Drop the Hammer

“O Canada, our home and native land, true patriot love, in all our sons command, car ton bras sait porter l'epée, il sait porter la croix...” The lady sang to the giant crowd. The whole crowd was singing along, English and French. The atmosphere was incredible.

It was opening night and the Leafs were in Montréal. Ben and James were standing on either side of the blue line, with the whole team in between them. Ben looked across the rink and saw James looking at him. James looked nervous. Ben flashed James a reassuring smile and James smiled back. Ben's grin grew at the sight of his boyfriend's smile.

The anthem ended and the players skated around. There was a lot riding on tonight's game. It was the first game back after the end of the lock out. Everyone was excited to finally play some hockey.

Throughout the lockout, James was worried that the Leafs would trade for Roberto Luongo. He always ignored the rumours and tried to not let it get to him, but it was difficult. No matter how hard he tried, he was still worried that he might lose his starting job. Even worse, he feared that if Luongo came to Toronto, the Screims tandom would never happen. The wouldn't be a need for Ben to be up if the Leafs had Luongo. James stayed up long nights worrying about this. He did not want Luongo in Toronto.

But despite all the rumours, nothing had happened yet, and Screims was still the go-to tandem. And tonight was the night of their lives. It was their first game together as Screims. Ben and James were thrilled to learn that Ben was getting the first start of the year, and James was getting the home start the following game. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Nothing but Jatt.

Along with Ben and a few other Marlies coming up to the NHL after the lockout, Jake came, too. Jake had a became a big force on the Leafs' blue line. Matt had also came up. He had just beaten out Nazem Kadri for the final spot on the roster. Everybody was thrilled to have the two with the Leafs. Everybody but Ben. Jatt on the Leafs meant they would always be close to Ben, which meant they would make Ben's life difficult. Ben was not pleased to hear that Matt was on the team. He'd much rather have Naz. Naz never bullied him. Besides, Jake was nothing without his sidekick, Matt, and Matt was nothing without Jake. They were only powerful when they were together.

Ben sighed and shook the thought as he took his position in net. He looked over to the bench at James. James smiled at Ben and winked. Ben smiled back and pulled his mask down. He skated over his crease to loosen up the ice. He bent over and backed into his net. Ben did this before every game. It helped him collect his thoughts. He needed a clear mind to focus and play.

Ben lifted his head and skated out of his crease as puck drop neared. He looked to centre ice where he saw Jake skating to his point. Jake saw Ben looking at him and winked at Ben and gave him a sly smile. Ben furrowed his brow as Jake turned around. The game hadn't even started and Jake was already giving him trouble.

~ ~ ~

“Woo!” Joffrey Lupul yelled.

“Atta boy!” James van Riemsdyk said, patting Ben on the helmet.

Everybody was crowding around Ben and cheering. The Leafs won! And Ben got a shut out! The crowd at the Bell Centre was booing the team but they didn't care. They won and that's all that mattered. The whole team made their round congratulating Ben on his first ever NHL career shut out. James was the last one to get to Ben. Ben smiled as James skated over to him.

“Good job, babe!” James exclaimed, patting Ben on the back.

“Thanks, Jimmy, that means the world to me.” Ben replied.

“You played really well, I'm so proud of you.” James said. “Look what I got for you.” James opened his hand and revealed the game puck.

“No... you shouldn't have!” Ben said.

“No I had to! It was your first shut out, the puck is yours for the memory!” James responded. “When we get into the locker room I'm taping it up for you.” James smiled at Ben.

“Oh man, wow. I'm speechless.” Ben replied. This all reminded him of Jake and Matt's room and their collection of their achievements. It was too weird.

James and Ben made their way off the ice with the rest of the team and headed into the locker room. The room was booming with cheers from the team. Ben and James made their way into the room and the cheers got louder.

“There's our perfect tandem!” Exclaimed Tyler Bozak.

“The only tandem we need!” John-Michael Liles beamed.

“We should think of a name to call you two.” The Leafs' Captain Dion Phaneuf suggested.

“That's a great idea!” JvR agreed.

“Shut up, James.” Tyler Bozak snapped at JvR. “That's a great idea, Dion. What should we call them?”

“How about Reimens?” Matt Frattin suggested.

“Matt that's fucking stupid.” Jake Gardiner said, slapping Matt's arm. “They should be called Screims.”

“Screims! That's a good one!” Phil Kessel exclaimed.

“I vote Screims!” Mikhail Grabovski stated.

“Ok, ok.” Dion said, standing in the middle of the room. “Raise your hand if you vote that we call James and Ben 'Screims' from now on.” Everyone on the team raised their hands, except for Matt. He just sat there with his arms crossed all butt-hurt about his boyfriend shooting down his idea.

Jake leaned in close to Matt. “Raise your fucking hand or you're not getting any tonight.” He said into Matt's ear and Matt immediately shot his hand up. “That's what I thought.” Jake said.

“Alright so we all vote Screims.” Dion said. He turned to Ben and James who were still standing at the door amazed by what had just happened. “Are you guys ok with Screims?” Dion asked them.

Ben looked at Dion then at Jake. Jake looked at Ben and winked at him. Ben looked back at Dion. That little shit, Ben thought.

“Yea, we're ok with it.” James said with a half smile. Ben looked at James and crinkled his nose at him. James simply shrugged his shoulders and headed to his stall. Ben followed James and sat down at his stall, which was conveniently beside James'.

“What were you thinking?” Ben asked in a hushed tone while taking his equipment off.

“What?” It's not gonna hurt. They don't know the meaning of Screims.” James replied. “Now listen, worry about it anymore and you wont get what I'm going to give you when we get home tonight.”

And with that, Ben Scrivens shut the fuck up.