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Roman didn’t know why he agreed to this. Sure, Nico and him had been friends for literal years and Quinn, despite them breaking up, was still fun to hang out with.
But why were these two so convinced he and Jack had to be friends?
While Roman wasn’t opposed to getting along with the middle Hughes, Jack’s dislike for him was more than clear.
The dirty looks whenever they played against each other made sure of that.
But they were nothing compared to what had happened at their last (and most likely only) Olympic participation.
Roman didn’t even remember what Jacks ‘reason’ was, but as soon as the whistle blew, Jack was on him, his fists bare.
Nico had tried to pry his boyfriend off of Roman, but the younger Tkachuk brother had seen this as an invitation to join in the fight.
He threw a punch at Nico and the real chaos broke out as Jack let go of Roman to go after Brady, his own teammate for the event.
The meme that “the Olympic Incident” had become would be more funny, if it hadn’t caused the Olympic committee to ban all NHL-players from participating.
So, considering the real consequences of that situation, Roman really couldn’t understand why the two were so hell bent on them getting along.
At least they’ve acknowledged locking Jack and him alone in the same room wouldn’t work. (Someone tried to do that with Shea once. It did not go well.)
As an extra security measure, Roman had rented a hotel room for his entire time spent in Michigan, just to avoid too much contact. He slept his entire first day back on American soil, glad he was able to do that before the “genius master plan” began on his second day there.
The first step was “spending time ‘together’ surrounded by so many others that they had no need for any interaction.
At noon Quinn picked up Roman to show him around, which occupied them all afternoon. They ate dinner at a small restaurant and then went to the ‘showplace’, as Roman had been calling the bar where they would meet up internally.
It was packed full and in his mind, Roman was already making escape plans, anything to get as far away as possible from ‘his’ group. One of Quinn’s hands was holding his sleeve, making sure Roman wouldn’t go through with any of them.
The American led them to the table the others had already occupied and most notably Jack, sitting on the bench, completely smushed against Nico.
A nasty look was sent Roman’s way, as he greeted the people present. Otherwise he was ignored, as Jack informed Quinn of the current absence of Trevor and Cole, who just responded with a fist bump.
Roman felt sorry for Zegras, as the kid’s crush on Quinn was as obvious as the sun. (He could totally understand it. Quinn’s a catch.)
They got a few drinks in, before Zegras appeared at the table and polarized all of Quinn’s attention. Roman took the chance and fled the scene, but not before giving Z an encouraging pat on the back.
He made his way to the bar, pushing a small path through the crowd.
He was nursing his second glass of water, when a smaller body bumped against his.
Roman turned around to face Caufield, who was clearly a few drinks in.
“Hi, I’m Cole!”, he introduced himself?
Roman hesitated for a second, but decided to indulge the American, who was checking him out appreciatively: “I’m Roman?”
Caufield (Cole? Roman was still unsure of what to call him) perked up: “Oh, like the emperors? You look like you could’ve been one!”
The last sentence was delivered through a flirtatious smile.
“Uh, it’s written the same.”, Roman had no clue where this conversation would go,” But to be honest, I would not want to have been an emperor back then.”
Cole pouted a little: “Why not?”
“Everything you hear from back then sounds absolutely insane! Like, singing when your city is burning down or being stabbed 23 times!”, he started to explain himself.
“I mean, you would’ve been a good one, no need to burn the city down or for you to be stabbed so many times”, Cole giggled, grabbing with his free hand at Romans arm.
“Even if I were, their customs scare me.”
Cole sent him a confused look.
“Have you ever heard of a thing called ‘Xylospongium’?”
The blond shaked his head.
“It’s this sponge on a stick and it was used like toilet paper.”
Cole’s eyebrows narrowed and he interjected: “That doesn’t sound too bad?”
Roman sighed.
“They shared. Like, one guy wiped his ass and gave it to the next one to use.”, he elaborated further.
“That used to be a thing?”, the disbelief in his voice was shrouded in a giggle as Cole stared at him, eyes wide.
Roman gave an affirming nod.
“Soo”, Cole started speaking again, ”I don’t think I’ve seen you here before. What brings a beautiful man like you to Michigan?”
Roman’s eyebrows would be in the clouds, if they could leave his face. Did Cole seriously not recognize him?
Normally he didn’t expect any other NHL-player to know him just by his face. But he knew for a fact, Jack had made “Anti-Roman-Josi”-graphics and spread them to anyone who’s number he had. (He knew this first hand, as Jack had not only sent the images to him directly but also because many others had sent them to him after receiving them. It was one of the reasons Nico and Quinn were so determined to ‘make them friends’.)
So why was The Cock flirting with him? (What an interesting nickname. Roman wasn’t opposed to finding out its origin. But not today. They both had drunken too much.)
“My ex wants me and his brother to get along.”, was the only thing he said, hopeful this would seal the deal.
It didn’t.
“Oh! You’re into men too?”
Roman could see why Jack and Cole were friends.
“Yeah”, he just confirmed, haven given up on wondering what Cole’s drunken mind was capable of.
To his surprise the younger man pouted: “Man, now I regret pre-loading.”
Roman chuckled before suggesting they could exchange phone numbers and arrange a meeting once they’re both sober.
Cole took to the idea like a sponge water, eagerly grasping his phone out of the front pocket of his pants, taping in his code and presenting Roman with the ‘new contact’-display.
He took the phone out of the younger man’s hand and typed in his phone number and name before giving it back to its original owner.
Cole looked like he might say more, but Jack was approaching, asking in a moderate voice for his friend. Roman decided to bite the lemon and wave, attracting the Americans' attention.
Roman tapped Cole’s shoulder, then pointed towards Jack and leaned towards Cole’s ear, telling him again to text him the next day.
Watching as Jack pulled Cole to the table where the others were seated, he paid off his tab and left the bar.
Outside he shot Quinn a quick text, before walking back to his hotel.