hi what about Hall & Murray and 10?
I Need a Woman - Hockey Dad
Syd, you literally picked the most ironic of titles, thank you
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When Murray gets hired as SMH’s assistant coach after Hall (finally) gets promoted to head coach — all in the name of making Samwell one of the best NCAA hockey teams in the country — Hall invites him out to dinner. Purely for professional reasons; they’re somehow expected to elevate this program to the next level, despite their lack of experience, and Hall suspects that establishing an excellent working relationship with his coworker is going to be essential to making it through.
“Your girlfriend is also invited,” he says, then pauses, because they’re both only in their mid twenties, “or wife?”
“Oh.” Murray shrugs, “I’m not currently seeing anyone.”
“No worries,” Hall says, and internally breathes a sigh of relief that he won’t have to ask poor Denise to be his beard for yet another work-dinner. “Then mind if we hit up a sports bar instead?”
He laughs, and Hall doesn’t realise Murray’d been so tense — to be fair, this is their first meeting since Murray’s application interviews, and Hall has been a part of running this program a few years already — until his shoulders practically melt. “That’s a bit more my speed, yeah.”
They end up in a place slightly out of town, because Hall has become an expert in finding sports bars unfrequented by packs of Samwell student athletes looking to pick his brains– a difficult feat to accomplish in such a small town. Hall’s just about on his third beer, idly watching the Bruins destroy the poor Atlanta Thrashers, but most of his focus is on Murray.
Man, is he sharp. It’s not very often that Hall meets someone who can meet him on the same level when it comes to sparring hockey talk, but here they are, passionately involved in a debate on the Oilers, shitty referee calls from last year’s playoffs, and whether or not SMH needs to change its logo (”It’s literally two hockey sticks, a puck, and our team name!”,“It’s a classic!”).
He also kind of can’t take his eyes off of him, which is a bit upsetting, considering the Bruins are up 1-7, but also for purely personal reasons, namely that Hall is a gay man working on the collegiate level for a major American sport.
That said: the way Murray talks with his hands, the strong line of his nose, the heavy set of his eyebrows, and, well, Hall can’t really lie to himself. It’s the hockey talk, and how Murray seems invested in the players they’ll be coaching, rather than only what they can do on the ice.
It’s exactly why they hired him. It’s exactly why Hall needs to watch the fuck out.
He’ll give it time; this ill-advised crush on his straight coworker’ll pass.
Send me a 1-100 number and a ship and I’ll write something based on the corresponding song in my Spotify wrapped!
