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Nate woke up to throbbing pain in his foot and a general ache throughout the rest of his body. “Ow,” he groaned as he tried to sit up - then froze in place at the sound of his voice. “Why don’t I sound normal?”With cautious movements and several near-falls over too-long pajama pants, he made his way to the bathroom, where he turned on the light, looked in the mirror, and screamed. “Why am I younger?!”He folded the ends of his pants as best he could and hurried back to the bedroom to find his phone, which was charging on the bedside table. Not sure whom to contact first, he decided to send a text to the three Avs also at this event: I’M 18 AGAIN BUT MY FOOT IS STILL MESSED UP WHAT HAPPENED WHAT DO I DOThe first to respond was Bernie: Everyone is to report to Nate’s room immediately. Bring your phones.On our way, Gabe texted. He and Mikko were sharing a room at the other end of the hallway, which didn’t make Nate happy, but this wasn’t the time to think about that.Nate stood up carefully and slowly walked to the door. He heard a knock, checked through the peephole, and opened the door to let his mascot enter. “Please don’t say you told me so,” he begged. “I just really didn’t want to sit out a real game.”Bernie gave him a few sympathetic pats on the back. They’d spent about an hour after the game in which Nate got injured arguing over whether it was safe for Nate to come this weekend; after the MRIs, another two hours of arguing had ensued. Nate had won the argument, but now he didn’t feel like he’d won much of anything.A knock pulled him out of his thoughts. Bernie looked through the peephole and opened the door to let Gabe and Mikko enter. “Are you okay?” Gabe asked immediately.“No,” Nate scowled. “My foot is just as bad as it was before, but now I also feel like I’ve been squished down a few inches.”“At least you still look like you,” Mikko said. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Nate demanded.“It means nobody will think you’ve gone missing,” Gabe said. “It’s better than if you’d changed into a little kid.”Before Nate could process that notion, Bernie waved his arms around to get their attention. He showed them his phone, on which he’d pulled up a picture of Nordy and Gritty.“Nordy got Nate injured so Gritty could de-age him?” Mikko asked.Bernie shook his head. Nate sighed and explained, “The injury was just a normal injury. Mascots can do their magic more easily on injured players. That’s why Bernie really, really, really, really wanted me to stay home.”“Didn’t you say Chance put a long-acting unluckiness spell on the rest of the teams last year?” Gabe asked Bernie, who nodded. “Did he have help from anyone else the way it looks like Nordy got help from Gritty?”Bernie shook his head and spread his arms very wide, then gave two thumbs up. He then held his paws almost together, then gave two thumbs down.“Say what?” Mikko asked.His shoulders sagging a little, Bernie took out his phone and poked away for about a minute. The three men’s phones buzzed with the mascot’s message: Big magic, like making everyone else unlucky, is easy for mascots. In this case, the equivalent would be de-aging Nate to a very small child. Small magic, like de-aging Nate only a few years, is difficult for mascots. Nordy couldn’t do it alone, so he went to the most powerful mascot available, which is always the newest mascot.“Oh,” Nate frowned. “I guess I really should have stayed home.”“It’s okay, Nate.” Gabe placed his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “We’ll help you get through this, won’t we, Mikko?”“You bet,” Mikko smiled. “Bernie, how do we fix this?”Bernie pounded his heart. Gabe groaned: “Why is it always a love thing?”“The Cup last year wasn’t a love thing, was it?” Mikko asked.“It was an unconventional love thing,” Nate explained. “Bernie told me about it when we were arguing over whether I should come here - Chance was the most powerful mascot at the time, so he was able to magically specify that the love be between a normal player and his mascot. Kuzy started dedicating his goals to Slapshot, and we all know the result.”“What on earth is normal about Evgeny Kuznetsov?”“For purposes of the spell, the fact that he isn’t a goalie and doesn’t wear a letter.” Nate sighed. “Bernie, give it to us straight: What sort of a love thing are we dealing with?”The mascot shrugged.“You don’t know?!” Nate squawked.“Even if he did know, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to say anything until you figured it out,” Gabe pointed out. “Magic is a nuisance like that.”“It’s going to be okay,” Mikko said, smiling at Nate. “We’ll help you figure this out.”“Thanks,” Nate smiled back. How hard could this be?-Nate probably shouldn’t have wondered how hard this could be, even just in his thoughts.The All-Star weekend meant a lot of media stuff, so Nate had to spend a lot of time forcing his voice to sound deeper. If the weird glances he got from the journalists were anything to go by, he wasn’t doing a very good job, but they didn’t ask any questions about it, so he was willing to count it as a win. During practice for the game itself, Nate just stood with the coach and gave the players encouraging thumbs-up; if anyone noticed a height difference beyond him not wearing skates, they didn’t say anything, so he was willing to count it as another win.The part he wasn’t willing to count as a win was the free time. Nate went to Mikko and Gabe’s room to talk about the curse. They determined that a lack of further effects from the curse indicated a true love curse: Nate had to find the person whom he loved and who loved him in return. Since the only person Nate knew he loved was unavailable, Nate could only promise to think about it and perhaps discuss it with Sid. This led Gabe and Mikko to start arguing over whether Nate hanging out with Sid would provoke Gritty into making the curse worse. After five minutes, Nate lost his temper. “I’M RIGHT HERE!” he snapped, shutting up his teammates immediately. “How about you ask ME what MY thoughts are about MY curse? You aren’t going to solve this!”“Duh!” Mikko stormed out with the angriest scowl Nate had ever seen on him.Gabe sighed. “I’m sorry, Nate. You’re right - we should be involving you in this discussion, not just talking about you.”“I shouldn’t have shouted,” Nate replied. “And it’s not like you’re wrong - for all we know, me seeing Sid could set off some sort of ‘battle of Pennsylvania’ sub-curse.”“Yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised if Gritty is even more powerful than we can imagine.” Gabe shuddered slightly.“And I agree with your other point: Sid isn’t feeling too hot, so even without the curse to worry about, he’s not great company.” Nate sighed. “Regardless, I should find Mikko and talk to him. Want to come with?”“It might go more smoothly without me, actually.” Gabe smiled, almost as if he knew something Nate didn’t. “I’ll see you later.”“Okay.” Nate left, deciding to trust his gut on where to look for Mikko.His gut proved right: Mikko was at the food court. He looked up as Nate approached. “How’s the...foot?”Nate shrugged and sat down next to Mikko. “I’m sorry for yelling,” he whispered. “I know you’re just trying to help.”“But you were right,” Mikko said, also whispering. “You’re the one with the curse. It should be up to you if you see Sid for help with it.”“Wait, what?” Nate shook his head. “I didn’t want to see Sid because of that. I wanted to see him because he’s my friend and we always try to meet up at these things.”“Oh.” Mikko ducked his head; Nate thought he might be blushing, but it was hard to tell. “Then I guess Gabe was right in saying it wasn’t necessary. I’m sorry for pushing it.”“It’s okay.” Nate smiled as Mikko lifted his head. “I’m really glad you and Gabe are here to help me. I don’t think I could do it with just Bernie.”“Yeah, a mascot alone isn’t much.” Mikko gasped. “A mascot alone! Youppi! You should talk to Jo!”Nate shook his head. “Jo and I are good friends and nothing more. We’ve never been interested in each other like that - I thought you knew that.”“Yes, but maybe he can help you figure out the object of your affections. Sometimes you need someone else to tell you what your heart wants - that’s what Gabe says.”“I know what Jo would say. It wouldn’t be helpful.” Nate gulped and stood up. “I’m going to go...do something. You and Gabe can spend time together, since I cut into that earlier.”“Wait, what do you mean?!”Nate walked away, not acknowledging the question in any way for the sake of protecting his heart.-Nate managed to avoid Mikko for a while thanks to (even more) media obligations. Once that was finished, he decided to go back to his hotel room and text Gabe to see if they could talk without Mikko; he doubted he could get away with it without a whole bunch of questions, but the curse needed breaking, so he had to take the risk.Unfortunately, before he reached his room, he saw Bernie waving his arms in argument with someone in Gabe and Mikko’s room. The mascot took a step back as Mikko stepped out of the room and shouted, “If that’s true, then why did this happen at all?!”“Because both of you are idiots!” Gabe shouted from inside the room.“What’s going on?” Nate asked, walking as quickly as his injured foot allowed.Bernie glared at Mikko, pointed down the hallway towards Nate’s room, and walked away. Mikko sighed. “He wants you and me to talk.”“And so do I,” Gabe groaned before closing the door.Nate sighed and started walking, Mikko following just behind him. Neither spoke until they were in Nate’s room. “Mikko, what’s going on?”“After you left, I talked to Gabe about what we talked about.” Mikko was staring at the floor. “He was a little surprised, but before we could do anything about it, we had individual media stuff. So after that, Gabe texted Bernie to meet us in our room and help him explain stuff. Bernie confirmed that it’s a true love curse, but once we got talking in depth, he got annoyed and...well, you saw.” Mikko looked up. “Apparently you think Gabe and I are dating. We’re not.”“You’re not?” Nate blinked in confusion. “Why not?”“I’ve never been interested in him,” Mikko explained. “To be honest, I don’t think he’s ever been interested in me, either, but that’s not the point.”“Then what is the point?”“The point is, I’ve had a crush the entire time I’ve been on the Avs, but never did anything about it because I was scared. I’m still scared, but Gabe now thinks I don’t have to be.”Nate frowned. “I don’t get it.”“I…” Mikko gulped. “I love you, Nathan MacKinnon.”Nate’s jaw dropped. “Really?” Mikko nodded, so Nate took a step closer. “I love you, too, Mikko Rantanen. Jo has been listening to me complain about my feelings for you for a very long time.”Mikko’s response was a kiss. It was chaste, but it was enough.“I hurt less,” Nate realized. “I’ve felt achy all day from being magically squished, but now it’s just my foot.”“Good.”-The first game went well, the second game less so. But that night, Mikko insisted on sharing Nate’s bed, even though they were too tired to do anything.Nate woke up and knew right away he was back to normal. He kissed Mikko awake to share the news.“We’ll celebrate properly at home,” Mikko promised.“Good.”
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Bernie was awoken from a dream about bones by his phone vibrating. He looked at the screen and groaned when he saw that it was a text from Nate to him, Gabe, and Mikko: I’M 18 AGAIN BUT MY FOOT IS STILL MESSED UP WHAT HAPPENED WHAT DO I DOShaking his head in utter non-surprise, Bernie sent a reply to his three All-Stars: Everyone is to report to Nate’s room immediately. Bring your phones.On our way, Gabe replied on behalf of himself and Mikko, with whom he was sharing a room.“Please be something simple,” Bernie whispered to the hockey gods before leaving his room and heading to Nate’s.Nate answered moments after Bernie knocked on his door. “Please don’t say you told me so,” he begged as he let Bernie in. “I just really didn’t want to sit out a real game.”Bernie patted him on the back in sympathy. There was a knock on the door, so he looked through the peephole and opened the door so Gabe and Mikko could come in. They both looked normal, so Bernie took out his phone and started checking the other mascots’ Twitter feeds for clues.“Are you okay?” Gabe asked Nate.“No,” Nate scowled. “My foot is just as bad as it was before, but now I also feel like I’ve been squished down a few inches.”Of course, the problem with trying to find clues on the mascots’ Twitter feeds during the All-Star Weekend was that they all had a lot of pictures from the various events. This was going to take quite some time.“At least you still look like you,” Mikko said.“What’s that supposed to mean?” Nate was still scowling.“It means nobody will think you’ve gone missing,” Gabe said. “It’s better than if you’d changed into a little kid.”Then, Bernie found it! He waved his arms to attract his humans’ attention, then showed them a picture of Nordy and Gritty which Nordy had tweeted with the caption, “It we. We friends.”“Nordy got injured so Gritty could de-age him?” Mikko guessed.It was a decent guess, but wrong. Bernie shook his head as Nate explained it with a sigh: “The injury was just a normal injury. Mascots can do their magic more easily on injured players. That’s why Bernie really, really, really, really wanted me to stay home.”Gabe spoke up next, addressing Bernie: “Didn’t you say Chance put a long-acting unluckiness spell on the reset of the teams last year?”Bernie nodded; they’d discussed the matter during preseason.“Did he have help from anyone else the way it looks like Nordy got help from Gritty?”Bernie shook his head. He tried to pantomime the explanation, but the only response was from Mikko: “Say what?”His shoulders sagging in disappointment, Bernie texted the explanation to the three humans: Big magic, like making everyone else unlucky, is easy for mascots. In this case, the equivalent would be de-aging Nate to a very small child. Small magic, like de-aging Nate only a few years, is difficult for mascots. Nordy couldn’t do it alone, so he went to the most powerful mascot available, which is always the newest mascot.“Oh,” Nate frowned. “I guess I really should have stayed home.” Bernie resisted the urge to nod, considering that Nate had clearly learned his lesson about mascots knowing best.Gabe placed his hand on Nate’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Nate. We’ll help you get through this, won’t we, Mikko?”“You bet,” Mikko smiled. “Bernie, how do we fix this?”That was easy to pantomime.“Why is it always a love thing?” Gabe groaned.“The Cup last year wasn’t a love thing, was it?” Mikko asked.“It was an unconventional love thing,” Nate explained. “Bernie told me about it when we were arguing over whether I should come here - Chance was the most powerful mascot at the time, so he was able to magically specify that the love be between a normal player and his mascot. Kuzy started dedicated his goals to Slapshot, and we all know the result.”“What on earth is normal about Evgeny Kuznetsov?” Mikko asked. It was a very good question, Bernie had to admit, even if the answer, which Nate provided, was a little obvious: “For purposes of the spell, the fact that he isn’t a goalie and doesn’t wear a letter.” He sighed. “Bernie, give it to us straight: What sort of a love thing are we dealing with?”Somehow resisting the urge to laugh at Nate’s use of the word ‘straight,’ Bernie shrugged.“You don’t know?!” Nate squawked.“Even if he did know, he probably wouldn’t be allowed to say anything until you figured it out,” Gabe correctly noted. “Magic is a nuisance like that.”Mikko smiled at Nate. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll help you figure this out.”Nate smiled back. “Thanks.”Judging from those smiles, Bernie made an educated guess about the spell. And he knew exactly how to check if he was right.-It was fairly easy to find Nordy in the main ballroom. Bernie resisted the urge to storm up to him, choosing instead to approach slowly. “I know what you did,” he said telepathically.“It wasn’t me,” Nordy smirked telepathically. “It was Gritty.”“On your behalf.” Bernie folded his arms and glared. “It wasn’t enough that my Nate got hurt playing against your boys? You had to go after him again?”“At least I went with something simple like true love instead of my original idea. Gritty didn’t want Crosby to be part of breaking the curse.”“Ha! I knew it!” Bernie cheered. “Thanks for confirming that!” He walked out triumphantly.“Why are you so happy?” Youppi! asked as Bernie entered the hallway.“I figured out something,” Bernie explained. He noticed that Youppi! was frowning, then remembered that no other Habs were at this event. “Want to grab lunch and talk about humans being stupid?”“I would love that! Jo - your Nate’s friend - did the most ridiculous thing last week...”They headed to the food court, Bernie confident that one of his Avs would text him if they needed him, which they probably wouldn’t for awhile.-Sure enough, Bernie got a text from Gabe a few hours later: Could you please come to our room? Mikko and I want to talk about the curse.On my way, Bernie replied before heading out of his room and down the hallway.Gabe opened the door within moments of Bernie knocking. “Thanks for coming,” he said as Bernie entered the room. “We think we have it figured out, but we want to be sure.”“We talked to Nate before - nothing’s changed, so we’re guessing it’s a normal true love thing,” Mikko said.Bernie nodded furiously and gave two thumbs up. He couldn’t help feeling proud of his humans for figuring it out between media obligations and practicing for the games.Gabe laughed. “I’m glad we’re right! Now it’s just a question of who the lucky guy is, which is the easy part!”“What do you mean?” Mikko frowned. “Nate told me earlier today he wasn’t in love with Sid or Drouin - I knew he and Jo were just friends, but I wasn’t sure about Sid, and now I’m at a loss.”Bernie face-pawed as Gabe groaned. “How are you at a loss?! I know you’re Finnish, but that shouldn’t mean you’re this clueless!” Under normal circumstances, Bernie might have scolded Gabe for insulting Mikko’s nationality, but he decided to let it go this time so they could focus on the matter at hand.“Are you seriously bringing up my crush right now?!” Mikko snapped. “Not cool, Landeskog. True love means it goes both ways. Nate obviously doesn’t like me back. If anything, he might like you - he said something about you and me spending time together since he cut into it earlier right before he left.”This explained everything! Bernie pointed to Gabe, then to Mikko, then to his heart.“Nate thinks that Mikko and I are dating?!”Bernie nodded.“No wonder he hasn’t said anything.” Gabe turned to Mikko and grabbed his shoulders. “You have to tell Nate he’s wrong.”“Why?” Mikko stepped away, causing Gabe’s hands to drop.Bernie pounded on his chest a few times. Gabe explained it perfectly: “Nate likes you back. It’s true love.”“That’s not possible,” Mikko scowled.Bernie waved his arms towards the door, used his paws to pantomime talking, then pounded his heart again.“I am not giving him the chance to break my heart, Bernie.” Mikko walked towards the door. “I’m done talking about this.”In a few angry stomps, Bernie beat Mikko to the door to keep him from leaving. He pointed to himself, then gave two thumbs up: surely Mikko knew that mascots were always right about this sort of thing?“There’s no way he likes me back, even if you say so,” Mikko insisted.This was getting ridiculous. Bernie pointed to Gabe, then to himself. Gabe provided the translation: “Neither of us would lie about this, Mikko. Trust us - he looks at you with the exact same look on his face that you look at him with.”“Not possible.”“Mikko, stop being stubborn and actually fix this,” Gabe snapped. “Everyone on the team can see it - you two have spent way too much time pining after each other for this to be anything other than true love!”Bernie opened the door and waved his arms around to symbolize the madness of the situation. He stepped back as Mikko stepped out of the room and shouted, “If that’s true, then why did this happen at all?!”“Because both of you are idiots!” Gabe shouted.“What’s going on?” Nate hurried over as quickly as possible on his injured foot.The timing couldn’t have been more perfect! Bernie glared at Mikko, then pointed down the hallway to Nate’s room before walking towards his room at the other end of the hallway. He could hear Mikko and Gabe talking to Nate before Gabe closed the door, followed by Nate and Mikko walking towards Nate’s room. Satisfied, he went into his room and flopped onto the bed with a long sigh. “Please have them actually talk and actually work it out,” he whispered to the hockey gods.-The following morning, Bernie knew instinctively that everything was okay even before Mikko texted him and Gabe to say that Nate was back to normal. He smiled to himself and whispered to the hockey gods, “Thank you for not making things worse. I promise not to rub this in Nordy’s face any more than strictly necessary.”