The World Is Yours

what he does take away from the experience is an appreciation for certain types of people. he finds his attention lingering on blonde curls and freckles and brown eyes and soft looking skin with smatterings of moles. men, women, whoever really- he begins to notice the patterns.

it’s at some league event where Cliff meets this absolute fox of a woman. yeah, okay- she reminds him of Shane which really does it for him- but she’s fucking sharp and seems to know eeeverything about hockey- which, also hot- and Cliff becomes a little obsessed with her immediately. he’s always been into older women so that’s another draw. and he keeps running into her at hockey stuff, like, way too regularly to be a coincidence so he starts thinking, yeah ya know what? I’m Cliff fucking Marleau I can ask out this sexy older woman, I fucking pull, dude I can do anything-

BUT THEN MY MAN, HEATHCLIFF MARLEAU, LAID SHANE HOLLANDER SMOOOOOV OUT WITH HIS BIG BEAUTIFUL BODY AND BROKE HIS COLLARBONE AND CANCELLED THEM PLANS AND SENT THAT COFFIN STRAIGHT TO THE WOODCHIPPER

Man, that really would be something. All that strength focused and locked onto a single point. All that determined, measured energy slowly eroding until he lost his composure. Something similar to when he drops gloves, but more so, drawn out longer, a bigger climax.

He wonders how good Hollander is with his tongue. Wonders if he knows, as Roz puts it, how satisfying getting his head squeezed between someone’s thighs feels.

Siri is it possible to get pregnant from a video, read another comment. Cliff briefly imagines that, puts away his phone, and finishes getting ready for tonight’s game.

So it's not super weird when Shane texts him and asks him to meet at a nearby coffee shop

(Shane: Hi Marleau, this is Shane Hollander-Rozanov, I was wondering if we could meet at [copy-pasted Google Maps link] so that I can talk to you about Ilya's birthday

Cliff: 👍

Ilya, later: Can I spit on it

Cliff: Later baby I have plans with your man

Ilya: Lol.

Ilya, later when Shane actually leaves to 'meet someone': You will never satisfy him.)

Anyway the point of all of this is Cliff walks into a coffee shop that takes itself a little too seriously and sits down across from Shane who already has a little notebook in front of him with a black coffee.

After brief greetings and after Cliff orders his own coffee (They are all named after Canadian cities. It's a really pretentious coffee shop) he sits down and Shane immediately says, "I was wondering if you could tell me some of the things that you and Ilya did when you went to Paris together."

Cliff's mind implodes.

"Uh."

"I've never been and I want to do something to make up for the fact that our thirtieth birthdays were kind of overshadowed by," Shane gestures expansively to euphamistically refer to the whole outing-to-marriage ordeal of last spring and summer. "And he's mentioned that you guys went to Paris together back in 2014 to celebrate your Cup win. Did he enjoy it? Or do you think he wouldn't want to go back?"

"Uh," says Cliff as he frantically texts Ilya under the table. "Yeah. He loved it."

(COME GET YOUR MAN BIG DAWG THIS IS NOT A DRILL.)

"Great!" Shane clicks his pen. "What did you guys do while you were there?"