Summary | falling in love with your best friend can be rough, especially when you’ve been through all sorts of phases together; every hobby; every god-awful haircut; and every time you had to painfully pretend you weren’t just a little upset when they formed crushes on classmates. But at that age, everyone's worlds seem so small and fragile, especially when growing up with the Hughes brothers. Authors note | these are individual, standalone fics!! They’re part of a lil slowburn collection mainly bc all their inspo were mac miller songs, the image in the header and run along the same coming-of-age theme :) ♫ small worlds - mac miller

Media gathered around Geno as the room opened because he promised he’d talk today. His next-stall-neighbor Anthony Mantha says, “G! They’re hungry!” And Malkin goes, “Three months I didn’t talk to you guys!” And I say, “So you missed us?” And Malkin goes, “No.”

There were "reports" over the summer that regardless of how Malkin's season goes, the team has already decided that they won't offer Malkin another contract. Kyle Dubas shut that down over the summer, saying that they haven't come close to making a decision either way on Malkin's future, and that when the rumors that they had decided came out, Dubas made sure to reach out to Malkin and his agent J.P. Barry and let them know that the reports of a decision being made were false.

Malkin's hoping to show enough before then to secure an opportunity to remain in Pittsburgh. He wants to finish his career here.

"I hope I stay here like Sid and Tanger," Malkin told me. "Penguins forever. For sure. I hope we play great, everything goes perfect, perfect for myself too. I want to stay here for sure."

That doesn't mean Malkin hasn't considered the possibility of that not working out. He unprompted referenced the story of Brad Marchand, part of the Bruins' core and someone who ideally would have liked to retire a Bruin, but did end up accepting a trade to Florida and ultimately won a Stanley Cup and got a six-year deal to remain a Panther.

"It looks good," Malkin said of Marchand's story. "But if a team trades you and you don't win the Cup, then it's a little bit weird. It's a great story when you see it on TV. But I don't know how I'd feel if the team wants to trade me."

“It's not me, it's me and Gonch, we're together,” Malkin said. “I bought a new Porsche 911, small one, and it’s fast. We did not drive close to plane. We drive from parking lot, but it's still dangerous, people think. I drive like two seconds, but just one guy see... I don’t know where he's sitting on top. He’s like, you can't do it that close to plane. We just do it one time. It’s okay. Because you know, it’s exciting, you buy a new car, you can drive here so fast. But you need to drive somewhere where you have room.”

Crosby had brought that up as one of his favorite Malkin stories, so I asked Geno if he wanted to share one about Sid.

“My story about Sid, he uses same car forever!” Malkin said. “Because he talks about my cars, but every year he drives same car, Range Rover. Like, it's unbelievable. He's made millions in his bank account. He’s never given me anything.”

After talking about how Sid always wears the same black sneakers with white soles – “he’s so consistent! We laugh, but it works for him” – the topic of the NHL eliminating team-mandated dress codes came up. While Malkin does like wearing suits and ties to games – “it’s looking nice, professional” – he doesn’t mind the opportunity to show off his own sense of style more often. Malkin’s practice and off-day fits are usually head-turning.

“If you see NBA, people talk about what they wear,” Malkin said. “When you wear only suits, people don’t talk much. But we see Toronto, people start talking about Matthews, Marner, what kind of shoes they wear. I think we need to do a little bit more. Get people to talk a little bit more about style.”

The competitive fire still burns bright in Malkin, Crosby and Letang, a big reason that they’ve had so much success together. This will mark the first time in the history of the four major professional sports (NHL, NFL, NBA, MLB) that a trio of teammates has reached 20 years together as teammates.

“It’s so rare,” Malkin said. “I think we're all in history already, you know? It’s like, I’m lucky to play with Tanger and Sid together. I always say, it’s dream to play with same guys together, forever, you know? I like how Sid and Tanger, they love hockey so much. I'm trying to do my best. They try to do their best. And we're lucky to just play with the same team.”

“You ask me how cool is it you all play together. For me, it’s natural. I play with Sid forever, and I’m like oh, I see you tomorrow. I’m not thinking (any) other way. People ask oh, 20 years... for me, it’s like, 20 years, it’s quick, first of all. Time just flies. But for me, we’re always together.”

Crosby has described the dynamic between them as ‘family.’ Letang said they’re all different, that he is quiet and intense, Malkin is loud and funny, and Crosby is the one who drives the ship. So, how would Malkin put it?

“First of all, they like me so much,” Malkin said. “I’m like middle guy. I’m always between them. Because you know Sid mad, Tanger mad, I come and talk to them [laughs]. No, we are like family. We know we're good friends. But you can’t be nice every time. Sometimes you’re feeling you angry, you’re not happy, you show emotion, but it's fine, it's good. But next day we're like, sitting and talk, ‘okay, we do this, this. We do it wrong. Okay, let's go back and play it better.’ Show emotion, I think it's good. I like to show emotion.”

“Shows you care,” I said.

Malkin likes having something on the line, like lunch or dinner. If it’s up to him, they’re probably going to McDonald’s. Which tracks, as Crosby recently brought up how Malkin ate only hamburgers during his first month or so in the league.

“That’s what he’d order all the time. I was just like, do you eat anything else? You’re unbelievable,” Crosby told Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas with a grin. “Like, you’re flying out here. But all you’re eating is hamburgers. So, I started ordering hamburgers too. I don’t think it worked as good as him.”

Malkin’s absolute favorite is a Big Mac. He is usually aware of when the Big Mac Attack is announced on the videoboard during home games, and we joked how scoring during that time could be some extra motivation for him.

“Everybody like In N’ Out, Five Guys... I’m like, no! McDonald’s. It’s only Big Mac. Double cheeseburger, I never eat. I only like Big Mac. I try everything,” Malkin said. “Here, McDonald’s is not like a restaurant. It’s fast food. In Russia and in Europe, it’s a restaurant, people are sitting.”

Geno then pointed out that Sid has his favorites as well.

“Same foods... chicken parmesan, Caesar salad, and SHRIMP COCKTAIL,” joked Malkin, who shook his head thinking about all of the details that Crosby remembers. “His memory is unbelievable. Mine, it’s worst ever. He tell me stories from 2010, 2011, I’m like how do you remember? I don’t remember what’s last year! He talk about Sweden, and said remember when we were flying, and landing, and you did this... I’m like, how do you remember 2008 IN SWEDEN?! I’m like, wow.”

As we neared the rink, I had to bring up Marc-Andre Fleury, who will be putting on the black and gold one last time.

“He's back, I think it's right. Playing his last game in Pittsburgh, because everybody knows he won three Cups here. He’s always a Pittsburgh Penguins guy,” Malkin said. “You see his smile all the time, he joke around.”

Just like Geno.