so during preseason, at a practice will falls and hits his head pretty hard. he clears concussion protocols and everything but his head is killing him. and with mack not being able to drive yet, they are kinda trapped at the rink.
mack pulls out his phone and calls dani, "dani, are you busy right now?"
"no why?"
"if i called you an uber to the rink, do you think you could drive us home? will hit his head during practice pretty hard and can't drive." mack explains. dani instantly says, "oh my god is he ok?"
"he's fine, he doesn't have a concussion but the training staff told him he can't drive. and he is adamant about not leaving his car here. can you just come to the rink?" mack says as he's ordering the uber for dani. dani says, "yea i'm calling an uber right now."
"already done. will be there in 3 minutes. your literally a life saver dani." mack says to his best friend's girlfriend that's also his roommate. dani brushes him off and arrives to the rink 30 minutes later. she walks in and immediately asks, "where's will?"
"training room. laying down." mack says and shows dani where he is. when dani sees him, he's laying down with his eyes closed and an eye pack on his head. she says quietly, "hey babe. you feeling ok?"
he just nods and reaches a hand out to her. she instantly laces her fingers with his and squeezes softly. she says quietly, "lets get you home will. and to bed."
"ok." he practically whispers.
he sits up feeling dizzy and stumbles when he stands. dani holds him up and says, "yea you're in no condition to drive babe. come on handsome. time to go home."
he slowly follows her out to the car. mack trailing behind just in case. she gets will settled in the front before grabbing the keys form mack and getting in the drivers seat. she starts the car and asks, "do you want music or is that too much?"
"too much." he mumbles shielding his eyes from the sun.
she nods and just drives off towards their apartment. mack is quietly talking to dani about stuff with allie, dani pretending she doesn't already know, and will trying not to vomit. will says, "mack, please stop talking. you're making it worse."
mack mumbles a soft, "sorry."
will cracks the window for some air and doesn't even realize they are home until dani opens his door. she helps him out and up to their apartment. she gets will in bed and he grabs her hand as she goes to walk away, mumbling a quiet, "stay. please."
"i will babe. i'm just gonna get you some water and tylonel ok?"
he ndos and she ventures into the kitchen to grab it for him. mack is digging through the fridge for something to eat. he asks, "how is he?"
"out of it. how hard did he hit his head?"
"hard. he was battling for a puck and his skate got caught and he fell back hitting his head on the ice. he immediately went off after that and didn't return."
"he'll be fine. he just needs to sleep it off i think. clearing protocols is good. i'm gonna head back with him, i'm thinking tonight is a take out night. let me know what you want later." dani says. mack nods and she heads back to her room to find will trying to stay awake.
she climbs in bed with him and he immediately cuddles into her. laying his head on her chest. she smiles and starts running her fingers through his soft curly hair. she says quietly, "get some rest will. you'll feel better."
"thank you for coming to get us baby."
"always. now rest will. i love you and i'll be here when you get up." she kisses the top of his head and he cracks a small smile. he mumbles back, "love you too dani."
he quickly falls asleep and when he wakes up hours later, he feels so much better. dani asks, "how's the head?"
"a lot better. thank you though, seriously. for getting us." will says presses a soft and loving kiss to dani's lips. she smiles, "always will."
they move to the living room while they decide on dinner and mack asks, "how you feeling smitty?"
"a lot better, had a great nurse." will says winking at dani. dani blushes and mack gags. he says, "gross. is this some weird kink thing you have smitty?"
"not everything is about sex mack." dani says sharply.
mack rolls his eyes, "with will, it definitely is."
"and for your information mack, it's not a kink thing. my girlfriend is just hot."
mack rolls his eyes and they start talking about dinner. will pulls dani tight into his side and kisses her head. grateful for her help and her taking care of him.
mack gets back to the apartment the day he met with the netters boys and didn't say anything about the interview besides it was good. but when it came out dani and will listened to it to see what he said.
when it got to the last question about american pie, and he passed stiffler's mom (or whoever the character is, i never watched american pie) and the netters guys say, "that was a test to see if mack has an older ladies guy and out here hunting cougars."
and then mack says, "i'm not gonna say anything but ask that to smitty."
will and dani piss themselves laughing. they were in the car getting back from a date they were having. and when they get home and mack is on the couch chilling out, will says, "there's no way you said that i'm into cougars with chris and dan."
"ok i'm not wrong. your girlfriend is a year older than you."
"you don't need to put me on blast with that." he said trying not to laugh. dani is giggling the whole time. she's still pretty close to will and holding his hand. she says, "i thought it was funny. thank you for humbling him mack. but be careful calling us out. i'm a proud cougar because i love him but don't announce that."
"yea yea. they loved it."
"is that why they texted me after and asked how old my girlfriend is?"
"probably. my bad." mack says laughing. will cackles, "fuck you asshole. you're on your own for dinner and walking to the rink tomorrow."
everyone laughs at that and will and dani head into their room to watch a movie and ignore mack the rest of the night. will is now rethinking his choice of living with mack and becoming friends with him.
dani is struggling learning how to be a girlfriend, let alone a good one, to will. on top of having some serious doubts about them being together given how different their personalities are.
also, this is gonna be so long and I kinda apologize for that
~
I am insensitive, I have a tendency, to pay more attention to the things that I need, sometimes I drink too much, sometimes I test your trust, sometimes I don't why you stay with me
will sees dani walking towards the library while he's on his way to get dinner with the boys. he smiles and jogs over, "hey baby."
"oh hey will. what's up?" dani says smiling at him.
will takes her hand, "you going to your study time?"
"yea. why what's going on?" dani asks. will shakes his head, "nothing. I just haven't really seen or heard from you today."
"oh, sorry. I got caught up in just everything today. look, I have a really important paper to write, but I promise to text you when I'm done and if it's not too late maybe we can get ice cream or frozen yogurt or something?"
"yea sure. I'm getting dinner with the boys but I wanted to see you. I'll see you later baby." will says and kisses dani's forehead before she walks away and into the library.
he walks to the dining hall where he was meeting ryan, gabe, and jacob a little defeated that dani kind of blew him off. it wasn't just that day that he'd hardly seen her, it had been a week.
I'm hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy, and, I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood, I'm hard to love, hard to love, and you say that you need me, I don't deserve it, but I love that you love me good, mmm, yeah
(dani overhears a conversation of will's teammates talking about them being together and it gives dani doubts about being with will. and then a few days later, she overhears some of the lacrosse freshman saying the same thing.)
"how does smitty date lady duke? like she's just so cold and antisocial and kinda bitchy and he's this like happy-go-lucky, kid in a candy store kind of person. like doesn't he get tired of dealing with that?" Connor says to Timmy.
Timmy says back, "I don't know what he sees in her but he's in love with her. and from what Lenny was saying, he has been for like 2 years. I agree though, how is happy and smiley will smith dating cold and stone faced dani duke. like she doesn't even smile when she's with him. I don't think I could ever do that."
"no for real. like I will never understand what will actually sees in her."
dani walks away after that comment. she's hurt to hear what will's teammates think of her relationship with him. but she also doesn't think they are wrong, she knows that she's cold and doesn't show her emotions often but that doesn't mean she doesn't feel things for will.
~a few days later~
dani is about to get out of the shower in the locker room when she hears voices and her name. one of the freshman girls, ali, is saying, "god I wish I was dani and dating will smith. like he's so hot and have you those curls. to die for."
"for real. like what does will even see in dani? she's very closed off and to herself. like we play on the same team as her and she's always at all of the team bonding events and stuff but I feel like I don't know her. I don't even know what she studies. like how does something has friendly and extroverted as will date such an introvert like dani? what do they even talk about?"
"it could have something to do with dani's twin brother?" Molly says.
alexa questions, "dani has a twin brother?"
molly nods,"yea. his name is ty, he plays hockey at michigan with her older brother dylan. I did a little social media dive into all the girls when I committed. they are all over her instagram with her sister but there's no sign of will. how long have they even been together?"
"I don't know. I didn't even know until I heard gabe's girlfriend talking about a double date. like we barely know dani and we spend all of our time with her so like there's no way that will knows enough about her to date her. there's no way anyone knows enough of anything about her to date her. let alone say that they love her."
she hears enough of what they are saying and storms out of the locker room and locks herself in her dorm for the night. and all she can hear in her head is everyone saying how she doesn't deserve will and that her personality is too cold for him and all the reasons that she shouldn't be with him.
and she can't help but believe them so she cries herself to sleep just thinking about everyone being right and will breaking up with her because he starts thinking it too.
I am a short fuse, I am a wreckin' ball, crashin' into your heart like I do, you're like a sunday mornin', full of grace and full of Jesus, I wish that I could be more like you
since dani has overheard not only her own teammates, but also will's teammates, having doubts about their relationship. dani has been short with everyone. including eden. will knows that something is wrong with dani and is doing everything he can to get her to talk to him but she won't budge.
she's just been going to lift, then class, then practice, then the library, and then her dorm without really talking much to anyone about anything. she's even shut her phone off.
will is upset at dani for avoiding him so he waits for her outside one of her classes and basically ambushes her. he sees her walk out and goes over to her, "dani, what's going with you?"
"what are you talking about will?"
"you've been avoiding me, hell you've been avoiding everyone. so what's going on, how can I help?" will says while he softly grabs her hand and gives a gentle squeeze.
dani looks down and rolls her eyes before saying, "nothing is wrong, I just have a lot on my plater with playoff coming up. I know that you get that. I promise I'm fine."
"then why haven't I heard from you?"
"because I shut my phone off so I could focus on everything that I need to do. I've been spending a lot of extra time on the turf and in the weight room to get ready for post season. I'm sorry I haven't texted you or seen you for a few days, I've just really been trying to dial in." dani says somewhat lying through her teeth.
she has been trying to focus on playoffs and but also avoiding will because she doesn't want him to know that people think they shouldn't be together.
will sighs, "I do get it dani. it just feels like your using that as an excuse to avoid me. I'm not saying that it's true but that's just how it feels. and if I did something wrong, I wanna know so that I can fix it and make things right."
"you didn't do anything wrong will. I promise. and I'm not avoiding you, or at least not trying too. I'm just trying to not let my team down in the playoffs and bring the natty home. I'm sorry, if it seems like I am avoiding you." dani says making eye contact with will. she even goes up on her tip toes to kiss him softly.
will smiles, "it's ok dani. I get it. how about tonight, I come over at like 9 and we just hang out? no phones, no teammates, just me and you and netflix or something?"
"sounds good. I gotta head to the turf, but I'll see you later." she says smiling. she kisses him one last time before rushing off to practice once again.
will still feels like there's something off with dani but she obviously doesn't wanna talk about so he's not gonna force her too. he just goes to her dorm for 9 like they talked about and dani even cuddled into will despite hating being touched.
I'm hard to love, hard to love, oh, I don't make it easy, 'nd I couldn't do it if I stood where you stood, I'm hard to love, hard to love, and you say that you need me, I don't deserve it, but I love that you love me good, love me good
will has finally reached a boiling point of dani shutting him out so one night as she's getting back to her dorm, he says to her, "hey dani. we need to talk."
"what's wrong will?"
"not out here. in your dorm." he says and follows behind her up to her dorm room. once inside, dani asks, "what's so urgent that you ambushed me at my dorm building?"
"us, dani. I know that you've been saying how you're just trying to focus on playoffs lately and I'm not saying that you're lying but I know that you aren't telling me the whole truth. did I do something and you've been pushing me away while you figured out how to break up with me?"
"no. that's not it at all. like not even close." dani says shocked that will thinks she is gonna break up with him. that's the farthest thing from the truth. she's afraid that he's gonna break up with her. she then says quietly, "I've been pushing you away because I'm afraid that you're gonna break up with me."
"what? how could you possibly think that dani? I'm so in love with you and I have been since I first saw you 3 years ago." will exclaims a little hurt that dani thinks he's breaking up with her.
dani lets his words sink in and starts crying. it's the first time will has ever seen her cry. she says through her tears, "it's just, we're such different personalities and I know that everyone wonders how and why were together and what you see in me and sometimes I wonder too. because I know I'm not the happiest or friendliest person and that I can be a bitch to everyone, especially you. and you are just so nice and thoughtful and loving and one of the best people I've ever met and I'm scared that you're gonna realize everyone is right and that we shouldn't be together and break up with me."
will's entire body softens seeing dani break down. he says softly, "hey, that's not gonna happen. I'm not breaking up with you. not now, not ever. I love you dani, there's not a whole of things that you could do that would change that."
"but why do you love me? what's so lovable about me? I'm quiet, I keep to myself, I don't let anyone in, so how can you know that you love me when you barely know me?" dani forces out.
"because I do know you dani. I know that you're favorite color is black because it's a color that matches with anything, I know that you wear your hair in the exact same style for every single game because you think it's good luck, I know that eden is your best friend in the whole world because she is the first friend you made in michigan, you see cutter like another brother because he's dating eden and although you don't think anyone is good enough for her you know that he treats her right, I know that you look up to alyssa and treat isla like the little sister that you always wanted, and I know that you don't let anyone in but I also know that you let me force myself in. and I know that because there's no way I'd know all of that stuff if I didn't know you. and I know that if you didn't have any sort of feelings for me, you never would've let me take you on a date or be my girlfriend. I know you so well dani duke, and I love every single part of you." will explains to her as he cups her face.
dani looks in his beautifully blue eyes and just sobs. she chokes out, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry will."
he pulls her in for a hug and just holds her tight, "hey, shhh. it's ok dani. it's ok." he tries calming her down by rubbing her back or his fingers through her hair. it works a little bit but she's still crying pretty hard. he says softly, "baby, I need you to breathe for me. we're ok, I promise, I just need you to breathe dani."
"I'm sorry for pushing you away and thinking you were gonna break up with me." dani chokes out.
will makes her look at him and he says softly, "what made you think that I was gonna break up with you?"
"a few weeks ago, I heard your teammates talking about us being together and how they didn't know how you put with me and what you saw in me. and then a few days after that, a few of the freshman on the lax team were saying similar things and how I spend all this time with them and they barely know me so how can you know that love you me if my own teammates don't even know I have siblings. and it got all in my head and I started thinking that they might've been right." dani explains.
will sighs, "why didn't you tell me?"
"because I didn't want you to hear it and then agree and break up with me. because I didn't want them to be right or to cause any problems. it's your teammates and my teammates were talking about here. we spend so much time with them and so we can't have problems or issues."
"I don't care if they are on the same team as me. I love you and you're my girlfriend, they don't get an opinion on who I date. only I do, and I wanna be with you. I love you dani, and no one else."
"I know you do. and someday, I'll be ready to tell you the same but I'm just not there yet."
"I know. I can read you like an open book dani, I know how you feel and it doesn't matter if you aren't ready to say it yet. that's never gonna change how I feel." will says smiling at her.
she smiles back and hugs him tightly. she mumbles against his chest, "I'm sorry for pushing you away. I'm just not good at this whole girlfriend thing."
"it's ok baby. and you need to give yourself more credit, you're a great girlfriend. I love you, and I know that you'll tell me when you're ready."
dani smiles and kisses him softly. will pulls away and says, "so how does watching a movie sound? unless, you need me too how you how much I really love you?" he smirks by the end of his question with an eyebrow raised.
dani smacks his chest playfully, "absolutely not. no sex until I win the natty. I gotta focus."
"you're joking?" he exclaims. dani playfully rolls her eyes, "it's 3 weeks, you can last. but a movie and maybe some cuddling sounds good." she says hopefully. he nods and they get in bed with a cheesy rom com that dani picked.
she falls asleep like 20 minutes in but will keeps the movie on in case she wakes up. he kisses her head and whispers, "I love you so much and I will do everything in my power to make you believe it."
as soon as she sees it, she's laughing her ass off at will.
like she finds it hilarious. and mack makes a comment, "doesn't he look so good in the BU jersey?"
"bite me celebrini."
will pouts and tries to hug dani. she takes a step back, "don't you dare touch me with that. you want your hug, take it off. i had a shit day, don't make it worse by making me touch that."
will sulks at her denying him a hug, "sorry baby."
right before they leave, will shrugs the jersey off and pulls dani in for a hug. he puts his head in her neck and presses a featherlike kiss there. they both let out a sigh of content and will mumbles against her skin, "you're coming tonight right?"
"wouldn't miss it." dani smiles and cards her fingers through his curls.
will lifts his head and kisses her softly, "i'm sorry about today. i'll do my best to make it better for you after the game, promise. you gonna be in your usual seat or sitting with cat?"
"with cat. i love you, good luck, i'll see you after."
"i love you too." will kisses her again.
he grabs the jersey and heads down to the car with mack. he makes sure the jersey is on before getting in the car. he rolls his eyes at mack's giggles and just drives them to the shark tank.
so every year, stanfords women’s lax has a tradition that the last weekend before the season starts is a team bonding wine night where they get a bunch of wine and basically have a tell all and every year, the girls end up putting the spotlight on one of the starters, and in this year’s case it’s dani.
~
dani’s pov
will offered to drive me to my team bonding tonight but when we get there he refuses to let me out. he pulls me in for what i thought would be a short kiss but he just never pulls away. i pull away enough to say, “babe, i gotta go. i’m already late.”
“one more kiss.” he says leaning back in and kissing me like 10 more times. i pull away and say, “ok i’m getting out now william.”
he pouts and says, “text me a time and i’ll get you tomorrow.”
i smile and kiss him softly, “i will, bye will. i love you.”
“i love you too dani.” he says returning the kiss. i climb out and head inside with a few of my own bottles of wine. i head inside and get greeted by all my teammates. they cheer when i walk in and i say, “sorry im late. will didn’t wanna leave.”
“ooooo lover boy”
i roll my eyes and get settled with the girls. we all gather in the living room and our senior captain, annabel, says, “now as we all know. tonight is the annual stanford lacrosse wine tell all. all of you newcomers names hat been put in the hat and if your name is drawn you will be peppered with questions about yourself all night. you get 5 passes in case certain questions have personal answers. now benny, do the honors!”
allison benson, who we call benny, sticks her hand in the hat with the names and pulls one out. she smiles and says, “dani duke, your in the hot seat tonight.”
rylee nudges me and i crack a smile. i can social tonight i guess. i settle myself in a chair and everyone fills their glasses back up as i prepare to get interrogated. first question is, “who’s your best friend that isn’t will?”
“easy, eden hughes, junior at uc irvine on the women’s soccer team.” i say smiling.
next question is, “how long have you and will been together and how did you meet?”
"we've been together for a little over a year. and we met through eden and my brother technically. he's a year younger than me, so he was the year behind ty at the development program for hockey. eden is dating a guy who was on the team with ty so i would often go to games with her to support them. and then i met will because the 17s always played after 18s. we got together once he got to BC and was insistent on taking me on a date for 3 months before i said yes. and we've been together pretty much ever since he came back from Sweden from world juniors that year."
they spend the next hour asking me random questions at random points in the night. one question makes me pause though. jordyn asks me, "why did you leave bc?"
"i, um..." i start but stop because i don't even know where to start. ally says, "you can use your pass dani."
i nod along, "i want to talk about it. i haven't actually ever told people the reason. i trust you guys, i just don’t know where to start."
the girls all quiet down and give me a chance to think. i finish off the glass in my hand and then reach for the closest bottle. i giggle and take a big swig, "this is a bottle kind of story for me." i take another swig and start explaining, "so i committed to bc in 2021 and was so excited to go there. getting to play with charlotte north was a dream come true, she took me under her wing and mentored me through that year. my freshman year was pretty good. i mean, i kept to myself and a few of the girls that i was close with but other than that i didn't talk to my teammates much outside of practice or go out much. i'm just not a going out person. a night in like this is more my style. sophomore year, was kinda shitty to be honest."
"if you wanna stop there d, you can." lexi tells me.
i shake my head and keep going, "no no, i already started and i always finish my stories. but anyways, sophomore year will had come to campus and was flirting and trying to take me on a date and i hadn't found the right chemistry with our freshman and transfers when he started doing that. i've been on the quiet and reserved and to myself side since i was 11 and moved to michigan. my best friend eden was the first person i really opened up to. and it was us against the world for the next 9 years after that. and the new girls didn't understand my personality. like i'd go to all of the team stuff because the team is important but i just didn't talk. i overheard a few of the girls in the showers one day talking about me and will and how are we together and stuff and i just hated it. i felt like an outsider on my own team. i heard one of the girls say, 'like we barely know dani and we spend all of our time with her so like there's no way that will knows enough about her to date her. there's no way anyone knows enough of anything about her to date her. let alone say that they love her' and that was when i knew that my time with boston college was over. that and when i tore my acl in the natty and they didn't even notice or say anything to me about it when it got released that i played the whole second half without my left acl and scored a hat trick."
“how’d will handle that when you told him?” lexi asks.
"not well. he freaked out when i told him. but the girls didn't even acknowledge it. i hadn't officially decided on going back at the point, i was kinda deciding on will. i was planning on following him whatever he decided to do. and i was scared shitless of that."
"why?"
"because will is the first guy i've ever dated. and i'm so in love with him and at the time i was scared of being in love because i have my own life and career goals and i didn't want falling in love to get in the way of that. i had a long conversation with my sister about and she kinda helped me realize that my heart is with will, wherever that is. so when he decided to sign with the sharks, i entered the portal and contacted coach. i know the bc girls blame will for me leaving, and he's like 75% of the reason that i left, but i think if i had a better relationship with my teammates, i would've been more comfortable staying. but they treated me like shit so i left. i honestly think that choosing boston college out of high was the third best decision of my life, transferring here was the second." i say smiling.
this is the most i've smiled in my life with a group of girls beyond winning the natty, twice. pretty much everyone is also smiling too. molly asks, "what's the best decision of your life then? if bc was 3, stanford is 2, what's 1?"
"giving will a chance. he's changed my life for the better in every way."
the girls all give an audible 'awe' and smile. a few come over and hug me. jordyn, who is arguably the girl i've become closest with on the team, asks me, "ok final question. you've been in the hot seat long enough."
i nod and she continues, "what is your favorite part about coming to stanford?"
"everything." i say and the girls giggle. i explain deeper, "i think my actual favorite thing, is the relationship we all have. like this is the closest team i've ever been apart of and you guys accept for my introvertedness. like you aren't trying to make me into a person that i'll never become because that's just not me. you guys let me be me and don't make me feel bad about hating going out. i don't even let will take me out. but it's just the fact that i'm allowed to be authentically myself in my own way, living with my boyfriend and not any of you guys but making sure i'm apart of everything. it's the family that we have hear that i haven't felt on a team ever in my life."
jordyn smiles at me, "we love you too dani. and you never have to be anything other than yourself with us. we love you for who you are, not who we think you should be. and thank you for opening up, you didn't have to."
"i know i didn't. i'm just glad i found a group of teammates that are more than girls i play lacrosse with, a team that feels like family." i say smiling.
i think this is the most i've smiled ever in my life.
we spend the entire rest of the night, giggling and having a great time together. eventually we all relax and throw a movie on so we don't have to feel the need to talk and one by one we all pass out. the next morning, we're all hungover on wine.
all of us. it's rough. i never get hungover anymore because i don't really party or drink but i am aggressively wine hungover and dying. once everyone is awake and miserable, i say to annabel, "hey what time should i tell will?"
"whenever you want." she says smiling.
i shoot him a text:
i smile at his text and start gathering my stuff. once my bag is repack from everything, jordyn asks me, "will picking you up?"
"yea." i say smiling. she asks again, "you really do love him don't you?"
"i don't move across the country for just anybody j." i smirk. she giggles and pulls jordyn in for a side hug. jordyn laughs with her, "are you ever gonna bring him around so we can meet him?"
"i'll bring him to formal. how's that?"
"yes!' jordyn exclaims. she then runs to where the rest of the girls are and shouts, "guys, dani said she's gonna bring will to formal!"
there's cheers from the living room, followed by groans. i smile and just hang out until will gets there. he texts me that he's here and i bid goodbye to my teammates and practically run to will's car. i climb into the front seat and instantly lean over to kiss him. he smiles, "did you miss me or something dani?"
"i did. i missed having someone attached to me in my sleep." i joke at him. he rolls his eyes, "now i'm not giving you coffee."
i give him puppy dog eyes and he caves and hands it to me, pressing a soft kiss to my lips. he mumbles a quiet, "I love you" against my lips before driving off. i rest my hand on will's that is placed on my thigh. i say to him, "so i kinda told jordyn that i would bring you to formal."
"ok. i mean i kinda assumed i was your date if it's an off night." will comments with a smile. i nod and then add, "and then she kinda told the whole team that you're coming."
"ok?"
"they've been dying to meet you will." i explain to him leaning my head on his arm. he turns his hand to interlock his fingers with mine, "i'd love to meet them. they make you happy and if you want me to meet them, i will absolutely do it."
"i do want you too." i say softly. since we're stopped at a red light, he leans down and kisses my head, "anything for you dani. always."
during dani's lacrosse season, she has a home game while will is ont he east coast so they play at the same time and will can't watch her play. which he hates, because he always watches dani play.
it ends up being a conference matchup against pitt, who hated her when she played at bc so she knows they are still going to hate her now. but dani is prepared for that.
during the game, she ends up taking a ball off the back of her shoulder, and it hurt so badly. it was intentionally shot at her.
she crumbled to the ground holding her shoulder and everything.
she ends up being fine, putting up 7 points in the game and the trainer looked at her and told her that it's just gonna be a nasty bruise. which is all that it is. but it's deep and very black and blue and purple.
she calls will after the game, knowing he won't answer, and leaves a voicemail. it's their thing, regardless of if the other will answer, they always call each other after a game. dani tells him, "hey babe. just finished against pitt. we won like 15 to 6, i had 4 goals and 3 assists. don't kill yourself trying to watch the game it was honestly boring. i hope you have a good game and i'm gonna throw it on when i get home. good luck and i'll talk to you later. i love you, bye."
will gets back to his phone after the game and smiles when he sees the voicemail and smiles the whole time he listens to it. toff, mack, and dellandrea all ask him, "dani?"
"yea. she had a game today at 3 their time so it was 6 here. we always call after games. i guess she had 4 goals and 3 assists in a big win which is awesome. i'll call her when we get back and then probably crash." will explains to his nosy teammates.
since it doesn't hurt too badly after a few days, she honestly forgets about it. that is until will gets home and sees the still very visible and sore bruise. she's changing in the morning to head to lift and he sees the dark purple mark on her shoulder and exclaims, "dani what the hell happened?"
"what do you mean?"
"the bruise on your shoulder blade?" will says in a 'duh' tone of voice. dani winces when she realizes that she never told him about it. she says quietly, "oh. i got a ball shot at me against pitt. i thought it healed."
"why didn't you tell me?" will says grabbing at her hips to pull her back so he can look closer at it. his fingers carefully dance around the very dark mark on her shoulder and he presses carefully earning a soft wince out of her. she says, "it honestly isn't that bad. it hurt int he moment but i brushed it off and finished the game. i didn't think i needed to say anything because it's just something that happens sometimes. i'm literally fine."
"but you didn't tell me? why not?" will asks as he keeps looking at the mark on her shoulder. he's sad that she got hurt and didn't tell him.
while will is still looking at her shoulder, dani explains, "i didn't think it mattered will. it wasn't a serious injury, i kept playing. it's a thing that happened. i get hit with lacrosse balls all the time at practice and don't tell you. i didn't think it was a big deal."
"i just wanna know these things baby. even you think it's not a big deal, i do. because i hate when i have roadies and can't be there to watch you play. it sucks, so you telling me the small details makes me feel like i was there. and you're sure that you're ok?"
"i'm positive william. it hurt in the moment but i honestly forgot it was there. i get sore during lifts sometimes but overall it's not that bad anymore." dani says and smiles when she feels will presses a feather light kiss to it, trying not to irritate it.
dani turns in his hold and drops her arms to his shoulders and fiddles with the curls at the nape of his neck. just above where his chain sits. she smiles at him, "i appreciate the concern babe, i do. but i'm fine. you know that i'd tell you if i wasn't."
"like you did during the natty when you partially shredded your knee?"
"that's different. the natty doesn't count and you know that." she says and kisses him softly. she pulls away and they are both smiling at each other. will pulls her in for a hug and she says, "i promise to tell you next time someone uses me for target practice during a game."
"thank you." will says but it's muffled from his face being buried in her chest from their hug. dani smiles and says, "i love you will."
"i love you too dani." will replies and his fingers start drawing random shapes into the bare skin of her back. she smiles at the feeling and says pulling away from the hug, "ok. i really gotta dressed now so i'm not late. you still driving me?"
"yea and then me and mack are heading to the rink for an optional lift before practice. i'll text you when i'm done and maybe we can do lunch or something between classes." will says as dani changes into her workout clothes.
she smiles as she tosses one of will's sharks hoodies on, "works for me. i'm done at like 5 so if you could also pick me up, that'd be great."
will nods and they grab their bags before heading towards the door to put their shoes on. they see mack just sitting in the kitchen on his phone. he notices them walking in and says, "nice of you to finally be ready. i thoguht i was gonna have to barge in there."
"you have a car, you can drive yourself." will points out to mack who just rolls his eyes at the blonde boy and dani giggles.
"that's no fun." mack says teasing will.
will grabs his keys and then dani's hand as they walk down to the car and head off to all of their responsibilities for the day. dani presses a kiss to will's cheek when they get to the stanford athletics facilities and says, "i love you, i'll see you later babe."
"love you too. have fun and be careful."
"where's the fun in that" dani shoots back with a wink before meeting up with her teammates. mack climbs in the front and will starts the drive to the practice rink. mack knows better than to quesiton whatever that was between will and dani so he just puts on music and drinks his coffee.
i ended up down a rabbit hole, especially with the idea of maybe having dani and will start dating a couple months earlier. like the night he gets back from world juniors is when i'm thinking. which is a few days before his interview with spittin chicklets.
i'm including some parts of it, but also adding my own thing with it!
~
will's pov
i'm meeting up with biz and whit over zoom for their podcast. we were supposed to meet in nashville at the draft but the plan changed. after winning the world juniors, it made sense to finally get it going.
i finally made it official with dani, the night i got back. only took me two years. she came home with me for the weekend, just to get some us time before school, and she's currently napping.
one thing i've learned about dani, is that she struggles sleeping so when she gets the chance to sleep, she'll take it. so she's sleeping in my bed while i'm doing this.
i jump on and start talking with the guys. a little way into us talking, biz asks about school, "so with leonard blowing kisses to the sweden fans, did he ever do something like at school? like who had the nastiest student section?"
"maine was tough. they were saying whatever they wanted up there. they said some absurd stuff to our goalie."
whit chimes in, "that's because they don't have any teeth."
i laugh and then add, "well so they were like throwing condoms and they were landing on my mom underneath."
"she was probably saying 'grab one will please!' the whole time." whit says. i'm laughing but i'm also extremely glad that dani is asleep and can't hear this. she'd kill me, would not be a good start to our relationship.
"wait, used ones? or were they new?" biz asks. whit dies and i cannot believe he just said that. i shake my head, "i hope they were new."
"well i don't know i never went to college." biz tries defending himself. i'm still laughing about it. RA ends up asking, "outside of hockey, how was your first semester of college?"
"it was I mean coming from the program. so it was obviously online now so it's completely different from uh when whit was there when you guys were at school, but um so it's we do school at the rink. so now going to class it was a little bit different of making sure you get there on time."
"so you're saying that you didn't have to go class and now your having to attend the classes?" biz clarifies. i nod, "yeah."
biz asks again, "how much sleeping is going on in class? because when i was taking classes during my time in the ohl, within 5 minutes of being there i was asleep."
"some days are tougher than others. to get to class." i explain without going into detail. i know they know what i'm talking about. we go on talking about my major and theater class with the boys.
we go on into my birthday with st. patrick's day being in boston and then playing for junior eagles and then knowing lenny for a while. we also talked a little bit of taking summers off and not skating year round. biz says, "i wanna go back to the classes, did you have any funny interactions with students? like have has anyone maybe sent over a note to you like I don't know?"
"um, sometimes. I mean sometimes we'll like be walking from class to class in the hallways and then a kid for his one other class would ask to interview the line we do an interview in between classes with another student for his class" i explain a little bit. it has happened and it was weird. me, lenny, and gabe agreed immediately that it was weird. biz comments, "ok that's kinda silly."
i'm thinking of a few times where i'm just running into dani in the halls as i explain it and whit catches me. he says, "he was blushing a little at the beginning biz. I think he's leaving out some certain females that might have reached out these guys."
"that's what i mean though. bc hockey is more well known than bc football am i wrong?" biz asks. whit, RA, and grinnell agree and say that he's right. he continues, "so like bc hockey is like the thing you must be just getting hounded in the halls here."
i chose my words carefully, "well we have some friends that help us out with work if we need to or study groups and stuff like that."
"the fuck does that mean? am i missing something here?" biz says.
whit stars laughing and trolls me, "he's got a tutor. he's got a few different tutors." biz interrupts, "you have a tutor?"
i more or less don't respond and whit starts listing of girls names, "ashley and jasmine and maggie." RA adds laughing, "charity."
the boys are laughing. i chuckle and say, "ok, i have a girlfriend."
"oh shit. smitty is locked down huh?" biz comments. whit adds, "you must be mr romantic huh? i'm sure your mom is begging for you to grab those condoms now."
i laugh and say, "it's new so relax. but yea, i'm dating someone, so no study groups. actually, she is my tutor. she helps me out when i ask for it." which is true, dani does tutor me and is helping me with my classes when i ask her.
whit laughs, "is that how you met her and locked it down?"
"no. i've known her for almost 3 years. and that's all i'm saying." i say and shut it down. i'm not telling people who my girlfriend is. me and dani haven't even been on campus as a couple yet so the chicklets boys don't get to know about it yet.
we go back to talking about the program. and then whit starts asking about sebs and the jump to the program and making the teams. biz starts talking about me being a morgan wallen guy and i'm nodding along. him and whit sing the chorus of last night and then whit says, "i saw him at fenway last summer. did you go to one of those?"
"yea i went friday night." i say. whit says how he was there that night too. we start talking about music and country music and then who in the room at world juniors had the aux cord. i say, "brindley has the aux cord."
"that's a big job." biz says.
"he brought the michigan music to our team which was good." i say. biz pipes up, "grinnell always talks about this big booty mix is that what's going on pregame or does he actually shuffle up his own thing?" i start laughing because i do jam to a good big booty mix every now and then. and brindley did throw one on in the room. he asks, "why are you laughing? you a big big booty mix guy?"
"i mean sometimes." i start to answer but whit cuts me off, "that's his tutor. i'm sorry girlfriend."
i toss my head back to laugh. i'm so glad that she's asleep right now. biz says, "what else besides morgan wallen? i know we're digging deep on the music stuff here."
"what about tate mcrae? heard your a big tate mcrae fan." grinnell asks. that asshole. he's tryna get me in trouble with dani. biz gets excited talking about her album. i stay quiet while he talks. grinnell asks again, 'you ever send her a dm?"
"no, he wouldn't do that. cut another players grass like that." biz defends me. i say, "i might've."
"no way."
i immediately say, "ok, lets set a few things straight here. when i sent her the dm, i didn't know she got cheated on by another hockey player, and i was not dating my girlfriend at the time. this was before school, so me and my girlfriend were not anywhere close to dating."
"look at you tryna cover your tracks." whit says and laughs. i say, "she's gonna kill me. i mean she knows i sent it. ryan told her as a joke so she knows but still. i'm not tryna get in trouble."
"good man." RA says with a laugh.
we talk about sydney sweeney and her movie a little bit. and about will smith the rapper. i'm getting fidgety, i don't normally sit still like this for long so i'm moving around in my chair. and i guess i moved too far and dani sleeping got in the shot. whit asks, "is that your girlfriend sleeping in the background?"
i smile, "yeah. it's her nap time. she doesn't sleep much at night so she normally naps in the afternoon when she has the time. since we're on break still, she's taking her nap and it just so happened that i'm doing this at the same time as her nap."
"well that's nice. how new are we talking?"
"i finally made things like official with her when i landed after world juniors, but i've been working on it for months. she's here for the weekend with me before we're heading back to school. funny enough, she was in the same theater class as me, lenny, and gabe." i say. i'm trying not to give away too much.
"oh so she really was your tutor?" whit jokes.
i shake my head, "not really. she's a political science major but needed to take theater to fill a credit and it just so happened that she sat in front of us. but we've known her for a few years. i've been trying for months to take her out and she let me take her out, two days before we left for world juniors and i knew i had to make it official when i got back. but again, i've known her for a while."
"good man. but political science major, she must have a brain on her?" whit says. i nod with a smile, "yea, she's wicked smart. she has her eyes set on law school, but she's also an athlete here so she understands the grind of everything. she's honestly amazing though and one of the best people i know."
"aw smitty's in love." biz comments. everyone laughs and i blush. whit says, "now that you told us about your girlfriend, we're gonna grill you on her now."
"i'm not giving everything away." i say.
they nod and then whit asks, "so how does a political science pre law student take theatre class with 3 top NHL prospects?"
"well you have to take a certain amount of non major credits. like your gen eds, and she needed like an art one or something like that and she wanted something lowkey to off set her poly sci classes and be relaxed and she settled on theatre i guess. i think if she knew that me, gabe, and ryan were in that class and would be sitting behind her all semester, she would've picked a different class." i explain joking.
"i don't blame her. is she close with them too?" whit asks. i nod, "oh yeah. i mean she's known us since the program, so she knows gabe and ryan well. and her best friend is cutter's girlfriend, so she's close with some of the boys."
"that's good i guess. what about ryan and gabe, they locked down?" whit continues hounding me on my dating life. i nod, "they have girlfriends too. my girlfriend is pretty close with both of their girls so we have a good group going right now. i'm not telling you her name, i don't need your crazy fans finding her and hounding her dms."
"fair enough. you telling us off the record?" biz asks. i shrug, "maybe. both of her brothers play hockey so if i say her name, she's gonna get found. and i'm not doing that to her. she's got enough going on. her pre season starts next week."
"what sport does she play?"
"lacrosse. she's like amazing. i would watch her play last year and she is so good. i'm excited to get to see her play in person this year. she's an outstanding athlete, probably better than me." i say smiling.
"look at this geeking out over his girlfriend. such a good guy. and your even giving her that after dusting me at the locker room tour." grinnell says. i chuckle and say, "hey, be glad she wasn't there. she'd dust both of us. it takes a different kind of athleticism to play lacrosse compared to hockey. i've worked out with her in the summer before having mutual friends and stuff and she kills some us in the weight room. she's just so good."
"and good looking i'm assuming?" biz comments. whit says, "relax biz. these kids are 18, chill out."
"she's 19 but yea, she's beautiful. maybe i'm a little biased because she's my girl but probably one of if not the most beautiful girl i've ever seen. she's so pretty." i say smiling. i love dani and there's no doubt about it. i have no issue saying that to someone. RA says, "what a good boyfriend you are. pumping her tires."
i shrug and whit asks, "can you like text me her name? i promise i won't say it but i wanna see what she looks like and who she is. i promise not to announce it on the pod."
i nod and quickly send him her name and instagram. he pulls his phone out and looks her up. he says, "holy shit dude, she's beautiful. and now seeing who her brothers are, that makes sense keeping her name private. and with where he brothers play, that could go crazy real fast."
"yea. i think besides like our friends, her sister, my sister, and my mom are the only ones who actually know we're together. like her brothers don't even know yet. i've been working on this for years guys. and she knows that but it's been 2 years in the making. it's finally happened and i couldn't be happier."
"so if i shot ryan leonard a text right now, he'll confirm that you've been trying for years to get your girl?" whit asks. i nod and i see him typing on his phone. about a minute later he says, "no shit you weren't lying. i guess you really were playing the long game."
i shrug with a smirk and then say, "no more about my girlfriend. i've said enough. anything you guys got for me?"
"nope. you got anything for us smitty?" whit asks. biz says, "nothing for the ladies man RA?"
"i'm good." i say. we've been at this for like 45 minutes so dani will be awake soon. biz says, "have we talked about us blowing you off in nashville?
"grinnell and i talked about during the locker room tour." i explain. RA says, "not publicly so let's talk about it."
biz says,
"it's my fault because I'd gone four and a half months sober and then they they kind of put all this work on me at the draft where I had to do something at the awards and I hadn't had a drink and then Merles put this fucking margarita in front of me right before we were supposed to go back and you know 10 a.m margs at at this restaurant Nashville and I said you know what I don't give a flying fuck about any more work it's time to crank it so my apologies but there was a reason it got backed up it's because we knew we were going to win a gold medal and come on and get to talk about that in the bean pot brother so congrats on all your success your first half at college and keep kicking ass man keep kicking it.
i smile, "thank you guys for having me."
RA asks, "well what time did they did they call you and bail out at what time did they did they let you know they were bailing out at?"
"I think it was in the morning. because we were supposed to meet at like 1." i say and grinnell says, "yeah Biz gave me the whole grenell cancel everything today."
whit comments, "then didn't go to sleep for like three days after" biz adds, "then I went on then I went on a bender. then I went on my college visit as they call them I'll be all right. well thanks so much buddy. have a great rest of the season pal you're a legend"
"thanks guys." i say and log off. i shut my computer and put my headphones away. i climb into bed with dani and she cuddles right into me and wakes up. she mumbles, "hi will."
"hey baby. have a good nap?" i ask and kiss the top of her head. she nods, 'yea. how was the podcast with chicklets?"
"good. i didn't wake you did i?" i ask while rubbing her back. she says quietly, "no. what'd you guys talk about?"
"little bit of everything. school, world juniors, the program. i talked abotu a little bit."
"me?"
"yea. nothing crazy and i didn't name drop but it got mentioned about dating and girls and stuff in college so i said i have a girlfriend and they asked a bunch of questions but i didn't say too much. is that ok? i can have them take it out."
"no it's ok. as long as my name wasn't said."
"it wasn't, i made sure not to. we're not there yet." i say. she nods in agreement and we just stay like that for a bit. she's not big into being touched so i'm surprised she's cuddling with me right now but i'm not gonna say anything. i love having her in my arms.
