ᴍ ᴇ ɴ ᴀ ᴄ ᴇ

“What’s wrong with the closet? It’s a wonderful place crammed full of professional athletes.”

#caphollander ✘ ♕ ✘ #caprozanov

「 canada's 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙚 𝙃𝙤𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧 & russia's 𝙄𝙡𝙮𝙖 𝙍𝙤𝙯𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙫 of rachel reid's 𝙂𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙨 series 」 ©

“of course it is,” there’s a playful scoff with a roll of his eyes as he flicks a lock of blond hair from sticking to his forehead, “i made it.” like the entire menu. at least the scott hunter would be making a debut soon. he wants nothing more than to just have the creative freedom to experiment and try out new things, but he gets shot down every time. he loves his job more than his desire to do more, so it’s one of the few times he’ll listen. one day he’ll have a place like this of his own — and a useless degree in art history.

✘ ♕ ✘ It was actually a bit surprising to Ilya that the bartender was willing to be so open. Obviously he wasn't spilling his deepest thoughts on the situation, but he was still giving more of a peak inside than any stranger had a right to see. There was an earnestness that endeared him to the hockey player, wanting to know more. And if Ilya were being honest? Making him feel a little protective. Seeing the look of pain that crossed those blue eyes whenever he looked at the happy couple was something that Ilya suddenly found himself wanting to prevent.

As it was, it sounded as though Kyle had a very healthy handle on the situation. As healthy as can be. He seemed sincere when he said he was glad that his best friend was happy. It all felt very messy to Ilya who didn't allow himself to love easily, but at least this young man appeared to have a grasp on things.

✘ ♕ ✘ The chiding about still playing earned Kyle another eye roll. Truth told, though, Ilya loved that someone was worried about him. He didn't have anyone to fuss over his injuries since he was a little kid. Every now and then, Svetlana might give his shoulder a good smack for his dumb decisions when it came to his own physical health, but she still knew his strength and ultimately lauded him for biting the bullet for his team. Kyle, however, seemed genuinely concerned about his wellbeing, and it was truly sweet.

As the bartender disappeared, Ilya glanced around the place. It was quiet. Not even Hunter was there, which meant none of the other Admirals were, either. Definitely none of the Bears. A strictly gay clientele meant that the patrons probably didn't know much about hockey, giving Ilya the anonymity that he wanted.

' no, you never said that, ' shane teased in return. he would happily sit in that room and trade gentle barbs and teases between the two of them. he had missed this. he had even missed ilya calling him boring. more than anything, shane had missed ilya. the warmth of him, the comfort that just his presence provided. shane wanted to burrow into ilya's side and feel the warmth that was always just the perfect counter to shane's natural chill.

again, shane let himself be led, this time to the bed. and this time, he didn't let go of ilya's hand. maybe this would be the last time ilya would hold his hand. maybe the russian would find out that shane was unintentionally killing him and want nothing more to do with him. so, shane would take all the contact he could get until the moment ilya withdrew it. and until then, he would explain. as much as he could. because ilya deserved to know. ' i don't know everything. i-- i couldn't tell my mom everything when i asked her about it. ' she'd asked about circumstances, and shane had lied. he had let his mother believe that he had accidentally fed on rose.

' yuki-onna, a full one, survive by feeding on the life energy of humans. usually by luring them out into snowy forests and, well, kissing them to death. ' that was how his parents had met. yuna had been visiting canada, and found david hollander in the woods. there had just been something about him that she hadn't wanted to kill. ' we always thought i just wasn't enough yuki-onna to need to do that. i've always just eaten normal food. ' well, as normal as his high performance diet could be. ' my mom thinks i just needed time to mature, that the yuki-onna side of me just needed time to develop. ' shane had his own theory, one that had everything to do with ilya. and, specifically, with ilya feeding on him for years.

✘ ♕ ✘ There seemed to be real fear in Shane's voice as he spoke, explaining everything he knew about the situation. Ilya listened carefully, but nothing the other said could scare him away. The two months they had just spent apart were agonizing, which was ironic given that they regularly spent many months apart. This time it felt different, pointed. No hope of 'the next time'. And the Rose Landry of it all only made it that much worse. The only thing that could scare Ilya now was making all of that permanent.

Hazel eyes glanced down to where he felt the cool touch of Shane's thumb over the back of his hand. The memory of that afternoon on his couch floated back to his mind's eye and he recalled the strangeness of the kiss. It was different, but also felt incredible. He was a little tired afterwards, but truly, it was nothing compared to the heartbreak of everything else.

✘ ♕ ✘ Inviting himself, Ilya took a seat next to his rival captain. He sipped on his beer, studying the other. It wasn't hard to miss the dour mood that had settled over the other. Ilya usually loved pranks. He orchestrated quite a few on his own teammates. In fact, he and Marleau were known to be quite the infamous duo when they got together. Ilya even enjoyed pranks played on himself. It was all in good fun. But it seemed obvious that Hollander didn't share this same love.