#nicoleno

[03amfox]

you start dabbling in rpf and suddenly you have some pairings that bring tears to your eyes because you're a lover at your core and you just get to see the same people fall in love again and again and again and it makes you believe that there is a love story waiting for you out there, and yeah there's still hope and romance is still alive

[orangestringoffate]

[weirdboyfriends]

okay so. the other day @orangestringoffate broke me by presenting the idea of this ryan leonard and this nico hischier:

gifs: x / x

and then we were rpf-ing about them a bit... and THEN, in the devs vs caps game the other night there was some weird boybestfriend psychosexual warfare happening...

anyway so then today i wrote 1600 words of nicoleno chatfic..... so.

there’s history right. ryan and will and jack are all USNTDP boys. jack is a 2001 and ryan/will are 2005s so they weren’t at the USNTDP together but they have that brotherhood regardless. that bond. alumni shit. so that’s how those three all know each other.

now. ryan and will obviously as we all know had whatever situationship they had at the USNTDP as well as at Boston College. and then the draft happened and will went to the Sharks and ryan… went back to college. and that was that.

and suddenly will doesn’t have much time anymore and they are drifting apart and will is pulling away because he met macklin for real and that’s a whole thing. whereas he was conveniently hooking up with ryan… wow he is like… actually in love… with mack. so. 

so that’s okay. like ryan wasn’t in love with will. they’re buddies. they’ll always be buddies. he’s okay with this. he’s not pining. he gets to the nhl in his own time and washington is surprisingly gay and he has no trouble at all with hookups because everyone there is in politics and discretion is the forefront of all these dudes’ minds so. ryan has his own fun. 

and then with nico. see. he liked jack immediately. and they had a good thing going. hooking up and having fun and hanging out and it’s all going pretty well. I mean yeah jack is kinda weird about the fact that nico is a guy. like he has sex with nico and he sucks nico off and he gets so fucking hard for nico, so like. He’s obviously into it all. but then sometimes he gets a little cagey, like, yeah, nico is a man and so is he and like… that’s just a lot. like he definitely is dealing with a lot of internalized homophobia but nico can wait him out. he thinks. until he can’t and he tells jack that he likes likes jack and they’re on the same team, they live in the same building, they’re always together anyway, they have so much fun, nico wants an Actual label and defined lines. He wants a boyfriend. Jack to be his boyfriend.

and whoa whoa whoa Neeks, you know i’m not gay lol, jack says. and nico is like, but you kiss me and you fuck me and you want me to big-spoon you and you hold my hand on the drive to morning skate every day and and and

and jack is about to have a category five meltdown because he’s not gay. this is just. like. it’s whatever. (it’s not, it’s sooo not, but it’s too late for that now)

and nico tells jack to gtfo of his apartment and they’ll be cool on the ice and in the locker room but that is IT for their interactions going forward and jack is like bro you knew this whole time i’m not gay like relax.

and nico absolutely can’t relax because they’ve been doing boyfriends stuff for like, two years. more than just having sex. boyfriend stuff. couch cuddles and after-skate lunch dates and jack washing nico’s hair in the shower and nico remembering the hypoallergenic laundry detergent jack uses when he’s at the store doing his own grocery run and.

well. he’s sad and jack seems miserable, too, on the ice and at practice. but nico quickly overhears jesper and luke ribbing jack for having a tinder girl over the other night which he hasn’t done in like years or something and nico is both crushed and pissed because jack clearly did that to prove to himself and have evidence for the other boys that he is Not Gay. Just in case, or something.

so anyway eventually the Devils play the Capitals and nico knows ryan a little bit just from jack’s USNTDP stories and they’ve actually all hung out after games - dinners and drinks and such - a time or two when some of the boys wanted to get together and nico tagged along.

so he knows ryan just a little. enough to know he can slip into those DMs and go to ryan’s hotel.

and ryan is sooo different from jack. he’s tall and broad and muscular. so big. so solid. so strong. and nico has never cared that jack was smaller than him, slighter, so so so pretty and delicate… but ryan is so exactly the opposite but. he has big blue eyes, too. so. he’s not jack, but. he’ll do. 

but it turns out, like. see, nico hasn’t really done much hooking up since getting to new jersey, right. because of hockey culture and he’s the captain and it’s too hard to figure out how to hook up with guys or have a boyfriend in the culture of hockey and american homophobia and so like. he and jack started hooking up and that was so easy because they were teammates and lived in the same building and it just worked. but of course it was extremely behind the closed doors of their apartments and jack wouldn’t even stand too close to him in public. 

but ryan is gay. ryan isn’t interested in being out, because he likes his career and wants to keep it. but he’s gay. secure in that. and he and nico had a great time that first night at ryan’s hotel. and then he DMd nico afterword to say so. and that’s new for nico. he thought they’d just hook up and blow off steam and be done. but ryan’s in nico’s DMs kinda often now just chatting. talking about hockey. sending gym selfies and pics of his gross protein shakes and a weird sign about aliens he saw someone posted up on a telephone pole. normal stuff. and then he mentions that the capitals have a random weird stretch of four days between games and like. he could drive to jersey. for a night. if nico was interested.

and nico… is. here’s a guy who wants to see him. to drive a few hours to see him. and yeah, to sleep together. but like. sometimes jack... didn’t even wanna come up the two floors in their building to see nico. so.

he says yes and ryan drives up to jersey and they very much do hook up again. and again. and like. nico had great sex with jack. no complaints. but ryan, again, is big. he’s few inches taller, and a good 20 pounds heavier than jack. he’s big and broad and makes nico feel… weirdly… small. which he’s unused to but actually deeply into. ryan is a big, strong, masculine dude and it’s extremely doing it for nico.

it’s also doing it for nico the way ryan is forward about straight up asking if he can sleep over and how the morning isn’t awkward at all and they know they can’t like go out because they can’t be seen because how the fuck could they explain that. but ryan spends the day hanging out with nico in nico’s apartment and seamlessly fits in here and doesn’t even think about the way he slides his hand across nico’s lower back when he passes him in the kitchen or the way he curls his hand around nico’s ankle and pulls his legs into his lap when they watch a movie or how he ends up staying a second night and he fucks nico so good nico forgets his own name and the whole time he won’t stop fucking talking about how hot nico’s body is and how much he loves nico’s dick and his muscles and how he won’t stop running his hands all over nico’s body, rubbing his face into nico’s chest hair and makes it so clear that he is into him and the fact that nico is masculine and hairy and muscular and solid. a man. he’s into nico, and BECAUSE he’s a man is a big part of that. he’s open about his attraction and desire for nico AS A MAN. 

and then, fuck, ryan cups nico’s cheek and kisses him goodbye at the door when he leaves to head back to DC the next day. 

and he DMs nico to say he got home safely and he had a really good time and he wants to see nico again as soon as they can work it out.

and it’s hard because their schedules are absolutely fucked and they can almost never see each other in person but they talk. they have really hot facetime sex. they do see each other when they can. and it’s so good? it’s too much separation to actually call it legit boyfriends but it’s… good. it’s good to be kinda sorta with someone who definitely absolutely wants to be with nico and says it often and openly. 

and jack notices that nico is. happy. lighter. back to himself. and nico notices jack noticing him and when jack has the nerve to ask what’s up nico just. tells him. i’m seeing someone and he’s great and i’m really happy. and there was probably a time a few months ago when nico would have been glad to see the complicated emotions on jack’s face right then but now? nah. he wanted this - boyfriend shit - with jack once and he told him so and jack was ashamed of himself and nico by proxy. 

and now nico has a kinda sorta boyfriend who has no qualms about making an effort and telling nico how he feels and, fuck, he even told his family about nico. so.

nah. nico is good. he’s so good. 

[tobiasbellisachoreographer]

Nicoleno but its Leno getting asked about what it's like to match up against a guy like Nico Hischier on the ice and he can't contain his idiotic smirk. Which to everyone else looks like arrogance or a hint of his bratty personality but the moment Nico sees the interview he knows just how much is hidden behind that smirk.

[raikkonens]

re your tags! I have done 21,000 words of nicoleno over the last two months 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ and my pal @orangestringoffate makes beautiful art about nicoleno and the ideas she and I discuss 🥰

welcome!!!

ahhh i'm kissing you both!!!!!!! that fight at worlds really awakened Something in me..... thank you for the warm welcome!!

[03amfox]

[03amfox]

nico hooking his index finger into ryan's necklace to pull him closer and ryan following his lead so easily because how could he not when nico looks at him that way ?? how could he go anywhere else but where nico wants him ?

and they stare at each other for a second before they kiss, the wait and anticipation heavy on their shoulders as they finally, finally get to greet each other properly.

and their kiss is like a hello, welcome home, i missed you so much that turns into hunger and desperation really quickly, lips betraying the words they can’t quite say right now. their secret 'i love you' translated into messy kisses and shallow breaths as they reacquaint themselves to each other bodies, making up for lost time as best as they can.

they will say it eventually, in between kisses, noses touching, hands gripping at each other like lifelines. they will say it and the words will hang in the small space between them before a relieved sigh breaks the silence again and they laugh and kiss again, messily, because they smile too much as the truth lights up the room in a golden glow. of course they love each other, the feeling so big it doesn't fit in their chest anymore, it has to spill out and fill every crack and gaping wound inside of each other.

[03amfox]

nico has a polaroid selfie of ryan kissing his cheek in his phone case. they took it on a week end at the lake house, both sunkissed, exhausted but oh so happy. the picture is extremely precious to nico, so its tucked away, safe, hidden from everyone's eyes. but it makes nico smile to know it's here, with him, always.

but one day he is at timo's and lets his phone drop as he goes for it and the case breaks in half at the impact. somehow the picture ends up face up on the ground, staring at timo dead in the eyes. the truth is indeniable and a silence stretches between the two friends, thick and heavy. nico is about to open his mouth, to find an excuse, to justify himself because there is a panic rising in his chest, a nausea that threatens to make him throw up right there. it's awful and he cannot breathe and-

'is he the reason why you look so much happier lately ?' asks timo softly, picking up the picture delicately, handing it back to nico like he knows how precious it is to him. like he wants to protect it too.

and nico nods, not daring to say a word. because what if the illusion shatters ? what if timo turns the knife against nico's chest and pushes deep ?

'good' timo says simply.

because it is that simple. nico is happier, he sleeps better (his dark circles are almost gone), he laughs more, doesn't walk around like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. so timo is just glad because he loves nico like a brother and wants him to have everything he wishes for.

'i'd be happy to meet him properly' he adds before he switches the conversation to something else, not noticing the sharp exhale nico lets out, fingers trembling as he put the polaroid in his back pocket, daring to hope that maybe things really are going to be okay.