NHL Imagines

Artemi Panarin (Chicago Blackhawks)

The third period had just started. The Hawks were leading three to one. Trevor was skating down with the puck when David Backes came up and checked him into the boards. I noticed almost immediately that the puck was no where to be seen.

Before I had a chance to think, I heard a scream and felt something hit me right above my eye. My hands flew up to hold the injured area and when I pulled them back down, they were almost fully covered in blood. The dark red liquid poured from the open wound and I had to try to keep calm and ignore the stinging pain until help came. My sister was freaking out and every single fan in the United Center was looking at me, worry spread across all their faces.

Finally, I felt a towel being placed on my face. I recognized my helper as one of the Blackhawks' trainers, Mike Gapski. He led me up a couple of steps into the walkway around the arena, ordering my sister to follow. He kept pressure on the cut as we walked and the pain was so immense, I thought I was going to pass out.

A security guard from the center opened a door that led into the area of the locker rooms. The Blackhawks fan in me was screaming, but I was hurting so much, I didn't make any effort to be excited.

I was sat down on a bench and the towel was removed, making me let out a quiet breath of relief. My sister sat down next to me, asking if I was okay.

"Not really," I groaned "there is a ton of blood literally pouring out of my head right now. I don't know how anyone could be okay at a time like this."

Mike approached me with a needle and thread in his hands. If I hadn't felt dizzy earlier, I definitely felt like passing out now. Before he got the chance to do anything, the locker room door swung open. For what seemed like the hundredth time that night, I let out a sigh, internally thanking whoever interrupted the moment.

The person who came in was not who I was expecting at all. Artemi Panarin stood no more than fifteen feet in front of me. His curls were wet with sweat and his cheeks were tinted red, but the thing that stood out to me most was the cut on his lip.

Mike sighed, turning his attention back to my split eyebrow. "What did you do, Artemi?"

"I may have gotten in fight with Backes," he spoke, giving a toothy grin.

I laughed. "No fucking way. Why would you try to fight with David Backes? I've never seen you in a fight!"

"Beautiful girl hit by his puck. Thought it was right thing," his face got red "Sorry if you can not understand, I-"

"No," I interrupted, flinching when the needle dug into my skin "your English is really, really good. You're doing an awesome job."

He smiled at my reassuring words and walked over to me, holding out his hand. "You know who I am, what your name?"

I bit back a grin at his new found confidence and brought my hand out, attempting to accept his gesture at the awkward angle. "I'm (Y/N) (L/N) and this is my sister, (Y/S/N)."

"How you feeling?"

"I'm okay," I winced again, digging my nails into my thigh and clenching my teeth.

"I don't like needles either. They scare me," he laughed, making me relax a bit.

He made himself comfortable and continued to talk to me, doing a good job on keeping my mind somewhat off the sharp prick of the thin steel breaking through my skin. I averted my eyes up slightly and saw Mike tying the string off. He brought a wet cloth to the cut, gently cleaning around the edges.

"These are actual stitches, so there's no need for a hospital unless they break or the cut gets infected. You'll have them for about three or four weeks until you can take them out. I would recommend going to the hospital for it, but none of the players do, so you can take them out yourself if you please. If you need anything, just call this number and I'll get to you as soon as I can," he handed my sister and I business cards, shook both of our hands, then walked out.

"You are a brave soul," (Y/S/N) joked.

"Thanks," I sighed, shaking my head "it hurt like a bitch."

Artemi rushed out the door and I heard him call for Mike. My sister and I listened to the back and forth murmurs between the two of them before Artemi walked back in, a pair of laminated cards in his hand. When he held them out to me, my eyes widened.

"From team," he said.

"Are you kidding me?" I grabbed them "They're season tickets!"

My sister smiled big and high-fived me. I gawked at the tickets, not believing what was happening.

To make things even more unrealistic, the locker room door opened again, every single member of the Blackhawks entering. My eyes flickered around to each player in astonishment. Patrick. Jonathan. Teuvo. Trevor. Marian. Corey. Artem. Niklas. Brent. Duncan. I sat looking at each of them like a kid looking a candy. When I broke out of my trance, I realized that I hadn't thanked any of them.

I stood up. "This is really nice of you guys, but you didn't have to do this. It was just a freak accident. It's not like any of you... you know... hit me with the puck."

My sister shoved me from behind. "Shut up and take the goddamn tickets. We were barely able to afford tickets for this game."

"It's actually a pretty big deal," Trevor spoke up "you could've gotten it a lot worse if you hadn't been as far up. Backes said he was sorry by the way. It probably would've meant a lot more if he said it to you personally, but..."

"It wouldn't have mattered. No way I would've accepted an apology from him," I chuckled.

"If he had said it to her personally, I would've punched him in the damn face," (Y/S/N) joked.

"Not Blues fans?" Duncan asked, amused at the way we reacted.

"Not at all," we said in unison.

They all laughed and went back to talking.

Artemi turned towards me again, taking my hand and sliding one more thing onto my palm before closing my fingers around it. He winked at me before walking towards his area.

I blushed and slowly opened the piece of paper. There, written in a blue pen, was Artemi Panarin's phone number. My jaw dropped.

For the first time ever, I was appreciative of a Blues player.

Requested by Lep_ze :)

I officially started winter break today! Hopefully I can get all the requests done over these two weeks. I've decided to do a very merry Christmas imagine that will be posted on the day of December 25. Leave the player in the comments that you want to be in it!