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↪ turkeytalk: Everett replying to your tweet?

↪ gobblegoals: obviously

abqtukeysnhl (April 22, 2024): Your Turkeys win 2-1 with goals from Knox and Baptiste! The Turkeys take their first lead in the series!

luc-henri-sourit (April 22, 2024): Post game interview smile when asked about his GWG goal. 100/10

↪ luc-henri-sourit: Bonus smiles - the Baptiste fan club when LHB mentioned them during his interview

[A photo of the same people with thumbs up and big smiles.]

↪ dylaneverett: Please message me all of their sizes (yours too), I’ll get the team to send them Baptiste jerseys. No promises I can get @lhbaptiste to sign them though ;)

Henri dried his hair with a towel on his walk back to the locker room. He wanted to go home and sleep, but he was so wound up from the win that he suspected it wouldn’t be possible. Even after an hour of cool-down workouts, he was jittery with adrenaline. It was also barely 8 p.m., so game footage and dinner it was.

He reached for his phone, expecting the usual congratulatory message from his father, and instead found a dozen other notifications, including a mention on social media. He’d long ago turned off notifications for anyone besides his mutuals (the last thing he wanted was to see the insults and complaints personally slung his way by overzealous fans), and still he was surprised to find it was Dylan who’d mentioned him. As he sat down to read the message, then backtracked to read the whole conversation with the familiar username, he realized two things at once.

One: the mysterious user who’d posted about him for years personally knew his dad, so of course his dad had known about the account despite being less social media savvy than a toaster.

Two: Dylan had also found the account and had, by the looks of it, not only followed them but liked every single one of their posts. Posts that were always, at their core, about Henri.

He glanced up at Dylan, chatting with Briggs and giving him praise after his near-perfect game today. Over the past three games, Dylan had taken the time to talk to each and every member of the Turkeys to let them know he saw and appreciated what they were doing, everything from the big things like impossible saves, goals, and blocked shots to those little things that were often overlooked. The good breakout, the coming back to help the defense, drawing a well-timed penalty call. He was a good captain. The best Henri had ever played with.

But he was one of the best people Henri has ever known, and certainly the best player. On top of all the hockey things, Dylan was online talking about how awesome Henri’s dad was and offering to send his friends jerseys.

It was no wonder Henri was head over heels for him.

Dylan, as if he could sense Henri’s attention on him, looked up and smiled. He patted Briggs on the shoulder and walked over. His hair was still wet from his shower, the bronze darker than usual. Same color as his beard, which was usually more brown than his actual hair.

“You know the best part of playing at home?” Dylan asked. He stood over Henri with his hands on his hips. Henri had a difficult time forcing himself to look up and meet his eyes. The view here was better.

“Winning for our own fans?”

“Oh, trust me. They’re as happy for a win on the road as they are at home. They’ll broadcast the away games at the arena when we get far enough. No, the best part is getting to sleep in our own beds.” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Tu es incorrigible.”

“Hey! I understood that one!”

“Do you even know what incorrigible means in English?” Henri faltered over the English word, unsure if he’d anglicized it enough.

“It means we should go home so I can show you how incorrigible I am…”

abqturkeysnhl (April 28, 2024): Game Six tonight in Albuquerque! The series is 2-3 in favor of the Outlaws. The Turkeys need to come out big with a win to keep the playoff dreams alive and force a Game Seven in Tennessee.

luc-henri-sourit (April 28, 2024): The jerseys have arrived! The Baptiste Fan Club takes it to the bar to support LHB!

[Photo of Henri’s father and friends in their Turkeys jerseys at a local bar.]

abqturkeysnhl (April 28, 2024): 60 minutes isn’t enough to get it done… Sudden Victory Overtime starts in five minutes! Drop a comment with your bet who’s going to win it for the Turkeys

↪ turkeytalk: I’m going to be boring and make a safe bet - Everett has 11 Playoff GWGs and a bajillion goals in general.

↪ gobblegoals: everett’s great at getting those game winning goals, but he only has 1 playoff OT goal. tennessee’s goalie seems not to be confident on those point shots through traffic, so i’m going with a defenseman, lynwood or knox is my bet.

↪ luc-henri-sourit: My guess is easy :) Allez Turkeys! Tu peux le faire, ti-loup!

abqturkeysnhl (April 28, 2024): GAME SEVEN HERE WE COME! Luc-Henri Baptiste with the game winner on the first shift of overtime!