Chapter Text
Daryl Watts. Patty Kazmaier Award winner, Toronto Sceptres first line forward, star player for Team Canada, ex Badger and the owner of the cutest smile Caroline Harvey had seen in a while.
Watts wasn’t much older than Harvey, yet by the time Harvey joined the hockey team at University of Wisconsin, Watts had already graduated, so she never had the pleasure to be her teammate. But she knew what it was like to play against her, as they found themselves on the opposite sides of the rink during last USA Canada Rivalry series (spoiler alert, it was pain), and she never imagined it would matter to her if Watts came cheer her on before the Frozen Four finals against Ohio State.
Now of course Daryl Watts didn’t come to her alma mater to cheer on Caroline Harvey, no. She came to show support to the entire team. Obviously. Still, when Watts came to watch their practice the day before the championship game, Harvey had a feeling the Sceptre was watching her more than the other girls on ice. And Harvey watched back.
She watched back and didn’t look ahead.
“Watch out!”
WHAM.
Next thing she knew, she was sprawled on the ice, having crashed into the tallest player on the ice and her best friend, Laila Edwards.
“What the hell, KK?” Edwards asked, helping her up.
“Sorry,” Harvey smiled, fixing her helmet.
“Whatcha lookin’ at, man?”
“Nothing, sorry,” Harvey said again and skated away, hoping the flush in her cheeks she felt could be played off as a hockey rush.
Because that’s what it was.
Really.
Now she made sure not to look at the bench as she skated past it. She needed to focus on the practice. She was the captain and she was supposed to lead by example. Why the hell was she distracted by Daryl Watts? Sure, she was a good player, exceptional even. But they didn’t even really know each other.
A puck landed on the blade of her stick and she sent it flying to the net with a precise wrist shot from the slot. This was her practice. This was her team. This was her game.
Even though the coaches told them to make it an early night and make sure to get plenty of rest before the game against OSU, Harvey snuck into the university gym to do a few reps before going to sleep. She wasn’t too worried about being sore in the morning. On the contrary, she believed an hour in the gym would help her clear her head, regain focus and make her feel more confident about the finals. Not that she didn’t believe in her team, she did, it was the best team in the nation. Edwards, Simms, Eden, she had the best teammates she could wish for. But she also had to show up for them.
She’d been jogging on the treadmill for a good ten minutes, Drake blasting in her earphones when she thought she caught a movement in the corner of her eye. She startled, immediately turning her head around to find a person standing there. She quickly tapped her earphone to shut Drake up and then stopped the treadmill.
Daryl Watts stood there, wearing black shorts and her blue Toronto Sceptres t-shirt, holding a water bottle, a towel over her shoulder.
“Oh god, you startled me,” Harvey breathed out.
“What are you doing here?” Watts asked, sounding more curious than anything else. “Shouldn’t you be resting before the game?”
“This is rest,” Harvey replied, gesturing vaguely around the gym. Watts smiled as if she got it. Then Harvey returned the question. “What are you doing here?”
“Well I can’t slack just because I came to watch the game,” Watts shrugged. “I’d be in the gym or on the ice if I was in Toronto now.”
“Fair,” Harvey acknowledged, leaning against the treadmill.
“What?” Daryl asked when Harvey just kept watching her. “You don’t mind me joining you, do you?”
Harvey realized she’d never talked to Watts, not this much. Maybe she chirped her on the ice once or twice, but they never actually held a conversation.
“I’m KK, by the way,” she ended up saying. She wiped the sweat off her face with a towel, stepping off the treadmill, extending her hand towards Watts.
“Oh I know, I don’t think there’s a single person in the hockey world that doesn’t know who you are,” Daryl flashed a smile, accepting the handshake. Her hand was a little cold but way too soft for someone who spent hundreds of hours working out in the gym and even more than that holding a hockey stick.
Harvey almost blushed at the acknowledgement. She knew she was quite known in the community, yet this kind of comments made her flustered, especially coming from someone like Daryl Watts. Because Daryl Watts was a really good pro-player.
“Daryl,” Watts said, but didn’t let go of Harvey’s hand just yet. And Harvey didn’t exactly complain.
“Listen, Daryl…” Harvey started slowly, before a wicked grin appeared on her face. “Do you play basketball?”
Daryl Watts did not play basketball. But neither did Caroline Harvey, so more than anything else, they ended up laughing at all the shots they missed.
“I’m too short for this,” Watts complained, her cheeks flushed as the ball just bounced off the rim and didn’t go in. Again.
Harvey caught it. “But you’re also supposed to be really good with your hands,” she said, tossing the ball at Watts, who caught it without hesitation.
She clicked her tongue, looked away and aimed for the basket. This time the ball went in.
She grabbed it as it bounced from the floor, turning to Harvey again. “I am,” she said, smirking.
For a second their eyes locked and Harvey… panicked a little. Something in her chest just shifted and her breath hitched.
“Uhh, good!” she said awkwardly, extending her arms. “Pass.” She called for the ball, trying to play it cool, shaking off the weird energy shift between them.
She didn’t know if Watts noticed it too. Or maybe it was really all in Harvey’s head, because Watts was grinning at her just as playfully as before, as if she felt nothing different.
“Come and get it,” she said and dribbled the ball.
That made Harvey laugh sincerely, because that truly didn’t seem like such a difficult task.
She ran up to Watts, who turned around, protecting the ball with her body. Harvey tried to snatch it from behind, taking advantage of being a little taller than Watts, getting her arms around the girl's waist, reaching for the ball. But Watts managed to dodge Harvey’s attempts.
“Damn, you’d make a fine defender,” Harvey noted as she pressed herself closer to Watts, finally getting a touch on the ball.
Unfortunately, she leaned a bit too much to do that and felt herself lose balance. Watts, not being locked in, didn’t provide a stable enough point, so the next thing Harvey knew was that her arm was wrapped around Daryl’s waist from behind as they both toppled forward.
Watts shrieked, dropping to the floor, barely managing to prevent the most damage with her hands, Harvey on top of her. The ball slipped away, bounced towards the wall, forgotten, as the two of them laughed.
“Are you okay?” Harvey asked, looking up at Watts, trying to push herself off her.
“Number four Wisconsin, two minutes for interference,” Watts announced in her best ref voice, even making the hand signal, which made Harvey laugh some more.
Watts smiled, her eyes sparkling, clearly happy with the reaction her silly imitation got. Harvey looked at her face and her heart skipped a beat. The laughter died on her lips. She swallowed and blinked, before letting out an awkward chuckle.
“Sorry,” she apologized, shifting to create some more distance between them. “Didn’t mean to take you down.”
Even now, Watts seemed completely unfazed, still chilling on the floor, pushed up on her elbows. “All good, Harvey, I’ve taken worse. Maybe even from you, didn’t you send me flying during Rivalry?”
“I might have,” Harvey replied, honestly not knowing. Players were always constantly taken down during games, there was simply no way for her to remember every single hit or interference she’d ever committed. Though, some tiny voice at the back of her head was telling that she’d remember laying a body on Watts. She quickly shushed it.
She got back to her feet and offered her hand to Watts. “I think we should call it a night, officially.”
“Hm, you definitely should,” Watts agreed, accepting the hand. She allowed Harvey to pull her up on her feet and once again, the touch lingered. “Big game tomorrow, but I know you’ll win.”
Harvey chuckled. “Well, the team is great, so I sure hope we will.”
Watts gave her hand a little squeeze before letting go. She kept smiling at Harvey as she repeated, “I know you will.”
When Harvey returned to the dorm way after midnight, her roommate Edwards was already asleep. Good. The coaches were right when they said the team needed a proper rest before the game. Also this meant Harvey didn’t need to answer any questions Edwards might have. Harvey didn’t want to give answers, she wasn’t even sure if she had them herself.
She headed straight to shower. Usually, she took a shower at the gym, but she didn’t want to do that with Watts around for some reason, which was absolutely silly. She was an athlete, she showered and changed around her teammates all the time. But Daryl Watts wasn’t her teammate. She was an older player she admired and respected. An older player that didn’t hesitate to take a shower at the gym, which made Harvey panic and flee the premises before Watts could even take her sweaty Toronto Sceptres t-shirt off.
Harvey turned the water a little colder and let it splash her face, because damn, she sure needed to cool down. This was ridiculous. There was no reason Daryl Watts should be making her flustered. And she didn’t. That’s what Harvey was telling herself. Watts was an excellent player and she knew it, which showed in her confidence. That was something Harvey aimed for herself. That was what made Watts so intriguing. She was a true inspiration. Harvey smiled a bit, happy with the explanation she just gave herself.
She let the water fall a little longer, closing her eyes and enjoying the relaxing moment. She thought of the practice. Of her team. Of how their work was paying off. She thought of Eden’s killer dekes and Simms’ swift wrist shots. And then, suddenly, she thought of Daryl Watts’ ridiculously soft hands. She shuddered and turned the water off.
No.
She was absolutely not getting distracted by those thoughts.
She dried herself, put on her favorite sleeping shirt and slipped into her bed.
That night, Wisconsin’s captain Caroline Harvey ended up not being able to fall asleep for hours. And the thoughts that kept her up had very little to do with the upcoming game.
One thing Caroline Harvey did well was to forget everything when she stepped on the ice for a game. Nothing existed but the ice, her team, puck and the opponent’s goal. She was aware of all the people in the stands, her friends, family, ahem, Daryl Watts, but that entire crowd blended together. There was no time to look for familiar faces, definitely not when the play was on. When the play was on, so was Caroline Harvey, stepping up, showing everyone what it was that made her top draft prospect, Olympian, world champion and the team’s captain.
And everything about the game went well for Harvey. Pucks were bouncing in all the right directions, sticking to her tape perfectly, the blades of her skates felt sharper than ever before. Her hits landed cleanly, her passes were precise, finding her teammates’ sticks in the right places.
Thus, at the end of the third period, Wisconsin found themselves beating OSU 4-2 and winning yet another Frozen Four championship.
The celebrations lasted all night. Harvey’s heart skipped a beat when Watts gave her a brief congratulatory hug and a pat on the back after the game, when she returned to the locker room, sweat still dripping from her face. A pang of disappointment followed immediately when Watts told her she wouldn’t be joining them in the bar to celebrate their victory.
She was off ice again, she could afford to be mildly distracted. And that’s all it was. A mild distraction. So why couldn't she have as much fun as was expected that night? They won an entire collegiate championship.
She thought Edward must have noticed something, but didn’t nag her, or at least not yet. It would probably get addressed later at home.
She wondered how early it was acceptable for the captain to call it a night. She checked her phone for time, seeing it was way after midnight already. She also noticed an Instagram notification and decided to click it.
darylwatts_ followed you
2 new messages
[10:45] Daryl Watts
sorry had to dash flying back to tor, u should come watch a game sometime
congrats again see u next month
Harvey stared at the texts for a moment. Then she followed Watts back. Then she went back to the messages and stared at them some more. Then slowly started to type back a reply.
[1:23] Caroline Harvey
Next month?
Apparently that was all her brain could manage at this hour. She didn’t expect Watts to reply, she was probably on a plane or maybe already back in Canada. Yet dots appeared on the screen immediately.
[1:23] Daryl Watts
at worlds
[1:24] Caroline Harvey
Our roster hasn’t been announced yet
[1:24] Daryl Watts
well u will be there
obviously
Harvey had to suppress a smile as she slid her phone back in her pocket. She wanted to keep texting, but also realized she shouldn’t. She had a few beers and it was making her feel things. Weird things. Oh please, let it be the beer.
“You alright?” Lacey Eden asked, sitting down next to Harvey, holding a drink.
“Yeah, yeah, just tired,” Harvey forced a smile.
“Oh come on, you can be tired when you’re dead.” Eden wrapped her arm around Harvey’s shoulder, pulling her close. Harvey laughed. “But in all seriousness, the season was long, you deserve the rest. Tomorrow.”
“It’s technically already tomorrow,” Harvey pointed out, pulling out her phone again and flashing the screen at Eden to show her the time.
“Oh, already?”
Harvey ignored Eden’s surprise as she noticed she had another Instagram notification. She had plenty that evening though, people congratulating her on the win, there was no reason for Watts to keep texting her. … Right? She itched to check it, but didn’t want to do so in front of Eden.
“I think I’m gonna go home, I’m really exhausted. You guys have fun,” Harvey said, but a random Taylor Swift just started playing which meant Eden was gone. Harvey didn’t mind. At least she didn’t need to explain herself further. She didn’t see Edwards anywhere in the crowd so she just texted her and then slipped out of the bar, ready for some peace and quiet in her bedroom.