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Luca sighs as he watches the snow fall, surprised to find himself wishing he was out there instead of heading in for practice. There's just something about the first snowfall that has him wishing he could play in the snow instead of whatever plans he has for the day.
"Haasy, how are you doing this morning?"
He stumbles at the sound of Ilya's voice, catching him off guard.
He's here at least three hours earlier than anyone is supposed to be here. He had a few things he wanted to practice on his own before getting notes from Ilya and Shane.
"You're here early," mutters Luca once Ilya stops chuckling.
"Shane had media thing, came with him, supposed to meet him on the ice in five. You are the one early," says Ilya as he narrows his eyes at Luca like he's daring him to try to deny it.
But this is early.
Even for him.
Hell, even Troy isn't here yet, and he's always one of the first people to the rink because he usually comes in with Harris.
"Needed some time on the ice to myself," replies Luca with a shrug even though he's obviously not going to have the ice to himself now. "I'll stay late instead. What media thing did Shane have? Thought you two usually saved that stuff for off-days."
"Usually, we do, but Shane is planning something special for our anniversary tomorrow," grumbles Ilya like he's annoyed, though the soft grin dancing across his lips tells Luca otherwise. "So he wanted media out of the way of his plans. He is sweet, especially since we will not leave the cabin all day. That is all he has told me though."
"Ah," Luca nods because now Shane's plans to keep everyone out of the group chat, and more importantly out of Ilya's messages, makes more sense. "Sounds like it's going to be something very special then. So we should avoid your messages after practice tonight, hm? You're going to have Bood losing it at our next practice, I already know it, is that one optional? If I have to hear him yell about you two again, I might actually yank out some of my hair."
"Oh, come on," snorts Ilya as he nudges Luca with his arm before grabbing the door to hold it open for Luca. "You love hearing Bood's teasing because is nice to know he's supportive. Besides, you have not told him about your reporter, at least he is not pushing when he is teasing us."
Luca's eyes go wide as he stops and stares at Ilya who smirks back. "My— Report— My reporter? I— What are you talking about?"
"Michel? Reporter for Ottawa Sun, right? He is young, around your age, and brunette with blue eyes. He is your boyfriend, or crush, yes?" Ilya's voice is soft enough to be ignored, but loud enough for him to know this is a reality.
"Who all— umm— who all thinks that? Or said that?" asks Luca in a bit of a panic as he steps forward, voice lowering even more.
"No one has said things. Shane and I noticed, and Troy mentioned he thought reporter was crushing on you. But nobody has said things to me," replies Ilya seriously as he steps forward and puts a hand on Luca's shoulder, firm and reassuring. "And they will not tease if you do not want them to."
"No, no, I know. That's not—" Luca shakes his head, hands moving before he can stop them as his whole body rejects the idea of him not feeling comfortable or trusting their team. "I plan to like officially come out to everyone during practice, that's not what I meant. I just— Michel and I aren't— We have coffee together, sometimes, but we're not dating or anything like that."
"Oh? You are coming out today?" asks Ilya as his brows hike high on his face, ignoring everything else in his surprise.
"Yes, I am. Did Shane not tell you? He helped me plan a whole thing," says Luca with a snort as he tips his head to the side, glasses tilting with him. "I told him that he could tell you. I'm surprised he didn't."
"He told me you had announcement to make, but he did not say what it was," says Ilya with an almost offended tone that has Luca full on chuckling before he can catch himself. "This is betrayal. By my own husband, and rookie, how rude."
"Who is betraying you?"
Luca tips his head to the side as he leans over and sees Shane coming towards them with an amused grin already curving his lips.
"I told him I was coming out during practice and that you'd helped me plan it," replies Luca as he arches a brow at Shane who starts laughing almost immediately, even stopping in place as his arms wrap around his stomach. "Apparently we are rude and have betrayed him because of it."
"This is fact," huffs Ilya seriously as he turns to glare, more like pout, at his husband who is still laughing, but moving towards them again. "You hid this from me, Shane. This is my rookie, and you did not tell me his plan!"
"He didn't want to do anything big, so he came to me first," replies Shane in amusement as he leans up and gently kisses Ilya who immediately folds into the kiss that is kept chaste probably only because Luca is there. "But after he had his plan, and gave me the go ahead, I attempted to tell you only to be distracted every time. So, I decided you'd find out with everyone else, or he'd tell you himself."
"You totally set me up," grumbles Luca with a fake pout as he looks at Shane.
"Oh, Haasy, you're picking up bad habits," chuckles Shane as he reaches out and ruffles his blonde curls. "I meant to text you this morning that I didn't tell him, but I remembered the media plan I had and completely forgot."
"I can forgive you, I guess, but only because Ilya's reaction was priceless. I'm going to head to change for some practice before practice, see you two on the rink at some point," replies Luca with a chuckle as he ducks under Ilya's attempt to mess his hair up even more before jogging away to avoid getting caught anyway.
"I'm gonna get you for this, Haasy!" hollers Ilya as Luca disappears towards the locker rooms.
He's still chuckling as he starts changing into his practice gear, and as he's finishing up, Ilya and Shane practically fall in the room with Wyatt and Troy laughing behind them.
"Wow, so everyone's coming in early today?" asks Luca with a half-smirk as he arches a brow at the teammates he hadn't seen yet. "I know why Barrett's here, but what's with you being here two hours too early, Hayes?"
"What? A guy can't come to practice two hours early for no reason?" asks Wyatt as he throws his arms in the air, voice filled with exasperation even as his eyes sparkle with amusement. "What're you doing here so early, huh? Had to come fawn over your idols before anyone else hit the rink?"
"Anyone but you could, and I'd assume it had to do with the gym or even some media. You, on the other hand, not a chance, At least, not today," replies Luca with a half-smile as he crosses his arms over his chest and tips his head to the side. "You love spending time with Lisa too much, and I happen to have it on good authority that she didn't have to work today and planned to spend as much time with you as possible before and after practice today. Oh, and about the idol thing because you love to bring that up, I was actually hoping not to see any of your faces until the hour before practice. You've ruined my thought practice, Hazy."
"Oooh, Haasy's got his claws out today," laughs Troy with amusement dancing across his lips.
"You little green-eyed brat," huffs Wyatt as he narrows his eyes on Luca. "How did you know that? And thought practice? No, I wanna know what you're talking about with my wife first, we'll get to thought practice later."
"Because she texted to ask me what time practice was because you apparently forgot to write today's practice on your calendar," replies Luca with a cheeky grin, adding a wink when Wyatt's jaw drops in surprise. "You should've stayed longer, she even told me there was a surprise involved. Better make it up to her otherwise, you might not get to see it. You'll be missing out too."
"Damn, tell him Haasy!" says Ilya like a proud parent as Shane whoops behind him brightly.
Their pride is almost better than the amusement he gets out of watching Wyatt realize he's not bluffing. Luca bursts into giggles as Wyatt struggles to tug out his phone and call Lisa, knowing exactly what kind of dressing down he's about to get because he got a nice picture of the lingerie choices, though Ilya's friend Svetlana is the one who actually got pictures of her wearing them because he didn't feel comfortable seeing his teammate's wife like that.
He heads out as he hears Wyatt asking, "Why didn't you ask me, Baby? If you'd told me you wanted me to stay until the hour before practice, I would've. You know I would've."
Luca knows Wyatt's going to be on his ass when Lisa tells him that the surprise before practice was just lunch and maybe a roll in the sheets, if they had time. Her real surprise was always coming after practice, but Wyatt didn't need to know that yet.
Luca manages to make five solid laps around the rink before he sees Wyatt leading the charge to the rink, Ilya, Troy, Shane, and Bood following him along with their other teammates coming in straggling groups.
"Haasy, I'm gonna get your cheeky ass!" hollers Wyatt loudly as he steps on the ice and immediately takes off after him.
"Don't you even think about it, Wyatt! You were giving me shit first!" huffs Luca before he skates away from him with determination.
"You made me think I messed up Lisa's surprise!" calls Wyatt with a tone that's both annoyed and amused while Luca cackles.
"She told me that I could if you were a dick," replies Luca proudly as he twists around to skate backwards, snorting when he adjusts to the right at the perfect time to watch Wyatt sprawl across the ice. "Pile on!"
Luca skates over and falls only to immediately feel more weight falling over him. Wyatt groans, but his laughter is much louder. Luca can't help but join in, they all do, until the weight shifts.
Shane's face appears, laughter crinkling his face, and he asks, "You thinking about saving that announcement for the end of practice, Haasy?"
"Nah, now's a pretty good time. Tell your oaf of a husband to get off so the others can get up too," replies Luca breathlessly, chuckles softening as Shane's hand disappears, bringing Ilya's amused huff as the weight starts falling off.
Once he's standing, he gives Wyatt a hand up before joining Shane in front of the group.
"Okay, Haasy has an announcement to make, and he wants everyone to shut up for it. No questions until he's done speaking, okay?" calls Shane firmly, though he's still smiling brightly.
He watches a quiet ripple of questions echoing before silence falls heavily over them all. Luca freezes at the attention, but then he slides his helmet off and tucks it under his arm.
"Okay, there are a few things. But mainly two," Luca meets Shane's eye as he skates over to stand with Ilya, feeling relieved at the supportive smile he sees. "We were gonna do a little cake thing, and we still will at the end because Yuna made it for me. But for now, I'm gay and demi. The other thing is that I am interested in someone, so no blind dates. I'm talking to you two, Bood, Wyatt. I will go to your wives and tell 'em how mean you're being to me if you even think about trying it. Shane already promised to make sure Troy and Ilya wouldn't. So, you're the only other two I gotta worry about."
"What? How can Hollander promise that I won't set you up?" asks Troy seriously as he looks at Luca.
"By telling Harris," replies Luca with a smirk that has Troy huffing but staying silent. "You can't even deny it, Barrett. But nice try though!"
"Whoever gave Haasy his claws needs to fucking clip 'em," grumbles Troy as he shakes his head, though there's a quiet grin on his lips that has Luca filling with warmth. "Proud of you though, Luca."
"Wait, so like… Do we get to know who you're interested in? Maybe we can play wingman!" says Bood seriously as he skates over and throws a heavy arm around Luca's shoulders.
"Not a chance would I let that one happen," sighs Luca as he ducks and skates backwards. "You lot are way too good at embarrassing me. Can one of the captains get practice going, so this conversation can't continue?"
"Sure," Ilya's chuckling as he speaks, but he settles into his "captain" mode as they all call it. "Let's go everyone! Drills then we're doing five scrimmage matches to whip you boys into shape now that Shane and I have returned. Anyone who starts asking Haasy questions about his crush has to score on Wyatt twice to be able to join the next scrimmage match!"
Groans echo around them as Wyatt smirks and asks, "What do I have to do if I ask?"
"You get to play my goalie until I'm tired of hitting you with pucks," replies Ilya with a shark-like grin that has Wyatt shuddering.
"You're evil," snorts Shane as he skates towards Luca.
"You love it!" calls Ilya brightly from behind him.
"Damn right!" replies Shane over his shoulder before he reaches Luca and pats him on the shoulder. "So, let's kick his team's ass and see if we can manage to get you, Barrett, and Dillon on the same scrimmage team. I want to see how well you three can play now that you've had a couple weeks of practices without Ilya and I."
"That won't be hard," says Luca with a soft smile before he nods.
The practice is easy, forever in a day it will be easy to play with a group of men who love hockey as much as he does. Hell, even when they're panting, skates still on the ice, leaning on their hockey sticks, it's easy. No matter what they do for practice, how exhausted they are once it ends, the ease of playing with the Centaurs is something Luca knows he will never forget.
"Hey, we have cake waiting for everyone in Harris' office. Apparently there's celebrating that needs to happen?" Coach Wiebe is amused as he throws his thumb towards the hall, sounding like he's confused when Luca told him about the plan at practice two days ago. "He said he's going to eat it all if you don't hurry."
Luca laughs as he watches everyone scramble to race off the ice because Yuna's cake is the best cake ever, and she spoils them with cake, but only once in a blue moon. So, to have her cake sitting in the arena, the guys aren't going to let it get eaten by Harris alone.
He stays in the middle of the rink as everyone else leaves, waves when Coach calls out his name, and waits until he's completely alone.
He still needs some time to think.
Plus, Yuna is bringing a mini cake specifically for him in like half an hour. So, he'll be fine to wait.
Instead, Luca skates over to the bag of pucks from when they'd cleared the ice a few minutes earlier, turning it into a scoring game as they always do. He grabs the bag and quickly tosses five pucks onto the ice, gently hitting them towards the center of the rink before dropping the bag.
He could skate laps trying to figure out his mind, but instead, he's going to focus on scoring with these pucks at least three times before he does what he always does.
Luca scores with all five pucks twice before he sets himself up to score as though he's doing one of the All Star events. He doesn't time himself, not this time at least, instead he just focuses on hitting every single mark.
Once he's done, he hits the pucks over to their bag before gliding to the center of the rink again.
He settles into face-off form and breathes.
Luca knows what comes next after this.
Michel is the journalist that not only stole his heart, but he also helped him figure out that he's demi. Yes, he's gay, that part he already knew. But the demi part? He thought he was asexual and aromantic for the longest time because the idea of sex made him feel gross and he never felt romantically attracted to anyone.
Luca dated a few people, had sex a few times, but he only ever felt uncomfortable and gross.
He didn't even know what love could feel like in the romantic sense until he realized that he was starting to develop a crush on Michel.
Now, he has to figure out just what he's supposed to do about it.
Or maybe not what he's supposed to do, but what he wants to do.
Isn't that the difference maker?
Luca lifts his head and grins sharply as his mind comes to the last move before he wins the game.
He is going to ask Michel on a date, and it's happening soon.