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It had been a long day and a seemingly even longer night. The Metros had had back to back games followed by a never ending press conference, and on top of all that the team planned a night out that there was absolutely no getting out of. So that’s how Shane found himself nursing a now lukewarm beer at a bar in Toronto.
It wasn’t all bad, Shane had stuck close to Hayden most of the night, but what was really eating away at him was the fact that Ilya was in the same city as him. Both in the same city yet neither of their schedules had the leniency to allow them some time for themselves. It had been months since they’d seen each other and Shane wished nothing more than to be wrapped in his boyfriend’s arms in bed right now.
Shane pulled his phone out and sent Ilya a text
missing you :( :Jane
maybe we can call tomorrow night? :Jane
Shane frowned at his phone, hoping Ilya’s night out with his team wasn’t getting too crazy. The Raiders had a tendency to do these stupidly long bar crawls that always left Shane feeling at least a little bit worried about Ilya. Okay maybe more than a little. But he just liked to know where his boyfriend was and if he was safe, okay. Could you really blame him?
“Dude,” Hayden returned with refilled beer, “you’d never guess who I just fucking saw at the counter.” he said with an amused smile.
Shane pried his eyes up from his phone, still awaiting “Lily’s” reply, he knitted his eyebrows together and looked questioningly at Hayden. Shane really had no clue who could be here that’d have Hayden this tickled.
“Ilya. Fucking. Rozanov.” Hayden continued with a glint of annoyance in his eyes.
“What?” Shane said sitting completely upright, because okay, now Hayden REALLY had his attention, “.. or..So the whole Boston team is here?” Shane (tried) playing it off cooley.
“Nah, just him I think,” Hayden replied taking a seat beside him, “oh my god, and get this, the asshole is completely shit faced!” Hayden laughed while grabbing Shane’s shoulder and shaking it a little.
He’s drunk? Shane thought fervently, Ilya rarely gets super drunk, especially alone. What is he doing alone? He jumped from one question to the next not even realizing Hayden was still talking
“-- he might as well be passed out, maybe he was. GOD it was such a funny sight, dude did not look good-”
“Like he looked sick?” The concern in Shane continued to grow even more.
“I dunno, probably is,” taking a swing of his beer, “but I guess that's karma right?” Hayden nudged Shane with his elbow.
Shane sucked in a breath and looked around from where he was sitting, trying to get a look at the bar from where Hayden just was, his eyes searching the room for his boyfriend. Eventually his eyes landed on him. He was sitting on one of the bar stools, half his body slouched over the counter hand pressed to his temple while his eyes scrunched closed. He didn’t look well. He looked pale and sweaty. Shane wanted nothing more than to sprint over and run a soothing hand through his golden curls. But no, instead Shane needed a casual way for them to cross paths-- a reasonable and normal way for him to bump into the Raider’s Captain and his ‘long term rival’, Rozanov.
“Maybe we should go, it's getting pretty late.” Shane quickly suggested, peeling his eyes away from where Ilya sat for just long enough to spare Hayden a glance. His beer was almost gone, surely Hayd wouldn’t mind leaving a little early. The other guys weren’t even hanging around them anymore anyways.
“Umm” Hayden gave his phone a quick check for time, “yeah I guess so, were you ready to go?”
“Yeah just, ya know. Long day I’m pretty tired.” Shane gave a tight smile, hoping his growing anxiety about Ilya wasn’t apparent to the ladder.
-
Hayden eventually agreed it was getting late and polished off his beer. Him and Shane started heading towards the exit which meant passing by Ilya. Perfect. Right as the two men were approaching the exit Shane shot Hayden a quick look.
“Hey, I'm just gonna say hi to Rozanov real quick. Be cordial and all that.” Shane stated, stuffing his hand in his pockets.
“If you want to, not sure how much of a conversation you’ll get out of that though,” Hayden pointed a finger in Ilya’s direction.
The pair made their way over to where Ilya sat, and if Shane thought he looked bad from afar he looked worse up close.
“Rozanov?” Shane spoke up, when Ilya didn’t show any sign of replying Shane drew in a little closer raising a hand to his back. “Hey, are you okay?” he leaned down, speaking in a softer tone.
Ilya finally moved the hand from his face to look at Shane with his blurry eyes. His expression softened at the sight of him, but there was still pain that lingered in his eyes, “moya lyubov?’ [my love?]”
If Shane was barely holding it together before it was even worse now.
“Yeah, hey,” Shane replied gently, hand still placed on Ilya’s back, “where’s your team?” he questioned, even though what he really wanted to ask was What happened? Why were you left alone? Why didn’t you call me? Are you hurt? Did somebody spike your drink?
“ya ne znayu,” Ilya pushed himself off the counter with a slight groan, “ushel, ya dumayu.” he mumbled shortly after.
“Ok um,” Shane’s eyes searched Ilya’s face for something, anything. God, he wished he knew more than 3 words in Russian. He hated not being able to know what was happening with his partner. “Where’s your phone? Do you need me to call one of your teammates on it?” Shane offered.
Ilya knitted his eyebrows together concentrating on what Shane had just said, clearly taking longer to translate the question in his drunken state. “Ono umerlo nekotoroye vremya nazad,” he finally replied, raising a clearly dead phone up to Shane.
Shane nodded silently, getting the gist that Ilya’s phone was out of battery and couldn’t contact any of his teammates. Ok. So really there were only two things he could do here, Shane concluded. Both probably equally as stupid in their own ways.
Either A) he could walk away, act like the rivals he and Rozanov were supposed to be. Not make whatever was going on with him his problem and move on. Or B) he takes Ilya back to him and Hayden’s hotel room and looks after him for the night until he’s sober enough to go back to his own hotel and teammates.
Shane liked the second option more.
Hayden was standing awkwardly behind Shane waiting for their interaction to be over when Shane suddenly turned around and nervously announced “I’m gonna take Rozanov back to our hotel room.”.
------------
“What??” Hayden asked dumbfounded, maybe a little louder than he intended.
“Hayd, he’s super drunk, we can’t just leave him here.” Shane argued.
“But we literally can. Shane, it's Rozanov.” Hayden stared between his best friend and the (who Hayden considered) the devil incarnate; Shane had his hand placed on Rozanov back up near his neck. His friend had a clear amount of concern washed over his face.
Shane flashed Hayden an assertive look, one he usually only used when in his “captain mode” and was bossing the team around.
Damn his best friend for being such a good person.
-
Hayden called an uber and now the 3 of them, him, Shane, and Ilya god-damn Rozanov, were sat in the back headed back to their hotel room.
Hayden sat closest to the left window while Shane filled in the space between him and the captain of the Raiders-- WHYY would Shane willingly put up with this guy for more than 3 seconds off the ice??
Hayden spared a brief look over to Shane and Rozanov’s side of the car. Rozanov, whose eyes were shut tightly, was leaning his head onto Shane’s shoulder. Shane had his hand on Rozanov’s knee and was gently rubbing circles into it with his thumb, mindlessly doing so like it was second nature. Seriously. What world was he in right now. Hayden continued to be confused for the entire drive back.
Saying that getting Rozanov out of the Uber, into the elevator, and into their hotel, was a struggle was an understatement. It seemed like whatever the man had drunk was really hitting him now, as he was basically dead weight while he and Shane had to pull him out of the car. Getting into the building itself was a struggle as Rozanov had been adamant about putting his entire weight on Shane, who had the other captain’s arm slung over his shoulder as he hauled him to the door.
Rozanov would babble on occasion, namely at Shane, going “izvini” and “Ty tak dobra ko mne”. I guess the guy can’t stop chirping even off the ice while drunk, Hayden scoffed to himself.
The 3 of them were nearly at the door when Rozanov decided that, apparently now, would be a great time to throw up. Rozanov had quickly slapped a hand over his own mouth but that didn’t stop some of it from hitting his own shirt and parts of his jeans and the carpeted hallway floor beneath him.
Hayden expected Shane, forever the effervescent neat freak, to be a little more freaked out by this; but instead he just continued to hold Rozanov up, and rub his back while the other captain steadied himself while holding onto the former. Slowly the 3 of them made it to the hotel room door and Shane made a B-line for the bathroom, while still holding Rozanov up.
Hayden made his way to his side of the room, but continued to watch the situation in front of him unfold through the still opened bathroom door.
Rozanov sat hunched over the toilet bowl throwing up, Shane sitting right beside him, hand still mindlessly caressing the other’s back. When there was a stop in the vomiting, Rozanov turned up from the bowl to look at Shane with apologetic eyes, “izvini” he sniffled and closed his eyes wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Izvini,” he repeated, eyes still closed.
“It’s okay,” Shane whispered, his hand resting on the small of Rozanov’s neck. The two stayed there like that for a moment, only shifting when Shane sighed and started moving to his feet. “Can you put your arms up?” he asked softly.
Ilya complied and raised both his arms, allowing Shane to pull the now dirty shirt up and over his head. Shane delicately folded the shirt and put it next to the sink, then turned his focus back to Rozanov.
“Okay, I’m gonna need you to stand up now alright?” Shane instructed, hooking a hand under one of Rozanov’s arms. Shane helped hoist the other man up as he stood shakily, placing his hands on Shane's shoulders for balance.
Shane then started unbuttoning and unzipping Rozanov’s jeans and-- okay yup! Hayden couldn’t keep to himself anymore.
“What are you doing?” Hayden chimed in, making his way over to the bathroom doorframe.
Shane jumped slightly, apparently forgetting Hayden was still in the room, “Oh, um.” Shane looked from where his hands lay on the other man’s fly to Hayden’s face. “Well he has vomit on his clothes, so.” he states matter-of-factly, like he’s the stupid one here for questioning him.
“So you’re undressing Rozanov?.. Your rival?”
Shane flushed and stared at his friend’s face as his hands were still grasped firmly on the waistband of his opponent’s jeans.
“I know you’re trying to help, but I'm sure he can do that shit himself dude.”
And that’s when for the first time that night Rozanov spoke up in English, “You are so annoying, Pike,”. His Russian accent thicker than it usually was. Still very clearly intoxicated.
Shane exhaled a laugh as he turned to look Rozanov in the eyes, “Ilya, oh my god” he smiled.
Ilya? When were they on a first name basis? Hayden stared between the pair, confused as ever. Shane moved away from Ilya briefly, leaving him lent up against the wall, pants still undone, Hayden noted to himself; and walked over and closed the bathroom door. What the hell.
“Just give us a second Hayden,” Shane called from behind the shut door.
-
A couple minutes had passed by and he could hear the rustle of clothes, murmur of soft conversation, and the sink tap turning off and on from beyond the door. Hayden had been attempting to read a book on his bed, a very poor distraction when he was still trying to make sense of Shane’s extreme acts of kindness to his historic rival. He mulled over the entire situation in his head. From how Shane spoke to Rozanov at the bar, to how careful he was getting the other from point a to point b, and-- of course-- how his friend has immediately jumped into stripping the raider’s captain down to.. Clean him???
Had the blond Russian, spawn of Satan himself, and Shane been friends this entire time? There’s no way. Shane hated him! They chripped each other on the ice and he’s definitely caught Shane calling the foe an asshole on multiple occasions. How would those two even start to be friendly with each other to begin with.
While Hayden found himself lost deep in thought Shane emerged from the bathroom with a newly refreshed-looking Rozanov. He was now dressed in a pair of Shane's spare gym shorts and white tee-- it seemed to fit the russian more snuggly than it did on metro though.
Shane led the other over to his bed and Rozanov immediately flopped onto the plush surface, looking absolutely drained from whatever kind of night he had. His friend dragged the blanket up and over Rozanov’s shoulders as the Russian settled in comfortably to the spot.
Shane must’ve noticed the face Hayden was making and spoke up.
“Oh come on, he's clearly not feeling well.” Shane rolled his eyes, cheeks lightly flushed.
“No, no definitely, just-- I don’t see how its our problem-”
“My problem.” he interjected.
------------
He knew this probably looked bad. Shane internally scolded himself for letting Ilya distract him from the fact Hayden still didn’t know they were together. I mean shit, Hayd didn’t even know he was gay yet. Shane drew a short breath in, trying to keep his composure intact
“I just mean that you haven’t been helping. I’m the one who decided to give Rozanov a hand, I’m not gonna make it your issue too.”
Hayden looked over Shane skeptically, narrowing his eyes.
“Yeah but we are sharing a room,” he quipped, “and I really don’t get why you have to be so ‘cordial’ with this dick”, hands flashing air quotes.
“ohmygod” Shane exhaled quietly to himself, “I’m not arguing with you about this right now. I’ve just.. I’ve known him a long time alright. It’d feel wrong if I didn’t try and help a bit-”
“This seems like more than a bit-”
“Can we not?” Shane firmly exclaimed, waving hand out in front of him.
Shane hated this. He hated the fact he couldn’t just take care of his boyfriend in peace. That, to outsiders, their relationship made no sense; Even if the relationship was being interpreted as just a friendly one. If Hayden couldn’t stomach the possibility of Shane and Ilya being friends, how was he ever supposed to accept the real truth that they were dating?
“He’s staying here for tonight, Hayden. It’s not gonna kill you to be in the same room as him for one night.” Bitterness laced his tone. He didn’t intend to come off that coldly but his so-called “best friend” was truly starting to get under his skin now.
Him and Hayden exchanged equally frustrated stares with each other. Hayden put his arms up in defeat and mouthed an ‘okay’ turning his attention back to the book in his hand. Shane stalked off to the bathroom hoping a shower would cool his nerves.
-
When Shane got out of the bathroom the room’s lights had all been dimmed, Hayden was facing the wall, away from Shane’s bed where Ilya lay softly snoring. Approaching the bed he could see Ilya’s expression better. Safe, he thought, looking over partner's relaxed face. Shane had peace of mind knowing he had gotten to be the one to take care of his boyfriend. He spared Hayden’s side of the room cautionary glance, then dipped down and placed a soft kiss atop Ilya’s forehead.
Shane crawled into bed beside Ilya, letting out a long exhale when his head hit the pillow. The exhaustion from the long day he’d had finally hit him all at once. Looking over to his left, he observed his boyfriend sound asleep. Shane brought a hand up to his face and traced it down the side of his cheek, Ilya subconsciously leaning into the touch with a soft hum. The sight of his boyfriend in bed, secure, and laying next to him was enough to put Shane at peace who quickly drifted off to sleep
------------
Hayden stretched awake with a groan stretching his limbs out with a pop. He stared at the ceiling above him while he yawned and checked his phone, double checking if there were any texts left by Jackie. As he continued to wake up memories of the bizarre dream he had came back to him, and THANK GOD it was just that because if Shane had actually brought Ro-
Hayden rolled over, now facing the right side of the room where he should be able to see Shane’s black hair peaking out from under the covers; but instead Hayden’s eyes were met with locks of golden blond curly hair. Hayden’s breath was caught in his throat, eyes burning through the back of the sleeping man’s head. This has to be a prank.
From here Hayden couldn’t even see Shane, just Ilya Rozanov’s big stupid back and a blond mess of hair. Had he gone for a morning run? Hayden thought, perking up from his bed. He pulled himself to sit upright, just enough to see over Rozanov and froze.
Rozanov was sound asleep, face tucked into the space between Shane’s shoulder and neck. A protective arm pulled him in close at the waist, spooning the other man. Both Shane and Rozanov were covered up by white comforter on top, but it was clear that underneath they were flush against one another. Shane stirred ever so slightly and Rozanov tugged Shane in even closer, deriving a soft moan out of Shane, who accepted the embrace.
Hayden got out of bed slowly, trying to take in the scene displayed in front of him. Never once in his life had he seen the Russian's face so free of tension. It was usually always pulled in a tight-snarky grin, or a furrowed brow with a snarl playing on his lips. But his expression now looked completely different, it was alleviated from the typical anger and replaced with a look of.. contentment?
He debated pushing Rozanov off of Shane and the bed and onto the floor; really just running down the full list of scenarios of what the aftermath would be. In a perfect world he would drag the bastard out of the bed and throw him out of the room, the fact he was being so touchy with Shane made his skin crawl. Weirdly enough though, this was the most relaxed Hayden had ever seen Shane, hell it looked like there was even a smile resting on his lips.
Just as Hayden was starting to mull over the implications of his best friend smiling while being spooned by the most evil man on the planet, said man had started to stir awake. The blankets on top of the two men rustled ever so slightly as Rozanov moved his legs which-- by using context clues, were definitely entangled with Shane’s; and slowly blinked his eyes open so they were cracked very slightly.
Rozanov was seemingly making no effort to get out of the position, that he was now definitely aware, he and Shane were wrapped up in. He still hadn’t acknowledged Hayden’s looming presence so he cleared his throat and spoke.
“Sleep well, Rozanov?” was all Hayden could say when his eyes were met the Russian's blue ones.
“Fuck off Pike,” his voice deep and laced with sleep. Rozanov blinked slowly, letting his eyes shut for a moment longer, letting his face fall back into the crook of Shane’s neck.
Hayden stood there, ogling the pair, dumbfounded as Roznov continued to cuddle his best friend.
“Are you going to keep standing there like a pervert? Go away.” Rozanov had lifted his head ever so slightly to look at Hayden.
“I’m the perv?-” Hayden exhaled frustratedlyly, “ya know that’s rich coming from you. Also this is literally my room??”
“Wonderful, I don’t care.” Rozanov scowled
“Whyareyou bein’ soloud” Shane mumbled, eyes still closed.
“Sorry Shane”
“Izvini Shane”
Hayden and Ilya apologized simultaneously, then immediately went back to glaring at each other. Rozanov eventually untangled himself, receiving a small noise of protest from Shane, as he grabbed his phone (Shane was nice enough to plug it in for Ilya the night before). Even though he wasn’t spooning his friend anymore, Rozanov still kept close to Shane while moving to lay on his back. His left shoulder maintaining contact with Shane’s body as he swiped through his phone.
Hayden scoffed and turned his back to the two, occupying himself with riffling through his suitcase, when he heard Shane softly speak behind him.
“What time is it?” He said in a hushed tone
Hayden looked over his shoulder to reply, but when he turned his head Shane wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at Rozanov.
“Is only 8:47, lyubimyy,” Rozanov answered, sharing a fond smile with Shane.
“Mm,” Shane nodded his head slightly, “D’you feel better this morning?”
“Much better. Marlow thinks I died,” He turned his phone screen over to Shane to read whatever text was there.
Shane exhaled through his nose, “To be fair it looked like you had.”
“Yes, well, something must have been put in my drink. You know, Russians-”
“-don't get drunk,” Shane finished Ilya’s sentence, “Yeah you’ve told me,”
“It is truth, not once have I actually got drunk,”
“Right,” Shane smiled, nodding his head sarcastically
The pair continued to look at each other only breaking eye contact when Shane averted his eyes down, smiling. He unfurled himself from the bed and walked to the bathroom, still paying Hayden no mind, and flipped the tap on to start his like 90000 step morning routine.
Hayden dropped what he was doing and followed Shane into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He stood at the second sink until Shane acknowledged him.
“Morning Hayd”
“Morning..” he stared, his friend continuing to wash his face, “Soo.. You sleep pretty well last night?”
“Uh, yeah I did, why?”
“Ur kidding right?”
Shane shot Hayden a confused look
“Rozanov was like all over you when I got up this morning,”
“What?” Shane’s face went pink
“Yeah man, like no sense of personal space at all.”
“I mean, he was drunk, it’s a small bed, it’s not that weird,” Shane rambled, breaking eye contact
“I dont know, I guess if it was literally anyone else but Rozanov.” Hayden mentally notes to himself that Shane has never even liked physical affection very much. He was always awkward when it came to hugs and became very peculiar about his personal space off the ice. This conversation with Shane was going nowhere, “Whatever” he huffed, leaving the bathroom.
-
The hotel room door shut behind Rozanov, finally he had left.
“He’s such dick. I can’t believe you let him stay here.” Hayden expressed now that the blond man was gone.
“He’s not that bad,” Shane shrugged, “once you get to know him he’s actually pretty nice.”
“‘Know him’?” Hayden glared, “You’re saying you know Roznov is nice?”
“Yeah, we’ve had to do photoshoots and press together all the time since we were rookies. You learn a lot about someone after all that time.” Shane firmly stated.
“Whatever, I just don’t see it,”
Shane rolled his eyes and walked to the bathroom to pack up his amenities, clearly the weird argument the two of them were having about Rozanov was going to continue into this day as well.
There was a buzzing noise and Hayden flipped around to see where it was coming from. Shane’s phone was placed face up on the night stand, he approached it as it buzzed with multiple text messages coming through. Hayden, forever a nosy person, picked it up to view the notifications decorating the screen.
Lily: Thank you for taking care of me last night lyubimii❤️
Lily: Too bad Pike was there the whole time
Lily: Could’ve done more than sleep😉😈
Oh my god. Everything Finally clicked.
Lily. Ilya. Lily. Ilya.
Hayden was so fucking stupid. Lily was Ilya Rozanov the entire time.