#of use

When the press finally filed out, Dana took it as his cue to duck into the room and finish his post-game routine. He figured he could get the gear airing out and the laundry going in about 15 minutes and could wrap everything else up within 20. He should be able to make it.

He heard them before he even got the door open.

"No, no—Geno, please I can't."

It was the kid in his nasally little whine that Dana was, unfortunately, all too familiar with. Sid was sweet, though particular as all get out, but you could hardly turn a corner these days without tripping over him being contorted into some position that frankly seemed a little impractical. The kid always seemed to be enjoying himself though, so what did Dana know. He was just a beta.

He hesitated with his hand on the door, screwing up his courage before he ducked inside. Surely, he thought, after an entire season of indecency, there was nothing left to shock him.

He was wrong.

"Geez," he whispered under his breath. Sid was splayed over Geno's lap with his face screwed up and tears on his cheeks, while Geno held him by his throat and shoved his improbably large knot into him. Good heavens. That didn't look comfortable at all.

Dana felt a spike of worry for the kid when he yelped in pain, but kept his head down and crept around the room, grabbing stray jerseys and base layers and throwing them into the bin. Whatever Geno was doing with the breeder wasn't his business, but the laundry was.

Geno bared his teeth when Dana skirted too close to grab the jock from Scuds' stall, and Dana made sure to duck his head and avoid eye contact. Geno was real protective of the kid, even if he didn't seem to use him regularly, as far as Dana could tell. He'd made it real clear to all the staff that Sid was for the team only and no one else should touch him, and despite his breeder status he was to be treated like the other players. And he was always watching Sid like a hawk, pulling guys aside to bark at them if he thought they weren't treating him right.

It was nice, Dana thought. He'd been nervous when they'd gotten word that Bettman was letting breeders integrate into the league, and he'd heard a few horror stories from other teams on the road. But Sid was real respectful, even when relaying his litany of requirements for his gear—which, privately, had made Dana wonder if perhaps the kid wasn't just a touch spoiled. But he always cleaned up after himself and wiped down whatever surface he'd been bent over, so Dana couldn't hold it against him too much.

He wondered idly as he shoved the laundry into the machines, if Geno knew just how particular Sid was about his routines, though. He hoped this wouldn't become one of the kid's post-game rituals, because Dana had a tight schedule that didn't include waiting around for the captain to finish his hanky panky with the breeder every night.

He sighed when they were still curled up together in Geno's stall after the laundry, and headed to wipe down the bathroom. He didn't know how knots worked nor did he care to, but surely they'd have to be done soon.

He lingered over the bathroom for as long as he could, hanging up the razors and refilling all the hand soap and lotion bottles before venturing back out into the locker room. Geno was still hunched over the kid, murmuring into his ear and rubbing at his stomach. They were both smiling softly, and the kid was making that little noise that was part honking giggle and part purr.

It was sweet, actually, and Dana felt a little bad about being annoyed. It'd been a couple long hard seasons for the captain. He was glad to see him getting some use out of the boy. That's was the whole point of having him, after all.

He snuck out of the room and back to his office to wait them out, hoping they were almost done, and called his wife. "I'm sorry honey, but you're gonna have to work the TiVo tonight."

♡ SMALL THINGS: my favorite minor detail from checkmate:

when i first started thinking about the story that became the rabbit heart series, it was much grimier and i had one particular scene in mind that i really wanted to write. the rabbit heart series became something much different in tone as i started writing it, and though the scene i had in mind will live on in a different context, i still thought about the grimier version all the time. so here we are. :)

as far as world-building—lol, idk man. as i said in the notes, this was truly a vibes only operation. i think the pack/team hierarchy is a bit like a reverse clownfish situation, where the most dominant player becomes the alpha/captain and develops a knot, and the team drafts a compatible omega for the alpha who can be shared with the team to promote bonding / as a reward. i think some of this can dovetail into the breeding program concepts i've talked about.

sid is OOC in some pretty significant ways haha, but there are aspects of him i drew on for this characterization—he's very team oriented, the poster boy for logo on the front > name on the back, and he has a deep need to belong and develop close-knit relationships with his teammates. those qualities were pretty easy to transmute into a character who'd been groomed from birth to be a tool / resource for a team, both with his body and his skill on the ice.

and his obsession with geno helps too.

Geno smiles at him and dips his head, and Sid lets his mouth go soft and open, sighing happily when Geno licks into him. Despite the pack scent still warm on his skin, the taste of captain and alpha is all he can register. He closes his eyes and lets it wash over him, feeling the adrenaline of the game drain away and going sleepy and lax in Geno’s hold.

geno's scent has a drugging effect on sid that the rest of the team's doesn't. the others smell like pack, safe and almost familial, but geno smells like alpha. because of this, geno's kept his distance from sid.

Sid shrugs and rubs his face against Geno’s chest. His scent is always so strong after a game, even across the room, but Sid’s never gotten to experience it with his nose tucked into his alpha’s sweaty base layers. It makes it hard to concentrate on anything else.

he's not as tactile as the rest of the team—he'll rub his wrists over sid's neck before a game to scent mark him, but he makes sure to keep a clear boundary between them for several reasons: 1) they need sid lucid enough to play on a regular basis, 2) he's the captain of a team mid-rebuild and he's doing what he can to take care of and motivate his pack

But Geno is a good alpha; he makes sure the rest of the pack is taken care of first–gives them Sid as a reward for a good game, or a motivation if they’re in a slump, or sometimes just because Sid needs it.

and 3) i think because he needs sid to keep playing for them, and if he has him too often he might not be able to fight the urge to breed him. there's also a possessive streak that geno probably has to be careful about. sid is his, and he's chosen to share him with the team but when he decides to keep sid for himself he makes sure that no one else will be able to touch him until geno's done.

Geno makes a pleased rumbling sound and sinks his teeth into the thin skin over Sid’s jugular in one decisive movement. Not deep enough to cut a bond into his neck, only to claim.

It makes all the air in Sid’s lungs rush out on a jagged whimper, turns his knees to water to know that even if the mark will fade in a few days, while he wears it no one else will touch him. He belongs only to Geno.

sharing with the team/pack is very different than sharing with outsiders. geno is very protective of sid, from a physical standpoint

[...]the most Geno’s ever done is suck an angry bruise high on his throat above his neck guard if a game is getting chippy or he’s being targeted.

“Wow, that’s quite a mark,” one of the press guys says. “I assume that’s yours?” Geno makes a displeased growl and cups his big hand over Sid’s throat, blocking it from view.

and also when it comes to the way people talk about him. he's not pushing back on societal norms—he doesn't think of sid or omegas any differently than the press (and neither does sid)—but he wants to make it clear that sid's worked very hard for his achievements and he's important to the team.

“He’s work hard, you know. Always stay after practice if no one need him, always think about game, you know, like how to get better. Sometimes annoying, the guys like trying to get dick wet and Sid is talk about power play.” Geno laughs and the press laughs with him, and Sid feels a kernel of warmth kindle in his belly.

i like having this conversation from sid's POV—he's an outsider in the conversation, they're talking around him, and he's most reacting to geno. he feels warm because geno is laughing about something he did. sid is totally accepting of his role on the team. he wants to play hockey, it's important to him to work hard and be the best at it, but being the team and geno's omega is of equal importance. he tries just as hard to be good for them.

“What would you say is the best quality he brings to the team?” a woman asks. Whits yells from across the room, “His mouth!” They all laugh again, and Sid preens. It’s easy to let someone fuck his hole, but sucking cock takes skill. He’s worked hard to be good at it.

He doesn’t remember much of the last knotting, it’d happened so abruptly and had been so shocking he’d immediately lost his grip on time. He wants to savor every moment of this one, commit it to memory and hold it inside him until he earns it again.

sid wants to earn geno's knot, and by extension his pups, just as much as he wants to earn the cup.

“Win me a Cup, I breed you on center ice in front of everyone,” Geno says, his voice full of promise. “Okay,” Sid says. He can do that. That’s an achievable goal. He thinks in two, maybe three years he can have what he wants.