#vcanucks

Only a few days had passed before you saw the tall blonde once more. Again he’d slipped into the shop quietly, however, today was much busier and you watched as he searched for an empty table after receiving his drink. Suddenly feeling guilty for taking up a four-top all by yourself, you quickly worked to clean up some of your mess to free up a place to sit…that is if he was interested. You’d just finished shoving half your books into your bag when you heard someone clearing their throat and looking up you saw him standing right in front of you. 

“Mind if I sit?” He asked and immediately you noticed the accent with which he spoke. 

“Not at all…feel free.” You insisted, sending him a soft smile as you returned your focus to the text in front of you. You’d been sitting in silence for nearly twenty minutes when you finally heard that soft voice again inquiring about what you were studying. 

Just like that, the ice was broken and you spent the next 3 hours just chatting with the man whose name you now knew. He was funny and sweet and the way he listened eagerly as you explained the concepts from your text made you feel like he actually cared and wasn’t just doing it because he felt like he had to. 

For some reason, you didn’t exchange numbers when you finally parted ways. However, it was only another day or two before you found him sitting at your usual table in the shop when you arrived. Moving to place your things down before ordering your usual, you were surprised to find that a second cup was sitting in front of Elias. 

“I…were you meeting someone?” You found yourself asking, not wanting to take the seat if he was waiting on someone else. A soft smirk on his face he motioned for you to sit. 

“I was…and she just arrived.” He stated, his comment causing a blush to fill your cheeks almost immediately. 

“And this…?” You asked motioning to the cup. 

“I know all your weaknesses,” Elias stated. “Or at least the baristas do.” He added causing you to snort out a giggle as you settled yourself into the seat across from him. 

“Well thank you. I really need it today.” You murmured, taking a sip from the cup to find it was the perfect temperature and was indeed your go-to choice of drink. Once again you spent the next few hours talking to Elias about anything and everything. 

Over the course of the next two weeks, you met Elias another three times at the coffee shop before he’d finally asked for your number. Of course, you gave it to him and when he asked if he could take you for dinner you quickly agreed. You’d learned after your second meeting just who he was but his career wasn’t the reason you liked him so much. 

When Elias insisted on walking you to your door after dinner, you watched as he shoved his hands in his pockets, his demeanor shifting slightly. 

“I had a great time Eli…I always do with you.” You murmured, adjusting your bag on your shoulder before turning to open your door.

“Wait..” Elias murmured, one of his hands now brushing anxiously through his hair. “Would it…would it be alright if I kissed you?” He asked and immediately you felt a rush of warmth flood through you. 

“I was wondering if you’d ever ask.” You declared smiling. Taking that as consent, Elias bent down to press his lips to yours gently, his body pressing you back against your apartment door. With your hands brushing over the nape of his neck you deepened the kiss slightly, whimpering against Elias’s mouth causing him to slip his tongue in against yours, ratcheting things up another notch. When you finally pulled away breathless, Elias’s eyes were a deeper shade of blue, a shade that spoke all of the things he had yet to say. 

“Do you want to come in?” You inquired, your hand trailing down Elias’s chest gently. When you finally got your door open, Elias silently stumbled in behind you, before reaching for your waist and pulling you close. “Hey now…behave Mister.” You teased, stretching to kiss him once more. 

The bar was unusually busy the night he walked through those doors for the first time. Your coworker had called out sick, so you were racing up and down the length of the bar, pouring out beers and mixing drinks. You barely had a second to breathe and you could only hope the tips would be worth the exhaustion you were already feeling. Though you were constantly being hailed back and forth by customers you noticed him slide onto a bar stool in the corner. He hadn’t even signaled for your attention but those blue eyes of his had jumped out and grabbed you the second you spotted them in the dim light. 

You knew who he was despite his effort to mask his identity and you were surprised to find him in a place like this because it wasn’t the typical clubs you’d heard that the Canucks frequent. He appeared to be alone and after you finished making a rum and cola you made your way over to him, leaning against the bar to ask what he was drinking tonight. 

His voice was soft as he requested a beer and after pulling one from under the bar in front of you, you placed it in front of him sending him a soft smile. Other customers quickly demanded your attention. You’d had rude patrons before but tonight it seemed like they had all shown up at once and of course, it was a night that you were a one-woman show. It was hard making everyone happy and despite your best efforts, you were certain a few patrons were going to leave without tipping you as they cursed you out for being too slow to respond to their drunken needs. 

Surrounded by a bunch of drunken idiots you couldn’t help but smile when you’d glance down the bar to him. He never once called you over to him but when you’d meet his gaze and raise an eyebrow he’d occasionally nod and you’d finish whatever task you were doing to grab him another beer, those blue eyes being the only good thing about the night. 

As you closed down the bar at the end of the night you couldn’t help but sigh. Your tips were decent but were nowhere in the realm of where they should be in relation to the number of people and the quantity of alcohol you’d served during your shift. Pulling your hair into a ponytail as you wiped counters down you almost missed the small envelope tucked into the corner of the bar. That hadn’t been there earlier and when you pulled it out you couldn’t help but gasp at the three crisp bills tucked inside along with a scratchy note “Since we both know the jerks around here won’t tip properly. BB.” 

Over the course of the next few months, he came in almost weekly, always alone and tucked himself into the corner of the bar. When it was busy you communicated silently through smiles and those blue eyes of his. When things were quieter, you’d find yourself lingering near him, quiet conversations about things that didn’t really matter. Each time he’d leave a more than generous tip and a scratchy note about how your smile made his day and how this was the highlight of his week. 

When he didn’t come in for almost two weeks you found yourself wondering if something had happened to keep his pretty blue eyes away. As much as he claimed that your smile made his day, his blue eyes did the same for you. Even without saying a word, the silent communication spoke volumes and when you did talk it was like a whole new world opening up. 

It had been three weeks since you’d seen him last and you’d started to give up hope on him ever returning to your little dumpy bar. The last patron had just left and you were about to head to the front door to lock up before you finished closing down for the night when the chimes sounded. Your back was turned and you quickly called out that you were closed as you turned to see who had walked in. The moment your eyes met his you couldn’t help but gasp, a glass slipping from your fingers and shattering on the floor. 

Within two strides he was there, lifting you away from the broken glass and the feeling of his hands on your hips sucked the wind out of you. 

“What are you doing here?” You whispered, staring up at him, broken glass forgotten as his presence was a far more pressing question. “Not that I’m not glad to see you...I’ve been worried. I missed you.” That admission scared you because you barely even knew him but somehow his eyes and his presence were something you looked forward to and a day just wasn’t that great without them. 

“I...I thought if I stopped coming here that maybe what I was feeling would just go away but it didn’t…” His voice was low, his hands still pressed into the skin of your hips as he stood over you. “It’s completely crazy that your smile is what I fall asleep thinking about and that I don’t even know you and you’re the first thing that pops into my head when I wake up.” 

The sound of his voice speaking those words and the way his blue eyes were peering straight into you made you shiver and after a moment you lifted a hand pressing it to lay flat against his chest. “What are you saying Brock?” You questioned, your teeth grazing over the skin of your bottom lip tugging on it gently. 

“I...I don’t really know. But I know you’re the only one I want to see after a rough loss or a big win and I want that smile to be just for me.” After a moment his left hand moved from your waist to brush his thumb over your cheek and you couldn’t help the smile that graced your face at his touch. 

“This smile is all for you Brock...and it will be as long as those damned ocean eyes are just for me.” 

Chuckling he nodded and dipped his head down to press his lips against yours in a soft kiss, your fingers shifting to tangle in his hair. 

After pulling away, Brock helped you clean up and close down the bar before dragging you to a 24/7 diner for milkshakes. 

An outline of a mountain range began appearing on his ribs the day Brock turned thirteen. By then he was already well aware of the fact that soulmates are connected through tattoos, tattoos that become brighter and more colorful as events occur that bring you closer and closer to meeting your other half. 

By the time he turned 15, the left side of his ribcage was a full mountain range with patches of grey and black ink beginning to fill in the shapes providing depth. Brock often found himself laying in bed at night wondering what you would be like, wondering when he would finally meet you. 

The day he lost his grandfather, just hours before playing his first USHL game, Brock learned something that no one had mentioned to him before about his tattoo. As he was dressing and trying to prepare mentally to step onto the ice, a warmth flooded his ribcage and when he looked down his tattoo hadn’t changed in the way that everyone described it would…instead it was simply glowing faintly and he suddenly felt like he wasn’t so alone. 

The same glow and warming sensation appeared months later in Slovakia, shortly after he received news that two of his friends were in a car accident, killing one and severely injuring the other. This time he planned on asking but before he could, it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. 

As his career continued to grow and blossom, so too did the mountain range gracing his side. By the time he started college, it was no longer bleak and grey but instead varying shades of light blue and purple taking on a watercolor look. Still, the colors in his tattoo were nothing like those that some of his teammates sported, solid and bright and almost sparkling. These teammates had met their soulmate and Brock couldn’t help but envy the day that his tattoo would too be so bright and full of life. 

He’d been in his room studying the first time the icy cold sensation appeared on his side, chilling him to the bone. When he’d moved to the mirror in his room to examine his tattoo, he gasped seeing that all of the color had disappeared, leaving only the empty shell from years before. Pressing a palm to where the blues and purples had been just hours before he felt this unexplainable sense of fear, dread, and shame course through him. None of this made any sense. He couldn’t help but feel that something had happened to you; something that would change the course of your future together. For the rest of the night, he sat with a hand pressed to his ribs hoping that you would know he was here with you, praying that everything was okay. 

It was the end of his second season with North Dakota before the colors on his ribs had returned to where they’d been before. Once he’d arrived in Vancouver however, the blue and purple mountains instantly grew more vibrant and trees appeared, littering the outside edge of the mountainscape. 

Still, talking with some of his older teammates told him that it could still be years before you’d meet, that the increase in color didn’t always signify that it would happen any time soon. So over the course of the next two years, he waited patiently, watching as birds would appear in the landscape before disappearing, trees would grow and shrink or disappear altogether. And when they did he made sure to reach out to you through touch, hoping that his warmth would reach you wherever you were; hoping that the same warmth and glow that appeared when he was having a bad day was you trying to reach out to him. 

Eventually, he lifted your joined hands to his mouth, kissing your skin gently. Looking up at him, you smiled and tugged his mouth closer to your own, kissing him softly. Pulling back you stared into his blue eyes for a moment before settling yourself back in his arms. 

“I love you.” You whispered, knowing that he knew but feeling the need to say it anyway. When he murmured the words back in Swedish you smiled. You definitely didn’t understand the language but he had used that phrase enough that you knew its meaning. 

“Imagine if we could just stay like this forever.” You whispered, the fingers of your free hand reaching up to tangle gently in his blond hair. 

“Come with me this summer and we can spend plenty of mornings just like this...” He responded causing your eyes to go wide. You’d only been dating for a few months and now he was basically asking you to go to Sweden with him for the summer. 

“Elias...” You whispered, shifting to hover over him a bit. “I...I don’t know how I’d swing that. I mean there’s getting a passport and the whole visa thing...and I need to work to save up for fall tuition...” 

“Well...I mean there’s one thing that could make all of that a whole lot easier...” He mumbled, his cheeks going pink. Though it was your right hand he had laced with his own, the fact that he was playing with your ring finger made your eyes furrow. 

“Are....are you implying...” You whispered, your eyes now going wide with disbelief. 

“I mean...if that’s something you want...I’ll admit I’ve imagined it.” 

“So have I.” You breathed, your voice growing tight as tears pooled in your eyes. It hadn’t taken long after meeting him to realize how perfect Elias was for you but you never thought this was a realistic possibility so soon. With his thumb brushing against your cheek you swallowed hard. 

“Do you really want to marry me?” You questioned causing your boyfriend’s grin to grow as he stretched beneath you to reach into his bedside drawer. When his hand returned it was holding a tiny black box and immediately the pooled tears began to fall. 

“More than anything.” He stated, popping the box open to reveal a simple platinum band that had a gorgeous round cut diamond resting on it. Glancing between you and the box, his gaze grew expectant and after nodding at him quickly, the ring was slipped out of its box and onto your finger. “I can’t imagine my world without you.” He murmured before kissing you softly, laughter ringing through the apartment as you squealed excitement hitting as you realized that you were really going to marry this man.