Jellyfish

and so he gets himself into position near the visitor locker rooms and he gestures to ilya as he’s leaving said locker rooms (looking very shellshocked and quiet and scared mind you) and he takes him to the side and just says

“hey i was with hollander when they were taking him away and he kept trying to tell us to talk to you. tell you that he’s ok. man i don’t know why he was insisting but—”

and he just cuts himself off because rozanov’s face is doing something really weird?? Almost like affection?? Then it’s wiped clean and he’s rambling off this excuse of “oh we got friendly at all stars this year he must have seen me stay on the ice once he got hit okok thank you so much for message i have to go”

and the security guy watches ilya practically run to the team bus and just stands there and goes. huh. that’s weird.

hi, you’ve reached shane hollander. i’m sorry i can’t take your call right now. i’ll get back to you as soon as i can. thank you!

one night, with the bribe of a lot of soft kisses, shane finally finds out why he always has so many missed calls from ilya.

“your voice makes me relaxed, shane,” ilya tells him. “is like you’re talking to me. i—i miss you, a lot.”

so shane records a new voicemail greeting every week, referencing something he loves about ilya, or jokes that only ilya could understand.

it became their little secret.

rocky: i’m “a couple of things”

adrian, fussing over him: are you okay?

grace: yeah, don't worry. it's just these onions you guys synthesized for me

- you’re gay - can read - support gay people - want to hold a match between your fingers as you wander the halls of an ancient castle because it’s your only source of light amidst the ghosts of people long past - are an antelope - or want a chocolate bar.