Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Early October 2008

Shane parked his car outside of his house, nearly slammed the door shut, and walked quickly inside. His mom was sitting at the desk in the family room concentrating on what looked to be an Excel spreadsheet on her laptop. His mom loved spreadsheets and used them for everything – budgeting, hockey game schedules, and grocery lists.

“Hi. Dinner at 6:30,” she called out absently, already turning back to her screen.

Shane took that as his cue and headed straight for the stairs.

He dropped his bag by the door of his room and sat down at his desk, powering on his computer. For his sixteenth birthday last year, his parents had given him two things they considered signs of trust: his dad’s old car, a 1995 gold Toyota Camry, and a new Mac desktop computer. They’d told him he was responsible to have both.

The car was convenient for everyone since it meant Shane could drive himself to and from Hockey practice. Shane mostly appreciated the computer. It meant he didn’t have to wait for his parent to finish using the family computer before checking hockey news or instant messaging his friends. More importantly, it meant privacy. No more parents standing over his shoulder to see what he was doing on the computer.

About a year ago, Shane had discovered the AOL MHL Hockey Chat Room and had been spending his freetime talking to other hockey fans. He could spend hours discussing trades, draft prospects, games, and players. None of his friends at school, or even most of the guys on his team, wanted to talk about hockey the way Shane did. They lost interest halfway through his thoughts, eyes glazing over the moment he went on too long.

The people in the chatroom didn’t.

Six months ago, he’d started talking regularly with another user who knew as much about hockey as he did, which was rare enough to feel suspicious. They’d ended up spending hours in the chatroom together nearly every day. Shane found himself rushing home after practice just to see if Ice_Czar_91 was online.

Last month, they’d figured out they were both seventeen and both hoping to make their junior national teams someday. The chatroom had become impractical after that,too many people and too many conversations, so they’d agreed to move their conversations to AOL Instant Messenger.

Shane waited while his computer connected, the familiar screech and warble of dial-up filling the room.

Keeeeyyy errrrr beeeep ong dee ong waaahhh urrrrrr.

He opened AIM. Ice_Czar_91 isn't online.

A small, sharp prickle of disappointment settled in his stomach before he could stop it. He shoved the feeling aside immediately. It would be ridiculous to call an internet stranger a friend. Ice_Czar_91 was an irritating know-it-all who somehow managed to turn everything into a competition, even through instant messaging.

Still, Shane really should ask him his real name. Thinking of someone exclusively as a screen name was starting to feel stupid.

He was just about to log out and organize his school binders for the week when the door opening sound chimed through his speakers.

His eyes snapped back to the screen.

Ice_Czar_91 was online.

A moment later:

Shane huffed quiet laugh, fingers already moving.

~~~