Chapter Text
Chapter 1
“Rozanov,” The voice barked from a distance and Ilya gulped, he flicked the cigarette away and blew the smoke behind him as much as he could, waving his hand dramatically in front of his mouth.
“Shit,” he muttered to himself.
“Thank you for saving me the trouble of traipsing up to the second floor to find you,” Scott Hunter had an amused smirk on his face. “Where do you even get the cigarettes?” He asks.
“I do not know what you talk about,” Ilya shrugged. “Why were you looking for me?”
“We have a new student starting today,” Scott started.
“But it’s the middle of the term.” Ilya frowned.
“I am aware.” Scott nodded.
“Students do not start at the middle of the term.” Ilya frowned more.
“We make expectations, you should know that.” Scott said gently. Ilya looked down, he had been the first student to enroll in the middle of the year and he hated to think about where he would be right now if his coach back in Russia hadn’t pushed the school into accepting him.
“Oh.” Ilya nodded slowly, “He… Is he okay?” He asked, he wished he hadn’t thrown the cigarette away now.
“It’s not my place to say right now,” Scott gave a little look that told Ilya all he needed to know. “He is a nice guy, I know his family. Of course because it is the middle of the term we have no rooms ready and you are the only one with the joint room available, so… I hope your room is clean for a roommate?”
Ilya shrugged. “I will clean.”
“I’d also like you to show him around,” Scott added and Ilya pulled a face at that. It was bad enough that he would be having a roommate, but showing someone around?
“I don’t think I am the right person for that.” Ilya said quietly.
“I do. We’ll make a deal, you go and clean your room now, then he should be arriving at midday, you show him around and I won’t write up the fact that you’re smoking again, or search you or your room to find out how many packets you have.”
Ilya sucked his lip, that was a good deal. But he really didn’t know if he could show this Shane around. He did not speak to anyone at the school, only when it mattered. “Fine,” He whispered.
“Thank you, I’ll write you out of the morning lessons, but I’ll see you at practice this afternoon.” Scott smiled and he turned to walk away and as he did he looked over his shoulder, “But you should really try to stop. They won’t like it in the leagues if you’re smoking,”
“I will try.” Ilya lied and he crossed his arms defensively, he hated the attention on him, and now walking around with the new boy would definitely bring that to him. He turned from the main gates of the school and walked back up the path to the accommodation building.
The school had been his saviour, he was certain if he hadn’t been able to come here he would be dead, something only a few people outside of the school really knew. It was a boarding school, the main sport of the school was hockey, they played in school leagues and Ilya had quickly become the star centre for his age. The school would prepare him for the drafts next year, but also helped with the typical education needed for him to graduate. He wasn’t stupid, not by a long shot, but it was harder for him to learn in English and sometimes he didn’t bother as much as he knew he should.
“Fuck this,” Ilya mumbled as he walked to the top floor where his room was. He unlocked it and sighed, it was a large room, he had his own bathroom and the room was split into two; beds, closets and desks on each side. He had taken over both sides of the room and the side Shane would be sleeping in was cluttered with his junk, not that he had that much. All he had brought with him from Russia was some skates and clothes. His coach had arranged for him to receive money for being at the school, something he didn’t understand, and every two weeks when they were allowed to go to the nearby town or when they travelled for games, he made sure to buy something, he wasn’t materialistic, but he wanted things to call his own, something he had never been able to have in Russia.
It took him an hour to clean the bed, he threw most of the crap away and organised his shelves a little more, even made his own bed and put his dirty clothes in the baskets rather than on the floor. He opened the window and found some air freshener. He didn’t smoke in the room but he felt like he could smell it in the air, something he didn’t know how Shane would respond to. Since he wasn’t going to his morning classes he stripped from the uniform, black trousers, white polo shirt with the school logo on and jumper, others wore ties and blazers but he would not. He grabbed the school sweats and hooded jumper that he would wear for training in the afternoon and put his cigarettes in the pocket.
There was a tap at his door an hour later and Ilya looked up from the text book he had been reading as he waited, “Come in,” He called out and Scott pushed the door open. “He is here?”
“You did a good job on the room,” Scott smiled. Ilya shrugged. Scott had become somewhat of a mentor to him, he knew why, but they never spoke about it. Scott was one of the coaches, he had played professionally for years before he had come out rather publicly. Now he works as one of the coaches and mentors at the school. Ilya liked him, he was a good man and a good player - but he would never open up to him, not like he knew he needed to. “How’s the studying?”
“I do not understand.” Ilya shrugged and he closed the book and put it back on his desk, he pushed his feet into his trainers. His closet was full of them, those were what he liked the most. In Russia all the students at the school wore the same white or black plimsoles, now he liked the bolder ones. Today he chose the black and blue Nikes.
“You’re doing okay in your classes, not failing. If you attended more maybe you would take it in more,” Scott said.
“I should attend more but you pull me out to be tour guide.” Ilya smirked.
“Well some things are more important than understanding Shakespeare.” Scott winked and Ilya rolled his eyes and followed him down to the main area of the school.
Sitting outside the office was who Ilya assumed must be Shane. He wore a similar outfit to Ilya, just no school logos, he had his head in his hands leaning on his lap. Ilya couldn’t make out his face, just the soft looking skin and a head of thick jet black hair. His mother and father either side of him and Ilya felt something clench in his heart, he couldn’t do this.
“Ilya,” Scott whispered as Ilya stopped moving, he hadn’t even realised he had stopped moving until Scott was in front of him. “You’re okay,” Ilya just nodded his head weakly. He took a deep breath and pushed his feet forward in line with Scott’s and stopped when they reached the family of three.
“Yuna, David, it’s good to see you again. Hi Shane,” Scott had such a soft tone to his voice and Ilya remembered how it had irritated him when he first approached him. He tilted his head and looked at Shane, wondering how he felt, but he didn’t look up at him. “I have arranged the room for him, Shane for this term at least you’ll be sharing with Ilya,” Shane turned his head to his mother at that. “I promise as soon as we can you can have your own room.”
“It’s fine.” Shane eventually whispered.
“This is going to be good for you honey, remember, we will come next weekend to see you, okay?” Yuna’s voice was sickeningly sweet and Ilya felt like he was intruding on a moment, but it was not like he wanted to be there anyway so he didn’t move. He put his hands in his pocket and pretended the photos on the wall were more interesting to him.
“You have work, you’ve taken a lot of time off already, I’ll be fine.” Shane managed to say, Ilya turned to look at him, he was an awful liar.
“I’ll call you tonight, okay?” His father this time.
“Thanks dad.” Shane stood up slowly, Ilya could tell he was injured by the way he held himself and he could tell that this wasn’t a hockey related injury. His parents hugged him and then his mother noticed him standing there.
“This is Ilya, he’s going to give the grand tour and help Shane get settled.” Scott said and Ilya turned to look at him before giving a nervous nod towards the family.
“Hi,” He said lamely, he hated how thick his accent was, but Shane finally turned to look at him and Ilya thought he was beautiful. Big brown eyes, so full of hurt and pain and lips so plump, and fuck, those freckles.
“It’s lovely to meet you Ilya, I’m Yuna, this is David and our son Shane, I think I saw you play when I came for the tour, you’re quite the player.” Yuna smiled.
Ilya just blinked up at her, he had heard the words but they hadn’t gone in fully. He just gave another smile and nod because it felt like the right thing to do.
“Shane, you’re in good hands here,” Scott promised and Ilya gulped.
“I’ll see you both soon,” Shane gave them both a hug and Ilya looked away again.
“Your bags will be sent up to your room, so Ilya will show you around the grounds, your books and time table will be on your desk as well in the next half an hour, it’s Friday so you don’t have to worry about the classes today.” Scott explained once Yuna and David left. Shane just nodded his head slowly. “Ilya, I’ll leave the rest to you and see you this afternoon.”
“Yes,” Ilya just nodded slowly.
Scott gave Shane a squeeze on his shoulder and then left the two of them alone. “So, the tour?” Shane asked once Ilya had made no sign of being able to move.
“Yes. The tour.” Ilya forced his feet to move again, all he could think about was how much he needed a fucking cigarette.