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Chapter 23

Evan was waiting for his brother when Shane finally made it out of the shower. His expression was calm, and he motioned for Shane to join him again.

Shane quietly crawled into his brother’s bed and curled against his side. His cheeks were still bright red, but he remained silent, knowing it would be easier if Evan asked what he wanted to know.

“Rozanov?” Evan questioned softly.

Shane stiffened, feeling strangely vulnerable when confronted with the fact that his brother could read him like a book.

“Yes,” he whispered. “He joined me in the gym … and damn, Evan … he’s such a competitive asshole.”

Evan snorted.

“He sure got you riled up,” he stated.

Shane just nodded. There was no use in denying what was absolutely clear.

“You don’t mind that I’m …,” he waved his hand around, looking for the right word.

“Likely gay?” Evan asked gently before continuing on. “No, Shane. I don’t mind. I couldn’t care less about what you prefer in bed if I tried.”

Shane looked surprised. He had realized quite some time ago that he liked men a lot more than women, though he had never even thought about putting a label on himself. It was hard enough to be a Canadian-Japanese hockey player in a league that called him a diversity hire. Adding that kind of label on top would likely cause their team to drop him and make him disappear.

“Thank you,” he whispered, clinging to his brother.

Evan hugged him tightly.

“Not for something like this,” Evan said.

“What about you?” Shane asked softly after they had lain in silence for a while.

“What about me?” Evan asked, lifting his head from the pillow to look down at Shane.

Shane looked up at him.

“Have you figured out what you like?” he asked.

Evan blinked slowly, processing the question and giving it the thought it deserved.

“I … I don’t think I am interested in sex,” he whispered, turning his gaze away from his brother. “I mean, I can see why people find certain other people attractive and such … but it doesn’t make me want to … do things with them. I’m fine with cuddling, but I don’t think I need more.”

He rambled, and Shane looked at him in surprise. He had observed quite some time ago that Evan watched people, but never approached them that way. Hell, his brother had nearly set himself on fire avoiding people who tried to flirt with him, and he had never once in all their time together caught his brother masturbating, something his friends had always told him happened occasionally.

“That’s fine,” Shane responded belatedly, realizing that his brother was waiting for a reaction. “Though, I have a question.”

Evan nodded slowly and tilted his head to the side.

“Okay?”

“Do you masturbate?” Shane asked.

Evan shook his head.

“No. It doesn’t give me anything,” he admitted. “I tried when I was younger, but … yeah.”

He shrugged.

Shane squirmed in place. He was visibly uncomfortable right now, but there was no way around this conversation right now, because it was important for his brother’s health.

“You still need to do it occasionally,” he said, his cheeks flushing red.

“Why?” Evan asked.

“Didn’t you listen during sex-ed classes? It’s for your health,” Shane said, before rambling about what their teacher had said back in the day.

“I didn’t listen because it wasn’t really interesting to me,” he admitted. “I didn’t think anything would apply to me since I wasn’t interested in … sticking my dick anywhere.”

Shane snorted. He couldn’t help it.

“It isn’t about that or even pleasure, though the physical release can be really nice. It’s just … frequent ejaculation reduces the risk of prostate cancer. It also improves sleep because you release hormones like prolactin and oxytocin after climax that promote relaxation and can help you fall asleep faster and experience better quality sleep. It also strengthens your pelvic floor and it’s a natural pain relief,” Shane rambled in response. “It also helps reduce stress and anxiety, boosts your mood, and can help you have a positive relationship with your body. I won’t even talk about the sexual and relationship benefits.”

Evan sat up, causing Shane to roll onto his back and laugh.

“What?” he exclaimed.

“You heard me,” Shane said, poking his brother in the ribs. “You can even ask Dad about it. He’s been wondering why you never came to him with questions about anything sex-related so far. I told him you were a late bloomer, but it’s probably for the best if you just tell him about not being interested in sex at all, so he doesn’t continue to worry as much.”

Evan blinked slowly.

“Tell Dad?” he asked. “Why is he worried?”

Shane looked fondly at his younger brother.

“Because you never talked about crushes with him. He never saw you looking at anyone and he even commented on you avoiding the fans that tried to get your attention in ways that spoke of them wanting to be intimate with you,” Shane explained.

“You don’t think he will think I am weird?” Evan asked.

“Dad loves you, Evan. He wouldn’t even care if you told him you are into loons,” Shane told him.

Evan fell silent for a moment and thought about it.

“Alright. I guess I will talk to Dad at the next opportunity,” he said.

Shane just nodded, and they lay down properly because there was no way they could make it through the next day if they didn’t go to sleep.

Life as a professional hockey player was going to be different. Their schedules were changing, and things would surely be different, but they were on the same team and would have each other’s backs because that was what brothers did.

As they lay next to each other, listening to their breathing as it slowed down with their eyes closed. It didn’t take them long to fall properly asleep as they were finally calm enough after the exciting day they had had.

Chapter 24

The conversation with David happened a couple of days later, and as Shane had promised, David told Evan that it was fine and he didn’t care if Evan never brought anyone home as long as Evan was healthy and happy.

It had taken such a weight off Evan’s shoulders he hadn’t even known he was carrying, and when he mentioned it to Shane, his brother had simply smiled, ruffled his blond curls and told him that he had seen that something was burdening Evan, but that he hadn’t quite known what it was that bothered him, until they had the conversation about his obsession with Rozanov.

Evan had chuckled in response, shaken his head, and given his brother a side-hug.

“Thank you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss against Shane’s temple before focusing on getting ready to head out for their first training with the Montreal Voyageurs.

—-

As Evan and Shane settled into their new routine, they moved into Montreal proper, sharing an apartment and investing their money wisely to prepare for their future retirement.

All the while, Evan watched Shane fall in love with Ilya Rozanov. Oh, he knew that those two were frantically denying it, playing it cool and telling themselves that they could keep feelings from getting involved, even when Evan could see that they were irrevocably head over heels, arse over teakettle in love with each other.

Evan helped them meet up whenever they wanted, providing them with elaborate cover stories whenever needed. He distracted Shane’s best friend on the team—Hayden Pike—when it was necessary and became friends with his linemate too.

Evan wasn’t all that surprised to learn that Hayden was quite oblivious when it came to where Shane headed when he went out, though the man eventually caught on that ‘Boston Lily’ was actually a man.

When Hayden asked Evan about confronting Shane, Evan told him not to, that Shane would come out when he was ready, and until then, they both should keep his secret and have his back.

Hayden agreed, though he asked if he could talk to his wife about it because he felt he needed to have someone to talk to about it.

“I don’t want to have secrets from my wife,” he said.

Evan sighed, but responded, “I understand. Just make sure she knows not to gossip. At worst, it could get him killed.”

Hayden stared at him with wide eyes and nodded slowly. It was clear he didn’t fully comprehend what Evan was talking about, but he was ready to do anything to protect his friend.

Evan continued to be the supportive little brother, even if he lost it one fateful day as his brother and Rozanov were flirting/chirping at each other while Cliff Marleau mowed Shane down.

He watched his brother hit the ice and lay motionless, looked warningly at Rozanov as he fell to his knees beside his brother.

“Ilya,” Shane muttered, barely conscious.

“Shane!” Evan said firmly, his hands pressing on his brother’s shoulders to keep him from getting up. “Don’t move. I need you to stay still!”

Paramedics hit the ice next to him, and Evan moved aside, but kept a hand on Shane, to remind him that he wasn’t alone, that the paramedics weren’t the only ones with him.

“Tell him I’m okay! Please,” Shane begged as the paramedics put a C-collar on him and rolled him onto a spine board.

“I will. I promise, Shane,” Evan said firmly. His gaze flicked to the captain of the Boston Bears, his brother’s boyfriend since he was eighteen, who was held back by the referees.

As the paramedics started to carry him out, Evan did not follow them, knowing that their father had been in the stands and was likely on the way down to the locker room, where the medics would have to pass through to get to the ambulance.

“Can you continue?” Coach Theriault asked him as he returned to the box.

Evan just nodded and looked at the team.

“Let’s win this game for Shane!” he said firmly.

The whole team cheered, and they all nodded. Without talking about it, Shane took his brother’s place in their line.

He and Ilya met at the face-off spot, leaned down, and their sticks knocked against each other.

“How is he?” Ilya asked, his accent thick and worry clear on his face.

“He’s going to be alright. Give me your number after the game and I’ll call you the moment I know more. I promise,” Evan said. He knew how worried the man was.

Rozanov nodded, and then the puck dropped, and they were off.

Evan kept the promise he made and won the game for Shane, keeping the team together despite losing their best player.

When the game ended, he followed Rozanov to his side of the rink, and a moment later, a referee tried to stop him.

“Do you have a piece of paper, by chance?” Rozanov asked the man, who looked confused but held out a small notepad and a pen.

Rozanov noted down his number, held it out to Evan, who took it with a quiet thank you before heading to Montreal’s locker room. He quickly showered and changed into proper clothes before telling the team and Theriault that he wouldn’t be at training the next day because Shane would need him.

Theriault was about to lecture him, but Evan held up his hand.

“No,” he said. “You don’t get to stand between me and my brother.”

“You’re adopted, for Christ’s sake,” Theriault said.

Evan stopped himself from telling the man to fuck off. Instead, he went ahead and said, “That doesn’t make him less my brother. Family doesn’t have to be blood to be family,” before walking off.

He climbed into his brother’s Jeep Cherokee, they had taken to the arena that day. The moment he was outside, he called his father.

David clearly had been waiting for his call because it was accepted the moment the connection was made.

“How is he?” Evan asked softly, his voice shaking.

David sighed.

“Concussion, bruised ribs, a broken collar bone. They’ll be keeping him at least overnight for observation,” he explained.

“I’m coming to the hospital,” Evan said.

“You don’t need …,” he began, but stopped himself before he could tell Evan he shouldn’t see Shane.

“I’ll be there in fifteen. Text me his room number,” Evan said before hanging up on his father to do as he promised.

Evan punched Rozanov’s number into his phone.

“How is he?” were the first words out of the speaker.

“Concussion, bruised ribs, and a broken collar bone. They’ll be keeping him at least overnight according to my Dad. The moment I’m with him, I’ll send you pictures, I promise,” Evan said.

“I need to see him,” Rozanov said, his voice shaking worse than Evan’s.

“Then we will make that possible,” he said firmly.

“Your father …,” Rozanov said.

“My father will allow my brother’s boyfriend to be with him,” Evan replied. “I know you never put an official label on your situationship, but we both know this is it for both of you. You are hell and gone on each other.”

Rozanov seemed frozen on each other and it took quite some time to find his voice again.

“Yes,” he said. “Boyfriend sounds good. Fiancé would sound better, but I would need to talk to Shane for that.”

Evan snorted.

“That would be for the best,” he said while parking the Jeep in the hospital’s parking lot. “I’m at the hospital now and need to cut our call short, but if you want to see him, come here. I’ll make sure they’ll let you in without any questions.”

“Thank you, Hollander,” Rozanov said.

“Evan,” Evan replied.

“Ilya, then,” he said before hanging up.

—-

Evan sat at his brother’s bedside, watching him sleep after making sure his father got home okay.

A soft knock drew his attention, and he stood and opened the door.

“Ilya,” Evan said in greeting and stepped aside, allowing the captain of the Boston Bears into the room and closing the door behind him.

“How is he doing?” Ilya asked as he approached the bed. He reached out and ran his fingers along a bruise blooming on Shane’s cheekbone.

“In and out of consciousness. The nurses come in every hour doing concussion checks. He’s doing well on those, so it’s not a worry,” Evan told him, leaning against the wall and silently watching as his brother’s eyes fluttered open and focused on Rozanov.

“Ilya,” Shane murmured; he blinked slowly. “You are really here.”

Ilya smiled.

“No place I’d rather be,” he said as he settled on the edge of the mattress and, after a short look toward Evan, leaned down and brushed a kiss against Shane’s lips.

Evan couldn’t help himself. He let loose a wolf-whistle just to be an obnoxious little brother.

Both Shane and Ilya rolled their eyes before focusing back on each other.

—-

Ilya didn’t leave Shane’s bedside, and neither Evan nor David begrudged him that.

The nurses and doctors treating Shane didn’t say a word despite seeing exactly what kind of relationship the two hockey stars had.

This wasn’t a friendship, but something more.

When Shane was allowed to leave, he did so between his brother and his boyfriend, uncaring of what the world might say once they realized what was going on.

Epilogue

The press caught wind of their relationship almost immediately, the moment they stopped hiding. It brought into question the whole Hollander-Rozanov Rivalry™ that the press and the NHL/MLH had been peddling from the moment the two had entered the professional ranks of hockey players.

That the press knew before their team—aside from Evan and Hayden Pike—and the management, led to Coach Theriault throwing a massive homophobic tantrum in public, where the fans, who were quite supportive of the two players in a relationship, gave him the beat down of his life.

#hollanov trended on Twitter and any other social media platform one could think of, and support flowed in from around the world, while Shane was still recovering in the care of his lover and family.

Yuna Hollander—she had kept her husband’s name even after the divorce—threw an unbecoming fit about her sons not organizing things better, preparing the team, the public, and making sure that their contracts wouldn’t take a hit if the relationship came out.

It was an absolute disaster, and she got herself arrested for trying to infringe on her sons’ rights again. They didn’t try to press charges because they had worse things to worry about.

The management of the Montreal Voyageurs froze Shane’s and Evan’s contracts for keeping such an enormous thing quiet. Their lawyers were having a field day because nothing in their contracts could force them into declaring their private relationships.

The Bears meanwhile offered for the two Hollanders to a) make their captain happy, and b) bolster up their roster, since five of their players were ready to retire at the end of the season, and c) their salary cap allowed for it.

Since both Shane and Evan Hollander were technically free agents as of this season, they could change teams whenever they had an offer. For shits and giggles, the Bears even offered for Hayden Pike, to take a full great-working lineup from the Voyageurs, who said yes once he knew that Shane and Evan were moving away from a team so homophobic, half their members got arrested for trying to beat up their teammate while visiting with him.

The consequences for the Montreal Voyageurs delivered by the NHL/MLH were quite severe. Since most of their players were benched for over a year and they were already close to their salary cap, they wouldn’t be playing any game for the next eighteen months, effectively disbanding the team and allowing Shane and Evan to the move to the Boston Bears without anyone stopping them.

During their first interview with the press after joining the Bears, Shane and Ilya stood side by side, both of them wearing identical rings.

Evan was grinning.

“How are you feeling after your recent injury, Shane?” one of the reporters asked.

“I’m doing better. I’ll still be out for another two weeks, but I’m already allowed to attend solo training again,” he said with a smile.

“Are those matching rings?” another wanted to know.

Shane and Ilya interlaced their fingers, holding their hands up to show off the rings.

“Shane agreed to marry me this summer,” Ilya said, looking very proud of himself.

“How are you feeling about this, Evan?” the lone female reporter asked.

Evan snorted.

“I love this for my brother. As long as he is happy, I am happy. Though Ilya knows that he’s in for a world of hurt if he hurts my big brother,” he replied, glaring at Ilya playfully, who rolled his eyes in response, though they both knew how serious Evan was about this.

“Are you looking forward to playing with Ilya Rozanov?”

Evan licked his lips.

“For me, little will change. I will still play the same line with my brother and Hayden here. But yes, I look forward to playing with a team that accepts their members the way they are without bullying them or calling them diversity hires to their face,” he said, knowing it would throw another wave of outrage into the direction of the Voyageurs.

Shane shot his brother a warning look, but Coach LeClaire coughed beside him, masking laughter.

The rest of the team was asked a couple of questions about their newest members and how they fit in, and then the press conference was over.

“Little bother, you are an asshole,” Shane remarked as they made their way back to the locker room of the arena.

Evan just grinned.

Life had changed a lot over the years for the Hollander boys, but they were together, and that was all they ever wanted.

~The End~