Chapter Text
Shane was one of the most composed people he knew, he liked to think. He prided himself on it: knowing that he was able to keep his composure on and off the ice. There was only one thing - or one person, he supposed - that made his carefully crafted self-control crack.
Ilya Rozanov.
Shane had never been more stressed, sneaking around hotels and stealing stolen glances to each other on the ice, knowing that if one thing were to go wrong it would blow up in their faces and his composure would break.
But he couldn’t even be mad at himself or Ilya for the stress that had been weighing down on him every time he thought about the two of them, because there was something else that weighed down on him harder: freedom. Shane Hollander had never felt more liberated when he was with Ilya.
For the first time in his life, he was able to let go of everything that was causing him stress. Even a simple caress on the back like at the NHL awards during their rookie season could relieve months of tension. He didn’t like to think about the fact that he still thinks about that night. Constantly.
He was knocked out of his thoughts as Yuna cleared her throat, “Shane? Are you still listening? Did you hear what I said?”
He hummed, “Yes I did - Rolex is in.”
Yuna nodded, “yes it is! And isn’t that exciting? This is such a big deal for you and your career!”
“Maybe now I can get that watch I’ve always wanted,” David chimed in.
Yuna scoffed, “Remember this isn’t about you,” she gestured across the table. “It’s about Shane.”
“Yeah, yeah.” David smiled and winked at Shane.
“You guys are always bickering,” Shane observed. “It’s cute.”
They smile at each other. “Well that’s apart of love - oh!” David exclaims. “I read this great article in the New Yorker the other day…”
Shane found it hard not to think back to the NHL awards in the bathroom.
“When did your English get so good?”
“I read The New Yorker now.”
“Really?”
“No, The New Yorker is boring.”
“My dad loves it.”
“Ah, so being boring is genetic.”
“Wow, genetic."
“...and there was this great article where these psychologists did a study by asking strangers to get together and answer a bunch of questions about themselves and your supposed to fall in love with them after. Really fascinating stuff.”
And all of a sudden, Shane had a horrible idea. He couldn’t…could he? I mean he could, but he shouldn’t. “That seems really interesting, Dad. Can you send that to me? I’d like to read it.”
David smiled, “Of course.”
-
He wasn’t planning on actually trying out the article with Ilya. He read through questions and even Shane knew that some of them were too personal for two people who were just hooking up to ask each other…but that was before Shane was sitting on Ilya’s couch eating a tuna melt that Ilya had made him and before he was drinking a cold Ginger Ale that Ilya had kept in the fridge for him and before Ilya had asked him to stay the night. This was new.
“Hollander, I can feel your nerves from here.”
Shane scoffs, “I was just gonna ask you something, but…” Something about Ilya’s hazel eyes boring into him made him nervous. Well he knew why, he didn’t have to think about it for too long before he started getting shivers up his back.
“So ask then,” Ilya says with a mouth full of tuna melt, shrugging his shoulders.
“Well,” Shane takes a big breath. “There’s an article that conducted a study I saw that I wanted to try out.”
Ilya smirks, “sounds sexy.”
Shane rolls his eyes, “It’s from The New Yorker.”
“The New Yorker can be sexy.”
Shane doesn’t need to look up from his tuna melt to understand that Ilya was poking fun at him. “I’m serious, Rozanov.”
“So am I.” Shane looks up at Ilya to see what he had expected - a full grin had spread on his beautifully carved face. “So what sex position do you want to try this time, Hollander?”
Shane blushes as memories flash before him, “you can’t just say that.”
“But I like riling you up,” he shrugs. “Is fun.”
“Rozanov, be serious please.”
“Okay, okay. What is this article about?”
Shane begins to explain what the experiment is, careful of what to include in his description. He doesn’t want Ilya to read some of these questions and get scared and flee - that isn’t his intention at all. He just wants to get to know Ilya better, that’s all. They had barely ever talked about their lives outside of hockey and sex and to be completely honest, Shane is curious. He wants to know everything that’s happening under that cool exterior that he wasn't showing anyone else. Shane can’t explain it, but he wants to know everything about him. Even the things that Ilya is too scared to admit.
“So you’re going to ask a question and we are both going to answer same question?”
“Yes, and we can’t interrupt each other to have a conversation. One person goes, and the other listens, and then we do the opposite,” Shane explains.
“And theres 36 of them?”
Ilya raises his eyebrows in confirmation as Shane nods. “There are three sets of questions that make up the 36.”
“Sounds boring.”
“You think everything is boring, Rozanov.”
“Da. But having you under me is not boring.”
Shane blushes again, but chose to ignore the comment this time. “So will you do it?”
“Da. Yes.” Ilya takes another bite of his tuna melt.
Shane smiles to himself before taking his phone out to start asking the questions. “I’ll hand you the phone when it’s your turn to ask the question,” He explains. “Then you’ll hand it back to me and we’ll just keep going like that.”
“Yes, Hollander. I got it. Ask the first question.”