Rating:

Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning:

No Archive Warnings Apply

Category:

Gen

Fandom:

Game Changers Series - Rachel Reid

Relationships:

Ryan Price & Ilya Rozanov, Wyatt Hayes & Ryan Price, Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Ryan Price/Fabian Salah

Characters:

Ryan Price (Game Changers), Chiron (Game Changers), Ilya Rozanov, Harris Drover, Troy Barrett, Shane Hollander, Wyatt Hayes, Fabian Salah

Additional Tags:

Ryan Price needs a hug, Service Animals, Soft Ilya Rozanov, Depressed Ilya Rozanov, Married Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Friendship, Developing Friendships, Anxious Shane Hollander, Protective Fabian Salah, Background Relationships, Minor Troy Barrett/Harris Drover, Mentioned Eric Bennett/Kyle Swift, Post-Canon, Anxious Ryan Price, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, POV Ryan Price (Game Changers)

Language:

English

Stats:

Published: 2026-01-26 Words: 2,159 Chapters: 1/1

Keep My Mind On What Matters

Summary

Ryan is having a bad moment when he realizes his sister's flight is delayed, then Chiron alerts on him.

Notes

A/N: I meant to have this written and posted on Friday, but it's been an extremely long week.

A/N2: The title is taken from the poem "Messenger" by Mary Oliver.

Ryan thinks he’s doing a good job of distracting himself from the low level of panic that’s been plaguing him all day, but then a dog he’s never seen before alerts on him. It’s not the first time he’s had a service dog take an interest in his anxiety, but usually the dog is wearing a vest and there’s an owner that Ryan can reassure. A lot of the time he ends up with a dog in his lap and a nice conversation, as long as neither he or the owner are late for their flights. Usually, he's in an airport. Except right now there isn’t an owner and he’s getting ready to leave at the end of his camp week so he and Fabian can pick his sister up from the airport. Usually, people he loves being at an airport isn't a problem for him, but his sister's flight got delayed before take-off due to a mechanical issue that caused them to switch planes, and now her landing is delayed. The large dog alerts again and looks at him expectantly and Ryan accepts that he's spiraling. So, he sits down and greets the dog.

“You’re a good boy and I’m fine,” Ryan sighs. He’s tempted to point out that the dog shouldn’t be working because he’s not wearing a vest, but it’s not like this dog is going to understand him. The dog crawls into his lap and leans on him. The dog is heavy and it’s kinda soothing. It would be more soothing if he knew whose dog this is. With a groan of defeat Ryan lays back and the dog settles more firmly on top of him.

“Harris, you said you were bringing…” Ryan hears Ilya start.

“He ran off,” Harris interrupts. So, the dog belongs to Harris? Ryan doesn’t know Harris or Troy very well, they’re working on it. He didn’t know they had a service dog. Now he’s worrying about them and if they need their dog back. Ryan’s about to call out, say where he is, when Ilya is suddenly just looking down at him in concern.

“I’m not jealous,” Ilya tells him. The face he makes after says he’s lying.

Ryan snorts.

“Are you being good boy Chiron?” Ilya asks before sitting down above Ryan’s head. Ryan tilts his head back to take him in. Ilya’s face turns more serious. “Should you be here?”

“I’m fine,” Ryan says automatically.

“Bad day?” Ilya prods.

“Yeah,” Ryan admits.

“We'd have covered you,” Ilya admonishes.

“It helped being busy,” Ryan protests.

Ilya nods.

“How are you?” Ryan manages. The two of them have bonded over their brains ability to be mean to them.

Ilya shrugs. “Being busy helps.”

“Yeah,” Ryan agrees.

From the doorway Harris starts to apologize for Chiron, but Ilya cuts him off, “I told you they failed him too soon. Look at him! And Ryan is nice, letting him help.”

Ilya reaches out slowly and touches his head. When Ryan relaxes at the touch Ilya starts carding his fingers through Ryan’s hair.

“Do you need meds or something?” Harris asks.

“I already took what I can earlier. I could probably have something else, but that’s stronger than I want right now. I want to be awake to spend time with my sister,” Ryan explains. He tries to concentrate on the weight of the dog and the feeling of Ilya’s hand in his hair. It’s soothing. He doesn’t feel as close to a panic attack as he did when he realized his sister’s flight is landing later than scheduled.

“Fabian?” Ilya asks.

“He’s picking me up,” Ryan said. “He’ll probably be here soon.”

“Harris can get him for you,” Ilya volunteers.

“Shit, Price are you okay?” Troy asks from the doorway.

Ryan closes his eyes. He’s still kinda of getting used to developing a friendship with Troy, so being in a situation that Troy would’ve made fun of him for a few years ago isn’t soothing. A part of him knows that Troy won’t make fun of him now, but it’s hard for the rest of him to realize that at a moment when he’s already so tense, even if Chiron is Harris’ and Troy’s.

“He’s fine, we’re going,” Harris reassures. “We’ll get Fabian and bring him back.”

“Are you sure he’s okay?” Troy asks again as they walk away. Ryan doesn’t catch Harris’ answer, but he can hear the actual concern in Troy’s voice, so there’s that. Ryan tries taking a slow deep breath, but doesn’t quite manage it.

“You and Eric still buddy read?” Ilya asks.

It’s a distraction. Ilya is trying to get him to focus on something pleasant, which honestly Ryan can use right now.

“Yeah. Kyle suggested the book we're reading now, after he read it,” Ryan answers. What does it say about him that it took him leaving hockey to develop a hockey and hockey adjacent friend group? He's relatively sure this is all Ilya’s fault, but they’re friends too, and honestly Ryan’s grateful. “It’s called What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo. She goes into how her family mistreated her, so that was hard to read, but then she finds out she has a complex PTSD diagnosis and she’s a journalist so she researches it and the different treatments and she takes you through her journey with that.”

Ilya is quiet for a moment. “Kyle is, does he…”

He doesn’t elaborate further so Ryan shrugs. “He’s kinda private about it, but I know he goes to therapy and has this support group that is maybe also a book club.”

“Should I read it?” Ilya asks softly. It’s almost hesitant.

“Maybe skip the parts that might hurt you?” Ryan tries. He almost suggests talking to Eric, since they’re both reading it. “Kyle’s visiting at the next camp?”

“Yes, Eric said he would.”

“Maybe talk to him about it. Eric and I message each other and sometimes video chat, but Kyle does the whole breakdown the book with highlights and tabs and sometimes a notebook, so he’d probably be able to help you figure out if something might not be good for you to read.”

Ilya makes a considering noise. Ryan sighs. He’s feeling mostly better. He’s not spiraling anymore. His husband will be here soon and Fabian has a list of restaurants he wants to try. His sister also has touristy plans for the next few days. It’s going to be fun. Ryan is almost convinced the rest of the day will be fine. He lets Ilya know, then sits up slowly. Thankfully Chiron shifts so he can sit up. Ilya moves to sit next to him.

“Better?” Ilya asks.

“Yeah. I think so. Thanks,” Ryan says, then holds out his hand so Ilya can have access to his wedding ring. Fabian gave him a ring that is also a fidget spinner. Ilya can’t seem to resist playing with it. Ilya chuckles softly, takes his hand, then makes the ring spin.

Shane suddenly rounds the corner into the room. He’s got that first day of camp stressed out face, the one that is usually gone by the second or third day.

“Are you okay?” Shane starts. “Troy said…”

Ryan watches as Chiron bounds up to Shane and alerts on him. Shane pauses to pet him, but then continues asking what Ryan needs, which somehow spirals into Shane knowing something was going to go wrong, and then Chiron alerts again.

“I’m okay,” Ryan tries. “That’s not Chiron saying hi, that’s him wanting to help you.”

Shane frowns at him, then down at Chiron. “But he almost always does that when he sees me.”

“So, that’s him wanting you to sit down and then he’s going to get into your lap. Your choice if you're more comfortable lying down,” Ryan tries.

“Why?” Shane asks even as he sits down and Chiron dutifully crawls into his lap and leans on him. “Oh.”

“Right?” Ryan agrees.

“Why is this so nice?” Shane asks.

“Cause you’re stressed and sometimes deep pressure helps with that,” Ryan explains.

“This is why he steals my weighted blanket,” Ilya grumbles.

“Maybe he should have his own,” Ryan points out with a bit of teasing.

“But it feels good and it smells like him,” Shane protests.

“I need two weighted blankets,” Ilya decides.

“Yes, let's do that,” Shane agrees, before he’s clearly looking Ryan over. “You really are okay?”

“I’m better now,” Ryan reassures. His phone lights up. He glances at it to see that Fabian just parked. Ryan briefly considers going to him, but Troy and Harris are already planning to bring his husband to him so he lets himself relax.

“Can I ask what happened?” Shane asks.

Ryan nods. Shane seems to do better when he’s got more information. “My sister is flying in today so we can spend some time here doing touristy things and her flight got delayed before take off because there was something so wrong with the first plane that they had to switch planes. Then I got an alert that her flight was delayed for landing and with what happened with the first delay I started spiraling.”

It’s kinda of nice he can just talk about this and not worry about being judged.

“That would be bad,” Ilya agrees before wrapping arms around him and leaning in. Ryan pats his arm and leans back. Ilya’s more tactile than he is, but he’s not feeling overly anxious anymore and this is pleasant.

“Give him a hug for me too,” Shane says before he groans and lays down. Ilya gives him another squeeze and Ryan pats his arm again.

“If you want to go cuddle your husband and Chiron I’ll shut the door,” Ryan offers.

Ilya grins at him.

Ryan rolls his eyes. “Yes, I know. I’m the best.”

“Thank you,” Ilya says before giving him one more squeeze and then getting up so he can go cuddle Shane and Chiron.

Ryan gets up, dusts himself off, then shuts the door behind him as he leaves the room.

“Are you okay?” Wyatt asks as he walks purposely towards him.

“Troy?” Ryan asks.

“I think he’s a little freaked out,” Wyatt offers as he reaches out. Ryan leans in, letting himself hug his friend. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Troy or Chiron?” Ryan teases.

“Chiron is here?” Wyatt asks excitedly. “Ilya is already hogging him, I’m sure.”

“Shane,” Ryan tells him.

Wyatt makes a disgruntled noise, “That’s fair. He’s had the least amount of time with him and Chiron is always trying to get his attention.”

“You meant alerting on him?”

Wyatt pulls back to blink at him, then clearly starts thinking this through. He shakes his head. “Harris said one of the reasons Chiron failed the service dog training was because he’d alert when he wanted attention and not always because the person needed him.”

Ryan nods. “Maybe don’t tell Shane that yet.”

Wyatt laughs. “You mean don’t tell Shane until Ilya’s talked him into another dog?”

Ryan grins. “Or Shane’s talked Ilya into treating Anya like an emotional support animal.”

“We can hear you!” Shane calls through the door.

“Because Ryan has good ideas!” Wyatt yells back.

Ilya peeks out of the door. “Emotional support animal, explain.”

Wyatt tilts his head. “I’m sure your therapist would sign off on it.”

Ilya narrows his eyes at Wyatt, then glances at Ryan. He points to Wyatt. “Borrowing.”

“Right,” Ryan agrees before giving Wyatt one last hug and then shoving him towards Ilya. He watches as Ilya grabs Wyatt’s hand and pulls him into the room. The door doesn’t quite shut and it probably doesn’t need to be shut, but Ryan closes it because while Shane and Ilya probably won’t make out with Wyatt in the room, the conversation should at least be private.

He’s about to turn and find his husband when Fabian is just suddenly right there wrapping him in a hug and then pulling him close and cupping his face. Fabian’s eyes dart over him. He watches as Fabian relaxes and then goes up on his toes to kiss Ryan’s forehead. They share a lingering kiss after. When they part Fabian asks, “Are you still up for going to the airport?”

Ryan nods. “As long as I’m not driving. Could we maybe pick up dinner and take it back to the hotel room though?”

He’s not sure he’s up for eating out.

“I figured,” Fabian says. “I screen shot some menus and sent them to Colleen. I was worried you might not be up for a noisy restaurant after being here all day.”

“You’re the best,” Ryan sighs.

“I know,” Fabian grins at him. “But feel free to keep telling me.”

“Will do,” Ryan agrees. “Was Troy okay? He sent two other people to check on me.”

“His fiancé is distracting him so we can make our get-a-way.”

Ryan laughs and takes Fabian’s hand. “Let's go get my sister.”