Chapter Text
Ping. Ping. Ping. Ping.
Cliffs phone chirped from somewhere on the coffee table that was currently piled with pizza boxes and unopened beers that they were about to crack open. The beer and the carbs were necessary after the absolutely brutal game they played against Montreal tonight. It was neck and neck the whole game but Boston ended up losing in the last twenty seconds when damned Hollander scored what should have been an impossible goal.
The team had been planning on going out if they won but their spirits were dampened by the loss. Roz probably could have rallied everyone but he seemed distracted in the locker room afterwards with his eyes on his phone while he excused himself from any bar they were planning to go to. Not long after he darted from the locker room without another word to anyone.
A couple of the younger guys decided to rally and were heading to a new club downtown but the rest of the team ended up heading home. Cliff was planning to have a drink or two before crawling into bed but St. Simon offered to order some pizzas if he could come over for a bit. His wife was out of town and Cliff knew he was feeling a bit lonely so he let him invite himself over.
So now here they were plopped onto his couch about to dig into the pizzas. He moved a box out of the way trying to locate his phone that was pinging again. He finally found it shoved under a pile of napkins and unlocked it to see it was Roz messaging.
Roz: You get migraines yes?
Roz: Is there a med I should take?
Roz: What can I do to make it better?
Roz: ??????
Huh.
Roz never mentioned getting headaches before, let alone migraines, but maybe this was his first one. He thought back to his captain rushing out of the locker room, maybe it had been starting then. No wonder he hadn’t wanted to go out.
Cliff unfortunately was well acquainted with headaches and migraines so he knew why Roz was messaging him directly for advice instead of the team chat.
Cliff: Prescription meds are best, I’m guessing you don’t have any? Take some Advil and chug a bunch of water. If you are feeling nauseous take Gravol too. Not much else to do besides lay down in the dark and try to sleep.
Ping.
Roz: No prescription. I will do rest.
Cliff: How bad is it?
Unlike the instant response to the first text no typing bubbles appeared. He waited a few more seconds but when nothing happened he put his phone back down.
He let out a growl of annoyance at his friend, too independent for his own good.
“What’s up?” Vic asked with a mouth full of pizza.
“Roz messaged, thinks he has a migraine. Asking what he can do for it. Had the idiot asked me at the rink I would have given him some of my meds and driven him home.”
Vic rolled his eyes but didn’t seem surprised.
He glanced back to his phone in case another text came through but the screen remained blank.
“He seemed okay during the game but if he is actually texting for help it must be bad now.”
Roz’s leg could be hanging off and he would decide to not bring it up to anyone because it was no big deal.
Cliff pictured the way he felt during some of his migraines, the pain, the nausea, the vomiting if they were particularly bad. Sometimes his vision was affected which was terrifying the first time it happened. He hated the idea of Roz being home alone right now.
“I asked how bad it was but he stopped texting. Maybe we should take some meds out for him? Make sure everything is alright?”
“Probably a good idea, the idiot could be dying and he wouldn’t call us until he had one foot in the grave.” Vic agreed easily finishing off his pizza slice quickly before he shut the box and gathered them up.
Cliff went into his cabinet and dug out an unopened box of medication before he took the pizzas from Vic and shoved them into the oven so his cat couldn’t get into them while they were gone.
“I sent him a text to say we are on the way and asked if he wants anything else. He probably won’t answer but you know how he gets if we show up uninvited.”
Cliff snorted remembering a couple months back when Hammersmith showed up without warning to grab his wallet that he forgot at Roz’s the night before. Roz had left him waiting in the rain for at least ten minutes before opening the door and tossing his wallet at his head before slamming the door in his face with a “call first next time”.
“Migraines are such bullshit man, he will be happy as fuck to see us if we have something to help.”
Fifteen minutes later they were pulling into Roz’s driveway. The house was in complete darkness which Cliff expected. Killing the engine they headed to the front door and knocked quietly. No sound came from within the house, maybe he managed to fall asleep?
“Alright let’s just go in and check his isn’t on the floor somewhere and leave your meds. You know the code to the door right?”
Cliff nodded and reached out to type in the code Roz shared with him in case of an emergency. He remembered the warm and fuzzy feeling it gave him to know he was the only guy on the team who knew it. That warm fuzzy feeling must have translated onto his face that day because Roz had glared at him before telling him to fuck off.
1-4-1-0
The door beeped and the light turned green as it unlocked.
“What’s 1410?” Vic asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No idea”
Cliff had asked Roz what it meant at the time but he was waved off and didn’t get a response even though a small smile spread onto his friends face.
Shutting the door quietly behind them they headed down the hall towards the main living area. The kitchen was empty along with the couch that Cliff had thought his friend might have been stretched out on. He must be in his bed, shockingly exactly where he was supposed to be.
“Man if he wakes up to us looming over him in bed he’s going to kill us. Bag skates for weeks.” Vic laughed.
“Then let’s keep quiet and hope we can drop these and run.”
They tiptoed up the stairs passing what they knew were doors to a guest room and a bathroom before they came to a stop outside Roz’s bedroom door.
Glancing at Vic with a look that told him to keep quiet he slowly turned the handle and stepped into the room. His eyes needed a moment to adjust to the pure darkness inside. The curtains were firmly shut, no outside light filtering in. He had been in this room plenty of times while waiting on Roz to get ready before they went out but he didn’t want to trip over something on the way to the bed. What was the saying? Don’t wake a sleeping Russian?
Once his vision adjusted he could make out a shape curled up in the bed as he walked forward.
At least he wasn’t up vomiting or curled up on the bathroom floor. Cliff continued forward and placed the box of meds down next to a nearly empty glass of water on the nightstand. He glanced over to make sure he hadn’t disturbed Roz when the pills rattled around in the package and froze.
Where his friends golden curls should have been on the pillow instead there was a shock of black hair. Instead of Roz’s familiar features he was looking at a face full of freckles, a face that he recognized easily as they had been playing against each other only hours earlier.
Shane Hollander.
Shane Hollander was in Ilya Rozanov’s bed.
He felt a presence behind him before a hand was suddenly gripping his shoulder. He looked back to see Vic’s wide eyes staring at him with his mouth open in shock. Cliff felt like his brain was buffering, he couldn’t move.
What in the fuck was Hollander doing in Roz’s bed? Where even was Roz? What was happening?
Suddenly he was being pulled backwards and out of the still cracked bedroom door. He stared at Hollanders sleeping form the whole way out, nearly tripping over his own two feet in the process. Once they were safely in the hall Vic shut the door so carefully you would think it was attached to a bomb.
Honestly it kind of was.
Once the door clicked shut Vic’s shoulders relaxed slightly and he just stared at the closed door.
“Putain de merde” He whispered.
Holy fuck indeed.
Cliff wanted to voice a million questions that were now running through his head but he didn’t think he could keep his voice down. They had to get out of here, they could freak out in the car. They could not freak out here in Roz’s hallway with Hollander barely ten feet away.
“Let’s get out of here” Vic hissed.
Great idea.
They made it down the stairs quickly and were halfway through the living room when a figure appeared in the doorway to the basement.
“Sweetheart? What are you doing up-“
Roz’s words died in his throat as his eyes landed on Cliff before looking past him to Vic.
Sweetheart? Was Roz calling Hollander Sweetheart? That made zero sense but unless there was another random person in this house right now that was the only option.
The three of them stood there staring at each other in silence for at least thirty seconds. Roz’s face was stony as his eyes bounced between his teammates and back towards the stairs.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He finally growled as he stalked forward.
Cliff tried to speak but nothing came out so Vic took over, his voice low.
“You texted about a migraine, then you didn’t answer anymore so we were worried. Cliff had some meds so we thought we should check that you were okay and bring them to you.”
Roz looked like he wanted to throttle them both, he was not impressed by their good deed in the slightest.
“Hey man! You gave me the code for an emergency and this seemed like it counted.”
The look on Roz’s face told him this did not count and that he would be changing his code as soon as possible. Maybe he would only tell coach the new one.
“Did you go in my room?”
His eyes were back on the stairs leading to his bedroom, a careful look on his face.
Cliff thought about lying, they could pretend they hadn’t seen anything and just get the fuck out of here but Roz would know once he saw the package next to Hollander.
“We didn’t”
“We did”
Him and Vic both spoke at the same time. He sighed and turned to glare at Vic.
“He would have known once he saw the meds you idiot.”
“I was trying to get out of here alive man!”
Roz rubbed a hand over his face, his eyes guarded as he pointed to the couch.
“Sit.”
Even thought they were still whispering he managed to use his captains voice which had them stumbled over to the couch and sitting down in two seconds.
Roz followed them over, taking a deep breath before he sat on the arm of the couch.
“I will speak and you will listen. You will not ask questions until I am done. Understood?”
They both nodded quickly and waited. Cliff felt like he could see the wheels turning in his friends head. He opened his mouth before closing it again, rethinking what to say. He did that a few more times before he eventually must have settled on a starting point.
“I am bisexual.”
Cliff blinked.
That wasn’t where he thought this was going to go. Although where he thought this was going to go he wasn’t too sure.
Cliff had only ever seen Roz with women, and there were a lot of them over the years. He seemed to settle down since last year, never taking anyone home or even dancing with anyone while they were out. When he was teased about it he would merely shrug it off and go back to texting on his phone. They all knew who he was texting, the mysterious Montreal Jane. The woman none of them had met, who half the guys were sure didn’t actually exist. If Roz was bringing up being bisexual while Hollander was asleep in his bed….
Montreal Jane.
Montreal. Jane.
Montreal. Shane.
Jesus Christ.
“Thank you for telling us,” Vic chimed in sounding sincere. Right, Cliff needed to get his shit together and show he was supportive.
“Yeah! We love you brother, no matter who you love.”
“I know you said not to interrupt but well, what does his have to do with Hollander?”
Cliff wanted to smack Vic in the head. The look that crossed Roz’s face told him he felt the same.
“How many concussions have you had, Vic?” Roz snapped as he rolled his eyes.
Vic opened his mouth to respond when the noise of a door opening had all of their heads whipping towards the stairs. A creak out of sight told them Hollander was about to come downstairs.
Roz looked panicked, his eyes searching the room before locking onto something behind Cliff’s head.
“Go! Get into the closet. Now! Be quiet!”
When they both stared at him without moving he snapped.
“He already has migraine, he does not need this right now. Get.In.The.Closet.”
They both jumped up and scrambled across the room. Cliff yanked open the closet door and shoved himself inside. Vic elbowed him farther in and smushed himself in as well. The door wouldn’t shut fully with them both in there so Cliff held it as still as possible while they peered out through the remaining crack.
Two seconds later Hollander appeared at the bottom of the staircase with a shaky hand on the railing. He looked miserable with his very pale face, his eyes squinting even though the house was in darkness.
Roz was up off the couch in an instant, crossing the room and letting Hollander lean against him.
“Are you okay? Why are you up?”
He felt Vic tapping his shoulder but he didn’t look at him. He knew what he was so shocked about. Gone was the irritated and cold voice Roz had been using with them, in its place was a tone they never heard Roz use before.
Soft, comforting, fond.
“Ugh, Ilya I’m so sorry. I woke up and ending up vomiting again, I tried to make it out of bed but…”
Hollander trailed off looking embarrassed as his cheeks turned pink.
“Shhhh, its fine sweetheart.”
“I was coming to get new sheet-“
“Shane. Do not worry about that. Let’s go back upstairs, we can sleep in the guest room for the night. I’ll throw the sheets in wash and then I’ll come back to bed with you.”
Hollander still looked distressed so Roz ran a hand along his cheek before placing a kiss on the side of his head.
“Let’s go, moya lyubov’”
Roz glared over to the closet as he led Hollander back up the stairs, using the hand that wasn’t on Hollanders back to point back at the couches.
Cliff was hoping that they could have just left once the coast was clear but apparently that was not in the cards. They waited until they heard the creaking of the stairs stop before they extracted themselves from the closet and returned to the couch.
They both stared at each other in silence before a grin broke out onto their faces.
“Holy shit, man,” Vic whispered as he put his head in his hands.
“My braincells caught up while we were in the closet, Jane has been Shane this whole time right?”
Well at least the concussions hadn’t fucked him up too much.
“I guess so,” Cliff responded.
His brain was busy replaying the last few years in his head. All the times he saw Roz texting Jane, all the nights in Montreal he disappeared, the nights Montreal played Boston and Jane just happened to make it for the game. The way Roz’s eyes latched onto Hollander if he was giving an interview, the way he watched Montreals games more intently than any other team. Cliff had just assumed he was watching to try and get a leg up on Hollander, that whole “keep your friends close keep your enemies closer’ kinda thing.
Well he was dead wrong it seemed.
“He called him my love,” Vic had a stupid smile on his face.
“What? When?” Cliff had been listening intently and he certainly hadn’t heard that.
“The Russian? Maya Lubov, or whatever? I heard him say it to Jane on the phone once, I asked him what it meant and he wouldn’t tell me so I tried to translate it.”
Cliff shook his head at Vic’s antics, but felt himself smile. If Shane was Jane that means these two were hooking up for years, he thought back to the time their plane was grounded because of a blizzard in Montreal and how annoyed Roz seemed by it. Cliff had teased him at the time, told him his girl would get over it. Was that Shane even then? It seemed crazy but he had never seen Roz get worked up about anyone the way he did about Jan- Shane. He was sure that was him even way back then.
They both tensed when footsteps came down the stairs but relaxed once it was revealed to be Roz with a laundry basket. He left the laundry by the stairs and threw himself down onto the couch next to them.
“I have like ten minutes before he will come looking for me. So talk, are you going to be a problem about this? Are you going to tell anyone?” Roz asked his voice flippant as though he didn’t care what they thought of him, but Cliff could see the nervous glint in his eyes. He cared greatly.
“No! Roz we wouldn’t tell anyone. Like I said, whoever you love is okay with us. It’s a little shocking but everything is fine with me.”
Vic nodded along to Cliff’s words before adding his own.
“Dude, how did you manage to snag Hollander?”
Roz actually laughed at that.
“It took many years and a lot of effort.”
Cliff couldn’t help himself,
“That blizzard years ago when you were pissed about not making it to Montreal, were you going to meet up with-“
“Yes, Marly. The blizzard fucked up my plans with Shane.”
“What blizzard? We only missed one game against Montreal and that was like way back in 2011- no! Are you saying you two were together for ten years?” Vic looked like he was about to faint.
“Give or take,” Roz chuckled. “It was not serious for years, we would meet up whenever we played together, not official, yes? Maybe I should say not exclusive instead, we did not say it but it was always serious between us. Then last year after Shane was hurt I went to his cottage instead of back to Russia in the summer. We have been together since.”
Cliff let out a low whistle.
“God damn, Roz. I guess I know why you wouldn’t let us meet Jane.”
“Da. At least I told you how beautiful my Jane was, I was not lying.”
“He literally won hottest man in the NHL multiple times, dude. I would say that’s an understatement.”
Roz smirked at Vic’s words before glancing back up the stairs.
“We can talk about this more tomorrow? I need to go check on him. I have to think about how I’m going to tell him about this in the morning without him freaking out.”
If Roz decided to not tell Hollander about this little breaking and entering fiasco he wouldn’t blame him, maybe he should give him an out.
“If you don’t want to tell him about me and Vic we can keep our faces under control every time we play Montreal.”
Roz hummed but shook his head at the offer.
“Yeah man, and like we said don’t worry. This stays between us no matter what. I’m still processing this whole night but I’m happy for you.”
“I put my box of medication on your nightstand in case he needs it, just say you found some leftover in a cabinet from me crashing here after a night out. Message us tomorrow and we can meet up and talk more about, well everything.”
They all stood and before Roz could go and grab the laundry basket Cliff reached out and pulled him into a hug. Vic joined in squeezing them tightly. Roz let out a sniff before he detached himself.
“Ok, enough feelings. Get out of my house. I will be changing the code because of this.”
“Wait! What does the code mean? It’s about Shane right?”
Cliff watched Roz ponder if he was going to give in before he shockingly did.
“Room number of first hook up. Now get the fuck out.”
They didn’t need to be told again so they made their way out shutting the door quietly behind them before getting into the car. Cliff reversed out of the driveway with his lights off, neither of them saying a word until they were nearly a mile up the main road when Vic broke the silence.
“I think we need to stop for something stronger than the beers back at your place.”
Damned straight.
If Cliff thought he was wired after the game, it was nothing to how he felt right now. Fuck the movie they were planning to watch, they would be spending the rest of the night dissecting the last ten years. Would need to watch videos of Roz and Hollanders interviews over the years, rewatch the helmet kiss from the All Stars game that Carmy still teased Roz about. Would need to rewatch the time Roz stayed on the ice when Marleau checked-
Oh fuck no.
Had he actually knocked out Roz’s damned boyfriend on the ice? No wonder he hadn’t spoke to him for hours after that game.
Cliff cringed, he would have to apologize profusely to his captain tomorrow. If Hollander was still in town he would need to apologize to him again too, maybe he should bring him flowers or some shit? Actually Roz would probably kill him if he gave his boyfriend flowers, he would have to come up with a different tactic.
Both of their phones suddenly pinged and Cliff made use of the red light they were sitting at to glance down at his screen to see a text from Roz.
Roz: 🤫🤫🤫
Roz: 🔪🔪🔪
Roz:☠️☠️☠️