Chapter Text
Earlier that day:
Hayden decided to call Shane. It was the middle of the day, Jackie was passed out on the couch, their newborn sleeping soundly on her chest. Even though it was only early in the afternoon, Hayden wished it was night. He had just picked up the twins from their gymnastics summer camp, and, surprisingly, they both still had energy.
"Daddy! Daddy! Come see what we did today!" The girls' voices shouted from their bedroom. He worriedly looked at Jackie and their youngest daughter, concerned that the noise would wake them up, but they were still in a deep sleep.
Ruby, the younger of the pair, was jumping on the bed while Emma kept trying to do a handstand against the teal and red wall. The colors clashed quite a bit, but Emma wanted teal and Ruby wanted red to match her name, so the Pikes were fine with it. They figured they'd just paint over it a few years in the future, once they seemed to grasp the concept of aesthetics.
"Daddy! Watch!" Ruby leapt off the bed and attempted to do a cartwheel. It wasn't perfect, of course, but Hayden doubted he could even come close to that level of quality. "Did you see me?"
Emma came down from her handstand, face flushed red but still grinning. "Daddy, you should do one!"
Hayden laughed, "No way. I gotta go call someone, okay? You two stay out of trouble." As he left their room, he turned back. "Also, your mom is sleeping out there on the couch with Amber, so keep the volume level down, okay?"
Both of the girls drew their index fingers against their mouths, sealing their lips shut. When Hayden closed the door, he could still hear giggling and a thump as Emma's handstand fell again, but he was too tired to complain.
He walked into their bedroom and called Shane, who was listed in his contacts as "Uncle Shane" by request of the twins. Shane picked up on the third ring.
"Hey buddy," Shane's voice came over the speakers, and it was a relief to Hayden to hear his captain's calm voice instead of his screaming children or stressed out wife.
"Hey, Hollander! Nice to hear your voice."
"Yeah, uh. . ." Shane sounded slightly distracted, but that was normal for him, especially when receiving a random phone call. "How's-"
Hayden interrupted him. "Dude, I haven't talked to you in forever!"
"I know, I'm so sorry. But, how's Amber, right? How is she?"
"Hey, you remembered her name! Did you see the photos of her and her sisters I put on Instagram?"
"Oh, yeah, the pics are cute," Shane said, not fully convincing Hayden he'd seen the post.
"She's actually sleeping right now, thank God," Hayden laughed, walking back and forth by the large doors in the master bedroom leading out to the porch.
"Oh, good, good," Shane paused before continuing, "And Jackie's good, too?"
"Yep, she's sleeping with Amber."
"Is it better than, um. . ."
"Eh, it's about the same. Remember when Emma and Ruby were teething?" Just the thought of those memories nearly drove Hayden insane.
"Yeah, no, I- I remember that. That was a tough time." Hayden remembered how Shane had to babysit them one day at that stage. "Uh, sorry, hey, just. . . Um. . . My mom's on the other line, I'm just gonna get rid of her, okay?"
"Okay," Hayden said, keeping the phone up to his ear and looking out the window at the twins, who had decided to go outside and tumble.
"What are you doing?" He heard Shane say.
"I think you know." A male voice with some kind of accent also came through the phone.
"Shane? Hey, Shane, did. . . Did you mean to mute yourself?" Hayden waited for a response, but one didn't come.
"Please stop," Shane's voice, even though it didn't sound like he was speaking into the microphone anymore, sounded level and even.
"I don't think is what you want." Hayden realized it was a Russian accent.
"Later, okay?"
The Russian spoke again. "Okay, I make you a deal. I won't touch you, but if you get hard-"
"I won't get hard." Oh God. Had Hayden called Shane when he was hooking up with a guy? Hayden had always kind of considered the fact that Shane wasn't completely straight, but how was he supposed to bring this up with him? And wasn't he still dating Rose?
"Okay, so no problem, then." His voice had gotten softer and his accent less harsh. Hayden contemplated just hanging up the phone, but how would he explain it to Shane?
There was silence over the phone for a moment, then Shane spoke again."Ilya. . ."
No fucking way. There was no fucking way his captain was having sex with Ilya fucking Rozanov. Hayden wasn't homophobic at all, but this was. . . Different. They were rivals; they hated each other, right?
"Shane," the other voice on the phone said. He sounded similar to Rozanov, from what Hayden had gathered from chirps and interview clips. Just softer. Fuck, it had to be Rozanov. Who else would Shane know with the first name Ilya?
There was rustling around, and Shane suddenly talked into the phone again, making Hayden jump. "Hey, s-s- sorry, man, yeah, my mom is so annoying sometimes. Sorry, what were you saying?"
Fuck. Shane didn't know he hadn't muted his phone. Hayden, distracted from overhearing Shane's private conversation, honestly couldn't remember where they'd left off.
"Oh, uh. . . You know Mark?" Hayden's new topic was definitely not what they'd been talking about earlier, but Shane didn't seem to notice.
"Oh, right, yeah, yeah, Mark. And that's her middle brother?"
Hayden assumed the ambiguous pronoun was referring to his wife. "No, brother-in-law-"
"Brother-in-law, right," It was weird for Shane to cut him off, usually, he was extremely polite. "But he's the one—"
Now, it was Hayden's turn to cut him off. "Who showed up to Thanksgiving and gave the twins this gymnastics bar."
"Got it, right, yeah, from Thanksgiving." Shane let out a small, breathy laugh.
"He's super nice and—"
"Yeah, yeah, he's great." Shane had interrupted him again, sounding like he was trying to catch his breath.
"—He's coming over this weekend to hang out with us some," Hayden finished his sentence, desperately trying to keep the conversation going.
"Well, that's nice he could come and stay."
"His flight got delayed, so he'll probably get here on Saturday instead of tomorrow."
"Cool, cool, yeah, yeah, that makes sense," Shane was speaking quickly, gasping at the end of the sentence.
Hayden didn't know what to say, but he also couldn't just abruptly end the call. "So. . . Anything interesting going on at your place?"
"Uh, no, nothing much here-" Shane sucked in a shaky breath, stuttering. "T-t-t the headaches are better- fuck!"
Hayden's jaw dropped.
"No, sorry, just a text." Normally, Hayden would've laughed at Shane's pathetic excuse, and this whole situation would be absolutely hilarious to him if he was fucking anyone else but Rozanov. Seriously, out of all the guys who'd probably be willing to fuck him, why did he have to pick his nemesis?
"How's the weather at your parents' house?" Hayden asked, hating how stupid he sounded.
"Totally- yeah, it's totally clear, so all's well there. Ah- sorry, hey, one second-" Hayden heard the phone being set down on something solid.
"Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck!" He heard Shane groan. Surely Shane didn't mean for him to overhear this, right?
Shane groaned again, and Hayden heard a wet, rhythmic motion in the background. "Please kill me now," Hayden whispered, paralyzed.
The noise suddenly stopped and was replaced by just Shane's heavy panting, getting slightly louder as Shane picked up the phone again. "Ah- sorry man, I just. . . I have to run, someone's at the door," Off to the side, he muttered, "fuck"
"Something wrong?" Hayden asked.
"No, It's just. . . It's just Amazon. But, um. . . I'll call you next week, and-"
"Okay, sounds good!" Hayden desperately wanted the call to end.
"Yeah, yeah, so, totally. And, uh. . ."
"Talk to you then, bye, love you, dude!" Hayden started to bring the phone away from his ear, hovering his finger over the button.
"All right, yes, love you, man. And, uh, give my best to Jackie and the kids." Shane hung up quickly, leaving Hayden alone in the room.
Hayden stared at the baby blue wall in front of him. There was no fucking way that any of this had happened. Surely it was a prank. Maybe someone decided to do a Russian accent and play porn to prank Hayden. Rose had lots of actor friends, so maybe one of them did it. There was no way it was real.
"Hay, babe?"
Hayden startled, turning to the doorway to face his wife. Her brown hair was pulled into a messy bun and her eyes had dark backs under them, but she still looked beautiful.
"You okay?" She crossed the room to stand by him. "You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm okay," He reassured Jackie, rubbing his hands up and down her arms.
"Okay, if you say so. You can always talk to me if you need to, okay?" Hayden nodded. "Good. I'm gonna go pee, I had to get up but I think Amber's still sleeping."
__________
It was getting late, around 8pm. When he was younger, Hayden would've said that 8pm was practically noon, but with three young children and a new fourth one, staying up until 8pm felt like pulling an all-nighter.
Amber was sleeping in her mother's arms next to Hayden. "Jackie?" He asked.
"Mm?" She mumbled, half asleep.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Okay, and you promise not to tell anyone?"
She giggled. "Hay, we're not kids. I can keep a secret."
"Alright, but this is big. Like, big big."
Jackie laughed again. "Hayden, what is it? Is it about your phone call earlier?"
"How did you know?"
"Well, you just looked kind of shaken. Figured it might have something to do with your current state."
"Okay, promise you won't tell?"
"Oh my goodness, Hayden, yes!"
"I. . ." He paused, trying to think of how to word what he wanted to say properly. "I think Hollander might be gay. Or bi. Or whatever term there is, I don't know. Not straight."
"Really?" Jackie didn't seem as surprised as he thought she'd be.
"Yeah. When I called him today, he. . . He had another guy with him."
"Hay, hanging out with other guys doesn't mean someone's gay."
"Well, yeah, I know that, but I think they were doing a bit more than just hanging out."
Jackie was quiet. "Oh. Oh." She took a deep breath in, realizing what Hayden meant before continuing, "Well, I can't say it's a shock? I mean, he's only ever really had public relationships with women, but there's also not really any out guys in hockey, so who can blame him. Has he talked to you about his partners?"
"No, he hasn't— Holy shit!" Hayden exclaimed, throwing the covers back and jumping out of the bed.
"Hayden!" Jackie snapped, sitting up slightly to turn on the lamp on her nightstand.
"Holy shit, holy shit, holy fucking shit!" Hayden whispered while pacing the room.
Jackie dropped her voice to a whisper as well, not wanting to wake any of the children. "Hayden, what is it?"
"Holy fuck. Boston Lily."
Jackie's brows furrowed in confusion. "Boston Lily?"
"Fucking Boston Lily." Hayden laughed, sounding like the idea in his head was ridiculous and running his hands through his short hair.
"Hay, who's Boston Lily?"
"She's this girl Hollander's been meeting up with for, like, the entire time he's been on the team."
Jackie simply stared at Hayden, waiting for him to continue.
"Seriously, since, like, rookie season." He paused, thinking. "Or sometime around then. Every time we'd go play Boston, he'd leave the hotel to meet up with this girl named Lily. She had him pretty whipped. I can't tell you how many times I'd try to convince him to go get some beers or shit with the team and he'd say he had plans with this Lily girl. Holy fuck."
"Hay, babe, are you okay? What does Boston Lily have to do with him being gay? Or, sorry, not straight." Her voice became groggy with sleep again as she continued talking. "Look, if anything, being in a long term relationship, even just hooking up with the same girl for about seven years, should indicate that he's straight. Just come back to bed."
"No, it's fucking Boston Lily."
"Hayden, Jackie sighed, "what do you mean?"
Hayden took a deep breath in. He hadn't intended to tell her everything tonight, he had just wanted to get her opinion on whether the whole Hollander-being-not-straight thing was even possible. Would it be fair to Hollander to even mention it? No, it was fine. If anything, Hayden deserved to tell someone after they had traumatized him over the phone. Plus, Jackie wouldn't tell anyone. Out of all the things he could do after accidentally finding out the two biggest NHL rivals were secretly fucking, simply telling a trustworthy person seemed pretty insignificant compared to other things he could do.
"Boston Lily is Rozanov."
"What?" Jackie laughed. "Hayden, you're going insane. They hate each other. I've never heard anything about them that could even indicate friendship between them."
"No, I'm fucking serious! Sorry," he added when Jackie shushed him. "I was on the phone today with Hollander because I hadn't talked to him in a while and there was someone with him!" Hayden paused, deciding whether or not to share all the details with Jackie. He figured he probably shouldn't, for Shane's sake. "Hollander thought he muted the phone, but he didn't, and he said 'Ilya'!"
"Is that Rozanov's first name?
"Yes, it is! Do you know how close two guys have to be to use each other's first names? Fuck, Hollander's my best friend and I never really call him Shane!"
"Hayden, that's not true for lots of guys-"
"And Ilya and Lily sound similar! Hollander literally gave him a code name!"
"Okay, Hayden, can we please go to bed?"
Hayden gasped. "Ilya, Lily. Lily, Ilya. Ilya, Lily. They're so fucking similar, how didn't I figure it out sooner?"
"Hayden."
"Oh, you're not surprised by this?" Hayden put his hands on his hips, disbelief clear in his voice.
"Hay, I am, but it's really not that a big deal-"
"Not a big deal? Not a big deal, huh?" He laughs, pacing the floor by his side of the bed. "Jackie, if Hollander and Rozanov so much as mentioned they were friends in an interview, the entire hockey world would explode! I think they're a lot more than friends."
"Hayden, look, I get that this is a big deal. . . for you, but it's 8:30. Can we please go to bed and talk about this in the morning?"
"I don't think I can sleep, actually. You get some rest, I'll go to the living room."
Jackie sighed. "Okay, but get some rest. You're taking the girls to camp at nine tomorrow."
"Okay," Hayden said. "Goodnight baby, love you." He closed the bedroom door behind him quietly and walked into their living room, flopping ungracefully onto the sofa.
__________
Hayden sat on the couch for what felt like hours. The TV was always on in their house, naturally tuned to the hockey channel, or, occasionally, some random kids show. Right now, they were playing a rerun of the most recent All-Stars game. Hayden watched as Hollander scored a goal, skating around and being embraced by Rozanov, who kissed the side of his helmet. He couldn't deny that they had great chemistry on the ice, winning the game easily. But, could they have the same chemistry off the ice? The first few times he'd seen clips of the game, he shrugged the kiss off as just Rozanov being Rozanov, trying to annoy Hollander and keep up the fuckboy act. However, in the light of recent events, the kiss looked to be a little more. The camera wasn't close up, but he could swear that Hollander was grinning. Not exactly a textbook reaction to being kissed by your enemy.
The scene changed. Oh, this must be the new Hollander-Rozanov documentary. He remembered Hollander saying something about a documentary coming out about the famous rivalry, but Hayden hadn't been interested in watching something 50% about Rozanov.
Hayden recognized the new scene quickly. That game had been great, until Hollander broke his collarbone and got a concussion. He watched himself fight the guy Hollander ran into and remembered the rage that filled him. He wasn't particularly tall or strong, but the other guy was. However, something else caught his eye. While most of the players were off-screen, he noticed a Boston player standing close to Hollander's limp body. #81. Rozanov. Again, the video was from a distance, but he looked concerned. Not how Hayden would expect him to look if his rival was down.
He decided to call Hollander. It was better to get this over with now than to wait until the next time they crossed paths. The phone rang and eventually went to voicemail. He tried again, twice, and got the same result.
Shit, he realized, he should probably have a script. He thought for a few moments about what to say.
"Hey, Hollander, have you been fucking Rozanov?" No, too casual.
"Hollander, what's Boston Lily's last name?" No, why the fuck would he care what her- his last name was?
"Is Boston Lily a guy?" No, he didn't have any reason to bring up Boston Lily.
"Is there something you want to tell me?" No, Hollander wouldn't understand the question.
Fuck, this was going to be harder than he thought. Maybe he'd just ask Hollander if he was gay.
He called again, and still went directly to voicemail.
Maybe texting would work better.
Hayden: hey hollander
He paused before sending the next messages.
Hayden: can u call when u get the chance
Hayden: its nothing urgent
He called a final time before giving up and falling asleep on the couch.