I decided that I'm doing shit all today so I might as well start on Chapter 8 while I watch my DVD's. I'm not excited for this chapter but I am for the next one :D I haven't really put hockey in the last few chapters so I feel like I should put it in this one and actually give an explanation about the sport to people who never played the sport or live in countries that it's not that popular (LoveisthePainInside ahem. One of my favourite reviewers. Yes I pick favourites :P). People who review all my chapters are my favorites :3. You guys know who you are. Much love xox.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, not Hetalia or the game hockey.
Summary: Matthew William is the captain of his hockey team but is hiding that fact from his family since they claim that the sport is too dangerous, ignoring the fact that their other son is the quarterback of the football team. Matt, with the help of his team mates, attempts to hide his bruises and black eyes while avoiding concussions so that he can stay on the team and lead them to victory. Go Kelowna Polar Bears!
Deke the Parents: Asians on Ice
Mathias slumped into his chair, giving a big yawn and a scratch to his bedhead. He was never a morning person. He blinked his still sleepy eyes a few times, trying to wake up at least a little. Glancing to the next seat beside him, he blinked a few more times.
"Where's Mattie? Home room is about to start" he mumbled, sluggishly poking Berwald's back. The Swede always sat in front of him saying that he didn't want the idiot anywhere in his line of vision.
Swatting the offending finger away in slight annoyance, he mumbled "pr'ctice."
"Matthew Kirkland-Bonnefoy?" the teacher called out, taking attendance for that period.
"H-here" the Dane said in a meek little voice, ducking behind Berwald's broad back and raising his hand. He was doing his best impersonation of their captain off the ice. It would just cause more suspicion with Mattie's dad if they received an automatic voice message that said his son was missing from school that day.
"He's at the hockey arena with the three potential players" a Finnish voice piped up from beside Berwald.
"Three?" Mathias interrupted Tino, who was also in their English class. He thought that there were only two? The Korean A.D.H.D kid and the fashion obsessed girl from Taiwan.
"Oh Im Yong Soo told another figure skater about the try out and he wants to give it a shot" the small blonde explained, opening up his binders to finish his assignment on 'In Search of April Raintree'.
"I wonder how they are doing. That would also explain why he asked for my.." Mathias said before his head hit the desk and he promptly fell back to sleep, not finishing his sentence.
!Hockey!Hockey!Hockey!EEH!
"Okay, I've decided that since you guys haven't been playing hockey your whole lives that we should skip school and I'll explain how the game works. So the basic's ar- What's in your hands?" Matthew stopped his explanation when he spotted a thick yellow book in each of their grasps.
"Ever since you told us about the try-outs we've been studying the sport! Da-ze~" the energetic Korean bounced up and down, slipping a little in the unfamiliar skates.
They all held up their books: Hockey for Dummies.
Matthew just blinked. And blink some more.
Gilbert gave a low whistle "those Asians sure are industrial people." Ivan just nodded from his spot on the ice where he was stretching. He had his legs in a 'V' formation and was reaching out with his fingers to touch his skates. For such a big guy, he was pretty flexible.
"You read the whole book?" the Canadian asked in shock, staring at the yellow help book that was the size of a phone book.
"And others! We read the history of Hockey, statistics and strategies, and the rule book!" the brunette started listing the books they read on his fingers while the captains just stared in disbelief. All their mouths dropping simultaneously. They were completely baffled at their studying skills.
"Day-um. The Asians really are going to take over the world one day" Gilbert muttered after the shock worn off. Elizabeta 'mhmm'ed in agreement. She decided to join them since she was the captain of the girl's hockey team and Mei was a potential new teammate. She liked the temperamental but sweet girl and thought she would be an excellent addition to her team. The others agreed whole-heartedly.
"Do you understand the game? Does anything confuse you?" Matthew just wanted to make sure that they didn't have any questions before they got started.
"Nope! It's a fairly easy sport to learn. There are six players on the ice. The Goalie, two defensemen, two forwards and one center" the boy began to explain. "The game is an hour long and has three periods, each roughly around 20 minutes but sometimes it changes like 15,20,25" Im Yong-Soo relied the information he gained over the last few days, looking proud of himself with his puffed out chest.
"The concept of the game is to get the puck, the black rubber disc, into the opposing teams net with a wooden or metal hockey stick. The goaltenders job, along with the defensemen, is to stop the puck from scoring" Mei joined in. "The team with the most points at the end wins" she stated the obvious.
"It is like the official national winter sport of Canada. The first organized game was totally played on March 3, 1875 in Montreal" Leon stated in the same mannerism as Feliks that lack a Chinese accent. Unlike the other Asian, the boy from Hong-Kong had an English name. His parents were already Canadian citizens before he was born. They had decided to give him that name but made his middle name Chinese like most of the Asian families in Canada. Despite the way he spoke, his face remained expressionless just like Lukas'.
"It was played in 1875?" Gilbert looked down at the Russian who just shrugged his shoulders, motioning that he didn't have a clue either.
"Okay this is going to make this a lot easier than" Matthew smiled at the three of them "Now we can focus on getting familiar with the new skates and equipment." They had to trade their white, slim-fitted, pointy figure skates for bulky round-tipped black hockey skates. The three of them had stumbled a bit when they first touched the ice with the skates (luckily they were already worn in so they didn't have to worry about stretching them out) and maneuvering their bodies funnily since they were not used to being restricted by padding.
"The first thing we do when we get on the ice is skate around on our side for a few minutes. Skate forward for a few rounds and then switched to skating backwards. After that we do the same thing but in the other directions. The coaches will knock the bucket of pucks onto the ice so that we can stick handle while we do that" Gilbert began walking them through the exercise that the team normally do before a game. If it was practice then they were not limited to half the rink.
Ivan then showed them the stretches the team goes through together in a circle or lined up (which ever Matthew wanted to do that day). He showed them the one he was doing before, switching from reaching to one foot to the next. Switching onto his knees from his butt, Ivan also demonstrated how they stretch their legs while holding their sticks for balance. He then got up and stretched one arm over his head while he used the other to hold it at the elbow. He repeated for the other side. After a few more exercises, he finished up by twisting his torso while he held his stick on his shoulders. "Understand, da?" the three nodded their heads, also finishing up.
"We do that every time so we don't get injured during the game by pulling something" Matthew informed from his spot on top of the net where he resided during the whole ordeal. He and Gilbert finished away ago, already knowing the routine by heart. He ordered them to skate a few laps to get comfortable in their skates.
The four captains skated to the bench, hopping onto the barrier to watch the others skate. They were already getting used to the changes. Their eyes kept following their process until they skated passed the door. Three out of the four raised an eyebrow at the spectacle.
"..is that Lars?" Gilbert asked, astonished. Sure enough the Dutchman was waving a hockey stick above his head, fiddling with the lock mechanism on the door leading onto the ice.
Matthew just looked slightly annoyed but at the same time amused. "Yup. He wants to try out for the team. I tried convincing him not to since it would just be a waste of our time but he somehow thinks that the sport is easy and that he could do it too" he rolled his contact (since he didn't like wearing glasses while he played hockey) clad eyes.
"That's because we make it look easy since we are so awesome. Me moreso than you guys, though" Gilbert kesesese'd before getting a pinch to his cheek by Matthew.
"I think he is lonely" Ivan almost sounded sympathetic but the others knew that the sugary tone meant that it highly amused him. It was true that all of Lar's friends were on the hockey team but it shouldn't have mattered since the boy was with them all the time. Maybe despite being constantly by their side, he was feeling left out.
"That's stupid. He's our water boy. Just give him a helmet and he can sit on the bench with us during the games" the albino waved his hand dismissively.
"Lars! Take off the skates and just chill in the box! You're going to hurt yourself" Matthew cupped his hands over his mouth to make a makeshift megaphone so that he would be heard by the boy who finally got the door to open.
"How hard can skating beEEE!" As soon the white figure skates touched the ice his feet flew out from under him. He landed on the ice with a THUMP. The sound of applause echoed in the stadium as the others clapped, mockingly. They even started yelling out scores, judging his fall.
Lars was still on the ground groaning when Mattie skated over to see if he wasn't dead. "Hoockey sucks" he moaned, sitting up on his brusied butt. He sat there with his fists pressed up against the ice between his out stretched legs. He looked like a kicked puppy when he looked up at his friend with his lower lip sticking out and wide eyes. "Maaattie, teach me how to skate" the boy whined.
The boy in question just rolled his eyes before he hefted the stoner up to his feet where he began to wobble.
"Okay I'm going to teach you guys how we usually skate in hockey which I assume is faster and is more studier compared to figure skating since we have to be wary of body checks and other physical contact" Matthew began to skate backwards to the others while he held Lars' gloves, slowly pulling the boy.
He finally reached them after a few stumbles where Lars' had to clutch at him.
"We bend our knees and keep them shoulder width" he made the Dutchman demonstrate "and we make a upside down 'T' with our skate. The bottom one will push out and that will propel you forward. You alternate between skates, using your stick for balance by keeping it in front of you but do not put your weight on it." The three who actually had a chance at making the team nodded. Lars just scrunched up his face in confusion.
He made them do a few laps skating the new way while he help Lars take baby steps before he left to get one of those red bars thingy that they gave to five year olds when they were teaching them to skate.
The tall blonde was mocked by the three sitting at the bench while he held onto the contraption. He flipped them off but wiped out when he lifted the one hand off the thing keeping him balanced.
The next few hours were spent teaching them how to slap shot, deke (Matthew's specialty), body check (just the basics since they were not going to be used as goons and Mei wouldn't even be able to utilize it since the Girl's league prohibits body contacts), stick handling amongst other skills.
"Eat pasta before a game" Gilbert said with a mouthful of poutine. They were taking a half an hour break and made someone go for a poutine run so they didn't starve to death.
"Keep your skates on the vent overnight before practice and games. Nobody like frozen hockey skates" Ivan also mumbled before stuffing a forkful of fries in his mouth, a string of cheese still attach to the rest of the poutine. There was a mumbled of agreement and a mutual dislike of frozen hockey skates.
"Also Powerade will stain the white jerseys so watch out that you don't spill" Elizabeta also pointed out.
"Actually my mom told me that you could get it out with toothpaste" Gilbert smirked at the annoyed Hungarian.
"Nuh-uh"
"Yeah-huh"
"Nuh-uh"
"Yeah-huh"
The duo was gradually picking up speed with their banter back and forth, acting just like the brother and sister off of 'Emperor's New Groove'.
"uh okaaay. Ignoring those idiots. You should bring an extra stick onto the bench just in case the one you're holding breaks against the boards or something. Either we'll hand it to you or you can jump over the bench and someone will replace you" Matthew continued over the bickering couple.
Im Yong Soo wrote all the new information in a little notebook, actually taking notes of the lesson.
"Do you guys still want to do this?" the three of them looked up from the cheese/fries/ gravy combo with a questioning gaze. "You guys would be the last line and would probably get the fewest minutes of ice time." The other captains looked at Matthew with disbelief. Was he trying to scare away the best option they had?
"That's okay! Da-ze ~ it'll be fun to be on a team" the Korean gave Matthew a warm smile while the others nodded their heads "We've never been on a team before, just partners or singles, and we think that it would be fun to be a part of one." He reached over and hugged Mattie, bringing their heads together. "Especially if they have our friends on them" Matthew slung one arm over and returned the gesture, a smile also sporting his face.
"D'aww" drawled Gilbert who then pretended he was retching. Elizabeta smacked him across the back of his head for ruining such a cute moment before she could take a picture. Just like Gilbert, she somehow stores electronics somewhere in her equipment.
"Whose equipment are you using?" Ivan questioned as he looked at the three Asians.
The other captains stopped arguing and turn to listen to the answer. Where did Lars get his equipment too?
"Mathias lent me his for today when I promised him brownies" the Dutchman supplied from his spot on the ice where he was sitting on his butt (what he's been on since he was falling every minute).
"What kind of brownies?" Mattie asked, intrigued.
"The only kind I make" he winked with a mischievous smirk. His brownies were the best kind there was. "I'll make you some since you helped me learn to skate. Now at least my sister could shut the hell up about it" he promised with his pinky.
"That shaky little boy from Latvia gave me his old hockey stuff when he heard that we were looking for some" Mei explained where her equipment came from.
"I got mine for Erik" Im Yong Soo said. It was also the Icelandic old equipment from last year.
"Mines like from Vash" Leon stated, taking a sip from his Coke. They responded with 'Oh's and 'I see.'
"Why are you wearing figure skates?" Matthew tapped Lars' skates with his own to indicate that he was speaking to him.
The boy in question just flopped onto his back, raising his skates in the air so that he could see them. "Mathias skates were a little too tight so I had to rent these"
"You couldn't rent hockey skates in your size?" Gilbert snickered at the white skates that looked out of place on the bulky legs that were covered in the shin guard and mismatching socks.
"I diiidn't know the difference'" his whine was heard through the laughter.
After the laughter died down and Lars was finished pouting, Matthew hopped off the barrier and gave a final stretch before announcing "I think that should be aboot it. We should probably end here so we aren't exhausted for the try-outs tonight." The others nodded in agreement.
"We're definitely going to make the team" the Korean stood up alongside Mattie, a determined smile plastered on his face.
"You better, eh" the two were standing, facing each other when they clasped their glove together. They brought their helmets together.
The End of Chapter 8!
(I'll start on a longer and better chapter if I get 12-15 reviews so yeah :P)
A/N: I was bored so I just typed this out so it's more of a filler chapter that helps explain the sport. Not that funny but I think I'm in a semi-serious mood as of late or something ha. I think I only make them do extremely stupid stuff when they are drunk :P. It's kind of short but oh well. And I decided to say screw it to the revision until I'm in a mood or in a situation (like a road trip) where I have nothing to do but to write.
Please read (obviously you've already read it since you're reading this haha) and review. I know it's silly but reviews encourage me. They let me know that people are actually reading my stories and want to follow it :] I know that you could just do alert or favourites but I like hearing opinions and helpful tips on my mistakes. It's feedback that'll help me develop as a writer. Plus I'll update faster :D and yes that was a bribe.
