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Luca is finishing his second can of cider when he hears his name, in Ilya’s unmistakable accent, rise above the chatter of the crowd gathered on Bood’s lawn. “Did you, um, need me?” Luca asks, raising his head.
“Harris is telling me all about hockey fans on the Internet,” Ilya says with a smirk. “They like to make up stories about their favorite players, and draw pictures, and I remember that you used this… Tumblr? Maybe you can tell me about Shayden.” He scoffs the last word.
Luca’s ears prickle with unexpected heat. He did mention to Ilya, on the bus last month, that he used to share some of his art on Tumblr, in the years before training took up almost all of his time. But he hadn’t gotten into specifics, and this was the last question that he expected. “It was a long time ago.”
Ilya’s grin widens. “I knew it! You are expert, yes? ‘Shayden’ means Shane and Hayden, together; I know this much. But I do not understand why.”
“Well, they’re friends, right?” Even without a reply, something about the intensity of his captain’s gaze prompts Luca to keep talking. “And friends-to-lovers romance is really popular.”
“Sounds pretty boring,” Ilya declares. “Even for Hollander.”
“Not if there’s time travel,” Luca contradicts him. “Or robots. Or one of them has wings…”
Ilya gives a satisfied nod. “Somebody else has heard Hollander’s imitation of Canadian bird, then. What about Pike’s wife and house full of small children?” He chortles. “In these stories, they do not exist?”
“I mean, sometimes Hayden divorces his wife,” Luca explains, simultaneously wishing that he’d stopped talking about five sentences ago, and that he could wrap himself up in Ilya’s laughter and listen to it forever, watch his broad shoulders shake in amusement. “Or they have, you know, an open relationship. Or sometimes everyone’s in an AU – that’s an alternate universe – where he never met her. There are a lot of stories where he and Shane are traveling for a game, and there’s only one bed in their hotel room, or one of them gets really badly hurt and the other one realizes that he had, like, feelings the entire time they knew each other…”
“I think I understand.” Ilya has abruptly stopped laughing. “That can be very bad time for feelings to appear. Or maybe a very good time. Thank you, Haasy. I will text you if I want to know more.”
Later, as the party is breaking up, Luca catches up with Ilya in the driveway. “You and Shane…” he stammers. “Hollander, I mean…”
“I only know one Shane,” Ilya points out.
“Right.” Luca forges ahead. “The two of you hang out a lot, and… you’re not going to tell him, are you?”
“Tell him what? That you draw pictures of him fucking his less talented friend, and sometimes also they are birds? And maybe you make up stories about it, too?”
The blush from earlier has probably spread over Luca’s entire face. “I never said I…”
“I thought it was obvious, what you do,” Ilya fires back. “Hollander is always talking about ‘narrative,’ and maybe it will make him more anxious, knowing that people tell these stories about him, along with all the others. But maybe he will think it is funny.” He’s smiling again. “And I will not tell him that my rookie is one of those people. Do not worry.” He claps Luca on the shoulder. “I will see you at practice.”
Luca definitely plans to limit himself to one drink the next time that the Centaurs get together. If he’s not careful, he’ll start blabbing about the Ilya Rozanov/Reader Insert fanfiction that he devoured as a teenager. “See you then.”