Work Text:
July 2017 — Ottawa
Yuna Hollander had arrived at her least favorite step in her bedtime routine. She'd taken some melatonin, brushed her teeth, washed her face, applied her skincare products, and was now enduring the "stare at the backs of my eyelids and wait for my brain to stop thinking about to-do lists, calendars, and hockey statistics" part. Her thoughts were especially chaotic tonight, seeing as it was mere hours ago that she learned Shane was apparently in love with Ilya fucking Rozanov.
She kept her breathing slow and steady and tried to focus on the knowledge that Roz— Ilya made him happy. They were so sweet together once they had started to relax a little. Yuna felt another pang of guilt that Shane had been scared to tell her. She knew she could be intense, especially when it came to his career, but she had never wanted to be the kind of mother whose child felt like they had to keep secrets from her. How many times over the years could she have offered Shane comfort or advice or just a listening ear if he had felt comfortable talking to her about his relationship?
She was still a little unclear on when it had become an actual relationship instead of… erm. But the timeline didn't matter, and she definitely did not need to know details about when they even had the time to—
Yuna did the fastest sit-up of her life, causing the comforter to shift and uncover some of David's torso.
"Whasswron?" David slurred. He'd always had the ability to fall asleep within thirty seconds of his head hitting the pillow, the lucky bastard.
"I… the elevator! The night of the CCM thing! He was… oh my god." Yuna was spiraling slightly. She knew this and willed herself to get it together.
David's face scrunched in confusion as he slowly pushed into a sitting position and set a comforting hand on her back. "Honey, what?"
She took a deep breath and tried to arrange her racing thoughts into a coherent string of words. "T-the summer before Shane's rookie year with Montreal, he did that commercial for CCM… with Ilya."
"Oh." David's eyebrows went up and he nodded slowly. "And you think, uh…"
"I saw Ilya in the hotel that night. Someone had called and asked me to come to the lobby to sign some paperwork, I think? Some kids had been running through the hallway and must've pushed both the elevator buttons because they were both lit up when I got there. Wouldn't have even remembered except when the elevator came, Ilya was in there."
"Just Ilya?"
"Yeah, he was alone, going up. At the time I assumed he was heading to his own room, coming back from whatever he'd been out doing. He and Shane were legal by then. Only… that was a suburb of Toronto. On a weekday. And he didn't act or smell like he'd been drinking."
"He still might've been coming back from something or other." David's was gently rubbing Yuna's spine in the way he often did when he was trying to help her stay calm.
Yuna gave him a wry look. "That was the only time they saw each other that summer, unless they arranged some other meeting we completely missed."
"But he was going up, not getting off on your floor."
She really did appreciate David trying to logic their way out of this awkward realization. "Shane's room was a few floors above mine for that trip. They'd gotten some wires crossed with the booking. Anyway, during the commercial shoot, they kept… giggling."
"Giggling?" David's voice was laced with amusement.
"Yes! They were supposed to be acting intense for a face-off but they kept breaking and laughing instead. I thought it was weird and, frankly, a little unprofessional."
David rolled his eyes in loving exasperation. "For crying out loud, they were nineteen."
"I know! It was just surprising to see Shane behaving like that. He was usually great at taking his endorsement deals seriously, even back then."
They were both quiet for a moment, then David asked, "So that was when… things got started, you think?"
"It must've been. Which means I almost definitely ran into Ilya when he was on his way to— oh, god." Yuna rubbed circles on her temples.
"At least you didn't see anything. I just about fell over when I, uh, found them today." David winced.
Yuna let a brief, crazed-sounding laugh escape her. "Should we buy season tickets for Ottawa this year? Might want to do it soon. Prices are definitely going to go up once they announce they're getting Ilya."
David smiled and pulled Yuna into his chest. "Yeah, that sounds like a great idea. I'll bet Ilya hasn't had family at his games in a long time."
That thought made Yuna's eyes start to sting. She blinked rapidly so she wouldn't have to get up and reapply any moisturizer. "Well, he has us now. And it won't be too painful to cheer for Ottawa; they're hardly a threat."
"Yuna!"
"What? I'm allowed to be a little happy that Boston is losing their star player and that our son's boyfriend is moving to a team I don't hate." David's laughter jostled Yuna's head and she smiled against his sleep shirt.
"You are ridiculous and I love you." His arm around her tightened and he kissed the top of her head.
"I love you, too. And I think we're both going to love Ilya before long."
David released Yuna and slid back down into bed. "He does seem way easier to like in-person," he said through a yawn.
Yuna also settled back under the covers, a soft smile lingering on her face. "Y'know, it's too bad they can't have biological children. Their babies would obliterate Gretzky's scoring record for sure."
"Oh my god."
"Am I wrong?!"
"Yuna, my love, go to sleep."