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Jake’s not going to lie — Worlds is kind of awesome and kind of sucks at the same time. Like, would he prefer to be in the playoffs right now? Yeah, for sure, and he sort of hates the media for even asking that, because if he says yes, he’s insulting the tourney or America or whatever, and if he says no he either doesn’t care about the Panthers or he’s a liar. He went with a Dave drafted, pretty foolproof answer.
“You’re a traitor to America and also you don’t care about the Panthers,” Allie informs him.
“Wow,” Jake says. “Wow.”
“Just telling you what bullshit’s going around so you don’t go looking,” Allie says. “You’re rocking it, keep it up, Jakey.”
“That’s the plan,” Jake says.
And they do, they rock it. They go down to Sweden in the Semis, but they beat Canada for Bronze, which honestly might just feel better than winning Gold when it comes down to it.
“If I was there you wouldn’t have won,” David says after, and Jake can practically hear the pout through the phone.
“For sure, babe,” Jake says. “Sorry you’re stuck doing playoffs.”
He can hear David smile too. “Congratulations,” he says. “Really.”
“Can’t be too proud, since I wouldn’t have won if you were here,” Jake says. “Or, other theory, I would have extra won with Robbie and Georgie on my side.”
“Canada would have Crane in net,” David says dismissively. “And probably Matthews on the roster too. We wouldn’t lose to Finland this time.”
“It’s super unfair how good your team is,” Jake says, and he swears David’s smile gets bigger.
“Congratulations,” David repeats, soft.
“Thanks,” Jake says. “Going to wear my Bronze?”
“Not a chance,” David says immediately.
“Come on,” Jake wheedles.
“I’m hanging up,” David threatens, but he doesn’t.