Not!Fic: Geno sets up Sid and Ovi (Hockey, Sidney Crosby/Alex Ovechkin, 1300 words, Mature)
Content note: homophobic behavior on the part of a previous real life partner.
Geno is very insistent that Sid talk to Ovi because Ovi is having a tough time with his hockey and also he and Maria broke up, and Sid helped Geno get his hockey mojo back when he was having problems.
"He have no captain," Geno says mournfully. Sid is almost certain he's faking it. "You good, you be captain for him."
"I'm not his captain," Sid says. "And that's not- Talking to you wasn't just about being your captain. It was also about being your friend."
"Yes," Geno says with a bright grin. "Sanja need friend."
"But we're not friends," Sid says. At that point in the conversation, Geno starts pretending not to understand English, and Sid eventually gives up.
*
Geno maneuvers Sid into having dinner with Ovechkin, which is sneaky and manipulative, and Sid fidgets awkwardly once the waiter has taken their orders.
"You don't want to be here," Ovechkin says.
Sid immediately feels guilty. "No," he says, "I don't mind."
Ovechkin shrugs. "I don't want to be here either."
Sid relaxes a little; at least he's not the only one Geno manipulated into this. He takes a sip of his water, and as he's putting the glass down, asks, "Do you want to, uh, talk?"
"Are you the captain of the whole NHL now?" Ovechkin asks.
"No," Sid says. "But, uh, if I can help, I guess?"
"You're not very good at this," Ovechkin says. He's kind of smiling, though, so Sid doesn't get that offended.
"It's easier when it's my own team," Sid says.
"What do you do when you need captain advice?" Ovechkin asks.
"I have Mario," Sid says.
Ovechkin makes a face at him. "How are you with not hockey things?"
"Um, like what?"
"Break up with girl I was going to marry," Ovechkin says, "have captain advice for that?" He says it lightly, like Ovechkin says a lot of things, but even Sid can see the real hurt behind it.
Sid shakes his head regretfully. "I don't have any experience like that," he says. "I don't date much, and I've never gotten as far as wanting to ask someone to marry me. Give it time, I guess."
Their conversation eventually does come around to hockey and being a captain, and also movies and video games.
Sid's surprised at the end of the evening to find he didn't have a terrible time, and he accepts Ovechkin's hug before they part.
*
Ovechkin texts him sometimes, commentary about captain duties at first, and then sometimes pictures of his dogs or, once, a Starbucks cup with "Alec" written on the side and the comment, "Happen all the time."
Sid replies to his texts, sticking mostly to the captain stuff at first. Eventually he replies to the pictures of Ovechkin's dogs and says he misses his dog, and then he starts texting Ovechkin first sometimes, about a highlight reel goal Stamkos made in a game against Dallas or about a new salmon recipe he failed to make correctly.
They're friends, Sid realizes belatedly, when he's laughing at one of Alex's jokes while he's leaning against his kitchen counter waiting for his second attempt at the salmon recipe to finish cooking.
*
Sid even more belatedly realizes he actually likes being friends with Alex when he's hanging out at Alex's the night before a game in Washington. They're watching the Philly-Carolina game on the couch, and one of the dogs has his head in Sid's lap. It's exactly the kind of thing Sid wants to do while hanging out with a friend for the evening.
When the game goes to commercial ten minutes into the first period, Alex says, "Maria left me because I tell her the truth about me."
Sid is aware enough to know this is a big thing Alex is telling him. He doesn't look away from the Enterprise commercial in case this is the kind of thing that's easier to say to someone who's not looking at you. "Yeah?"
"Yes," Alex says. "I tell her I like men too, and she leave me."
Turning to stare at Alex and blurting out, "You're bisexual?" is probably not the right reaction, but that's what Sid does.
Alex hunches his shoulders as he nods, and Sid feels a little bad about that, but not bad enough to stop himself from asking, "Does Geno know that?"
Alex frowns at him. "Not about Maria, but about me, yes, Zhenya knows."
Sid frowns back and digs out his phone. A few minutes later, he says, "Me too," and holds out his phone so Alex can see his question - Did you make me hang out with Ovechkin because we're both bi? - and Geno's answering happy parenthesis.
"So Zhenya set us up?" Alex asks. "Think we, what? Date?"
"I don't know." Sid erases the conversation and puts his phone away. "He could have just thought we would be friends."
"Maybe," Alex says dubiously.
And, well, that's done in the comfortable evening they were having.
"I'm sorry about Maria," Sid says, trying to get back to where they were.
Alex nods, but he's also looking thoughtful, in a way that Sid has learned to distrust because it usually means something Sid isn't going to want to do.
"Not the worst idea," Alex says.
"Yes, it is," Sid shoots back immediately. He doesn't even quite realize what Alex is suggesting until after he disagrees, does it mostly out of habit in reaction to that look on Alex's face. It's maybe not the worst idea, but it's not a great one.
"No," Alex says, and he looks just serious enough that Sid thinks he might mean it, not just disagreeing for the purpose of disagreeing. "Why not? I like men, you like men, we friends, both sexy." He says the last with a leer that makes Sid giggle, despite himself. But then Alex touches Sid, his hand resting lightly on Sid's arm. "Could kiss you, do more."
The skin under Alex's hand feels ten degrees warmer than the rest of him. Sid swallows. "Do you really want to deal with how smug Geno will be if we do?"
"Don't tell him," Alex says. He scoots closer, and Sid doesn't stop him when he leans in for a kiss.
It's a good first kiss, one that leads to a second and then a third and a fourth, then too many for Sid to keep count of, and then to them leaving the dogs in the living room and going to Alex's bedroom.
Sid gets back to the hotel just minutes before curfew and thanks his lucky stars that no one's hanging around in the lobby to catch him.
Geno is insufferable at breakfast anyway, smirking at Sid across the table, Sid trying not to give anything away but probably blushing terribly.
"Should always listen to me," Geno says, throwing an arm around Sid's shoulders as they gather to get on the bus to the rink. "I best."
Insufferable.
*
It takes several text exchanges, but Alex manages to talk Sid into getting Snapchat, and then their texting takes on a whole other tone. It's a good thing Sid has practice in focusing on his hockey to the exclusion of everything else or there would be some embarrassing moments when he thinks, in the middle of video review or between drills at practice, about how many dick pics Alex has Snapchatted him.
They don't see each other until after the season is over, both of their teams crashing out in the second round, too late for either of them to go to Worlds. Sid gets on a plane to DC two days after locker clean out.
They make out in the entryway, shoo the dogs away, fuck in Alex's bed. Sid rides Alex that first night, not too tired from the playoffs to make his thighs lift him up and sink him back down onto Alex's cock over and over again. In the morning, Alex turns over onto his hands and knees and Sid pounds into him until they're both sated and exhausted. As a way to end the season, it's second only to winning the Cup.
Geno is very insistent that Sid talk to Ovi because Ovi is having a tough time with his hockey and also he and Maria broke up, and Sid helped Geno get his hockey mojo back when he was having problems.
"He have no captain," Geno says mournfully. Sid is almost certain he's faking it. "You good, you be captain for him."
"I'm not his captain," Sid says. "And that's not- Talking to you wasn't just about being your captain. It was also about being your friend."
"Yes," Geno says with a bright grin. "Sanja need friend."
"But we're not friends," Sid says. At that point in the conversation, Geno starts pretending not to understand English, and Sid eventually gives up.
*
Geno maneuvers Sid into having dinner with Ovechkin, which is sneaky and manipulative, and Sid fidgets awkwardly once the waiter has taken their orders.
"You don't want to be here," Ovechkin says.
Sid immediately feels guilty. "No," he says, "I don't mind."
Ovechkin shrugs. "I don't want to be here either."
Sid relaxes a little; at least he's not the only one Geno manipulated into this. He takes a sip of his water, and as he's putting the glass down, asks, "Do you want to, uh, talk?"
"Are you the captain of the whole NHL now?" Ovechkin asks.
"No," Sid says. "But, uh, if I can help, I guess?"
"You're not very good at this," Ovechkin says. He's kind of smiling, though, so Sid doesn't get that offended.
"It's easier when it's my own team," Sid says.
"What do you do when you need captain advice?" Ovechkin asks.
"I have Mario," Sid says.
Ovechkin makes a face at him. "How are you with not hockey things?"
"Um, like what?"
"Break up with girl I was going to marry," Ovechkin says, "have captain advice for that?" He says it lightly, like Ovechkin says a lot of things, but even Sid can see the real hurt behind it.
Sid shakes his head regretfully. "I don't have any experience like that," he says. "I don't date much, and I've never gotten as far as wanting to ask someone to marry me. Give it time, I guess."
Their conversation eventually does come around to hockey and being a captain, and also movies and video games.
Sid's surprised at the end of the evening to find he didn't have a terrible time, and he accepts Ovechkin's hug before they part.
*
Ovechkin texts him sometimes, commentary about captain duties at first, and then sometimes pictures of his dogs or, once, a Starbucks cup with "Alec" written on the side and the comment, "Happen all the time."
Sid replies to his texts, sticking mostly to the captain stuff at first. Eventually he replies to the pictures of Ovechkin's dogs and says he misses his dog, and then he starts texting Ovechkin first sometimes, about a highlight reel goal Stamkos made in a game against Dallas or about a new salmon recipe he failed to make correctly.
They're friends, Sid realizes belatedly, when he's laughing at one of Alex's jokes while he's leaning against his kitchen counter waiting for his second attempt at the salmon recipe to finish cooking.
*
Sid even more belatedly realizes he actually likes being friends with Alex when he's hanging out at Alex's the night before a game in Washington. They're watching the Philly-Carolina game on the couch, and one of the dogs has his head in Sid's lap. It's exactly the kind of thing Sid wants to do while hanging out with a friend for the evening.
When the game goes to commercial ten minutes into the first period, Alex says, "Maria left me because I tell her the truth about me."
Sid is aware enough to know this is a big thing Alex is telling him. He doesn't look away from the Enterprise commercial in case this is the kind of thing that's easier to say to someone who's not looking at you. "Yeah?"
"Yes," Alex says. "I tell her I like men too, and she leave me."
Turning to stare at Alex and blurting out, "You're bisexual?" is probably not the right reaction, but that's what Sid does.
Alex hunches his shoulders as he nods, and Sid feels a little bad about that, but not bad enough to stop himself from asking, "Does Geno know that?"
Alex frowns at him. "Not about Maria, but about me, yes, Zhenya knows."
Sid frowns back and digs out his phone. A few minutes later, he says, "Me too," and holds out his phone so Alex can see his question - Did you make me hang out with Ovechkin because we're both bi? - and Geno's answering happy parenthesis.
"So Zhenya set us up?" Alex asks. "Think we, what? Date?"
"I don't know." Sid erases the conversation and puts his phone away. "He could have just thought we would be friends."
"Maybe," Alex says dubiously.
And, well, that's done in the comfortable evening they were having.
"I'm sorry about Maria," Sid says, trying to get back to where they were.
Alex nods, but he's also looking thoughtful, in a way that Sid has learned to distrust because it usually means something Sid isn't going to want to do.
"Not the worst idea," Alex says.
"Yes, it is," Sid shoots back immediately. He doesn't even quite realize what Alex is suggesting until after he disagrees, does it mostly out of habit in reaction to that look on Alex's face. It's maybe not the worst idea, but it's not a great one.
"No," Alex says, and he looks just serious enough that Sid thinks he might mean it, not just disagreeing for the purpose of disagreeing. "Why not? I like men, you like men, we friends, both sexy." He says the last with a leer that makes Sid giggle, despite himself. But then Alex touches Sid, his hand resting lightly on Sid's arm. "Could kiss you, do more."
The skin under Alex's hand feels ten degrees warmer than the rest of him. Sid swallows. "Do you really want to deal with how smug Geno will be if we do?"
"Don't tell him," Alex says. He scoots closer, and Sid doesn't stop him when he leans in for a kiss.
It's a good first kiss, one that leads to a second and then a third and a fourth, then too many for Sid to keep count of, and then to them leaving the dogs in the living room and going to Alex's bedroom.
Sid gets back to the hotel just minutes before curfew and thanks his lucky stars that no one's hanging around in the lobby to catch him.
Geno is insufferable at breakfast anyway, smirking at Sid across the table, Sid trying not to give anything away but probably blushing terribly.
"Should always listen to me," Geno says, throwing an arm around Sid's shoulders as they gather to get on the bus to the rink. "I best."
Insufferable.
*
It takes several text exchanges, but Alex manages to talk Sid into getting Snapchat, and then their texting takes on a whole other tone. It's a good thing Sid has practice in focusing on his hockey to the exclusion of everything else or there would be some embarrassing moments when he thinks, in the middle of video review or between drills at practice, about how many dick pics Alex has Snapchatted him.
They don't see each other until after the season is over, both of their teams crashing out in the second round, too late for either of them to go to Worlds. Sid gets on a plane to DC two days after locker clean out.
They make out in the entryway, shoo the dogs away, fuck in Alex's bed. Sid rides Alex that first night, not too tired from the playoffs to make his thighs lift him up and sink him back down onto Alex's cock over and over again. In the morning, Alex turns over onto his hands and knees and Sid pounds into him until they're both sated and exhausted. As a way to end the season, it's second only to winning the Cup.