Chapter Text
It's been two good seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins for John Marino. He's loving being on their team so far, though right now he's watching the '21 draft to see all the new Penguins prospects coming to town. They're only four picks in right at the moment and it's New Jersey making their pick. They drafted Luke Hughes, the guy he's hated for years now. Good thing we're not going to be on the same team.
*Time skip to end of '21 - '22 season*
Now John knows he's had a rough season, but he didn't think it was that rough that he would be traded. The worst thing about the whole trade is he's going to the New Jersey Devils, which Luke Hughes is a prospect for. Though thankfully he should still be in UMich for a couple more years, right? Oh, whatever who cares about him let me just enjoy the rest of my summer.
John has a wonderful summer. He had been training to get better after what had happened last season with the Penguins, hopefully, he's good enough for the Devils. John feels good enough with himself to think that the Devils will be happy with him. It is now time for him to go practice for the first time with his new team. He arrives at the Prudential Center for the first time. The first person he sees when he gets to the locker room to change is the one and only Jack Hughes, brother of Luke Hughes who he hates. Though his new captain, Nico Hischier, interrupts,
"Hey, welcome to the team let me know if you need anything," he says in a very welcoming tone which is good. "Here's your locker go ahead and get your stuff unpacked."
"Ok. Thank you so much." I said quickly in return.
Nico then walks away and Jack walks up to me I don't know if Luke has mentioned anything about what happened between us, but I don't want to know either. "Hi, welcome to the team," Jack says with a smile on his face which is kinda making me uneasy because of my past with his brother. "Hi," I said back because I didn't want to be rude, I mean I just came to his team.
"Listen, John, I know your past with my brother and everything and I'm going to be honest with you it's pretty stupid, but I'm not going to let that come between us as new teammates."
“Look I know it’s stupid, but I can’t believe he would do that, but I won’t let it come between us either."
"Great now go get ready I'll see ya on the ice."
*Time skip to the last few games of the season before playoffs*
Ok this season has been pretty great so far. The team is going to the playoffs we just have a couple of games left to play beforehand. UMich got eliminated from the Frozen Four which means that Luke is coming to the Devils early as he said before in interviews. Obviously, Jack is super happy his brother is coming to play in the last two games of the season. (John is not happy like Jack).
Luke's pov
UMich's hockey team just got recently eliminated from the Frozen Four a couple of days ago which means I'm off to New Jersey they want me to play the last two games with the team since I have the chance. I'm about to get off the plane and make my way to Jack's apartment he said I can stay there since I'm his brother (sibling specialties, my favorite).
It's finally time for me to get with the team and practice for the first time with the Devils. When Luke walks through the door to the locker room following behind Jack because he doesn't know where he is going. Jack moves out of the way to go to his locker letting Luke find his. That's when Luke sees the name above the locker next to his.
John's pov
John had arrived a little late but not by a lot and sees Luke sitting next to his locker starting to get his gear on. This is going to be a long practice.