imperatorrrrr · 10 months ago
Note
Nico realizing Nolan unfollowed him and talking to Jack about it
"Need help with hashtags for your Facebook post, Schao?"
"What?"
Nico and Rino had come over for dinner after their sauna session earlier in the day and now dinner's over and Jim and Rino are sitting in the living room together drinking beers talking about whatever hockey Dads talk about, and Luke's fucked off to his room to talk to his boys because World Juniors is starting soon, while Jack rinses the dishes and Nico puts them in the dishwasher.
But Nico isn't putting the dishes in the dishwasher. Nico has been fiddling around with his phone for a while now, not paying attention to anything.
"You've been staring at your phone all confused? Finding more baseball players to follow?"
Okay, so maybe Jack feels a type of way about Nico getting practically naked in a sauna with some random professional baseball players.
"Jack, what?"
Nico had a big day with his Dad today. Not only did he strip down to his underwear and sit in a sauna with his father and some baseball guys, he also got his haircut. He has yet to look up from his phone, and there are strands of his hair falling down the side of his face, not as long as before, but still framing his face perfectly.
Jack huffs. Puts the dish he just rinsed into the dishwasher himself and turns the faucet off. He directs Nico away from the counter and closer to the island where the stools are and sits Nico down. Nico lets all this happen while still staring down at his phone.
"Nico."
Jack flicks him on the forehead and Nico finally looks up.
Good.
"What's going on?"
Nico sighs, puts his phone face down on the counter and runs his hand through his freshly cut hair, strands falling every which way in his wake.
"Nols unfollowed me."
Nico's face is all scrunched up like it gets when he can't find the right English preposition when he's answering media questions.
"Who's Nols...?" Is this another baseball player?! How many baseball players does Nico know and why does Nico know so many of them and where are they coming from?
"Patty. Nolan Patrick."
Oh shit. That may be worse than another baseball guy. Nope, that's definitely worse.
Nico doesn't talk to Jack about Nolan Patrick. Nico doesn't talk to anyone about Nolan Patrick. Jack thinks maybe Jesper might have that honor, but even he's not one hundred percent sure about that.
Jack's emotionally intelligent. Jack can do this. Jack can wade through the Nolan Patrick swamp of history.
"Are you...okay?"
Great. Slam dunk. Touchdown. Home run. Ugh baseball again.
"Yeah, its just...weird." Nico looks at his phone like he expects it to provide an answer as to why Nolan Patrick has unfollowed him. Jack also looks at Nico's phone hoping for the same.
"I mean we haven't talked in a bit. He reached out when I wasn't playing last month to check in."
Jack doesn't think Nico's upset about it. Nico's confused.
"I don't think I did anything?"
"Of course you didn't do anything!" Okay, so Jack doesn't know if Nico didn't do anything, but Jack is going to side with Nico ninety nine percent of time, no question. Plus, its Nico. He rarely does anything wrong. He doesn't make mistakes on the ice and he doesn't really make mistakes off the ice either.
Jack takes a step closer, putting his hand on Nico's shoulder and squeezing, trying to radiate support gearing up to say something to comfort Nico...
"What's our ice cream situation?" So Luke's chat with his boys is over.
Nico, presented with a task, especially a task that involves doing something for a teammate, especially for a teammate thats a rookie, and especially for a rookie thats a Hughes, is ready for this call to action and this distraction, "I have some good variety at mine."
Nico gets off the stool, grabs his phone and pockets it, and beckons Luke to follow him, which Luke does happily.
And Jack is left alone in the kitchen with the dishes that still need rinsing and thinks about how ice cream is supposed to be the go to solution for a break up.
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