Chapter Text
It had started out innocent enough. Shane was a rookie. Thompson was the “old guy” on the team that usually took new rookies under his wing and taught them the way in this crazy world of professional hockey players.
Mentor-mentee relationships like these were really common in the hockey world between new and more experienced players. And Shane had honestly hoped that he would find himself on the receiving end of one with an older more experienced teammate helping him out in his first year or two in this new and overwhelming career in the spotlight.
And it had been nice… The first month or two. Thompson had given him some good tricks on how to deal with the media and how to act with your teammates during drills, in locker rooms and on away games. But now… Shane wasn’t sure. Thompsons attention was starting to make him feel uncomfortable. But he couldn’t put his finger on why exactly.
Thompson was objectively a nice guy. He constantly volunteered at the local hospital, visiting the kids who were there for longer stays. He was also always good at shutting shit down, when the chirping in the locker room started to get more pointed or sharp. Shane had even heard him gently but firmly cut down a teammate, when he made an off-handed homophobic joke. This had surprised Shane because homophobic remarks on and off the ice was just par for the course in the hockey world. That had been the case since junior league.
So why did Shane feel himself tense slightly, whenever Thompson looked at him? He told himself he was being ridiculous. Thompson had been nothing but nice and helpful to Shane, since he joined the Montreals. He had absolutely no reason to feel on guard around this guy.
Shane glanced out of the bus window. They were gathering up at the arena for their first away game for the season and while some teammates had already found their seats inside the bus like Shane, a good number of them where still outside saying goodbye to their families. Shane glanced at Thompson from the corner of his eye. He was holding one of his kids, a young girl, who was crying against his shoulder. In front of him stood a beautiful brown-haired girl with a young boy standing by her feet, holding her hand. The young boy looked bored and uninterested as he picked his nose and scraped his shoe against the ground.
Thompson kissed his wife goodbye and handed her back the young girl, who let out a loud wail that pierced Shane’s eyes. He closed his eyes momentarily and pulled out his earbuds. He liked kids but the loud sounds they made sometimes… it made his skin crawl.
He put on an audiobook he was currently listening to about the 1950s US hockey culture and closed his eyes. He felt his shoulders drop, as he eased back into his seat. Their first game was against Ottawa, a short 2 hour drive from here. Afterwards they’d be catching a flight to Boston.
Shane’s stomach made a little flip-flop by the thought of seeing Rozanov and he cursed himself. They had hooked up all of 2 times, since that first time after the photo shoot. Each time, Shane had psyched himself up for putting a polite but firm end to things. Of course all of that went out of the window the minute he saw the Russian standing in front of him with that cocky grin of his….
Shane had already gone through the usual self-talk, telling himself that this was the final time. But deep down he honestly doubted it would be…
He opened his eyes in surprise, when he felt someone sink down in the seat next to him. He looked over. Thompson looked back at him with a huge grin and gestured to his earbud.
Shane removed it.
“What you listening to, rookie?”
“It’s just an audiobook. I started it last night”.
“Yeah? What’s it about?” Without waiting for a reply, he reached out and turned Shane’s phone towards him to see the title of the book on his screen. His giant hands dwarfed the phone in comparison and made it look comically small. With his huge stature and broad shoulders, Thompson was the perfect defence man. His size alone intimidated the opposing team enough to keep them in check. Despite his size, however, he rarely got into fights on the ice. The Gentle Giant, they called him.
“Frozen Fists: Violence, Masculinity, and Myth in 1950s U.S. Hockey”, Thompson read aloud and laughed. “You’re seriously listening to a hockey history book on the way to your first game of your first season?”
Shane shrugged and pulled the phone back to him. “Well, it’s just something that popped up on my recommended. I figured I’d give it a try”.
“Well, is it any good?”
“It’s alright”.
Thompsons gaze lingered on Shane and as always, Shane found himself squirming in his side. He looked out of the bus window again, searching for a distraction.. His gaze landed on Thompsons family that was standing amongst some of the other teammates families.
“Must be tough being away from them”, Shane said and nodded at Thompsons wife.
“Yeah, Michaela is a good woman. First night away is always a lil’ rough but she’s used to it. Harder on the kids, I think. Especially the young one, Lucy. She’s too young to understand what’s happening. She’ll forget all about it in no time, though”.
Shane nodded. He figured that would be him some day. Maybe only in a few years. Guys in the league tended to marry young.
“You got a girl somewhere?”
“Uhm, no. I had a girlfriend before starting here. But… it didn’t work out”
“Hmm…”, Thompson looked him up and down with a glint in his eyes that had Shane feeling oddly nervous.
He suddenly felt very boxed in with the window at his back and Thompsons giant figure shielding his exit to the bus’ walkway. ‘Don’t be ridiculous’, he scolded himself.
“We should get you a girl then. Tonight. Let’s go out after the game and get you laid”.
“Oh, I’m not really…”
“Attention, boys!” Their coach yelled from the front of the bus to rally up the troops and the final few stragglers still hanging around outside. It took a few seconds for everyone to find their seat and settle down. “Time to get going. Now, first match of the season is against Ottawa. I know and you all know they’re a bit of a shit team that hasn’t made it to the playoffs in over a decade”.
This made some of the guys in back start chirping and laughing.
“That doesn’t mean”, coach continued, “that we get to be lazy and all comfy. I expect to see the very best from you later tonight, when we beat their asses. That understood?”
“Yes coach”, chorused through the bus.
“Alright then. Let’s get going!”
A minute later the bus hummed alive and they were on their way.
Shane’s first season had officially begin.
………………….
“Fucking yes!”
“Matheson, you owe me 50 bucks!”
“Great start to the season”
The locker room was full of bravado and cheers, when the group of smelly hockey players entered it after a long but rather easy game against Ottawa. Ottawa really didn’t have a good roster and it had almost been a guaranteed win from the start. Still, Shane was very happy with the game and his own performance in it. He had scored all of three goals and assisted on a fourth, scored by Hayden Pike.
“Great game!”, Thompson exclaimed and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder that had Shane gasp a little from the impact. Thompson looked at him with a wide smile. “You played really well today”.
“Thank you”, Shane nodded and forced himself to smile back, while ignoring the feeling of the other man’s hand on his shoulder. Was that… Shane frowned slightly, when he felt the other man’s thumb grace over his collarbone a few times.
The two men looked at each other. Thompson was still wearing his huge friendly smile and there was a certain glint in his eyes that Shane couldn’t quite interpret.
“You really did a good job”, a voice sounded behind him and Shane turned around, while Thompsons hand fell away. The voice belonged to Hayden Pike, who nodded smilingly at him. “Thank you for the assist by the way. That final goal really cemented our win tonight”.
“No problem. It was…”, Shane said, not knowing how to finish the sentence. Saying it had been easy would sound cocky, even though it was true. Shane had never really doubted that he belonged in the NHL, but even if he did, those thoughts would have been squashed after tonight. Playing against Ottawa had been easy. And fun. And felt natural.
“So, is your first season away-game in the NHL everything you dreamt of?”, Pike continued.
“More or less”.
Pike smiled at him. “Boston will be harder. Especially with Rozanov on their roster”.
Shane nodded. They had already played all of two preseason games against Boston and both times had been brutal with the Montreals winning one and Boston winning the other. Of course, both times he had met up with Rozanov afterwards…
“Rozanov is a beast. You saw the clip of how he body-checked Johnson from the Seattle team against the boards last week?”, J.J. yelled from across the room, having apparently overheard their conversation.
“Rozanov is suck a dick. He likes to fuck around and get a rise out of people. Man the shit he told me last time we were on the ice with them…”, another teammate chimed in.
“Yeah, he’s an asshole”, Shane mumbled.
“You got that right”, Thompson said and slapped Shane on the back, as he passed him on the way to the shower.
Shane glanced after the man and quickly looked away again, focused on untying his skates. He shook his head, annoyed at himself, while ignoring the rest of the gossip and chirping in the locker room around. He really needed to get a grip about his feelings around Thompson before it began getting obvious. Thompson was far too fucking well-liked for Shane, the teams rookie, to start having beef with him.