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Shane wasn’t going to lie and say he didn’t have reservations about Luca spending the week at his own apartment with his brother. He wasn’t as concerned about it as Ilya, who had practically been pulling his hair out the entire night right up until Luca had called them for a bedtime story and had barely been talked out of kidnapping their baby once he had been lulled to sleep by his beloved bunny book, but he was concerned. The fact Luca was currently cleaved onto him was not helping that concern.
“Are you sure you’re okay baby?” He asked. Luca had unceremoniously climbed into Shane’s lap the moment he had arrived in the locker room and seen his daddy sitting there five minutes ago. He had paused just long enough to drop his own bag by his cubby, and hadn’t moved from where he was hiding his face in Shane’s shoulder since. Luca hummed into his shoulder.
“M’okay.” He insisted, squeezing his arms around Shane’s necks. Shane squeezed back gently, rocking a bit as Luca hummed contentedly. “Missed you.”
“I missed you too.” Shane replied. “Are you big enough to be at practice right now baby?”
Luca nodded into Shane’s neck, which wasn’t overly convincing for Shane. They were both there early. They usually were. Shane would usually come in before Ilya to use the gym, a habit that Luca had also picked up since he had started living with them, always happy to follow Shane on runs or to the gym big or little.
“I am.” Luca promised. “Just…need a minute. Want daddy for a second.”
“Okay buddy.” Shane said. He wasn’t sure how much he trusted Luca to actually know when he was too small for things, but so far he had an okay track record of asking for help when he needed it. Shane was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was why when Luca did eventually let go of Shane, ten minutes into their impromptu cuddling session, Shane let him go.
Luca still trailed after Shane as they went through the motions, copying everything he did in the gym with clumsy focus, setting up his own yoga mat right beside daddy and mimicking every stretch Shane did. It was cute, the sort of thing Luca would do often at home, always a step behind his papa trying to be exactly like him. Shane kept a close eye on him, made sure to steer clear of any of the equipment Luca might hurt himself on in his fuzzy, in-between headspace.
By the time they were back in the locker room, getting into their gear for practice, Luca almost seemed normal. He drifted away from Shane to join Nicky and Pointy, the three musketeers hunched over someones phone and giggling like school kids until they were being chided by Bood to get a move on. At least until Ilya arrived, not late but not really on time either. It was like watching a rubber band snap, Luca’s eyes going unfocused on the bench where he had been halfway through tying his skates. An unseen tension that had been in his shoulders drained out as he wordlessly lifted his arms out for Ilya to scoop him up, a silent command which Ilya obeyed without question.
“Hello malysh.” Ilya cooed softly, carrying Luca back over towards Shane to take a seat beside him. Luca hummed, snuggling down into his papa’s lap, his forehead nudging against Ilya’s collar bone in a silent demand that Ilya obliged, pressing a soft kiss to the crown of Luca’s head. Quietly, Ilya looked towards Shane in question.
“He’s okay.” Shane assured. Ilya didn’t look as if he believed Shane, given that he had a lap full of baby. To be fair, Shane also wasn’t entirely convinced Luca was okay. He seemed to be at least, otherwise he had suddenly become much more convincing when trying to pretend to be okay.
“Should we go home malysh?” Ilya asked. “Spend the day with papa?”
Luca looked like he was thinking about it carefully, nose scrunched up the same way it usually did when he was asked what book he wanted to read at bedtime, before ultimately he shook his head, giving Ilya one last squeeze before he climbed off his lap to continue getting ready.
“I’m okay. Wanna stay.” He promised again. To his credit, he seemed it, eyes clear and posture relaxed. Shane kept an eye on him while he finished getting ready, the worry that had settled in his chest easing. By the time they got onto the ice, Shane was convinced that Luca really had just needed a minute and he wasn’t on the brink of a break down.
Ilya was less so, but he was doing a good job of pretending he wasn’t hovering. Shane was the only one who really noticed just how split Ilya’s attention was between practice and watching Luca like a hawk. It took Shane hooking him during a scrimmage for him to get his head in the game, a need to recover his dignity emerging from the fact his gaggle of rookies had all laughed at him eating shit at the hands of his husband.
It wasn’t until the end of the day at the niggling feeling of worry came back, watching Luca getting ready to head home in the locker room. He was tired, more tired than he probably should be, that much as obvious. Not unhappy, full of lazy smiles and half-hearted quips, but visibly exhausted as he stumbled his way around the locker room on shaky feet.
It was watching him struggling to get his laces untied that had Shane stepping in, kneeling down to take over. “Here, let me help.”
“Thank you.” Luca hummed quietly, chewing on his lip as he watched Shane with bleary eyes, knuckling at them roughly. Shane got his skates off, then helped Luca out of the rest of his kit. Luca for the most part seemed happy to just be moved around, too tired to be overly concerned with what Shane was doing.
Shane led him by the hand to the shower. Luca didn’t protest when he was situated beside Shane under the spray aside from a mild, discontent shiver when the water first sputtered to life. He made an attempt to shower himself, which Shane would give him credit for, but he looked like he was sleepwalking his way through it. Shane took over eventually, Luca humming a bit in content when he got to stand there daydreaming instead of using any brain power.
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay going back to your place?” Shane asked softly. He didn’t want Luca to think they didn’t trust him. Luca blinked, wiping some water from his face fussily.
“I have too.” He said. “Gabby’s there.”
“I know.” Shane sighed. “But you’re out of it today, are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
“I’m just tired.” Luca said, leaning his head back so that it was resting on Shane’s shoulder in order to pout up at him. “I didn’t sleep that good, practice was a lot. I’ll take a nap when I get home or something.”
“Okay.” Shane conceded. “But we’ll drop you off, I don’t want you driving when you’re this tired. You look like you’re going to pass out.”
Luca sighed, like Shane not wanting him to die in a car accident was the most arduous thing he had ever experienced. “Fine.”
Despite the pouting, Luca didn’t put up much of a real fight about getting chauffeured. He just sat quietly on the bench while he waited for Shane and Ilya to both be done with their usual rounds of locker room before they left, dozing with his head resting on the wall. He fussed when Ilya shook him awake to leave, whining and holding his arms out for papa to pick him up before promptly falling back asleep with his head tucked into Ilya’s shoulder. Ilya looked like he was going to stage a mutiny, when Shane told him the plan to drop Luca off at his place.
“I am not abandoning my baby with stranger.”
“It’s his brother Ilya, not some random from the street.” Shane replied, walking beside the two of them as they made their way down to the carpark, Luca’s keys in hand so he could take Luca’s car back to his place. “Luca wants to spend time with him.”
“So they spend time at our house where his daddy and papa are.” Ilya huffed.
“You know Luca doesn’t want that.” Shane sighed. He didn’t like it any more than Ilya did really. “He will call us if he needs us.”
Ilya had blown a raspberry at Shane in response, like the very mature adult that he was. Luca managed to sleep through the car ride to his place, unaware that Shane had spent most of it convincing Ilya not to kidnap him. He woke up nonethewiser to his narrowly avoided fate, yawning widely and grinning at them when he noticed that they were both there.
“Hi.” He greeted softly, rubbing at his eyes as he looked out the window and saw where they were. “Oh.”
“You do not have to go in malysh.” Ilya said, jumping at the chance. “We can just go home instead.”
Luca, exactly like Shane thought he would, shook his head. “No, it’s okay, Gabe’s probably waiting for me. I just didn’t realise I’d slept that long.”
Ilya’s face twisted up in dissatisfaction, but he did a good job of keeping it mostly neutral as he forced himself to nod.
“Do you want us to walk you in?” Shane offerred, as Luca unbuckled his seatbelt to climb out of the car. Luca paused, the offer clearly tempting as he reached for his bag before ultimately he shook his head once more.
“No, that’s fine.” He said, swinging his bag up onto his shoulder and ducking down to grin at them through the door. “Bye, love you.”
And then the door was shut, and Luca was racing off into his apartment building and out of sight.