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buttercupjosh · 4 days

Text

It’s been some time since I dropped my fic and I would really appreciate if y’all would please check out my story. Thank you in advance😌

White Horse

(Gif credit to @pyotrkochetkov)

Word count: 2,588

Genres: strangers to lovers to exes, angst

Warnings: none

A/N: I’ve had pieces of details of this fic in mind for a while and one night, I just decided to write it all out. This story is based off of the song “White Horse" by Taylor Swift. It is shorter than what I normally write but I decided to challenge myself a bit with a word count limit (my goal was to make it under 3,000 words). It’s not set at a specific moment in time (It’s taking place in a fictional future but you could also say that it’s set in the future and this season. However, the season is still ongoing at the moment and anything can happen or change so don’t hold me to what occurs in the fic and if things do change in real life, I’m not going to update this fic to reflect that). It’s written with a female reader in mind because I’m a female of color but the reader doesn’t specifically have to be a POC or a woman and there’s little dialogue. As always, I’m open to any and all feedback, comments or questions; just put them in my inbox or dm me. Thank you so much in advance for reading, I appreciate it😌

(P.S. I have other stories (linked here) that I have written for other players as well if you want to check it out)

“What was the plan? Absolve your guilt and shake hands?” -Night Shift by Lucy Dacus

By all definitions, Raleigh, North Carolina was not a small town but sometimes it felt like it was. The Triangle had a lot to offer but was a bit of an underrated place; Raleigh wasn’t as bustling and busy like other places in the South but you loved the city you called home. One of the very few things that brought people together there was college sports and Canes hockey. The Carolina Hurricanes were the only professional major league team in town so the team’s likeness was everywhere you looked. Seeing their faces around town, you would have never imagined that you would actually end up dating a player from that team.

You met your hockey-playing boyfriend in an untraditional way. You had worked for UNC Health and being a sponsor of the team, the company hosted a raffle for an employee to win a ticket to represent the company at Canes Bash. You surprisingly won and represented the organization well with your kind and respectful demeanor. That demeanor ended up winning over the heart of Canes forward Andrei Svechnikov. Andrei knew that this event was to spend time with season ticket holders and sponsors to get them to bring in more money for the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation but he was so enamored by you in the brief interaction you had. Throughout the rest of the evening, Andrei was pulled into all different directions around PNC Arena but his eyes kept gazing around the room to try to find you again. Not giving up on his quest to reconnect with you, he ended up writing his phone number on a napkin and giving it to Gracia Skjei to give to you. Before setting out on her journey to look for you in the sea of people, Gracia went into the bathroom and actually ran into you on her way out. She handed you the napkin with Andrei’s number on it; you couldn’t believe that a hockey WAG was casually giving you the phone number of her husband’s teammate and the teammate in question was a star on the team. You were taken aback that your short interaction with Andrei had impacted him so much that he wanted to talk to you more.

You did reach out to Andrei and on a Saturday after a morning skate, you met up for the first time since Canes Bash for smoothies. As expected, that first laidback date of getting to know each other more led to a formal dinner date where you saw a more fancier side of Andrei and it all led up to establishing a loving romantic relationship.

Being with Andrei was like being in the starring role of a box-office smash romance movie. Your relationship with Andrei was almost too perfect in such a way that other people could be jealous of it. Due to Andrei’s status as one of the top Canes players, people knew about your relationship with him and sometimes would stop and ask you for a picture. You had an amazing, loving boyfriend, who was everything you ever dreamed of and more. You lived together in a beautiful shared home and had a small goldendoodle named Charlie. You had an amazing friend group with the other WAGs and got along well with all of Andrei’s friends and family. You got to go on lavish vacations with your handsome partner, who wasn’t afraid to show you off to the world. You had it all and all you needed was a ring to top it all off. Like any other couple, you and Andrei’s relationship did have its challenges and struggles but these disagreements and setbacks didn’t cause your relationship to crumble. The image of living in presumed perfection would soon be broken in the most unexpected way.

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The annual Canes’ moms trip was approaching soon and Elena, Andrei’s mom and possibly your future mother-in-law, was coming to support her son. It was going to be her first time at the new home you shared with Andrei; you had spent the whole week trying to get everything in order for her arrival and her subsequent stay for a month after the moms trip. You were excited to get to see and spend time with Elena but that excitement soon shifted.

You knew what time Elena’s flight was supposed to land and the amount of time it would take for Andrei to get home after picking her up from the airport but it seemed like Andrei was running unusually late. On the shared location app on your phone, you could see that Andrei was home from picking up his mother from the airport but you saw that he had been sitting in his car in the garage for over 15 minutes after arriving. Concerned, you went to go check on Andrei and Elena to make sure that they were okay but you accidentally caught him in a heated exchange in Russian with his mother. You didn’t quite understand what he was angrily saying but whatever it was about, it had him on fire. Elena’s eyes gazed over at you and the waterline of her eyes looked like it was filling up with tears. The arguing between mother and son stopped once Andrei noticed you were standing in the doorway. The color on Andrei’s face immediately drained from red with anger to white with fear. He quickly got out of the car, opened his mom’s door, and helped with her luggage. Elena gave you a tearful hug before going up to settle in the guest room. It was odd that she didn’t say anything upon seeing you and the atmosphere of the house was still thick with tension. You asked Andrei about what happened and why he was extremely upset with his mother but he just muttered something under his breath in Russian. He refused to look at you as you questioned him but you could sense that Andrei was frustrated and that something deeper had to be going on. Elena came downstairs to grab some water before giving a cryptic answer to her child’s behavior.

“Andrei, I love you but you know what you have to do. If you really love y/n, you would tell the truth”, Elena said before slipping out of the kitchen with her glass of water.

Andrei bursted into tears after his mother left the kitchen. You had seen Andrei cry before so this wasn’t a new sight for you but you wanted to know what was bothering him. You tried to comfort Andrei but he coldly shut you down and you had thought Elena was going to comfort her son but she did not. You sat in a worried silence for what felt like an eternity and the only sound in the room was Andrei’s heavy breathing from crying. Once Andrei fully stopped crying and rehydrated, you calmly asked him for one last time what was wrong and he took a deep breath before revealing what was causing him so much distress at the moment.

“I’m a dad,” Andrei quietly said, “I have a son back in Russia and I’m sorry that I never told you.”

You couldn’t quite believe the words you fell from the lips that you loved to kiss and felt like you were frozen in time, still trying to process the information that you just received. You were in disbelief and began pacing around the living room as Andrei explained what happened.

The summer before you met, Andrei was still deep in his playboy ways and ended up getting a girl named Lana pregnant back in Russia. Since their relationship was merely a hook-up that resulted in a child being conceived, it was hard for Andrei to believe that he was the father of her child but once Alexei was born, he couldn’t deny the baby boy. Alexei had Andrei’s eyes, the same brown ones that you adored, and dimples in his cheeks, just like his dad. While he was visiting his family during the off-season, Andrei took a paternity test and as everyone expected, he was Alexei’s father. You were in Russia with Andrei when the test was conducted but you didn’t know that was what his doctor’s appointment was for; the day of the test, Elena took you shopping. After the paternity test confirmation, Andrei did meet Alexei once as a baby and he was overcome with emotion to see the reflection of some of his genetic features as he held his small precious son in his large arms.

Andrei was stuck between a rock and a hard place; he had already moved on from his fling with Lana with you and he wasn’t interested in moving Lana and their son to the States so he decided to send them checks monthly to provide for them while they remained in Russia. His family was still involved in his child’s life, spending time with Alexei and keeping Andrei up to date on his son. Andrei didn’t like controversy or drama so if he kept the information about Alexei confidential, he didn’t have to worry as much about it coming to light because it was being managed in the dark. He also expressed that he felt like he wasn’t ready to be a father at that time but he would want to be a father when he’s older. You understood where Andrei was coming from but felt like it was a bit unfair that you got this great life with him while the mother of his son and his child didn’t have that with him. His son was over a year old and he barely knew Andrei in the way that you had known Andrei in the time that you had been dating. Putting a timeline together, you had also concluded that Lana was pregnant when you met Andrei and had given birth by the time you started dating.

Suddenly, a much more painful realization came to light: if Elena had not talked to Andrei about keeping his secret child from you when she came to visit, you realized that Andrei possibly would have never told you about Alexei. You and Andrei did discuss marriage and having children so you knew he was serious about experiencing those things with you and had dreamed of a happy ending together but a future with Andrei didn’t feel right anymore because you could have gotten married and had kids with him and never known a single thing about Alexei. You were right: Andrei never had a set plan in place or moment in time to tell you about his son because he was handling it behind the scenes and that’s all that you needed to know.

How could you ever trust Andrei again if he was able to keep this big of a secret from you? He didn’t have the common courtesy to tell you about his son so what else could he be hiding from you? You honestly believed in Andrei but he let you down and now, you don’t believe a single thing from him going forward. Throughout your relationship, you also had to deal with rumors of Andrei’s alleged cheating and you trusted that he remained faithful to you but now, you weren’t so sure since he just proved that he was so good at keeping secrets from you. You knew that this had occurred before you had gotten together but after this revelation, you realized that you didn’t want to be with Andrei anymore. You thought you truly knew Andrei but it was like the man that you fell in love with turned into a stranger.

You weren’t a princess and this wasn’t a fairytale with a happy ending; Raleigh wasn’t Hollywood so there was no reconciliation plot device or changes to the script to make everything better. Although you loved your job, you were also even more upset because Andrei promised to always provide for you and wanted you to quit working but he was also providing to a part of his family under the table; transparency and honesty were so important to you and all of that was out the window. Maybe you would be more open to staying with him if he had told you sooner instead of dragging you along for over a year without a clue. Andrei had thought that if he could fulfill his role as a father by financially providing for Alexei back home and building a future in the U.S. with you, he would be fine. He also thought you would be more accepting and willing to work things out after finding out the news but he destroyed all your trust in him.

Andrei begged you on his knees for your forgiveness and for you to stay with a puppy dog look, like how Charlie would whenever he wanted treats, but it was too late. The damage was already done and he had to accept that. Andrei was like a knight in shining armor, strutting around on his white horse to save the day but he wasn’t allowed to catch you. In one swift fall, the relationship with the prince in your love story was over. Andrei had to step up to the plate and realize that he couldn’t create an ideal life with someone while keeping huge secrets. Andrei having a secret child was a huge obstacle to overcome and you stepped out of his way so that he could focus on effectively co-parenting with Lana and being a more present father to Alexei; maybe someone else would be stronger enough to be involved with Andrei but that person was not going to be you.

It wasn’t easy to walk away from all that you had with Andrei because you truly did love him. He was a great dog dad to Charlie, his heart was deeply ignited for those that he loved, he was so humble and caring to others, his touch was the most comforting feeling to you, and he always knew how to make you smile. Andrei had the face of an angel and brown eyes that you could easily get lost in but you couldn’t even look at him the same way. You felt so naive and foolish about living in a fantasy with your relationship with Andrei and you should have known better about your presumed picture perfect relationship. A part of you wanted to give him another chance but you felt so betrayed by Andrei and had a difficult time overlooking how he hurt you. You apologized to Andrei and forgave him for keeping such important information from you but you did not want anything else to do with him. This incident made you realize that you deserved better than this and deserve to be with someone who would actually treat you well so you did what was best for you.

In the days since you split from Andrei, Elena and her son went on the moms’ trip and you began packing your things with help from Gracia Skjei and some of the other WAGs. They were going to miss you and you would miss them too but you needed to get out of Raleigh and start fresh somewhere new. As you drove with Charlie as your passenger, you looked up for a brief second and saw the face of a man that you once loved on a billboard. You watched the City of Oaks disappear from your rearview mirror and headed towards whatever awaited you in the rest of this big world.

#andrei svechnikov #andrei svechnikov imagine #andrei svechnikov x reader #Andrei svechnikov fic

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buttercupjosh · 4 days

Text

It’s been some time since I dropped my fic and I would really appreciate if y’all would please check out my story. Thank you in advance😌

Seasons of Love

(Gif credit to @youmustlovehim)

Word count: 2,772

Genres: strangers to lovers to exes, a little bittersweet

Warnings: none

A/N: I’ve had pieces of details of this fic in mind for a while and I started to slowly write it out over the past few months. This title comes from Seasons of Love from the musical RENT, although there’s nothing in the story connects to specific details from that. The story is not based off of anything specific, just a plot that had been simmering in me for some time. It’s not set at a specific moment in time (It’s taking place in a fictional future but you could also say that it’s set this season. However, the season is still ongoing at the moment and anything can happen or change). It’s written with a female reader in mind because I’m a female of color but the reader doesn’t specifically have to be a POC or a woman and there’s little dialogue. As always, I’m open to any and all feedback, comments or questions; just put them in my inbox or dm me. Thank you so much in advance for reading, I appreciate it😌

(P.S. I have other stories (linked here) that I have written for other players as well if you want to check it out)

““How do you measure a year in the life? How about love?” -Seasons of Love from the RENT musical soundtrack

Prologue

“Excuse me, is this a good book to read?” a deep accented voice asks you.

“Dune? For sure, it’s an epic story,” you reply.

“Do you think I could finish it in 4 days?” the voice asks.

“4 days? Unless you’re an Olympian at reading and processing complex storylines, I’d say it might take you close to 4 weeks or even 4 months to read it all,” you respond.

“Oh,” the voice says in defeat, “what do you recommend then?”

You list off some sci-fi recs for the towering cute man and he takes your suggestions into mind before deciding to get a copy of We, a novel written by his fellow countryman Yevgeny Zamyatin.

“I’ve never read that one,” you chimed.

“Should we start a book club then so you can read it?” the voice asks with a chuckle.

“Um, how can I start a book club with someone whose name I don’t even know?”

Slightly embarrassed, the voice introduces himself as Andrei and you introduce yourself to him as you shake hands. His hand in yours felt so comforting for someone you just met under an hour ago. Andrei was impressed that you knew so much about books. One of his New Year’s resolutions was to read more so that’s how he ended up at Barnes and Noble talking to you. You were at the store, just looking around for something new to read, and stumbled into the sci-fi section before checking out with your new copy of Happy Place by Emily Henry.

“So are we starting this book club then, Andrei?” you slyly ask.

Andrei wanted to have someone as a reading buddy to discuss reading with him (the other guys on the team weren’t as into reading as him) and it didn’t hurt that he had someone who knew a lot about literature right in front of him so he agreed to it.

“As long as you read “We” with me, please?” Andrei charmingly requested.

Although sci-fi wasn’t your thing at the moment, you couldn’t quite say no to the man with big brown doe eyes so you grabbed a copy off the shelf. Before going over the parameters of the newly formed book club, Andrei kindly paid for both of your books and you decided to discuss the rules in the cafe located inside of the store.

You and Andrei sat in a semi-secluded booth towards the back of the cafe and began sharing some of your backstories with each other over drinks and muffins. Andrei was again impressed by your educational background of holding an MFA in Creative Writing from NC State and your job as an adjunct English professor at Wake Tech Community College; it definitely explained your love of reading but your dream was to move to New York and become an author one day. You were working on a manuscript for a cute romance novel but still had a lot of things to do before it was ready to be presented to a publisher. The professor job was just a placeholder until you finished up your manuscript and saved up enough money to get a literary agent; you loved writing as much as you loved reading but getting your foot in the door in the writing industry was rough. You listened to Andrei as he told his story about his life and how he ended up in America through his hockey career. You and Andrei were both curious about each other and asked so many questions to each other for such a long time that you didn’t even notice that the store was going to close. Neither of you wanted your time together to end but you both had lives to get to outside of the store. You both laughed when you realized that you and Andrei spent so much time getting to know each other that not once throughout your conversation did you discuss the rules of the book club. Before leaving, you and Andrei exchanged numbers. You both agreed to read the first 50 pages and scheduled to meet up at a different cafe to discuss what you read so far in two weeks.

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Winter

Within a year, the book club didn’t last long but it did lead to you and Andrei being in constant contact with each other. Due to both of your schedules, neither of you really had the time to sit down and have deep intellectual discussions about what you read; you both did end up finishing reading We but you finished it at different paces. Being the book lover you are, you completed the book first but Andrei finished reading the book while on the road and he wanted to discuss the ending with you so bad that he surprisingly FaceTime called you. That one FaceTime call with Andrei turned into a long series of texts, phone calls, and more FaceTime calls and eventually spending time together offline. You and Andrei considered each other to be just friends but that friendship eventually turned into you falling for each other.

Andrei was a hot commodity around Raleigh and in Russia with his DMs bursting at the seams but he only had eyes for you. He had never fallen in love with someone the way that he did for you; being with you was different than what he was used to but it worked in the best way. You knew the risks and chaos of being with a busy, famous athlete but Andrei was worth all of it. You blended and adjusted well into the hockey romantic partner lifestyle and Andrei even taught you how to ice skate. Despite the busyness of your lives, you and Andrei still showed up for and made time for each other, even if it was something as small as meeting up at your place for a post-afternoon game milkshake from The Shiny Diner or as big as taking Andrei as your date to your work holiday party. Whenever you had the time, you and Andrei created fun, everlasting memories together. A somewhat sweet memory that Andrei would always remember was when on one cold evening, you wanted to surprise your Russian boyfriend by attempting to make him borscht, a traditional Eastern European soup that was his favorite comfort food. The soup did not come well at all so you and Andrei ended up ordering Panera Bread to warm your bones. Although the soup you made tasted unpleasant, Andrei appreciated the fact that you took the time and effort to learn something from his culture and did that from your heart. The poetic thing about your relationship was that you patiently understood each other, despite the language and culture barrier; your relationship just worked like two puzzle pieces clicking together into place.

————————————————————

Spring

As the flowers bloomed around Raleigh, the school year for you ended on a good note and unsurprisingly, the Canes made playoffs. Deep into your manuscript writing, Andrei surprised you with a trip to New York after the Canes were eliminated from playoffs. You and Andrei were already spending the entire off-season together so this trip wasn’t a necessity but it was a nice thing to do.

Your time in New York was amazing and full of love, fun, and plenty of delicious food. While you were in the City, you took the opportunity to meet with some potential literary agents and publishers; although your manuscript was about 90 percent done, it didn’t hurt to check those things out. Andrei was supportive of you and your dreams but he selfishly wished that those dreams didn’t include moving to New York and that you would stay in Raleigh and have a life with him there. He had already known his future was tightly connected to the City of Oaks but you had a desire to create a future somewhere else. You knew these dreams of yours could possibly involve leaving the love of your life; neither of you tried not to dwell too hard on the stress and pressure that those dreams added to your relationship. You also knew the publishing industry was cutthroat and competitive and that there was no guarantee that your book would be picked up by a top publisher but those realities didn’t stop you from at least trying to take the steps towards that dream.

Outside of this pressure, you and Andrei still made the best of your time in NYC. You also loved musical theater so of course, you had to catch a Broadway show. Andrei, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, actually secured tickets for the two of you to see Hamilton at the Richard Rogers Theater. You had watched the live stage production on Disney+ and knew the entire soundtrack; Andrei went into the show blindly, only remembering bits and pieces from the songs that you played around him. Seeing Hamilton live on Broadway was a great experience that you both enjoyed. You and Andrei got to see New York City in a different light; you got to explore more of the city that you longed to call home and Andrei got to see more of the city as a true tourist. This entire trip was something that you both would forever cherish.

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Summer

Not long after you left New York, you went to Russia for the first time to meet and spend time with his family and friends and to see the place that made Andrei into the man that you love. You learned more about Russian culture, Andrei’s childhood, and even was a guest at his cousin’s wedding. Andrei’s friends and family approved of you as a person and they liked you with him; they could all tell how truly in love you were with each other. You also spent some time together in Turkey and around Europe for some much-needed relaxation; you got to see the beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea in Greece, eat authentic handmade pasta in Italy, and kiss your lover in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Traveling around with Andrei made you feel like you were the protagonist of a great summer read. Speaking of reading, Andrei still maintained his goal of reading more books, reading just about anything and everything, and even started to recommend things for you to read. Before you would fall asleep at night, you would share with each other a fact or synopsis of something that you read that day.

While Andrei was occupied with his off-season training during the day, you applied for publishing jobs, presented your finally completed manuscript to several literary agents, and ended up securing one. It was relieving to officially have a literary agent to represent you but the next biggest hurdle was the painstaking editing process and waiting for your work to be picked up by the right publisher.

————————————————————

Fall

After the bliss of the off-season ended, it was time for the hustle and bustle of your teaching job and hockey season to return. About 2 weeks before preseason started, you and Andrei moved in together. It was exciting to get to live with your lover and spend even more time (whenever you could) with him. It was also nice that you got to add your style to the place and make it your own; having a home also meant that you could host your friends, Andrei’s teammates, and sometimes family for holidays and events and create more cherished memories together. Being a hopeless romantic who loved romance novels, you had always wondered who would be the man to sweep you off your feet but you sort of already knew that man was Andrei.

A fun memory that you made together was the Sunday before the season opener, you and Andrei took a trip to a local corn maze with a pumpkin patch to take cute couple photos together and to also check it out. These photos would be added into some of the new picture frames and a scrapbook of memories in your shared home. The photographer did an excellent job, capturing the love that flowed between you in still moments. For the rest of your time, you wandered around the corn maze, hand-in-hand, with your lovely boyfriend. The infamous oak trees in Raleigh began to shed their leaves and the year began inching closer and closer towards the end.

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Winter part 2

One snowy morning, you got an email from McGraw Hill, offering you a job as an educational copy editor in their NYC office. You couldn’t believe it, you were on the path of working at a publisher and hopefully, one day getting your book published; all that you had been working so hard for was starting to pay off in tremendous ways. The only issue that was concerning you was breaking the news to Andrei. You knew he would be happy for you but you also knew what the next steps were. You tried to hold in your tears but after practice, Andrei came home to you crying. He immediately dropped his stuff and concerningly asked you what was wrong. You explained to Andrei that you were crying joyfully over the news you received. Words couldn’t describe how proud Andrei was for you so he picked you up and spun you around in happiness.

“I’m so proud of you, my love,” Andrei repeated as he peppered kisses around your face.

He was truly proud of you but the ecstasy of the good news came with the most painful come down. Andrei didn’t want you to move to New York but he had already known for a while that you wanted to leave. He did try to convince you to stay and he hoped for months that you would change your mind but you didn’t so he helped you pack some of your things. Andrei couldn’t help you move up there so he entrusted Nykki, Martin Necas’ girlfriend, to help you settle into your new home and life, more than 500 miles away from the address you once shared.

You and Andrei did try dating long distance but your relationship unfortunately didn’t last very long. Between the responsibilities of your new job, revising over your manuscript, trying to get your book published somewhere, and Andrei’s hectic hockey schedule, you began to drift apart from each other and the physical distance between you didn’t help either. You enjoyed living in New York and you did miss each other from time to time but Andrei knew it would be unfair to ask you to give up on your dreams to come back to Raleigh and be with him. Despite not dating anymore, you and Andrei talked occasionally but not as frequently as it was when you first met and still remained friends. It was okay that the relationship had run its course because it taught you both a lot about love. Andrei came into your life for a season and those seasons you shared together were full of so much undeniable light and love. The love that you shared was different from the romance novels you read but your relationship wrote its own beautiful story.

————————————————————

Epilogue

Before catching his flight to Miami for the NHL All-Star break, Andrei went into the bookstore at Raleigh-Durham International Airport to look for a book to read on his flight. In the book section, he spotted Seasons of Love, written by you with a New York Times Bestseller sticker on the cover. Over the years, Andrei had heard some things about your novel in passing but he purposely avoided reading the book because the breakup was a bit painful for him. After you achieved getting your book published, you wanted to send Andrei a signed copy but decided against it because you weren’t sure if he would actually read the story and didn’t want to come across as pretentious either. He debated back and forth about getting the book before finally asking a store employee about their opinion about it.

“I read that one. It’s a fictional story but I heard it’s loosely based on a true story about the author’s relationship with some cool guy. It’s a super good read if you like romance," said the store employee.

Hearing what the store employee said about your book made Andrei’s heart warm a little and he purchased it as his read for his trip. After returning back to Raleigh, conveniently, there was a book signing by a familiar author at a local Barnes and Noble that Andrei decided to attend. Although Andrei didn’t get his happy ending with you in real life, you sure gave him one with the words that you wrote on the page.

#andrei svechnikov #andrei svechnikov x reader #andrei svechnikov imagine #Andrei svechnikov fic

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