Chapter Text
CHAPTER 1
October 2014
Boston
“Did you hear about Rozanov,” JJ asks no one in particular as he pulls on a hoodie at his locker stall. The Metros had just finished their morning practice at the Boston Raiders’ rink and were now getting cleaned up in the visitors’ locker room.
“What about Rozanov?” Shane Hollander asks as he walks into the locker room, a towel slung low around his waist. Shane regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth.
JJ gives him a quizzical look and says, “He’s not playing tonight.”
“Why not?” asks Hayden as he slides on his black Nike sandals.
JJ shrugs. “I don’t fucking know. Who cares? I just heard on ESPN that he’s not playing tonight.”
“Makes our odds against Boston go up, at any rate,” Hayden jokes.
Shane sits at his stall and starts pulling his clothes on. He hopes no one can notice that his cheeks are flushed. His teammates can’t possibly know what he’s thinking. Ilya had texted him the previous night to confirm their plans to meet up at Ilya’s apartment after their game. Ilya had not said anything about not playing, and his flirtatious texts even hinted at being excited (maybe?) at the prospect of their “date.” Shane was really looking forward to seeing Ilya. He hadn’t seen him since their hookup in a Vegas penthouse the night of the MLH awards in June. They didn’t even kiss that night but Shane had enjoyed himself immensely.
In the months since, Ilya had sent regular texts from Russia and Boston. Shane happily returned the messages. They never outright said it, but Shane knew they both enjoyed their meetups, however brief. Shane also knew that he was addicted to sex with Ilya Rozanov and needed another fix as soon as possible.
******
Shane glanced over to make sure Hayden was sleeping in the other hotel bed. He didn’t think he could handle any of Hayden’s questions right now.
2:37 pm
Jane: Are you ok?
2:49 pm
Jane: I heard you’re not playing. What’s going on?
3:15 pm
Jane: Text me when you can…
Shane stared at his phone screen, willing it to light up with a text from Lily. Nothing.
He sighed, laid back on the pillows and tried to nap.
*********
Somehow, Shane was able to perform his captain duties and give a lackluster (in his mind) motivational speech before their game against the Raiders. If anyone asked him later what he told his team, he wouldn’t be able to say. He went through the motions during the game and the Metros won 3 - 2 against a Rozanov-less Raiders team. Shane had scored two goals, but he didn’t even care.
As he went down the line to shake hands with the Raiders he uttered his obligatory “good game” platitudes. When he got to Cliff Marlow, the big defenseman actually hugged Shane. “Nice game, Hollander! Too bad Rozy has the flu. We could have schooled you guys!”
“He has the flu?”
“Yeah, it’s been going around our team. I was down for the count for a solid week, bro!”
“Huh,” Shane said. He patted Cliff on the back with a gloved hand. “Tell Roz we’ll see him next time, yeah?” Cliff nodded and skated away to his bench.
*****
Back at the hotel, Shane starts to formulate a plan.
Ilya is sick. Sick people need medicine. Sick people need help with food. Ilya doesn’t have family here to help him. Shane should help him, right?
But why should he help Ilya? They’re not friends or anything. Shane didn’t reallyy know what they were, if he was being honest.
He makes up his mind and acts before he can change it.
Hayden emerges from the bathroom where he has showered and dressed in jeans and a tight white t-shirt. “Hey, man! You coming out with us? J.J. booked us a VIP table at Revere.”
Shane has no idea what Revere is, but he shakes his head and looks at his feet. “Um, no. I um…I have other plans?” It comes out more like a question than a statement.
Hayden smiles knowingly. “Mmmm hmmm. Right. Plans with Lily?”
Shane is very visibly startled.
“What?” His voice catches on the one word.
Hayden laughs. “Oh my god, Shane. I know you meet up with a girl named Lily every time we come to Boston. I don’t know why you think you have to keep her a secret. You should bring her to the club and let her meet the team!”
Shane is speechless.
“Come on ,Shane! What’s the big deal? I know Jackie would love to add another WAG to the group chat.”
Shane says, “I’m not meeting anyone named Lily. I’m just going out to meet a friend. That’s all.”
“Whatever, dude. I’m outta here. See ya!” He strides out of the room and the door shuts automatically behind him.
******
Shane changes into a dark unbranded sweatshirt and jeans. He wears a blue baseball cap pulled down low. There’s a CVS just a block from his hotel. He grabs a cart and finds the cold medicine aisle. He stares, overwhelmed, at the bottles of cough medicine, pain killers, and decongestants. What should he get? What would he take if he was sick? That’s a dumb question because Shane hates taking medicine. DoesIlya take medicine? Shane realizes he has no idea.
Since he’s unable to focus, he grabs Dayquil, Nyquil, Halls cherry cough drops (would Ilya prefer honey?), Alka Selzer Cold & Flu, Vitamin C (that’s good for colds, right?), Mucinex and TheraFlu. OK. Medicine. What about food? Ilya needs to eat, right? Soup. Right. Soup. He finds the grocery aisle and grimaces at the selection of canned soup. Ugh, gross. He wishes he could magically conjure up his mom’s broth that always makes him feel warm and content. Shane sees that there is a reduced-sodium variety of chicken noodle soup so that is at least slightly healthy. He picks up three cans and a package of saltines.
He takes his basket to the self-checkout and quickly scans and bags the items. An employee monitoring the front of the store stares like he recognizes him, but she doesn’t say anything. With a sigh of relief, Shane exits the store and dials for an uber to take him to Ilya's apartment.
When he arrives at Ilya’s door he stops as the thoughts slam into his brain: This is a really bad idea. Why does he think that Ilya will welcome him into his home? After all, Shane isn’t his boyfriend or even his friend, really. Shane is someone he’s hooked up with casually a few times. They get together. They have sex. They say go their separate ways without acknowledging whether or not they’ll ever meet again. What the hell was he thinking?
As usual, Shane is overthinking. He starts to just leave the bags at the door and walk away, but then gets a burst of courage and knocks on the door. Ilya is sick. Ilya has no one. If he’s too sick to play hockey, then Ilya needs help. Shane can help so Shane is here.
Shane hears footsteps inside. He’s relieved. At least Ilya isn’t too sick to answer his door.
As the door slowly opens, Shane anticipates seeing the surprise on Ilya’s face. He hopes the surprise is a good one and not unwelcomed. He realizes he is excited to see Ilya and his chest swells with anticipation.
But Ilya is not standing in the entryway.
Instead, it’s a woman.One of the most beautiful women Shane has ever seen. Shane recognizes her from Ilya’s Instagram feed. He’s seen pictures of her with Ilya at MHL events.
She is tall - almost as tall as he is. She has dark, wildly curly hair that frames a supermodel face. She’s wearing a cutoff Boston Raiders t-shirt and tiny black shorts that showcase long legs ending in bare feet with brightly painted toes.
Shane just stands there and stares, speechless.
“Oh,” he manages finally to grunt. “Um…I…”
The woman looks at him with an amused expression. She is almost smiling, but not quite.
Shane feels mortified. Of course Ilya’s girlfriend is here, you idiot. “I, uh, I heard Rozanov is sick? I just wanted to…help?” He holds up the CVS bags briefly but then lowers his hands, feeling like a complete moron.
“You are Shane Hollander, da?” she asks in a husky Russian accent.
Oh my God. Of course Ilya’s girlfriend is Russian. Fuck!
Shane wishes there was a portal to another dimension that he could just walk through and exit this humiliating scenario.
“Yeah, that’s right.” He can’t look her in the eye.
“I saw your game tonight. Your second goal was incredible! The way you tricked Dykstra was just….phenomenal!” She smiles broadly. “Of course, if my Ilyusha was in the game there is no way that goal would have happened.”
“Oh,” Shane says, trying unsuccessfully to suppress the jealousy he feels when he hears her say my Ilyuhsa. “Thanks?”
“Do you want to come in, Shane Hollander? Ilya is sleeping but you can wait for him to wake up. Come in and watch the Centaurs game with me.” She backs up, giving him room to enter the apartment.
“N-no, that’s ok,” Shane says quickly. “I just…wanted to bring him medicine in case he didn’t have any. Here.” He shoves the bags in her direction.
She looks at him quizzically but doesn’t reach for the bags. She looks like she wants to giggle but keeps herself in check.
Shane steps in quickly and sets the bags on the console table near the door.
“Um…ok. ‘Bye.” He gives a small wave then takes off, almost running back down towards the elevator.
The woman watches him, barely stifling a giggle, until he disappears into the elevator. She closes the door and strides into Ilya’s bedroom. He has just woken up. His eyes are red and his curls are matted with sweat.
“Who was it, Sveta?” Ilya asks in a tired, scratchy voice.
Sveta just grins and says in Russian, “You are so fucked, Ilyusha.”