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Shane was trying to catch up with Ilya on the ice when his edge caught the ice. He felt a sickening crack in his ankle, and pain radiated up his leg. He immediately grabbed his foot; he knew something was broken. The medics rushed onto the ice, “What happened?” one of them said.
“My skate caught the ice weirdly, I think I broke my ankle,” Shane told them. “We're going to have to take the boot off to properly assess the injury.”
“Make sure to check for a concussion; his head hit the ice when he fell,” another medic said
Once they got the skate off, Shane realized just how bad it was. His ankle was fire red and inflamed. Then Ilya was skating up to where Shane was sitting on the ice. “What's wrong?” he asked Shane.
“I slipped and hurt my ankle pretty bad,”
The medics were trying to move it to assess the damage, and suddenly Shane felt faint.
“If you touch my ankle anymore, I think I'm going to pass out,” he warned.
“We need to get you off the ice; this ankle needs medical attention quickly.”
“I got him,” Ilya said before picking Shane up bridal style and bringing him to the gate.
He laid him down on the stretcher that was being prepared.
“Should I go with you,” Ilya asked, “to the hospital?”
“No, you should go celebrate with your team, it's just an ankle injury that will be fine on my own,” Shane said, flashing Ilya a smile. “You deserve to celebrate with the team, not sit in the hospital all night.”
“Okay… call me if you need anything else, Hollander.”
“I will, Rozanov. Now go, celebrate, have fun.”
Shane was now sitting in the hospital. The original shock of breaking his ankle had worn off at this point, and Shane realized how this looked. He tripped while trying to stop Ilya from scoring. Specifically scoring the winning goal. And know the whole world knows that they are dating. He knew what people were going to say. They were going to think he tripped on purpose, to let Ilya win. Which was bullshit, Shane would never let Ilya win anything. Tears started to form in his eyes. He had let his team down, and now people were going to think he did it on purpose.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by a knock at his door.
“Shane,” his mom said, “what's wrong?”
“People are going to think I tripped on purpose to let Ilya win,” he said, looking at the checkered floor. “It just came out that I was dating Ilya. Then I tripped while trying to stop him from winning the game.”
Yuna walked over to the side of Shane's hospital bed. “Shane, sweetheart, people on the internet are always going to have opinions on what you do. I know it's hard to ignore them, especially now. But you need to ignore them; what matters is what you were thinking at the moment. Were you thinking about letting Ilya win?”
“Of course not, mom I would never,” Shane quickly rebuttaled.
“I know that, but not everyone does. No matter the outcome of this game, people were going to have an opinion on it. If your team won, people were going to say Ilya threw the game and vice versa.”
“I know that mom but what if I did fall to let Ilya win, what if I'm losing my ability to put the game ahead of my feelings for him?”
“Shane, you know how to safely fall on ice; if you did fall on purpose, you wouldn’t have a broken ankle right now.”
“Thanks mom,” Shane said, grabbing her hand that was resting on his knee. “Do you think we're going to have to put out a statement about it?”
“I don't think so, it will blow over soon.”
Lily
Lily: how are u doing
Lily: did the doctors fix u up yet
Jane: I’m fine. My ankle is broken, though. I have to wear a cast for 6-8 weeks now.
Jane: meaning I'm going to miss preseason training and the first couple of games of the season.
Lily: well u did need a break
Shane: I have no time for breaks, not now. I have been in a weird spot with the metros. My coach hates me and was probably looking for a reason to trade me.
Lily: well i know a team that would take you in a heartbeat <3
Lily: what's ur room number
Jane: 406
Lily: see u in a sec
Shane was watching the door intently. He wanted to see Ilya right now, but didn’t know what to expect. This was a new situation. Ilya was visiting him in the hospital, not under the guise of a captain's visit, or while Shane was drugged out.
“Shane,” Ilya’s voice broke Shane out of his haze,
“Ilya, hi…”
“How are you doing?”
“Physically fine, I mean my ankle does ache, but I've dealt with worse.”
“Hollander, you know that's not what I meant.”
“Well, I'm freaking out, it just came out that we are in a relationship, and then I slip while trying to stop the winning goal. My coach hates me, and now that I'm injured, he has a better excuse to trade me, meaning I will have to uproot my life and adapt to a new routine, in a new city with new teammates,” Shane rambled, words spilling out of him before he even had time to think about it.
“Shane, you don’t even know if you are going to be traded. If you are, we will deal with it, but right now, you need to worry about tonight,” Ilya said.
“What do you mean?”
“Where are you staying? My house is closer, but your parents' house has fewer stairs,” Ilya said
“I don't think I can deal with my mom right now. I love her, but ever since the fanmail video, she has been pitching pride campaigns to me. I know she means well, but I can only hear so much about a specialty pride nike collection before I lose my mind." Shane said with a chuckle.
“My place it is,” Ilya said with a smile, “when are you able to get out of here?”
“I think they wanted to keep me for observation for 3 hours, I'm not sure.”
“3 hours? For a broken ankle?”
“I might have also hit my head on the ice,” Shane said meekly.
“You let me go out and celebrate when you had a possible concussion.”
“I barely hit my head; the NHL is just overly cautious. Especially since my last one.”
“I can't believe you, already keeping secrets,” Ilya teased.
“Fuck you,” Shane replied, lightly smacking Ilya’s arm.
A nurse poked her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but Mr Hollander, you are free to leave if you are feeling alright. You just need to sign out. I'll leave the paperwork here, and here are some crutches. Keep weight off your ankle as much as possible,” she said before leaning the crutches against his bed and handing a clipboard to him, “make sure to call if anything goes wrong,” and with that, she left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Mr Hollander," Ilya teased, “you're getting old enough to be referred to as Mr.”
“We're the same age, dumbass.”
“Let's get you out of here. Mr. Hollander…”
Shane’s adrenaline calmed down when he took in the familiar interior of Ilya's car. The lingering smell of Ilya's cologne cleared Shane's nose of the sickly, sterile smell of the hospital. Sometime over the drive to Ilya's house Shane had fallen asleep.
“Shane,” Ilya whispered, placing his hand on Shane's thigh. “Come on, we got to get you inside, then you can sleep all you want.”
“Let me stay here,”
“Shane, I am not letting you sleep in my car. Come on.”
“Fine”
After the struggle to get Shane up the porch steps, Ilya sat him down on the couch.
“Okay, now you can sleep,” Ilya said softly, before walking away
“No, Ilya, stay here. Don't go,” a sleepy Shane whined
“I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Fine, don't take too long,”
Ilya went up the stairs, keeping an eye on Shane to make sure he wasn’t going to get up. He gathered up pillows and blankets to bring to Shane. Then he changed out of the shirt he was wearing and his jeans. Opting for a pair of sweats and a random T-shirt, he grabbed from his closet.
Once he got downstairs, Shane was fast asleep. He carefully put one of the pillows beneath Shane's head, and the other he put under Shane's leg. He remembered reading somewhere that you should elevate broken limbs. Then he tucked Shane underneath the blanket, making sure he stayed warm. Then he took Shane's phone and hid it, then he told Yuna that if she needed something, to text him. Ilya knew what social media was going to say. Since it was what they thought was going to happen after their relationship went public.
The next morning, Ilya’s phone was blowing up. First from Yuna
Yuna Hollander
Yuna: bad news, (link to news article)
Yuna: The voyageurs are not going to renew Shane's contract
Ilya: fuck thats bad, this was what he was worried about.
Ilya: and for a bullshit reason to
Ilya: I can't believe that.
The next thing Ilya knew, people were texting in the team group chat.
Ottawa Centaurs
Harris: I heard the news. I'm so sorry.
Troy: What's going on
Hayes: shanes contract is not going to be renewed.
Troy: shit, for what, falling once?
Ilya: The official reason was “his injury was worse than originally thought, and we are not sure how he is going to perform after recovery.”
Ilya: Which is bullshit. They traded him because of his relationship
Troy: That's illegal; they can't fire him for being gay.
Ilya: But now they have plausible deniability because of the injury.
Harris: emergency team meeting, ill text updates.
Hayes: We all know what that is about
Troy: I hope it's what I think it is.
How was Ilya going to tell Shane what happened? He had devoted his life to the voyageurs, and they tossed him aside like he was disposable? He led that team to two Stanley Cups, and this is what he's become. This situation is so unfair to both Shane and the fans of hockey.
Once Shane woke up, he noticed there was something wrong. Ilya was fuming, talking on the phone in Russian. He caught a few phrases like “this is so unfair, I can’t believe this,”
“Ilya, what's wrong?” Shane said before yawning
“He's awake, got to go.” Ilya said into the phone before saying, “Svetlana was checking in on you; she saw the news.” This confused Shane because why would someone call over a broken ankle?
“Shane, there is something you need to know,” Ilya said softly
“What is it?”
“The voyageurs decided not to renew your contract.”
“What?” Shane exclaimed, staring forward. This is exactly what he feared would happen. “For what?”
“Officially because of your injury, unofficial because of us,” Ilya said, “I'm sorry, I know how much that team meant to you.”
“That's absolute bullshit,”
“I know it is. However, Harris thinks that the centaurs are going to try to sign you.”
“Really,”
“Yeah.”
Ilya pulled Shane into his arms, “Shane, I know you, you are the best hockey player ever. You will get through this. I'll be by your side the whole time. Every step of the way, I will help you with whatever you need.”
“I hope you're right, but what if I don't mesh with the team. I've been playing with one team my whole career. What if I don't know how to change my playing style to better fit with the team?”
“Trust my Shane. I believe you will be just fine.”
They sat together, Shane crying into Ilya’s chest and Ilya’s hand rubbing circles in Shane's back. Once Shane was calmed down, he knew what he needed to do.
“Can I have my phone? I know you took it to stop me from spiralling, but I need to call Hayden,” Shane told Ilya
“Yeah, one sec,” Ilya said before going upstairs to retrieve Shane's phone.
“You're such a bitch,” Shane said with a laugh
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Ilya teased, handing Shane his phone.
“I'm on crutches, I can't go up stairs.”
“Ah, that, I know. That's the reason I put it up there,”
“I hate you,”
“I know for a fact that you don't mean that,” Ilya pointed to his engagement ring to prove a point.
Shane sighed and looked down at his phone, which was blowing up. Almost everyone in his contacts was texting him about what happened.
The first thing he did was open the phone and call Hayden, who picked up on the first ring.
“Shane, I'm so sorry,” Hayden said immediately. “This was all my fault.”
“We have been over this, it's not your fault.”
“I know, but I still feel guilty, first I outed you to the public, and now you're being kicked off the team.”
“It's not your fault I'm kicked off the team. At this point, I think the coach just hated me. Even before everything,”
“I'm still sorry,” Hayden whispers, breaking the silence.
“Don’t be, besides, I know someone who deserves to be a captain now that my spots open.”
“I don't know, I was thinking of retiring now, especially after everything. I don't know if I still want to be associated with Montreal after everything that has happened.”
“Hayden, I'll support whatever decision you make. But don't feel the need to quit the team for me. If this is your choice, go ahead.”
“I think Jackie needs more help with the kids. I think the twins are going to start playing hockey soon.”
“If they do, you have to send me a schedule,” Shane said with a chuckle. "But seriously, Hayd, this isn’t your fault. Besides, I think this change is going to be really positive.”
“How so?”
“Ilya told me he thinks that the Ottawa Centaurs are going to try to sign me. So I'll have more time to spend with Ilya.”
“That's great, sorry Shane, I would love to talk longer, but Amber is crying, I'll talk to you later, bye.”
“Bye,” Shane said, hanging up the phone.
Once Shane's phone was in his hand, he was tempted to open Twitter and see what people were saying about his fall. He knew it wasn’t going to be good because it's Twitter. People on there have bad opinions on everything. He knew some people were going to argue that he fell on purpose and demand that he get kicked out of the NHL, which is why he was able to stay off the app; he already knew what they were going to say. Shane didn’t need to read what other people were saying when he already thought everything they could say himself.
“You done on the phone?” Ilya asked, coming in from the garage, ginger ale in hand.
“Yeah,” Shane said, handing Ilya his phone, “can you put this back up? I don't think I could handle social media right now.”
“Of course,” Ilya replied, swapping the phone for the ginger ale in his hand, I got this for you.”
“Thanks,” Shane said, before opening the can. “I love you, Ilya,”
“I love you too, Shane,” Ilya said before placing Shane's phone on top of the fridge.
“Seriously? Is that your best hiding spot?” Shane asked. "I can reach it up there."
“Well, I'll just have to make you forget where I hid it,” Ilya declared, stalking over to the couch.
Soon, both their phones were forgotten, Shane's on top of the fridge, and Ilya’s somewhere on the floor.
Ottawa Centaurs
Harris: So big new guys
Troy: What is it
Harris: The centaurs have made an offer to get Shane on our team
Harris: Now all that needs to happen is that Shane needs to accept it.
Hayes: That's great, i cant wait to play with him
Troy: Maybe we will be a better team now
Hayes: Maybe
Harris: i cant wait to see if he accepts our offer
Troy: babe we both know he is going to
Harris: yeah i know