Work Text:
“I’m gone for one game and you start a fight with Scott Hunter?” Shane's voice says as he holds a cold ice pack to the newly acquired black eye on Ilya's face.
The Ottawa Centaurs had had a game that night with the New York Admirals, the strongest team in the league. Shane had, ridiculously, thought and truly believed that Ilya would be fine playing a game without Shane there. But now Ilya had come home with his head down after starting a comical fight with Scott Hunter, leading to not only his black eye, but a concussion after taking a hard hit.
“Is okay for you to fight him but not me?” At that, Shane had slightly pushed the ice pack harder into Ilyas face, which Ilya had dramatically winced at.
“I did not fight him!” Shane exclaims as he loosens
his grip on the ice pack while reliving the fight he had with Scott Hunter a while ago.
“Yes, you did not fight him because Hayden had to hold you back — you wanted to fight” Ilya says as he opens his eyes fully to look at Shane more clearly, smiling as he looks at his husband, a word neither of them could believe they could use to describe each other.
Removing his grip from the ice pack, Shane takes ahold of Ilyas face and presses a light peck onto his lips. “I didn’t get hurt tho, you did.” Shane says with his voice low, moving his hand to push into Ilyas curls. “I get worried for you, those fights could end bad”
Ilya shrugs at Shane’s, In his opinion, unnecessary concern, “Just Scott Hunter, he’s too old to hurt me”. His response causes Shane to glare at him and point at his black eye.
“This” Ilya responds, pointing at his black eye, “Does not hurt”. He immediately catches Shane giggling at his words while shaking his head. “What? You do not believe me?” Ilya utters through his laughter at Shane’s reaction.
“Oh — No, I totally believe you. In the same way I believe that shirt isn’t hideous.” Shane says while glancing at the neon yellow shirt that Ilya has on while moving off the couch they were sat on “That means you just think I look hot in this” Ilya says back as he gets up to follow Shane to wherever he was going.
“Mhm, sure” Shane says sarcastically to Ilya as he moves into the kitchen, opening the fridge to find something to make for his wounded and miserable looking husband.
They had continued to chill around for the rest of the day, with Shane taking care of Ilya and playing with Anya in their backyard.
After getting into bed, the thought as to why Ilya had even started the fight had crossed Shane’s mind. He quickly takes off his glasses and closes his book to take a look at Ilya, who was mindlessly scrolling on his phone despite being told by Shane a hundred times to not use it.
“Why did you start a fight with him anyway?” The question causes Ilya to turn and look at his husband with furrowed eyebrows. But had quickly dropped his head to prevent Shane from seeing his suddenly pink cheeks
Silently, Ilya murmurs something inaudible to Shane, causing him to utter a “Hm?” to Ilya. “They kept targeting Haas, I tried to stop it”. Ilya finally says after staying silent for a few seconds. At his response, Shane warmly smiles at his husband while pushing a hand into Ilyas wet and warm curls
“That’s cute” Shane mutters, “You really care for him.” Shane continues saying as he continues massaging Ilyas head of curls while Ilya pushes more into Shane’s touch.
“Is just my job, to protect them” Ilya quickly utters in defence, trying to deny the care that he does have for the kid. But Shane had been able to read Ilya better than anyone and exclaimed to Ilya “You totally do! He’s like practically your kid”
Ilya shakes his head rapidly “No, no. Just captain, I protect team from harm, that’s it.”. Now, Shane is laughing loudly at Ilya denying how much of a softie Ilya really is towards Luca. “It’s not wrong to admit you care for him. He told me before that he..” Shane pauses at that and attempts to choose the right word for it “He sees you in a really paternal way, he admires you.”
That causes Ilyas eyes to soften and smile fondly, just at the thought of Luca seeing him in such a soft and caring way. “He’s a good kid. They take advantage of him being young and try to trip him up, is cruel.” Ilya says while thinking about their game today.
“And that activates papa bear mode in you?” Shane says tenderly while poking his chest. “It’s cute, you looking out for him”. Ilya hums at that and stays silent while cuddling his husband.
After a few minutes of silence, Ilya opens his mouth“I remember when we were his age, and not being safe. I want him to be safe. I want him to trust me. I don’t want him to be sad or .. ” Ilya pauses to wipe the tears from his eyes as he thinks about being young and not having many people he could trust and love, not before Shane.
“He does, he trusts you Ilya, you don’t need to fight for him for him to know it.” Shane utters as he embraces Ilya and starts to kiss him. “Go call Haas, check up on him, okay?” He says while patting Ilya.
Ilya nods at his husband's suggestion and grabs his phone to call Luca. He picks up after 3 rings and Ilya gently brings the phone up to his ears in time to hear Luca make a confused noise before greeting his captain.
They had continued to talk on the phone until Ilya had made sure that Luca was feeling okay and by the time the call had ended, Ilya had found Shane fast asleep in bed.
At their next game, Ilya had excitedly tried to lift up Haas and kiss his cheek after he had scored a hat trick in the first period of the match.
If anybody in the team had noticed Ilyas new favouritism towards a certain rookie, then nobody had bought it up.