Title: Dropped Gloves
Fandom: Check, Please!
Characters: Jack Zimmermann, Eric "Bitty" Bittle
Rating: PG
Length: 857 Words
Summary: Jack was itching to get back on the ice, so he and Eric go to a pick-up game near his parent's house.

It was supposed to be just a friendly pick-up game. Jack and Eric had gone to Canada to celebrate the new year with Jack's parents after spending Christmas with Eric's folks. And as the days stretched on, Jack had been anxious to get back out on the ice. So after he piled Eric into his father's pickup, they drove toward the school, where games often started.

Jack had shied away from the attention, saying, "We're just here for a little fun, eh?" though he didn't hesitate to pose for a couple of pictures as Eric took to the ice. He watched his boyfriend take full advantage of an empty rink as he attempted a couple of jumps. They were challenging in hockey skates, but Eric still managed to do them.

"Hey, who's the sugar plum fairy?" came a voice from the side.

Jack stopped talking to the hockey dad who was there with his younger kids and turned to the voice source. "There a problem?" he asked.

The two boys, probably only a year or two younger than Eric, stared at Jack for a beat too long. One turned to the other and backhanded him in the shoulder. "C'mon, dude," he said, and they took off.

Jack should have known the day was a bust right then, but he shrugged it off and took to the ice with a bunch of others. "Bittle!" he called.

Eric did one more jump and then skated over and skidded to a stop next to Jack.

"Nope, nope, nope," one of the other players said. "Sorry, Mister NHLer. Only way this is fair is if you two play on opposite sides."

Jack was about to complain when Eric sidled up next to the other player. "He's not as fast as I am," Eric said with a quick wink, "are you, sweetheart?"

Jack went red in the face, and it wasn't because of the windchill.

The play was spirited, though because Jack was an NHL player and Eric was the captain of an NCAA hockey team, some of the players seemed to think it was okay to be harsher than a pickup game should be. There had been a couple of checks from one player on his team that Jack thought were a bit out of line, and he told the guy to back off. But then came a friendly face-off between Jack and Eric where Eric stole the puck right out from under Jack (Eric winked at Jack and added in a quick tongue flick, which was enough to fluster him), and he was off.

He watched the player bear down on Eric before he could do anything about it. And before he could get there, he watched the aggressive player check Eric much harder than a friendly pick-up game should have been. Eric was thrown off his feet by the guy who had at least 20 kilos on him and ended up in the snow on the side of the rink, face down.

Jack threw his gloves before he'd realized it and descended on his teammate, who hovered at the edge of the rink with a sickening smile on his face. "Hey, asshole!" Jack said, and as the player turned, Jack checked him with the same ferocity that he'd just checked Eric. And since Jack and this guy were pretty well-matched weight-wise, the player went down harder. Jack fought the urge to hit him, even though he'd tossed his gloves on the other side of the rink because he didn't feel like getting arrested just for a pick-up game.

Eric was fine, though the dirty hit still bothered Jack. And even though the unruly player had been ejected, Jack and Eric decided to call it. So they headed back to his parent's house, and Jack didn't start to relax until he joined Eric under a blanket, and both had a cup of his mother's cocoa.

"You know, you didn't have to protect me," Eric said. He looked at Jack through his eyelashes after Jack's parents left for some fundraising event.

"It wasn't about protecting you," Jack said. He looked at Eric, and part of him knew it was. But the more significant part of him knew Eric could take care of himself. "Euh, I just... I don't like dirty hockey, you know?"

Eric's face looked crestfallen. "So it was just about hockey? Not about my big, strong professional hockey player coming to my rescue?" He put his cup on the coffee table. "Because, you know, if it was, then I'd have to find some way to repay him."

Jack smiled as Eric pulled him down onto the couch. "Totally. Totally about...that."

They made out for a few minutes until Eric let go of Jack's waist and stood up. He stretched, then got a mischievous look in his eye. "Hey, I'm still faster than you, though," he said. And as to prove his point, he sprinted off toward the bedroom.

Jack caught him at the bedroom doorway, and both were laughing as Jack pulled Eric to him and then let his knees give way as they crashed onto the bed together.