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"Okay David. I will be there soon." There's a pause while Ilya listens to the person on the other end of the line. "Yes. See you soon. Bye bye."
He's grinning from ear to ear as he ends the call and places his phone in his back pocket.
"You look happy cap." Dykstra can't help but notice as Ilya zips up his jeans.
He doesn't respond as he grabs a shirt from his locker, pulls it on and stuffs the centaurs t-shirt he wore to practice in his bag.
"Hot date Roz?" Troy asks.
"No, is just coffee with David." Ilya says offhandedly as he buttons up his shirt.
"Does Jane need to be worried?" Dillon teases.
Ilya just smiles wider and chuckles. "Jane always worries without needing to." He shoulders his bag and makes for the door before he gets any more questions "Smell you later losers." He calls over his shoulder and walks out of the locker room.
"Okay, who taught him that one?" Dykstra narrows his eyes and looks around the locker room pointing his finger accusingly.
His eyes land on Luca who looks flushed and is purposefully avoiding eye contact.
"Cheese!" Dykstra shouts. The rookie sits up in surprise and yelps. "You look shifty."
Bergy shuffles further over in the neighbouring stall to try avoid being in Dykstra’s line of site as he steps towards Luca.
“No it wasn't me! We don't even have that phrase in German!”
"Hmm." Dykstra considers.
"Who's David?" Bergy gets brave and asks before Luca can be interrogated any further.
"Good question." Wyatt answers coming over to join them. "Depends who you ask. He's a guy Roz meets up with sometimes. He hasn't told us more than that."
Dykstra snorts. "Meets up with is generous."
"Strazer thinks they're dating." Troy supplies. The guys left in the locker room have all gathered around Holmberg and Luca’s stalls.
"They're always going on dates!" Dykstra is obviously exasperated. "Like coffee today. And Boller heard them on the phone deciding on recipes for Christmas last season. Christmas!"
"But it's a secret?" Young hesitantly asks.
"I think it's just casual." Chouinard shrugs. "Nothing to tell."
"It's only one theory, nothing's confirmed." Wyatt confides to the kids. "You should probably all know this anyway, so you don't say the wrong thing to Roz. He gets testy when you bring up dating."
"Yeah you can't pry with cap." Dykstra informs them. "You gotta just keep your ears up for when he drops hints."
Troy looks amused at the whole discussion. "And you think him saying he's getting coffee is dropping hints."
Dykstra looks at Troy with surprise. "You don't?"
"I think if you stop speculating about his love life he might actually open up to you.”
"Has he opened up to you?" Dillon asks.
At the same time Dykstra accuses "You know who David is don't you?!"
"Guys!" Wyatt yells to stop the bickering he knows is coming next. "Troy's right we shouldn't speculate." He pauses as the veterans grumble before turning back to the kids. "So theory two is that he's with this girl named Jane."
"Jane?" Luca clarifies before slumping back down in his stall.
"Yeah, she’s this girl that Roz has been chatting to the whole time he's been in Ottawa.” Chouinard supplies.
“And,” Wyatt begins knowingly, “Marlow told me at the last all-star game that Roz was texting her for years while he was in Boston too. They all called her Montreal Jane. Apparently that's where she's from."
"Montreal." Luca repeats under his breath. "J-Jane from Montreal." He rests his head in his hands. "For years."
"We don't know anything else about her though." Wyatt concludes.
"Exactly." Dykstra points out. "And they never speak on the phone like he does with David."
"But David is recent, with Jane it's been years!" Dillon argues.
"At least David lives in Ottawa. That's gotta be better for Roz."
“We know he stays behind in Montreal if we have days off after we play them though.”
"Guys what did we say?" Chouinard uses the same tone as he does to mediate his kids’ arguments.
"No debating Roz’s love life without new information." Dykstra and Dillon chant in unison.
“You can't keep rehashing the same stuff." Chouinard reminds them.
“So as you can see it's an ongoing debate. And some people" Wyatt glares are Dykstra and Dillon. "Are far too invested.”
"You gotta let us know if he lets anything slip." Dillon all but begs them. “Boller won’t tell us why but he thinks they’re related. Like David is Jane’s brother who lives in town or something.”
“But there’s no proof of that!” Dykstra whines.
"So Roz likes..." Pointer breaks off looking nervous. "He likes girls and ..." He breaks off again.
Troy jumps in to help him out, he didn’t think it was possible for a face to blush so much. "He's never said anything officially. And it's not our place to speculate."
“We're not speculating about his sexuality!” Dillon defends.
Troy snorts. “Yeah, just his love life.”
"We don't know anything for sure. But obviously whatever the answer we support him." Wyatt is glaring at the rookies daring them to disagree. "We're all allies in this locker room."
“Allies, sure.” Troy mumbles before he can stop himself. He's glad no-one seems to notice as Wyatt is busy making eye contact with Holmberg, Young, then La Pointe in turn, ensuring they all nod back at him. Dykstra, Dillon and Chouinard stand behind their goalie making it clear they back him.
Wyatt tries to make eye contact with Luca but he still has his head in his hands and is muttering to himself.
“Cheese you good?” Wyatt doesn't get a response.
“Haas?... Luca?” Troy tries before crouching down and leaning in closer to the rookie. “You okay bud?”
This close Troy can make out some of what he’s saying.
"… Jane from Montreal… so obvious… -uch closer than Boston… his home city… so many years… -eed to reevaluate the timeline… delete my account… -ane and David Hollander…"
He turns to Wyatt who is hovering behind him but thankfully he doesn’t seem to have heard anything.
“It’s okay, maybe we can just give the guy some space.”
Wyatt nods at him and moves away gesturing for the rest of the guys to do the same. They all shrug unbothered and retreat to their lockers to finish getting changed.
“Haas did you say Hollander?” He doesn’t get a response. “Luca look at me.” Still nothing. “What do you know?”
“They were right.” He whispers just loud enough for Troy to hear. “The pieces all fit together now.”
“Haas what?” Troy thought he was on the same page as Luca but now he’s just confused. “Who was right?”
Luca just keeps muttering. “It was just supposed to be a bit of fun, a fantasy about my favourite players. I was too young to know any better.”
Troy sighs and sits back on his heels. “Cheese you’re not making any sense. I don’t think you know what you’re implying.”
“I should never have gotten into RPF.”
Troy rubs a hand over his forehead. “What are you talking about?”
Luca finally lifts his head and looks Troy straight in the eye with a wild expression.
“Hollanov.”