Chapter Six
The Penny Puck Beat Drops
Robbie Zeiger To Compete on Dance Your Ice Off
Dance makes official announcement of former Beavers goaltender competing on next season after photo of Zeiger at Pride with Finn Graham goes viral.
A fan of the show—and the Beavers—spotted Zeiger and Graham at Toronto Pride last week and posted their selfie with the two men.
@notyouremotionalsupportlesbian You won’t believe who I just ran into… #beavers #pride #dyio #finngraham #robbiezeiger #bestillmylesbianheart #theyresotall
Neither Graham nor Zeiger acknowledged the post on social media, but the official Twitter for Dance reposted the original tweet with a Happy Pride banner and the promise of being able to “catch more of Finn and Robbie as they battle it out to support Robbie’s chosen charity, the LGBT Youth Line, on the newest season of DYIO! ”
Given Zeiger’s chosen charity and his attendance at Pride with Graham, speculation has been rife as to what this could mean, both in terms of their personal lives and the upcoming competition.
@dyiofan Robbie Zeiger on Dance. Robbie Zeiger at pride with an I heart queers shirt. Robbie Zeiger in my dreeeeeeeams.
@GoBeaversGo69 Okay but… why are Zeiger and Graham at pride TOGETHER?
@wonderqueer Am I the only one who noticed that very ambiguous phrasing?? Are Robbie and Finn battling each other or with each other?? DYIO… does this mean we’re getting our first same-sex pair?!
The first week of training had not prepared Robbie for the punishment of week two, which was saying something, because he once played through a grueling twenty-two-game Cup run that ended in defeat.
In the mornings, they had an hour of off-ice practice for the group number. Robbie used to like musicals. Now he never wanted to see another one. If he ever met Hugh Jackman, he was going to punch him in the face.
Then they broke into their pairs to practice those routines, with ice time scheduled in here and there.
Stef and Finn had geeked out over their choreography, but Robbie was content to stand where they told him to, move the way they told him to, and generally be their puppet.
“You’re getting better at the rhythm,” Finn told him on Tuesday. Considering Robbie was holding one of his hands and basically had the other on Finn’s ass, his mind went to the bad place.
Finn probably noticed, because he rolled his eyes and said, “Shut up, what are you, twelve?”
On Wednesday they made it through the song at regular speed for the first time with no major errors, and Finn whooped and spun Robbie around on the ice. “Awesome! We’re gonna nail it.”
Robbie raised his eyebrows.
“Oh, come on,” Finn laughed, shoving him away.
Not everything went smoothly. For filler material—“It’s B-roll,” Finn said in exasperation—sometimes they had to film segments with the other pairs, either all together or in smaller groups.
Playing Minute to Win It games with Finn against Sophia and Chad should’ve been fun, but Chad was a sore loser and a sore winner.
After five minutes Robbie suggested he and Chad just arm-wrestle instead, which Chad refused, probably on the chance Robbie would beat him.
That effectively ended that. Robbie was pretty sure none of that footage was going anywhere near the airwaves. Not unless the show was trying to set Chad up to be a villain WWE style.
Finally it was Monday. Performance day.
While they’d practiced Saturday, they had Sunday off to rest. Robbie did a light workout like he’d do on any non-game day and otherwise spent it playing video games with his kid.
Becoming a dad at his age would’ve been a lot more difficult if he’d ever grown up properly.
Hopefully he wasn’t fucking up too much by letting Sawyer eat candy and go to bed without brushing his teeth.
Kid had to learn consequences at some point, right?
Monday Robbie awoke early with the buzz of excitement in his bones.
Emily gave him a fist-bump as he walked into the arena. “Ready to get your ass handed to you?” Once an Olympic-level competitive hockey bro, always an Olympic-level competitive hockey bro, even if you were a lady.
“You wish,” he told her. “We’re gonna bring the house down.”
Everyone gathered in the largest meeting room to get a last-minute refresher on the day’s schedule.
“One last on-ice rehearsal slot each. Do not go over your allotted time. Schedule’s posted in the hallway.
Your hair and makeup schedules are also posted.
The venue will close at five except to those you have given your backstage passes.
Okay, now get out of here, get some food, get some coffee, and for fuck’s sake, don’t hurt yourselves. ”
“She’s really an inspiration,” Robbie told Finn dryly.
“Honestly I don’t think she even uses her brain for that speech anymore. She just plays it on memory.” He tilted his head in question. “So—are you ready for this?”
“Am I ready to flirt with a man who has knives on his feet on national television?” Robbie thought he’d be more nervous, but when he thought about it—“That was my day job for like twenty years. We got this.”
“I don’t remember flirting being part of a hockey game.”
Robbie shook his head sadly. “That’s because you weren’t playing properly, clearly.”
They ran through both routines on ice—group and individual—and made their appointments for hair and makeup and filmed some more B-roll. Robbie was sent to the “confessional” stage, where he answered various prompts about his emotions.
How was he feeling about his first performance?
Was he excited to be on the show? Why had he sought it out?
(He manfully did not throw his child under the bus.
The last thing Robbie or Sawyer needed was to draw CAS attention to Sawyer’s home life and Robbie’s weird guardianship situation.
Until Robbie could convince his brother to sign over his parental rights, they didn’t need Children’s Aid Societies looking their way.) Did he want to say hi to anyone?
Who was his inspiration? Why was he supporting his chosen charity? Et cetera, et cetera.
Imogen and Sawyer arrived just after five with Gail and George as their chaperones.
Finn looked surprised to see them, and Gail rolled her eyes. “Honestly, honey, like we were going to miss your grand return to competition.”
Finn snorted. “It’s Dance, not the Olympics,” he protested, but his ears had gone red and he looked pleased nonetheless.
George nodded at Robbie, and Gail laughed. “Lovely to see you again. Though I never thought we’d be running into each other like this—a small world.”
Robbie smiled and accepted her hug. He hadn’t really known either of Imogen’s parents until this past year.
He’d known of them, sure, and occasionally saw them when coordinating Sawyer’s transportation, but he hadn’t gotten to know them.
Not until they insisted on having Robbie and Sawyer over after his transition, and Gail greeted Robbie with a fierce hug and a whispered, “I’m so glad he has you!
” and George patted Robbie’s shoulder and said, “Let us know if you need anything. Or an ear—Gail and I know something about stepparenting.”
Before long, they were all ushered away to their seats, where they watched Emily and her partner jitterbug to “MMMBop” by Hanson. (Who knew that would work?) Robbie turned wide eyes to Finn and mouthed, “Damn.” Finn laughed and bumped their shoulders together as they both clapped.
“We’ll be better,” he murmured.
Robbie and Finn were last to perform, which made sense since they were the novelty pair.
It wouldn’t have mattered for the TV segment—the show filmed phone-free performances Mondays but aired Wednesday nights, so they could cut it however they wanted—but since they also had a live audience, he supposed the producers wanted to draw out the anticipation.
Going last meant they got to see several acts before they were pulled backstage.
This was not, in fact, a kindness, since Robbie’s stomach knotted more and more with each passing group.
This was so dumb. This was a totally different kind of anticipation from what he felt before a hockey game.
The last pair they caught before being ushered away were Sophia and Chad.
Despite Robbie’s fervent desire for Chad to fall on his face, the guy stayed upright and swinging.
Sophia was damn good and made Chad look good too, as he swung her round and jived to “Only the Good Die Young.” Of course that was the song Chad picked.
Robbie wondered if Stef had offered him “MMMBop.” He wondered what kind of face Chad had made if she had.
As Chad and Sophia came to their climactic spin and stop, Robbie forced himself to clap and look impressed and not get caught with a sour face.
Then he and Finn were backstage for more costume and makeup visits and then they were waiting for their turn on the ice, and another camera was in Robbie’s face, and someone was asking what he thought of the night so far.
“Kinda wishing we weren’t last,” he laughed. “I felt a lot more confident before I saw the competition.”
“Hey, they got nothing on us,” Finn said with a grin. “We’re going to blow their socks off.”
As they took their places at opposite sides of the rink, Robbie was grateful they’d managed to find him a look that approximated Patrick’s jeans, button-up, and military-esque jacket. Finn looked adorable—but definitely less comfortable—in his outfit that evoked Kat’s soccer uniform.
As the music started, vocals only, Robbie took slow, sweeping glides towards his partner.
Finn—who was clearly much better at this—had a series of practiced moves that somehow conveyed surprise and embarrassment, even as he positioned himself for their encounter.
Just before reaching Finn, Robbie slid past him with his arms out, one up and one down, and shifted into a spin that brought them face-to-face.