I'm at home with a sinus infection and I figure, what the hell? Why not do something productive? Plus, it's not like I have anything better to do than write tonight! So, here's another chapter. I love Norway, believe you me, and I've decided to include him here as Espen. Iceland will be making an appearance soon, too! Happy reading!
Berwald, Mathias, and Ludwig are pretty much Hitler's wet dream incarnate with the way they all look: big, blond, and light eyes. That and when they play, it's pretty mystifying to Matthew because they all have some sort of freaky mind link with each other. They move better together than they do apart. It's really weird. Or, at least, Matthew thinks it is.
It's weird to see them skate together at practice because they have different styles but they mesh and move so well together. Matthew sort of wants to know if it it's directly related to their hair. Except, Matthew doesn't want to get his jaw ripped out by Berwald. Or his feet cut of by Mathias. Or his eyes poked out by Ludwig.
***
These days, since Matthew has practice after school, Alfred hangs around at the practices, does his homework, and generally tries to help the team in whatever way he can. Generally though, he's just being a pain in the ass because, for whatever reason, Alfred never dresses warm enough. So, he pretty much just sits around and constantly bitches about how cold it is and, Gosh, wasn't there something they could do about the temperature in the building?
But having Alfred at the practices is kind of awkward because, well, Alfred might just have a mancrush on Arthur Kirkland. A. Giant. Mancrush. Alfred doesn't really know anything about hockey except that it gets Matthew pretty worked up and really, really crazy. Aggressive. Seriously. It's weird. Alfred honestly doesn't know anything about it but he pretends he does when he talks with Coach Kirkland. It would probably kill him if Alfred admitted he didn't know anything about the game. But, hey, at least Alfred can tell the good play tactics from the bad ones by how much Arthur glares and yells at the team.
Alfred swears that he's going to win over Arthur by the end of the season if it kills him. He's actually pretty sure he wants to have Arthur's babies. If that were even physically possible which Alfred is pretty sure it's not. Yeah, guys can't have babies. But if he could? He'd totally have Arthur's. Statutory rape accusations be damned, Alfred is going to win that man over.
***
Katya is Ivan's big sister and Matthew is a little in love with her. She's like this adorable kitten-puppy-bunny hybrid and, jeez, she's so pretty and every time she gets nervous and skittish, Matthew just wants to hug her. Matthew tells Alfred because Matthew is bad at keeping secrets. And. Well. Alfred is Alfred so he laughs. And then gets serious because this is Katya Braginski they're talking about. Katya is Ivan Braginski's big sister and that pisses Alfred off.
It's not the "Katya" part that offends Alfred. It's not even the "Big Sister" part because, yeah, Alfred has this thing for older guys that's pretty weird. It's the "Ivan" and the "Braginski" that pisses Alfred off the most. And Matthew gets it. But he doesn't.
See, Matthew thinks it a little bit silly that Alfred and Ivan can be civil to each other's face but as soon as someone's back is turned, it's the Cold War, part deux. Ivan and Alfred dated and broke up. And dated and broke up. And then dated some more. But then they broke up. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Since Freshman year, Alfred has torn through half the guys in their school. It's kind of intimidating.
"Well don't let me stop you." Alfred mumbles, sneezes and then clears his throat. He has Coach's cold and Matthew just knows something is going on there.
"Wasn't gonna let you, eh." Matthew says and hands his brother a tissue.
***
Now that Matthew is on the team, the Whitecats have three cheerleaders. They also have a really creepy mascot named Shinatty-chan. Alfred, Katya, and Ludwig's big brother, Gilbert, all do their thing as cheerleaders now that there are three of them.
They finish their cheer and turn back to the game to watch. Really, they aren't cheers as much as it's Alfred and Gilbert flailing around and shouting while Katya startles at random little things. Now that there are three of them, Alfred is determined to make a pyramid. And. He will be on top. It doesn't even matter to him that Katya is a girl or that he's broader and heavier than Gilbert. It doesn't matter. He will be on top. No. Excuses.
Beside them, dressed in the "cute" mascot suit of Shinatty-chan is Tino. He's this cute and petite senior who is dating Berwald. It would be a really normal relationship if Berwald wasn't constantly calling Tino his "wife", which is weird. And Alfred doesn't quite get that. Then again, no one really does. Tino mimics one of the skaters on the ice for Coach Kirkland's little brother, Peter, and the kid just smiles and laughs.
Alfred shouts encouragement for his brother and the rest of the team for a while. Arthur looks at him rolls his eyes and blushes a little bit. He gives Alfred a cute little smile and Alfred just grins his awesome million-watt grin right back at him. Gilbert flashes Alfred a toothy, knowing little smirk but Alfred doesn't really care about it because he's seen the way the albino guy fawns over Ludwig whenever he plays. There's definitely something going on there. He just doesn't know what. But he'll ask one day. Even if it means getting kicked in the crotch.
***
Gilbert is walking back from the concession stand with a beer when he sees Espen Landvik, a regular at the games who sits in the middle of the bleachers on the end of the middle row. Gilbert has assessed that he is awesome on so many levels due to one thing that is absolutely, hands down, no contest, awesome: Espen sits in the ice rink and watches the game— in flip-flops. Fuckin' flip-flops.
"How the hell are you wearing flip-flops? I'm wearin' like three pairs of socks and the awesome balls in my pants are freezing off. How do you not freeze to death, man?" Gilbert asks, taking a swig of his beer.
"My mother was a snow sprite." Espen responds, voice as smooth as glass and not a hint of emotion. Not a fucking hint, man. Well, fuck it. That makes a lot of sense.
"No, you're made of win, buddy. That's what's up."
Espen looks like he wants to say something for a second but the both look over to see Vash, the team's other centre, tossing his stick aside in favor of jumping another player. And if there's one thing that Gilbert loves about hockey, it's the fights. Those are almost as awesome as he is.
***
Matthew thinks that a white cat with a creepy smile, soulless eyes, and a cute little red bow is a really ridiculous choice for a mascot. Plus, it's creepy. Really, really creepy. Like the kind of creepy that gives Matthew nightmares sometimes.
Matthew is wiping the slush off of his skates when Ivan plops down next to him.
"Why is our mascot a Hello Kitty knock-off?" Matthew asks, almost getting some feeling back in the tip of his nose but. Not quite.
Aside from sunflowers, Ivan thinks Shinatty is one of the best things in the world. It probably has something to do with being Ivan being a raging schizophrenic psychopath. Or something. Matte doesn't know. And he really doesn't want to.
"It's a diversion tactic, Matvey. The other teams find our mascot to be cuddly. They find Shinatty weirdly cute and endearing. But Shinatty is a cat. Have you ever thrown a raging and furious cat on someone, Matvey?" Ivan asks, smiling and touching the sharp edge of his ice skate.
Uh. Uhm, no. Have you?" Matthew answers, eyes nervously darting this way and that. He doesn't know if it's a good idea to talk to Ivan. He seems a bit . . .unhinged.
"Da. It is fortunate felines are not poisonous or your brother would not be alive as we speak. But, yes, people find cars to be rather adorable and then the cat becomes enraged and tears apart the vulnerable flesh of the person. Should we not all be afraid of cats?" Ivan rambles, fingers still sort of dancing along the edge of the ice skate.
Matthew doesn't say anything and wonders if Ivan is crazy. Or, well, maybe Ivan is just a really weird guy. Matthew doesn't really know.
***
At the beginning of the season, at their second time, Berwald announces that he won't be coming back after their next game. He's really sorry but he needs to concentrate on other things in his life. He needs to move on. Or, well, at least that what everyone thinks he says, no one can really tell since Tino is out getting water for Berwald and Tino is kind of like their Berwald-Translator since he seems to be the only one that can decode that weird language that Arthur calls "Berwald Babble".
Either way, the one thing everyone can gather from Berwald's little speech is that he's not coming back. Everyone is pretty sure that Mathias is going to cry. And throw a giant tantrum. He doesn't.
But Ludwig excuses himself from the locker room with a small sniffle.
"What a pussy." Gilbert mutters, rolls his eyes, and goes out after his brother.
Notes: Hopefully, you guys are having as much fun reading these as I am writing them! Thanks for reading and leave a review, please and thank you! Have a nice day/night!