs her nails through her hair. She just went through everything that happened from start to finish, including the confusion of Ryder. Her dad listened from the kitchen table, making no noise except small slurps of his espresso. Her mom nodded and gave miniscule words of encouragement through the story, waiting until Liv seemed completely done with her story.

“What about now? How are you feeling?” Liv shrugs, bringing a small piece of her sleeve to the corner of her eye to absorb the tears threatening to fall again.

“I miss him. I don’t know what I expected from this break, but nothing about this has changed how I feel about him. If anything, I’m more in love with him. I wish he was here. I wish I knew what he was thinking as his whole world shifts.”

“Have you reached out?”

“No.” Liv sighs. “I feel like he doesn’t want to hear from me right now.” She bites her lip, contemplating. A piece of dry skin flakes off from the scraping of her teeth on it. “If he did, he would have reached out by now. Like, why hasn’t he called me, mama?” Liv shrugs indifferently, then brings her knees up to her chin. “I guess it’s fine. I understand if he doesn’t want to talk to me.”

“Maybe he is on a plane right now thinking the same thing about you.” Her mom points out.

Liv looks out the window of her apartment, watching the reflection of a plane flying overhead in the buildings next door.

“Maybe I just messed it all up.” Liv whispers. Her mom brushes Liv’s hair back from her cheek then kisses her hair.

“If it’s meant to be, it will be. We have talked about that, but sometimes fate requires our participation. This doesn’t need to be the end of your story.” Her mom looks across the room to her dad. “Sometimes it takes a couple tries together before you get it right.” Liv lets her mom’s words sink in. They settle in next to her heart and spread out through her chest like wild flowers in the spring. They bob and weave in her chest like a hopeful promise.

Her dad’s phone pings, filling the room.

“It’s Lee. He’s asking if we want tickets for tonight.”

“Up to you, baby.” Her mom says to Liv. “We are here for you.”

Liv contemplates, figuring it would be a good distraction, ironically, for all this heaviness she feels inside of her chest.

“Yeah, we should go.” Liv smiles. “But first, espresso martinis?”

Her mom grins widely.

“Woo, yeah! That’s my girl!” She pats her thigh.

Yeah, this is exactly what Livy needs.

- - -

As she brushes on the final swipes of mascara onto her lashes later that night, Liv cannot help the pull of her phone to her left. The screen keeps lighting up with texts from friends and her brothers, mostly from the family group chat where they are asking their parents to bring back various American delicacies like Cheetos and Starburst.

But it’s not her text messages or social media notifications that have Liv’s attention tonight. It’s the three grad school acceptance emails that have been starred in her Gmail, forgotten until she has the capacity to think clearly about a future, one that may no longer include Luca.

She has five days left to make a decision. Her choices are incredible. One includes staying in New York, in a city that she has come to adore more than she ever expected to. The other is Washington University which would require a move to the center of the country. The other is on the West Coast, nestled inside one of the world's largest cities- Los Angeles. There are pros and cons to each of the schools, both academically and personally. But if Livy was honest, UCLA has always been her top choice. Now with Luca there, it seems like it should be a no brainer. But her mind races and trips over itself, trying to figure out the next right direction for her life.

He probably doesn’t want you there, a mean voice whispers.

Liv steps back from the mirror, throwing her hands on her hips in annoyance.

“Why are you like this?” She snaps at her reflection. “If you want to go to UCLA, then go to UCLA. If you want to go to Wash U, go there! It doesn’t matter what anyone else has to say about it. This is your life.”

But staying in New York is tempting… where she is closer to home. Mack is moving here in the summer too. It would be nice to be close to her. Liv looks at the way her eyebrows concave inwards, the deep frown on her lips pulling them down earnestly.

How could she stay here when her whole entire heart is moving to Los Angeles?

“Hey, the car is going to be here in five minutes. Are you ready?” Her dad says from the doorway of her bedroom.

“Almost!” She calls back to her dad.

With haste, Liv begins to throw her makeup back into their respective drawers. She fluffs her hair, then swipes off some of her lipstick that smudged into the crease of her upper lip. She pauses, thinking about what else she needs before she is ready to go. Shoes and a purse come to mind.

A knock at the door sounds and Liv assumes it’s a package she ordered from Amazon for same-day delivery.

“Daddy can you get that?” Liv calls down the hall as she rushes into her closet. She needs to find her other crossbody bag otherwise she is going to need to stuff things in her mom’s purse. “Where are you?” She mutters to herself, clawing through her closet. She swears it was hanging on the back of her closet door last time she saw it, but her closet is a mess of clean and dirty clothes, plus shoes strewn every which direction from kicking them off after class.

“Livy.” Her dad says quietly from behind her, startling her.

“I’m almost ready.” She assures him.

“Baby, Mama and I are going to head to the game without you.”

“Dad, I just said-“

“Luca is here.” Liv freezes. She slowly falls back, thighs hitting her heels where she is kneeling. Her blue eyes look into her dad’s identical ones. They soften at the pure terror on her face. She still has no idea what to say to him and now he is here. But also he is here.

“Oh.” He steps forward, giving her his hands. With his help, she stands up, smoothing her sweating palms down her jean covered thighs. “What if I asked you to stay?” Her dad smiles sympathetically.

“You don’t need us for this part. You know what you wanna say. Speak from the heart.”

Her dad walks from the room and Liv slowly follows behind, staring at his broad shoulders. In the living room, her mom stands with Luca, who is smiling and nodding along to whatever she is saying. He looks so good, it almost stops Liv mid-step. His hair has been cut recently, a few days of stubble growing on his face. He laughs at something her mom says and his perfect, white teeth accent the twinkle of his brown eyes. His hands are stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans while a white, designer shirt rests against his chest, a gray flannel on his shoulders.

When he turns to look at Liv, the weeks apart and words unsaid stretch between them. The urge to run to him and press her cheek to his solid chest makes her limbs buzz, wanting her to make them move. She doesn’t. Instead, she comes to a stop just inside the room as her dad continues forward.

“Hi Liv.” Luca greets her, eyes casually glancing at her dad as he comes to his wife’s side.

“We will leave you two. Hang in there, Luca. It gets better. Remember, it's a whole new opportunity to be your best.” The former NHL winger encourages him.

“Thank you.” Luca nods sincerely. His eyes follow her parents for a moment, but once they pass Liv, his orbs remain only on her. She swallows hard, moving with her parents to the door.

Neither of them seem willing to save her from whatever this will be. Her mom winks at her, then squeezes her hand before they head out the door. Quietly, Liv shuts the door, then tucks her hair gingerly behind her ears.

“I’m sorry to take you away from Lio’s game with your parents. I didn’t realize they were in town.”

“It’s okay. It’s Lio. He doesn’t really care if I’m there or not. But I’m… surprised to see you here.” She bites her bottom lip.

“Not upset though, I hope?” Liv shakes her head no.

“I’d never be upset seeing you.” She whispers. Luca sighs heavily, removing his hands from his pockets to twist together in front of his body.

“I was hoping we could talk.”

“You could have called.” She points out in a whisper.

“No, I couldn't have.” He murmurs with a small smile. “Not for this.”

They stand there, five feet apart looking at each other until Luca hesitantly raises his hand towards her to take. She traces the lines in his palm with her eyes, then up the squares on his forearm to his eyes. The way he looks at her makes her ache for him. She can see how much he is hurting from all that has happened. All she wants is to make this better for him. For them. Her fingers glide up his to his palm, then circle his wrist. She leads him over to the couch where they both sit together. Their bodies turn inward towards each other, knees touching slightly.

Luca brings a hand up, raking his fingers through the side of her hair. Liv closes her eyes, leaning her cheek into his palm, letting herself savor his sweet, protective touch. His thumb brushes her cheek bone as her blue eyes open to drink him in.

“Tell me you’re still in love with me.” It’s a beg from his sweet lips.

“Always.” She murmurs. He smiles, clearly relieved.

“I love you. And I’m so sorry.” He swallows hard, brown eyes deepening with regret.

“I know. I am too. Everything got so sideways, so fast. I hate what happened.” He combs his fingers completely through her hair, then runs his fingers down her back before letting his hand fall away.

“I understand my part in it. You were right, I don’t think I did before.” He says to her. “I recognize that I was putting you so far on the blackburn, it was like you weren’t even there. I let every mile of distance grow between us because I was worried about my career.” He sighs heavily. “And it didn’t pay off at all. Look at me now.”

“Luca, the Kings obviously really want you. They gave up a first round pick and a star prospect for you.” He shakes his head, waving her words away kindly.

“I don’t care about any of that, Liv. I don’t care about hockey or the NHL or the money. It means nothing without you. If I’ve learned anything over the last couple of weeks, it’s that.” He shakes his head, running his hand through his hair as he sighs again. “I just want you.” He whispers. “You’re the only thing in this world I truly need.”

Tears build in Liv’s eyes. She drops her gaze down to her thighs, contemplating what to say to him. Sure words are her thing, but when it comes to her feelings for Luca, they never seem to convey the depth.

“If you don’t feel the same way anymore, that’s okay. I’ll figure out how to live without you, but I need you to know that.” His voice is soft, barely speaking loud enough for her to hear his words. A drop falls down from Liv’s eyes, splashing onto her thigh- a navy dot in the denim. Luca rubs at it with his thumb. “I am going to lay all my cards on the table right now.” Liv looks back at him. “Come with me to L.A. We will start over, a new chapter with a deeper respect for each other, and a bigger love. We will stumble and make mistakes again, but we will do it together. I don’t want to spend any more time apart. I want it to be you and me in L.A., making a life together. No more dreaming about the days when we can go to sleep together. It’s time to start living it.” Luca searches her eyes. “After you graduate, of course. But um, I’m hoping you will come with me now to help me get settled. We could look at some places to live. The team is on a long homestand right now.”

Liv brings her hands up to Luca’s cheeks. Her thumbs stroke over the stubble on his face and the slight pink on his cheek bones. He is literally asking for her to allow him to make their dreams come true. Nevermind the time apart. Nevermind the choices that got them here- both hers and his. He is asking her to patch this up and come build a life with him. He makes it so simple while still presenting it as if it’s her choice. She can’t help but smile, thinking back to the passage in her book from this morning about not wanting to be someone's option. She wanted to be the only choice too. And now here Luca Fiala is, telling her she is his choice. His one and only- forever, as long as she still wants that with him.

Her eyes and fingers trace over his lips then she slowly lowers hers to them. Luca inhales deeply, hands coming to the back of her head and hip. He tilts their faces, absorbing her mouth into his completely by connecting their tongues. This is it. Everything that Liv has been looking for the last few weeks was already in her hands. It breaks through like a rainbow after a thunderstorm- a soft glow at first, then vibrant and demanding of attention. She whimpers into their kiss. Luca pulls her into his lap, not letting one inch of air separate them.

When they pull away, Luca wipes her tear streaks off her cheeks, collecting them all in two swipes of his fingers.

“I have one request for where we live.” Liv finally murmurs, threading her fingers at the back of his neck. She pecks his swollen lips gently. Luca seems almost drunk as he looks at her through hooded lids.

“Anything. Mmm, anything you want is yours. Just name it.” He mumbles against her lips again. Liv giggles, running her tongue over his bottom lip. Luca rolls her hips into his zipper, building a friction that makes Liv forget her train of thought for a moment. “Tell me. What am I going to find for you, beautiful?”

“It needs to be close to school for me.” Luca blinks, coming a bit out of his lusty haze to look more clearly at her.

“I can… get you a picture of Columbia to hang up in the living room?”

“I don’t mean my undergraduate school. I mean my graduate school…. UCLA.” She widens her eyes at him, giggling at the bright excitement that fills his face immediately.

“Excuse me!? WHAT! UCLA!”

“Yes!”

“BABY!” He yells, hauling her up into his arms to carry her victoriously around the living room. Liv grips onto his big shoulders for dear life as he basically tosses her around in the air. “I knew it! You were so nervous and I knew it! Of course you got in!”

“I also got into NYU and Washington University, but my heart wants L.A. It wants to be where you are.” Liv confesses. Luca freezes in place, waves of gratitude and relief swaying in his brown eyes. “Because this also means nothing to me without you. You’re it for me, Luca Fiala. Forever.” She grins at him, then wraps his cheeks up in her hands so she can taste him properly in her mouth again.

Luca’s hands grip her ass tightly in his hands, then lowers them both back down to the couch. They kiss long and hard, tongues winding into each other until they need to separate for gasps of air.

“I love you.”

“Oh my god, baby, I love you so much.” Luca groans, forcing her lips to his again. “Fuck, I cannot live without you. Not for one more second of my life, babe.” Liv starts to laugh joyfully, big dimples piercing her cheeks. Luca chases them with his lips, kissing her happiness as if to memorize the taste of it on his lips.

“Let’s never do that again?”

“Never. Ever. Gonna put you first, I promise. You have a permanent seat right in the front row of one.”

“When do we leave?”

“After you pack a bag. A private plane is waiting for us at Newark.”

“I… have class on Tuesday.” Liv stutters. Sure, she has senioritis but she has to finish out her undergrad strong to be prepared for the horrors of grad school in the Fall.

“We’ll get you back by then, even if I have to fly the plane myself.”

“Oh no.” She chuckles. “I’m gonna pass on that option.”

“I already worked it out with the Kings. We'll tell them tonight you need to be back by Monday night.” Liv nods. Of course, Luca is taking care of all these details. “Your parents?”

“They have another kid here to keep them company. Wanna help me pack?” She asks, stroking the pulse in his neck with her thumb.

“Mhm.” He murmurs, then picks her up and carries her to the bedroom.

Sprawled on her bed, Liv texts her parents that she isn’t going to make it to the game or brunch tomorrow, or the rest of the plans they had together. Her parents understand completely, filling her cup with their happiness and I love yous. Liv smiles to herself, then sits back up to see Luca filtering through her clothes. He is picking out all his favorite clothes of hers. He jokingly chucks a Minnesota Wild sweatshirt behind his shoulder to discard in a wilted lump on the floor.

“Black on black on black, baby.” He holds up black jeans and her black leather jacket.

“Oh yeah that looks good. Grab that white shirt too.” She gets off the bed, then goes into the closet with him to finish getting everything together.

When her suitcase is zipped, Luca kisses her, then folds their fingers together before they exit her New York apartment, bound for an sunny, L.A. wake up call tomorrow.

- - -

The next morning, Liv and Luca wake up tangled in each other. Their calves hug together, fingers curled up, gripping opposite arms. Liv’s hair is a tangled mess on the pillow the two of them are sharing in the big King bed. It’s early in California. The sun isn’t even up yet, but the timezone change hasn’t caught up to their bodies yet despite their crazy travel schedule.

That’s okay with them.

They have other things to catch up on.

Like the craving for sleepy morning sex to wash away the weeks they spent apart appropriately. There is no need to ask if there has been any others. Because it’s so evident there hasn’t. In the way Luca leaks pre-cum all over Liv’s stomach from excitement. In the way, Liv begs for Luca to touch her slick folds immediately. But mostly in the way they trust each other. That if there had been others, they would tell the other out of the deep love and respect that has been healing between them since they got up from the couch in her New York City apartment.

The couple settles onto their sides, Liv’s leg tossed over his hips as he adjusts her up to rest on the pillow. His face finds it’s place against the top swells of her breasts for a moment. His lips kiss her sensitive skin, awakening gooseflesh and tightening her nipples.

“Mmm.” Liv moans into Luca’s hair as he slides into her. Her walls clench around him immediately, drawing him deeper to welcome him home to where he belongs most. He groans, putting his forehead on her collar bone.

“Not gonna last.”

“Me either.” She smiles, kissing his hair. “Move, baby.” She coos when he stays frozen for a few more seconds. “We have forever together.” She reminds him. Luca pulls away, grinning up at her. She kisses his lips, then lets her moan fill his mouth as he thrusts in and out completely. His tip plays with her entrance before bottoming out again.

“My perfect Livy.” He moans back to her, stroking his tongue along hers.

Her wet heat pulls him in deep with each pump of his cock. His face buries again into her breasts, nuzzling them with his stubble before taking a nipple into his mouth. Liv’s heart rate increases. Her walls collapse tightly around his. Luca quickens his pumps, using the hips and thighs hockey gave to him to make his girlfriend come so hard she sees white dots fill her vision.

“Shit.” He hisses into her breasts as he comes too, painting her walls with him, coating her the only way she should be for the rest of her life.

Their hungry breathing fills the room, even after they have been satiated once. A dewy, warm glow rains over them. Hope blossoms in their stomachs as they pull apart, moving everything to the shower so they can prepare for the rest of their busy day.

Liv isn’t sure how she’s going to let them separate for him to go to practice and her to check out her new campus.

“I’ll see you later?” Luca asks her as she drops him off at the Kings practice facility.

“Yeah. There’s nowhere else for me to be.” She smiles.

Luca laughs, then leans into the car for one more kiss.

“You taste better here.” He compliments her. “Like..” he kisses her again. “Hmmm what is that?” One more smooch grazes across her mouth. Liv feels buzzed on a high from him, anticipating his next words. “Oh I know what it is.”

“Hmm?”

“Tastes like wifey material.”

“Oh stop it.” She laughs, shoving his face out of the car. “Go play hockey.”

“Laugh now, baby. But I’m telling you, the last time you set foot on that campus for graduation, you’ll have a new title.”

Shivers of excitement roll off Liv as she pulls away, letting his words echo in her mind. Then she heads south, driving as fast as she can to keep working towards her dreams.