Page 17 of Two for Roughing

Still nothing new from Denisov. Bummer.

Kilian clicked on his profile and scrolled through his pictures: a clip from a game two nights ago, a shill post for a hockey gear brand, the team picture from the start of the season, an artfully photographed plate of food. Not the most inspired social media presence he’d ever seen. He tapped on the clip.

In the video, Denisov, in full hockey gear with his stick held high, took a victory lap around Chicago’s Alliance Arena after getting first star of the match. God, he was hot. His hockey especially, but also the rest of him—his height, how his dark hair always looked perfectly coiffed unless he’d just taken off his helmet.

Kilian scrolled down to make sure other people agreed and to reassure himself that his appreciation for Denisov’s helmet hair wasn’t just another embarrassing symptom of his dumb crush. The first three comments contained variations on the fire emoji and the red sweating guy, so Kilian couldn’t be that blinded by lust.

The fourth comment read, “Chicago’s terrorist bombing the opposition!” followed by three bomb emojis.

“What the fuck?” Kilian asked the empty room.

He checked the responses to the comment but only found laughing emojis.

Further down, the same abhorrent sentiment repeated several times over. Jokes about forty virgins, ISIS, weapons of mass destruction… Why had no one moderated this? Did Denisov just read this shit, day in and day out?

With a frown, Kilian entered “Chicago Firecrackers” into the search bar and navigated to their official team page. He selected a random post featuring Denisov and examined the comments. He found some moderation, a few deleted comments, but plenty of “jokes” that weren’t funny at all when looked at from the point of view of the person they were about.

Dinner plans entirely forgotten, Kilian exited Instagram and headed for Google. He had research to do.

Chapter Four

Olivia Starling [off-screen]: So, Kilian, how are you feeling about your recent performance?

Kilian: I’ve been playing like [bleeping noise]. We all know that.

Olivia Starling: I know you can’t give specific information about injuries, but is it to do with the hit from Damir Denisov during the season opener against Chicago?

Kilian: No.

Olivia Starling: The Firecrackers are coming to town soon. Are you looking to get revenge for that hit—

Kilian: It wasn’t a dirty hit. [Pause] My head was down, he caught me at a bad angle, and it’s lucky I wasn’t hurt. Hits like that happen every game. But the way people have been talking about it…

Olivia Starling: How have people been talking about it?

Kilian: Well, Olivia, they’ve been really awful. No player should be getting hateful messages about their religion, and I’m willing to bet none of the Christians do. And death threats? Totally unacceptable. Hockey is supposed to be for everyone, isn’t it? I don’t want to play for a team that accepts threatening behavior from its fans. We can do better.

Top comments:

calabreezy: Okay, not my fave player or anything, but this is solid. Good guy Howie.

hockeyfanofcolor88: [hands-clapping emoji three times in a row]

sfclions2010: Ugh since when are hockey players so political

(From postpractice media availability, 11/09/2025)

Damir frowned down at the pan.

It hadn’t done anything wrong. In fact, it smelled delicious. Finding a good butcher for lamb shanks had been worth the effort. The meat practically dripped off the bone, and the sauce smelled spicy and rich.

He plated up dinner and passed a portion to Ketchup, who had his headset on and talked to someone animatedly as he dug in. Something about chameleon objects and how some rooms in the castle simply didn’t have any.

After his first bite, he paused midsentence, looked up, and said, “Dude.”

“Hm?”

“This is ridiculous. Like, no way is this on the meal plan. What’s in this?”