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“Media room in five, or we’re starting without you!”
Harris was booed out of the locker room by the rowdy group of sweaty, half-naked men Luca had the honor of calling his teammates.
It was late-May, the Centaurs had just won the second round of playoffs, and they were gearing up for the Conference Final. They had a few days between the series, so Wiebe had called a light practice, just to keep the rhythm of things before Finals.
The day after they beat Tampa Bay in a solid 4-0 series, Pride Tape had sent Harris all of the media for the Campaign. The plan was that immediately following practice, they were going to sit the team in front of the screen normally meant for play reviews and show them all of the footage Pride Tape captured of Ilya, Shane, Troy, and eventually, Luca.
And Luca would tell his team, Hey, guys. By the way, I’m queer too!
They would cheer, and everyone would have their happily ever after.
A straightforward, foolproof plan.
Straightforward if keeping the team in check wasn’t like herding cats.
“But I need to—” Luca heard a voice protest.
“I don’t give a shit,” Roz said, somehow already fully showered and dressed. “You will be where Harris tells you to be in five minutes. I need you to tell me I’m pretty.”
”It’s a tape session, not a beauty pageant,” Bood quipped. “You don’t need your ego stroked any more.”
Ilya nodded solemnly. “You are right, Bood. I get stroked enough at home. I have a husband to do it for me. Maybe you should ask your wife?”
The entire locker room erupted in hysterics. A few rogue towels flew across the room in Roz’s direction, which he easily avoided. Shane was sitting down in front of his stall with his head in his hands, trying his best to hide the smile growing on his face.
“That’s foul Roz!”
“How does Hollzy even put up with you?”
“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” (That last one was from Bood himself.)
Ilya picked up a towel from the floor and snapped it like a whip. “Enough about me. Sad, I know. But we need to get moving before we are dragged out of here with no clothes on.” He paused before continuing. “Though, I think Dykstra would be fine with that.”
All eyes turned towards Evan Dykstra who was flexing shirtless for a selfie, which Luca assumed was for his wife. When Dykstra noticed the newfound attention his camera skills had gotten him, his entire body turned a violent shade of pink.
“C’mon, man!” He cried. “Cait asked for it!”
Roz considered it for a moment. “Well, if Cait said so…”
The locker room howled. Dykstra tried to wrestle himself into his t-shirt, only to get tied up in it. He had somehow managed to fit his head through an arm hole, and was attempting to shove an arm through a hole that did not currently exist. It looked mildly uncomfortable.
“To think that man is a father,” Holmberg muttered from beside Luca.
“Let’s hope she gets the brains of her mother,” Luca whispered back.
“I’ll drink to that.”
Roz whipped the towel again in hopes to regain some semblance of order.
“Get your asses moving or I’m telling Harris to post your worst image to Twitter.”
The unfortunately very real threat seemed to get the team moving. One time, after Young had accidentally run into Harris and spilled his coffee, there was a video circulating that afternoon of him tripping into a trash can that even he didn’t know about.
Harris may be a sweetheart, but he was brutal and could easily hit where it hurt.
Three (and a half) minutes later, they were all out the door and on their way towards the film room.
Jamie fell into step next to Luca near the back of the pack.
“How are we feeling, babe?” he asked.
“I think…” Luca thought for a moment. “I think I’m at peace.”
His boyfriend raised an eyebrow in surprise. “At peace? Really?”
Luca shrugged. “I’m happy. I want to be able to tell the team that we’re together, and this is the next logical step.”
The first step was when Jamie subtly came out on Twitter a couple weeks after they started dating. He had changed his bio to Second best bisexual on the Centaurs, which caused his agent to call him in a panic.
“Let me live, Joanne,” Jamie defended himself to his agent. “Half of Cens-Twitter doesn’t remember my name. It’s all cool.”
And, it was.
At the start of their next practice, Jamie received pats on the back and a declaration from Rozanov saying that he was proud Jamie knew his place.
Jamie was out, and now it was Luca’s turn.
Jamie looked like he wanted to say something else when two heavy figures slammed into Luca’s back. The force of the collision knocked his glasses slightly askew, so he brought a hand to his face to fix them.
“Why is Harris going all dictator on us about tape?” Young asked, slinging an arm around them, knocking Luca’s raised elbow.
“Yeah,” Holmberg agreed. “He’s there, like, seventeen percent of the time. What gives?”
Right, Luca remembered. Not even his other friends know the truth.
Besides himself and Jamie, Bergy and Young were the other two “kid” on the team. The four of them were often grouped together as one entity when being spoken about. Because of this, they became close friends quickly.
Luca felt bad keeping them in the dark about his and Jamie’s relationship, but the two of them agreed that while their friends were extremely enthusiastic, they also had a hard time keeping things to themselves. The couple were not in the mood to torture their friends, so keeping quiet for the time being it was.
“I don’t know,” Luca said. “He probably needs some content.”
While not necessarily true, it wasn’t false either. Harris was probably going to take some pictures anyway.
“Ugh,” Young whined. “Could he have waited five extra minutes? I need to breathe after practice.”
“You are breathing,” Jamie deadpanned.
“Not with your stink, I’m not.”
“Who are you-”
“And you wonder why we still call you children,” Bood admonished from up ahead.
Jamie, Young, and Bergy all stuck out their tongues in the general direction of the Alternate Captain, while Luca just sighed, bowing his head in shame.
The man Luca chose to date.
The group chattered to themselves for a bit longer before they got to the tape room. Once inside, they noticed that Harris was standing at the front of the room beside the projector wall.
“Welcome!” Harris said, as if he didn’t see them five movies ago. “Take a seat.”
Wyatt gave Harris a side eye. “You look like you’re scheming, Harris. What are we planning here?”
Harris grinned like a maniac. “Well, if you must know, we are gathered here today to get the attention whore out of Ilya’s system so he doesn’t embarrass himself on Twitter, and for the rest of you to feel like you did something productive.”
“Not true!” Ilya argued from his and Shane’s seats in the back. “I am perfectly normal on Twitter.”
“You told a fan to stand up when she said she’d go on her knees for Shane.”
Roz shrugged. “I stand by what I said.”
The team booed, and Luca shook his head. He loved his captain, but the man needed at least some decorum.
“I didn’t mean to start anything,” Harris said, trying to gain control of the room. “We need to get back on track here.”
He clicked a button on the computer in front of him. The screen on the wall changed from pitch black to the first page of a slide deck that depicted the Pride Tape logo.
“Yesterday, I received the final edits from the Pride campaign photoshoot last month!”
The team erupted into a boisterous round of applause, hooting and hollering like they had already won the Stanley Cup. They hadn’t seen the pictures yet, but they were already giving their full support.
In the shadows, Jamie took Luca’s hand in his and gave it a little squeeze.
“I love this team,” he whispered into Luca’s ear.
“They’re a special bunch,” Luca agreed.
The cheering subsided.
“Stop, you’re making me blush,” Harris gushed. “But, seriously. Pride Tape has asked me to review all of the promotional material before they post them, and I don’t want to be scrolling alone in my office, so we’re turning this into a group project!”
Murmurs broke out amongst the group.
“So… we’re just doing your job for you?” Young clarified.
Harris shrugged. “I see it as supporting your fellow teammates, but sure. We can call it that.”
“What do you want us to do?” Dykstra called out.
“Just ooo and ahh where you see fit, and let me know if anything feels off.”
And with that, Harris changes the slide.
The first batch of images were all of Ilya Rozanov. Roz skating with a puck. Roz messing around with Hollzy. Roz acting like it was a sexy ad for Rolex.
And he has commentary for all of them.
“I needed to prove I was fastest with the puck, yes?”
“It was just like our first photoshoot, with CCM!”
“They were wasting my talents! I had to give them at least one sexy pose!”
Without turning around, Luca would hear Shane huff. “No, you really didn’t.”
The next section was Hollzy’s.
“Okay, face card!” Holmberg cheered after the first photo. Shane in the locker room, looking directly into the camera. He was sitting down in his gear, holding his stick which was wrapped in the rainbow tape.
“There’s a reason Mama Hollander whored him out in his twenties!” Chouinard agreed. “Look at that stud!”
Hollzy chuckled awkwardly. “Uh, thanks guys. It’s not really anything to write home about.”
“Not anything- are you joking right now?” Bood protested. “Have you seen—”
“Yes, yes, we all know my husband is hot,” Ilya interrupted with fake annoyance. “But he is just that— my husband. Find one for yourself.”
Jamie nudged Luca in the ribs. “Doing okay?”
Luca rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to check on me every two seconds, Jamie. I’m not going to break.”
Before his boyfriend could say anything else, Young leaned forward over the backs of their chairs. “Whatcha boys whispering about?”
“Your sister,” Luca chirped.
“Hey, don’t bring Shelby into this!” Young complained. “I’ll have you know, she has a loving girlfriend now!”
”Oh shit, she finally asked out—”
“Rooks, care to join us anytime soon?” Harris asked.
“Sorry, Harris,” the boys chorused dutifully.
Besides his own, Luca thought Troy had the best shots. There was one of him wrapping his stick, one of him in center ice, the same stick propped up against his shoulders, and Luca’s personal favorite- Troy walking down the tunnel, effortlessly carrying Harris on his back. They both had goofy smiles on their faces.
“Damn, Barrett,” Wyatt whistled. “I knew you weren’t putting on extra muscle just for show!”
Troy (of course) had picked the seat closest to Harris, and was holding his hand. He shrugged.
“And? What of it?”
Harris bent over and left a kiss on his boyfriend’s forehead.
“You’re very strong, baby.”
Troy preened at the compliment.
Jamie leaned into Luca’s space, which normally didn’t bother him, but Jamie was being incredibly extra that day.
“What, Jamie?” Luca murmured, trying not to cause another distraction.
“Would you lift more to carry me around everywhere?”
Luca couldn’t hold back his scoff as he pushed Jamie’s face away with the palm of his hand.
“Get out of here.”
A heavy sigh filled the room.
“You know,” Harris said. “I expected this from Young and LaPointe. But Luca? Do you have anything to share with the class?”
Jamie opened his mouth to speak, but before he could do so, Luca gave him a flat smack on the back of his head.
“Nope, sorry!” Luca apologized.
His boyfriend rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for?”
Luca shushed him as Harris changed the slide.
The first shot in Luca’s section was the closeup of his skates and the rainbow taped stick. It was fairly nondescript, the only detail pointing to Luca being how large his skates were. His sister constantly called them his “clown shoes,” and growing up, Luca had to agree.
Before any of his teammates could comment on his outrageously large feet, Harris caught Luca’s gaze and cocked his head every so slightly.
You still want to do this? It asked.
Luca nodded, and Jamie rubbed a thumb over his hand.
Yes.
Harris pulled up the next picture.
The photo they decided on to be the thumbnail of Luca’s coming out post didn’t show his face. He was sitting on center ice, looking out towards the stands rather than the camera. He was wrapped in a Progress Pride flag with the Centaur’s logo on it.
Lowkey, yet made a statement.
It took a moment for the team to realize the subject, and when they did, Luca could hear a pin drop.
“Harris?” Bood asked, breaking the silence. “Not that the picture doesn’t look great, but did you mean to show that to us?”
And oh. This was why Luca loved the team so much. Felt comfortable and confident to tell them. They were protective of him. Supportive to the ends of the Earth and wanted to keep him safe.
Jamie squeezed his hold, and Luca stood, holding on to his hand.
“Yeah,” he said to the room. “Harris meant to show that to you all. I’m coming out this summer. After playoffs. With the campaign.”
The team cheered. Granted, they cheered for everything, but this time, knowing it was for him, Luca’s eyes grew watery. The hard part was over. The team had his back.
He looked down at Jamie, who was smiling so wide it looked like it hurt. His eyes were so incredibly soft, Luca was doing everything in his power to not kiss him then and there.
“Holy shit.”
Luca turned to where Young and Holmberg were gaping behind him.
“What?” He asked, worried.
“You motherfuckers,” Bergy gasped.
Jamie pointed to himself. “Me?”
Young threw his head back. “I can’t believe you two.”
Luca was about to tell his friends to shut up when Dykstra spoke up.
“Can we finally talk about it now?”
Luca found his teammate staring pointedly at him and Jamie. He was dumbfounded. How did Dykstra find out? Luca was very strict about limiting PDA while at work until he came out.
He was trying to figure out a way to word the admission so that he wouldn’t give Ilya a heart attack when his boyfriend took it upon himself to announce their relationship to the team.
“Oh,” Jamie said, hopping up out of his seat. “You mean this?”
And he wrapped himself around Luca and gave him the sloppiest kiss on the cheek.
All hell broke loose.
“Are we for real?”
“Dykstra how the fuck did you know?”
“Look at them! They act just like HolRoz!”
“Quit it!” Rozanov’s voice cut through the noise.
He addressed Luca. “Is this real?”
Luca nodded. “Yes.”
To Jamie he then asked. “Are you treating him right?”
Luca giggled while Jamie gasped, affronted. “You don’t trust me?”
Ilya shrugged. “Sure, but I am Haasy’s father. It is my right to ask.”
Luca, whose arms were limp by his sides, finally brought one up to wrap around Jamie. “Yes, Roz. He is very good to me.”
The Captain nodded his head sagely. “Good, good.”
Hollzy swatted at his husband. “Ilya, be nice! Those are our teammates!”
“That’s nice, boys,” Coach said warmly. “Though, as your coach, I have to ask— have you filled out the HR paperwork?”
“Yes, coach,” the boys said dutifully.
“Then you’ll hear nothing more from me.” He paused. “Though, if you two allow this relationship to get in the way of the game, we’re playing rock, paper, scissors to decide who gets traded.”
Wiebe said it in a joking manner, especially since they had a married couple on the team, but Luca still started to panic.
“We are real, mature adults, Coach” Jamie announced, pulling Luca even closer than before. “I think we’ll be fine.”
And yeah.
They were going to be fine.