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Underwhelming. That’s how the end of the game felt. It still doesn’t feel real as Mitch skates around the ice, watching the Ottawa rookies celebrate. He blinks once, trying to comprehend what just happened. He doesn’t even know who just scored, doesn’t know the kids name.Everything just happened so fast. Matts pointing at the guy, McCabe losing him, and Mitch- he wasn’t fast enough. He was too slow.The entire team doesn’t seem to understand what just happened. There are confused glances between everyone as they stand up to exit the arena which is dead silent. It’s embarrassing. 4 of the highest paid players in the league weren’t enough to beat an Ottawa without Brady, Stüzle, Giroux and their other top players.Berube looks disappointed, more so than he normally does. And it makes sense. His first game coaching they lost. He doesn’t have the energy to yell at them, just shakes his head as he walks down the hallway, probably to do press. Mitch feels like he’s let his coach down. He doesn’t like letting people down.Reavo is the first one to stand up, cheeky grin on his face. “All good, guys. We’ll fuck ‘em up good next time. It doesn’t even matter. Fuck pre-season games. No one will remember this when we go 3 and 0 in the regular season.”It’s enough to put smiles on the rookies faces as they relax a little, disappointment gone. It’s not enough to help Mitch who feels like shit. At this point, he doesn’t think that anything’s going to comfort him. He just wants to go home and sleep.Even as he walks down the hall, he can’t stop thinking. Fuck number 58 (yes he hung around on the ice so he could see who scored, he still doesn’t know the kids name). Auston comes up behind him and places a hand on his shoulder and Mitch offers up a weak smile.“You played good,” he says, squeezing Mitch gently before letting go.Mitch rolls his eyes. “Thanks.”“What? You did.”Mitch scoffs, quickening his pace. He wants to get out of his equipment now . “I didn’t even set you up once.”“You set up Kniesy,” Auston says gently. “And you tried multiple times. I just wasn’t- I couldn’t put them in the net. You passes were fucking sweet though.”“Yeah but you scored.”“And you got an apple. That’s just as important as a goal.”“Not according the fans.”“Well fuck the fans. They don’t know shit about how important a good pass is,” Auston smiles. The C really does suit him.“Sorry we couldn’t win for your first game as captain.”“Doesn’t matter to me. It’s only pre-season. We still got 88 more games to show everyone that we’re cup contenders.”They make it to the locker room which isn’t as depressing as it normally is after a lost game. Willy’s got his skates off and is already about to hit the showers, Johnny’s with Mo talking to the rookies, showing them where to put stuff, Domes has a smile on his face as he’s talking with Pacioretty.Nobody seems to be taking this loss as hard as Mitch is. There’s no reason for him to be this worked up about it. He just… He though that after spending the Summer with Crosby and Mackinnon that he’d be better, that he put in enough work training 10 hours a day, that he’d be able to prove that he deserves to stay, to not be the scapegoat. But no. He’s just as bad as he was before.He plops down in his stall and starts to untie his skates. Fuck. He hates double knots, especially when he isn’t in a good mood. They’re impossible sometimes.Auston slides over, stealing Willy’s stall. His skates are already off and he’s working on pulling his jersey off. “You should smile more.”“Oh fuck off,” Mitch says, but he’s smiling slightly. “I smile more than you Mr. I’m too cool to show any emotion.”“Hey, I’m trying something new where I laugh and smile more,” Auston says, hanging up his jersey for the managers to wash. “Believe it or not it was inspired by you.”When Mitch doesn’t respond, Auston sighs. “It wasn’t your fault, Marns.”“I wasn’t fast enough, Matts. You saw, I- He got in front of me. I should’ve been between him and the net.”“If we’re assigning blame then you should put some of it on me,” Auston says. “I didn’t feel like skating after him. I just told McCabe to take him and I didn’t even skate down to help. I stood at centre ice watching.”“But you were still good tonight,” Mitch wants to throw his skates out the window. Why won’t these knots come out? Okay, that’s it. He’s done. “Can you pass me my scissors?”“What, you gonna cut your skates?” asks Auston, but he still complies.“I’m going to cut my laces. I can’t untie them,” Mitch answers.Auston stares as Mitch as he cuts his laces and throws his skates in the bag. He’ll text the equipment manager that he cut them later. It’s not a big deal. Relacing skates is easy.“You’re so dramatic,” Auston says laughing. “Now hurry up. I want to take a shower.”“You don’t have to wait for me, you know,” Mitch says, starting to undress. “I’ll be fine. I won’t die without you.”“But maybe I will,” Auston says, soft gooey smile on his face. “So hurry your ass up.”Domi steps out to the middle of the room, mischievous smirk on his face. “The biggest tip we can give you rookies is to shower immediately after games, especially after wins with hatricks,” he winks towards Mitch and Auston. “Unless watching two guys making out is some weird kink of yours.”Mitch reaches into his bag to throw a roll of tape at him. “Fuck off, Domes. You’re a dick, you know.”“I know,” he grins widely, making a point to step aside leaving the pathway to the door to the shower wide open. “All yours. Well- Willy’s still in there but he won’t be long, especially once you two walk in.”Mitch flips him off one last time before dragging Auston into the showers. “I hate Domi,” he mumbles quietly, tucking himself under Auston’s arm.“Ew. You two are in here?” Willy asks from under the shower. He’s in the middle of shampooing his hair as he turns his head. “Fuck this. I’m getting out. I’ll wash my hair at home.”“I hate Willy too,” Mitch grumbles once Willy bolts out of the room after rinsing his hair. He can hear the snickers from his teammates outside of the door.“Forget about Willy,” Auston says, turning on a shower and opening his arms up for Mitch to join him. “Forget about hockey. Just come here.”Mitch smiles as he looks up at Auston. He loves that man, loves him a lot. When he steps under the hot water, he rests his head on Auston’s chest, arms wrapped around his waist. “Wash me?” He asks quietly. He feels tired. So, so, so tired. Too tired to slather soap all over his body. Too tired to rub in shampoo and conditioner. “Please?”“Of course, Mitchy.”And soon, warm hands are running up and down Mitch’s body, touching every single part. Mitch just melts into Auston and soon, Auston is holding up Mitch’s entire body weight. “Turn for me, babe.”Mitch complies and feels a hand on his back, rubbing circles. Auston’s hand digs under Mitch’s shoulder blade, massaging the muscles there gently. It feels so good. He tilts his head back, looking up at Auston who’s smiling down at him with a loving smile.God, Mitch loves him so much. He pushes up unto his tippy-toes to place a quick kiss under Auston’s ear. “I love you,” he mumbles, closing his eyes again.“Me too, Marns,” Auston says, resting his head on Mitch’s hair. “You’re perfect for me.”And Mitch believes him. He puts up with a lot of dumb shit that Auston likes to do. Like Auston never stops complaining about cold (his job is literally played on fucking ice), he sometimes has the worst fucking taste in fashion (just because something costs a lot of fucking money doesn’t mean it looks good), and that stupid mustache that Auston likes to grow. Mitch puts up with all of that.But Auston also puts up with the annoying shit that Mitch does. Mitch knows that he’s a demanding person, that he requires a lot of attention. He’s high-mantinance but Auston’s okay with that, has no problem giving him all of that. Mitch also knows he can be insufferable after losses, impossible to talk to even. But Auston’s always there to listen or to fill the silence- whatever Mitch needs in that moment and Auston doesn’t even mind.So yeah. They’re perfect for each other. Their teammates like to chirp them for it, call them an old married couple with all the bickering that they do, tease them for their codependecy. But Mitch doesn’t care, he loves Auston, would take all the chirps in the world as long as it meant that they could be together.It’s cheesy, but Mitch still gets butterflies in his stomach whenever Auston crashes into him in the boards for a celley, smiles at him from across the room, grabs his wrist to drag him somewhere. But it’s okay because they’re cheesy. They watch Hallmark movies at Christmas, bake cookies together, go on dog walking dates together. They’re cheesy together.And when Mitch opens his eyes again to look up at Auston, he starts to believe that maybe losing this game doesn’t matter because he still hasn’t lost this , and that is what truly matters.