Chapter Text
November 2016: Shane
“Fuck, Shane.”
“Ilya.”
November 2016: Ilya
“You forgot team meeting?”
“Thank you for the tuna melt. This… I can’t…”
“Hollander.”
“I just… I can’t… I can’t do this.”
“Hollander.”
“I’m sorry.”
January 2017: Shane
“I know you like talking to me. Do you like kissing me?”
“Sure!”
“Wow.”
February 2017: Ilya
“Ilya,” Cliff begins. “I want you to know that when you joined the Bears, it really changed hockey for me, man.”
“Of course it did Marly. Whole MLH changed when I joined. And since when do you call me Ilya?”
Cliff rolled his eyes. “Dude, I’m trying to be sincere. Like, being your teammate was an honor, and I have treasured our friendship these last several years.”
“What do you mean was?!” Ilya squinted at him, trying to quell the panic rising in his chest. “You are too young to retire. Did you get traded? What is happening right now?”
“The back injury. It’s worse than they thought. I’m done, Rozanov. Surgery next week, months of recovery. I’ll be able to play again someday, probably, but never again at a professional level.”
“Marlow. What.” Ilya fought back tears. But you’re my best friend on this team! He wanted to say. But they said you’d only be out for a couple of weeks! He settled on, “I’m so sorry. Marlow, that sucks.”
March 2017: Shane
“I came out to my parents over dinner last weekend.”
“Oh my God, Shane! That’s great! And it went well?” Over FaceTime, Rose was beaming.
“Yeah it was good. I mean mom immediately started talking about brand deals but she was supportive and Dad said all the right things. Apparently, they’d had some suspicions over the years.”
Rose laughed. “See! I’m not the only one whose gaydar went off with you!”
Shane laughs.
“Would you ever consider coming out to your teammates?” Rose asks.
“I mean, I don’t know. I’d like to think they’d all be great about it. But it’s better to be safe than sorry, right?”
“Is it?”
March 2017: Ilya
“Svetlana I hate the new owners. They want to change the Bears logo. They are micromanaging the general manager. Why micromanage the manager? Let the manager manage.”
“Mm-hm,” Sveta hums.
“And I’m almost certain they will fire Coach at the end of the season. Even though we are doing fine they have it out for him.”
Sveta, distracted, hummed another noncommittal agreement.
“And Cliff is gone! I mean he has come to every game but he sits with the fans! Not on the bench with us! And none of my other stupid teammates are half as funny. I have been trying to mold Garrity into my new best friend on the team but he is kind of annoying and is already close with Johnson, who is an asshole, even by my standards.”
Sveta nodded, without looking at Ilya.
“Sveta, are you listening?”
“Yes, yes. No one on the Bears compares to Cliff. The new owners suck. I’m sorry Ilyusha.” She pouted at him. “I am afraid I have more sad news for you.”
“Sad news? Sveta, if you move back to Russia I will never talk to you again.”
She smiles sadly. “You can’t lie to me, handsome. And no, I am not moving to Russia. But, I am moving to LA. I am going to be regional manager there, and it’s a much bigger market than Boston. More rich people, flashy celebrities, I will sell so many cars.”
Ilya felt a heaviness settling in his chest. He swallowed, trying to keep it out of his voice. “That’s great, Sveta. Congratulations.” He knew he sounded unenthusiastic, but at least he’d managed to skirt resentful.
April 2017: Shane
“I think I made a mistake,” Shane sobs.
“It’s their mistake, Shane,” Yuna soothes. “You’ve given them seven years of stellar hockey. Like no one else in the league. If they can’t see past this and continue to respect you, then they do not deserve the amazing skills that you contribute to the team.”
“They used to be my friends,” Shane cried, distraught. “And now they can’t even look at me! No one wants to pass to me. No one wants to talk to me. When I walk into the showers they all hustle out looking disgusted!” He was working himself up, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.
“Hey, hey,” Yuna whispered. “Shane, it’s OK. Either things will get better, or we will get you out. We will find a team that makes you feel supported and appreciated.”
“Who?!” Shane practically howled.
“I’m not sure, honey,” she admitted, “but we will find a team. Even if it’s one that’s so terrible that when you show up and start scoring for them they are too thrilled to be homophobic.”
April 2017: Ilya
“You want to what?” His agent was incredulous. “But Buffalo is terrible!”
“Yes I know but I do not want to be in Boston anymore. Only other realistic possibility is Pheonix and that is worse. I would rather be on laughingstock team than die of heat stroke in Arizona desert.”
“Ookayy,” came the reply through the phone. He sounded like he thought Ilya was crazy. “Can I ask why you don’t want to be in Boston anymore? I thought that it’s been a great fit so far.”
“Many reasons. Svetlana, my closest friend, moves away to LA in September. Cliff, my best friend on the team, is retiring from injury. I hate the new owners. They are almost certainly going to fire the coach I like. This city has nothing for me anymore. I may as well be in Buffalo as here. I will have as many friends and more potential for growth. Plus Buffalo is very cheap city compared to Boston. Maybe I will buy a giant mansion.”
A chuckle came down the line. “Fair enough. I will look into Buffalo for you. See what we can do.”
May 2017: Shane
“It’s official,” he sighed into the phone. “I’m being traded to Buffalo.”
“That’s great!” Rose enthused. “…Right?”
“I mean, yeah, I guess it’s good. It feels a little like giving up.”
“You’re not giving up, Shane.” Rose said seriously. “You didn’t give up on Montreal. They gave up on you. They abandoned and excluded you.”
“I know,” Shane said. “I’m just worried that the Blizzards won’t be any better.”
“They can’t be that much worse,” Rose grumbled. “But anyway, I’m sure they’ll be great. Their losing streak is so long that if you show up and break it, they won’t care if you are in a polycule with three other dudes. They’ll just be glad to be winning again.”
Shane rolled his eyes even though he knew she couldn’t see him. “Anyway, I wanted to let you know it’s official and the paperwork is all finished, but it won’t hit the news for another two weeks ish.”
“My lips are sealed.”
May 2017: Ilya
“So when is it official?” Svetlana asked. She stroked her fingers gently through Ilya’s curls. His head was in her lap and he was hugging a pillow to his chest.
“It already is, in terms of the paperwork,” Ilya said. “They won’t announce it for a couple weeks, but it’s a done deal.”
Svetlana hummed. “Did you hear the rumors about Shane Hollander?”
Ilya stiffened.
“Apparently he came out as gay to his team right before the playoffs and the fuckers started shunning him.”
Ilya felt sick. “No wonder they suddenly started playing like shit.”
“Yeah, their team cohesion is in the toilet,” Svetlana said frankly. “They need to completely restructure their lines for next season. What a shame. They had such a great thing going. But no respect for their captain. They don’t realize how terrible they would be without him.”
June 2017: Shane
“Hey Mom!” Shane greeted, tucking his phone between his ear and shoulder while unlocking his door. “One sec, I’m returning from a run-”
“Shane,” Yuna said. Shane shut the door and set his keys down. He could hear in her tone that this was serious. “I have some news, and I’m not sure how you’re going to feel about it, but I wanted to call and break it to you before you hear because I know you’re not on social media much and I would hate for a reporter to ask you about it or something and you be completely blindsided-”
Shane got a glass of water and sat down on a stool at his kitchen island. “Mom,” he broke in, gently. “What is it?” He took a sip of water.
“Rozanov has been traded to Buffalo.”
Shane choked.
June 2017: Ilya
“Svetlana, have you seen this?” Ilya burst into the living room.
She was sitting on the coach, working on her laptop. She set it on the coffee table as he crashed into the cushion next to her, shoving his phone at her face.
He was pretty sure the headline had given him heart palpitations. Ilya didn’t know what those were, but his heart had definitely done something funny.
“Oh, wow.” Svetlana said. “Even I did not see this coming. Montreal is so fucked.”
Ilya had been scrolling sports news, checking on a couple European football teams with semi-indifference and keeping an eye out for hockey headlines when he saw the hockey headline to end all hockey headlines.
Breaking: Hollander Traded from Voyageurs to Blizzards for 2018 first draft pick
Svetlana handed his phone back. “Are you upset? Are you worried about being teammates with him?”
“No,” Ilya said. “It will be fine.” He had no idea if it was the truth.