Chapter Text
Alexander “Xander” Sinclair is used to people talking to him about Shane Hollander.
He held up an Ottawa Centaurs jersey next to Hollander with his Montreal jersey and Ilya Rozanov with his Boston jersey.
The C’s on their jerseys were constantly compared when Xander and Hollander were made Captains the same year.
Despite being a winger and not a center, he has been compared to the golden boy of hockey for his entire career. He is widely considered the third best player in the league, a spot he seems to have a tight grip on while entire podcasts and books are dedicated to whether Hollander or Rozanov deserves to be considered the best and who should be sequestered to second best.
People are almost surprised when they see his alternate, Zane Boodram, kneel down in front of Hollander at the faceoff instead of Xander. Not that Xander cares, he couldn’t win a face off against Hollander any better than Bood can (in that Bood cannot).
Sponsors mention Hollander as if Xander has him in his pocket and will bring him along for a photoshoot. Donors mention Hollander as if Xander has Hollander’s wallet in his pocket and is not afraid to use it. Coaches mention Hollander as if Xander has Hollander’s strategy book in his pocket and has learned every way to beat the lethal weapon of a hockey player.
Their newest coach, Coach Wiebe, is better about it. He’s definitely the most positive coach that Xander has worked with, and Wiebe insists on focusing on the talent they have on the team instead of dreaming about players like Hollander.
Wiebe can be as optimistic as he wants, but the Centaurs have to be dragged to the playoffs each year. Xander loves his team, but they have not been doing good for a long time. It is getting better as the old guard slowly retires or is traded.
They got Wyatt Hayes last season, along with Evan Dykstra on defense, who is bonding with their new rookie defenseman, Leo LaPointe. Xander and Bood have been a good duo on the first line for three years now, but their previous right winger had been slowing them down, but with Barrett being traded to be their new right winger, they’re able to do more.
Boyle, Chouinard, and Dillon on the second line are also making some solid progress, though Dillon is definitely ready to retire with the little effort he’s putting into most things.
Despite all of that, Xander does wish he had Hollander in red and black in his pocket, because they are definitely getting creamed tonight. On the bright side, they are already locked in for a low spot in the playoffs, and hopefully the next game against Toronto will get them a little bit higher so they don’t lose in the first round like always.
Right now, though, Xander is trying to prep LaPointe for the game. LaPointe has had a rough season against the Metros, not that any of them have had a particularly good season against the Metros.
“Don’t try to keep up with Hollander” Xander is telling his rookie as they stretch before the game.
Pointy looks at Xander like he’s speaking a different language. “Then how do I defend against him?”
“Follow Pike, he and Hollander are like me and Bood, and Pike is the only one who can keep up with Hollander” Xander explains, as he reaches over and nudges Pointy’s leg so it’s getting a better stretch. “Let Dykstra handle Hollander.”
“You’re just throwing me to the wolves like that, Cap?” Dykstra teases as he skates by and pokes Xander with his hockey stick.
“You’ll survive” Xander rolls his eyes. “And will you actually stretch so you’re not whining about your muscles tomorrow?”
“I’ve got muscles of steel” Dykstra grins, flexing despite his biceps not being visible under his hockey gear.
Bood joins Dykstra in standing over him. “At least do it to be a good influence on the rook.”
“Please, Cap already leads a whole ass yoga routine with Pointy before every game, looks like he’s been watching Hollander’s doc—”
“Sinclair!” Gilbert Comeau stands at the center of the ice.
Xander internally sighs. Getting his ass beat by Hollander is not as bad as Xander having to interact with Comeau on the ice every time they play the Metros. The man lost the little respect Xander had for him when he talked about Xander’s wife the year they got engaged. Xander had been ejected from the game for how hard he hit Comeau.
Bood is the only one who heard what Comeau said besides Xander and refuses to repeat what Comeau said to this day, and Xander hasn’t exactly shared either.
“What the fuck you want, Comeau?” Bood yells as Xander stands.
Xander gently grabs the back of Bood’s jersey and pulls him back while Xander skates forward to Comeau.
“What is it?” Xander sighs, not wanting to deal with this shit right now.
“Congrats on the baby, man” Comeau smirks and Xander tenses, knowing that Comeau didn’t come over just for that, or if he did, he would’ve said something much worse about his daughter. “Wanted to give you a gift, as a congratulations.”
Xander shifts on his skates, not understanding what Comeau is getting at. “And what’s that?”
“Hollander is a fag” Xander flinches instinctively at the use of the slur. One of their veteran defensemen had said it once in Xander’s presence when Xander had been newly promoted to Captain and it’s never been said again in the locker room. However, Xander hears it all the time on the ice, and he’s heard rumors about Hollander being gay, but nothing provable.
“What is this? Some mind fuck by insulting your own Captain?” Xander scoffs. He doesn’t think being gay is an insult, however, he knows that Comeau thinks it is.
“Nah, he actually told us, I got proof” Comeau grins, missing a few teeth and fishes his phone out of his pocket.
Xander has no idea why Comeau has his phone on the ice but he looks at the video and there it is. However, it seems Shane didn’t come out to his team, but they went through his phone and somehow found out, and are confronting him about it.
Hollander looks near tears in the video, and Xander hasn’t felt the rage in his chest since Comeau insulted Lilah.
“Thought you would have some fun with this” Comeau pockets his phone and skates away before Xander can say anything.
“What the fuck was that?” Bood questions, appearing on Xander’s right.
Out of all the conversations people have had with him about Shane Hollander, this one is the one Xander hates the most.
Of course he knows the rumors. Hell, anyone who doesn’t get into a fight at every game is accused of being gay at least once. Fans like to ship Xander with Bood despite both of them literally being married to very pretty women and being very straight.
Rumors or not, it’s so fucking messed up for Comeau to out his teammate, his Captain to another team in hopes it’ll make the team kick his ass since Comeau can’t, all because Comeau is a homophobic asshole who doesn’t understand anything beyond the nuclear family.
Though, given how often he cheats on his wife, Xander thinks that Comeau can’t even grasp that.
Xander wishes that he could not care, that it wouldn’t be a big deal, that a guy could be gay in the MLH and it wouldn’t matter. Hollander is one of the best players in the world, he’s proof that it doesn’t affect how you play.
He does care, though, because he doesn’t live in a fairy tale world where the Centaurs are one of the few teams who actually celebrate Pride month, where a player can have his private life be private, where whether you like a man or a woman doesn’t matter, no matter your gender. Instead, he lives in a world where someone will out his Captain and wish harm on him.
And Xander can’t let it happen, he can’t let Hollander go through that when Hollander already looked devastated in the video. He has to come up with a solution, some sort of distraction, some way to take the heat off of Hollander so Comeau doesn’t out him to a less receptive team, or doesn’t just out him publicly by posting the video.
Well, if Comeau is fighting with fire, then Xander needs to fight with water.
If Comeau is fighting with homophobia, then Xander needs to fight with gay.
———————————————
“You’re sure?” Harris Drover gives Xander a suspicious look as Xander tracks him down while the team is finishing up warmups on the ice.
Xander nods. “Yeah, you’re always bugging me about it, so let’s do it.”
One of the interns has already run off to get the mic. Harris is constantly bugging him to be mic’d up because he’s the Captain and people adore on the internet. Xander finds it a nuisance most of the time, but he needs it tonight.
Harris is still giving him a look as the intern jogs back with the mic and helps him connect it to his jersey.
“Alright, remember that they livestream this stuff, and that the networks will already be pissed this is last minute, so no cursing at all, got it?” Harris instructs him.
“Got it, you’re the best” Xander gives him a smile before moving to step onto the ice to get a few more stretches in before the game starts.
However, he’s intercepted by Bood, who drags him to the corner of the ice and roughly covers the mic on Xander’s uniform, knowing how to hold it so it doesn’t pick up anything.
“What the fuck is going on? What did Comeau say to you?” Bood hisses, glancing over at the man in question, who keeps sending Xander knowing grins.
The worst part is that Hollander is chatting with Pike and Boiziau, completely ignorant to the fact that his teammate, his “friend” just outed him in hopes that the Centaurs would beat Hollander up for it.
Xander looks between Hollander and Bood. It’s not right to out someone without their permission, but maybe Bood will have some advice for this last-minute plan Xander has come up with.
“Comeau showed me a video of Hollander coming out to his team” Xander whispers under his breath.
“You’re shitting me” Bood hisses. It’s a rumor in the MLH, and Bood wouldn’t really be surprised, and he also doesn’t really care, unless someone is trying to hurt Hollander for it. “Why did he tell you?”
“He wants us to beat Hollander’s ass for it since he can’t” Xander responds, hating how his voice wobbles a little because of how upset he is that this is happening.
“You’re shitting me” Bood repeats, glancing over at Hollander, who is now laughing at something Pike said. “What are we going to do? You weren’t wearing the mic when he told you, right?”
Xander shakes his head. “I had Harris put it on. Even if we don’t do anything, I think Comeau is going to out Hollander soon.”
“So you have some dumb plan that Lilah is going to kick your ass for?” Bood guesses and Xander can only nod.
“I’ve already texted her” Xander responds, and his wife had been nothing but supportive, which only reminded Xander for the millionth time how much he loves her. “I’m going to say I’m gay.”
“You’re going to what?” Bood exclaims and Hayes looks up from where he’s guarding the goal from Barrett, but Hayes looks away quickly enough.
“If Comeau finds out, they’ll focus on me, and if the Internet hears it, Comeau won’t dare try to out Hollander for a while, maybe long enough for us to warn him or something.” Xander explains and Bood hates how it does sound pretty sensible, as much as pretending to be gay can be.
“So, you’re just going to say you're gay into the mic and hope people believe you?” Bood questions. “Dude, no one is going to believe that.”
“Well how would you do it?” Xander hisses, not believing that he’s asking his best friend on how to realistically come out as gay.
Bood looks around for a minute before his eyes widen. “Do you remember Zader? The funny video Pointy texted on the group chat a few weeks ago?”
“What, the edit shipping us together?” Xander snorts and Bood nods vigorously.
“We could flirt, maybe pretend to forget about the mic and talk about meeting up later. Most of the Metros are too dumb to not buy it and the Internet is even dumber” Bood points out. “Plus, a lot of fans already believe it.”
“They think we would cheat on our wives with each other?” Xander raises an eyebrow.
“Other players have done so much worse” Bood responds. Unfortunately, cheating is not exactly a scandal in the MLH anymore because it’s so common. There are a few trashy articles about it, but fans mostly ignore it, unless it was a player cheating with another player.
“Shit, text Cass, this might actually work” Xander agrees and Bood finally removes his hand from Xander’s mask.
“Have I told you how hot your ass looks in these pants?” Bood grins as he heads to the bench to get his phone.
“Not enough” Xander responds with a smile, about to do the stupidest thing of his career.
———————————————
Bood chooses a moment when Hollander has just scored his first goal of the night, and when Comeau is nearby to start it.
“You’re coming over tonight, right?” Bood asks, just a little closer to Xander that he normally is.
“Don’t know, Lilah’s been on my ass recently” Xander answers, just a little louder than he normally is.
Bood rolls his eyes. “Tell your cuck of a wife that she needs to fuck off, you’re mine tonight.”
Xander has to suppress the instinctual urge to punch Bood in the face for insulting Lilah, quickly remembering why Bood said what he said, and he can tell that Bood felt awful saying it.
“Careful, man” Xander warns, but it’s deliberately gentle.
Comeau looks over at them and Xander can see the few brain cells trying to make connections and Xander hopes that only a few more short conversations like this will tip them over the edge. They’ll know it’s successful when Comeau starts targeting them, and probably calls them the same things he called Shane.
Meanwhile, Hayes picked up on part of the conversation and glared at both of them. Xander promises to himself that, if this works, he’ll explain everything during the break between the first and second period. He’ll also take Lilah on a beach getaway the second the season is over (not that Xander didn’t already have that planned, he might just make it a little longer to make it up to her).
The next opportunity comes when they are resetting again later in the first period and he just passed a puck to a man sitting in the front row. Comeau and Miitka are skating past at that exact moment.
“Who was that?” Bood bumps into him a little harder than he normally does.
“What do you care?” Xander questions, not pushing him away like he normally would.
Bood sends the man a glare and hates himself for it because the poor man shrinks away. Bood wonders if he can track the man down after the game and get him a signed Sinclair jersey or something.
“Just want to make sure you know who’s fucking you tonight” Bood grabs the back collar of his jersey and pulls.
“What the fuck, Bood!” Xander exclaims, suddenly pushing Bood away. “I’m mic’d!”
“Shit” Bood immediately skates away, both of them acting like they didn’t lean closer to the mic on Xander’s jersey, and that they’re genuinely worried it was picked up.
Xander fights back a grin when Comeau deliberately trips him during the very next play. Comeau glares at Xander even while the ref is corralling him into the penalty box. Bood, keeping up the act, skates over and helps him up.
“You don’t think they heard, do you?” Bood whispers in faked panic. It’s actually pretty good and if Bood wasn’t a hockey player, Xander could see Bood being a decent actor.
“I hope not” Xander mumbles before he skates away, even though he very much hopes so.
It very much does work. Xander can see Harris freaking out while he looks at his phone, and he and Bood get pushed, tripped, and shoved to the boards way after the whistle so many times that Xander spends more time being targeted than he does actually playing.
Insults about him being a fairy, being disgusting, and being a disgrace follow each target, and the players only end up in the penalty box about 50% of the time for it. It seems the Metros hate him more for being the apparent bottom in his and Bood’s fake relationship. Xander is glad for it, since he rathers he get hurt than something happen to Bood, especially since Bood just went along with it.
The end of the period ends up with a barely concealed elbow to the jaw that has Xander feeling if any teeth are loose. His own team can’t even look at him except for Bood, who is grinning the second Harris comes to take his mic off.
“Don’t, Harris,” Xander stops the man from starting to lecture him or freak out. “I’ll explain, come in the locker room with us.”
Harris gives him a look but Xander is already walking away towards the locker room and Harris has to know what the fuck that just was.
“You’re fucking cheating on Lilah?” is the first thing he hears when he enters the locker room and it comes from a glaring Dykstra.
“Cap, what the actual fuck?” Pointy has never cursed at Xander and Xander is proud of him, even if the kid is also glaring at him with betrayal in his eyes.
Xander ignores the other exclamations shouted his way. “I’m not cheating on Lilah. Bood is not cheating on Cassie. We are not gay. I specifically asked to be mic’d up so that the Metros and the Internet would think I was gay.”
Everyone stalls for a moment, clearly trying to reboot their brain after such an announcement, because what the actual fuck does that mean.
“Why?” it’s Coach Wiebe, bewildered as anyone else, who asks.
Xander sighs. It’s one thing to tell Bood, but he can’t in good faith out Hollander to this entire locker room. “Comeau showed me something on his phone about a player on his team being gay. He told me because he wanted us to kick the player’s ass for it, and so he could out him to the Internet.”
“I’m not going to tell you who it was, but if me and Bood were able to convince anyone for a second that we were gay to distract from the player being outed, then it was worth it.” Xander continues, as everyone sits in silence.
“Damn right” Bood nods, standing next to Xander.
“Lilah and Cass know?” Wyatt asks hoarsely and both Xander and Bood nod.
Bood pulls out his phone and pulls out his text thread with Cassie. “Cass said that she’s always wanted to be a beard and thanked me for the opportunity.”
That gets some of the team to lighten up, and Xander shows his own text thread with Lilah. “She just told me to do whatever I think I need to do as long as I come home safely and remember to bring the trash can in.”
Almost everyone seems to relax and believe them, which Xander is thankful for because there’s not something he can really say to convince them.
“It’s working,” Harris pipes up. “Zader is trending everywhere, and no one else is even near those numbers, and all the homophobia is directed at you both.”
Bood grins and Xander completely relaxes, relieved that he hasn’t somehow made this work.
“That’s why they’re attacking you two?” Pointy asks and they nod.
“Yeah, so homophobic that they’re attacking Xander more because I implied he’s the bottom” Bood answers, which earns scoffs from across the room at how anyone could ever care what gender someone is attracted to.
“Sorry for not fighting back” Barrett mumbles, shifting on his feet. He had thought it was true, and had actually been glad Bood and Xander were getting their ass kicked if they did what they had been caught saying.
Now, though, he feels really guilty.
“Don’t feel sorry” Xander immediately assures. “I don’t want any of you getting penalized for my little scheme.”
“Fuck that,” Dykstra decides. “I don’t care what they think, they don’t touch any of us.”
“No, no fighting for me” Xander is immediately trying to shut it down and looks to Wiebe for support.
Xander is surprised that Wiebe is looking at him with a proud smile on his face. Wiebe turns to the team and looks slightly more serious. “No ejections.”
He suddenly hates his coach because it implies any action below getting ejected Wiebe is totally cool with it.
“Wait—” Bood starts.
“Let’s go kick their homophobic asses!” Wiebe exclaims and suddenly everyone is on board.
Xander groans as they exit the locker room to Pointy asking Harris if there is any rainbow tape he can put on his hockey stick before the next period.
———————————————
At first, all Xander registers is pain. His eyes flutter open and he immediately hates the shining stadium lights that are invading his pupils. Then, the pain in his torso starts to flare and Xander groans.
“Stay still, Cap” Bood instructs, leaning over Xander to try and block some of the light while the medics come over.
“Hurts” Xander manages to spit out with a mouth full of blood.
He only remembers scoring his first goal on Drapeau and turning to celebrate with Bood and Barrett before a body came at him from the back fast and then darkness.
“Yeah, I know, bud, just stay still for me” Bood murmurs. Behind Bood, Xander sees royal blue jerseys colliding with black ones close by.
God, he started a brawl.
“Get out of the fucking way” it takes Xander a long minute to recognize the voice because the room is spinning and everything hurts. However, he finally connects it with the best player in the MLH (sorry Rozanov).
Hollander is pushing Metros and Centaurs alike out of the way so that the medics can get over to Xander. Bood stands for a moment when a Metro is getting too close and Hollander takes Bood’s spot so that no one tries to move Xander at all, especially if he could have a spinal injury.
“You’re good” Xander mumbles and Hollander’s eyebrows furrow, leaning forward.
“You’re going to be alright, Sinclair, just stay still, the medics are working” Hollander instructs, polite as always.
“Got your back, won’t let ‘em—” Xander doesn’t manage to get it out before the room starts to fade into darkness again.
The medics are telling him to keep his eyes open but Xander can’t. The last thing he sees is Hollander’s confused face before he falls into unconsciousness.