#centaursh

by Snaptic

When Shane Hollander and Ilya Rozanov arrive in Ottawa, everyone expects the hard part to be hockey.

What they don’t expect is how difficult — and how hopeful — it will be to finally build a life together.

As the Centaurs rebuild, Shane and Ilya navigate new teammates, new expectations, and the unfamiliar challenge of letting their relationship exist outside of stolen moments and long-distance phone calls.

Because it turns out, being on a losing hockey team might be the easy part.

Learning how to have a future together is something else entirely.

by virtual_typewriter

It happens in an instant. Over Ilya’s shoulder, Shane sees the doctor and Wiebe give each other a look, and in a sudden bout of impatient anxiety, Shane ends up saying the words that come to ruin everything. “Don’t touch me.” The effect is instantaneous. Ilya’s hands fly to his sides, and Shane gets a front row seat as Ilya’s heart breaks before his very eyes. Eyes dimming and lips trembling in slow, painful technicolor. It causes Shane’s heart to break, too, and he vows, immediately, never to see such a look cross his husband’s face again.

by justhockey

“We’ve made a trade,” Coach announces. “For Shane Hollander.”

It’s like the ground drops out from beneath Ilya, and his heart falls from his chest. It tumbles past rock bottom, down to the cavern that shattered open inside of him on that night five years ago. The night when Ilya walked away from Hollander for the last time.

He can’t breathe.