Chapter Text
Shane could not wait to get laid tonight.
Desire burns in Shane's stomach, making his hands fidgety. He tries to cool himself, but his mind races, flooding with images and phantom touches that make his skin tingle. Goosebumps scatter as he imagines kisses along his neck—those feather-light, teasing touches that always leave him begging for more. Each kiss would turn hungrier, and Shane would love every second, even as it made his partner cockier.
At this point, it is a familiar dance between them - they understand each other's needs and desires. Shane knows what to expect from their hookups, knows he will leave utterly satisfied. There will be teasing, lust that he would never share with someone else, and a beautiful mess at the end. A routine that had become akin to tradition for them.
Yet, Shane needs to stop the train of thought before he gets hard.
At a public cafe.
With his two best friends sitting across from him.
Who are completely unaware of this part of Shane’s life.
Shane should be really paying attention to them instead of daydreaming about his plans for later.
“Earth to Shane?” Rose Landry waves her pale hand on his face, trying to catch his attention. His ex-girlfriend sits directly in front of him, with a worried frown on her face. Next to her sits his teammate and best friend, Hayden Pike, who has a similar expression. “Are you still with us, Shane?”
Embarrassed, Shane clears his throat. Instantly, Shane feels a wave of guilt. Rose is a famous movie star with a packed schedule that does not allow for them to meet often. She had made an effort to find time from her busy day to meet him, whereas Shane is not paying her the due attention. After they broke up, they remained close friends, and Rose was the first person to whom Shane confessed his sexual preferences. To be fair, there wasn’t much of a confession, more of an admission on Shane’s part as Rose tried her best to provide a safe space for him.
What he did not expect was that Rose would also be good friends with his teammate, Hayden, and his wife, Jackie. Ever since Shane joined the Montreal hockey team, Hayden and, by extension, his wife, had been protective of him. When Rose came into Shane’s life, they immediately included Rose in their unofficial support squad for Shane, which continues until now. Also, it was Rose who encouraged and helped Shane come out to Hayden and Jackie, who received Shane with open arms and love.
Due to his more reserved personality, Shane had always a harder time making friends, which is why he tries his best to show how much he values these three. They have accepted him for who he is, without judgment or ill intentions.
So, when Rose announced on their group chat that she was town, Hayden quickly set up a lunch meetup at a new restaurant downtown. Sadly, Jackie is out of town with the kids, visiting her sister who lives up north. Although Shane was waiting for company that day, the person would only arrive at the beginning of the afternoon, which left him plenty of time to go have lunch with his friends.
“Sorry, my mind went elsewhere.” Which is not a lie, but still leaves a guilty taste in Shane’s mouth, feeling bad that he was more focused on his plans for later than on his friends.
“Please tell me you are not thinking about the game tomorrow, Shane!” Hayden pleads exasperately, pinching the bridge of his nose dramatically.
“I was not!” Shane’s voice goes up an octave defensively, and he curses internally, because his friends will think he is lying.
As expected, Hayden rolls his eyes, “Sure, Jan.”
“Don’t be mean to Shane, Hayden.” Rose intervenes with a caring yet teasing smile. “You know our Shane has a hard time disconnecting from hockey.”
To not dig a deeper hole, Shane let his friends believe that he was thinking about tomorrow’s game. The truth would be too complicated to explain - maybe borderline unbelievable. The conversation moves on to safer topics: Rose’s upcoming movie, Hayden’s kids. The easy conversation helps Shane relax and cleanse his mind from unwanted thoughts. He would find a way to get back at the person who distracted him. Somehow.
“I have an announcement.” Rose declares when the dessert arrives. “I am seeing someone.”
Hayden is the first one to react. “That’s amazing, Rose!” They share a friendly, quick hug. “You sure he is not gay this time?”
Holding back a smile, Shane rolls his eyes, “Ah ah, very fun, dickhead.”
“Just checking.” Hayden holds his hands up innocently, and in response, Shane kicks his friend under the table.
He turns to Rose, holding her hand. “I am happy for you. You do deserve love in your life.” That’s when a new necklace catches Shane’s attention - a simple heart-shaped ruby. A gift from her new boyfriend, for sure.
“Aw, thanks, guys. You will make me cry.” Rose smiles at both of his friends, her beautiful face shining with happiness. “It’s still pretty recent, and we are taking things slow. I wanted you two to be the first to know, actually.”
“Now, Shane’s the last single of the group.” Hayden jokes, winking at Shane. Dread pours over Shane as he guesses where this conversation is going. “Does your boyfriend have any cute friends to match with Shane?”
“Now that you mention-”
And there it is. The blind dates, the setups that his friends have pushed for years unsuccessfully. Shane has lost count of the times they have had this same conversation. Thankfully, his friends aren’t too pushy on the topic, just persistent from time to time. It was worse before Shane came out to them, as Jackie tried to set him up with many of her single friends. However, with Rose entering a committed relationship, Shane knows he will have a harder time dodging his friend's attempts at matchmaking.
“Guys, I don’t need your help. I am fine as I am.”
“Nonsense, Shane! Can you imagine we could go on double or even triple dates!” Hayden wiggles his eyebrows, and his excitement reminds Shane of a golden retriever.
“Oh my god, that would be amazing, Hayden!”
It would not be amazing, whatsoever; it would be a frightening nightmare for Shane. A shiver runs down Shane’s back, and panic starts settle in. There is this particular glint in their eyes that Shane would recognize blindfolded - they have set their minds to find him someone. If Shane started to protest, they would only try harder. Albeit their friends have the best of intentions, Shane does not want or need a relationship at the moment.
Shane stops following what his friends say, and all the surrounding sounds blend undistinguishably, as he slowly starts dissociating. A relationship would further complicate his life, and he already had enough of them. First, he is a professional hockey player, and there were still no publicly out players. Second, there was his agreement with a certain individual that he had no wish to end. At least, not right now.
In the swirling confusion, a stupid, reckless thought forms in his mind. Shane does not know what possesses him to blurt the next phrase, but he does inadvertently, without giving a second thought.
“I already have a boyfriend.”
A silence falls on the table as two pairs of shocked eyes turn to him. A beat passes, as no one reacts at first, and Shane just hopes that the ground swallows him whole. A cold reality settles as Shane begins deeply regret his words. His lying abilities are not the strongest, and he just blurted out the most insane one yet. Oh god, I am going to throw up, Shane thinks as his hands shake slightly in his lap.
“What?”
“When? How? Why did you not tell us, Shane?” Rose bombards him with questions until she notices how pale Shane is turning. “Hey, Shane, are you okay?”
His brain has overheated with stress - hyperventilating would be the best description. Shane opens his mouth to answer, but the words evade him. He can’t take back what he just said. That would only make his friends even more confused, and he could not explain his situation to them. They would not understand, because even at times, Shane did not comprehend how he ended up in a seven-year, on-and-off situationship. Worse, Shane was sure that if they knew the full details, they would double their efforts to find him a nice suitor.
Oh, god, he fucked big time.
“I-” Inevitably, he lowers his head against the table, trying to soothe himself.
“Shane, bud, it’s okay, you can tell us.” Hayden reaches out his hand over the table to touch Shane’s forearm reassuringly.
“We are here for you, Shane. Always.” Rose’s voice sounds so concerned that it breaks something in Shane’s panic.
He raises his head, lips pressed together as Shane racks his brain on how to proceed next. “I don’t even know where to start. It’s someone I have been with before, casually, and we decided to give it a try. I didn’t say anything before because the person is as high profile as I am.” Shane lies through his teeth too easily, even surprising himself. Well, to be fair, he blends parts of the truth with lies. “It’s very recent,” Shane adds nervously, chewing on his lower lip, afraid to lock eye contact with his friends. “I am sorry to blurt it out like that.”
“Oh, bud, don’t worry!” Hayden states calmly.
“We are the ones who should be apologizing. We didn’t mean to come off so persistent to set you up!” Rose laughs sadly, her eyes slightly glassy. “But, thank you for sharing with us the good news.”
“I can’t wait to tell Jackie! She will be so happy. So, when can we meet him?”
Shane really did not think this plan through.
The drive to his house was a blur, with his brain hazy from the disastrous lunch, and soon he was parking in his driveway. Shane could not believe he had dug himself into a gigantic mess. Now, he needed to find himself a boyfriend to present to his friends, on top of that, a gay high-profile man! Shane groans, his head resting against the steering wheel. A mocking laugh rips across his chest, the situation too unbelievable to be laughable. Or maybe Shane is going insane. If he had to bet, his money is on the latter one.
Outside his car window, he can see his apartment, where Shane already knows someone is waiting for him. Now, he is even more mad because his relaxing, sexy evening will be ruined. Fuck, Shane had so many plans for today, and he was so looking forward to today.
Today, Shane could not act like everything was okay and that he had just created the biggest mess ever. Also, he could never pretend, not with him. He always saw right through him, reading Shane like an open book. This person knows him better than Shane knows himself, and he is the only one who can help him out of this stupid mess.
With his mind made up, Shane exits his car and goes straight to his apartment, his pace more frantic than normal. The elevator ride takes longer than usual, almost mockingly slow. Today is definitely not Shane’s day. Maybe Shane should memorize the date to never get out of bed next year. Finally, the elevator reaches his floor, and Shane fumbles with his keys trying to get inside his apartment as fast as he can. As if the universe is conspiring against him, the keys fall loudly on the floor, and Shane curses under his breath.
He lowers himself to the floor to grab the keys when suddenly the doors open, and Ilya Rozanov is on the other side in his full glory - golden locks, absurdly cocky smirk that irritated everyone, and the bluest eyes Shane had ever seen. He was the personification of forbidden in the NHL world: captain of his rival team and his arch-rival since their rookie year. Their rivalry always made headlines, and the fans lived for it - the games they played against each other sold out in minutes.
However, to Shane, Ilya is more than that. They have this weird arrangement where they meet up every time they are in the same city. Convenient, fun, mind-blowing sex, no strings attached, and Shane is about to fuck that up with one sentence.
“Will you be my boyfriend?”