When paparazzi photos first surfaced of Brooks Laich, the Caps’ resident heartthrob, with Julianne Hough, As Seen on TV, the initial reaction was something along the lines of lol how. In his weekly hit with 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies, Brooks tried to alleviate your lol hows.

“To be honest, I had never seen an episode of Dancing With The Stars,” Laich said in a somewhat awkward interview with the station, referring to Julianne’s role on the program. “But in my defense, she had never seen a Caps game either until she met Teddy.”

“Teddy” is Teddy Sears, an actor who, somehow, is even more handsome than Laich. He’s also a big Caps fan and a friend of Laich’s.

“On set, apparently, he was talking with Julianne, and said he had recently just got married, just got back from his honeymoon, and then asked her if she’d been seeing anyone, and she said no or whatever, and I guess he was watching our hockey game at the time,” Laich, 30, told the Junkies.

“He always watches the game on GameCenter on his iPad,” he added. “I guess he just showed her the iPad and said, ‘Well I’ve got a guy for you,’ or something. I guess that was how it sorta started.”

Laich didn’t meet Julianne until December when she came to DC for a wedding reception hosted by Sears and his wife Melissa.

“He kept mentioning her name, mentioning her name, and eventually we connected,” Laich said.

The budding relationship brings new experiences for Laich. For example, outside of a few girls on Tumblr, Brooks doesn’t have the star power of Hough, 25. When he visited her in LA over the Olympic break, the couple was incessantly followed by paps as they did riveting things such as walking, walking, and walking. Those photos are the only reason we know about the relationship.

“That was a new experience for me,” said Laich. “[T]hose guys are relentless.”

“We’re just driving through town and they’re swerving in and out of traffic trying to follow you,” he added. “We just went for a hike the one day and they’re running through the leaves and the bushes, and it’s like ‘Oh, these guys are working hard. But, whatever, you look at it positively like ‘Oh, we’ve got someone to photograph our little trip here. Great!’”

The hosts then moved on to what happens next. They suggested offering her a pair of tickets when the Caps visit the Ducks and Kings next month.

“A pair of tickets?” Laich yelled. “Who’s she bringing? She bringing a date?”

Photo: @brookslaich