crystallized girl living in a metamorphic world

enter david hollander who is out for some drinks with coworkers, and recognizes that ilya is harming himself and intervenes, eventually creating a friendship

they meet up semi-frequently while ilya tells david about his job and david tells ilya about his. ilya knows that david has a wife, and a son around his age but has never seen pictures of either. ilya regains his normal confidence that he had while living in russia/boston; david watches ilya pick up various women and occasionally men.

david tells yuna all about his new friend from russia who he is helping settle into ottawa. she doesn’t necessarily approve of the sleeping around, but is happy that david is happy

months later, david discovers that ilya is finally in a serious relationship. he is of course happy for him, doesn’t pry for information and wishes him the best as they start to see each other less.

ilya calls david for advice sometimes, which he is glad to give. he tells david that “i’m meeting his parents tomorrow for dinner and i think i might die” david tells him that he’ll be alright and to just be himself

the next day, yuna informs david that their son will be bringing his boyfriend over for dinner. david had absolutely no idea that their son was evening dating anyone. at least yuna is aware! he very much does not put two and two together.

they get make an easy meal for the meet-the-parents that shane would no doubt be freaking out over. yuna answers the door at 6:30 sharp. david hears her greet the two at the door, probably throwing her arms around shane and giving his boyfriend a judgemental once-over.

You speak to cousins who you remember playing pond hockey with when you were 10 years old (when you would all say you never wanted a girlfriend because they'd get in the way of you winning the Stanley Cup). They've sent you engagement photos and save the dates (and you've won the Stanley Cup).

Your teammates have all proposed to their beautiful, understanding girlfriends and you are invited to all their weddings (never with a plus one).

You've spent the better part of the decade hooking up with your arch rival behind the closed doors of hotel rooms. Until you walked out of his home and told yourself you couldn't go back. You couldn't let this be any more than sex, and the only way to do that was to break it off completely.

You think, distantly, about how no one has ever made you feel the way Ilya Rozanov does, but maybe that's because you haven't found the right woman yet.

You see the way Hayden smiles at Jackie when he sees her after a game, the way your cousins look like they're glowing in the photos of them down on one knee on the beach at sunset. You see anniversary posts online where couples post about how wonderful they make each other feel, how even at their worst they love each other so, so much. Maybe you'll feel like that too when the right girl comes along.

And then the right girl comes along.

She is so funny. She is so beautiful. She understands your world. She understands what it feels like to be public property. To have to play a caricature every day. She asks you so many interesting questions, but never anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. Your best friend in high school had her poster above his bed. She's your dream girl and you like her so, so much.

And you still don't feel it.

You think you can make it work. You'll bend and shape yourself into what she needs and she can be enough for you. She's so nice and so pretty and so understanding. You think that you'll make yourself her perfect man, and she can be your perfect woman and it can be perfect. You will be perfect together. The whole internet already thinks you are perfect together. You can be perfect, it'll just be another facet of the character you have to play every second of every day (you stop yourself from remembering every hotel room where you didn't have to pretend at all).

It becomes a tradition on the road. After they fuck, they cuddle up and watch an episode or 2. Sometimes they switch to shark tank during commercials because Ilya loves how mad Shane gets at the awful pitches

It gets to the point that Bood’s complaining about sharing a hotel wall with Ilya and Shane. And a rookie’s like, “Why? Do they have super loud sex?”