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The locker room was loud after practice, full of the usual chaos and banter they had all grown to love and appreciate, even if things tended to get loud and messy fast.
It was, also, Ilya's birthday.
Which was exactly why everyone should have been suspicious when he stood up on a bench and announced, "As birthday boy, I have a request."
A chorus of groans immediately followed.
"No," Shane tried to intervene before Ilya even had the chance to explain.
Ilya dramatically pointed at him, "You don't even know what I was going to say."
"I know you, that’s enough,” Shane sighed, shaking his head a little.
Ilya just grinned and continued as if nothing had happened.
"For my birthday," he declared, spreading his arms, "I should receive one kiss from every teammate."
The room exploded.
Harris nearly dropped his phone laughing, because of course. Shane, on the other hand, didn’t even know what to say, trying to glare at their teammates, because surely, surely they wouldn’t let him get away with this, right?
Instead, Wyatt shouted, "I think the birthday boy gets whatever he wants."
"Thank you, Hayes,” Ilya nodded towards him, looking validated.
Harris didn’t even wait for everyone else to join in before he started filming, "Oh, this is definitely going online."
"Please don't encourage him," Shane weakly argued, knowing by now this was a losing game, with how everyone was cheering at the idea.
Ilya easily hopped down from the bench and positioned himself in the middle of the room.
Then he dramatically puckered his lips, waiting for everyone else to get going.
"No way this is happening," Shane muttered.
It absolutely happened.
One by one, their teammates formed a line. Most of the kisses landed on Ilya’s cheek, some on the forehead, a few daring ones on his lips. All of them were accompanied by cheers, some of them by exaggerated declarations of love for their team captain.
A few were accompanied by exaggerated declarations of love or playful flirts.
Ilya soaked up every second of it.
Harris narrated the whole thing, realising this would do numbers on their socials as he watched the delightful chaos unfold.
The line kept moving until it was Luca’s turn. Up until now, he had been laughing with everyone else, but now several teammates started paying attention, because he suddenly looked very aware that all eyes were on him now.
He froze for half a second, then came face to face with Ilya, who smiled at him.
He wasn’t teasing, though, just waiting. Patiently. Calmly.
Luca's ears turned pink, then the blush spread all the way down his neck.
"Oh my God," Harris quietly cackled from behind the camera, "Look at him."
"Leave him alone," Ilya said.
That only made Luca blush harder, but Harris immediately shut up, noticing the tone in Ilya’s voice. The one that left no room for teasing or bantering, even if harmless and playful.
After a brief moment of visible internal panic, Luca stepped forward and carefully leaned in, pausing briefly, as if to contemplate where to kiss Ilya.
He decided on a quick peck on his lips, barely a second before he stepped back again.
The room cheered, someone shouting, “Rookie got balls”, though it barely registered with Luca.
Luca looked like he wanted to disappear on the spot, but Ilya’s lips simply curled into a smile.
Interesting.
Finally, there was only one teammate left.
Shane.
The room immediately grew louder.
"Kiss!"
"Kiss!"
"Kiss!"
Shane rubbed a hand over his face, shaking his head at their teammates once again.
"I hate all of you."
"You love us," Ilya stated with a grin.
"I’m not so sure of that right now,” Shane sighed, but walked over anyway.
Ilya's expression softened then, and the teasing stopped, if only for a moment.
Then Shane grabbed the front of his shirt and kissed him.
Properly. Not a quick peck. Not something meant for the camera.
The locker room erupted.
Several teammates were shouting, and someone else started whistling.
Harris nearly dropped his phone again.
The video cut off with the team still cheering, and the fact that neither Shane nor Ilya seemed particularly interested in ending the kiss any time soon.
Some time later, the locker room had gone quiet, with most of their teammates having headed home already.
The laughter from Ilya's birthday stunt still seemed to hang in the air, though. Harris's video had already made the rounds through half the team, immortalising the moment when Ilya had somehow convinced an entire NHL locker room to line up and kiss him for his birthday while Shane had watched it all unfold with increasingly visible despair crossing his features.
Now, however, there were only Ilya, Luca, and Shane left.
Luca sat at his stall, methodically packing away his gear, though he had been moving much more slowly than usual. Across the room, Shane was organising his own equipment while Ilya pretended to do the same. Emphasis on pretending, because every few moments his gaze drifted back toward Luca, who tried to ignore the lingering looks from his captain.
Eventually, Ilya stopped moving around his gear and crossed the room, sitting down on the bench next to Luca, resting his forearms on his knees.
"Hey."
Luca looked up, looking slightly startled.
"Hey."
For a moment, neither of them said anything. Then a slow smile spread across Ilya's face as he directly looked at Luca.
"You liked the kiss, didn't you?"
Luca froze. For a horrifying second, his brain simply stopped functioning.
"What?"
"The birthday kiss."
The heat immediately rushed back into Luca’s cheeks.
"No."
Ilya's smile only widened.
"You did."
"I didn't."
"You absolutely did."
Luca groaned and dropped his head into his hands.
"Oh my God."
A soft laugh escaped Ilya’s lips, but the teasing only lasted for a moment before his expression softened again.
"Hey,” Ilya brought his attention back towards him before he could spiral. Luca reluctantly looked up, unsure what he would find in Ilya’s face at the involuntary admission.
"It's okay."
"It is not,” Luca shook his head, clearly mortified. This was his captain, after all. His very much taken captain, nonetheless.
"It is."
The reassurance in his voice made Luca pause. Before he could respond, Shane joined them, settling onto the bench beside Ilya with an ease that suggested they had discussed this before.
Which, as it turned out, they had, and Luca wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about that.
"We noticed a while ago," Shane gently chimed in.
"A while ago?" Luca stared at him in disbelief.
Shane briefly exchanged an amused glance with Ilya before nodding, "Quite a while ago."
"Oh my God,” Luca looked like all of his worst nightmares had come true now, burying his face in his hands.
"Don’t worry, it wasn’t obvious to anyone else," Shane reassured him.
For a few seconds, nobody spoke. There was no judgment in the silence, though, only patience. Understanding.
Eventually, Luca lowered his hands again, noticing how neither of them looked uncomfortable.
If anything, they looked almost relieved. The realisation hit him harder than anticipated, feeling a nervous flutter in his chest, because for months now he had been carrying around the certainty that if they ever figured it out, everything would become awkward.
He was sure he would lose whatever friendship had begun to form between them, that they would tell him how weird he was for having a crush on them.
Instead, both of them were looking at him with an almost startling gentleness.
"We're not upset," Ilya said quietly.
Luca blinked, "You're not?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
"No,” a small smile appeared on Shane's face at that, and something inside of Luca’s chest began to loosen.
Not completely, but enough for now. Enough that he could breathe a little easier, could think more clearly again, as much as the situation allowed for anyway.
Ilya glanced toward Shane before looking back at Luca.
Then he said, "We're having dinner at our place tonight."
Luca frowned slightly, unsure of what he was trying to tell him.
"You should come."
The invitation hung between them, and Luca immediately looked from one to the other, uncertainty flickering across his face.
Before his thoughts could spiral again, Shane elaborated, not wanting Luca to feel overwhelmed or intimidated, because he could already see Luca trying to figure out what this meant.
"Just so we're clear," he explained, "This isn't us inviting you over with expectations."
Luca's shoulders immediately relaxed. Not that he was entirely opposed to expectations, but this was still a lot to process at once.
"We mean dinner," Shane continued. "Birthday cake. Movies. Hanging out. Maybe talking about…some of this,” he nodded between them.
"And if you don't want to come," Ilya added, "that’s okay, too. No hard feelings.”
Luca studied them. There was something about the way they were looking at him that made his pulse quicken.
Not because it felt like they were pressuring him - quite the opposite, actually. Whatever he would decide, they would respect it.
And because for the first time, he felt like he hadn’t imagined everything.
The lingering looks.
The way they always seemed to make room for him.
The way they sought him out after practice.
The way Shane always listened so carefully when he spoke, even when he was struggling to find the right words.
The way Ilya softened around him in a way he didn't around most people.
Slowly, understanding dawned on him, and judging by the look that passed between Shane and Ilya when he finally met their eyes, they realised he had figured it out as well.
"We noticed you a long time ago, Luca,” Ilya's face softened when he spoke up again.
Luca's breath caught.
"We didn't want to make things weird or jump to premature conclusions," Shane added quietly.
"And we didn't want you to feel cornered," Ilya elaborated, “Especially because I’m your captain, and well, Shane is my boyfriend.”
Their openness hit Luca harder than he expected. Neither of them was asking him for anything. Neither of them was pushing.
They were simply opening a door and letting him decide whether he wanted to walk through it.
Now.
Later.
Or not at all.
The choice was entirely his.
"You – or we - don't have to figure anything out tonight," Shane said, as though he was sensing what was going on in Luca's head, "You don't owe us an answer.”
"We just thought," Ilya said softly, "that maybe you would like to spend my birthday with us."
Luca seemed to contemplate this for a moment while looking between the two of them.
Noticing the way Shane's shoulder easily rested against Ilya's. The trust and affection that always seemed to exist between them so naturally.
Feeling the kindness of them offering him space instead of demanding certainty.
The knot that had been living in his chest for months loosened a little more as he let this feeling wash over him.
Then, finally, a smile appeared.
Small. Soft. Real.
"I'd like that."
Ilya's face immediately lit up.
Shane smiled too, quieter but no less pleased.
When they gathered their bags and started heading toward the parking lot together, Luca still couldn’t quite believe that this was real, that this was happening, that he was not imagining or dreaming this.
He knew, though, that whatever was coming next was entirely up to him, and for the first time since acknowledging his feelings for them, everything felt a lot less frightening and a lot more like something he was allowed to look forward to, after all.