Chapter Text
The more Hayden watches him, the more he notices. At first, Hayden doesn't think anything of it. So Rozanov has a staring problem. Whatever. But then Hayden follows his line of sight, and thinks it must be a coincidence. But Ilya's eyes are moving, tracking, following, on a specific and continuous target. Everyday, like clockwork, without fail, Ilya's focus falls on Shane. Only ever Shane. And maybe Hayden should have been concerned. After all, it's Rozanov, notorious menace on the ice. Hayden knows what Rozanov looks like on the hunt. How his shoulders hunch, jaw set, entire body ready to pounce. The cold look of a predator out for blood.
But that's not what Rozanov looks like when he's looking at Shane. It's not just that Rozanov keeps staring at Shane. It's that whenever he stares at him, his shoulders drop, his posture loosens, and the rigid sharp precision Rozanov has whenever he's on the ice slowly lulls to the point where he's more floating than he is skating. It's that whenever Rozanov looks at Shane, the scowl on his face vanishes, the clench of his jaw replaces itself with a smile so small, so soft, and so fond it becomes heartbreakingly clear to Hayden what this is. Rozanov has a crush. On Shane.
But that can't be it, can it? Last he checked, Rozanov is straight. Like different girl on his arm every night, sees women more as an accessory than as people straight. But no…that look on Rozanov's face can't possibly be anything else but…ok Hayden was getting ahead of himself. And one can never know, y'know? Hell, Hayden thought Shane was straight the entire time he knew him! And admittedly, Hayden doesn't actually know Rozanov beyond what he sees from gossip sites and the brief interactions they've had on the ice. And whatever Shane says about him, which…isn't much. So really, Hayden having it all wrong is entirely plausible.
It was when the hulking figure of Clifford Marleau skated past him that Hayden figured, well maybe someone who knows Rozanov better than he does might have a clue. And sure, Rozanov's business has nothing to do with Hayden, but if it has anything to do with Shane…well, as Shane's best friend Hayden figures he can snoop a little. Besides, Jackie loves when he comes home with new gossip, and what gossip is juicier than his best friend's rival having a secret crush on said best friend?
"Marleau," Hayden calls, shooting a look around them to ensure nobody else could listen in on them.
"Pike," Marleau greets. Overall, Marleau is a friendly guy. Certainly the friendliest hockey player Hayden's ever met, punting Shane into a season-ending concussion aside.
"You and Rozanov are close, right?"
"Yeah, I'd say so. I mean, close enough to be personally invited here even after he switched teams," Cliff said, as he drank from his water bottle, his eyes flitting over to where Rozanov stood.
Hayden turned to look as well, finding him exactly as he thought he would. Body loose, smile fond, staring at Shane.
"So about Rozanov…he is straight, right?" Marleau stops mid-drink to look at Pike, a furrow falling between his brows as he frowns at Hayden. Which, yeah, Hayden can admit it's none of his business. And now that he's thinking about it, maybe Marleau is taking it as an insult. It wouldn't be the first time a hockey player threw out the gay accusation as some kind of 'gotcha.' And maybe Marleau is protective of Roz the same way Hayden is protective of Sha-
"Aren't you married?" Hayden freezes, his body stiffening as he tried to figure out why Marleau would ask only to physically recoil as he realizes what Marleau thinks Hayden had been insinuating.
"What? Yes! Yes of course! I'm not-I'm not asking for ME!" The outrage that bleeds into Hayden's voice is enough to spur Marleau into a fit of chuckles as he watches the winger spurt and flounder at the accusation. "I just," Hayden huffs, glancing back at Rozanov who has slowly but surely inched his way closer to Shane, "is there any possibility he might be into guys. Or at least…one guy, in particular."
It was then that Marleau followed where Hayden was looking, his eyes flitting between Roz and Shane as the pieces slowly fell into place.
"Huh," Marleau says, shrugging his shoulder as an amused smile snuck onto his face, "I mean, it's not like I've ever seen Roz with another man, but he always struck me as the type to be into anyone that was pretty enough. And, while I would have personally placed myself higher on their list, I could at least agree with Cosmopolitan that Hollander has number one hottest player locked down."
"That and," Marleau pauses as if weighing whether he wants to give his next bit of information away before sighing. "He did always have an obsession with Hollander. I always just sorta chalked it up to the rivalry, y'know. But now that you mention it…"
Marleau trails off, figuring what needed to be said was already known.
Hayden nods as he weighs the information. On one hand, Shane deserves love. He's spent so much of his life trying to hide the fact that he's gay, and even now he is still closeted. And from what Hayden can tell, it seems like he intends to stay closeted for the foreseeable future, but…Hayden worries that Shane is lonely. He knows his friend is naturally introverted, and he's never really minded being alone, but there's a difference between being alone and being lonely. A difference he sees every time Shane watches their teammates and their wives. A difference he sees whenever someone asks him about his plans for the future. A difference he sees whenever Shane babysits, his hugs tight and his smiles wistful. Shane deserves to have someone. On the other hand…does that someone really have to be Rozanov?
But if Hayden really thinks about it…Rozanov could understand the need to stay closeted, right? He knows the sport, knows how the guys-how the league can be. And Hayden always figured Shane would end up with someone as hockey obssessed as him. And maybe Rozanov's brash nature could be good for Shane, guiding him out of his comfort zone while remaining protective of him when necessary. And really, maybe Rozanov could use someone like Shane too. Someone safe, secure, capable of meeting him toe to toe and reign him in. And…fuck he really doesn't like how much the pair is starting to make sense.
Maybe he needs a third opinion! Hayden's eyes scan the arena to land on the only other person that might be as close to Shane as Hayden is.
JJ isn't an idiot. He'd kinda presumed after Rose Landry that maybe Shane just wasn't into women. He wasn't sure that meant he was into men though. JJ kinda thought maybe Shane was ace considering that Shane was constantly surrounded by hot people, and his head turned for none of them. So JJ was surprised when Shane came out as gay, but not because he'd pinned Shane as straight.
But JJ likes to think he's a good friend, a supportive one, even. So Shane comes out as gay, and JJ figures maybe nobody caught his attention because his closeted friend never allowed himself to look. So JJ does what he does best, and he starts trying to introduce Shane to all the hot men he knew.
Shane seemed indifferent to all of them.
All that to say, JJ had never seen Shane be interested in anyone. Until now. Now, JJ is actually paying attention. Now, JJ realizes that Shane does like men. One man, in particular. And now he's realizing that Shane's head has been turned to said man for quite some time. But until now, JJ, like everyone else, figured the constant attention was of a competitive nature. But no, JJ is no idiot. No bigot. It's quite clear now that JJ has all the pieces to the puzzle. It wasn't that Shane was never interested in anyone. It was that Shane was never interested in anyone else. Anyone other than the infamous Ilya Rozanov.
It's almost painfully obvious now that JJ knows to look. Shane is always cold on the ice. Robotic, as the media like to say. But Rozanov never got that. Where everyone else got a cold indifference, Rozanov got teasing chirps. A knowing smirk. A rolling of eyes. A sardonic huff. "Asshole" in a tone that held no bite. Rozanov got a version of Shane that wasn't just competing. Rozanov was allowed a version of Shane that was playing. Shane was playful with Rozanov.
And JJ loves Shane. He really does. So JJ hates that his friend has fallen for Rozanov of all people. But JJ especially hates that he knows exactly why. Rozanov is like hockey incarnate to Shane, the title rivaled only by Shane himself. And he's a good looking guy, JJ can admit. Charming, funny, a bit cunning. But he's also a playboy, which okay, JJ doesn't want to slut-shame anyone, but it's moreso just that Roz has only ever been with women. Countless women… So as much as JJ understands why Shane might've developed this weird crush on the guy, it's hopeless. Roz is as straight as-
"JJ!"
JJ turns to see Hayden, followed by Marleau. Hayden whips his head around, scanning the space around them before ushering JJ to a corner of the rink, far from any listening ears.
"What," JJ asks, following Hayden's lead and looking around for any eavesdroppers. He has not a clue what this is about, but he loves a bit of gossip. And if it's coming from Hayden, and it's juicy enough that he's paranoid about anyone else hearing, oh JJ is all ears!
"Bad news," Hayden says, JJ's shoulders deflating, all excitement leaving his body at such negativity. "We think Roz might have a crush on Shane."
And immediately JJ is perked back up. His eyes lighting up like a dog that just heard the word 'park' or 'treat' or 'walk.' His gaze flits over to Roz, busy instructing a group of 5-7 year olds through a precision drill.
"Wait but I though Roz is straight," JJ says, his brow furrowing in confusion at Hayden's conclusion.
"I did too, but remember when we were talking to Shane about Rose, and he was talking about like internal homophobia and like being in denial?"
"You think that is Roz?"
"I mean maybe…" Hayden trails off. It's then that Marleau closes the short distance between them.
"Y'know, he could be bi. I've gone out with Roz a ton, and he's always seemed enthusiastic about the women he was with. The guy's pretty good at keeping a mask on, but I don't think he'd be that good. At least not with how absolutetly fucking hammered he'd get."
"Bi?" Hayden's head tilting in confusion.
"Like he likes both," JJ explains. Both heads turn with speed to look at him. Both brows raised, Hayden's in shock, and Marleau's in amusement. "What? I was curious for a bit."
"Are you bi," Hayden asks as Marleau lets a huff of laughter escape him.
"This isn't about me!" JJ waves his hand, his chin turned up to dismiss the subject entirely. "What is this about Roz crushing on Shane?"
Hayden rolls his eyes, but otherwise lets the subject go.
"We don't know anything for sure, but like Roz has been making heart eyes at Shane since camp started. Like the dude has a permanent scowl on his face, but he looks at Shane and suddenly he becomes all like..." Hayden says trying to find the right words.
"Gooey," Marleau finishes. JJ turns to look at him.
"And you think this too?" Because, surely Marleau would know Roz best, right? At least of the people currently available to them.
"I mean, I haven't been watching him the way Hayden seems to have been doing, but like literally I just caught a glance of it and…yeah he's never really looked at anyone else like that. And it's definitely a soft look, y'know? Like that's not how you look at competition when you're tyring to figure out their next play."
"Exactly. Like he looks at Shane the way I looked at Jackie when she walked down the aisle."
"Ah, and you tell me so we can set them up," JJ says, his excitement growing at the idea.
"What," Hayden says, "no! I just-I wanted…well I kinda just wanted another opinion. Like I said, it's nothing we know for sure, so I just wanted another pair of eyes. I never said anything about setting them up!"
"Well I believe Marleau if he's saying he believes Rozanov might be into Cap. So why not set them up?"
"Why would we," Hayden says to which JJ just looks at him with wide eyes.
"Because they like each other. Isn't that natural conclusion to come to. Oh, these two people like each other, let's put them together," JJ says as he squishes his hands together just in case Hayden needed the visual aid to better understand.
"Wait hold on," Marleau cuts in, "I think I missed something. Hollander likes Roz too?"
"No," Hayden answers at the same time JJ says "Duh."
Hayden's head whips to JJ, this time, his eyes wide and jaw dropped. "Shane said he likes Rozanov?"
"Well," JJ shrugs, "he did not say, but it's so obvious."
Before Hayden can cut in with more stupid questions, JJ continues. "Y'know, a lot of things actually start to make sense if Rozanov is into Cap. Like it kinda seemed like the two got close out of nowhere, but if I'm not mistaken, the whole charity thing came after Shane came out. It would make sense if Roz heard about Shane being gay and like reached out since Shane would understand the whole 'being closeted as a generational athlete' thing. And then the two got closer from there."
"Wait so Hollander's actually gay?"
Both JJ and Hayden freeze as they realize the fuck up they just made. Hayden is the first to whip his head around to Marleau, his face hardening into a stone cold glare as he pointed his finger right into Marleau's chest. "You know nothing. You will not speak a single fucking word, got that?"
Marleau's earlier expression of amusement clears, replacing itself with a look of utmost sincerity. "Not a word," Marleau confirms, nodding his head as he looks both Hayden and JJ in the eyes, "and I can expect that both of you won't be loose-lipped if it turns out Roz is in a similar boat?"
Hayden and JJ look at each other before looking at Marleau and nodding their heads in agreement.
"Right well, anyway. It would also explain why Roz moved teams," Marleau says, straightening his shirt from where Pike had been prodding.
"Wait, did Roz not say why he was leaving," Hayden asks.
"No," Marleau shakes his head, "Or-he gave some obviously bullshit answer about like self-growth and constant challenging or something. But it would make a lot more sense if it was because he needed citizenship from somewhere that wasn't Russia. And it would explain why he couldn't tell the team exactly why he was moving, well with the whole being closeted thing."
"Couldn't he have just gotten American citizenship?" Hayden asks.
"I mean, he could have, but I think it's a longer process."
"And if he's really into Shane, maybe he was trying to get closer by moving closer?" It's a wild guess, but JJ feels like Rozanov is the exact type of mix between insane and ambitious to do it. Marleau seems to agree by how he's nodding along to the thought.
"Right. And maybe Roz didn't care to start the American citizenship stuff because he figured he'd get with a girl, but then he fell for Hollander and realized…" Marleau says, his head still nodding as his eyes flitted around as if he were reading a prophecy directly off the stone.
"Holy shit, guys, we might actually be connecting the dots here," Hayden says as he stares off into the distance, his chest heaving with the realization.
A boisterous laugh startled the three out of their conspiring, their heads turning to find the source of the sound. All three gazes landed on Shane Hollander, his shoulders shaking as he stared at his feet, a blush creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks as he chances a glance up at the man that made him laugh in the first place. Ilya Rozanov stood right next to him, his body leaning towards Hollander's as his smile grew the more Shane laughed, his eyes glossed with endearment as his own ears turned pink.
"Okay, yeah, we gotta figure something out."
"Capitaine!" Shane turns to see JJ skating towards him.
The kids are scattered across the floor and bleachers as they all work on taking their gear off for lunch. Shane, Hayden and JJ stay behind on the ice, picking up cones and loose pucks from their last drill.
"Cap, you got plans for after skate?"
Shane tries his best not to pout. It's not that he has actual plans in the sense of like something scheduled or some commitment that he absolutely must attend. But it's the summer, it offseason. It's camp. Which means Shane gets to have Ilya all to himself every evening, and Shane hates to give any of those evenings up. He's greedy with their time. Sue him. He doesn't get to go home to his boyfriend the way his teammates can go home to their partners. It's the only time of year that Shane gets to hoard Ilya, so he does.
"Ummm," Shane starts, trying to think of some excuse to keep him home, away from whatever JJ is trying to drag him to.
"Nothing bad! Nothing that will even keep you late. Literally just wanted to ask if you'd stay after the kids are picked up so Hayden and I can run some drills by you?"
Shane gives JJ a look of suspicion. JJ's been helpful with the camps, Shane is adamant on that. He's friendly, outspoken, good at getting the kids to calm down when they get a bit anxious. However, JJ has never offered to help with actually coming up with drills. JJ's more a 'show up, do job, go home' type. Which is exactly how Shane likes it. So Shane is confused why JJ is suddenly interested in helping him come up with drills. Or why it requires his immediate attention.
"Uh," Shane starts, "and you have to show me today?"
JJ blanks for a bit before Hayden skates up to them, having been listening in the whole time they'd been speaking.
"It's just a few drills, Shane. Not even thirty minutes. Promise," Hayden says.
Shane thinks it through. He'd have to tell Ilya he'll be home late. They'd driven separately today, as they do most days. Shane kinda wishes they didn't. All the time, but especially now, for this morning. That way Shane could use him as an excuse. 'Oh Ilya and I had a bit of meeting on…safety protocol yesterday. It ran late so I ended up staying over, so we rode together today. I don't want to keep him waiting.'
But Shane can't say that. And really, Shane doesn't even want to say that. What he wants to say is 'no. I want to be with my boyfriend because I rarely get to see him so I intend to hoard all of his time and fuse it with mine until I can find a way to crawl into his skin and stay there forever.' But he can't say that either. So instead he sighs, looks over at Ilya where he stands by the rink exit, his hand out for high fives from all the kids, and takes a deep breath.
"Fine," Shane says, "no more than thirty minutes. I'm serious."
And he is. He loves his friends, but he misses his boyfriend. He'll be damned if anyone tries to keep them separated when they already have so little time. As Shane turns to leave the ice, he picks his phone out of his pocket, inputting a reminder to buy Ilya McDonald's to make up for getting home late.
Hayden and JJ nod, relief and excitement painted all over their faces as they scramble across the ice once again, quickly cleaning up any stragglers of cones and pucks Shane had missed.
Sure, Shane might be a little mad at them for misleading him, but JJ and Hayden knew when it came to dealing with Shane, subtlety is key.
"Have you ever been with a man?" Marleau asks. They're in the little break room area while the kids have their lunch, Marleau scarfing down his sandwich as he watches Roz hack up the water he'd been drinking.
"What," Ilya chokes out between coughs, eyes wide as he hits his own chest in an attempt to clear his airways.
"Well one of the players earlier was talking about being like bi-curious or something, and I was thinking, I've never actually looked into guys, y'know? Maybe there's like a whole new world I'm missing out on." Ilya just stares at him with an incredulous look, his body frozen and jaw dropped.
"Marly. Are you telling me you are bi?"
"I'm saying I want to find out if I'm bi, y'know?" Ilya shakes his head, scoffing as he waves hid hand at Marly in dismissal. He laughs to himself as he leans back, amused but not judgemental as he takes another swig from his water.
"Whatever. Who gives a shit. Is nobody else's business anyways. Do what you want, Marly," Ilya says with a tone that's exact in its mixture between sincere and casual.
Marleau huffs to himself. If thinking Marly might be bi himself wasn't enough to persuade Roz into coming out to him, it certainly won't be enough to admit his little crush. Marly thinks he knows exactly what would make Roz give the game away, he just has to decide whether or not he's willing to gamble his life for it.
"I'm thinking," Marly pauses as he mulls his decision over one more time. In the end, the curiousity to see Roz's reactions wins out.
"I'm thinking about hitting up Hollander," Marly says, watching Roz closely as he says it.
And there it is. The open, accepting, casual attitude Roz had been so committed to vanishes in the blink of an eye. The easy smile falling from his face as it's replaced with a deadly, cold, muderous, glare. The hand that had been loose in its gesturing just moments ago now tightening on the water bottle so hard its knuckles were turning white. Marly smiled. Gotcha.
"Hunter was talking about how Hollzy was good about the whole coming out thing," Marleau continues, feigning ignorance to the inner turmoil that seems to be happening in Roz's gut. "And the guy's never struck me as the asshole bigot type. I figure even if he's uninterested, he'll at least keep it respectful. I mean, I don't think he's the type to like out me, right?"
Ilya's eyes are vacant of anything warm. His jaw working in the way that lets Marleau know that he's physically biting his tongue to keep himself from cursing his friend out. "Hollzy," he huffs, "you have nickname for him?"
Marleau shrugs as Ilya continues to glare at him.
"Why you ask me," Ilya demands.
"He's your friend," Marleau says, "I figure you know him better than I do."
"You're not his type." Short. To the point. So obviously a 'back off, he's mine' if Marleau's ever heard one.
"And what is his type?" Ilya squints at him then, and Marleau can feel the way the corner of his mouth twitches up in amusement. Ilya catches it. Of course he does. His eyes sharpening on the movement before his eyes flit over Marleau, and it's then that Roz gets it. His own mouth twitching outward as his sneer finally begins to relax, but his eyes don't. The anger fades, and in its place strikes fear, a sudden alarm going off in his head. Roz quickly schools his face into something more neutral, but he's too late. The cards are on the table now.
"How would I know," Roz asks, a last ditch effort.
"How could you not," Marly says, "you know…you pay a lot of attention to him. I figure…"
And with that, Marleau's last card lands. Face up, revealed. Ilya straightens, his jaw tightening once again as he looks at his friend. Or at least, Marleau hopes Ilya can see that Marleau is still his friend.
"Marleau."
"I don't care, Roz," Marleau says, trying to reassure his friend that he wasn't something he needed to worry about. "But if you like the guy, I mean, why not shoot your shot?"
That causes Ilya to freeze. His wide eyes squinting once again as his head tilts in confusion.
"Oh come on, Roz. Don't play dumb. I'm not that much of a fucking idiot. I can tell you have a crush on the guy. Matter of fact, I have never seen you act the way you do when you're around him," Marleau laughs, trying to reign the suddenly tense atmosphere back to something friendlier.
"…You think I have crush on Hollander," Ilya deadpans, not so much a question as much a confirmation.
"Are you really gonna tell me that you don't when you spend like half the day making heart eyes at him and trying to find excuses to be around him?"
"And because you think I have crush…what?"
"Dude, come on! When have I ever failed you as wingman," Marleau says, puffing his chest in pride. "And now you actually like someone! We've like leveled up, bro! We just gotta lock in and surely we can get you your boy!"
Ilya stares at him frozen in shock before his mouth finally twitches up and Roz breaks out into a laugh. It takes a minute before Roz can reign himself back in, standing straight up as he heaves a sigh of relief. He looks at Marleau then, a gleam of gratitude in his eyes as he once again gives Marleau a once over. As if he was seeing the man in a new light.
"Okay," Ilya nods, "Yes. I have big crush on Hollander. What is plan?"
At that Marleau cheers, shaking Roz by his shoulders in excitement.
"Oh my god, dude! This is just like old times, but better! 'Cause this time it's not just some hook up. Like this is for real, it's real shit now. Don't even worry about it, I've got it all covered. You just have to show up when and where I tell you, okay?"
Ilya nods, a smile on his face as he laughs at his friend's antics, but his shoulders feel lighter, and his head feels quieter, and there's a thrum in his veins that is starting to feel less like dread and more like excitement. He can't wait to see how Marly intends to set Ilya up with Ilya's boyfriend.
The rink is dark when Shane enters. Which is strange. It usually takes about 40 minutes for all the kids to get picked up. But the rink doesn't actually close up until maybe an hour after that. The zamboni usually uses up the last thirty minutes while Shane, Ilya, and anyone else who was either assigned or volunteered to stay back goes through the place to clean up, collect lost items, and discuss the plan for tomorrow. So Shane's confused on why it's dark.
The only thing Shane can see being…Ilya!
"Hello, Shane," Ilya says, his smile bright as he skates up to Shane, holding his hand out for Shane to take. He's lucky Shane already has his skates on, having anticipated that he'd have to hang around on the ice with his friends as they showed him drills he no-doubt had already implemented or vetoed for a variety of reasons.
"What are you doing here," Shane asks, hearing the smile in his voice as Ilya continues to hold his hand as they skate a lap around the empty rink. "JJ and Hayden said they wanted to run by some drills for tomorrow."
Ilya laughs, small and quiet and to himself, but his eyes gleam in a way that tells Shane he knows something Shane doesn't.
"Ah, so they kept you in dark then," Ilya says, "Marly told me to look nice and show up."
Shane tilts his head, brow furrowed as he looks at Ilya. "What?"
"We've been set up, malysh," Ilya says, whispers really as he looks at Shane fondly, pulling him in closer by the hand he's still holding.
"Set up how?"
"Marly thinks I have crush on you," Ilya says. He looks a little guilty as he says it, "apparently I am very bad at hiding my-uh 'heart eyes' around you."
"Oh," Shane says, entirely too fond of the idea of his boyfriend looking at him with so much love that it was obvious to those that knew him. Shane knows a part of him should be worried, but he's still a little confused at what's going on to be able to focus on that. "So…he set us up?"
"They set us up," Ilya corrects.
"Who's they?"
"Marly, Hayden, JJ."
"You think Hayden and JJ were in on it?"
"They were the ones that led you here, no?" Shane nods, still not quite believing his friends had anything to do with this. But Ilya knows something, laughing to himself as he gestures with his chin across the rink "Look up."
Shane looks to where Ilya nodded, his eyes landing on three figures doing their best (very poorly) to stay hidden at the top of the bleachers. Shane laughs as all three of them duck behind the seat a second after Shane turns to them.
"Do you think they know I saw them," Shane asks Ilya in a whisper, purposefully leaning to Ilya's ear to get closer.
"No," Ilya says, laughing as he continues to look past Shane's shoulder, "and they are still there. I don't think they're leaving until they get proof."
"Proof of what?"
"That their plan worked."
"Their plan?"
"To get us together." And it's only then that Shane sees the whole picture.
"I must not have been subtle with my own heart eyes," Shane jokes, a twinge of anxiety bubbling in his stomach at the thought. But Ilya's there. Warm, comforting, grip tightening on Shane's hand to ground him.
"It's nice," Ilya says as he slowly brings them to a stop at center ice, "it's…comforting. Knowing that if we were to come out," Ilya pauses to glance at the three figures still watching from the bleachers, "we'd have support."
"Yeah," Shane whispers, his eyes tearing up at the thought that maybe one day, they wouldn't have to hide anymore. "Would you want that? To come out?"
Ilya stares at Shane, eyes flitting across his face in search of something.
"I know we didn't plan for it, but if it's something you want…"
"I want you," Ilya says, "that's all that matters to me."
"Yeah but," Shane breathes, "if I can give you the world, I will."
And it's then that Ilya lets his own tears fall. "We can talk about it more later, Malysh," he whispers, his voice choking around his emotions, "I don't need the world so long as I have you. But…I'd love to tell the world…how much I love you, and how loved I am by you. I want to brag. I have best boyfriend in the world, nobody else competes."
"Compares," Shane corrects.
"That too." And it makes Shane giggle.
"Okay," Shane says, "we can talk more later."
"Yes," Ilya agrees, "later. For now, I have been given chance to show off. I'd like to take it."
Shane pouts in confusion again before Ilya moves forward, kissing him with a mixture of fervor and fondess that makes Shane's knees go weak, his arms circling around Ilya's neck as Ilya's wrap around his waist. The kiss is short, breaking quickly because Shane can't help but snicker as he hears a round of applause and cheers from the bleachers. Shane turns to look, seeing all three figures on their feet as they celebrate, Ilya's laugh roaring in his ear as they tighten their hold on each other. It's enough to make Shane slip, only causing Ilya to laugh even more as Shane brings him down with him, the two landing in a heap of limbs and laughter on center ice, their smiles glowing bright enough to light the otherwise dark rink. Shane's laugh grows as he sees the three figures scrambling down the bleachers to meet them.
It's nice, Shane thinks to himself as he stares up at Ilya. It's nice to know that if they fall, they have more than just each other to support them.