Harry Styles-Wilson: Hockey Husband [Sequel to Harry Who?] (Completed)

Women’s hockey was of course number one on Ellie’s agenda, and Harry was happy to oblige. The most anticipated match was Canada vs. US, and they bought matching ‘team Canada’ shirts to wear to the match. A couple of Ellie’s teammates were playing on both teams, but she and Harry had to cheer for team Canada.

It was a very exciting matchup, and the game was tied going into the last period. Ellie was on the edge of her seat with anticipation, and almost didn’t notice someone approaching them.

“Sorry to bother you, but can I have a picture?” A young girl asked. It was a fan -of Harry’s, of course- and Ellie should have realized this would happen in a public place like this. When someone asked for a picture when they were out, Ellie usually stepped aside and let Harry take a selfie with the fan, so she started to get up.

“Would you like me to take it for you?” She offered and held her hand out for the fan’s phone.

“Actually, I wanted a picture with you,” the fan answered and smiled at Ellie. Ellie and Harry exchanged an amused glance, before Harry jumped up.

“I guess I’ll take the picture, then.” He had a cheeky grin as the fan handed over her phone and cozied up next to Ellie for a picture.

“Are you a Riveters fan?” Ellie asked when the picture was done.

“Yeah, and you’re one of my favorites - you and Amanda Kessel. I missed you last season, will you be back this year?” She asked.

“I will, and I hope to see you at a few games!” Ellie smiled, and the girl shyly waved goodbye before returning to her seat.

Ellie settled back into her seat and tried to focus on the game, but was still a little dazed by her first fan interaction, and Harry laughing beside her was distracting. “What’s so funny?” She asked him.

“Was that your first fan picture?” He grinned.

“Yeah.”

Harry burst out laughing again. “That was adorable.”

“You’re just jealous,” she teased. “Admit it, you thought she wanted a picture with you.”

“I did, but I’m happy to be the one taking the pictures instead of being in them.” He smiled, and almost looked a little proud. “You’ve got a fan!”

“Yeah, but that’s a good thing, right? Maybe she plays hockey and wants to play in the NWHL some day. I should have asked her that. Next time I’ll try to remember that.” Ellie got a bit anxious when she realized there might be -and probably would be- a ‘next time’, and this was probably just the first in many fan photos. The National Women’s Hockey League had become more popular over the last two years, and now that she was Harry Styles’ wife, she assumed she might get a few more fans now that that information was public.

The game ended in a win for Canada, setting them up to play Sweden in the gold medal game in a few days. Ellie met up with a few of her Riveters teammates to go out to celebrate. Harry tagged along as well, and Ellie was happy to show him off to her teammates.

“So, this is the new husband?” Her teammate asked, well into her second or third drink of the night, and held out her hand to introduce herself to Harry. “I’m Becca, I play defence, number 12 on the Riveters.”

“Lovely to meet you, I’m Harry-”

“We know,” Becca and a few others giggled.

“So, will we see you at any of our games this summer?” Anna, the Riveters goalie, asked.

“Yeah, as soon as my tour finishes up, I’d like to get to as many as possible,” Harry smiled.

“Oh, you’re on tour? I thought One Direction was taking a break…” Becca tilted her head in confusion.

“No, dumb-ass, he’s on his own now; he released an album last year, remember?” Anna smacked her friend’s arm, but Becca still looked confused.

“No…?”

“You’ll have to excuse my teammate, she doesn’t keep up with these kinds of things.” Anna explained very matter-of-factly.

“That’s quite alright,” Harry smiled politely. “Why don’t I get us another round of drinks?” He asked, and they all nodded.

“So,” Becca asked after Harry left. “What’s he like?”

“He’s….” Ellie shrugged. “Normalish, I guess?”

“No, I mean, what’s he like?” Becca repeated her question and raised her eyebrow to not very subtly hint the intention of her question.

“Becca!” Ellie laughed and gave her a playful punch in the arm.

“Hey, I’m not your punching bag.” Becca complained and rubbed her arm where Ellie and Anna had hit her.

“But really, how could you be married to Harry-freaking-Styles without anyone knowing? How long has this been going on?” Anna asked.

“We met in 2015, got engaged a year later, and then got married last summer.” Ellie didn’t know what else to say.

“But like, how? How do you even meet someone like him?” Becca asked.

Ellie shrugged. “He just came into the bookstore I worked at, and that was it, kinda.”

“Just like that?” Becca was still bemused.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“That’s so normal, though.” Becca sighed and almost sounded disappointed.

“We’re regular people, you know,” Ellie laughed.

“You are, but him?” Anna shrugged. “He dated Taylor Swift! How do you go from her, to you?”

“Thanks,” Ellie said sarcastically. “And he didn’t like, dump her for me. There were a few years, and a few other people, in between.”

“I hate to ask, since you’re a little younger than me and maybe you’re not at the point in your life that you’re even thinking about this, but,” Anna leaned in to finish her question quietly, so she didn’t have to shout it in the loud bar. “Are you guys gonna have kids?”

Ellie’s face probably said it all, but she tried to keep her annoyance at hearing that question frequently out of her tone. “Ummm….someday?”

“Hopefully not anytime soon; Kennedy is having a kid, so she’s out this summer, and Laura and her husband are apparently trying for one, so she’s probably out too. We’re running out of players! And we need a good defenseman like you to keep Becca here on task.” Anna shot a teasing look at her teammate, and this time it was Becca’s turn to jab her in the arm with her elbow.

Suddenly, Harry reappeared with their drinks, and Becca completely forgot about whatever they were talking about. She grabbed her drink and held it up for a toast. “To… to Canada!”

They all clinked glasses, and Harry gave Ellie a furtive look that said he’d heard her and Anna’s conversation. They hadn’t talked about it much since they decided to wait until the end of the hockey season to figure out the specifics, yet this subject kept creeping back into their lives one way or another. Most recently, it was a tabloid who published an unflattering picture of Ellie wearing Harry’s favorite Green Bay Packers hoodie. They speculated that she was ‘hiding something’ by wearing loose fitting clothes, but really she had grabbed his hoodie on her way out because it was cold and she loved how soft it was.

They joined up with the rest of team Canada, and a few other people, before getting yet another round of drinks (and another toast to Canada, of course). Soon, most of the athletes started to turn in for the night because they either had a game or practice the next day. Harry and Ellie assisted Anna with carrying Becca back to her room, and then they also decided to call it a night.

On their way out of the Olympic village, where all the athletes stayed, the pair ran into one of Ellie’s American teammates, Amanda Kessel. Amanda had also been out for a year with a concussion, similar to Ellie, so the two were the face of the NWHL player safety campaign and knew each other pretty well. Yet, not well enough for Amanda to know about her secret marriage to Harry.

“Hey!” Amanda shouted when she spotted her teammate. It was clear Amanda had also hit up a bar, but perhaps not in celebration as Ellie and team Canada had been. She came up to them with a glazed look in her eye and embraced Ellie. “What’re you doing here?”

“Watching the Olympics!” Ellie answered.

“Well, I suppose if you’re not playing, watching is as the second best thing,” Amanda replied, and giggled to herself.

“Yes, I suppose. Harry was kind enough to get us tickets,” Ellie smiled at Harry, then back at her teammate again.

“You’ll make the team next time, I’m sure!” Amanda smiled back. “So, this is him?”

“Yes, this is my husband,” Ellie laughed to herself, and Harry smiled beside her.

“I’m Harry, nice to meet you,” he introduced himself politely, and Amanda blushed.

“Oh, I know who you are. Congratulations, I’m happy for you,” she smiled.

“Thanks,” Ellie said, and smiled back at her teammate.

“I should get going, but it was a nice seeing you.” Amanda gave her another hug. “Can’t wait to have you on the team again this season!” She called back to Ellie as she left.

Harry and Ellie waved at her, and continued walking back to their hotel.

“She seems very nice,” Harry finally said.

“She is.” Ellie agreed. “Probably the person on the team I’m closest too.”

“I can’t wait to get to know your teammates better,” Harry smiled, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they strolled. “Now that we don’t have to keep this a secret, I can actually be involved in your life like a normal husband.”

“How so?”

“As soon as my tour ends, I’m going to all your home games, and maybe even the away games -if that’s not too much. I’ll get Riveters jersey to wear to each game, and bring a poster that says ‘I love Ellie Styles-Wilson’!” Harry grinned, but Ellie didn’t seem quite as amused as he did. “They do, that, right? Fans bring signs to games, right?”

“Yeah, sometimes,” she smiled, but not as brightly as Harry was smiling back at her.

“What is it?” He sensed something was off.

“Nothing, I just….I hadn’t really thought about changing the name on the back of my jersey.” Ellie explained, and Harry’s smile melted a little.

“Why not? We legally changed our last names to ‘Styles-Wilson’ when we got married, why would you keep ‘Wilson’ professionally?”

“Are you going to release your next album under the name ‘Harry Styles-Wilson’?” Ellie replied, and stopped to look him in the eyes.

Harry’s eyes darted back and forth between hers as he realized she had a point. Yet, Harry was stubborn, and realized if he was going to ask her to professionally change her name, then he should do the same. “Yes,” he said quietly and nodded, a smile forming on his lips. “Absolutely.” The smile grew until the corners of eyes eyes crinkled, and Ellie watched him skeptically, but he seemed genuine.

Being equally stubborn, Ellie smiled back. “Then, you can expect to see ‘Styles-Wilson’ at the bottom of my Riveters’ jersey this season.”

Notes

Ellie’s teammates mentioned in this chapter (except Amanda Kessel) are fictional because most of the Riveters roster is actually American, which I did not realize, oops!


PS. thank you to whoever voted to bring the rating up from a 6 to 7.3 : ) it’s such a petty thing for me to worry about but when I saw it was so low I wondered what the heck I’d done wrong, so that was reassuring! :D

And thank you for reading, voting, and commenting! : )