Work Text:
Shane was used to being a local celebrity. He was used to taking selfies with hockey fans, signing pucks and kissing babies. It had been his life for years now. He was used to that.
But things had changed last year when he'd briefly dated Rose. Rose was not a local celebrity, she was an internationally famous actress with enough adoring fans and dedicated haters to fill all the NHL stadiums in the eastern conference. Maybe more actually, if Shane thought about it.
Dating Rose had meant that people other than hockey fans suddenly knew who he was. Mainly this meant that way more women were suddenly turning to stare when he went out. It also meant that doing anything in public had become a risk of getting photographed by anyone with an iPhone and a Twitter account.
It was added stress on top of the fledgling relationship he and Ilya were tenuously building between a hockey season schedule and near constant phone calls and texts. It had, admittedly, made Shane even more paranoid than his baseline level of paranoid. Which was a lot of paranoia.
But, as Shane was finding out while staring down at his phone in the foyer of his still-dark apartment, he had cause to be paranoid.
A photo blurry photo of him at an intimate table, tucked into the back corner of a restaurant in Old Montreal stared up at him from his phone screen. It had been posted to Twitter an hour ago and had already made its way into Shane's feed.
He felt sick just looking at it. Not just because it was a gross invasion of privacy, but because he was sat opposite a young woman, her head angled toward the camera, mouth open and laughing. She was objectively beautiful, with golden blond curls cascading down her back and long bare legs on display, peaking out from a black dress. It cut a picture of the perfect NHL couple. One hockey star plus one beautiful blonde equals match made in heaven.
Shane fought the urge to throw his phone at the wall.
Hayden had crossed the line finally. He'd been the mastermind behind Shane's unwilling blind date that evening.
It had been frustrating immediately, sparking a simmering rage that Shane had promised to take out on his best friend at a later date and in private.
But Shane had muscled through it. He'd smiled and nodded and engaged in small talk, he'd tried to be a polite date and not make the girl feel like it was her fault that he wasn't, in any way or any semblance of the word, interested.
Shane could live with a terrible waste of a night and a few hours lost that he could have spent watching Boston's game against San Jose.
What Shane couldn't live with was the torrent of speculation and gossip that was sending a small section of the internet into a frenzy.
Shane scrolled helplessly through the #ShaneHollander tag on Twitter, skimming over the words as he went, each tweet accompanied by the two blurry images of him in the restaurant.
@LandryLaundry24: SHANE HOLLANDER SPOTTED WITH NEW WOMAN!! This is not a drill!
@LoV3r_grl: Spotted in Montreal! Hollander's new girl?? Sources say they enjoyed a romantic dinner and left together!
@puCk_honey444: Hollander witha new girl? FINALLY!
@Metr0_babeee: Who's the girl?? Hollander couldn't do better than Rose Landry so he's not even trying now??
@MetrosNewsSource: Metros Captain Shane Hollander Spotted with New Girlfriend! Pictures below:
Shane groaned and let the phone fall from his hands on to his chest.
It was nearly midnight in Montreal and Ilya's game wouldn't be done for another hour at least. Which meant another hour for the internet to spin this into something insane. He had to get ahead of it. Ilya would understand, of course he would. But it didn't make Shane any less anxious.
He tapped out a few messages, sending them quickly and not giving himself time to overthink it. Then he locked his phone and tossed it onto the couch. At least he could catch the end of the game.
*
Ilya tapped his glove against the last rookie off the ice and gave him a reassuring nod. "Good job tonight." The rookie, Jonesy, looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die. He was having trouble connecting with his line, it was obvious to Ilya, but he was new and he'd played hard. The moments after a loss were also not the time to go over all the things that had gone wrong during a game.
The dressing room was subdued but not quiet by any means. Most of the guys were just happy to be finishing a week away. They headed back to Boston the next morning and Ilya knew they were all ready to sleep in their own beds. He especially was ready, because it meant he had two free days to head to Montreal and sleep in Shane Hollanders bed.
The corner of the room erupted in laughter as Ilya shrugged on his suit jacket and finally reached for his phone. He ignored the rowdy group of guys, mostly younger rookies, as he dug his phone out of his bag finally.
It was late in Montreal, Shane would be asleep. He didn't expect to see the three little notifications pop up on his messages. He was just opening the thread with Shane when a voice caught his attention.
"No no, good for him I mean if Rose Landry dumped me it would take years to recover."
Ilya's head snapped up. "What the fuck are you giggling about like little girls?" He barked across the room.
When he looked back down Ilya's stomach twisted uncomfortably.
Shane: Don't check Twitter
Shane: Call me when you're back at the hotel
Shane: Sorry
*
"Hollander" Ilya purred into the phone.
Shane groaned, Ilya's tone barely registering over the screaming anxiety making his skin feel too tight.
"Hollander, you had a date." He was nearly singing, voice low. Shane turned, pressing his face into the couch cushion.
"It was an accident."
"ohhh an accident. You accidentally go to romantic dinner with a beautiful woman? Tell me Hollander how does that happen on accident."
"Ilya."
"Shane."
Shane pressed his face further into the couch cushion, letting the fabric muffle his second groan of frustration.
"I thought I was having dinner with Hayden and Jackie." He finally managed.
Shane could hear Ilya breathing on the other end of the line but he didn't speak. He couldn't handle the silence so Shane just kept talking to fill the air. "She was a friend of Jackie's that Hayden's been relentlessly trying to set me up with for fucking months."
Ilya hummed on the other end of the line. "mmm so it is Pikes fault everyone thinks you have a new hot girlfriend."
"Yes, I mean, he doesn't know….about this…he was just trying to be-"
"No no, he knows you did not want to be set up. He knows enough." Ilya's voice had dropped into something more dangerous.
Shane wanted to melt into the couch, become one with the beige fabric and vanish forever.
"She was very pretty at least." Ilya continued.
"Fuck off"
"No no is true, internet agrees."
"That's not the point-"
"Is just a fact, Hollander."
"I don't care what she looked like."
"And she liked you, she is laughing in the photo, probably too hard you are not that funny."
Shane pulled his face out of the couch finally. "What! I'm funny!" He protested.
"Ehhh you are funny sometimes, but not that funny."
"Jesus, are you looking at the photo right now? Stop!"
"Yes." Ilya's voice had become breathy. "I am jealous."
The admission made Shane's chest feel like it had been filled with helium. He opened his mouth, lips dry, and closed it again without saying anything.
"I am jealous that this beautiful girl gets to laugh at your bad jokes over romantic dinner. And I am jealous that she got to spend all night with you."
"Ilya"
"And I am jealous that people take photos of you with her and the worst thing that happens is people on Twitter think you are dating a model. I'm jealous, Hollander."
"Stop calling me that…please."
There was a desperate moment of silence on the line. He could hear Ilya breathing again, but this time it is heavier, louder. It stirs something primal in Shane's gut.
Ilya broke the silence with another breath "You can make it up to me."
"Anything."
"Where are you?"
"The living room."
"Go upstairs and take off all your clothes then face time me." The instructions are direct. Shane barely has a second to get a response out before Ilya hangs up on him and he's left alone and half hard in the silence of his living room.
Shane cursed to himself as he bolted off the couch. He was already completely hard by the time he made it to his room, hoping on one foot to get out of his sweat pants as he entered. His hoodie had been discarded somewhere on the stairs along with his tee-shirt. He'll pick it up later, his mind laser focused on the goal of getting back to Ilya.
Shane already had Ilya's contact pulled up and was pressing the face time call button as he wriggled out of his briefs.
The call picked up after two rings. Shane had held his breath until Ilya's face and searing stare appeared on the screen.
"Hey." Shane breathed out, a little of the tension before already releasing from his shoulders.
Ilya raised his eyebrows, gaze hard as ice through the phone. "Hello." Shane watched as Ilya's tongue slipped out to wet his bottom lip, one of his tells. "Are you naked?"
"Yes, wait no-" Shane sat up quickly to pull of his socks and then flopped back onto the bed. "okay now I am."
Ilya had fully sucked his bottom lip between his teeth when Shane looked back at the screen. Shane could feel the sweat already starting to form on his lower back, his body heating up from the inside.
"Are you hard?"
"What do you think."
"Show me."
Ilya hadn't eased up on the commanding tone and it was starting to drive Shane crazy. He always liked when Ilya was direct about what he wanted, but this, with him riled up over something, it was on another level.
Shane flipped the camera around so he could keep his eyes on Ilya's face, watch him as he showed off how hard he was for his boyfriend already. The camera shook slightly as the video flipped and Shane watched Ilya's pupils dilate. He cursed, a string of Russian Shane couldn't parse out.
"Now what." Shane could barely keep his hands of himself as he waited for Ilya to tell him what he wanted next. He had his free hand tangled up in the duvet cover instead, just for something to hold on to.
"Now I want you to touch yourself. But only when I say."
Shane cursed, his free hand immediately going to his throbbing dick. "Should i get the tripod."
"Yes, I want to see your pretty face and your pretty dick." The smirk was heavy in Ilya's voice.
Shane scrambled off the bed, throwing open the bottom drawer of his night stand to pull out the tripod and toss it down at the end of the bed. They had played this game plenty of times, Shane knew how to angle the camera just right so he could still see Ilya from where he sat on the bed.
"Come on Hollander, you are making it up to me!" Ilya bossed from behind the screen. "You need to prove you are not dating the blonde girl, yes?"
"Fuck off!" Shane had the lube out and his hand around his dick a moment later, already moaning into the relief of the pressure. "Better?" He ground out through his teeth, eyes flicking up to see Ilya's lips parted, watching.
"mmmm much."
Shane stroked himself hard and fast, relishing the feeling and the thought of Ilya watching him.
"Are you touching yourself too?" He asked between gasps.
"Is not your business." Ilya snapped. Shane didn't hold back the glare he leveled at the phone screen.
"You're ridiculous."
"Okay fine, stop then."
Shane slowed, but didn't release his dick as he looked at Ilya's serious face on the screen. "what?"
"Stop touching your dick Hollander."
With a huff Shane obeyed. He released his grip felt the loss instantly.
"Good boy." Ilya purred.
Shane grit his teeth against the shiver that ran down the length of his spine at the praise. He flexed his hand in the air, cracking his fingers and then contracting them into a tight fist. It was barely a distraction.
"Fuck, Ilya."
"When I see you in a day, yes. I will fuck you so hard you forget her name and that you ever met her."
"What? who?"
Ilya's rumbling laugh sent another wave of need jolting through Shane's body. He was too blissed out on Ilya to think of anything outside of this moment.
"This is a good start." His tone shifted slightly. "You can touch yourself again."
Shane's eyes nearly rolled back into his head when he gripped himself again. He was getting so close already, he could feel the orgasm building deep within his gut.
"Fuck, I'm so close, agh I wish you were here."
The only answer was a low moan from Ilya on the other end. Confirmation that he getting off on this as much as Shane was. It was the only thing Shane needed to send him rocketing over the edge of his climax. His entire body lighting up with pleasure as he came hard in his hand.
"Fuck, Shane." Ilya's voice cut through the come down of Shane's orgasm as he climaxed, somewhere across the continent in San Jose. Too far for comfort, but at least they were together in this.
Shane grabbed the phone with his free hand, bringing it closer so he could see Ilya's face as he panted through his own come down.
They both stared through the screen at each other for a long time before either spoke. Ilya's face had softened though, eyes appraising Shane the way he always did after they had sex.
"I really am sorry." Shane was the first to break the silence. His voice came out more timid than he wanted, but maybe it was just because he was so tired. It had to be well past 2am by now.
Ilya tilted his head. "Is okay. I know it is annoying, but I am not mad."
"Thank you."
"I might have to kill Pike though," Ilya pushed his loose curls back off his face. "Or at least seriously injure."
Shane couldn't help the smile that spread across his face hearing Ilya joke. It soothed the fire of anxiety that had been building up in him all night.
"I'll talk to him, maybe it's time i tell him…at least tell him about me."
"Is up to you, lyubimyy." Shane's chest ached worse now, even if the anxiety about the photo had started to subside. He wanted to be held. He wanted big arms around him, anchoring him to the present.
"Ilya," Shane hoped he didn't look to soppy "I love you so much."
"I love you, Shane. Stupid photo doesn't change that."
"I know…"
"I will be there with you, day after tomorrow, and I will remind you how much I love you in person."
"Okay." Shane could feel the heat in his face, wanted to duck his head into another pillow but thought better of it. He knew Ilya liked to see him blush.
"Is late, past your bedtime." Ilya said after another moment. Shane sighed, the exhaustion finally starting to catch up with him. He let his eyes fall shut for a second "Clean up and go to bed. I will text before we take off tomorrow."
"Okay baby." Shane wasn't sure how the endearment slipped in. He didn't normally call Ilya baby, but he didn't hate it either. He opened his eyes again just to see Ilya's own red face smiling shyly on the screen.
"Goodnight, malysh."
"Goodnight, Ilya."
They stared at each other for a few more long seconds before Ilya mimed a kiss at him and then ended the call.
Shane cleaned himself up and put himself to bed, pulling out one of Ilya's teeshirts from the dirty laundry basket to tuck under his pillow like a child. He didn't care. He rubbed the thin material of the shirt between his fingers as he laid in the dark and pictured Ilya there with him.
Just two more nights. Then he could hold him for real. Then he could really make it up to him.