Pls pls pls can we get an enemies to lovers for Slaf or Connor 💕💕
Professional menace - JS20
Juraj Slafovsky x Social Media Admin Reader
Word count: 2438
Summary: Working for the Canadiens' media team was supposed to be easy, until Juraj Slafkovsky decided becoming your biggest headache was his favourite hobby. Between stolen microphones, endless teasing, and a season full of road trips, the last thing either of you expected was to fall for each other.
Genre: Slow Burn, Fluff, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Workplace Romance
requested by anon
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The first time Juraj Slakovsky had ruined one of your interviews, you just assumed it was an accident.
The second, you started to become suspicious.
And by the fifth, you knew it was personal.
“Slaf, I need thirty seconds.”
The young winger glanced over his shoulder from where he was walking towards the lockers
“Thirty seconds for what?”
"You stared at him and he just stared back, and then the corner of his mouth twitched upwards.
Already, he was being difficult.
He looked around dramatically, “Oh, do you, now?”
You narrowed your eyes, “Hm?”
“Well, I'm trying to decide if I have thirty seconds to spare.
"You are literally standing still."
"Busy day though." The grin spread across his face confirmed as much.
Around you, players walked through the hallway after practice.
Some head towards the gym, some towards the locker room.
But most slowed down slightly because they knew exactly what was happening.
Nick Suzuki actually stopped to turn around and watch.
His grin widened, “Nope.”
Cole Caulfield actually burst into laughter.
You closed your eyes and counted to three,
And that didn’t work, so you counted again, and when you opened them again, Juraj was still standing there looking entirely too pleased with himself.
And this is somehow how you chose to spend your little free time.
“Great use of time, in my opinion.”
The tiny microphone nearly became a projectile.
Another thing he liked to do to you was steal your microphones.
The first time around, you just assumed it was an accident, the second, you knew it wasn’t, and by the third, you briefly considered committing a crime.
He looked up from where he was sitting in his stall after another practice.
He looked down at the tiny microphone, which was currently sitting beside him.
Then back at you and with complete sincerity asked.
You just stared at him, across the locker room, several players stopped what they were doing.
Like sharks sensing blood in water
"Give me my microphone now."
He picked it up, and for a small moment, you felt a small wave of relief.
But then he tossed it to Arber instead, and the entire locker room burst into laughter.
You closed your eyes and counted to 10 this time.
And when you opened them, sadly, everyone was still there.
Including Juraj, who looked entirely too pleased with himself.
“I hope you know that you are the most annoying person I have ever met.”
“That wasn’t a compliment."
At least that's what you are telling everyone.
And the problem wasn’t that he was rude or anything, because he wasn’t, at least not to anyone else.
The fans loved him, kids adored him, the staff liked him, and his teammates looked at him the way an older brother looked at an annoying younger sibling.
No, he just seemed to enjoy making your job harder.
Working for the Canadiens social team sounded glamorous in theory.
In reality, it was mostly chasing hockey players around the arenas while trying to convince them to participate in content.
Some players were easy enough.
Nick would answer questions without complaining.
Cole would willingly participate in almost anything.
Brendan practically created his own content.
“What is your favourite pregame meal?”
You blinked, “Can you be more specific, please?”
You lowered the microphone. “You know what I am trying to do, right?”
He shrugged, “Well, I like making it difficult.”
And the worst part was, he only did it with you, you had noticed months ago.
When other members of the media team approached him, he behaved normally, perfectly normal, actually helpful even.
Meanwhile, if you approached him.
Suddenly, he became the funniest man alive, according to himself at least.
“You need to stop encouraging him.”
You sat in the empty seat beside Cole after practice.
He looked up from his phone, “Me?” he pointed to himself.
You gestured wildly at him. “Every time Slaf says something annoying, you laugh.”
You just stared blankly at him, and he busting out laughing.
The season just started, and that made everything worse.
Because now there were games, and games meant travel, media obligation, and more content.
And all the more opportunities for Juraj to become a nuisance.
“You have exactly one question.”
You narrowed your eyes. “One question?”
“That’s not how interviews work.”
The cameraman next to you looked seconds away from losing composure.
You could feel it, everyone enjoyed this way too much.’
“Fine.” You adjusted your grip on the microphone. “How are you feeling, heading into tonight?”
Juraj nodded seriously. "Good."
“You know that you’re supposed to give me more than that.”
“Because that’s the entire point of the question.”
He considered that, then nodded once, “Still good.”
From behind you came a choking noise from one of the crew members.
You pointed at him. “You..” before you let out a sigh, turning to the camera man, “We're done.”
His laughter followed you down the hallway.
By December, you had developed a new talent, you could identify his footsteps without looking.
Which was stupid and useless, and definitely not information your brain should be storing.
Yet somehow, standing in a crowded arena, surrounded by staff, players, and equipment managers, you always knew when he was near.
It annoyed you, almost as much as he did.
Road trips were worse because the team spent enough time together in your opinion.
Adding airports, hotels, buses and flights into the mix just felt cruel.
Especially now that the Canadiens embedded series had began filming.
You hated it, not because of the project itself, but because of your assignment.
Your manager smiled apologetically. “No.”
You stared, and he stared back.
“Because the viewers love him.”
You groaned, “He’s impossible, though”
You nearly dropped the tablet in your hands.
Your manager blinked. “Likes bothering you.”
You just stared at him, then looked away.
Because for one horrible moment.
You had interpreted that sentence very differently.
The first trip for the series was to Boston.
Then New York, then Chicago, then Toronto.
And somehow, between the airport and team buses, the dynamic started to shift.
Not dramatically, but just enough.
The thing nobody tells you about spending this much time with someone you hardly know is that, eventually, they stop being a mystery you can simplify.
Eventually, they become a person.
You learned that he hated early flights, that he always forgot his charger, that he always called his parents after games, and that he always listened to the same set of songs before every game. He gave away most of the snacks he brought, and he got nervous before events.
The little things, useless things, dangerous things.
"You know, you no longer threaten him."
You looked up from your laptop, “What?”
“You used to threaten him.”
“Yeah, you did,” he looked delighted, “you told him you’d throw your microphone at his head.”
“That wasn’t a threat, though.”
He raised an eyebrow, “What was it then?”
He laughed so hard he nearly spilled his coffee.
The problem wasn’t that Juraj had stopped being so annoying.
Not completely, at least, because that would have been suspicious.
But enough that you started to notice when he wasn’t around, which was worse.
The realisation happened in Vancouver, not because anything insane happened, but because something small did.
The team had just finished late evening practice while you were editing footage in the hotel lobby.
You rubbed your eyes and looked at the clock.
and immediately regretted it.
You looked up and Juraj stood beside you.
Hoodie and joggers, hair still damp from his shower.
You frowned. "Why are you still here?"
He shrugged, "I couldn't sleep."
You folded your arms. "So your solution was wandering around the hotel?"
He shrugged. "It seemed reasonable."
You looked at him for a long moment. "I'm not convinced it was."
You stared and he stared back, neither of you acknowledged how weird this conversation actually was.
Then his eyes glanced at your laptop, then to the empty coffee cups beside you. “You haven’t eaten.”
He just gave you a look, you hated that look.
You sighed. “Alright, not recently.”
He nodded once, then disappeared before you could ask what he was doing.
Two minutes later, he returned, holding a container.
He held out the takeout container. "Take it."
Your suspicion immediately activated. "Why?"
Juraj looked offended. "I am always nice."
You laughed so hard you nearly fell out of your chair.
A warm feeling settled in his chest at the sound, which was unfortunate because Juraj had spent the last few months convincing himself that annoying you was harmless.
It was funny because it didn’t mean anything.
only now he was starting to suspect otherwise.
The jealousy arrived a month later, unexpectedly, violently and entirely unwanted.
The team was filming an event, and you were talking to one of the new camera operators, laughing about something.
He couldn’t hear the conversation, which shouldn’t have bothered him at all.
Yet somehow, he found himself watching you.
Watching you long enough for Arber to notice, “Oh.”
Juraj looked at him. “What?”
Arber looked delighted, “Oh my god.”
He leaned back. “You like her.”
Juraj nearly dropped the water bottle in his hand, “No.”
"That wasn't convincing."
Juraj looked away from him, which unfortunately made it worse.
Because across the room, you laughed again at something the camera operator said.
Arber looked seconds away from crying with laughter. “This is great.”
Things only got worse after that.
Because later that night, you asked the camera operator to dinner.
Not a date though but a group dinner.
With several staff members, nothing romantic at all.
But that detail still seemed irrelevant to Juraj’s brain.
Cole appeared beside him.
Juraj looked up. “I’m not.”
Cole followed his line of sight, immediately spotting you, immediately understood and immediately smiled.
Juraj wanted to throw himself directly into traffic.
The entire locker room knew before either of you did, that was perhaps the most humiliating part because by February, there was an active betting pool.
Which you discover by accident.
The locker room suddenly became very interesting to everyone.
You narrowed your eyes, “What betting pool?”
"It’s nothing important.”
"The one about when you and Slaf finally stop being idiots."
You stared at him, then laughed, then stopped laughing.
"Oh, my god." and suddenly, a lot of things made sense, actually way too many things did.
The realisation sat heavily in your chest for days after, because once somebody says something, you start to notice things.
The way he looked for you after games or the way he remembered things, even the way he always appeared whenever you were working late and the way he somehow knew exactly when you were stressed.
The way you did the same for him.
The final road trip of the season was to Chicago.
The series was nearly finished and everyone was exhausted.
The players, the other members of staff, you.
You fell asleep editing again, which honestly doesn’t surprise anyone anymore.
Only this time, when you woke up.
There was a hoodie resting over you.
You immediately knew who it belonged to, and your chest tightened at the thought.
Because that somehow felt worse than not knowing.
“You keep on doing this.”
Juraj looked up from his seat nearby. “Hm?”
He just shrugged, “Well, you keep on falling asleep.”
“That isn’t a proper answer.”
You stared at him, and he stared back.
There was a long silence.
It was comfortable, dangerously comfortable.
Then very quietly, he broke it.
“Why did you invite him to dinner?”
Your heart skipped a beat. "What?"
“The dinner with the camera guy.”
You blinked, then it hit you. “Oh.”
Juraj looked away immediately, which told you everything.
Because suddenly everything started to make sense.
The staring, the late night food, the hoodies, the way he always looked relieved when he found you.
And judging by the look on his face, he realised that you understood.
And for a moment, neither of you spoke.
Then. “You were jealous.” A smile slowly graced your lips.
His groan echoed through the entire lounge.
You laughed, hard, the kind that made your stomach hurt,
“Please, stop saying that.”
And somehow, this was the moment everything changed.
Not dramatically, not with a kiss or confession
Just two people finally understood what everyone else had known for months.
The first kiss happened a few weeks later, after the season ended, and the series wrapped.
Just the two of you sitting in an empty arena, looking over the ice.
“You made my job harder than it needed to be”
He grinned immediately. “You’re welcome.”
You rolled your eyes, then smiled.
Because somehow, somewhere between all the arguments, interviews, roadtrips and late night editing sessions.
The person who had spent an entire year driving you insane had become your favourite person.
He looked at you, really looked, the way he always had.
And this time, instead of pretending not to notice.
You let yourself look back.
“Still annoying?” he asked quietly.
You pretended to think about it.
He let out a gentle laugh. “Good.”
And for once, neither of you had anything clever to say.
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Authors note: Hi anon, I picked Slaf for this, hope this is what you wanted, didn't mean for it to be for the fic to be this long, its probely the longest fic i have written so far but oh well, anyway I hope you like it.
