Summary: The Dolan brothers are faced at ends when their rival NHL teams meet in Toronto for a game on Ethan’s turf. What chaos will ensue?
Warnings: some harmless, totally PG chirping
a/n: know I’ve been talking about doing another Grayson piece for so long, and here it is, because, my baby’s brother deserves some love too! Also Dani @graysondolantbh has been torturing me with hockey!e over the last few days, so it’s only fair that I attempt to get her back
The arena exploded with bursts of white and blue light, the crowd roaring to a deafening cheer as Grayson shuffled across the bench, biting the inside of his cheek as he watched his brothers team loop around the rink.
The rookie beside him gulped as he watched the Leafs that were twice his size circle around their bench like hawks eyeing their prey.
After being traded to the Flames on a waiver on account of a particularly bad injury, Grayson was adamant in preparing his new teammates on the wrath that was his older brother.
“Remember what I told you,” Grayson hummed out to the rookie beside him, shuffling his mouthguard between his teeth, not taking his eyes off Ethan on the ice as he observed the bench, culling his victims.
“Keep your head down and stay out of his way,” Grayson’s eyes lulled over the crowd as he tried to spy anyone—just a single person—out in the abyss that was wearing a Flames jersey instead of the trusty white and blue maple leaf.
His eyes suddenly landed on Maxine and Ethan’s girlfriend, the pit of his stomach burning at the need to impress the girl he had been crushing on for so long.
The rookie nodded hesitantly, his legs tensing up on his seat as Ethan took a particularly close cut in front of the bench, sliding to a stop that had ice shavings flying up into the air, Grayson’s gaze ripping from Maxine to shoot daggers at his brother.
Spending all of the pre-season and the majority of the regular season with the Canucks, Grayson was able to dissect and advise his teammates on what was the best plan of action on dealing with Ethan.
Ethan was known to be particularly aggressive on the ice; bodychecking anyone who dared to cross him on the flip of a dime. He was one of the fastest skaters on the Leafs, dipping and weaving his body to get to where he needed to be; to beat down who he needed to beat down.
Ethan wouldn’t hesitate in dropping his gloves to someone that did so much as look at him the wrong way. High stick him while you’re getting in-between his chance with the puck? Protect your face. Bodycheck him into the boards on a breakaway in the corner? Count your blessings. Say something dirty about his girl? You better pray for your life.
Before Grayson could give any more words of warning to the rookie, he was being patted on the shoulder and ushered onto the ice for puck drop.
Even after his knee injury and lengthy rehabilitation process, Grayson was still on the starting line on his new team, only being beat out of having the most points in the league due to his absence from the game.
Grayson’s line glided around the rink a few times, mingling with the Leafs as he warmed up his feet on Toronto’s ice.
“Dolan,” Grayson mumbled as he strode behind Ethan who was stretching out his calf, heel digging into the ice with purpose.
“Dolan,” Ethan replied back in greeting, a grunt in his tone as his eyes followed Grayson, the refs rounding up their hands to gather the players for the first face off of the game.
Grayson stayed back left to Gaudreau as he hunched over for face off against Marner, eyeing Ethan as he narrowed his gaze at the puck, ready to charge when he had the chance.
As soon as the puck was dropped and the period began, Ethan was all over the puck, ripping through Flames left and right to try and get on top of scoring a goal.
Grayson stayed back as the sensible centerman that he was, assessing his chances in assisting in a goal before getting involved in the scuffles around the net.
He watched on as the rookie attempted to stay close behind Tkachuk, Kapanen attempting to weave between the two and break up their pairing as Marner sprinted for the puck.
Grayson huffed under his breath as the rookie came too close in Kapanen’s way, earning him a bodycheck and sending him straight in the back of Tkachuk.
Tkachuk turned over his shoulder, mouthing to the rookie to stay back if he wasn’t ready to get involved, but the rookie stood his ground, charging for the puck after Marner gained control, testing the waters in his confidence against the opposing team.
It only took one swift charge from Ethan from the blue line to have the rookie flying into the boards, Ethan dashing around Marner to get the pass behind the Flames net in assistance.
Grayson cursed under his breath at the rookies lack of intelligence after his warning, cleaning himself up and scurrying to defend his net in protection of Smith.
“Aye, fuck off, buddy,” Ethan growled as he and Marner struggled to keep property of the puck between the Rookie and Monahan, the black rubber getting lost between the numerous pairs of skates that tripped and trotted over each other.
Monahan managed to get under it enough to send a slapshot quick to the other side of the rink, trying to keep it away from the Flames net at all costs.
Grayson stuck out his stick in order to catch it before it crossed into the offensive zone on the Leaf’s end, just missing it as the play was called into icing and the whistle was blown.
“Hey, chill out, alright?” Grayson skated over to Ethan, keeping his voice down as the two brothers slid past each other on the ice.
“Don’t tell me how to play my game,” Ethan grunted back to Grayson, making Grayson smack Ethan’s ass with an open palm.
Ethan spun around on his heel and gazed at his brother with hard eyes, wiggling the tip of his stick into the ice in distraction from his ever-growing temper.
“I’m not telling you how to play the fucking game, I’m telling you to lay off my guys,” Grayson bit back, mouthguard hanging carelessly out of his mouth as he gripped his stick with both hands, holding it across his body as if he was about to shove Ethan off with it.
“Your guys need to stay out of my fucking way,” Ethan gave one last attempt at scaring off Grayson before he skated over to the bench quickly, tapping in Kadri to take his place for a few.
Grayson kept his temper at bay, willing himself not to get involved in Ethan’s predictable antics as he searched through the crowd for Maxine once more. Once his eyes landed on her, he immediately saw the concern ripped across her face, understanding that it was probably quite obvious that the two brothers weren’t sharing kind words of encouragement.
Grayson shook it off, blinking a droplet of sweat from his eye before taking his place at the face off, pushing his annoyance to the back of his brain as he attempted to stay focused on the task at hand—winning.
It wasn’t until closer to the end of the second period that tension started to grow strong on the ice. The Flames were up 2 points at 3-1, and the Leafs grew stroppy with their lack of usual victory.
Grayson had assisted on 2 goals out of the 3, and was feeling quite confident in his abilities to finish this game on a high note.
He had even celly’d a point up to Maxine in the crowd, knowing that it would for sure gain him some extra brownie points in bed later that night if he dedicated his assist to her.
Nevertheless, the Leafs were only gaining more aggression as their chances at winning by a monstrous amount of points slipped between their beefy gloved fingers.
It seemed as though Ethan and Matthews were out to kill, and had started pummelling anyone that got in their way as they tried their chances at taking a slapshot to the net. Luckily for Matthews, it had worked out in his favour just once, as he scored the single goal that the Leafs had to their name.
Grayson could practically hear Ethan’s ragged breathing from across the ice, his mouthguard securely tucked between his teeth as he bit down on it in anger, his jaw clenched and his movements tight.
Grayson was suddenly caught in an ideal situation as a toss up by the penalty box quickly had him in control of the puck as it slipped away from the two who crashed together into the boards.
Grayson quickly weighed his options in charging with the puck towards the net himself, waiting for one of his wings to power to the net and aid him in faking out the goalie.
It seemed as if every man on Grayson’s line was somehow busy defending their own Leaf’s opponent, keeping them square away from the puck as they rallied in front of them and Grayson stalled, his hands growing sweaty with anxiety in his gloves.
Grayson’s nimble wrists tossed the puck back and forth over each side of his stick, keeping it active as he started his way towards the Leaf’s net, the rookie being the only man in sight that was available for assistance.
With the sound of skates slicing through the air behind him, Grayson made a potentially harmful decision in tossing the puck towards the rookie who waited stagnant beside the net, hoping that in a few quick strides, the two could tip the puck into the next and call it a 3 up.
Just as the puck was on it’s way into the waiting hold of the rookie, Ethan came dashing up behind Grayson, checking his shoulder in an attempt to move him out of the way as he set his sights on taking down the rookie.
“Take the fucking shot,” Grayson grumbled under his breath as he attempted to follow up behind Ethan and assist the rookie as necessary.
Ethan took no time in smashing his body into the rookies, taking him offside and allowing Matthews to swoop in beside Grayson and steal the puck away from the danger zone.
The rookie’s body slammed into the boards with Ethan’s hard hit, his hands immediately dropping his stick and grabbing around Ethan’s neck in attempt to take him down with him.
“Fucking christ,” Grayson cursed as he abandoned his stick, intent on breaking up the fight between his brother and the young player who dared to get on his bad side.
Gloves were long gone and jersey’s were being gripped tightly before Grayson could get a handle on the two, Ethan’s chirps flying out of his mouth like it was his god given right to spew them.
“You think you can fuck with me, buddy? This isn’t my first fucking rodeo. Take it back to the minors and stay out of my fucking way,” Ethan growled into the rookies face as he swung a dangerously large arm around his neck, pulling him down into a headlock as the rookie swung his fists at Ethan’s torso.
Both the boys hair was damp and in their eyes, hardly giving them the ability to see where they were swinging on the other person.
“Ethan, get the fuck off of him,” Grayson grunted as he grabbed onto his brothers shoulders, attempting to rip him from the rookie and stop the fight before penalties were handed out.
“You fucking little rookie shits should know better than to fuck with my play,” Ethan growled through grit teeth as he ignored his brother.
Grayson attempted to pull the rookie from Ethan’s grip once more without prevail, giving him no other option than to drop his own gloves.
Grayson was over this. He was over Ethan’s nasty attitude on the ice, he was over being known as the brother of the ‘Dolan Destroyer’, and he was over Ethan letting his temper take over the actual game of hockey.
Grayson felt as if he was one of the only NHL’ers left that actually got out on the ice to play the game, it seemed as if all that anyone was looking for these days was a line brawl and some air time on Hockey Night in Canada.
Before Grayson could give his decision another thought, his hand was gripped tight to the neck of Ethan’s jersey and he was throwing bare punches to his brothers skull, the sweat from Ethan’s hair sticking to Grayson’s knuckles as he went in for more punches.
“Fuck off, you fucking prick,” Ethan barked as he finally dropped the rookie, going to focus on his younger brother who tried to test him.
“You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?” Grayson snarled as he started to take all his rage out on his brother’s willing frame, pulling him closer towards him with the fist on his neck as he attempted to pull Ethan under with more punches to the crown of his head.
“You better stop while you’re ahead, Grayson, don’t make me fuck you up,” Ethan deadpanned, grabbing Grayson around the torso, ducking his head from the onslaught of fists as he used all his might to shove his brother against the boards.
“You wanna fucking fight, E? Then let’s fucking go. Show me how much of a tough guy you are,” Grayson taunted Ethan as his sweaty hair dropped into his line of vision, standing tall and intimidating a few inches higher on his skates, just a little bit broader, and finally putting all his strength to good use.
Ethan pulled back from Grayson’s torso as he finally let up on the punches, giving Ethan the opportunity to settle in his sincerity.
It took Ethan’s darting eyes and hardened expression all but 2 seconds to realize that Grayson was for real, he wanted to go, he was ready to rumble and he was determined as all hell to finally take down his brother for his teetering reputation.
Ethan lunged at Grayson without warning, wrapping his arms around his torso and slamming him back into the boards, Ethan’s mouthguard tumbling from his lips and to the ice below through his guttural growl.
Grayson huffed out a breath, his own mouthguard threatening to fall from his mouth as he got the wind knocked out of him momentarily, trying to get a good grip over Ethan’s back, his hands reaching for the bottom of his jersey to pull it over his head.
The crowd was absolutely frothing over the action going down between the two brothers, other players quickly joining the brawl to try and pull the two apart from each other.
Just as Grayson ripped Ethan’s jersey from the back of his pads and started to lift it over his back to deny him of his tackle, Ethan flipped the switch and pulled Grayson down to the ice with him, skates and legs thrashing as the two turned the fight into a good ol’ fashioned fist pummel.
“You fucking talk so much shit,” Grayson grunted as he wiggled his way over Ethan, knee to his groin as he rained his chest and face down with punches.
Ethan tried to grab all of Grayson’s punches, shoving his arms out of his face as a ref came swinging from above the boys, grabbing onto Grayson and lifting him from his brother.
Ethan scrambled to his feet the first chance he got, eyes locked dead on Grayson’s as he hesitated before lunging once more at the younger twin.
“You’re a fucking joke, buddy. You’re a fucking injured prick who’s rattled he isn’t the top scorer anymore. You fucking prick,” Ethan spat at Grayson, only egging him on more as the ref clung tight to Grayson’s frame, keeping him in check so he didn’t kill Ethan.
“You better calm down right now, both of you are in the box, you don’t wanna tempt getting ejected,” The ref snarled into Grayson’s ear, causing him to rip from his grip and skate off, picking up his helmet and skating to the box without even being told what his infraction was.
Grayson knew he fucked up, but he knew that Ethan fucked up as well.
He wiped a stripe of blood that gushed down his cheek from an apparent gash to his eyebrow, blaming Ethan for the imperfection that would grace his face as he trudged into the box.
Ethan followed soon after, limping across the ice with a few strong strides and a bloody nose, throwing himself onto the bench as the door to the penalty box slammed after him.
Grayson paid no mind to his brother who sat only a few feet away from him, 2 layers of glass separating the siblings from successfully executing brawl round 2.
After serving his time on penalty, Grayson was released from the box with a want to turn the game around on a positive note.
He intended on finishing the match with fair and equal play, helping the Flames to the well deserved win against their toughest opponents.
Throughout the duration of the game, Grayson’s mind drifted to Maxine, wondering what her take on the brawl really was.
What if she was scared of him—scared of his ability to really hurt someone? What if she thought he was some kind of monster for going after his own brother—her best friend’s boyfriend?
He couldn’t help himself in his want to change things, setting his sights on only keeping himself in Maxine’s good books as he fought hard to score as many goals as his raggedly tired body possibly could to finish the night.
After another assist on his end and no more goals scored by the Leafs, Grayson exited the ice with a feeling of accomplishment.
He knew that he would get a very strongly worded text from his mother the second that he checked his phone, maybe even a voicemail reaming him out if she was angry enough at him for pushing Ethan’s buttons.
Ignoring any harping messages that Grayson got to his phone, he showered, interviewed, and got the hell out of the dressing room as fast as he could; avoiding any contact that he may have with Ethan on his way out.
Grayson stalked out of the dressing room, tugging at the cuffs of his suit jacket in anxiousness, catching the eye of Maxine.
She’s alone, meaning that Ethan and his girlfriend are long gone, probably going home to hide in shame after the abominable loss for his team.
“Hey,” Maxine hummed with a sweet smile, standing from the bench that she was perched on expectantly, hands clasping together as a grin tugged at her lips.
Grayson suddenly felt his shoulders relax for the first time all night as he saw her smile. He was so fucking glad that she wasn’t completely turned off by his attempt to murder his twin.
“Hey,” Grayson returned, smirk tugging at his face as he approached her, reaching out an arm for her to tuck herself under.
“Pretty rough game, huh?” She commented, causing a deep chuckle to rise from Grayson’s chest, shaking his head at the reality of what had gone down.
“Kinda sweet. I like victory,” Grayson smiled, looking down at Maxine, arm still wrapped around the back of her neck as she gazed up at him.
It was then that he realized that now was as good a time as ever to tell her how he really felt. He had been egging her on for months that he didn’t want a relationship, that he enjoyed the freedom that being a bachelor gave him.
Grayson just gave her a crooked smile as he studied her expression.
“And I like you. A lot,” he confessed, chewing on his lip as he awaited her approval.
She looked satisfied, eyebrows raising as she attempted to hide the smile that was still growing on her lips.
“More than victory?” She teased, leaning into his chest, hips knocking together and making him ache to take her home and have his way with her immediately.
“Always more than victory,” and with that Grayson bent down, pressing a chaste kiss to Maxines lips that had his chest tightening and his world dizzy behind his closed eyes.
Pulling back, he noticed her flushed cheeks and excited demeanour.
“Let’s get you home. Teach you what victory earns you, baby,”
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