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“I don’t see why we have to go to this. I don’t even like basketball,” Nicky complained again as he trailed behind Kris on their way into the arena in Moscow.
“Because it’s for charity, Nicklas.” Kris rolled his eyes. “Plus, the tickets were free, and who can turn down free tickets? Certainly not us.”
“Free tickets to a charity event.” Nicky snorted. “Ridiculous.”
“Well, they were paid for,” Kris defended himself. “Just not by us. I’m just glad those two were the ones sick and not us.”
“I feel really bad for them. It must be miserable to have your backpacking trip ruined by food poisoning.” Nicky frowned, thinking of the two backpackers back at their hostel who couldn’t leave the bathroom for long enough to attend the game.
“Better them than us.” Kris shrugged, throwing an arm around Nicky’s shoulder for a few steps as they neared the entrance.
After handing their tickets over and passing through security, they grabbed drinks and made their way to their seats. Nicky was pleased to find that the seats were only a few rows back from the court; they had a great view. If he was going to have to sit through a sporting event, he may as well be able to see everything that was going on.
Within a few minutes, Kris’ phone rang. By the loving tone of his voice as he answered, Nicky knew who it was and resigned himself to being ignored for the time being.
He looked around and took in his surroundings, eyes stumbling over the Cyrillic letters that he could mostly transliterate but barely understood. He was grateful that Kris had agreed to go on a backpacking trip with him around Europe before he moved away to the States for his new job, but he was hoping to avoid the topic of sports entirely. While his hips rarely hurt anymore, they twinged just often enough to remind him exactly why he’d had to step out of the sports world. He was finally moving on and processing after over a decade of moping, but he still couldn’t watch hockey. He wasn’t sure if he ever would be able to again.
Kris wrapped up his phone call just as the pre-game ceremonies started. Nicky took the opportunity to rib him good-naturedly about how smitten he was on his phone call, knowing how much Kris was missing being away from his girl.
As the players came out onto the court, Nicky’s eyes caught on one of the players. He watched closely as the man wearing number eight dribbled around the court a bit, warming up for the game.
Nicky thought he was being subtle, right up until the man turned to face Nicky’s direction and flashed a smile at one of his teammates, showing off a missing tooth. Nicky couldn’t help the weird noise that escaped his mouth, a strange combination of a hum and a snort.
Kris turned and followed Nicky’s line of sight, letting out a chuckle when he realized what Nicky was staring at.
“Please don’t tell me you find the whole broken nose, missing teeth combo hot.” Kris elbowed Nicky in the ribs lightly.
“Who is that?” Nicky asked, ignoring Kris’ comment. He looked familiar, but Nicky couldn’t place it.
“Um, Alexander Ovechkin?” Kris answered incredulously. “The hockey player? I know you’ve been avoiding hockey, but seriously, I know you know who he is.”
“That’s Ovechkin?” Nicky recognized the name immediately, memories from ten years earlier vaguely resurfacing. “He looks different.”
“Well, it’s been ten years since you last saw him at the-” Kris reminded him, but Nicky cut him off.
“Don’t say it!”
“Fine, fine.” Kris rolled his eyes fondly at his brother. “I blame the beard, mostly.”
Nicky looked back up at where Ovechkin was warming up. He stared for a few long moments before realizing that Ovechkin was staring right back at him.
“Shit, he’s looking over here!” Nicky looked away quickly and buried his head in the program, trying to hide the flush of his cheeks.
“Aww, do you have a crush?” Kris let out a chuckle at Nicky’s embarrassment. “Of course your type would be ridiculously talented hockey players.” He held up a hand as Nicky started to protest. “I know, I know. Hip injury, avoiding hockey, whatever. Either way, he keeps looking over here at you.”
“It doesn’t matter. He’s probably just confused or something. Maybe I look like someone he knows. I mean, he’s a famous hockey player and I’m just, well, me.”
“Yeah, you probably do look like someone he knows,” Kris conceded in an exasperated tone. “ You .”
“He doesn’t remember me.” Nicky shook his head vehemently before glancing up over the program in his hands just in time to see Ovechkin turn a grin in his direction as he spoke to one of his teammates.
“Whatever, be like that. I’m going to get us more drinks.” Kris moved to the edge of his seat to get up, but paused. “He still plays for the Caps, you know. Everyone says they’re a top-line center away from a Cup. There’s no doubt in my mind he remembers you.” Kris shrugged and stood. “But what do I know?”
Nicky stared after his retreating form for a few moments before turning back to the court as everyone was getting ready to start the game.
When the game wrapped up, Nicky saw Ovechkin looking around and grabbed Kris’ arm.
“Come on, let’s get out of here.” He stood, hauling Kris up and shoving him down the row in an attempt to get out of the arena as fast as possible. He wanted to put Ovechkin and all of the hockey memories out of his head before they could hurt him any more than they already had.
“What’re you in such a hurry about? They were doing a meet-and-greet with the players, you know?” Kris pointed out as he reluctantly allowed Nicky to guide him out of the arena. “We could’ve talked to him.”
“I need a drink,” Nicky replied, spotting a bar across the street that seemed popular from the way a decent portion of the crowd was streaming into it.
“You’re adorable,” Kris teased as he sat Nicky down and went up to order drinks from the bar.
When he returned with two beers, Nicky took a long drink from one before huffing in annoyance at Kris’ intent stare.
“I’m fine, okay? I just want to forget about it.” Nicky shrugged, picking at the label on the bottle with a nail.
“Nicky, I’m all for letting you avoid hockey and all that. I get how hard it is for you.” Kris reached over to put his hand on Nicky’s shoulder. “But I’m worried about you with this new job. If you couldn’t handle this, how are you going to-”
“Can we stop talking about it?” Nicky snapped, causing Kris to lift his hands in surrender.
“Fine, but we have to talk about it some time.”
Nicky knew he was right, but changed the topic to the plans for their last few weeks instead. He had a little under two months before he had to report to his first day of his new job, so they were getting to the end of their time backpacking.
“Alright, your turn to get the beers.” Kris lifted his empty bottle to eye height to confirm that it was empty. “Off you go.”
“Fine, fine.” Nicky stood and made his way to the bar. He finally got the attention of the bartender and was trying to order a few more beers in broken Russian when a heavy arm slung around his shoulder and a boisterous voice took over, speaking with a fluent ease. He turned and saw Ovechkin standing next to him, grinning jovially at the bartender for a moment before turning his smile on Nicky.
The bartender returned and handed a beer over to each of them, ignoring the money in Nicky’s outstretched hand in favor of moving along to the next patron trying to order. Nicky looked down at the money in his hand for a moment before tucking it in his pocket again.
“Uh, spasibo.” Nicky turned to Ovechkin and stuttered out his best attempt at a thank you in Russian.
“Hope your English is better than your Russian,” Ovechkin laughed, dropping his arm back to his side and turning to face Nicky fully. “Sorry, don’t know any Swedish.”
“That’s okay. I’m alright at English.” Nicky’s brain tried to process what was happening, but it couldn’t keep up.
“Imagine my surprise when Nicklas Backstrom is at charity basketball game,” Ovechkin said before taking a sip of his beer.
“You know who I am?” Nicky couldn’t help but ask in surprise, even if Ovechkin’s comment about not knowing Swedish had been a big hint.
“Yes?” Ovechkin cocked his head slightly at the question. “Just surprise to see you in Moscow. You got even more handsome.” He waggled his eyebrows teasingly at Nicky, who buried his face in his hands for a moment.
“My brother and I are backpacking through Europe, and we got free tickets to the game. I should actually get back to him.” Nicky replied, looking back over in the direction of their table only to find Kris in conversation with a group of guys he didn’t recognize. “Oh, I guess he made some friends.”
“My brother and some friends,” Ovechkin explained with a nod in their direction. “Want to find place to talk? Catch up?”
“That’s okay, you don’t have to humor me. I’ll let you get back to your friends.” Nicky shook his head with a step back. “It was great to see you again, Mr. Ovechkin.”
He turned to walk away, feeling his cheeks burn at the somewhat awkward parting words, but felt a large hand curl around his wrist.
“Call me Sasha.” Ovechkin paused for a moment before continuing. “Not humoring you. I want to talk to you. Always wonder about you, if you’re okay.”
Nicky couldn’t help but turn back around at the surprisingly soft words.
“Nicky.” He blurted out before clarifying. “You can call me Nicky. And, um, I’m okay. Mostly.” He shrugged. “I miss hockey and it sucks and I’m miserable, but what can you do? Injuries are the worst.”
“I understand if you maybe not want to, but come back to my place? Talk? Catch up?”
“What about our brothers and your friends? I shouldn’t leave Kris alone.” Nicky looked over to the table again to find them all staring intently in their direction.
“They take care of your brother, keep him safe.” Sasha waved in their direction, and everyone waved back, unashamed in their staring.
“Okay, yeah. We can go to your place, yeah. I should just tell my brother before we go.” Nicky wasn’t sure why he was agreeing to it, knowing how fragile everything hockey-related was in his mind, but he couldn’t help the pull he felt towards Sasha.
“Mikhail will tell him, it’s okay. He know all about you. He even know about my crush on you way back when we draft you.” Sasha winked, and Nicky wasn’t able to process anything about that statement before Sasha was backing away slowly. “Let’s go.”
Sasha reached out and squeezed Nicky’s hand lightly before heading towards the door, leaving a surprised and slightly confused Nicky to follow in his wake.
Outside, Sasha pushed Nicky lightly into a cab and slid in, telling the driver where to go before settling back into the seat.
On the drive, Sasha scooted closer to Nicky and acted like a tour guide, pointing out his favorite things as they passed by them. He spoke of famous Russian landmarks and restaurants he occasionally visited with equal fervour, clearly eager to show Nicky his city.
“When I was here for lockout, I had lunch there every day because it was close to practice arena.” He pointed to a restaurant as they passed.
“There was another lockout?” Nicky asked, unaware but not particularly surprised.
“You not know?” Sasha turned an incredulous expression his way. “Really avoid hockey that much?”
“Yeah, I haven’t even watched a single game since, uh…” Nicky trailed off, looking back out the window to avoid Sasha’s eyes.
“Well, few years ago, we had another lockout. Lots of players came to Europe. Only lost half the season, but I came here for it. I even tried to get someone from Caps to come with to keep me company, but no one came. It was very lonely.” Sasha frowned for a moment, and Nicky couldn’t help wanting to comfort him, even if it felt silly.
“I would’ve come with you.”
“I know.” Sasha nudged Nicky in the side playfully, smiling at him fondly and causing Nicky to blush.
Sasha went back to narrating their drive until they pulled up to the address he’d given the cab driver. He paid the driver and led Nicky inside, grabbing them each a beer from the fridge. They settled in next to each other on the couch before either of them spoke.
“So, tell me. What has the great Nicklas Backstrom been up to for ten years?”
“Oh, you don’t want to hear about that. It’s boring,” Nicky said self-deprecatingly.
“Well, either that or I tell you all about hockey, and I think you’d rather not talk about that. So, come on, tell me. I want to know.”
Nicky relented and began to tell Sasha what he’d been doing. Sasha listened attentively, nodding along and asking questions as Nicky spoke. When Nicky finally wore the topic out, he looked at the time and realized guiltily how long he’d been talking about himself.
“And hockey?” He asked nervously, steeling himself to talk about it, but Sasha seemed to have other plans.
“You know, I was so upset at your injury.” Sasha scooted closer on the couch, running a hand down Nicky’s arm. “I was so excited to play together, thought we’d be great, ” he smirked as Nicky shivered slightly from the touch and his words. “Maybe we still be great together?”
“I, uh, I was really excited to play with you, too.” Nicky took a long drink from his beer.
“Any chance we can still play together?” Sasha asked, raising an eyebrow at his own obvious double-entendre and causing Nicky to choke slightly on his drink. He gave Nicky a moment to recover before moving a hand down to settle on Nicky’s bad hip. “I promise to be careful with you.” When Nicky still didn’t answer, Sasha kept talking. “I saw you looking, you know.”
“Oh.” Nicky couldn’t think of what to say, stunned that this was happening. “I’m sorry, I just-”
“Nicky. I saw because I was looking, too.” Sasha put a finger under Nicky’s chin and tilted his face so they were making eye contact. “Offer’s there, but don’t worry. Only if you want.”
“I want,” Nicky replied, his mouth forming the words but his brain not registering what he was saying until Sasha’s lips were on his.
The smell of coffee and bacon woke Nicky the following morning, and he sat up in bed, taking a moment to sort out his memories from the night before as he took in his surroundings.
He smiled as he looked around at Sasha’s bedroom and the empty but slightly warm spot next to him on the bed. Checking his phone, he noticed a flurry of texts from his brother, checking in on him and letting him know that he’d crashed at Mikhail’s apartment. He put his phone back on the nightstand and slipped from the bed, pulling on a pair of Sasha’s sweatpants that had been laid on the foot of the bed.
As he moved towards the door to follow the smell of breakfast, he noticed some pictures in frames on the dresser. Most of them looked like Sasha with various family members, but one of them caught his eye. It was a picture of him and Sasha on Nicky’s draft day, grinning in their matching Capitals sweaters. Nicky ran a finger along the frame with a frown before turning quickly and heading into the hallway.
“Good morning, Nicky.” Sasha beamed at him from the stove as Nicky slid into a seat at the breakfast bar. “Sleep okay?”
“Of course.” Nicky returned the smile as Sasha slid a cup of coffee in front of him.
“So, uh, last night,” Sasha said, his expression turning more serious as he dished out breakfast onto two plates. “You said you’re heading back to Sweden in a few weeks?”
“Yeah, I need to get stuff together for my move for my new job.” Nicky nodded, picking at his breakfast nervously.
“I wish you were staying.” Sasha admitted quietly. “I want to try this out, see where it goes, but the distance…” He trailed off and Nicky’s thoughts went back to the photo on Sasha’s dresser. He decided to take a chance.
“You never asked where my new job is, you know.” Nicky was so nervous that his voice shook a little as he spoke. Sasha looked up and made eye contact, staring Nicky down for a few moments.
“Where is new job, Nicky?”
“It’s in D.C.” Nicky kept eye contact as he watched Sasha process the information.
“ What? ”
“It’s at the Swedish embassy in D.C. I start in two months.”
Sasha shoved their plates away as he scrambled to kiss Nicky excitedly.
“You kept it secret!” He scolded after pulling away a few minutes later so they could both catch their breath.
“I was too nervous to tell you.” Nicky shrugged with a soft smile. “I didn’t know if you’d care.”
“Of course I care!” Sasha leaned over to press another kiss to Nicky’s lips. “Please let me take you out? We can finally try this.”
“Finally?” Nicky gave him a skeptical look.
“Told you, I had crush on you from the very start. If it weren’t for,” Sasha paused and squeezed a hand over Nicky’s hip, “I would have told you long time ago.”
“I don’t want you to feel obligated or anything. I’d love to try, but only if you want.” Nicky admitted, kissing Sasha again.
“I want.” Sasha echoed Nicky’s words from the previous night before pulling Nicky into his lap and deepening their kiss.