#immortalmuses

[driftvoid]

Eyes closed. Head fallen against the backrest of the sofa, while his feet lay on the coffee table placed in front of it. At first glance, he seems to be asleep – until a puff of smoke coming from the cigarette between his lips ruins the picture. Not asleep – only enjoying the temporary moment of calm before the storm. And he knows it is coming closer in heavy steps on the metal flooring of the Bebop. Thunder incarnated and fuelled by an anger, that only Spike really seemed to be able to coax from the usual so even-tempered former ISSP officer.

" – I know what'ya gonna say." Silence was broken the moment Jet stepped into the room – and it wasn't too easy to tell whether Spike meant it or if the words were just a lazy excuse made in an attempt not to hear the usual speech. What would come first this time? A complaint about the state the Swordfish was in and the repair cost? Or would it just be the Woolongs subtracted from their reward, because he hadn't played this game the safe way Jet had suggested? In the last three years, he must have heard it all before.

Lips part at his own thought; the hint of a smile lingering as mismatched eyes open to meet Jet's gaze.

" – But we got him, didn't we?" | @immortalmuses.

[robiinmuses]

@immortalmuses wanted a starter! -

They'd had maybe eighteen months of existing peacefully this time round, existing contentedly on a tiny little plot of land just outside of Buccheri. It wasn't quite Malta, but it wasn't very far away, and Yusuf could live with that.

The job wasn't supposed to be a big one, a messy one or one that needed much in the way of weaponry - a simple antiques smuggling ring, not even a gang, really. They'd taken some anyway, because experience tells them that these things are often needed even when circumstances say that they shouldn't be.

Experience had been right this time.

"You owe me a dinner. A very nice dinner." Yusuf grumps, his curls and face sticky with various bodily fluids after their fight, eyes immediately moving to look Nicky over for anything that might indicate sudden mortality. "I shall want a bath when we get home. A long bath, probably with bubbles."

[caphollander]

The new guy (a recent trade to Ottawa from San Jose... last name Carmine or Carraman, or some shit) has been eyeing Shane up and down for weeks. He's sly, Ilya will give him that. Some might mistake it for professional interest, an appreciation for the man who is the best among the best.

But Ilya knows better. He knows that look better than anyone on the planet, especially when it's directed at Shane Fucking Hollander.

His husband thinks he's overreacting. Frankly, Rozanov considers the fact that he hasn't punched the guy's lights out a sign that he's under-reacting. Growling from between clenched teeth, the Russian backs Shane practically into his locker cubby, bigger body hemming him in on all sides as he grabs at the other man's waist, his hips, every part of him.

"You're Mine. мой."

Ilya is overreacting, as per usual, and has been for a while. Carmine was a good player, was a good addition to the Centaurs, and Shane was not seeing what Ilya was. Several players admired him, because of his skill, and several players admired Ilya for the same, and Shane didn't get possessive and selfish over that (often, anymore). Carmine was just doing that - expressing admiration. Even if he was a little overly cocky about it, trying to relate his own skills (Shane and Ilya had both passed him in points years ago) to Shane's, which was a little insulting to both of them. Either of their records alone destroyed Carmine's, but that wasn't the point.

There must have been a look, before Carmine departed the locker room, something that Shane missed, standing by his stall, having removed some of his gear, because his husband rarely pushes him into his cubby, acts possessive when they are working. Ilya is Captain, and Shane is far too obsessed with professionalism to let anything happen in an occupied locker room (he does find saying no to Ilya to be practically impossible when they are alone…not that their teammates need to know anything about that).

"You're overreacting. I am yours. Who the fuck said I wasn't?" Shane isn't going to play into this game, though he does love how possessive Ilya can be. "You can't really think I'd be interested in someone else." It's not a question. Shane's hands cover Ilya's on his hips, pausing them from moving elsewhere, because he is not going to let Ilya try to start something here. "Have you seen him?"

[positivelys]

I absolutely adore @immortalmuses / @hazyhayes ! Spirit is not only incredibly kind, but their writing is some of the most immersive and top notch stuff I have ever read. Every time I get a reply from them, I stop what I'm doing and read it. I always get so excited to see them on the dash and talking with them is one of the highlights of my day!

[caphollander]

🍓

Send a🍓and I'll compliment you (I'm slow on these but I will do them all)

SPIRIT! Oh what can I say about Spirit? Your poor and questionable choices in hockey teams aside... Spirit is a wonderful writer. Like pushing me to do better with every single reply. With EVERY muse. I love Ilya. I love Hazy. I love everyone. Even the ones I don't know. And then on top of that, you're super fun to talk to. About these books, about our other interests, about hockey. Just such an ease. But definitely 10/10 for writing partners. You've absolutely made me better in these couple of months.

[caphollander]

Surprise! A starter based on the yapping we're doing | @immortalmuses

"Why did you take the job?" It's been a month, and he's probably more tense now than he was when it was just threats. Now it's threats and a bodyguard. A bodyguard he knows intimately. Knew intimately. Because after he'd never heard back from Rozanov, the number he'd had for the other man dead, he had done his best to forget about him. They weren't rivals anymore - Rozanov was forcibly retired early, and Shane was in the peak of his own career.

Well, he had been. Being forcibly outed really turned his life on it's fucking axis, changed his team dynamics more than anything. They were still winning, and Shane was still playing exceptionally well, but he was more noticeably tense. Everyone noticed: his parents, Rose, JJ and Hayden, his coach, the media, the public. He was doing a much better job keeping to himself most day, before the threats started rolling in, before his address was leaked and his parents freaked out. Freaked out, hired a bodyguard, the best supposedly, and of course, this is who it had to be.

He had done his best not to keep tabs on Rozanov, and had succeeded. Had he known this was the line of business his form arch-rival had gone into, he might have made stipulations about a bodyguard. He already though a 24 hour security detail was ridiculous, over some letter and vague internet threats. It might be easier to move, find another place to live, a house that he can have fenced in, instead of this condo (his unlisted property sits in the back of his mind, furnished and finished and ready to sell, but he has tried not to think about it other than the general upkeep of the place, hasn't had the heart to sell it).

So Ilya Rozanov has been, for nearly a month now, in a place Shane never expected to see him - his actual condo in Montreal, and not the building he had acquired, once, for them to meet up in secret. It's uncomfortable, for Shane, to have anyone in his space, particularly for an extended period of time, and they get along less now than they did before. Shane still finds this entire thing absurd, that everyone is overreacting.

Is he shoved a little harder in practice by the teammates who don't approve? Or slammed against the boards harder in games by opposing players who are known to be homophobic? Sure. But that's hockey - he's always been a target because he's always been exceptional. It's just a little more intense, and Shane thinks if they ignore it, it will die down. The threats are getting more detailed, and he'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a little rattled, but all this fuss? It's making it a bigger thing than it needs to be, when it probably would have quieted down by now. "Like, what did my mom say to you that made you think it was this serious? Or is the money that good? I just want to know."

[caphollander]

∗ 9o﹕ sender helps receiver patch up a wound .

{Ilya, tending to Shane's aches and pains because yesssssssssss }

MEMES / @immortalmuses

This was their fourth game against Montreal this season, and it was not getting any less intense. It helped his own pride that they had absolutely destroyed his former team in terms of points, and mostly in the inevitable fights. It was stupid at this point - Shane was tired of it, and was starting to regret how easily he had allowed homophobia to slide in the locker room in Montreal. He had been the Captain, and even after he'd come out, the comments never stopped, but winning was more important than shitty comments, right? It had been, once.

Now, he leaves games more exhausted and bruised against Montreal than he does in the previous six combined. His hands are always bruised, as are Ilya's, and that isn't unfamiliar in hockey, but the penalty minutes in the four games against Montreal, for both teams, were practically the same as their combined total for the rest of the season against every other team.

They'd left the arena together, opted out of the post-game celebrations (which he felt bad about each time, because any other team, he was fine to make an appearance at least, but his inability to do so after these settled a guilty weight in his chest), and were home now. He'd gone to the kitchen, to get water, and Ilya? He'd heard him on the stairs, but wasn't sure what he was doing. Until he'd finished the glass of water he'd slowly drank before heading upstairs, finding his husband not in their bedroom, but in their bathroom, a bath filled. He didn't want a bath. He just wanted to go to sleep. And they did this after every game against Montreal - they showered after the game quickly, he did his press (because, of course, the media was still so intrigued with this newfound Montreal vs. Hollander rivalry, that Shane wishes would just die already, more than his own previous rivalry with his now Husband).

"You're taking a bath?" They do, sometimes, to relax, have a deep enough tub for it, but he isn't expecting it tonight, though Ilya has gone out of his way, in many ways, to take care of Shane after these games. A bath would ease the soreness he feels, with the amount of times he was checked tonight, but Ilya was shoved against the boards just as often, fought just as much, was probably just as sore. "Aren't you tired?"

[caphollander]

∗ 52﹕ sender  takes  a  punch  meant  for  receiver .

{ Ilya's not a D-man, but that don't mean he won't get in the way when an opposing player is gunning for his man }

MEMES / @immortalmuses

It should get easier, playing Montreal, but it's their third meet up this season, this first season since he left for Ottawa, and it seems as though the second game was more intense than the first. Every week leading up to the game against his former team has, thus far, been a nightmare for him. Which means, unfortunately, he is probably a growing irritation to his husband each time. It isn't better, it isn't getting better. It's probably getting worse.

It's halfway through the third period when Shane takes a penalty, for roughing, and his team does what they need to do, which is kill the penalty, but Drapeau is still pissed about the near fight, and he goes for Shane the moment he's out of the box. Shane was ready for it, knowing this was a give and take game with this team in particular, but Ilya had been him to it, on the ice for the power play when Shane skated out of the penalty box.

He's ready, but he doesn't need to be, because Ilya has intercepted his former teammate and both of them have dropped their gloves, and he can't even get there before the refs have torn them apart, both of them without gloves, Drapeau's helmet lost, blood on Ilya's fist and lip. God damnit. "Rozanov, you know I can handle my own battles, right?" It's what he asks as Ilya is skating to the box, though his husband has a grin on his face. Shane has already taken a few hits, mostly into the boards, the last of which had caused him to be fed up and fight back, getting his penalty issued. And now Drapeau and Ilya were taking 5 minutes for fighting.