Ron Francis: 
Sandis Ozolinsh: 
Arturs Irbe: 
by me
Rating: PG
Pairing: implied Arturs Irbe/Sandis Ozolinsh, sort of Arturs Irbe/Ron Francis, but not really.
Series: 1/1 (I hope.)
Disclaimer: The 'Canes did lose 4-0, Ronnie is a captain, Archie is a goalie, he did allow 3 goals, but other than that....FAKE!
Summary: Francis talks to Irbe about the game.
Notes: More of my usual fare. Weird...semi-angsty...mostly just cute. Why can't I write non-cute things!?
Dedication: This is for Kris, for feeding my Irbe/Francis bunnies, even though I refrained from actually slashing them.
Notes from after the fact: I really did write this after that game, when I was worried about losing the NJ series...little did I know what kind of miracles Kevin Weekes would come up with in Game 5. And little did I know how many other minor miracles the team would come up with in the few weeks after I wrote this. I love them :-)
"Hey, you ok?"
The goalie looked up. He'd been sitting in his locker, his head resting on his knees, arms covering it, almost curled up. The locker room was empty. "Where did everyone go?" he asked.
His captain smiled tolerantly. "They all left on the bus. You were in a trance."
Irbe blinked. "I was, I guess. Why did you stay?"
"Somebody had to bring you out of it."
Arturs sat up a little straighter. "I'm ok, Ronnie."
Ron sat down next to him. "I know you are."
"I'm sorry, for letting in the first goal. It was soft. My fault."
"Ah. It's everyone's fault. If you have a weird rebound, the defense is supposed to clear it. It's a team thing."
"I should've had the rebound."
"We took so many stupid penalties today, Archie. There's nothing you could have done. Nothing at all."
"I will play better, Ronnie. I promise."
Francis laughed a little and draped his arm around his goalie's shoulders. "I should promise you to play better. After all, four goals against don't matter if you score five."
"How about we all play better?"
"That's a plan."
"We will win this series, Ronnie."
"Damn straight we will." Archie smiled and kissed him on the cheek. Ron squeezed him closer. His goalie was always affectionate. And besides, it was a locker room, not a Baptist ministry. Ron knew everything that went on in his locker room. They were his brothers, after all, and he just wanted them all happy. If it was cuddling that made Archie feel better after a loss, well, that was what he would get. The goalie rested his head on Ron's shoulder and sighed. "You miss him a lot, don't you?"
"Yes," he sighed again. "We have a good team. A great team. But I do want Ozo back."
"Well, you just put off seeing for a few more weeks, ok? No early exits so you can visit your boyfriend."
Archie smiled. "No, no. I like playoff wins better than him," he joked.
"Two down, fourteen to go."
They both smiled at that. Maybe no one had picked them to make it out of the first round, and maybe their numbers didn't match up to New Jersey, or Boston, or Philadelphia. But that didn't mean that they dreamt of winning the Cup any less than anyone else. "Fourteen to go," Archie agreed.
"You mean a lot to this team, you know. To our fans. You could give up ten goals tomorrow and they'd still love you in Raleigh."
"Only because I said nice things about them to the reporters."
"No, not because you said nice things about them. Though I'm sure that everyone who read them appreciated you complimenting their screaming. They love you because you're their goalie, because you're our goalie. We don't want anyone else."
"Out of loyalty? So they love you because you're our captain, even if you're not any good?"
"I'm glad you're feeling better."
Archie eased out of his embrace and stood. He wasn't much taller standing than Ronnie was sitting. He leaned over so they were cheek to cheek and whispered, "I love you because you're my captain and because you're my friend."
Ron stood too, and kissed him lightly on the lips. His little Latvian goaltender smiled, and Ron knew that he did feel better. "Let's go get a cab, huh?"
Arms brushing slightly, the two men, so responsible for whether their team lived or died in this first round, left the locker room.