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By the time that the plane eased into a gentler ascent, Luca was already nose-deep in his Tumblr account. So many notifications were waiting behind that dark blue icon: asks, reblogs, likes, and him being tagged.
It’d only taken him about two months to become one of the big-name #hollanov fan accounts. This sudden rise to fame had begun incidentally. He’d signed up for Tumblr to follow what hockey fans would say about Shane signing with Ottawa, anxious that people might vilify him and worried about how that would make Ilya feel. The many, many hours Luca spent on planes gave him plenty of time to find like-minded users to yap about.
Then maybe Luca had reblogged too many things and used some interesting tags. Maybe he’d talked about hockey too accurately.
At any rate, active blogs hanging out in tags like #hollanov, #cens, and #ottawa centaurs had all come to know @airplanes-and-hockey, one of the funniest rebloggers and the most insightful hockey commentators, who seemed to post everything with a queue.
No one really knew when he’d be online, which was why he was being tagged more and more. Other fans didn’t want him to miss any posts.
Luca glanced behind his shoulders; no one was paying attention to him. On the next seat, Bood had fallen asleep, a ball cap over his forehead. And Luca was grateful that Shane and Ilya were sitting in the row in front of him, not behind.
Accepting a cup of water from the flight attendant with a happy smile, Luca took a sip before navigating to his notifications.
He answered a few good-faith asks about hockey, pushing for a narrative that the Centaurs were closer than ever to the playoffs this year given the addition of Shane Hollander, made fun of an anonymous user who questioned if Ilya was injured (seriously, why would he be? had anyone watched how fast he’d moved on the ice last night? Luca shook his head—maybe some fans of the other teams were jealous of the Centaurs’ performance this season), and then…
He noticed a very recent notification that was taking his breath away. His pulse quickened.
And Luca’s vision turned blurry for a second before going back to normal. He questioned if, this high in the air, the plane had somehow taken him to an alternate reality.
“omg, #hollanov sex tape leaked!! watch it now!”
From only an hour ago, the post had already gotten hundreds of likes and reblogs, and @airplanes-and-hockey was tagged.
The air punched out of Luca’s stomach.
His first instinct was to tap Shane and Ilya on their shoulders and hand his phone over to them through the small gap in between the headrests in front of him, but that was not the wise thing to do, he wagered. Shane would stare at him with his large brown eyes—he probably had no idea what Tumblr even was, and Ilya would also stare, only his eyes would glint a kind of blue as pretty as the sky outside the plane, one that had never failed to make Luca’s stomach swirl.
Shane and Ilya would then wonder why Luca was on Tumblr stalking their tag in the first place, and—did they even know that such a tag like #hollanov existed? That there was a vibrant fan community that loved them? And then they might realize Luca was very much a fanboy of them, as a couple. That was something he was not ready to discuss with his captain.
Luca’s forehead started getting sweaty.
And how did such a thing, a freaking sex tape, get leaked in the first place? Had… Ilya and Shane recorded themselves? Did they do that a lot? Luca could sense his cheeks heating up at the mere thought of it, not to mention what exactly would be in their sex tape.
He glanced forward: it looked like Shane was sleeping, head leaning on Ilya’s shoulder, and Ilya was reading something on his phone.
Thankful for his window seat, which meant his teammates were less likely to see him, Luca put his phone down on the tray table, one elbow covering the screen from the aisle and Bood next to him, lowered the screen’s brightness, and turned the volume all the way down in case it really was a video. And he discreetly drew up the hood of his hoodie, letting the soft fabric drape over the side of his face.
Strangely, the post wasn’t behind a mature filter. All the same, Luca couldn’t breathe. His finger shivered, but he had to see what it was.
Once he clicked on the post, though, it seemed to be… a set of gifs, arranged in an aesthetic grid. Luca didn’t think he had any time to read the tags at the bottom of the post. He’d watch the gifs and come to his own conclusions.
Heartbeat drumming in his ear, his toes going numb, Luca opened the first gif.
It was Ilya waving to the front camera of his phone. Wearing a low-cut white silk shirt that shamelessly showed his pecs, he smiled a crooked smile that had always brought a flush to Luca’s face when he’d watched Ilya’s interviews as a teenager.
Luca felt his blush deepen even now. Maybe he’d always have these bizarre feelings for his captain.
Then Ilya flipped the camera, and it showed a sweeping view of an outdoor dining table basked in the soft flickering light of tea candles in early evening. On the table, there were also a vase of pink and red roses, carefully arranged dishes, a pitcher of water, a bucket of ice, empty glasses, and a bottle of wine. And something very out of place in this elegant setting—a can of ginger ale.
Well, good, at least it didn’t start off with sex. Luca blew out a breath, loosening his fingers from the sleeve of his hoodie.
Would this be considered foreplay? Luca wondered. Something beginning outside the bedroom? He didn’t really have much experience with this sort of thing. Ilya could teach him one day, probably, if he wouldn’t die of embarrassment to ask for Ilya’s advice.
Scrolling to the second gif didn’t feel any easier, but Luca was too invested now. He couldn’t stop.
It was Shane sliding open the glass door and stepping onto the patio. Surprise flickered across his face when he looked toward the table, and the camera (and Ilya) approached him. Shane was blushing and gesturing awkwardly and adorably, and Ilya was taking off Shane’s jacket from his broad shoulders.
For some reason, this began to feel less and less like a sex tape. Or maybe Luca just didn’t have any frame of reference.
Was this how it usually worked? People spending a lot of time, being… sweet and romantic, before they’d get to the point? Luca put a hand to his chin, wondering. Sex really was more complicated than he thought.
In the next gif, Ilya and Shane sat down, and Ilya was holding the camera close to Shane’s face. Shane rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth curved up into a soft smile. Ilya put some ice cubes into a tall glass and popped open the can of ginger ale, then he was pouring it and handing the glass to Shane, who was regarding Ilya with a soft light in his eyes.
Oh, right, Luca remembered that he’d never seen Shane drink anything alcoholic when the team had gone out to Monk’s. He wondered if other #hollanov fan accounts noticed the same thing, that Shane liked ginger ale. It’d be fun to make headcanons about that, but he needed to be careful not to mention himself knowing the real-life Shane. There was always the risk of Luca slipping.
And a nervous energy kept buzzing in Luca’s brain: what if the next gif would go straight into sex? The tension in his stomach lingered.
He swallowed and scrolled again.
The camera swam over Shane, showing the stack of rings on his strong hands, the muscles in his arms, ending up on the half-exasperated smile on his firm lips. Ilya reached out a hand and brushed a strand of Shane’s hair away from his eyes. For the first time, Luca saw that Shane had faint dimples. What the camera captured were details that only someone deeply in love with Shane could notice.
Luca’s heart melted, which carried some of his nerves away. His captain could be that romantic?
Finally, in the last gif, Ilya switched the view back to himself, another charming smile gracing his lips. He spoke, and the purple subtitles on the gif read, “Thank you for watching! It’s Pride Month! Donate to Pride please and I’ll film Shane being sexy and cute again!”
Oh.
Oh…
Luca’s eyes widened, his face red, but this time it was because he suddenly realized how stupid he was—he really should have read the tags at the bottom of the original post. Hurriedly, he exited the gifs and scrolled down to the gray font.
“#this is hella romantic I’m going to die #sorry I called it a sex tape when it’s not #but Ilya would kiss me on the cheek I fear because he’ll agree #so Ilya Rozanov sent this video to a 2SLGBTQI+ org in Ottawa for pride #he asked the org to post the video and get engagement #and said he’d match all the donations #and he’s open to making another video like this one #hollanov fans let’s mobilize for another video of our beloved hockey husbands plz #pleaaaase I’m begging you #when can I find a guy like this??? #dating apps suck #I want to do unspeakable things to Ilya things that make my irl friends shake in fear #and to Shane too #I need his freckles omg #hollanov #Centaurs #Ottawa Centaurs #cens #hockey #pride #Ilya Rozanov #Shane Hollander #tagging all my hockey moots for boosting #plz repost!!!! #also Ottawa is the best place on earth #change my mind #mygifs #hollanovedit #ilyarozanovedit #shanehollanderedit”
Finally, Luca let out the breath that he’d been holding.
There was no sex tape, no looming public relations disaster, no need to hand his phone over to his captain, wake Shane up, and explain what he’d been spending his time on during these plane rides.
He could see that Ilya had wrapped an arm around Shane’s shoulder, their temples touching.
Luca felt a smile tugging at his lips, and he hit the reblog button:
“#so mushy i almost cried #running to make my donation #signal boooooost!! #i love being a hollanov fan #they’re literally so cute together #thank you for tagging me!! love you my mutual #watch the next cens game please #we’ll win i know it #hollanov #centaurs #ottawa centaurs #cens #hockey #pride #pride month #hollanov gifs”
It was one of the rare posts that he didn’t put into his queue for it to go out later—glancing up at the mix of blond and jet black hair in front of him, Luca reblogged right away. He went to the website of the organization next and made a sizable donation. If what he’d donated wasn’t enough to hit the target for Ilya to make another cute video, Luca was determined to personally make up the difference.
The rest of the flight saw Luca smiling at his phone like an idiot. More notifications poured in from his followers, mutuals, and other Tumblr users—people really loved this gif set of Ilya’s video. More posts of the video and more gifs emerged. Gifmakers on Tumblr really moved fast. Before the plane landed, tags like #ilya rozanov, #shane hollander, and #ottawa centaurs went trending.
Luca saw Ilya pressing his lips against Shane’s cheek as the plane began its descent, and Shane nuzzled him, stretching out his arms in the front, yawning.
If any of Luca’s Tumblr mutuals knew that he was sitting so close to Shane and Ilya, that he knew them in real life… Luca chuckled silently.
He’d never loved being a hockey player more.
When the seat-belt sign went off, and everyone started standing up, Ilya turned to look at Bood and Luca with a smile, which was as playful as the smile on his face in the video. He was so handsome. Luca’s heartbeat picked up. It was so stupid, but he couldn’t help it.
The team went out to a bar that night; Wyatt had heard about it from a friend. As everyone hung out and chatted, Luca made his way to Ilya. Shane, sipping slowly on a glass of ginger ale, stood next to him.
“That video you made for Pride? For charity? It’s really awesome,” Luca said nervously, his fingers tightening around his drink. “Do you know you two are trending?”
“Oh?” Ilya quirked up an eyebrow and smiled at Luca. “You watched it? Shane looked super cute in it, yes?”
Shane tilted his head like he was confused, then his cheeks flushed a moment later.
“Wait wait wait… Ilya, you already posted it?” said Shane, one hand on Ilya’s arm.
“Yes, they need the video at the start of Pride Month, so there will be time for enough donations,” Ilya said.
He reached out to brush aside Shane’s hair, which was long and soft, from his eyes, the same gesture from the video.
Behind the paper straw of his ginger ale, Shane grumbled unintelligibly, his face still pink.
“Um,” Luca said, feeling like he should be the one to re-direct the conversation, “the video is very popular—that was how I found out about it, obviously. And I donated. That’s a very cool cause.”
He really hoped that his explanation would be enough. Please don’t ask about where I saw the video, Luca thought, praying to any deities that would listen.
“You know, maybe I should make some videos of my own,” said Shane in a brighter voice. “Yeah, that’s right. I can follow Ilya around the house, like him exercising and sweating, and cooking, and do something like this of my own. Start another Pride donation campaign and match the donation at the end.” Smiling, Shane poked Ilya in the ribs with his elbow.
“Hmm, you’re serious, Hollander? You want to challenge my video?” asked Ilya, his eyes mischievous and wide as he pretended to be shocked, and he pointed to himself.
“Yes, Rozanov,” Shane said immediately, “and I think I’ll win. So many people want to see you all sweaty, you know.”
“Oh, so I have to take off my shirt for camera?” Ilya said with a soft laugh. “You want your husband to do that?”
“You wouldn’t? Not even for me?” Shane shook his head. “Come on, you already show your chest in a lot of interviews.”
Luca knew they’d forgotten that he existed, so he stood there, enjoying the rock music playing in the bar, watching Shane and Ilya exchanging glances and making, fun of each other.
And Luca was smiling, too.
He needed to share the video (the original version posted by the organization on Instagram, of course) in the team group chat and get everyone else to make a donation. They’d love this video, and the next one.