Shut Your Eyes

Sid POV

I was early.

Instead of seeing a wild head of curls on the other side of the door I was greeted with Max’s surprised look and his usual inflated greeting of a manly hug and some French words that I still didn’t understand, even after a couple of seasons of these sorts of hellos.

“Sidney! C'est agréable de te voir! Come on in.” (It’s nice to see you!)

I grinned at him and followed Max into the house, peeking around subtly to find who I’d really come here for. Max must have noticed my attempts to be discreet and waved his hand lazily at the half of the house that Maggie usually occupied. “She’s still getting ready. You might as well come play Xbox with me while you wait.”

He led the both of us into the living room where a game of NHL was already waiting; he must’ve been playing when I showed up to the house. We sat on separate ends of the couch, both picking up a controller and beginning a new match. The room was silent for a few minutes, with nothing but the occasional clicks of our controllers as we battled on screen.

After a moment or two Max kind of glanced over in my direction. “This a date?”

I furrowed my brows a bit. “No offense, Max, but you aren’t really my type.”

He rolled his eyes. “Maggie. Are you and Maggie going out on a date, or is this another one of your ‘we’re just hanging out alone together’ type things.”

I chuckled a bit. “Does it matter?”

Max shrugged and looked back towards the screen. “I was just curious to know if you two had put a label on it yet.”

“Would you be mad if we did?” I wondered out loud, still unsure of Max’s thoughts on the whole matter. He’d given me his blessing long ago to pursue her, but he never really mentioned if it was something he welcomed or simply tolerated.

Max sat in silence for a moment before shaking his head. “No, I wouldn’t be mad. Because I know that you know that I would kill you and make it look like an accident if anything ever happened to her.”

Max had this amazing ability to threaten someone without even glancing in their direction, and it never failed to put me on edge.

“Noted.” I mumbled before letting Max score a goal on the screen.

The quick clicking of heels alerted Max and I to someone else’s presence in the room.

“Good thing you aren’t a goalie.” Maggie teased as she sauntered up behind us on the couch.

I looked back at her and smiled. She was wearing a sweater the color of a nice red wine and had paired it with nothing other than some black skinny jeans and a gray coat, and she looked beautiful. I tried not to be distracted by the V cut into the sweater’s neckline, exposing just a bit more pale skin than I was accustomed to seeing.

“Eyes above the neck, Crosby.” Max warned lazily as he turned from his sister’s face to mine.

Maggie’s eyes rolled and she nodded her head towards the door. “Ready to go, Sidney?”

I nodded and hopped up from the couch, tossing my controller down onto the couch where I was sitting. Turning to Mac I threw a snarky grin on my face and made him a promise. “I’ll kick your ass in morning skate tomorrow.”

“Save it for the game, Captain.” Max chuckled and Maggie took hold of my hand to start tugging me towards the door.

“You can have him tomorrow, Max, he’s mine tonight.”

I grinned at her words and Max shooed us off with a grimace. “Go be somewhere else with all of your happiness.”

I gripped Maggie’s hand harder in mine and led her towards the door before opening it and ushering her into the cold night outside her walls.



As promised, I made sure to stay away from any place that Maggie would deem ‘fancy’, but that didn’t mean that I still couldn’t make sure we were left alone. Before I could even step foot into the restaurant Maggie had latched a death grip onto my arm and was staring up at me with an incredulous look on her face.

“What did you do?” She asked quickly, speaking in hushed tones even though we were the only ones in the restaurant.

“What do you mean?” Playing dumb wasn’t something I was good at and all my sass earned me was a frustrated look from the girl beside me.

“You promised.”

Rounding on her with a grin, I took hold of her hand and glanced down at her. “I promised you wouldn’t have to wear a dress, and you didn’t! You’re in jeans, I’m in jeans – no fanciness. I didn’t even button my shirt up all the way, see? Casual.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes, Sidney, the completely empty restaurant reeks of a casual dining experience.”

A hostess popped up seemingly out of nowhere and smiled at the both of us. “Table for two I assume?”

I heard Maggie bite back a scoff as I smiled at the girl in front of us and nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

“Right this way.”

The hostess led us towards the back of the dimly lit restaurant away from any prying eyes that might be lingering near the windows. We sat down in a booth, both handed menus and told to enjoy our evening. Maggie smiled at the girl softly and thanked her, something that didn’t go unnoticed by myself or the hostess, and her smile was returned in full.

“How’d you manage this, anyways?” Maggie whispered, glancing around at the empty tables that surrounded us.

I simply shrugged. “I know a guy that knows a guy.”

She giggled and shook her head. “You’re a piece of work, Sid. Do you rent out restaurants for all the girls you take out?”

She was teasing me now, the mischievous grin on her face evidence enough for that. I shook my head slightly. “No, just you. Usually I like to see how people react to being interrupted every few minutes.”

“But you don’t wonder that about me?” She questioned with a slightly confused expression.

I shook my head again. “I know how you’d react to it, I’ve seen you do it with Max, or when you’re out with Vero and Marc. I don’t need to give you a trial period to know that you would handle it just as gracefully as you handle most other things. I just didn’t want you to have to handle it tonight. Tonight I just wanted to talk to you, not to half of Pittsburgh – I’ll get my fill of that tomorrow at the game.”

She seemed to absorb what I was telling her with a quiet, thoughtful look on her face. After a moment or two she nodded and shrugged. “I suppose I can’t fault you on that, then. Do you want some wine?”

I smiled at her change of topic before nodding. “You should probably pick one; I’m pretty terrible at judging wine.”

Maggie chuckled and glanced up at me, cutting her eyes over the wine list.

“What?” I asked.

She just shook her head slightly and smiled. “Nothing. It’s just a bit comical that you chose to go to Max’s favorite restaurant.”

“This is Max’s favorite restaurant?”

Maggie laughed. “This is practically Max’s favorite place in Pittsburgh.”

“He wasted his favorite place in Pittsburgh vote on a restaurant?”

“He really likes to eat.” Maggie rationalized calmly as she glanced over her own menu. “Besides, everyone is entitled to their own favorite of something.”

“I guess you’re right.” I conceded as I mulled over her statement in my mind. “What about you? What is Margaux Talbot’s favorite place in Pittsburgh?”

A calm content smile was painted on her face as she sighed. “I’m not sure I want to tell you after you speared Max’s favorite place like that.”

An idea worked its way into my mind as I looked at her. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”



Two hours later we were pulled into a very familiar parking lot.

Maggie stared at me incredulously. “This? This is seriously your favorite place in all of Pittsburgh?”

I rolled my eyes as I grabbed her hand and started leading her towards the one door I made sure I had a key to. “What happened to not judging people’s favorite places?”

“I just don’t understand…” She trailed off as I unlocked the back door and led her in to the dimly lit back hallway.

I knew this place like the back of my own hand. It had become a part of who I was, something that I would always have a connection to in good times and in bad – and I’d had my fair share of both within these walls.

As we edged closer to our destination I tried to explain myself a bit to the very confused girl beside me. “Sometimes it’s way too bright, and sometimes it’s filled with people that are rooting against us, and most of the time it’s too loud to hear my own thoughts – but when it isn’t, it’s my favorite place in the world, let alone Pittsburgh.”

With a final push of some doors I watched Maggie’s face melt into understanding. I reached behind us to open the breaker box, flipping only a few switches out of the rows and rows of options. As the rink lit up slowly I could see Maggie’s eyes grazing across every inch of exposed ice as the gears turned in her mind.

“I’ve never seen it empty.” She whispered as she carefully stepped forward.

I followed behind her closely, resting my hand on the small of her back. “Understand now?”

Maggie nodded simply before glancing back at me with a smile. “I understand now.”

“Want to go find a seat?” I asked her with my head nodded towards the benches. She bobbed her head happily and motioned for me to lead the way. Looking down at the heels on her feet I chuckled and turned around. “You might want to hop on.”

“Are you sure? You don’t have skates on…” She asked, looking at myself and the slick ice hesitantly.

I laughed at her uncertainty. “I’m almost positive you won’t kill me, Mags.”

She bit her lip but jumped onto my back anyways, watching me carefully for any sign that I would buckle underneath her. I carried her out onto the ice easily and made my way over towards the benches where I turned around and let Maggie slide onto the edge of the wall where she always sat when she was out on the ice with us.

I sat down next to her and stared out at the open ice. Not many people ever got the chance to see it like this, which was a damn shame. Nothing was more beautiful than a wide open expanse of fresh ice just waiting to get marked up.

“It’s beautiful.” Maggie murmured beside me.

Glancing over at her, I brushed an errant piece of hair from her face and tucked it behind one ear.

“Yeah,” I agreed – not entirely sure what I was referring to anymore, “it is.”



Maggie POV

“Mags, where are we going?”

“You showed me yours, now I’m going to show you mine.”

“What could possibly be open at 11:30 at night? We won’t have to break in, will we?”

I rolled my eyes. “No, Sid. It’s perfectly legal and open until almost one in the morning. I will warn you though that we have to pay to get in.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “How much?”

“$2.75 each…”

He barked out a laugh and looked over at me. “I think I can swing it, Mags.”

I smiled and directed him to make another right and soon enough he realized where we were.

“I think you win the favorite place contest.” He conceded with a grin. “Definitely more creative than mine.”

After he parked the car Sid came around to my door to open it for me before he latched onto my hand and let me take the lead towards the ticket office. We were the only two people standing in the office and got our tickets quickly before being pointed towards a waiting room of sorts.

“You know, I’ve never actually been up the Duquesne incline.” Sidney admitted once we had picked a pair of seats next to a window. It was too dark to see anything, but the two of us still peered out into the void like small children trying to catch sight of something no one else could see.

“I figured you hadn’t. Something tells me that you really don’t have a lot of time to sightsee.”

He slung an arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his body slightly with a yawn. “Unfortunately, you are correct.”

“Tired already?” I teased as I poked his ribs through his thick coat.

He smiled lightly. “It’s peaceful in here. Quiet.”

“Well you have to promise not to fall asleep on the ride or you’ll miss the best part.”

He held up two fingers. “Scouts honor.”

“You weren’t a boy scout.” I giggled.

He feigned hurt. “I could have been.”

“But you were too busy becoming a hockey god instead.” I reminded him with a smile.

Sidney scoffed and looked down at me with eyebrow raised. “Hockey god is a little extreme.”

“I don’t think so.”

He rolled his eyes a bit with a grin and leaned his head back against the wall so he could close his eyes. “Dan’s going to kill me if he finds out I stayed out this late the night before a game.”

“I’ll have you home by one.” I assured him.

“You’re a bad influence.” He mumbled with a grin on his sleepy face.

“Live a little, Crosby.”

“You won’t be saying that tomorrow if I wake you up when I leave for morning skate.” He laughed.

A small blush colored my cheeks. “And who says I’m spending the night with you?”

Sidney smiled a shit-eating grin. “You will. You’ll have to keep your hands to yourself though since I have practice in the morning, bright and early.”

I swung my hand back to hit him in the chest playfully, but all he did was laugh that familiar giggle and I found myself too busy smiling to debate him on our sleeping arrangements for the evening.

“It doesn’t look like anyone else is coming in – you two can go by yourselves if you’d like.” The man working behind the ticket counter informed us with a small grin.

I stood up and pulled Sidney up with me. “Come on, you’re going to love it.”

Since we were the only two on the trolley, it was a very quiet affair. There weren’t any crying babies or fussy, complaining teenagers to taint the peaceful atmosphere that Sidney and I were reveling in. When we arrived at the top platform I tugged Sidney out of the seat like an excited child, almost bursting at the seams for him to see Pittsburgh the way it was burned into my mind.

The view was spectacular – the entire cityscape was lit up like a camera flash against the dark winter night that blanketed it. Sidney stood behind me at the railing, wrapping me up in part of his coat and both of his arms.

“I can’t believe I’ve never been up here.” He commented as he stared out at the city below him. “It looks quiet – it never looks quiet.”

I smiled and rested my own arms over his. “That’s why this is my favorite spot in Pittsburgh, because you actually get to see Pittsburgh away from all the hustle and bustle that it’s usually drowned in. It reminds me of home when it looks like this.”

Sidney squeezed me a little tighter without saying anything. After a minute or two I sighed. There was no more beating around the bush.

“Sid?”

“Yeah Mags?”

“I’m your girlfriend, aren’t I?”

He barked out a laugh and pulled me in close to his body. “Yeah Maggie, I think you’re my girlfriend. I mean I was going to actually ask you and let it be romantic, but this way works too.”

I smiled. “Does this mean I can start wearing your jersey to games?”

He leaned down and kissed the top of my head softly. I could feel the smile on his lips as they pressed against my hair, and it spread to mine as well. Not even the cold winter air could stop the heat that was spreading through my body, and it felt like things were finally headed in the right direction.