Jonny's nervous to be back after a season away. Everyone's a decade younger and faster than him. He's worried he won't keep up, fearing how the Core's back in the day chirps of "keep up old man" which they yelled at Sharpy and Seabs maybe coming true for him.
But as he slides into bed at night into warm comforting arms and wakes up to soft kisses on his neck, the glint from his wedding band reminds him that regardless of how different and fast everything seems to be moving in hockey,
at least Patrick will still be there.
Sorry for not responding earlier, this somehow completely escaped my notice!!
But oh my god, Y E S. I am obsessed with the idea of them grounding each other, and of Pat representing hockey and love in a Different Way, and them comforting each other? Also Patrick waking him up with neck kisses, HOLY SHIT.
And then there are also all the things he doesn't realize:
The younger guys are glad Jon's returned. They look up to him, his name, of course, but more than that he grounds the team. Patrick is a great guy but he's too fast and too focused on the goal. Jon, on the other hand, with his years of experience--he sees the guys, sits down with them, has a chat when he notices they aren't doing so well.
He leads by example. If they puke after practice, he'll check whether it's just exhaustion or something else, cause he's been there. Gets them in touch with the right people if they need some extra medical support. Doesn't judge them for it, either, because he knows bodies do what bodies want no matter how hard you want things to be different.
And yeah to Jonny their speed is dizzying, but to them it's uncontrolled. They fly across the ice and don't yet know when to stop, when to turn, when to shoot--a millisecond off is the difference between a goal or not. A millisecond's glance at Jonny is the difference.
(Then they go out in the evening and find the Captain sitting next to Kaner again, both of them relaxed and happy and smiling, and they know of the matching wedding bands even if they aren't officially privy to the secret yet--it's not much of a secret when Jon leans in to whisper into Kaner's ear before looking up and smiling at the rookies, welcoming them to the table without taking his hand off Kaner's waist).
