NHL Imagines 2 (ON HOLD)

Mathew Barzal • Seattle Thunderbirds

"Mathew Barzal, is there a reason you called me over at two in the morning?" I questioned him, pulling the sleeves of his stolen hoodie down over my hands and falling back on the couch.

He shut the door quickly, turning to face me. "I need to talk to you,"

I felt my stomach drop at his words. "Was it what I said earlier? I was just messing around, Mat. I wouldn't actually do that,"

"What? No. That's not... what? I don't care about that," he rolled his eyes, taking up the space next to me. "You have to bear with me because once I start talking, I probably won't stop. There's something that I've been thinking about for months. Shit, I've been thinking about this for years,"

I stayed quiet to allow him to continue, the bubbling worry in my chest rising by the second. 

"Sometimes when I'm with you, I get this feeling that I can never push away. I kind of excuse it as just being happy. And I am when we're together, but it's something more than that," he hesitated for a moment and let out a forced laugh. "I don't really know what loving someone feels like. My mom has tried to explain it to me, but says it's different for everyone,"

My lips parted slightly and I furrowed my eyebrows before speaking. "So... you think you love me?"

"I don't know," he sighed tiredly. "I think so? I want to say yes more confident than that, but I've never felt this way about someone before,"

"How can I help?" I offered, pulling my legs up onto the cushion. "There has to be something I can do, right?"

Mathew rubbed a hand over his face, taking a deep breath in through his nose. "Maybe I could just talk to you more. Describe to you how I feel,"

I pushed my hair back and tucked it behind my ear, nodding at him reassuringly.

"There's something about you. And I can't get enough of it. You have all these little quirks that make you so special. When you tell all those lame jokes, you laugh at them so much that it sometimes makes you hard to understand," he smiled to himself, rubbing his palms on his sweatpant-cladded thighs. "And when you smile... your eyes kind of crinkle up at the corners a-and it's really cute. I don't like admitting this one, but I like to say things that embarrass you because you blush really easily and it makes you look even more beautiful,"

As if on que, my face went warm and I covered my face with my hands, letting out a muffled groan. "Why did you have to say something?"

He chuckled and I felt him shift, a sensation of warmth and the smell of his cologne invaded the space around me. I slowly dropped my arms and came face to face with the person I had grown up with, the person I had grown to love.

"Was that a good enough explanation?" he muttered, his own cheeks flushed a light pink.

A short laugh sounded from my mouth and I saw his eyes widen a bit. "No, no. Don't take that the wrong way," I rushed out, noticing that I had embarrassed him. "I just- it was... cute. No one has ever said something that passionate to me. It's hard to react normally when my heart feels like it's going to fall out of my chest,"

Mathew grinned. "So isn't this like the moment that we outwardly confess our love for each other and live happily ever after?"

"I'll say 'I do' if you want me to," I smiled shyly.

He practically flung himself at me, throwing his arms around my shoulders. I giggled joyously and fell back, bringing the young centerman down with me. 

"See you at the end of the aisle, then,"