A pretty gift by 11T (1,351 words, rated M)
âWell, donât you look... pretty.â
âFuck,â he whispers, embarrassed at his choice of outfit. âThis was such a bad idea.â
Sliding Doors by @sweet-s0rr0w (3,166 words, rated T)
âBut â but your son. Maybe he is busy,â Ilya says, loudly. Sheâs still holding the doors open with her foot; they give another clunk of protest. âMaybe he make plans already.â
âOh, Shaneâs not busy,â she says, tapping away. âHeâll be getting an early night.â
âMaybeââ Ilya tries again, âmaybe I get an early night.â
Her gaze flicks up to him then, sharp and knowing. âI wonât keep you long,â she tells him. âIt'll be so good for you two to get to know each other...â
hope is a heartache by @anincompletelist (3,246 words, rated M)
But the smoke clears and Hollander is gone and Ilya is alone again on this rooftop, and the cold is sobering, the tie at his neck too tight. Hollander knows fear too:Â No one is looking. You donât know that.
And now he is somewhere downstairs again, with aged liquor in his stomach and Ilyaâs smoke on his breath, alone but in a different way. This, too, is Ilyaâs fault somehowâthe rooftop, his absence, the cigarette. The way Hollander had come up here in search of something and left with less than even that.Â
Ilya looks down at his hands. He knows how to do more than just take, he thinks. He just has to remember.Â
He curses, jabs the flame out until itâs ash, and finds his way back inside.Â
we're strangers, we're not friends by @isozyme (5,359 words, rated T)
The Metros really were lousy at hockey. Shane Hollander was the only talent they had, which was why they threw the C on his chest before they even made it to the All Star break. The Raiders hadnât given Ilya even an A yet. Coach had taken him aside and told him they werenât going to think about a leadership role on the team until heâd finished his rookie year. He had enough to deal with, Coach said, which was nicer than saying Ilya was still nineteen, and his English sucked shit, and they werenât quite done being worried about âcharacter issues.â
next time, probably by @schittyfic (5,729 words, rated E)
"We should â in the shower, maybe? The water would cover up anyâŚâ Hollander clears his throat awkwardly. âNoises.â
Ilya stares at him. A thoroughly entertained grin spreads slowly across his face. âNoises,â he repeats.
Hollander opens his mouth, closes it again. His lips are so swollen. Ilya wants to bite them. âWell, do you want him to hear everything?âÂ
Or: Shane's worried they'll be overheard in room 1221. He has a very sensible solution. Ilya has other ideas.
Bad Thing I: Saddle Up, Cowboy by synchronik (10,838 words, rated E)
Ilya Rozanov has seen the tape on Hollander, seen his blazing speed and his quick hands, his almost psychic ability to know where the puck will be. Hollander is a magician on the ice, the best prospect in the world except for Ilya himself.
But up close, Hollander looks young. Soft. Western. He has big eyes and freckles across his nose like a little kid. He is attractive in the way that many young men are attractive, his face not yet hardened by the work of the real world, and he seems nervous to be out here, nervous to be seen with Ilya. Because Ilya has been forced to learn everything about Hollander, Ilya knows that Hollander is older than him, not much, a few weeks. But looking at him, Ilya feels weary and old. He hates that.
Good Thing I: You Think I'm Pretty by synchronik (18,376 words, rated E)
I should probably just leave this guy alone, Shane thinks as he pushes open the heavy metal security door. He's already said hi to Lemaire and the other guys playing in the tournament, so there's no reason why he needs to come out here in the cold. He could wait to meet until they're all back inside. He could wait until the interviews. He could just not do it at all.
But Ilya Rozanov is his primary competition, here at the Prospect Cup and in the draft, so he's going to meet him. His mother calls it "leading from a position of strength," the idea that you meet your biggest challenges head on and take what they give, and she's right about most things, so. Plus, he's already met all the other guys and not meeting Rozanov would leave a hole in his list, a space that would bug him until it was filled, which could distract him, interrupt his play, and that's not going to happen, not here.