I Left The Lights On So You Stumble In Devotion

Evgeni would never admit it, but he didn’t really mind the routinely morning hockey practices. Evgeni would drive to the arena every morning at six, always being one of the first to arrive. Normally he’d sit between Ryan Malone and Jordan Staal, but lately Sidney Crosby had begun to sit where Jordan regularly sat. Evgeni didn’t mind the change; he didn’t really understand much of what they said anyway. It was a bit awkward sometimes to be surrounded by people who spoke a completely different language, but thankfully the rest of the team tried to make things easier for him to understand.

Sidney always had a way of making things understandable, which would explain why he was team captain. Sidney would do dorky demonstrations with his hands or slowly pronounce things, occasionally he’d try to take a stab at what it’d sound like in Russian just to get Evgeni laughing. Evgeni wasn’t an idiot, but it was a bit hard to understand the fast English all of the time.

In some weird sort of way, Evgeni liked having Sidney there to try and help him. Actually, Evgeni just liked having Sidney around. Evgeni liked how Sidney could still be grinning after the most gruesome hockey practice ever or taking extreme pressure from the media. Evgeni liked how Sidney bit his bottom lip when he was tying his skates and how Sidney would end up making everyone in the dressing room laugh, and somehow how in the middle of the laughter his arm always ended up around Evgeni’s shoulders.

“You okay, Geno?”

Evgeni took one glance at the half-naked Crosby and then shifted his gaze back to the buttons on his shirt. It was only the both of them remaining in the dressing room. They had won their game so most of the guy’s rushed to get out and celebrate. Sidney was always one of the last to get undressed though, because of the constant interviews he had to take. Evgeni was just slow undressing tonight because he was angry with his playing, and he had a habit to sulk in the dressing room when he played badly.

“I just tired.”

Sidney smiled a bit at Evgeni’s broken English, and then looked over to realize Evgeni was staring at the floor with extreme focus. Sidney understood what Evgeni was feeling since he knew the kind of pressure Evgeni was under.

“Are you sure about that?” laughed Sidney afterwards, hauling on a t-shirt.

Evgeni looked over, somewhat happier now that Sidney was clothed so he wouldn’t have to be caught staring with a dumbfounded expression on his face at his teammate (although he normally wore the dumbfounded expression most of the time anyway). Evgeni’s shirt was still unbuttoned, but Sidney was almost completely dressed again now.

“Geno, don’t be so down on yourself. You’re one of the best players on the team.”

“Thanks Sidney.” mumbled Evgeni.

“I mean it, Geno.” said Sidney, starting to talk a bit faster. “You’re a good skater and you’re a good passer. You tried really hard tonight. You just didn’t get the chance to score. You took a few decent shots, and you looked really good- they looked really good, you know? I mean… your shots are really hard. You shoot really hard. Do you understand?”

Evgeni slightly cocked his head to the right; it was difficult to understand what was being said when Sidney rushed through his sentences. Sidney sighed, throwing his arm over Evgeni.

“I’m just trying to cheer you up a bit. I wish I didn’t always feel like there was this complete barrier between us.”

Evgeni frowned, noticing there was a disappointment in Sidney’s tone. It was a bit awkward to sit there with Sidney’s arm around his neck, especially since he still wasn’t completely dressed.

“I sorry, Sidney?” apologized Evgeni confusedly.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault you’re Russian.” laughed Sidney, patting Evgeni on the back.

Evgeni laughed as well, while Sidney finally removed his arm from around his shoulders but he remained sitting just as close. Evgeni smiled and went back to buttoning his shirt.

“No.” blurted Sidney, his hand pushing forwards to knock Evgeni’s hands away from his buttons.

Evgeni was shocked and confused, which resulted in him dropping his hands to his hips and raising his eyebrows as he began to look over at Sidney, but as soon as he caught Sidney’s eyes he realized they were much closer than they probably should’ve been, as were his lips. Evgeni could feel Sidney’s lips grazing over his, his breath heavy on his lips. Sidney’s breath was quickly replaced by his lips, finally pressing gently against Evgeni’s. After a few seconds Sidney broke the kiss, a look of fear began to burn in his eyes.

“I think you understand now?” asked Sidney, while adding another soft, quick kiss to Evgeni’s lips.

Evgeni watched as Sidney shifted away from him and began smiling to himself as he put on his coat and stood up and walked out, leaving Evgeni alone in the dressing room. Although he normally made perfectly good sense, Evgeni Malkin had never been more confused by Sidney Crosby in his life.