Work Text:
Shane started to notice the first symptoms weeks ago. He should’ve dealt with it then.
It’s just that… Well, he was doing his best not to bother anyone.
That’s something he’s done since he was a young pup. Worrying about everyone around him more than himself. Not because his parents demanded perfection from him, but because Shane knew he was their only pup. The pressure to live up to that expectation is a lot and he knows that advertising his struggles could ruin that for them.
That’s why he’s been ignoring his isolation sickness.
He’s been managing though. Sort of.
No, he hasn’t let any of his teammates know about the body shakes, the fever, or the way he can barely make it through a whole practice without feeling like his legs might give out on him. But that’s only because Shane knows they care too much. If he told them their sole team omega wasn’t getting enough affection from his pseudo pack, they’d be devastated.
He's supposed to be their captain, not their charity case. How can he lead them when his body is so weak?
Shane must deal with this by himself.
So his plan for today is just to walk in and pay for a hug. That's not too much to ask for, right? They’re an urgent care. That's what they do. Care for people. Shane is a person, ergo they must care for him too. The logic is mostly sound.
And, yes, it will be embarrassing— maybe the most embarrassing thing he’s ever done, but he’ll be in and out. Just a little something, a little physical affection, to take the edge off!
It won’t completely cure him. He knows that.
The symptoms he’s experiencing are indicative of a larger problem in his life. Primarily the fact that Shane’s inner omega has been begging for a stable alpha for years now. From the moment he got drafted into the NHL and was no longer at home with his familial alpha, his mother, Shane has struggled to feel comfortable in his own skin.
He is, after all, still a young omega. Shane can reject the stereotypes, but he can’t outskate biology.
Maybe this won’t fix everything either, but maybe his bones will ache a bit less. Shane's stomach might not turn so much. His fever might go down a few degrees. Every practice won’t end in him hiding tears from each friendly slap on the back that doesn’t do nearly enough.
It’s worth a shot.
He steels himself to walk into the clinic and is pleased to find the waiting room completely empty except for an older woman asleep in the corner. The fluorescent lights aren't helping his persistent headache, but that's the least of his problems at the moment. Feeling slightly more emboldened by knowing he has some privacy, Shane approaches the front desk where a curly-haired blonde is manning the desk in navy colored scrubs.
After a few seconds of waiting, Shanes starts to feel a bit antsy when the man doesn’t bother to greet him. He’s just rapidly typing away on a keyboard, looking extremely uninterested in whatever he’s doing. It's as if Shane isn't even there.
He clears his throat softly to get his attention.
“Hi. I’m Shane— um, Hollander. I was just wondering if I could— uh, if I could have a hug?”
The nurse doesn’t even look up from his computer.
“This is urgent care. We do not do that here.”
The thick Russian accent and terse reply catch Shane off guard, but he takes a deep breath to steady himself. This isn’t an outright rejection, it’s a conversation. He has to converse, to explain why he needs the hug so badly. He probably should’ve started with that, but saying the words ‘I have isolation sickness’ aloud in the 21st century is humiliating enough. Saying them in public is a literal nightmare.
“Yeah, I know it’s an urgent care. I read the sign out front. That's why I'm here.”
“And you would like… a hug. Why?” the nurse asks as he finally looks up to level him with a confused stare.
Shane clears his throat once more, losing his confidence slowly. He lowers his gaze to the floor for his confession. There’s no way out of admitting the truth if he wants to get help.
“I think I'm coming down with a pretty bad case of isolation sickness and I could really use a hug from someone. I thought this place might be able to help me,” he explains, quieting his voice even though he knows the old lady in the waiting room can’t hear them anyways.
The nurse’s face softens a bit, pity filling his piercing eyes.
His warm alpha scent wafts across the check-in desk, confirming what Shane already assumed. His handsome face and deep voice had Shane’s inner omega going belly up way too quickly for him to be anything but an alpha. The scent brings him an unmistakable calm that can only be purposeful.
“Oh. Eh… Sorry, but is not service we offer. Better to get help from pack than stranger. Cuddles, nest, scentmark, and so on. Pack will make omega feel better. Hollander has pack, yes?”
The question is asked as if there’s only one expected answer and Shane clearly has the wrong one.
Shane tries not to cry at the realization.
This was sort of a last resort. He's out of ideas. The idea of going on feeling like this much longer is enough to fill him with a fresh bout of panic and fear.
“Gotcha. Yeah, no, for sure. I— I can just ask my… pack. Thanks— thanks anyways,” he rambles, nodding aggressively to keep the tears at bay. His eyes already feel dangerously wet and he has to fight not to rub at them out of habit.
He turns heel to leave, his heart feeling full of lead.
“Shane, wait!”
The nurse bolts from behind the desk and his hand lands on Shane’s shoulder. His gentle touch, even with a shirt between their skin, is like an anesthetic. Shane’s body feels about fifty pounds lighter almost immediately.
“Shit… pretty omega with pretty freckles will be death of me,” he mutters under his breath, like he’s not talking to Shane at all. “We don’t offer treatment for isolation sickness, but I get off shift in half hour. Can give you as many hugs as you need then, solnyshko.”
It's a very kind offer (and the alpha is very handsome) but Shane couldn’t possibly accept. Asking for a legitimate health service is not the same as guilting an employee into doing something off the books to help him.
“I wouldn't want to impose, nurse…?”
The alpha smiles softly like he’s amused.
“Dr. Ilya Rozanov, actually. Nurse asks me to watch desk while she uses bathroom ‘for five minutes.’ Svetlana needs long bathroom break, apparently… But giving hugs to pretty omega is no trouble at all.”
Shane feels even worse then.
Ilya is a doctor of all things and he has no business giving out charity to lonely omegas who are too cowardly to tell their teammates they just need a little more physical contact outside of hockey.
He tries to protest, but Ilya jumps in once more.
“Seriously, is not a bother. I could use hug too,” Ilya insists. “Let me hold you and I take you to dinner when you feel better, okay? We both win. Shane gets treatment, Ilya gets date with pretty omega.”
Shane isn’t sure why he says yes. It sounds way more than just a fair trade, which terrifies him a little.
He's never taken up an offer of help from a stranger before either, but something in him says to take a chance. To believe in sheer kindness. Ilya is a doctor, so he must like helping others. He’s extremely good looking too, which means Shane’s inner omega is two seconds away from purring in the middle of the waiting room.
“Alright then,” Shane agrees.
Ilya doesn’t hesitate even a second more to wrap him up in a warm embrace, leeching away the misery and aches that have become so familiar over time. His scent envelops Shane further, allowing him to sink into the hold without a care in the world.
It only lasts about a minute before they slowly pull away, but Shane knows that if he waits until Ilya is done with his shift, there's plenty more of that waiting for him later.
“Good, sweet omega,” Ilya praises him, nuzzling his nose against Shane’s cheek. It’s a subtle way of scenting him. “Meet outside in half hour and I will take care of you. No more tears, pretty omega Shane.”
For once in his life, Shane feels safe enough to put his trust in someone other than himself.
At the end of the day, his gamble pays off pretty well for him too…if ‘pretty well’ means Shane ends up happily mated to a sweet doctor in his next off season and raises twin pups with the guy a decade later.