Work Text:
Ilya had been thrown into a last minute meeting and Shane had just arrived in Ottawa. According to his boyfriend there was no food in the house and Shane didn’t particularly feel like cooking either. He decided to find a cafe somewhere close both to the rink and Ilya's house where he could eat while he waited. They were public friends and Shane's parents did still live there so it wouldn't be that weird if Shane was seen in Ottawa or if he was seen with Ilya. He took a chance.
Once he’d placed his order he looked around only to notice that all of the tables were occupied. Shane groaned inwardly and scanned the room again. There was a kid sitting in a booth towards the back who looked busy either drawing or writing something. He couldn’t be much older than Shane's rookies so he figured that was the safest option. He walked over to the table and cleared his throat quietly.
“Hey, Can I sit here, everywhere else is full?” The kid didn’t even look up from what shane now could see was a sketch book when he replied.
“Hmm? Oh yea” He gestured to the seat and then didn’t seem to care anymore after that. Shane relaxed, feeling the anxiety drip out of him as he sat down. He pulled out his own laptop and started typing away on it. He didn’t pay much attention to what was happening around him, too focused on what he was writing. At some point he received his food but he couldn’t pinpoint the second it happened. About 30 minutes into it the kid's voice startled him out of his focus.
“What are you writing?” There was curiosity there Shane could tell, he glanced up to see the kid was staring at his drawing wide eyed and blushing and Shaen assumed the kid had not meant to ask. Shane's lips twitched into a smile and he looked back at his screen considering what to say that could explain what he was writing without giving himself away.
“Oh nothing important really, just this short story..” he trailed off looking at the kid who had very obviously relaxed by now and was smiling knowing into his sketchbook. He hummed and Shane quickly looked down hiding behind his hair as the kid glanced at him. He hoped desperately that he wouldn’t look long enough to recognize him.
“Ao3 or wattpad?” Shane froze for half a second before he realised that it’d take one to know one for a question like that. He looked up and the kid was back to drawing so he relaxed again.
“Ao3, tried the other but it was too messy and didn’t have as much of what I wanted.” The kid covered his mouth as he laughed quietly.
“Fair enough. Wattpad is messier but i know people who prefer it so each to their own I guess.” Shane shuddered visibly at that.
“Yea, I know, I have a friend on Tumblr who refuses to even try Ao3 no matter how hard I try to convince them they just won't." The kid groaned letting his head hit the table.
“I know” He wined “Me too it's so annoying” He lifted his head and held out his hand “My name’s Luca by the way, I feel like we are forced to be friends now that we have bonded over having stubborn friends on tumblr.” Shane bit his lip genuinely considering giving a false name bit thinking better of it. Then again if this kid were to tell anyone no one would believe him anyway.
“Yea probably, I’m Shane.” At last the kid looked up and they made eye contact. Shane could see the second the last puzzle piece fell into place as Luca recognized him. His eyes ran over his face in disbelief then surprisingly quickly his shoulders fell and he grinned mischievously. It was scarily similar to the way Ilya did it.
“Never look up your own name on Ao3, it will scar you for the rest of your life.” Shane blinked once in surprise then he laughed shaking his head. He grinned at Luca and raised an eyebrow.
“Several years too late for that.” Lucas' eyes widened in horror.
“No, no.” He looked slightly hysterical as he looked between Shane and the laptop in front of him. “Please tell me you’re not avidly on there.” Shane did the closest he's ever gotten to ever giggling in public right then which only seemed to deepen Luca’s horror.
“It’s entertaining how wrong people are about certain things, others are pretty accurate at times but still. Sometimes they get hockey so wrong it makes me want to cry though.” Luca got over his horror surprisingly quickly because he sighed and nodded sadly.
“I know” He groaned “It pisses me off so badly because the writing and everything can be so good and then you get to a hockey bit and it’s so clear that the author has never in their life even stepped foot in a hockey rink.” Luca, clearly having given up on his drawing for now, said shaking his head in disappointment. Shane hummed and nodded.
“Yea but honestly some of those are the ones with the best depiction of everything else. So there's that.” Luca looked intrigued then, scanning his face for something he bit his lip in consideration.
“Is it weird?” Shane blinked and raised an eyebrow so Luca elaborated. “Is it weird to see people writing like that about you without having any idea of what your life’s really like?” Shane tilted his head to the side vaguely like a puppy Luca noted, as he considered the question.
“The shaydens are weird” Luca snorted and nodded so Shane continued. “The amount of shit Jackie's gotten makes me wanna stay as far away from them as I can. Aside from that though? It’s kinda nice, the way some of them write makes me feel seen in a way most people don’t. It’s like, I can’t show a part of myself or I hide a part of me and I can hide it well enough for it to be safe. But then I can go on there and it’s full of people who don’t care and never will. People who can see past everything I do to hide that and it is something I can never give up now that I’ve found it.” Luca was looking at him with wide eyes that looked suspiciously wet. It made his heart ache slightly.
“Can I hug you?” Luca asked after a second both Luca and Shane blinked in surprise neither clearly having expected the words to leave Lucas' mouth. Shane smiled at him and then nodded. Luca got up and then wrapped Shane in a tight hug that Shane reciprocated equally as tightly when he felt his shit dampen against his skin. Lucas shoulders shook slightly and Shane just held him the same way he would if this kid was one of his rookies. Luca pulled away and his eyes were still wet as he smiled and said.
“That’s like really sad, you know that right?” Shane just smiled and shrugged as if to say ‘what can I do?’ Shane let the kid go and he wiped his eyes as he went back to his seat.
“So I take it you're not a Shayden then?” Luca snorted and shook his head. “What are you then?” Lucas' eyes widened as his cheeks flushed. Shane grinned then his eyes way too knowing for Lucas comfort. “Ahh so a hollanov fan then” Shane teased and Luca flushed even worse as he once again stared at Shane in horror. His mouth hang open slightly, seemingly trying to form words but looking more like a fish out of water. Shane just laughed again and Luca covered his face with his hands trying to hide. It only made Shane laugh harder. Hard enough for him to jump when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Luca looked up when he heard Shane's laughter stop only to be followed by another more huffed laugh.
There with his hand on Shane's shoulder was Ilya Rozanov standing looking at Shane with confused amusement. Luca had no clue what to say because on one hand that was his captain but on the other one, his captain had very obviously not noticed it was him.
“Hi moya lyubov, what’s so funny and who’s your friend?” Shane smiled up at the other man and Luca didn’t know what to do. He didn’t speak Russian but he did read a LOT of hollanov fics and therefore definitely knew ‘my love’ by heart at this point. Aside from that it was the way they looked at each other just then, Shane in particular. Was looking at Rozanov like he’d hung the moon for him. Like he had no reservations of letting what he felt show on his face.
The words Shane had just said rang in his ears. It’s kinda nice, the way some of them write makes me feel seen in a way most people don’t. Here and now Shane was letting him see because even if he tried to hide it Luca would have seen through that mask. Shane smiled softly at the man standing beside him. “Ilya, this is Luca.” He gestured to the blond and Roz looked at him before squinting slightly. He gave him a once over as Shane was packing up his stuff in preparation to leave.
“I know you” Ilya said, causing Shane to pause and look between them. Luca was blushing worse than before looking anywhere but at his boyfriend and Shane frowned about to ask when Ilya snapped his fingers causing the kid to flinch slightly. “You’re Luca Haas, our new rookie aren’t you?” Shane watched as Luca winced and glanced at Shane quickly before nodding. Shane stared for a moment before he grinned slightly more unhinged than before as he looked at him.
“It was nice to meet you, Luca! I guess I’ll see you during the season.” With that Shane left dragging Ilya behind him leaving the rookie standing there panicking.