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workingforitallthetime · 1 year

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part 21 / previous installments/tags

When Arizona comes to town, Mason’s a healthy scratch. He can’t tell if Cronin does it to keep him away from Connor. At this point, the way Mason’s playing is reason enough to send him to the pressbox.

He’s supposed to be learning valuable lessons watching the game from the rafters or whatever, but all he does is watch Connor. Connor taking faceoffs, Connor on the bench, Connor getting knocked over by Nathan Gaucher. Mason grips the edge of the table in front of him so hard it nearly splinters.

Mason dutifully waits by the tunnel to fistbump all of his teammates after Anaheim pulls out a 3-2 win. After the dressing room routines, an assistant coach pulls him aside. “The trainer from Arizona wants a word with you.”

“...the fuck?” Mason asks.

“He said you’d probably know what it’s about.” The coach raises his eyebrows, curious. Mason shrugs.

One of Anaheim’s medical staff escorts Mason through the tunnels to the visitors’ locker room, as if Mason’s going to misbehave. The Coyotes are starting to filter out to the bus, hair still dripping from the showers onto the collars of their gameday suits.

“McTavish.” Guenther gives him a fistbump on his way by. “What are you doing here? Did we trade for you?”

Mason shrugs. “Not that I know of.” Wouldn’t that be a hell of a thing, though.

The Anaheim staffer points him toward the coaches’ room. Mason’s heart lurches as he walks through the door and sees Connor in a chair next to one of the worktables, arms crossed, looking every bit as petulant as he did when Mason first met him. Looking every bit as desirable as he did when Mason last saw him.

“Hi,” Mason chokes out, once he’s regained his footing after the familiar punch of Connor’s scent. He doesn’t know whether to offer a fistbump, or a handshake, or a hug, or what. Connor doesn’t offer anything besides a nod.

A trainer… or coach, or whatever, someone in a Coyotes zipneck… sitting at the worktable clears his throat. He stands and introduces himself to Mason, and Mason goes through the motions of politeness but there’s no way he’s going to remember this guy’s name.

“I’ll get right to it,” says the Arizona trainer. “Connor’s being affected by a faulty bond, and we think it would be useful for the two of you to talk. Will you come back to the hotel with us?”

Mason looks at Connor before he answers, but Connor’s expression is impassive. “...yes?” Mason says cautiously. “Is that necessary?”

“We think it’s for the best.” The trainer picks up his work bag, signaling that the topic is closed. “Ready, Connor?”

Connor stands up without comment.

Mason’s escort from Anaheim rejoins them outside the visitors’ room. He gives Mason an everything okay? expression and Mason nods to confirm. He follows them to the loading dock, and toward a black SUV, waiting separate from the team bus. Mason remembers that Arizona plays in San Jose tomorrow. The rest of the team is headed out of town.

Mason’s Anaheim escort sees him into the car and then turns back into the arena, his work apparently done. The Arizona trainer takes the front seat. Mason leans his head against the window on the passenger side, trying to get as far as he can from Connor’s freezing presence on the other end of the back seat. It’s excruciating to be trapped in a car with Connor’s scent, even if it still has that brittle quality that says he’s furious. Mason wonders what his own scent is telling Connor, whether it’s having any effect on him. Connor’s probably stronger than he is.

The trainer takes them up the elevator, and then he tells Connor you know where to find me if you need anything, and then he keycards himself into what’s apparently his own room, leaving Connor and Mason in the hallway.

Connor swipes his card in the opposite door. Mason follows him inside. The door closes behind him, loud in the empty hallway. “What’s going on?”

Connor turns to face him. His suitcase sits open on the luggage rack by his side. His jaw is as tense as Mason’s ever seen it. “They decided we’ve got a faulty bond.” Mason remembers Jamie sending Connor to his trainer after they met on the ice. Unlike Mason, Connor probably didn’t have the option of lying to whatever dynamic specialist his team called in. “They told me to fix it.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Connor hangs his suit jacket over the back of the desk chair. He takes a step toward Mason, and then another one.

Mason takes a step back. “Wait, we’re just supposed to fuck it out and hope things are fine?”

“I guess.” Connor looks like he’s bracing himself. Mason doesn’t like to think about what for.

Mason closes the distance between them, with the hard angry edge of Connor’s scent knifing into his lungs. He takes Connor’s face between his hands and Connor’s scent stays icily steady. Mason leans in to bring their lips together.

At the last minute, he backs away. “I can’t do this.”

“I thought you’d been waiting for this,” Connor says waspishly.

“Not for this.” Mason flaps a hand at Connor. He doesn’t want Connor setting his jaw and looking at Mason like he’s an ice bath, unpleasant but necessary. He wants the Connor he had all too briefly in Arizona, throwing himself into Mason’s arms smelling like pure want.

Connor gives him a look like then what?

Mason recognizes the irony of being stuck in a hotel room with Connor. It’s where they started. They got through it, with push-up contests and arm wrestling and narrowing their eyes at each other as they faced off in dueling wall sits, determined to be the one who outlasted. Maybe they can again.

“Come with me.” Mason pivots toward the door. “I’ve got an idea.”

(next)

#drawn arrows unseen #i think we're gonna finish this thing up tomorrow

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brainrattlers · 2 years

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Play It Cool - Tyson Jost (30/n)

Pairing: Tyson Jost x OFC (AJ)

Word Count: 4,237

Warnings: Language, and lots of anxiety, stress about the unknown.

Chapter 29 is at https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/700974148357390336/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-29n

Need to start from the beginning? Here you go: https://brainrattlers.tumblr.com/post/684079731435552768/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-1n

Author's notes: Holy crap, in light of Tyson's *amazing* night earlier, I'm excited to post, but it isn't to the point of tonight (er, last night's) game yet. That will definitely be next week. I gotta say, seeing Tyson play over eighteen minutes (where three weeks ago he was playing eight, if he was even playing), taking faceoffs... and THAT GOAL... I'm inspired. (Good grief my fingers just typed sinspired, but hey, who knows what is coming up next week? 😉 But seriously it's nearly 2am, my fingers have a mind of their own.) I am so glad that Buffalo has taken a chance on him. The team and the coaching staff have awakened something in him and I cannot wait to see how the rest of this season plays out. Also, holy hell, how is this chapter 30 already?

With that... let's find out how exactly Tyson and AJ ended up in Buffalo.

The next few weeks were not easy for Tyson. It seemed like no matter what he did, it just wasn’t right. He had a meeting with Evason for a couple minutes, and came out looking dejected, like a kicked dog. He went to every practice, all optionals, and took extra time to work on things he was feeling weak in. It was a lot of long nights sitting in the pressbox while he was a healthy scratch. Through it all, he kept his “I’m okay” face on.

An article came out in The Athletic that pointed out how Shaw was getting his chance with the Wild, and how Guerin told him he was staying. Of course they were lavishing praise on Shaw - he really did deserve it - however it seemed quite callous to point out Tyson’s flaws. In the same article, an odd situation was described, a very much he said/she said, but more of Evason Said/Jost Said.

The coach described the situation as having met repeatedly with Jost, talking and working on things, watching video. They were wanting to build him up. Tyson’s side of things was that he had the one five-minute long meeting with the head coach and that was really it. Whether Tyson was misquoted, as maybe he had been working with other coaching staff, it sounded like someone was not telling the truth.

But it was clear as day - Tyson Jost was the Wild’s whipping boy.

Even the new guys that were sluggish and playing mediocre to poor were getting more accolades than he was. Even on the nights he was scratched and the Wild lost, the garbage fans on social media still called him out. He wasn’t born into the organization, and was merely adopted, thus… the whipping boy.

The pressure was getting to AJ too, and not just because Tyson was struggling once he got home. The nagging feeling she had before the trade to Minnesota was back. Similar anxiety hit when he got scratched. And it was hitting her HARD this time around. AJ was trying to keep her brave face on, she didn’t want to make Tyson feel worse because she was struggling too. Mentally, she was preparing for the worst, wondering where he was going to end up. Sending him down to Iowa would be a huge blow to his already fragile ego.

The day that Tyson actually got to play again, he met with the media after morning skate. It was blatant to her that the smile that graced his face was not a typical one. AJ was used to seeing the smiles that caused the corners of Tyson’s eyes to crinkle. It may have looked good to most who saw the guy who was just happy to be playing again, but to AJ, this one very much stopped mid-nose heading up to his curls. That smile never made it to his eyes.

He played, and it was even LESS time than the last few games - less than eight minutes total.

That night, Tyson got home and couldn’t sleep. His mind was wound up, replaying what all he did in the game. Fearing he’d wake up AJ, he just laid there, eyes closed, as the thoughts kept looping. What he soon figured out though was that AJ was having a restless night too, tossing and turning. He tried to ease both of their minds by curling up with her, but much to his chagrin, he just couldn’t catch the sleep he was chasing.

Silently, Tyson got up around 6am, finding that AJ was finally asleep, soundly. It was going to be a long day with the lack of sleep, but he was going to do what he could to make it good. Before making a small breakfast, he started a load of laundry, making sure he pulled out delicates from everything else. A bowl of cereal, some eggs and turkey bacon found their way into his stomach as he just stared out the sliding glass doors that opened up to Minneapolis. Something broke his trance, and looking at his watch, he realized he needed to get to TRIA rink for morning skate.

AJ was still asleep, but he leaned over and kissed her temple.

“Love you so much,” he whispered, “I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

Hearing the front door latch, AJ woke up, smelling the faintest memory of Tyson’s shampoo and conditioner. Her stomach absolutely was in knots. It got worse an hour or so later when she saw the tweet from Michael Russo, correcting what lines were on the ice at practice.

The original tweet said it was Dewar/Jost. It was corrected to just Dewar.

AJ’s heart sank into her feet. She wanted to throw up.

Immediately, she started working on the laundry in the dryer, doing more still. While that was running, AJ pulled some empty tubs from the closet, and started grabbing clothes from the bureau in the corner of the room. She was seemingly on autopilot, until it hit her like a ton of bricks and the tears started falling down her cheeks.

Tyson quietly unlocked the door to their apartment, finding AJ on the sofa curled up with her knees to her chest, tears silently streaming. His heart ripped in half at the sight of her surrounded by the tubs that they had just unloaded not 5 months ago. Feet with a mind of their own, he found himself already surrounding AJ, holding her tightly in his arms.

“How did you know? It hasn’t been announced yet…” Tyson trailed off as both of their phones started buzzing incessantly.

UPDATE: TYSON JOST (MINNESOTA WILD) WILL BE PLACED ON WAIVERS AT 1:00PM CST.

Shakily, the words slipped out. “I didn’t, but that feeling I had before you got traded here… and… I’ve had it for weeks now. It was really bad yesterday.” AJ couldn’t stop the tears. “I didn’t want to say anything to upset you.”

Tyson couldn’t stop his own tears at that point either. “You wouldn’t have upset me, I’m already upset with myself. With the coaching staff. Mainly with me.” He looked around at the tubs on the floor. “Are you leaving? Where are you going?”

AJ whipped her head up to look at Tyson as the words stabbed like knives in her heart.

“I’m going where you’re going, right?” AJ whispered, “If you clear waivers, we’re going to Des Moines. If you don’t… we’re going… somewhere else?”

It was in those few seconds, hearing AJ say “we’re going” stitched Tyson’s heart whole again. There were still tears, but it was of relief that she wasn’t leaving him. The tears slowed and stopped, but the two stayed put, clinging to each other as they themselves seemed to be the only stable things in each other’s lives right then.

Tyson didn’t ask what caused AJ to start panic packing, but he was in awe that she even had the intuition that this was happening (again).

The constant buzzing of his watch made him realize that his mom was calling. Putting Laura on speakerphone, the three talked about things and what may and may not happen. Despite being miles upon miles away, she was still the voice of reason, the voice of calm.

“You just have to see what’s going to happen. I know you hate it, but it’s just hurry up and wait. It’s going to be the longest 23 hours, but we’re all going to get through it. We’re a family, and this is what families do, we stick together and make things work. Do you need me to come down to help with anything?”

This was the first time AJ saw Tyson’s face have any sort of happiness.

“While you’re welcome to… I came home and AJ was already packing. She hadn’t even heard the news yet and she’s got like 3 weeks of clothes packed for both of us. I think we’re okay, AJ’s got this under control.”

While it stung a little that Laura’s baby didn’t need her help, she was also very relieved that Tyson had AJ right now.

The three eventually closed out the call, and an eerie calm fell upon the apartment as AJ sat folding laundry, and Tyson kept checking his phone to make sure he didn’t miss any calls. With all the laundry folded, and what might be needed put into a couple bins, AJ wasn’t sure what to do either.

To quote Tom Petty, “the waiting is the hardest part.”

AJ finally started getting to texts from everyone, Jess, Nate, Laura (when she couldn’t get Tyson to answer earlier), Danielle, Mel (that one was a little surprising, but they were still friends, all things considered), and a few others including her parents. Apparently someone told them the news.

2:00PM

Laura had been right, it truly was hurry up and wait. AJ swapped laundry again and brought the basket of warm clothes from the dryer to the coffee table, to mindlessly fold. She didn’t know really what to say or do, so she prepared… for Des Moines, or somewhere else.

Tyson just laid on the sofa, eyes pointed at the ceiling. Everything was out of his hands at the moment and he was trying to accept it.

3:00PM

Tyson grabbed his suitcase from the closet, trying to keep emotions in check. AJ had already pulled out some of his favorite things to wear to put in it. He smiled as he put the stacked clothes in the luggage, noticing her favorite Wizard World hoodie on top.

“You realize that’s your hoodie in my stack, right?” Tyson was curious as to what she was up to.

“Yep, but I think you’ve worn it more in the last six months than I have. Just in case something happens and we’re separated for a bit, I think it’ll do you more good than me.” AJ was trying to keep the feelings from spilling out from her eyes onto her cheeks. “Besides, you look better in it than I do.”

4:00PM

AJ was getting antsy, she took her anxiety out on the elliptical at the gym in their building. Her eyes started getting watery realizing this may be the last time she got to use the gym there, not that she particularly liked going to the gym to begin with. Blasting some tunes on her earbuds, she tried to forget the outside world for a bit.

Somehow in all this, Tyson fell asleep on the sofa, but made sure the ringer on his phone was extra loud. He didn’t want to miss anything important. He woke up to the sound of a very sweaty AJ coming back from working out.

She was kicking herself because she JUST did the laundry, and wasn’t thinking about this entirely clearly.

5:00PM

AJ got out of the shower, throwing on a hoodie and jeans. After starting the washing machine AGAIN, she found herself sitting at the sliding glass door, staring out over Minneapolis’ skyline. It was getting more difficult to keep her brave face on. A lot of texts were sent between her and Jess trying to make sense of the last 6 hours.

Tyson strummed away on his ukulele, trying to cheer up AJ by stumbling through some of the chords to “My Funny Valentine.”

6:00PM

“Did you eat lunch earlier?” Tyson questioned AJ, who sat on the sofa as she rubbed her temples and sighed.

AJ closed her eyes. “No. As soon as I saw Russo’s tweet… I just started packing.”

“Babe, you need to eat.”

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. Put your shoes on, we’re getting dinner.”

AJ grudgingly put on a pair of Chucks, and Tyson grabbed her hand, hauling her down the hallway toward the elevator. After pressing the garage floor button, Tyson wrapped his arms around her holding her tight. A little bit of stress left AJ when she felt his lips against her temple.

The two hit the road, but some of that stress came back as they neared Xcel.

“Remember where I first took you to dinner after you moved in? That’s how we started here, that’s how we’re going out. Also I know how much you love the Marsala.”

Tyson parked the Grand Cherokee in the garage just off of 7th. They walked hand in hand, and he opened the door to Cossetta for AJ.

7:00PM

Tyson ordered the Lasagna Al Forno, and AJ indeed ordered the Marsala Chicken. Trays in hand, they found a quiet corner to eat in. He even picked up a cannoli for them to share, just like their first dinner out as newly minted residents of Minneapolis.

“You know things are going to be alright, yeah?”

AJ picked at the mushrooms on her plate and grimaced.

“I mean it. I’m nervous too, fuck I still feel like shit it even got to this point. But… maybe it’s good. I go to Iowa, maybe they can figure out where I’m struggling. And you said you have friends in Des Moines?”

She cringed at the idea of Des Moines, but Tyson was indeed correct. “Yeah, I do, Andrew and Tina are there… Ryan and Emily… have a little US Air Guitar reunion I guess.”

“Hold up, what?” Tyson was confused by what he just heard. He knew those words, just not necessarily in that order. “US… Air… Guitar?”

Whether Tyson meant to or not, AJ was out of her thoughts and suddenly was excited.

“Wait, wait, have… I… never told you I’m a professional air guitarist?” AJ giggled at the blank stare of disbelief on Tyson’s face. “It’s a thing. There’s an Air Guitar Canada even. I’ve been doing it for years, although after the knee issues I had to sit back, but I still help out with regional qualifiers and stuff. Oh yeah, there are regionals. And then if you win at Regionals, you go onto Nationals. But there is also a Dark Horse competition to get to Nationals! And if you win Nationals, you go onto the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!!! It’s in Oulu Finland, end of August. Huge deal.”

AJ went on and on about how the competitions work, how they score like figure skating or gymnastics on a scale of 4.0 to 6.0, how you can only have your air guitar because a prop used as a guitar will get you disqualified. How everyone has their own persona, alter ego if you will.

“How did I not know this about you? That’s kinda…” Tyson trailed off.

AJ got worried to hear what he was about to say.

“... badass.”

The laugh couldn’t be contained, and AJ was relieved to hear what he finished his sentence with.

“I’ll have to show you some moves sometime. Just… don’t look me up on YouTube. Not that there are videos of my performances or anything…”

“Oh I’m looking them up. And you said there is an Air Guitar Canada? Maybe when you have dual citizenship,” Tyson’s eyes were nearly twinkling at the thought, “You can compete for Canada!”

AJ rolled her eyes and smiled.

Happy that AJ was out of her funk, if only for a few minutes, Tyson watched her dunk her breadstick in the marsala sauce and eat the remainder of the mushrooms. And being gag-inducingly cute, he fed her bites of the cannoli, alternating with himself.

After dropping off their trays, they walked back to the garage in much better spirits than they had arrived in. AJ still was a little wistful, realizing that they weren’t going to go back there again anytime soon. Tyson held her hand as he drove back, squeezing it when her mind seemed to drift too far away.

9:00PM

With how mentally draining the day was, the two brushed their teeth, and crawled into bed. Nervous and hopeful were pretty much the two emotions that were hitting the hardest. AJ was getting used to the idea of Des Moines though. And who knows, he could get called back up.

Tyson was focused on simply breathing. Again, it was completely out of his hands, there was no sense in dwelling on it when he had no idea what was going to happen. His mental approach was so much stronger than it was just a few months earlier. He was absolutely AJ’s rock at that point. Knowing that she was still a little frazzled, instead of little/big spoons, Tyson simply hugged AJ in bed until it was uncomfortable for them.

He cracked first - mainly because somehow AJ fell asleep first. Tyson carefully pulled his arm out from under her, trying to keep her from waking.

It was pretty much too late for news to come in, so he turned down the volume of his phone. The intention was to wake up early though, as something big could happen once the sun came up.

6:22AM

Tyson gave up on sleeping. He had dozed off and on all night. The calm, cool exterior he had earlier was fading, and showed the anxiety underneath as he woke up every couple hours. Grabbing his running shoes, he left a note for AJ in case he wasn’t back yet when she woke up.

8:00AM

AJ groggily looked around and found the note on her nightstand.

Be back soon Eggo. Running to clear my head. XOXO

Her stomach was in knots.

Why hadn’t any teams claimed Tyson yet?

AJ got up and took a quick shower, followed by making some tea and toast in the kitchen. Tyson returned home, smelling the toast as he entered the living room. She peeked out of the kitchen, and tossed him a banana.

“Eat up, we gotta get rid of a few things before… whatever happens… just in case.”

With the banana eaten, Tyson hit the shower. Still no news. He himself was resigning to the idea he was going to Des Moines. The team was playing that night, but he obviously was not at morning practice. It stung.

9:00AM (Four hours until the 24 hours were up.)

The two curled up on the sofa to watch some Yellowstone, not really knowing what else to do.

10:00AM

AJ cooked some waffles to share. Tyson had his with the remaining almond butter in the fridge, and another banana. AJ slathered hers in maple syrup.

11:00AM

Tyson shut off Yellowstone, noticing that AJ was not really paying attention and just fidgeting.

“Hey… let’s make a playbook,” Tyson was trying to come up with anything to make time pass and also get AJ’s focus back, “What are you going to do if it’s Des Moines?”

The two talked about how Tyson would likely just make the 3-4 hour drive down I-35 with a few things, and AJ would follow shortly in her own vehicle with more stuff. She might split her time because most of her clients were obviously in the Twin Cities area, but most of the Iowa Wild games were on the weekends, so she could make the trip down until they figured out how to work it all out.

AJ had a look of concern on her face.

“What if it isn’t Des Moines? We’ve been talking it up so much… what if you do get picked up?”

Tyson thought about it for a moment. “There aren’t too many teams nearby… I’d probably end up flying. Would you be up for driving? That way we have at least one vehicle still wherever we end up?”

12:00PM (One hour remaining.)

Both were straight up pacing. With every buzz of his phone, AJ felt more doom and gloom that it was still going to be Des Moines. She understood that it was a chance to get that development that he missed out on as an Avalanche player. But it still felt like such a huge demotion.

12:30PM

AJ sat on the sofa, chewing her nails. She had Laura on speakerphone, to not tie up Tyson’s phone in case something happened.

With just MINUTES to spare, Tyson’s phone rang just before 1:00PM.

AJ and Laura got quiet.

“Yes, I understand. Okay. Let’s do this.” Tyson hung up the phone, finding AJ literally on the edge of her seat, white-knuckling the pillow she was holding onto.

Laura wasn’t even in the room but she could feel the intensity through her own phone, on pins and needles waiting to know as well.

“It’s Buffalo.”

AJ’s phone started buzzing with tweet notifications that Tyson had been claimed. Notifications of texts started shortly after that.

Thinking about the waiver priority list, it was figured out that Anaheim, Columbus, Arizona, and Ottawa (which there were rumblings on Twitter about) all passed. But Buffalo saw something in him, and made it official.

Tyson was going to be a Sabre.

But there was a major issue at that very moment. Buffalo was in the middle of a severe winter storm, expecting to dump upwards of six feet of snow. And Tyson was supposed to get there the next day, supposedly.

Laura exited the conversation to let him and AJ figure out what the next steps were.

“Tys, Buffalo is a two day drive. They think they can get you flown out though?”

It was quickly figured out that AJ was indeed going to drive that afternoon, and arrive the next day. The plan was to stop probably in Indiana, and then make the rest of the trip, weather permitting. But then the discussion of the vehicle came into play.

“I don’t want you driving your Soul… especially if the weather is bad.”

“You know it’s stick, right? And I’ve driven it in Denver, and here, right? And at home in bad weather?”

Insistent, Tyson was trying to make a point. “I’d feel much safer if you took the Cherokee. Please, I mean it. It can hold more too.”

AJ got a smile on her face. “This isn’t about safety at all - you’re nervous about driving stick in Buffalo in my car aren’t you? I told you we should have practiced more this summer.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Tyson gave a sheepish grin. “Maybe. But I mean it, take my car.”

The two filled up the vehicle with luggage and tubs, leaving Tyson with his backpack and toiletry kit he took on roadies. It was figured out that AJ would fly back the next time Tyson was on an extended roadie to pack up the rest and get stuff ready to be moved.

“Text me when you stop? And check in…” Tyson bit his lip, holding back tears, even though he would hopefully be seeing AJ the next day in Buffalo. “Is this what you feel like when I leave for roadies? This is awful!”

AJ laughed and hugged Tyson tightly.

“Yeah, a little bit. But I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”

Tyson handed AJ the keys through the window as she climbed into the driver’s seat, adjusting the mirrors and seat position. He also stole another kiss before she put the key in the ignition, heading out on a new adventure.

As she promised, AJ texted when she stopped for gas, and her stopping point for the night, South Bend, Indiana. Finding a hotel, she barely was in the door when she sent a quick text before passing out for the night.

AJ: Little over halfway there. Roads are fine. Love you so much Tyson, can’t wait to start this new chapter tomorrow in Buffalo.

AJ was snoring hard as it was an even more draining day than the previous, missing the text from Tyson.

Tyson: Flying out hopefully tomorrow afternoon. Snow has stopped. Team is in Toronto tonight, flying back tomorrow too. Should have hotel info and address soon, will send. Sleep well, sweet dreams Eggo. Thank you for trusting the process, even though this isn’t what I’d planned. Love you.

AJ woke up, and checked the roads. It wasn’t going to be great getting into Buffalo, but she had hoped by the time she arrived, a lot of the snow would be plowed. And hopefully Tyson could get into town too. Another six and a half hours to go, AJ snagged breakfast at the hotel before hitting the road again. Doing the math from the info Tyson gave her, he would beat her there by an hour or so and at least could hopefully check in at the hotel.

Tyson: At the airport. (Hotel info) See you in a couple hours babe. DRIVE SAFE. (heart emoji)

AJ: Safe travels, tell the pilot to be careful! (kiss emoji)

After several more hours of driving, which of course was a bit longer due to the weather, AJ finally arrived in Buffalo. Google Maps wasn’t the greatest getting her to the hotel due to some streets not being fully plowed yet, but finally, she arrived and pulled into the parking lot.

Tyson was in the lobby, waiting impatiently, much like in St. Louis months earlier. He almost knocked AJ over rushing to her, hugging her tight. Grabbing a luggage cart, the two unloaded the Grand Cherokee, heading upstairs on the elevator. Opening the door to the room on the 3rd floor, he ushered her in. A load of weight had been lifted from both of their shoulders as AJ let the door close behind her.

“Welcome to Buffalo, Eggo. Welcome home.” Chapter 31 can be found at https://at.tumblr.com/brainrattlers/play-it-cool-tyson-jost-31n/43faeobb8w2p

#Tyson Jost #Josty #Tyson Jost x OFC #TysonTuesday #Play It Cool #NHL #Buffalo Sabres

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