At some point, the cens sign a first-round pick rookie tendy from fucking siberia who barely speaks english. And he gets assigned to the Hollander-Rozanovs.
He lives with them for a few weeks while setting up his own housing, with much help from Mister Real Estate, of course. He's in absolute awe of Rozanov and is a little bit afraid of Hollander, and is on his politest behavior the entire time.
He's a great fucking goalie (á la Dobeš irl) so Hayes ends up with him mostly during practice and Shane or Ilya is always on call to translate as needed, but he's picking up the language quickly, even if his vocabulary is mostly hockey terms and simple questions to start.
During a roadie, his roomie pulls a girl so he knocks on the Captain's door and it's very late; he's hoping to wait out the requested hour somewhere other than the hotel lobby, bar, gym, or hallway. He isnt really expecting an answer; he knows from staying with them that they are probably already asleep (since he can't hear the noises he otherwise came to expect).
Shane answers and lets him in. Tells him in hushed Russian that Ilya is asleep, but does he want to watch Property Brothers? And the kid doesnt know what that is but he sits in the little side chair by the table and watches anyway. Shane always has subtitles on because they help him sometimes, and he knows Ilya prefers them on. The rookie likes them too; his english is already lightyears ahead of where he was when he signed, in no small part due to being assigned to the Hollander-Rozanovs.
Shane sits back in the bed up against the headboard and Ilya curls around him with a sleepy, questioning hum, slipping an arm across his lap.
"The rook's here," Hollander tells him, petting his frizzy head.
Rozanov's head pops up from the pillows by Shane's hip and he squints at the kid. He grunts and slurs something at Shane as he nestles back down and almost immediately starts snoring again, earning a soft smile and a snort from Hollander. The rookie watches out of his periphery as Hollander pets Rozanov's curls and watches the TV, their evening calm and quiet and achingly domestic even in a hotel room.
The next morning, Hollander scores a hat trick in the second period and the rook blocks all but 1 shots on goal, and Rozanov knocks someone's teeth out for plowing into him at the net, even though it was technically a clean hit.
The rookie thinks that, despite being mocked for it at first, being drafted by the gay team, and his own cultural nervousness over that, he's very lucky to have been drafted by the cens.
